Chapter 211: Release and Restraint
Next to the inn was Jiaxing County’s largest real estate agency. Li Xiaonan followed Li Wenru, acting like a well-behaved child. She watched Li Wenru leave a message, explaining how to deliver the letter, and then watched Li Wenru chat with the senior member of the real estate agency for a while before they took their leave.
At the entrance of the inn, a robust young man who looked like a wealthy family’s attendant was dismounting from a horse. Li Xiaonan stopped abruptly.
Li Wenru quickly stepped forward, blocking Li Xiaonan and signaling her to hurry away.
The attendant quickly loosened the reins, stepped forward, bowed, and cupped his hands, “Miss.” He then turned to Li Wenru, his voice trailing off with a slight upward inflection, “Second Master,” conveying a question.
“Oh, yes, that’s right. You’re here, so soon. Come in, quickly, uh, come in.” Li Wenru intended to bow in return, but before he could, he felt something was wrong and quickly straightened up.
Since they were calling him Second Master, he had to maintain the pretense of being the master, otherwise, he’d be exposed!
“I’ll take the horse in first, then I’ll report to Second Master and Miss.” The attendant bowed again and stepped back.
“Good, good, good.” Li Wenru placed one hand behind his back and waved the other towards the attendant. Watching the attendant head towards the adjacent stable, he turned his head slightly towards Li Xiaonan and asked in a low voice, “From the villa? Do you know them?”
“No, I don’t. No need to know them. Everyone who comes from their villa has the same air about them,” Li Xiaonan also lowered her voice.
“Hmm?” Li Wenru raised his eyebrows and then nodded repeatedly, “Now that you mention it, I feel it too!”
Li Xiaonan glanced sideways at her second uncle and pushed him, heading into the inn.
The attendant brought two letters. One was Gu Yan’s reply. The reply was very short, stating that as soon as he received the letter, he immediately sent people to investigate all the weaving workshops in Hangcheng and the surrounding counties. They had stopped work a day earlier than Changshu and Wujiang. He said he had already sent people to check other places.
Li Xiaonan reread the letter, which resembled an official document, and handed it to Wan Jing.
The other letter was from Miss Shi. It was quite long. After reading the entire letter, Li Xiaonan felt as if she had read a beautifully written prose essay. It described the scenery of the day and the charm of the wharf, filled with nothing but nonsense from beginning to end.
Li Xiaonan held Miss Shi’s letter, swaying it back and forth as she thought for a moment. She bowed and fetched paper and a brush. Wan Jing quickly brought over the inkstone to grind ink.
Li Xiaonan wrote as she thought, imitating Miss Shi’s writing style, filling it with flowery language. She wrote a similar number of characters as Miss Shi’s letter. Before the end, she hesitated for a moment and then briefly mentioned the stopping of work at the weaving workshops in Changshu, Wujiang, and Jiaxing counties, before concluding the letter in the same format.
“Is your letter finished?” Li Xiaonan asked as she folded the letter.
“Not yet, I’m writing it now. In our household, reports are concise and to the point, and we’re not allowed to speak nonsense. My letter, like yesterday’s, will state that we’ve arrived in Jiaxing, the total number of weaving workshops, and how many have stopped work.”
Wan Jing took a piece of paper and Li Xiaonan’s brush, writing as she spoke, rewriting yesterday’s report with different place names and numbers.
“Add another sentence. My second uncle and I just left word at the adjacent real estate agency that we are hiring weavers, as many as we can take, and we’ve also asked the agency to help spread the word to other prefectures and counties,” Li Xiaonan added.
Wan Jing added two lines, finished the letter, blew on it, folded it, and sealed it.
“My letter is going north, and yours is going south. Shall we take them together? Should we go south first or north first?” Li Xiaonan looked at Wan Jing, who was holding the letter close to the oil lamp to melt the wax seal.
“Of course, south first. Your letter isn’t urgent,” Wan Jing carefully dripped the melted wax onto the seal and pressed her seal onto it.
“Then do all these incoming and outgoing letters have to be checked and read? Do your Young Lords read them?” Li Xiaonan asked in a low voice.
“Our Young Lord is managing countless affairs, he’s so busy! He’s accompanying the Crown Prince right now, how could he have time to read your nonsense letter?” Wan Jing’s mouth turned downwards.
“Who says this is a nonsense letter!” Li Xiaonan glared at Wan Jing.
“You said it yourself! You’ve said it three times!” Wan Jing immediately retorted.
“That was me being modest,” Li Xiaonan snorted. “What about Shi Gun? Shi Gun’s servant? The servant’s servant? All the letters and items that come in and out of your household, they must be checked, right?”
“What do you mean ‘come in and out of our household’? Our household isn’t a post station.”
“The Eldest Madam’s letter to you was delivered to our villa, and we helped deliver your letter to the Eldest Madam. This was officially requested from our Young Lord, and he approved it! Do you think any Tom, Dick, or Harry can order us to receive and deliver letters? Hmph!” Wan Jing shot Li Xiaonan a sideways glance.
“Does no one really read them?” Li Xiaonan dangled the letter in her hand.
Wan Jing gave Li Xiaonan a roll of her eyes.
“Let me use your wax seal,” Li Xiaonan gestured to Wan Jing.
“Do you have a seal?” Wan Jing handed over the wax.
“Use yours,” Li Xiaonan, imitating Wan Jing, held the wax over the oil lamp to melt it, dripped two drops onto the rolled-up envelope, and used Wan Jing’s seal to press it.
The attendant who delivered the letter set off that evening for the Crown Prince’s encampment. The next morning, Li Xiaonan and her group continued south, investigating the local weaving workshops and leaving word at the real estate agency to hire weavers.
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When Gu Yan received Wan Jing’s third report, he was accompanying the Crown Prince and had already left Hangcheng, entering Ming Prefecture.
Gu Yan handed Wan Jing’s letter to the Crown Prince and pointed to the last line.
The Crown Prince scanned the short letter of two or three lines at a glance. Looking at the last sentence, “hire as many weavers as possible,” the Crown Prince chuckled, “She is skilled in divination, so she can certainly calculate accounts. How much silver does she have to dare to make such a statement?”
“She’s very petty. This is her calculating that the weaving workshops won’t be willing to let their weavers go,” Gu Yan said with a smile.
“The Jiangnan Silk Guild has over a hundred thousand weavers under its affiliated workshops. Even if only a tenth of them are released, it’s still a considerable number,” the Crown Prince reminded him.
“Let’s see how she handles it first,” Gu Yan said with a smile.
“If she can’t handle it, you’re still there,” the Crown Prince patted Gu Yan and winked at him.
Gu Yan smiled and nodded.
When he received Wan Jing’s first letter, he had discussed it with Zhou Shennian. The weaving workshops affiliated with the Jiangnan Silk Guild were almost all ceasing operations. This must have been initiated from the top, and that “top” was most likely a hand reaching out from Jianle City.
If that were the case, the work stoppage was just the beginning. The weavers weren’t the main issue; the autumn silkworms were the first hurdle.
He had originally planned to act after the autumn silkworms were harvested, but the Crown Prince’s itinerary couldn’t be delayed any further.
Besides the autumn silkworms, if the Jiangnan weaving workshops stopped production for too long, the silk exported overseas would be cut off…
But if he took even one step back, he would inevitably retreat step by step, until this cleanup effort fell apart. Afterward, the Maritime Tax Bureau and the corruption in Jiangnan would escalate and become irrecoverable.
The last time, his reckless actions led to impeachment for harming the nation and its people, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.
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In a secluded courtyard in the east of Pingjiang City, Old Master Zhu’s complexion was somewhat sallow. He leaned back on a large meditation chair. Beside him, a middle-aged man with sunken eyes, his hands resting on his knees, leaned forward and spoke in a low voice about the work stoppage in weaving workshops across various regions, and the news from Jiaxing County, extending southwards, about hiring weavers.
“What kind of relationship does this Li Xiaonan of the Li Family have with that Young Lord?” Old Master Zhu asked, knitting his brows.
“When my elder brother first heard about this Li Xiaonan, he asked Shopkeeper He. Shopkeeper He said she was a friend of the Young Lord. The news from the Prefectural School area indicated that Li Xiaonan was skilled in Investigation of Things, especially divination, and that the Young Lord had consulted her on matters of divination.”
“The most prevalent rumor in the marketplace is that she is the Young Lord’s secret lover. My elder brother said that’s baseless gossip,” the middle-aged man replied in a low voice.
“It is indeed baseless gossip. If the Young Lord truly desired beauty, he would have taken her by his side long ago. What does she look like?” Old Master Zhu asked again.
“She is delicate and sweet, like a spring flower,” the middle-aged man replied.
He had found an opportunity to observe her closely not long ago.
Old Master Zhu grunted softly. “Since she has announced that she is hiring weavers, the Young Lord’s side will surely have a corresponding strategy. They will use the government to pressure us, forcing us to support the weavers regardless of whether they are working or not. If we don’t support them, they will force us to sell them off.”
“Hmm, it seems unlikely that we can get the weavers to protest to the government,” the middle-aged man sighed.
“You actually had that idea? Foolish!” Old Master Zhu cursed impolitely. “Have the weaving workshops send some apprentices and dull-witted individuals to the real estate agency, let them buy them!
“Remember, not a single weaver who can thread a line is to be let go, nor any experienced hands. Anyone who can manage a loom independently is not to be released.”
“If not, then don’t release them. They all have contracts, and they’re just eating idle food. Any weaving workshop can afford to keep them,” the middle-aged man frowned.
“Foolish!” Old Master Zhu shot the middle-aged man a look. “This isn’t about whether we can afford to keep them; it’s about depleting their money! Just do as I say!”
“So that’s how it is! Son understands,” the middle-aged man suddenly realized and nodded quickly.
