Chapter 197: Limitless Wrath City
Jinsui, her earlier somber mood about her father’s case gone, happily took Jinsui’s hand and introduced her, saying the flowers and plants were specially cultivated by him in the greenhouse.
Flowers like wintersweet and narcissus blooming in winter were normal enough, but she hadn’t expected several pots of camellias, orchids, and roses to be in full bloom.
This was quite rare. Jinsui praised him enthusiastically, “If these flowers were in Chang’an, one pot could sell for over ten taels of silver! Jinsui, you’re amazing. I don’t have your patience for tending to plants.”
Jinsui puffed up his chest and said, “It’s nothing. I just looked into their habits and tried planting them in the greenhouse, and they grew.”
Of course, he didn’t mention that he had planted nearly a hundred seedlings, and only a dozen had survived.
“I know you like flowers, Sister. You used to tell Prefect Li that if he wanted to invite you to Yanzhou City, he had to pave the way with fresh flowers.
Now that it’s your first time home, Grandpa and I will pave the way with flowers for you too.”
Jinsui was a little touched, not expecting the little brat to care so much about her. This feeling of being valued by family was truly wonderful.
Seeing the clean room, Jinsui didn’t go in but smiled, “Sister, go in and take a look. I had the Yan Clan’s craftsmen build this!”
Jinsui was surprised. The clean room actually had a bathroom and a toilet. The toilet was modeled after the public toilets outside. Although it was still a squat toilet, it was connected to a large vat buried underground outside, which only needed to be cleaned every few days.
Compared to many households that used chamber pots to dispose of night soil, this toilet was much more convenient and cleaner. The bathroom had a bathtub made of marble. While not luxurious, it was perfect for her.
Grandpa and Jinsui had really put serious thought into designing this small courtyard for her! They had even given her the main courtyard to live in.
Grandpa Ling told her to go into the bedroom to see: “Thinking you left in a hurry, you must not have brought many clothes. Grandpa bought some good fabrics when he went to Yanzhou City and had Madam Cheng make them. She said they were fashionable styles.
Change into a new outfit tonight and let’s see my granddaughter look beautiful at the banquet!”
We need to sweep away the Black Feather Camp’s rigid impression of Suisui. My granddaughter is a beautiful young lady. She always shouts ‘Leader Ji, Leader Ji,’ and Suisui, when she wears women’s clothes, acts like a man. We must correct this quickly!
Grandpa Ling pulled Jinsui along, “Let’s hurry and change too, so we don’t keep Captain Hei Hu waiting.”
Jinsui couldn’t bear to leave the bedroom. The embroidered stool was covered with a padded cushion, the armrests of the chaise lounge were covered with animal hide, and a large carpet was laid on the floor by the bed.
Hmm, this much is certain; she learned it from Yan Jiu.
Grandpa was truly meticulous, afraid she might catch a cold or feel chilly anywhere, wanting her to live comfortably at home.
What she found strange was why Grandpa hadn’t taken on two female disciples first to help her clean the courtyard and do her hair.
She didn’t need maidservants to attend to her; having someone close by made her uncomfortable. However, she did need help.
Since he hadn’t found any, it was fine. It saved her from accidentally revealing her secret. From now on, she could close the courtyard door and do experiments. Having outsiders around was truly unsettling.
Little did she know that Grandpa Ling thought the same way. His granddaughter had a big secret; how could he dare to casually arrange for anyone to enter her courtyard?
Jinsui opened the wardrobe and indeed, it was packed full of new clothes. I’ve only been gone a few months, and Grandpa made so many new clothes for me?
She had initially wanted to choose a scarlet red outfit to wear, as it was the first month and should be festive. Suddenly, she thought of Miss Yan, who looked best in scarlet red.
She then picked out a snow-blue long skirt, a periwinkle colored top, and a red cloak with a white fox fur collar.
It would be inconvenient to wear a lot of jewelry to a military banquet. It was better to simply tie her hair into a bun, secure it with a jade hairpin, and tie it with a silk ribbon.
These accessories were all in the jewelry box, but she noticed a significant difference. There were simple peach wood, bronze, and silver hairpins, as well as clearly matching sets of gold inlaid with gemstones or jade.
The grooming supplies were also complete, with the perfume and rouge being the latest styles of the month.
Her heart stirred. Thinking about the clothes in the wardrobe, some fabrics and styles were very common, while others were made of very precious materials.
As expected, after getting dressed, she asked Grandpa, and his answer was the same as she had guessed: “It was Eleventh Young Master. He said that the manor makes new clothes and new jewelry for Miss Yan every season, so he prepared a set for you too.”
Who would have thought Turtle Young Master was so thoughtful? Knowing that the Ji Clan had no other female head of the household, he feared she might not have enough things when she returned in a hurry, so he gave her a share of everything prepared for Miss Yan.
However, she didn’t know that this was something the rough-around-the-edges Yan Shiyi could have thought of! Yan Jiu had specifically instructed him before she left.
And what was even more rough-around-the-edges about Yan Shiyi was that he didn’t think it was necessary to mention this to Jinsui at all, so Jinsui never knew that the person she should truly thank was Yan Jiu.
She had originally wanted to go see the study separated by a screen. She was, after all, the daughter of a county magistrate, but since transmigrating, she hadn’t even entered the bedroom of a young lady from a noble family.
The first bedroom she was seriously looking at was her own. I’ve really made something of myself. I’m already over a year past my age of marriage, and I’ve managed to earn myself a bedroom with a courtyard.
But fearing Hei Hu would wait too long, she quickly moved a box of distilled liquor from her space. This was from her previous perfume experiments, distilled from grain liquor in her space.
One drink could get a grown man drunk. She planned to mix it with fruit wine. The soldiers accompanying Gu Changxiao to the Northern Frontier went with the mindset that they might not return alive.
Now that they had returned alive, they deserved to drink heartily.
Jinsui eagerly came forward to take the box. Jinsui saw that he was wearing a deep blue and gold robe embroidered with auspicious cloud patterns, paired with deerskin boots, looking every bit the handsome young boy.
She praised, “As expected of my younger brother! With these clothes on, who wouldn’t call you a handsome young man!”
Jinsui’s ears turned red, “How can you praise me like that? Are you praising me or yourself?”
Jinsui twirled her cloak and struck a pose, “How do I look in this? If you won’t praise me, I can praise myself, right!”
Jinsui lowered his head, “Sister looks very beautiful.”
Jinsui put her arm around his shoulder, “We siblings are definitely the most handsome pair in the entire border city! Even more so than the Yan siblings.”
Grandpa Ling stomped his foot at the doorway, “Don’t say such things when you get to the military camp, or people will laugh their heads off.”
Grandpa was wearing a green Taoist robe, a Taoist hat, and holding a whisk. If he walked into the Northern Frontier dressed like this, the herdsmen would definitely worship him as an immortal.
“Grandpa, is it appropriate to wear this to drink? By the way, I’ve always wanted to ask you, if you meet a real Taoist, will they expose you?”
Grandpa didn’t like hearing that, “What do you mean, ‘a real Taoist expose me’? I am a Taoist!”
Jinsui testified, “Sister, you don’t know yet. Grandpa has already found a Taoist temple and re-registered his ordination. Grandpa is now a master of the green robe.”
Jinsui was stunned, “Why? Grandpa, why are you going back to your old profession? I thought you were going to invest in the Central Plains Hodgepodge business!”
Grandpa Ling stroked his beard and smiled, “Grandpa found that wearing this Taoist robe makes it easier to gain people’s trust. Besides, isn’t the Prince building a Taoist temple for me in the border city? How can I not be a real Taoist?”
Jinsui then recounted her experience of impersonating a Taoist nun in the Northern Frontier. Grandpa and Jinsui listened, their hearts pounding with fear and admiration.
They admired Jinsui’s quick wit, courage, and eloquence. She could barely speak a few words of the Northern Frontier dialect, yet she dared to impersonate a Female Immortal there!
“They called me Female Immortal; I never claimed to be one myself.”
“It’s a pity. King Batel had agreed to build a Taoist temple for me, but those powerful people opposed it. Otherwise, Grandpa could have been the patriarch of Taoism of the Three Pure Ones in the Northern Frontier!”
Jinsui asked curiously, “Sister, why do you want to build a Taoist temple in the Northern Frontier? You’re not a real Taoist nun, are you?”
Jinsui fell silent, organizing her thoughts. It wasn’t until Hei Hu happily took a box of wine and the three of them got into the carriage that she began to talk about the situation of the Han Slaves she had seen in the Northern Frontier.
“If refugees are people forced to hide in the deep mountains, then Han Slaves are no longer human. Their status in the Northern Frontier is lower than that of sheep and cattle.
Of course, the slaves of the gentry are also worth less than cattle and sheep, but at least the gentry don’t casually kill their slaves, whereas the Northern Frontier people do.”
Jinsui didn’t go into too much detail, but Grandpa Ling and Jinsui had both experienced life and death, especially during the plague that had ravaged the city. At that time, people were not people, but the difference between living corpses and dead corpses.
They could imagine what kind of torment the Han people were enduring, forced into slavery in a foreign land.
“The Northern Frontier people are very superstitious. I think it’s too difficult to improve the status of Han people through other means. It’s better to use the method of religious doctrine.
If the Taoist temple can truly be built, I will use the name of the Three Pure Ones to ask the Northern Frontier people to treat Han Slaves kindly, and at the same time, I hope to redeem the Han Slaves back to Great Xia.”
Grandpa Ling’s eyes were full of admiration and pride. No matter what secrets his granddaughter had or how she had changed, her true nature remained that of a kind girl.
Before, her kindness was small-scale, only able to extend goodwill to those around her. But now, she had the ability to extend that goodwill to more people and a wider world.
Jinsui sighed, “If only all the Han people in the world could live in the border city!”
The border city today was vastly different from before. The atmosphere of life here was unlike any other prefecture city; it was a brand new, free, and vibrant spirit, a new look.
It attracted not only people from the bottom level but also young gentry disciples. They all loved coming to the border city, and they couldn’t quite explain what the attraction was, but once they came, they didn’t want to leave.
“The border city is too small, so of course, it’s impossible for all Han people to live in the border city…”
Meeting Jinsui’s innocent eyes, Jinsui chuckled, “But we can strive to make the whole world like the border city!”
“Look, even Grandpa is working so hard.”
Grandpa Ling pretended to be angry and tugged at his beard, “It’s not like Grandpa is too old to work! For you two, and for those children who trust me, I can work for another twenty years!”
Hei Hu’s voice sounded from the front of the carriage, “But Leader Ji, this place won’t be called the border city anymore.”
Jinsui quickly lifted the carriage curtain, “It’s getting a new name, what is it?” Before, this was called the border camp, not a proper name at all.
It was like peasant families with many children, giving them names like Zhang Xiao San or Li Xiao Si, just casual names.
Until Jinsui came and built the city, everyone still habitually called it the border city. But on the Imperial Court’s maps, it was just a camp area in Yan Jiao.
Now that the new city was completed, it naturally needed a new name.
“We don’t know yet. When I left, the Prince and the others were still discussing it!”
Jinsui was very excited, feeling like she was naming her own child. She urged Grandpa Ling, “You pick a good name, and divine for good fortune.”
“Your Highness, please reconsider!”
As soon as the carriage stopped, Jinsui heard Cheng Yu’s unusually anxious voice from the barracks.
It’s not often that our Lord Cheng is pushed to this point! What happened?
What was funny was that these Black Feather Camp soldiers had been calling her ‘Leader Ji’ so affectionately when they parted. Now that Jinsui had gotten off the carriage, they were too embarrassed to come forward and greet her.
This made Jinsui wonder, “What’s wrong? Why are you all suddenly afraid of me?”
Hei Hu laughed, “They’re not afraid of Leader Ji; it’s just that Leader Ji is too beautiful, and they’re afraid of offending you.”
Jinsui chuckled, “Then I’ll wear my usual clothes next time.”
Cheng Yu in the barracks was still trying to persuade, “Your Highness, please think again!”
Jinsui quickly lifted the curtain and went in, wanting to see what had made Cheng Yu so anxious.
As soon as she entered, the dozen or so people in the room froze. They blinked their eyes before recognizing her as Leader Ji!
Her face was the same, but how could changing her clothes, applying makeup, and styling her hair make her seem like a different person!
Such a delicate and beautiful woman made it hard to believe that she had chased a thousand miles to the Northern Frontier through ice and snow.
Of course, thinking about what she had done when she impersonated Li King before made it even harder to believe.
The most unbelievable was Xie Maolin. You’re telling me this delicate beauty once besieged the city to demand funds, beheaded Zheng Yun, burned the city to defeat the Tartars, and reprimanded an Imperial Commissioner…
It’s too crazy! Even plays wouldn’t dare to depict such things!
“What happened? Why does Lord Cheng look so anxious?” Jinsui walked through the crowd with a light smile and went straight to Gu Changxiao’s side.
Her voice had also returned to its original tone, crisp as a silver bell, her laughter like a spring breeze dispelling the chill in the room.
They say women are fickle, is this how they are fickle? Could it be that Leader Ji has a twin sister, and this beauty before us is actually Leader Ji’s sister?
Only Gu Changxiao’s eyes flashed with astonishment, then quickly returned to normal. He smiled and showed Jinsui the paper:
“The new city name I chose, Lord Cheng is not satisfied.”
If Cheng Yu had a sword at his waist, he would have already sliced this paper to shreds. Am I the one who’s not satisfied? Is there anyone here who is satisfied with such a name?
Jinsui looked down and covered her mouth, chuckling. ‘Limitless Wrath City’ was indeed hard to accept.
Gu Changxiao was carefully observing Jinsui’s reaction. Seeing that she only chuckled, he quickly asked:
“Does Suisui also think it’s bad? I remember you once said that a four-character name is more imposing, and you also liked the name Limitless Wrath.”
Jinsui had indeed said that, but she was joking! Back then, creating a personal seal with ‘Limitless Wrath’ had already infuriated Wei Qingquan.
That was just a personal seal. Now, with the new city name being this, it would be mocked by people all over the world if it spread.
Jinsui turned sideways to pick up a brush. The jasmine-scented essential oil in her hair, its faint fragrance, drifted into Gu Changxiao’s nostrils. The scent seemed to travel to his heart through his nose, and he felt his heart was fragrant, sweet, and filled with a crazy throbbing.
A strand of hair fell, landing on his arm. He moved his arm slightly, and the strand of hair landed in his palm.
He froze in place, not daring to move, afraid of being seen by others, and afraid of Jinsui getting up. He gently felt the softness of the hair.
Jinsui then crossed out a character on the paper and wrote another, changing ‘Wrath’ to ‘Strength’. She unfolded it and asked Cheng Yu, “How about this name? Is it good?”
