Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  Although many people did not get a good night’s sleep, many people had been busy. Some had not gone to bed for the entire night. The palace treasury spring bidding still opened on time the next morning despite the major event that happened in Suzhou. 

  These were the past rules of the court. 

  Even though Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng had cited the lockdown on Suzhou and Xia Qifei’s assassination attempt in their request to postpone the date of the transport company bidding for a few days, Fan Xian remained resolute and decisive. He valiantly requested that the bidding start on time, not a moment late. 

  The Ming family had already obtained one extra night of time. If they were given more reaction time, who knew what else could happen? 

  Fan Xian rubbed the sore point between his brows and forcefully hid the tiredness on his face as he watched the merchant filed in in a line. He found that although the expressions’ on these Jiangnan giant merchants remained calm, there was a strange emotion hidden in their eyes. It seemed that the matter of Xia Qifei’s attempted assassination last night had brought enormous complications for them. Fan Xian was temporarily unable to determine whether this change was good……or bad for his plan. 

  The father and son of the Ming family were the second last to enter the courtyard. Behind them followed the clan’s close servant and accounts master. His face wore a warm smile, and he saluted all around. The officials and merchants skimmed their eyes across and then shifted their gaze. No one dared appear to be overly friendly in front of Fan Xian with the Ming family anymore. 

  When the father and son of the Ming family bowed in front of the main hall, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng greeted them with warm words. It was clear they were showing their support of the other party. Fan Xian watched coldly. He smiled and nodded his head before waving his hand for the other party to take their seats. Ming Qingda’s expression was very strange but appeared to be calm. It seemed that, for some reason, the other party was not afraid of him exacting revenge for the matter of Xia Qifei’s attempted assassination. 

  Before the front doors closed, the Jiangnan water bandits also arrived. 

  Behind Xia Qifei, other than the few old officials of the Ministry of Revenue that Fan Xian had sent over, there were only three close guards left. The other brothers had died last night on the street. 

  Xia Qifei’s face was deathly pale. It seemed that the heavy injury had not had a chance to heal at all. Today’s matter was of great importance, so he had to come, even if he had to push himself. 

  Compared to the bandages on his body, the white cloth on his forehead appeared to be particularly piercing and bright. His subordinates behind him were also wearing white strips of cloth on their foreheads. In the spring weather, it emanated an ice-like cold. 

  This was the first time in decades that mourning had been worn through the palace treasury doors. 

  The gazes of everyone in the courtyard were aimed at the group bandits of room B4 who wore mourning and carried a murderous aura on their bodies. With the Lingnan Xiong family and Quanzhou Sun family in the lead, the merchants left their rooms and greeted Xia Qifei, quietly offering words of comfort. 

  With the support of his subordinates, Xia Qifei slowly approached the main hall. He didn’t glance at the father and son in the first room and said in a quiet voice, “I still came.” 

  Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng’s faces were a strange color. 

  The corner of Fan Xian’s eye twitched, but he immediately recovered his usual calm. He spread out his right hand and said firmly and determinedly, “As long as you come, there will be a seat for you here.” 

  Everyone understood the meaning of Fan Xian’s words, but Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng were completely unable to use these words to accuse Fan Xian of anything. The Jiangnan governor, Xue Qing, had excused himself due to illness, so in the courtyard, Fan Xian’s title was the highest. It was clear that Xue Qing was giving Fan Xian free reign to do as he liked. 

  The Ming family’s supporters would not just watch as the situation came under Fan Xian’s control. After a quiet whisper, Eunuch Huang said, “Sir Xia, I heard that the fighting among the jianghu began again last night in Suzhou, and you suffered many losses……but, it does not conform to etiquette to wear mourning into the yard.” 

  Xia Qifei’s birth was, after all, dishonorable, thus the matriarch of the Ming family was able to have an ace of the Junshang Conference carry out the killing. After all, if they could kill Xia Qifei, it would solve many problems. Afterwards, the matter could be pushed onto the fighting on the jianghu. 

  Eunuch Huang’s words were nothing more than to make this point real. 

  Fan Xian did not care to bicker about such nominal things, but upon hearing Eunuch Huang’s “does not conform to etiquette to wear mourning into the yard,” his rage grew. In a quiet voice, he said, “Eunuch Huang, do not make me angry.” 

  Although these words were spoken quietly, his voice was like it had been scraped out of a crevasse in a glacier, like it had come out from an abyss under the ground. That icy chill caused all those who heard it to shiver without being cold. 

  Do not make me angry! 

  These words crawled into Eunuch Huang’s ears and caused him to involuntarily shiver. He quickly shut his mouth. He would not get in a huff with the wretched youth; he would let him be. Besides, the Ming family had prepared the whole night. As long as he kept an eye out, nothing would go wrong. If, at this time, he let Fan Xian use this opportunity to flip out—who could stop him? It would not be good to ruin the bigger picture. 

  To the side, Guo Zheng, who had been about to open his mouth, also felt his heart chill. He quickly swallowed the words he had been about to say. Last night, they had all expected Fan Xian to act impetuously in his anger; they had all already written their memorials and were prepared to grasp this to use against Fan Xian. Unexpectedly, he had, on the contrary, maintained his calm. This greatly disappointed him and Eunuch Huang, and they were both aware that they didn’t know when that nefarious flame Fan Xian kept bottled up in heart would explode out. 

  Thinking of the ministers that had fallen in Fan Xian’s hands, Guo Zheng also retreated. The Eldest Princess only wanted to protect the Ming family’s shares, not their reputation. ……

  There was another cannon boom. The confetti flew wildly outside in the courtyard, and the smoke gradually thickened. 

  Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the somewhat familiar scene. For some reason, he remembered last year, on the day he left Shangjing, Northern Qi, the moment he learned of the death of Zhuang Mohan. On that day, the firecrackers on Shangjing’s city gates that were sending him off also seemed to be sending off Master Zhuang. 

  Were the firecrackers today sending off those who had died last night? 

  Xia Qifei led his subordinates silently into room B4 and removed the strip of white cloth from his head. He carefully spread it on the table, straight as a brush. His brothers behind him followed their boss and removed their white cloths and spread them out. Line by line, bold and powerful. 

  Fan Xian’s brows furrowed his brows very slightly, as to be barely noticeable, as he thought about something. 

  The palace treasury official responsible for announcements once again stood at the top of the stone steps. The second day of the palace treasury bidding had officially begun. 

  Yesterday, there had been five lots; the palace treasury had 16 lots. Other than the last two portions that were bound eight lots, there were three lots left and placed at the start to be announced. 

  The Ming family continued to follow the agreement between the Jiangnan merchants and did not bid. On the contrary, it seemed that Xia Qifei had not been perturbed by last night’s incident and made bids very steadily. He took one of the lots, and the other two were won by the Lingnan Xiong family and Hangzhou Chen family. This was probably something that had been agreed on last night at the Jiangnan Restaurant. 

  The lots that Xia Qifei had taken were still on the Northern route. When Fan Xian received the bid from Flower Hall and confirmed that Xia Qifei had won the bid, he couldn’t resist secretly nodding his head. Xia Qifei had not let his emotions affect his decisions, and he greatly approved of this. 

  The bidding on these three lots progressed without excitement. The prices were about the same as previous years, and there was nothing shocking about them at all. None of the merchants and officials present had much of a reaction at all because everyone knew today’s important show was still to come; it was in the eight lots that the Ming family had to win. ……

  “The southeast route and the sea route, goods of the Second workshop. A total of four lots, bidding begins. The highest bidder……wins……” 

  The official of the palace treasury transport company stood on the stone steps and called out with expression. He had no idea how many years he had been calling these words. Every year after the words were called, only the Ming family would bid—no one would compete with them. Thus, this call felt lonely and boring, without interest and dull. 

  But, this year was not the same. 

  After the sound of the announcement landed, the first to push open their door and hand out the leather envelope was room B4. 

  The courtyard burst into noise as countless voices rose in discussion. Xia Qifei, this abandoned Seventh young master of the Ming family was finally beginning to strike against the Ming family. 

  The expression of Ming Qingda in room A1 did not change. It seemed he had long expected this situation. In previous years, because of the strength of his family in addition to the Eldest Princess watching from behind the scenes, there were no Jiangnan merchants who dared to bid against him. Thus the Ming family in the last eight lots was the same as the Cui family in the first six—they both played opposing roles. 

  After playing these roles for too long, it would eventually feel tiring. Today, there was finally someone to compete against the Ming family. Other than feeling a slight fear, Ming Qingda also felt a thread of excitement. 

  He smiled slightly and said to his son beside him, “20 percent more, push him down.” 

  Ming Lanshi paled in shock. His father intended to raise last year’s final price by 20 percent in the first round of bidding? If, in a moment, in the second round Xia Qifei had enough silver and continued on—how could they hold it? 

  Ming Qingda raised the tea cup beside him and drank a mouthful, and slowly said, “The extra 20 percent isn’t to crush Xia Qifei; it’s to crush others.” 

  Ming Lanshi was confused. Today in the palace treasury courtyard, other than Xia Qifei, who had the support of the imperial envoy? Who else dared to compete with us for the two large lots? In the heart of this young master, he was still convinced that Xia Qifei’s confidence came from Fan Xian privately transferring silver from the Ministry of Revenue, and the others did not have this power at all. 

  Ming Qingda didn’t say anything, but his heart was as clear as a mirror. Fan Xian had Xia Qifei sweep away all the goods yesterday to turn the other Jiangnan merchants into starving wolves, and a starving wolf would take a bite of anyone’s meat. ……

  \r \r \r ……

  When two sealed leather envelopes had been handed into Flower Hall, all of the merchants and officials placed their buttocks back in their seats and let out a turbid breath. They knew the good show had officially begun. 

  It seemed many people did not guess the direction in which this show was going. 

  The door to room B1 was slowly pushed open and a sealed leather envelope was handed to the official outside of the door. 

  The Quanzhou Sun family! 

  The entire yard exploded into a clamor. No one had thought that the Quanzhou Sun family would come to steal this hot soup when the two tigers were fighting. 

  “The Sun family!” Ming Lanshi looked in shock at his father and said, “Where did his family get this much silver?” 

  Ming Qingda’s expression did not change. “The Sun family themselves don’t have enough. Can a few families not put together enough? Don’t you think Xiong Baling, that old bastard, has become too quiet today? And those families that have been staring at our family? If they didn’t have a secret motive, why would they look for so long? Flowers haven’t grown on my face yet!” 

  In the main hall, each of the officials sitting in the three grand chairs all had their own thoughts. Fan Xian had long expected this development and was not very surprised. However, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng were gnashing their teeth, thinking, that Quanzhou Sun family was too daring to come out at this moment and cause trouble. 

  Under the nervous gazes of everyone, the results of the first round of bidding came out. Fan Xian held the price contrast sheet from the Flower Hall and couldn’t help sighing in his heart, thinking that the Ming family was able to expand for so many years in Jiangnan for good reason. In Fan Xian’s plan, the last four lots were when he and the Ming family would fight vigorously to raise the price. Although the amount of silver moved from Northern Qi was enormous, the turnaround needed too long of a route, so there was still an upper limit. Furthermore, Xia Qifei had taken five lots in a row and paid out a huge amount in deposits. 

  If it was possible to falsely raise the price with no limits, Xia Qifei could simply bid empty prices and have the Ming family continuously vomit blood. The problem was, Fan Xian never understood Ming Qingda. He seemed to be not as simple as being only a master in name. Fan Xian was unable to determine if he actually falsely raised the price or whether or not Ming Qingda would disregard the Eldest Princess’ orders and wisely cut his losses. 

  With the amount of silver Fan Xian had in hand, if he used it to raise the price, he was only certain of being able to heavy hurt the Ming family in the second of the four bound lots. 

  If the Ming family actually did play it ruthlessly in the third round and let go of the four bound lots……and Xia Qifei raised the price too high, there could only be two results: One, he would completely be unable to pay the 40 percent deposit. After successfully winning the first four bound lots, he would have nothing left and could only watch as the Ming family easy took the last four bound lots. The second result was not one that Fan Xian wanted. He had no way of controlling the route used for smuggling towards Dongyi. In the eyes of the Ming family, it was a bid they could not lose out on. As for him, it was something of little value. He did not want Xia Qifei to truly win that bid. But, if the Ming family easily took the last four bound lots, Fan Xian could not swallow that either. 

  As for the first possibility—if the price really did explode—under the covetous eyes of Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng and the gazes of all these people, all of the previous efforts for the palace treasury matter would have been wasted. Xia Qifei would probably have no way to survive. ……

  In the plan Fan Xian made earlier for this first set of four bound lots, he wanted to have the Quanzhou Sun family fire the challenge, while Xia Qifei’s bidding was just a ruse and was not intended to be serious. Seeing the price sheet the Flower Hall handed over, Fan Xian knew that that old man of the Ming family had already guessed his plans, so he bid such a terrifying number on just the first round. 

  The Sun family dared to make a move today because of the message he had sent last night through Shi Chanli. 

  Faced with such a powerful suppression by the Ming family, and to thinking of the brazen assassination the Ming family ordered on Xia Qifei last night—attacking through both civil and martial means—Fan Xian began to worry that perhaps the Sun family would be so scared by this round of bidding as to not increase their bid. 

  The situation indeed developed in the direction that Fan Xian did not wish to see. When the announcer called out the Ming family’s bid of 3,080,000 liang of silver, the yard filled with noise. 

  From then on, the door to room B1 never opened again. The Sun family had indeed been scared. 

  Fan Xian narrowed his eyes and looked at the two masters of the Ming family in room A1. He began to calculate whether or not these two masters had, as the Overwatch Council had investigated, participated very little in the assassination incident last night. The main instigator was purely the old Ming matriarch. 

  Assassinating Xia Qifei seemed impetuous, but combined with the aggressive bidding today, it was able to scare away many of the Ming family’s enemies who thought to profit from the chaos. If Ming Qingda was truly a person who used opportunities like this, and even used his own mother, then Fan Xian felt there was a need to re-evaluate the other party. 

  After the bidding from the first round came out, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng stroked their beards and smiled. Only, there was not much of a beard on Eunuch Huang’s chin, so it appeared a little funny. But, it could be seen that these two were very pleased with the actions of the Ming family and reactions of the crowd. 

  Room B4 was calm. Through the window, Xia Qifei gave Fan Xian an inquiring look. 

  Fan Xian sighed helplessly and used the palm of his hands to smooth back the hair at his temples. This was a secret signal for Xia Qifei to go slowly. Since the Sun family had backed out, Xia Qifei had to continue bidding, but these bids must be made carefully. 

  It had to hurt the Ming family, but it could also not be too ruthless. It had to make the other party take over these first four bound lots in a satisfactory manner. Otherwise, they could go crazy and give up, throwing these four bound lots to him. 

  This was a difficult situation. Even though Xia Qifei had the old officials from the Ministry of Revenue to help, it was still difficult to handle the matter perfectly. 

  The announcing official once again stood on the stone steps. What they had twice expected, the fierce family battle between the Eldest of the Ming family and the Seventh, did not happen. The bandit in room B4 lost his aggression from yesterday and carefully placed his bids. 

  Although they were being cautious, the price of this first four bound lot was still slowly raised to a shocking price that left people bug-eyed and dumbfounded. 

  This was clearly because the Ming family had bid a price in the first round that was already 20 percent higher than that of last year’s final price. The other reason was because room B4 wrapped around the other party like sticky candy. 

  In the end, the successful bid went, as expected, to the Ming family. This result was the same as all the other years, only the bidding price was very different. 

  5,120,000! 

  Everyone’s mouth dropped open. Hearing this price, they thought that if the palace treasury’s rule for bidding was five rounds, Xia Qifei in room B4 and Ming Qingda in room A1 would probably raise this price to twice that of last years. 

  This price was truly absurdly high. 

  Fan Xian knew this only showed that when the palace treasury was under the control of the Eldest Princess, the price for the right to sell palace treasury goods was absurdly low. At this price, the Ming family would not suffer any losses. They might even still be able to turn a large profit, Of course, this was under the condition that the Ming family still dared to do their pirating business and continue their smuggling to Dongyi right under Fan Xian’s eyes. 

  Thus Fan Xian smiled. He was very pleased with this result. The Ming family could do nothing but throw money into this lot this year. 

  “Room A1, Ming family, 5,120,000 wins!” 

  As the usually listless official announced the highest bid in the dozens years of the palace treasury opening bid, he finally appeared spirited. The voice he used to announce the price was powerful and resonating. The “wins” word left his mouth and was immediately gone. Without any dragging, it appeared very clean. 

  No matter what attitude they had toward the Ming family, the merchants also felt a thread of excitement and cheered for this amount. 

  On the contrary, it was the father and son in room A1 whose faces did not wear any sign of joy. Particularly Ming Qingda, who had a thin line of worry between his brows. 

  He was thinking the same as Fan Xian, if there wasn’t the aid of some shady methods, these four lots……were certain to be a loss. 

  Most importantly, it seemed that there were masters helping Xia Qifei make his bids. Their grasp of the proper amount to bid was good. In a moment, the deposit for this bid of 5,120,00 would be 2 million……furthermore, the other party’s true battle for the bid would definitely be at the end. 

  Last night, the Ming Garden had pulled together silver through the night. The six houses only pulled together 600,000 liang, far removed from the 1,350,000 liang the old matriarch had set. This bid for the four bound lots had far exceeded Ming Qingda’s estimate. What were they going to do later? 

  There was still half of Taiping money house’s silver left, but no one knew what would happen next. Ming Qingda’s hands gently pressed on the wooden box beside him, thinking deeply. 

  Ming Lanshi glanced his exhausted looking father and felt his heart wrench. He knew his father had not slept at all last night. He had gone to a few of the big money houses in Suzhou to transfer silver. Not until the early hours of the morning did he finally have enough to put his heart at ease. In this box was the cash banknotes that the Zhaoshang money house had written with urgency. 

  “Do you think that the imperial envoy will also want the last four bound lots?” Ming Qingda sighed tiredly. 

  Ming Lanshi did not know how to reply. 

  The sun had shifted to into the middle of the day, and the palace treasury bidding took a break with the bailiffs of the Suzhou government and the transport company bringing in food for the various merchants. Although the food provided by the officials was not as delicate and sophisticated as it usually was in the houses’ of these giant merchants, they still ate with relish. They moved closer to the dispirited Quanzhou Sun family and asked about some matters. 

  Everyone was eagerly anticipating the afternoon; that was the final battle. In the morning, the giant sum of five million had already been bid, to what dazzling level would the afternoon reach? 

  No one noticed Ming Qingda silently walking up to the main hall and arriving at the side hall where the important figures were having lunch. Without trying to avoid suspicion, he smiled slightly and said, “Greetings Eunuch Huang and Imperial Censorate Guo, I have some things I want to report to the imperial envoy. Could we have some privacy?” 

  Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng were greatly shocked, thinking: What is he playing at? Was the Ming family going to lean to Fan Xian’s side in front of everyone? But it wouldn’t be so public……Ming Qingda had long maintained the Ming family and had not insignificant relations with the officials at court. He also had his own dignity. Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng met each other’s eyes. They had deep trust in Ming Qingda, so they smiled and retreated, leaving him and Fan Xian space to talk. ……

  There was no one else in the hall. Ming Qingda lifted the front of his robe with some difficulty and knelt in front of Fan Xian. He did not say anything. 

  Fan Xian had a bowl in hand and chopsticks in the other, and he was currently moving between the dishes looking for something delectably to eat. His gaze did not drift to that side at all, he only said, “The four bound lots at the end, I……will still bid for them.”


  Chapter 369: The Bright Moon Is Not For Those Who Walk The Night 

  Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio 

  Fan Xian’s chopsticks pushed the food around on the plate and picked out a piece of beef seeped in sesame oil. He placed to on his white rice before bringing it slowly to his lips. He chewed it finely, savoring the taste, and still did not acknowledge Ming Qingda kneeling at the side. 

  Ming Qingda was not a simple person. What this one kneel represented was also not that simple. 

  Fan Xian needed time to think. 

  Only when he finished thinking did he gently put down his bowl and chopsticks, and said, “Master Ming, your age is much more advanced than mine. How can I live with this?” 

  The imperial envoy’s hands raised him without effort, and Ming Qingda had to stand. 

  The conversation between official and merchant began calmly and seriously. Fan Xian looked at him and asked, “What did you want to explain?” 

  What kind of explanation could bring back the lives of Fan Xian’s subordinates? How could Fan Xian let go of the Ming family? Ming Qingda did not know and did not need to know. What he needed right now was for Fan Xian to temporarily let go of the Ming family so the clan and those in Jingdou could have the necessary time to adjust. The situation was too unclear. Even if he was going to be an opportunist, he had to know which way the wind was blowing…… 

  He only hoped that his position was enough to have the imperial envoy let up the pressure a little, to have the imperial envoy believe that he had the strong desire to lean toward his side. 

  Fan Xian did not wait for this astute and circumspect old Ming master to reply and said, “You are not sincere, so it doesn’t matter if you defect.” 

  Ming Qingda’s expression was calm, but he sighed and said, “You won’t trust me.” 

  “It is not I who cannot trust you,” Fan Xian lowered his head and said. “You don’t even trust yourself. You’ve been on that boat too long. If you want to get off……it’s very difficult. You should be understand this, if you are still on that boat, the other people on the boat will always ensure your safety. If you come on to my boat, what will happen to the goods you left on the other boat?” 

  These goods were naturally not those goods. Ming Qingda also understood this clearly. Hearing Fan Xian’s words, he knew he would not be able to persuade this young imperial envoy. With a trace of exhaustion, he self-deprecatingly begged, “Please point me on a bright path.” 

  Fan Xian’s gaze remained among the dishes on the table. After some thought, he quietly said, “You have many brothers. I recently heard that……Master Xia in room B4 is also your brother?” 

  Ming Qingda’s expression did not change, but his heart began to hurt. The Ming family had followed Fan Xian’s enemy for too long. If they wanted Fan Xian to truly believe the Ming family was willing to fall to his side, he had be able to completely control the Ming family in his hands. Xia Qifei clearly was the pawn through which Fan Xian would control the Ming family. Switched with any other person, Fan Xian would not accept this agreement. 

  Fan Xian’s words were undoubtedly a condition for him. Only Ming Qingda could not accept this condition, no matter what. Never mind the fact that Ming Qing would never let go of his own family’s business, every time he thought of Xia Qifei’s cold eyes and the miserable whip scars beneath his shirt, his heart began to twist. 

  In the present situation, the Overwatch Council was on the attack while the Ming family was on the defense, and the Ming family was backing up step by step. Today’s price surge in the palace treasury bidding was on the first of a chain. Problems would follow on each other’s heels, and the Ming family would be shaken about by the wind and rain. 

  Only at this moment did Ming Qingda discover that this young imperial envoy was so cautious and conservative, severe and sinister in his bones. He was not moved at all by the enormous lure he had put out. What Fan Xian wanted was much more than what he was able to give. It was more than 400,00 liang. It was more than the future secret cooperation of the Ming family in Jiangnan. It was a rather egotistical and arrogant desire for complete control of the palace treasury’s production. 

  “Please, will Sir give us a way out,” Ming Qingda laughed bitterly and said. Earlier he wanted a bright path, but at the moment he could only ask for a way out. “If the last four lots go down like this, with the tens of thousands of descendants in the clan and countless servants on the sides, I fear that next year the family will not be able to feed them all.” 

  “The Ming family does not lack silver.” 

  Fan Xian looked at the master of the Ming family in front of him, and his approval of him grew in his heart. Clearly these were words to threaten him, yet they were said warmly and lowly, and did not pierce the ears at all. On the contrary, a comfortable smoothness shone through. “The four lots in a moment……it will be as if the Ming family has spat out the silver they swallowed in previous years.” 

  He inclined his head slightly and narrowed his eyes as he sized up the slightly declining looking Ming Qingda. In his heart, he guessed at what this master of the Ming family was planning to do. He said, “You should know about my past. I very much do not approval of the methods you used in the past to sell things. Of course, I am not an unreasonable bandit. As long as you do things more reliably, I will also be more reliable.” 

  The so-called reliability was referring to the incident last night. 

  Fan Xian used the tip of his chopsticks to knock on the edge of the porcelain dish making a crisp ding sound. “To hold the bowl like a dragon spitting pearls, to reach with chopsticks like a phoenix bending its head. To eat until mostly full, to pack away what is not finished……being a person is like eating a meal. The pose must be beautiful, and one must know one’s limits. This is good enough.” 

  Ming Qingda knew he would not be able to gain any more progress in front of this imperial envoy. Having received Fan Xian’s last words, his heart relaxed a tiny bit. Although he could not believe all of it, he definitely believed Fan Xian did not intended to force the Ming family into collapse. The other party still wanted to control the Ming family rather than destroy them. 

  To want to control the enormous Ming family……Xia Qifei couldn’t do it……mother couldn’t do it, only he could. Ming Qingda had this confidence. Because of this, he was definitely going to vomit blood for the last four lots. He understood that in the future, there was still space for negotiation with the imperial envoy. 

  Merchants were the least afraid of negotiation, haggling over the price was their forte. 

  Ming Qingda respectfully bowed to Fan Xian again and retreated. 

  Watching the Ming master of this generation’s slightly bent and slightly old looking back, Fan Xian once again placed his chopsticks gently on the table. He narrowed his eyes. Even now he still could not see Ming Qingda’s limits. 

  The kneel earlier represented a wealth of meanings. Surrender? To ask for peace? Defection? As compensation for last night’s incident? If the Ming family truly wanted to lean toward him, then this kind of public palace treasury situation today was actually the best place to show his true feelings. 

  The problem was that, Fan Xian did not believe, at all, that the old man would willingly surrender. He hadn’t finished playing his own cards, and the Ming family had not yet reached the end of their lines. If a big tree that was used to standing on the other side of the river wanted to uproot itself and move to this side of the river, the pain and sacrifice it would have to go through would be more than what the Ming family was willing to pay. 

  Why would the other party assume such a lowly stance? Above him, there was still that old matriarch. If the Ming family wanted to lean in a direction, this kind of important decision that affected all the futures of the tens of thousands in their clan, Ming Qingda did not yet have the power to make this decision alone. 

  Furthermore, this kneel was not in secret. Someone should have already seen, and it would immediately spread. Fan Xian’s eyes narrowed even further. Was the other party playing the pity card? In this world that has not yet produced Ah Bian, perhaps the pity card was still a viable move. But, to purposely kneel in front of others, how pitiful could this be? 

  If it had been a different official faced with the inclination that Ming Qingda had shown, they would definitely be secretly joyful. Only Fan Xian did not think this way. Just as Ming Qingda thought, he wanted too much, and the Ming family could not provide it. Furthermore, he had already prepared for this a long time. He had the confidence to consume the Ming family and was not here to accept the Ming family’s defection. 

  Since he was able to consume the Ming family regardless of the time, why would he still haggle with the Ming family to obtain their surrender? 

  It was not because he did not want to, or could not do so, in was because he disdained to do so. ……

  The clean breeze seeped through the door and blew away the lingering smells of food in the courtyard. It also blew away a trace of the firecrackers scent on the heavy atmosphere that could still not be moved. Tension filled the courtyard, like millennia-old ice or a massive rock at the bottom of a river. The spring sun and wind could not melt it, and the large waves in the river could not move it. 

  The voice of the transport company official responsible for the announcements had become raspy, not because he had spoken too much or not had drunk enough water, it was only because he was nervous. 

  The merchants along the A and B corridors in each room could not remain seated. Separated by the lattice windows and standing within the high thresholds, they nervously watched outside. 

  There was still the bidding for the last four palace treasury lots. After two rounds of bidding, no one was still cheering. No one was even wiping away the cold sweat from their foreheads. 

  The Quanzhou Sun family, who had been scared by the Ming family in the morning, listened to the prices with a pale face. His eyes looked listlessly outside and was scared anew by those two crazy families. All the merchants felt that today they had their eyes opened wide, but at the same time, they had also been greatly shocked. 

  That was silver! How could the Ming family in room A1 and the Xia family in room B4 dare to throw it out like that? Was there no difference, in their eyes, between those thick stacks of banknotes and waste paper? 

  Lingnan Xiong looked outside with red eyes and could not believe his own ears. He asked the accounts master beside him, “Did the announcer report it wrong last time?” 

  The accounts master of the Xiong family wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. “A number audited by the Flower Hall, how could it be wrong……my god, a few of the Xia master’s brothers were killed yesterday and today he is ruthless and crazy……but this Ming family is actually going crazy with him! The old Ming master isn’t a bandit.” 

  Xiong Bailing was so nervous he didn’t have time to swallow his saliva. It stuck in the middle and he almost choked. He turned his hand, took the tea from the hand of one of his subordinates, and chugged it down. He lowered his voice and cursed, “Even if Xia Qifei is the Seventh Ming, I think that the two brothers are fighting with real fire……watching brothers fight is very exciting. It looks like the Ming family are all a bit crazy.” 

  It was not only the announcer whose voice was shaking and the Jiangnan merchants who couldn’t stop wiping away their sweat, even the three figures sitting in the main hall were beginning to become nervous. 

  Hearing the prices for the second round, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng met each other’s gazes, and their faces became completely pale. The two of them had never thought that the palace treasury bidding for the final four bound lots would be raised by Fan Xian and the Ming family to……such a horrifying price. 

  \r \r \r 

  The Ming family was definitely going to suffer a loss on these four bound lots, and it was going to be a great loss. For Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng, the less that entered the Ming family’s accounts, the silver that could not see the light of day that was sent from Jiangnan to the capital would lessen greatly. Thinking of this, their stares at Fan Xian became somewhat poisonous. 

  Although Fan Xian had a powerful state of mind to maintain his outward appearance of calm, a careful observer would still be able to see the slight tremor at the washed and starched sleeves of the imperial envoy’s official purple robes, the slightly tight press of the thin and delicate lips, and the slight redness below his earlobes. 

  After all, an occasion like this was rare to see. The Qing Emperor was said to be the richest person in the world. Fan Xian would dare to bet that the Qing Emperor, who had never entered the warehouse of the Ministry of Revenue, had never seen so many banknotes that floated through the sky with the raspy and shaky voice of the official announcer. 

  11,500,00 liang of silver! 

  Ten years after the establishment of the Qing Kingdom, the finances and taxes of the entire country added together was only 10 million liang! Even in today’s extremely wealthy Qing Kingdom, an amount of silver that large was still an unbelievable number. If this 10 million was used to buy death soldiers in Jiangnan, it would be enough to destroy the small countries all around Dongyi with just the wave of a hand. It was enough to be a tyrant in a region. 

  An amount of silver this large, how many beauties could it buy? How many warhorses and weaponry could it make? If the entire amount was invested into the people’s welfare, how many riverbanks could it fix? How many pots of porridge could it cook? How many halls could it open? How many people could it save? Yet……if it were all changed into silver ingots, how many people could it crush? 

  The 5 million in the morning was already the highest bid in the history of the palace treasury, yet the afternoon had easily broken the record. Particularly in the second round of bidding, the Ming family forcefully pushed the price above 10 million. This not only broke the record, it also broke everyone’s psychological barriers. 

  This outcome was because of a few reasons, of course credit laid with the situation the Ming family was currently in, beset with difficulties inside and outside, as well as the large amounts of silver and gold that Fan Xian had borrowed from the hands of the Northern Qi Emperor. The Ming family needed to win this bid, and Xia Qifei had the power to hedge it. After all of these factors were added together, it created this horrifying number. 

  Fan Xian drank some tea and forced down the emotions in his heart. He made a hidden gesture. 

  Enough, stop here. Have a rest. Have a rest. ……

  It was not until now that Fan Xian gradually understood Ming Qingda’s thoughts, the Emperor’s thoughts, many people’s thoughts. 

  When Ming Qingda was bidding, he closely followed Fan Xian’s plan. One reason was the pressure from Xinyang. The thoughts for another reason were a little mysterious. He did nothing but give silver to those around. If he bid a low price, he must give a portion of what he earned to Xinyang. If he bid a high price, it was the same as giving the silver to the palace treasury, which was the same as giving it to the Emperor and Fan Xian. 

  Ming Qingda saw that the matter was difficult and the court needed his silver, so he decided to go all out. He wished he could bring out half of his family business, then he could both win the bid and align with Fan Xian’s intentions. Then of the people he couldn’t afford to offend on either side, he wouldn’t have offended either. 

  The only pity was offending the money. This much silver and gold, who knew how many years it would take before the Ming family recovered their strength? The so-called spending money to avoid disaster, this time the Ming family had really put down blood money on avoiding disaster. 

  From Fan Xian’s perspective, the Ming family’s financial power had already reached a terrifying stage. The Qing Emperor would definitely not allow this kind of existence to expand. He would either weaken the other party or completely destroy them. 

  This was the true purpose the Emperor sent Fan Xian to Jiangnan. 

  And Ming Qingda had also clearly grasped this intention. 

  However, back in the day Shen Wansan still died. Would the Ming family survive? These were future matters, and Fan Xian did not have a way to completely control it. However, Fan Xian felt that the Ming family’s behavior was very useful, so he had made a hand gesture to stop Xia Qifei bidding. 

  He was not purposely causing mischief or being merciful, rather, Fan Xian knew that the old Ming master had not finished performing his show. Eleven million and five hundred thousand liang of silver was already enough. Fan Xian did not want the court to discuss too much and bring him too many negative evaluations. 

  Seeing that the bandits of room B4 had stopped bidding, everyone, including the officials and merchants, did not feel anger at not seeing the whole show. Rather, they all let out a breath at the same time like a heavy weight had been lifted off their shoulders. 

  The bidding this afternoon was too terrifying; that number was too sensitive. The merchants did not wish to cause something bad to happen, and the officials also did not wish for the situation to develop to an explosive degree. 

  In the Flower Hall, the Ministry of Revenue and the palace treasury worked together and began auditing work. They finally confirmed the lot and used a vermillion brush to carefully and nervously write the documents, then handed it to the front hall. 

  The announcing official walked to the stone steps. He swallowed to soothe his hoarse and scorching throat. In a shaky he voice he said, “Goods along the southeast roads, the water roads, four lots bound together. Room A1, Ming family, 11,500,000 liang……wins!” 

  No one cheered, no one clamored. Everyone wished they could quickly escape the courtyard of the palace treasury and get as far away from this number as possible. 

  “Father! Father!” 

  It was at this moment, a cry of alarm came from inside room A1, closest to the main hall. 

  In a moment, everyone rose from their chairs in shock and looked in that direction. They didn’t know what had happened to the Ming family. 

  “Father! What’s wrong? Help! Help! Come save him!” 

  From room A1 came the panicked sounds of young master Ming Lanshi as he called for him. In the clamor, officials quickly pushed open the door and entered. Only then did they discover that the master of the Ming family, Ming Qingda’s face was ashen and he had fainted on the ground. 

  Regardless of official or merchant, everyone thought they knew what had happened. Everyone thought that the master of the Ming family was pressured by internal and external pressures to forcefully take this four bound lot and had been forced to pay an astronomical amount. Thinking of the fact that the Ming family may deteriorate because of this sum, the old Ming master was attacked by anxiety and had thus fainted and could not wake up. 

  Everyone knew who had forced the Ming family to their present miserable circumstances. All the eyes in the courtyard swung unconsciously toward the imperial envoy standing on the stone step. 

  Fan Xian did not panic. He narrowed his eyes and chided, “What are you all panicked about? Quickly seal the warehouse and deposit the silver. When the process is done, quickly send Master Ming to the doctor!” 

  There was an entire procedure for the opening and closing of the palace treasury. There were also a lot of banknotes in the courtyard, so it took some time before the still unconscious Master Ming was lifted out and put on a Ming carriage, which Fan Xian had given special permission to drive to the door, and was taken directly to the doctors.” ……

  No one had expected that the lively palace treasury bidding, which had created a number of new records and caused so many dangers, would have such a dismal and dull ending. 

  Watching the Ming carriage drive away and thinking of the Ming master whose life hung in the balance, the Jiangnan merchants couldn’t but help sigh incessantly as a few threads of sympathy welled up in their hearts. 

  The Ming family left first. After the merchants had been inspected, they also left the palace treasury courtyard. The rest were all officials, who began the final winding up work. 

  Since they made a living through selling money, the work of checking the 40 percent deposit was the most important. 

  The three important figures stood in the Flower Hall and watched as the Ministry of Revenue and transport company officials registered the accounts and applied the seal. 

  Fan Xian saw at the very bottom of the Ming family’s final 4 million liang deposit a thick stack of banknotes issued from Zhaoshang money house. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he knew this matter was finally complete. 

  In his original plan, when the Ming family was forced to use the Zhaoshang issued banknotes for the last four bound lots, Fan Xian had to purposely make it difficult for them. After all, Zhaoshang’s reputation was not as good as Tianxia’s. When the time came, Eunuch Huang and Guo Zheng would speak up for the Ming family and, thus, Fan Xian could once again remove himself of all suspicion. 

  Only, he hadn’t expected Ming Qingda to do things so cleanly. Fan Xian was too lazy to make a fuss about the small things. Only when Ming Qingda fainted at the end…… 

  “Pretend, keep on pretending.” 

  Fan Xian smiled coldly in his heart but wore a sympathetic expression on his face. He sighed to the Eunuch Huang beside him and said, “The Ming family won the bid with difficulty, but Master Ming is indeed quite advanced in years and cannot suffer these surprises and has fainted. It will be fine as long as this happy matter doesn’t turn into a funeral.” 

  Eunuch Hong, who was rubbing his fingers and drooling over the silver, was still slightly nervous. Hearing the imperial envoy speak, he almost broke his finger in shock. He opened his mouth to curse but did not dare to do so. How can there be people like you who play with others and then make such cynical remarks? 

  Eunuch Huang huffed angrily and did not say anything. Instead, Guo Zheng smiled superficially and said, “This year, the palace treasury’s income is a full 80 percent more than previous years. Once this gets back to Jingdou, the Emperor will definitely heavily reward you. You’ll certainly be granted the title of king or marquis imminently.” 

  Given Fan Xian’s identity and the power he currently held, his future titles as king and marquis was sure to happen. He didn’t want to hear Guo Zheng’s fawning. He smiled coldly and said, “It is all due to you all and the Jiangnan merchants who are so considerate of the court. To be willing to suffer heavy losses to supplement the palace treasury……as for myself, I have not been of much use in this matter.” 

  Guo Zheng choked and thought: Today the Ming family almost soiled their pants, isn’t that all your doing? And you have the face to say you have not done much? He huffed coldly and did not speak anymore. Only in his heart he endlessly cursed, Act, keep on acting!