Chapter 218: Father Ling’s Vindication
Because when Gu Changxiao ascended the throne, it was also the time when foreign nations were most likely to attack, and even the Northern Frontier, which was currently relatively peaceful, could not be trusted.
Not to mention the remnants of Prince Yu and the powerful gentry from various regions, there would always be people rioting and rebelling. Jin Sui had to guard the border city, and protect our military supplies and main base.
Moreover, as Gu Changxiao said, she really didn’t want to go to Chang’an. She couldn’t like that city, nor did she want to travel a long distance to attend his enthronement ceremony and then rush back to the border city.
Wei Yingniang and Li Linfeng also went together, because after the new emperor’s enthronement ceremony, there would be rewards for merits, and it would also be the time to vindicate Wei Assistant Secretary and bring vindication to Father Ling.
Grandpa Ling would go with Jin An to bring the remains of Father Ling and Madam Jiang back to the border city for burial.
Jin Sui curiously asked Grandpa Ling, “Why not send them back to our hometown for burial?”
Grandpa Ling sighed lightly, “Our family is small. If we send them back to our hometown, we can only ask the villagers to perform sacrifices and guard the graves. You and your brother might not return even once in many years.
How lonely your parents would be! It’s better to bury them in the border city, so you can visit them often.
Besides, what hometown do we have? I am an orphan. I drifted to Guang Province back then and settled down there. Home is never a place, but people.
You and your brother are in the border city, Grandpa is in the border city, then that border city is our home!”
Grandpa Ling had already chosen a burial spot for them, by the forest next to the Taoist temple. Jin Sui had to finish repairing their parents’ graves before they returned.
Of course, the Taoist temple of Grandpa Ling also had to be built. Jin Sui was just hesitating whether she should go with them? Because bringing vindication to Grandpa Ling was a major event, it would be better for his daughter to be present.
As a result, Grandpa Ling was the first to say that she should stay. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be at ease leaving the border city to anyone else. As for Father Ling’s case, Jin An and he would be enough. She had already worked too hard on this case.
For some reason, Grandpa Ling did not look at Jin Sui when he said this. Jin Sui always felt that Grandpa was insincere, or perhaps he was hiding something from her.
She thought about it carefully and could only think of one possibility, which made her heart skip a beat: Grandpa suspected her identity.
After all, she was a granddaughter raised since childhood, and her temperament suddenly changed drastically. Apart from her appearance, she was like a completely different person.
Grandpa was an old Taoist who had traveled the Jianghu for many years. How could he not notice?
But he didn’t say it, and never even asked an extra question. Perhaps he had accepted his granddaughter’s death, and this person, whether a lonely soul or a mountain spirit or fox demon, had taken over the body.
Perhaps after so long together, he had developed true grandfather-granddaughter affection for her, or perhaps he was afraid that if he exposed it, she would leave, so he pretended to be ignorant.
It was probably thought that making her kneel and kowtow before the coffins of Father Ling and Madam Jiang would make her uncomfortable. Anyway, once Gu Changxiao ascended the throne, bringing vindication to Father Ling would be an easy matter.
Therefore, she didn’t need to go to Chang’an. Since Grandpa didn’t say it explicitly, she couldn’t bring it up either.
However, if one day the old man was willing to open his heart to her and ask that question, she would definitely answer truthfully.
After sending Grandpa and the others away, the border city became much quieter. Miss Yan also went with Yan Jiu. She said it was to attend the new emperor’s enthronement ceremony, but everyone knew clearly that she wanted to see Han Xing.
Han Xing had made great contributions in this battle and would definitely be granted a noble title. The powerful people in Chang’an would definitely want to curry favor with Han Xing, this new noble, because he was the emperor’s most trusted general.
And the easiest way to curry favor was to marry their daughters to him! As long as Han Xing was willing, he could marry three wives and four concubines.
Miss Yan was not stupid. How could she not know this! The powerful gentry in Chang’an used this method to curry favor with people. She had to keep an eye on Han Xing and not let him be trapped.
Jin Sui was very surprised when she heard her say it: “Trapped? What do you mean?”
“You don’t even understand this? If they invite Han Xing to dinner and get him drunk, and then put a beauty next to him, he’ll have to marry her whether he wants to or not!”
Jin Sui laughed: “How is that possible? Is Han Xing someone who gets drunk so easily?”
Chen Yunniang was also there at the time. She deliberately teased Miss Yan and asked with a smile, “Aren’t you worried that General Han himself will fall for that beauty?”
Miss Yan was very confident about this, almost as confident as Jin Sui: “He won’t! People from the border city are not so easily swayed by beauty.”
“I’m worried that Han Xing is too naive. If he encounters a beauty whose horse is startled, or a beauty falls into the water, will he not save her? If he saves her, he’ll be entangled. I must go!”
Jin Sui smiled and said, “You should indeed go. Let the new emperor grant you two a marriage, to declare your ownership.”
Miss Yan asked curiously, “Sui Sui, aren’t you worried that women will use these tricks against the new emperor?”
Jin Sui shook her head: “His Majesty will kill people.”
Miss Yan was stunned for a moment, then laughed: “Then I’m relieved, because Han Xing will also kill people.”
Jin Sui was certain that if a beauty managed to break through the heavy guards and lie on Gu Changxiao’s dragon bed, it wouldn’t be the beauty who would be rewarded, but the person behind her would be promoted or their status would be stabilized.
Instead, many people would die! Anyone involved in this matter, the palace servants and guards who let the beauty into the palace, the powerful people or gentry who sent the beauty, Gu Changxiao would absolutely spare none of them and kill them all.
Jin Sui felt that Gu Changxiao’s insistence on moving the capital as soon as possible was for this reason. After so many dynasties, the loopholes in the Chang’an Imperial Palace were like a sieve, impossible to guard against.
She already knew that Miss Lin’s personal letter had appeared on Gu Changxiao’s desk. This was not even a beauty, just a letter, and many people had already died.
After sending them off, Yan Shiyi became Jin Sui’s shadow. He was no longer in Yanzhou City and stayed in the border city every day. As soon as Jin Sui went out, he would follow.
However, this guy had made progress. He started to have a business mind: “You said that if the border city becomes the capital, the houses around here will definitely become more expensive. Should we hoard some land?”
Jin Sui rolled her eyes: “Where do you want to hoard? The entire border city is His Majesty’s fiefdom. Do you dare to buy it? Do you dare to sell it?” They actually thought of real estate right away. This kid had made great progress!
Yan Shiyi rubbed his hands: “Then let’s buy further away! I just want to ask you, is this business viable? I’m not buying in the border city, but in Yanzhou City, it’s definitely not wrong.”
“I’ll move the workshop further away, clear out the land, and build smaller houses. Whether selling or renting, they will definitely be popular.”
Jin Sui tapped her chin. Since even Yan Shiyi thought of this, the gentry of Yandi must have thought of it too. Strike first to gain the advantage!
“It’s feasible! Turtle Young Master is amazing! This business is definitely one step ahead. You know that it’s not easy to live in the capital. If we hoard land and build houses first, we’ll make a lot of money just from collecting rent later.”
“We?”
“Hehe, you’re telling me this, don’t you want to cooperate with me?”
Yan Shiyi was flattered and smiled happily. When he heard Jin Sui’s smile, he became wary again: “But you have no money and no land. How can you cooperate with me?”
He knew that Jin Sui’s money had all been invested in building the academy. All along, in the businesses they cooperated on, Jin Sui never provided money, only ideas.
This time, the idea was his own! Hmph, I can also proudly say that I don’t want to cooperate with you!
Unfortunately, before he could finish speaking, he was stunned by something Jin Sui gave him: “This… what is this?”
It was a sand table, a residential area covering about a thousand mu. Unlike the popular three-courtyard or five-courtyard mansions of this era, the houses in the residential area were all three-story buildings, one building per courtyard.
The entire residential area had hundreds of such medium and small villa clusters, with natural greenery, and it was located by mountains and water.
“I can provide house designs, as well as building materials and craftsmen from the army. I guarantee that the houses built will be unique in the world. How about it? Cooperate?”
Yan Shiyi was a little discouraged: “In other words, you thought of this business long ago?”
Jin Sui shook her head: “No! I didn’t know the emperor was going to move the capital either! This is my plan for the future, but since you thought of it, it means we can do the real estate business in advance.”
“Real estate?”
“It’s the business of building houses for sale or rent. Give me a quick answer, cooperate? If you don’t want to cooperate with me, I’ll have to find Jin Zilin! We can compare and see whose house sells out first.”
As soon as Jin Zilin was mentioned, Yan Shiyi became anxious: “Cooperate, cooperate! I say, Miss Ji, you are too unfeeling! I hesitated for a moment, and you want to find Jin Zilin to partner with?”
Jin Sui snatched his fan and hit him on the head: “What Miss Ji? Will it kill you to call me Miss Ji!”
Yan Shiyi pouted and mumbled, “Where in the world can I find a girl like you!”
Seeing Jin Sui glare at him, he quickly said, “Since we are cooperating, it will be the same as before. I’ll provide the money and people, and you’ll provide the brains. Tell me! What do we need to do first?”
Jin Sui spent more than half an hour explaining the real estate model to him, and also mentioned that real estate could have a chain effect like hot pot restaurants. We can build the same residential areas everywhere.
“Currently, there is no opportunity for us to get involved in the border city. The entire city construction is the responsibility of the Ministry of Works. Although I will also participate in the design, this absolutely cannot be made into a private industry.
You can build them in Yanzhou and several prefecture cities near the border city, following the model of residential areas. When the population migration from Chang’an begins, any number of houses will sell.”
All the land in the border city belongs to the state, which was also Jin Sui’s suggestion to Gu Changxiao. Houses can be rewarded to the powerful and officials, but they must not be privately owned.
Farmland is the same. It must not be like in Chang’an, where more than half of the land was bought by the powerful and gentry.
Gu Changxiao’s move to relocate the capital was a good one. He didn’t argue or waste words with them at all. In Chang’an, it was troublesome to change the old system and establish new rules.
With one move of relocating the capital, he cut the Gordian knot. He didn’t even force the powerful and gentry to move to the border city. It was fine if they didn’t want to come. These families were destined to fall behind.
The gentry of Yandi were happy, of course, that Yandi had become the capital! But they were more afraid that the powerful people of Chang’an would come to snatch their business. Northern Frontier trade had just begun, and now there were more people to share the cake.
Jin Sui felt that it was time to open the maritime ban. After the capital relocation, she believed that if Gu Changxiao proposed it, there would be very few voices of opposition in the imperial court, only some old stubborn people who disagreed.
These were not things to worry about now. Her most important tasks were to accumulate military funds, build the academy and the Taoist temple well, and then lead the officials of the Ministry of Works to plan the city in advance.
Gu Changxiao wrote to say that the officials of the Ministry of Works would come in advance and would not attend his enthronement ceremony.
Jin Sui estimated that they should arrive in the next few days. She wondered what the work attitude of the officials in Chang’an was like? Don’t let our border city officials become lazy.
If there is one slacker in the team, others will want to be lazy. Well, once they arrive, no matter what rank you are, you’ll be sent for military training for a few days!
Let’s train out the bad habits from Chang’an and see how our border city officials work!
Thinking of this, she smiled. It was great that she stayed. She had to play the bad cop to the people from Chang’an! Even if someone cursed her for rebelling against heaven, it wouldn’t matter. She could let them chat with Li Heng for a day.
It was known that the current Leader Ji was very benevolent.
The people of the border city were the happiest, because the common people of the border city were truly at the bottom level. They were composed of refugees, displaced people, border soldiers, artisans, and slaves, and other people from the lowest strata.
After coming to the border city, they thought that after a few years of hard work, they could live a good life. They never expected to suddenly become citizens of the Imperial City.
This feeling was more surprising than demolition. Suddenly, people from a mountain village became people of the Imperial City, and their descendants would be people of the Imperial City in the future!
This was a result that many families could not achieve even after generations of hard work, and they were so lucky.
These days, wherever Jin Sui went, people would worship her. It felt like if she wore a Taoist robe, she could be a Female Immortal in our border city.
Returning to the Ji Residence, Jin Sui looked at the underground tunnel that had already been built. She went from the Ji Residence to the Prince’s Residence by herself, and then from the Prince’s Residence to the Ji Residence.
Should she seal it? The Prince’s Residence would be expanded into the Imperial Palace. How could there be an underground tunnel in the Imperial Palace!
Forget it, let’s not seal it for now! The Ji Residence would also be incorporated into the Imperial Palace. Whether it would be sealed or kept would depend on Gu Changxiao’s plans.
The residential areas and workshops near the Prince’s Residence had already been relocated by her, and the area for the Imperial Palace had been reserved. Fortunately, the central park was built large enough.
There was no need to change much, just build an institutional area along the park. The residences of the powerful and officials would no longer be large mansions occupying many mu, like in Chang’an.
Unified planning, even in mountain manors, the building area would not exceed the specifications, and the behavior of the gentry, like a country within a country, would be eliminated from the root.
Amidst the busyness, Jin Sui received a letter from Chang’an. Father Ling and Wei Assistant Secretary had been successfully vindicated. Father Ling was even granted a noble title, which was inherited by Jin An.
Jin Sui suddenly felt a sense of relief. She hadn’t realized it before, but her heart had been tense. This moment of relaxation made her understand.
A part of the Original Owner’s obsession still remained, which was to bring vindication to Father Ling. Now, that bit of obsession had completely disappeared, and the burden on her shoulders had also disappeared.
That poor little girl could finally rest in peace. And I have also repaid my debt and completely become the owner of this body.
Jin Sui knew that Gu Changxiao granting the Ji family a noble title was to elevate her status. With a noble title, whether a new noble or an old noble, she would be qualified to enter the Eastern Palace.
She knew very well that Gu Changxiao did not need her to elevate her status, but rather to spare her from the disturbance of gossip. He did not want to be discussed by others.
Jin Sui felt a little regretful: “I wanted to tell the people from Chang’an about the glorious days when I was the fake Li King! Now it seems that the identity of Ji Sui should be left to secret histories!”
Well, secret histories probably wouldn’t record it, so it would be left to unofficial histories!
Haha, if people a thousand years later saw that Empress Ling, the wife of Jun Yanqing, had disguised herself as a man and acted as the fake Li King at the border, they would probably laugh heartily and say: “This unofficial history is too wild! How is that possible?”
