Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 125

The Xiao Family’s search for a missing object in the middle of the night was discussed throughout the capital the next morning.

In the end, however, word spread that the item had been found outside the city after a band of thieves stole it. People soon lost interest.

Most of those disturbed the night before were shops that remained open late, and the Xiao Family compensated them one by one.

Ordinary citizens knew little of the incident. Even those who had heard about it assumed that anything lost by a family as wealthy and influential as the Xiaos must have been exceptionally valuable. It was only natural that they had searched for it.

The matter soon passed without a ripple. The latest gossip was that the Wang Family had finally buckled and begun selling its shops!

Some days earlier, creditors had appeared at the Wang residence and cursed them for several days in a row. Even now, someone still reported for duty at their gates every day.

Presumably, the family had exhausted every other option and was finally selling shops and land!

Since they were in a hurry to repay their debts, the prices were low.

That gave Uncle Zhao the perfect opening.

“General, the Wang Family is selling ancestral property. That girl Xia Heng happened to ask me to buy her a piece of land beside our estate. What do you think?”

Uncle Zhao had originally intended to purchase it outright. On second thought, however, the Wang estate was tied to his young master’s maternal relatives. That made the matter sensitive enough that he felt he ought to mention it first.

“Why does she want land?” Cang Chuli asked, puzzled.

If Xia Heng wanted to make money, then with her present relationship with the Xiao Family, would buying several more shops not produce a faster return than anything else?

Land required tending. Whenever the vegetables she grew at the General’s Mansion developed the slightest problem, she wanted to question every person in sight. She could hardly be more of a novice.

And now she wanted to buy land? She had no workers. Who would farm it?

“The girl says she wants to make some sort of experimental field. I reckon she means to grow those strange things of hers.

“If they don’t survive, I’ll teach her to grow grain afterward. It can be eaten or sold, so she won’t take a loss!

“She also said she’ll give priority to veterans from our Zhenbei Army. They’re our own people, so she trusts them. A disability or two doesn’t matter either, as long as they can work.”

“She hasn’t even planted anything yet, and you’re already worrying about next year.”

Cang Chuli was speechless. What kind of enchantment had she cast on everyone in the mansion?

In all these years, when had Uncle Zhao ever worried whether someone else’s fields could successfully produce grain?

Uncle Zhao was unbothered by his mockery. Before, the mansion had been filled entirely with taciturn young men who would barely grunt no matter what you did. Why would he care whether they lived or died?

These girls, however, were each more capable than the last—and more bighearted than the last.

Some days ago, his wife had fallen ill. He and Zhao Fu were so busy that neither noticed. Xia Heng had been the first to discover it.

She came every day to cook, clean, and brew medicine. Later, the other young women took turns visiting too.

His wife could not speak. If Wude had not said that his elder sisters now came to the house to check his studies, Uncle Zhao would never have known!

It was not until his wife recovered and explained everything through gestures that he learned what had happened. Not one of the girls had said a word!

If he failed to make proper arrangements, nothing would happen to those girls, but he and the other old fellows in the mansion would be the first to die of frustration! To say nothing of his wife!

“Have you chosen someone?” Cang Chuli asked.

“I don’t know if Young Master remembers Sun Biao, who retired last year.

“His face and ears were injured, remember? He lost his hearing and had to leave the army.

“When our men delivered his pension this year, they returned saying he wasn’t living well.

“His parents passed away long ago. Members of his clan took his family’s land, though at least they didn’t let his wife and child starve.

“Now that he’s home, he can’t very well demand the land back. After all, the clan did look after his wife and child for all those years.

“But with a scarred face and no hearing, no one will hire him. He can only hunt in the mountains occasionally and scrape by.

“I tried to arrange work for him, but he refused every offer. He said the jobs at the General’s Mansion should go to brothers who needed them more. He already had a wife and child, so he wouldn’t compete.

“His wife is diligent too. The girl Xia is hiring men and women alike, so I thought I’d send both husband and wife over. The family of three can stay together and have something to hope for.”

As Cang Chuli listened to Uncle Zhao’s report, he remembered Sun Biao.

Before retiring, Sun Biao had been a squad leader in the Lion Division. During a battle the previous year, an enemy’s saber had sliced through his face and one ear. Later, a blow had deafened his remaining ear, forcing him to retire.

Cang Chuli fell silent for a moment. Blades had no eyes on the battlefield, and incidents like this were countless. This was what he had to face as a general.

He asked only, “What will the monthly pay be?”

They were a family of three. If Xia Heng offered too little, he would make up the difference himself.

“The girl Xia said to use the General’s Mansion as the standard. Wages can be settled quarterly, and any woman who works will be paid too.

“The only thing is, she has no grain yet and planned to give them money to buy their own. The moment I heard that, I thought, doesn’t our estate grow grain?

“The fields are right next door. What does it matter how much we send over? So I decided the General’s Mansion will provide the grain. The girl Xia can settle the accounts directly with me afterward!”

Uncle Zhao reported everything honestly.

Cang Chuli stared blankly for a moment, then smiled as well.

“I forgot. She is wealthy now.”

In that case, there was nothing to worry about. She truly never disappointed him in the way she handled matters.

“Make the arrangements as you see fit. The mansion will buy some of the Wang Family’s land as well. Do not let anyone learn of it.”

Uncle Zhao brightened.

“Very good. This old servant will arrange it. The girl Xia said she may buy more land later. When the time comes, we can simply transfer some from our holdings.”

Cang Chuli did not object.

“One more thing. Tell the people watching the Xia family to be more alert. See whether the family has made any moves lately. If not, dig through their old accounts.”

Uncle Zhao acknowledged the order, thinking that their General was preparing to deal with the Xia family.

After Uncle Zhao left, the more Cang Chuli thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

Had that final remark been meant to stop him from snatching Xia Heng’s land? Was that why Uncle Zhao had settled the matter with him in advance?

Even Uncle Zhao believed she would manage the property well in the future? Who knew how many grand boasts that woman had made around the mansion?

Cang Chuli held a military treatise but could not absorb a single word. His thoughts drifted to the dagger he had placed in Xia Heng’s hand.

“Heartless little thing. The moment I give it back, you never offer it to me again.”

At that moment, Xia Heng lay bundled in a quilt on her bed, wondering how the plot had gone so badly off course.

There had never been a kidnapping like this in the book!

In that case, the timing of the phone she had given Xiao Yaqing could hardly have been more perfect!

And in the original novel, Huyan Lie certainly had not died so early. He and Cang Chuli fought back and forth until close to the very end…

What Xia Heng did not know was that Huyan Lie’s visit to the capital had not been nearly so disastrous in the original story.

Beginning with the palace banquet, he and Pasang had crushed Huaxia at every turn. Huaxia had produced no repeating crossbow.

They had even shaken the relationship between Dongfang Wei and Xiao Yaqing.

Although Pasang ultimately failed to marry Dongfang Wei and Huyan Lie failed to marry Xiao Yaqing, he had never experienced such an intense sense of crisis. In his eyes, Tujue was certain to win.

After touring Huaxia’s official circles and discovering how foul and chaotic they were, he had not taken the nation seriously at all.

He believed both Huaxia and Xiao Yaqing would inevitably fall into his hands.

Only Cang Chuli, that hard bone, had proved exceptionally difficult to gnaw.

This time, however, everything was different. One flutter of Xia Heng’s little butterfly wings filled Huyan Lie with an unprecedented sense of danger.

That was why he made such a foolish move, impatient to obtain leverage as quickly as possible so the gap between the two sides would not grow too wide.

The result was a reality utterly different from the original novel.