Chapter 24 (1/2)
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The capital city, during the laht
The table was packed full of stacks of documents, Yan Xiaohan's head buried between the since gone cold An aged steward hesitated outside the door for a good while, ulti as quietly as he could
”Master, you've been reading all day Co”
Yan Xiaohan didn'ta final few lines, he tossed his brush away and rubbed his wrist He lazily reclined against the back of his chair, his lanky upper body bent in an arc as he let out a long exhale ”Alright I' last”
He'd barely finished speaking when he suddenly turned his head to the side and sneezed
The steward panicked ”Oh no, what's wrong? You absolutely mustn't catch a cold… I'll have soer soup”
Yan Xiaohan wrinkled his nose and waved hi I'ht, twice is a curse, and thrice is reminiscence',” the steward said with a s of you, then”
As soon as he said that, Yan Xiaohan sneezed again
”…I will go get you the soup”
Yan Xiaohan stifled his laugh ”Forget it, come back Isn't this just normal?”
The steas puzzled over how this was 'nor only a shortan eye on the other's expression, he went along with it ”The Marquis has perhaps arrived at Yan Prefecture, and his ive this old slave for speaking out of turn, but you've been working around the clock and burning ood for your health Were the Marquis here, he would never allow you to work as if your life depended on it like this”
”Hm?” Yan Xiaohan raised his brows in mockery ”Is that so… the Mada him to oppress ry, and wasn't sneering – on the contrary, he looked to be quite cheerful – so he boldened up ”The Marquis and you will have a e in the future and support each other for a lifetime There's someone who knohether you're hot or cold, and is considerate towards you; how could that be called oppression?”
A grin spread out on Yan Xiaohan's face froain when he was finished s, and I've seen farive New Year's gifts The Marquis of Jing Ning is celebrating at the northern border this year, and it's even colder there, so choose a few thick furs and silks, load theoing on with the builders I asked you to find?”
The one a few days, and probably hadn't finished the dry foods he took for the road, yet he's thinking of sooodbye to seeing their ordinarily quite dignified Master, as he truly loved someone and now his insides were mush He was affectionate and attentive and couldn't let the man alone
The steward internally beautified Yan Xiaohan as he voiced his reply ”Right I've found all of the to be done, only a few craftsmen will be needed to finish it It's just that the pond you described requires a schematic drawn first, and materials need to be purchased When you find the blueprints satisfactory, they can start to slowly get to work on it”
”Being slow is fine, it just needs to be completed before the twelfth of February,” Yan Xiaohan said ”You all have been working a bit too hard these days Feel free to draw coinage to buy whatever is needed If no one shows up froo to the Ministry of Rites' people to discuss what to do”
Ever since Fu Shen's departure, the as Yan Xiaohan had to handle suddenly increased In fact, before Fu Shen ca a sick person who needed so added to his hoiven to hiular business disturb Fu Shen's recuperation He had been repeatedly putting a lot of things off until they resulted in the present pileup
During Fu Shen's stay in the Yan Estate, Yan Xiaohan basically never lodged elsewhere overnight, and didn't have any social interactions aside fro released from his duties, he'd immediately return home, then accompany him to eat his meals and take his medicine, support him as he exercised his limbs in the yard, and attend to hih they stayed in separate rooo into Fu Shen's bedroom before he slept to have a look at him, and then waited until the other fell asleep to leave… some of these matters, the servants really could have done, and some could have just not been done at all Only, Yan Xiaohan had personally witnessed what kind of life Fu Shen led in the Marquis of Jing Ning's Estate As this had fallen to his hands, he wouldn't allow to Fu Shen to endure further harshi+p
He had watched this ain and kneell that he couldn't urge him to stay Fu Shen currently couldn't e hiain?
What he'd been handling these days were, in addition to his official business, a few personalsince been having Wei Xuzhou investigate, and the other was the actual truth behind Fu Shen's assassination attempt For the latter, the Emperor had already ordered the Three Departation, and two months later, the Departments presented the case as closed as of yesterday Yan Xiaohan also pored through the accounts, and it was total hogwash The Ministry of Justice's Grand Judge gave the only reason as 'a failure of the guards'; following the detainh rank, they uncovered a few Tartar spies, got a confession out of them, then shoved all the blame onto the eastern Tartars and called the case closed
As for who incited the envoy's aunpowder that caused the rockslide caet of the assassination was that little Prince's son from the eastern Tartars or Fu Shen… those are all issues yet re
The head officials of the Three Depart with each other and were all unwilling toable to make out the Ee sanction Only one supervising Right Collective Imperial Censor [1] named Gu Shanlu persisted in his belief that the case was suspicious and continuously requested for a detailed investigation, but his memorials to the Emperor were never passed before the Holy One's eyes, as the case had long been filed away by the record-keeping Imperial Eunuch
Yan Xiaohan clearly couldn't ate this He expended more efforts to do so on the sly, but the results it yielded were minimal Because this concerned classified information of the Northern Yan Arainst the Flying Dragon Guard, it was very difficult for his people to scout out any useful infor up of a stretch of 'grass road' for private dealings betweenPrefecture's military
'Grass roads' were the opposite of 'official roads', as the name implied, and referred to secret transactions between soldiers and civilian ions, with the arners, firear the eastern Tartars and Han troops to trade food, tea leaves, salt, and other things for warhorses
In the early years, 'official roads' would open for a tih – the 'grass roads' ca at that opportune tigeration to say that everywhere on the Great Zhou's border that there was a defending ar that the gunpowder really did drift in fro located at the northernest suspect for the conditions of the a army
Based on what Fu Shen had said, the E officer in the Northern Yan The Tong Ar tio, and closely connected to it was the Northern Yan's west periion of Yuan Prefecture
Who that person actually was, Fu Shen ured out Yan Xiaohan didn't need to know too h; ahe couldn't stick his hand into