Chapter 58 (1/2)
时辰 | sichen | time system comprising of 12 two-hour periods of the day; one sichen is the equivalent of two modern hours
The residence in the capital was quite close to Zhu Que Street–one could arrive there after walking for two minutes. It was a rather tastefully chosen three compound courtyard. The central building was magnificently carved and decorated; grand beyond the ordinary. It could be seen that the previous residents had been extremely wealthy.
Ruan Zi Xu stayed in the central building with a few servants; Ruan Zhu and her husbands stayed in the second compound; Ruan Yu was in the inner compound; and Third Concubine-Father led his two sons in staying in the side courtyard.
As the eldest daughter, Ruan Zhu had the responsibility of managing the household in the absence of the Madam of the residence. Fortunately, the current number of inhabitants in the residence was not many and the job was easily done. Switching to seasonal clothing; the everyday use of wood, rice, oil, and salt; expenses and keeping the accounts–outlines for each and every one of these categories were made.
Each day, essentially no trace of the family’s men could be seen. Ruan Zi Xu led the two Yun brothers to manage their businesses and they had a great deal of things to do.
The majority of the Ruan clan’s shops in Yu Zhou needed to relocate. However, it wasn’t to move to the capital but rather to Lan Zhou.
The current political situation was unstable, with some saying the capital was defendable while others claimed the opposite. Every day, soldiers could be seen coming and going on Zhu Que Street. Some were headed towards the battlefield to reinforce the army and there were also the scattered remains of battalions that carried their wounded back in carriages.
Lu Piao Xiang left early and returned late each day. Upon his return, he would consistently rifle through a book on military strategies that he had yet to finish reading and jot down important notes. Any trace of his figure would disappear before daylight on the next day.
As for Xuanyuan Min Zhi–on the second day he arrived in the capital together with the Ruan clan, he left without a word.
Following what Ruan Zi had instructed, Ruan Zhu took out the ledgers from the storeroom and thoroughly verified them over a span of a few days before finally straightening everything out.
She hadn’t expected the Ruan clan to be this wealthy. Not counting the gold and silver jewelry and precious stones, just the amount of pure gold and silver alone was in the tens of millions. Converted into RMB, it would amount to several hundred million!
The several tens worth of large carriages that had been driven from Yu Zhou were actually completely filled with chests of money and other valuables. All of the profit from the Ruan clan’s enormous amount of businesses that they could bring were essentially piled up in there.
But these valuables would only stay in the capital temporarily. After a few days, the chests would be loaded onto ships personally escorted by Ruan Zi Xu. Following the Yangtze River, they would move towards Jiang Nan and then travel north up Lan River towards Lan Zhou.
In this family, perhaps only Ruan Zi Xu was clear how much wealth the Ruan clan had. It was possible that even Madam Ruan didn’t know.
Thinking of Madam Ruan, Ruan Zhu’s head started aching again. The day before yesterday, she had come into an agreement with her second sister, Ruan Yu, to visit their maternal grandparents’ place together to pick up their mother. Unexpectedly, they had been found out by Ruan Zi Xu and he had stubbornly ordered the two sisters back into his courtyard where he firmly admonished them for a spell.
Why did this pair of husband and wife care so much about their faces? There obviously was still feelings there, and it wasn’t to the point where a divorce should be considered!
Taking the ledgers with her, she walked to her own Yi Xin Residence and checked up on the wet nurse, where she saw her child was sleeping soundly. Entering the library, she put the ledgers down and started writing. The capital was full of aristocracy, and there was no lack of capable people that could set themselves up against her in terms of reciting poetry. She felt somewhat inferior and would spare some time every day to practice calligraphy. Fortunately, she had spent a few years studying it in her previous childhood and after a month of practicing, there was already some improvement.
After half a sichen, her hand was sore. Placing the brush back in the brush-wash dish, she stood up, just about to return to her room for a nap.
Lu Piao Xiang walked in from outside and was surprisingly clad in gorgeous official robes. Added with his tall and handsomely bright appearance, all who looked at him would be attracted. She looked at the musical score before his chest–it was leopard print, something that was exceptionally rare.
“Lord Husband, when did you become an official?” To give the Head of her family some face, she called him ‘Lord Husband’ in private but ‘Big Brother Lu’ in front of Yun Shi Yi.
“Wife, I have treated you coldly during this period.” Lu Piao Xiang hugged her from behind while simultaneously sucked on her sparkling earlobe. His hands also moved from around her tender body to stretch inside her lapel. Each of his hands fondled a soft mound for a while before one hand moved downwards into her skirt, separated her two flower petals, and explored her depths.
A man and woman making love in broad daylight often results in extreme arousal and delicate moans quickly spilled out of Ruan Zhu’s mouth as she was unable to withstand the teasing.
Lu Piao Xiang’s enthusiasm also became increasingly hard to bear after hearing the tantalizing sounds his wife was making. Hiking up her long skirt, he pulled her underpants to her knees, and supporting his member that had already swelled to an unbearable degree, pushed inside her.
Ruan Zhu had been lying on her stomach against the writing desk. Her body abruptly jolted forward by the force of the insertion, and she couldn’t help but to scream out, “Ah!”
Lu Piao Xiang was immediately smothered by the tightness and warmth of her insides and started quickly thrusting. Wave after wave of intense pleasure surged forth. Pulling her head back, he kissed her lips, his lower half becoming even more violent.
Lu Piao Xiang was both violent and enduring. Ruan Zhu had already become limp from his attacks twice before he shouted and emptied his passion inside her.
Ruan Zhu’s face was flushed as she nestled inside Lu Piao Xiang’s arms, “Lord Husband, you’re not acting normally today.”
Lu Piao Xiang sat in the taishi chair and rearranged his wife so that she was sitting properly in his lap: “His Imperial Majesty has appointed me as a fourth rank generalissimo, with the title of Zhong Wu, and has given me the reorganized Fei Sheng army to train.[a] In the future, I need to live in the barracks and will not have much time to come back and accompany you.”
It was as if Ruan Zhu had seen a rare animal as her eyes widened: “Fei Sheng army is Tian Chu’s most elite army, right?”
She had read Tian Chu’s history books before and knew that the Fei Shen army was comprised of excellent troops picked out from various battalions and were specially appointed to protect the imperial family. Precisely because they were too noble, they rarely went onto the battlefield and had little real combat experience.
Lu Piao Xiang brushed her sweat-soaked hair away from her forehead: “The previously received news said the situation at the battlefield was unfavorable for Tian Chu and there was a very high chance for the rebel army to break through our defenses. Any time now, the imperial court will finish the preparations to move the capital.”
Perhaps it was because she couldn’t hear the flames of war, but Ruan Zhu had continuously thought the conflict was very far from her. But since now Lu Piao Xiang had suddenly become a general, couldn’t she provide him with some advantageous help?
“Lord Husband, how did you become an official? A fourth rank is a very high position, right?”
“Don’t ask these unnecessary things. Isn’t your father going to transport a batch of goods to Lan Zhou in a few days? I will assign a division to escort him.”