Chapter 369
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 .
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