After seeing Yuwen Tong off the night before, Ling Zhang was absent-minded all along this day. At noon, a store assistant came to the manor from the capital city to report the state of the drugstore. During the couple of days following the grand opening, the aggregate size of orders had been amazingly large, but after that, sales volumes had slowly declined. Recently the business had been going relatively steady.
Wang Qing had sent this store assistant here to tell Ling Zhang that his negotiations with a trading fleet from the Fangcun Kingdom had been going well, that the company had agreed to reserve one third of every shipment of the kind of rare herbs Ling Zhang wanted for the Ling’s Drugstore, but they requested a face-to-face meeting with the proprietor of the drugstore. If the cooperation went smoothly, the company would consider selling all this kind of herbs they owned to the Ling’s Drugstore.
Overjoyed, Ling Zhang asked the store assistant, “When do they want to meet?”
“Their ship departs for the Fangcun Kingdom in three days, Young Master.”
Ling Zhang thought for a while and then said, “You may go outside and have some rest. I’ll make some arrangements and then go back to the city with you.”
Had he known this beforehand, he would’ve returned to the city with Yuwen Tong the night before.
Ling Zhang informed Ji Yin of this matter. The latter exhorted him to be careful.
Wang Dashan, taking Qiu Bing and the other ten with him, would be accompanying Ling Zhang providing protection. Yang Liuzi and the other eleven were staying, and Ji Yin would personally instruct them. Xie Shi was also staying, excited at the prospect of seeing Ji Yin train them. Qiu Bing, however, was so happy to know his master shifu wouldn’t be tormenting him for some time that he was almost reduced to grabbing Ling Zhang’s sleeve and dissolving into tears.
“Young Master, my master shifu is so horrible. He’s literally a monster,” Qiu Bing complained tearfully.
Lately, in order to learn skills from Xie Shi, Qiu Bing had gone through all sorts of hardships and been having nightmares at night about Xie Shi, which always ended with him waking with a start.
Feeling fairly sympathetic to him, Ling Zhang clapped him on the shoulder and boomed, “Hang in there.”
Qiu Bing almost burst into tears. He really didn’t want to stick to it at all.
After some quick thinking, Ling Zhang decided to be a little more encouraging. “Don’t forget your great original aspiration. You promised me you’ll become a master of detoxification for my sake. I’m counting on you to ensure my safety.”
Qiu Bing wiped his tears, regretting having made that reckless promise. Woebegone, he said, “Yes, Young Master. I’ll stick to it. You can count on me.”
After consoling Qiu Bing, Ling Zhang took Wang Dashan and the others out of the manor. Instead of a carriage, he chose Snowflake the horse, for it was much faster and he would be able to reach the city at dusk.
They traveled at full speed the whole journey and got to the city gate at dusk before the sun set completely behind the mountains. After entering, they went to the drugstore first.
Wang Qing was pleasantly surprised to see Ling Zhang. He had originally thought that Ling Zhang wouldn’t return until the next day.
“Where are people of the trading fleet from the Fangcun Kingdom? Would it be convenient for them to have a meeting with me tomorrow?” asked Ling Zhang on entry.
“They’ve been staying right at the Four Seas Inn. These two days they’re specially waiting for you to come back to meet them, so any time is convenient for them. How about I have someone go there and tell them the meeting is scheduled for tomorrow?” Wang Qing quickly collected his thoughts.
Ling Zhang nodded. “Okay. Tomorrow morning then.”
Now that Ling Zhang had come back, Wang Qing naturally gave him a minute report on the recent condition of the drugstore, which was much more detailed than the one given by that store assistant. Ling Zhang read over the account book of the drugstore, checking every other drugstore that had been in cooperation with him as well as every drug merchant that had bought herbs from his drugstore in bulks. It was only when he’d got a general idea of them that he put the account book down.
After unhurriedly getting informed of the business situation of the drugstore during the few days following his leaving the city, Ling Zhang asked about the trading company of the Fangcun Kingdom. “Now fill me in on that trading fleet from the Fangcun Kingdom.”
Wang Qing began, “Their captain’s name is Luo Sang. He’s around thirty-five or so, of medium height, sturdy, quite good at Chinese. He’s on voyages between the Fangcun Kingdom and the Great Yue almost all the year round. On average, he comes here twice a year, and this is his first voyage this year. There are fifty crew members in total in his trading fleet. They mainly provide transportation service for one company. Their master is the mayor of Wantao City, the biggest port city of the Fangcun Kingdom, and which is why he has access to the herbs you want, Young Master. But Luo Sang said that even his master could only get a limited amount of this kind of herb every year. Most of it goes to the royal household of the Fangcun Kingdom. And mayors of other cities scramble to purchase it as well, so the price is very high.”
“What’s their price?”
Wang Qing gave him a number.
Ling Zhang thought for a while. This price was ten percent higher than the one he knew, but he believed it was acceptable if Luo Sang would some day sell the whole shipment of this kind of herb to him. However, he couldn’t agree to this price without bargaining. “Don’t accept their price too quick during tomorrow’s meeting. We should talk to them about it.”
Wang Qing, who shared Ling Zhang’s opinion, bobbed his head.
“Wantao City is the biggest port city of the Fangcun Kingdom?” inquired Ling Zhang.
Wang Qing had had some dealings with several Fangcun trading fleets and had more acquaintance with them, so he replied, “Yes. According to Luo Sang, ships berthed in the harbor outside Wantao City are huge; apart from the Great Yue, those ships also travel to the Luohai Kindom as well as areas further south. Wantao City is the wealthiest city in the Fangcun Kingdom. On top of that, it also owns the finest navy in Fangcun. The mayorship of Wantao City is hereditary, but the mayor’s family also intermarry with the royal household every generation. They’re fairly close.”
Ling Zhang had a thoughtful look on his face. The Fangcun Kingdom was relatively near to the Great Yue, but it would still take several days to get there by sea. About one third the size of the Great Yue, this country was neither large nor small. It was currently the biggest overseas force.
After having Wang Qing give him some more information about that Fangcun trading fleet in detail, Ling Zhang pondered over it for a while and then made a lot of preparations, including sending a servant to find someone proficient in Fangcun language. Although that Luo Sang guy was fluent in Chinese, other crew members’ Chinese were terrible, and they communicated with each other in Fangcun language. With someone adept at Fangcun language at his disposal, he might be able to get some extra information when the occasion arose.
Given that this would be their first cooperation, it was impossible for everything to go perfectly well. There’d be things they needed to work through and it would take time, but he was not going to let them get the best of him.
“Fangcun trading fleets come here all the year around, so it won’t be difficult to find someone fluent in Fangcun language. I’ll go and look for one right away. You’ll have him at your service tomorrow morning,” said Wang Qing.
Ling Zhang gave a nod and told Wang Qing to start making preparations. “Get me someone reliable, someone who won’t double-cross us.”
Wang Qing’s countenance went grave. “I understand.”
After these matters were settled, Wang Dashan asked Ling Zhang, “Shall we go back to the residence, Young Master?”
“Yeah.”
Wang Dashan, walking Ling Zhang towards the door, said, “Just now Qiu Bing went back to the residence first and was told that the Marshal had never returned, and some citizens said the Marshal had gone back to the residential compound of Yuwen family. Do you want me to have the Marshal informed?”
This meant that Yuwen Tong was going to spend the night in the residential compound of Yuwen family and probably wouldn’t return to the Ling Mansion.
Ling Zhang thought for a while. “Send someone to tell him about it. He went back to the Yuwen family to attend to something, so there’s no need to have him specially return to my place.”
“Yes, Young Master,” Wang Dashan answered and then instructed Zhou Xiang to deliver the message.
It was completely dark when he returned to the Ling Mansion. Qiu Bing had gone back to inform them, so Xia Feng had some time ago had bathwater and dinner ready.
“Young Master, it must’ve been a tiring journey. You should go and have a bath first,” observed Xia Feng, walking up and holding the reins of Snowflake.
Ling Zhang patted Snowflake on the side and said, “It’s been a tough journey for Snowflake as well. Make sure she’s well tended.”
Xia Feng smiled, “Rest assured, Young Master, I promise Snowflake will get all she needs. Whitie didn’t come back with you?”
“He fell off halfway, so I told him to go back to keep my grandfather company.”
Beaming, Xia Feng led Snowflake to the side and a servant came over to take Snowflake to the stable, where she would be served like a master.
Ling Zhang was travel-stained all over and his robes were wet with sweat. On entering his courtyard house, he hurried to the bathroom and bathed himself. It was after drying his hair and changing into clean clothes that he sat down to have dinner.
There were usually two servings of dinner on the table, but on this occasion, there was only one. Ling Zhang felt somewhat unused to this.
“Did anything particular happen these days?” Ling Zhang inquired of Xia Feng.
Xia Feng replied, “A couple of men came here to make inquiries. I drove them away. There were also several men showing up to recommend themselves as servants; I chucked them off as well. Everything’s fine except for these occurrences. The Marshal has left a couple of his bodyguards. With their presence, no thieves or rascals have ever dared to intrude.”
Ling Zhang smiled. This residential compound of his was now known far and wide. If some gangster dared intrude, he would definitely be doing it under a powerful master’s orders. Not long before, a lot of spies from various sides had been showing up non-stop, covertly and overtly. Fortunately Xia Feng had been very strict with the security and chucked off all those recommending themselves as servants except for the ones he’d selected himself. Servants had to follow rigorous rules when going through the front gates as well. Now even these servants had developed great discernment and were capable of seeing through those having sinister motives and driving them away, which spared Xia Feng a lot of trouble. There were also guards hidden in the dark. Spies who had lightness skills were unable to get in except for the occasion when Yuwen Tong had been “nursing his injury” and let some of them in on purpose.
At that time, the emperor had also left some of his bodyguards, all of whom had been instructed to stake out the residential compound. Yuwen Tong had chucked them out immediately after his “recovery”.
“Is there any news about the Zhongxin Marquess?” asked Ling Zhang.
These days Xia Feng, who had established a strict management system in the Ling Mansion, had been expanding his intelligence network. Now he had his own team of spies who were keeping watch on various forces in the capital city.
“The Zhongxin Marquess claimed to be sick. His Majesty sent a court physician to his place to help, and then word got out that the court physician said the Zhongxin Marquess had overworked himself, and His Majesty granted the Zhongxin Marquess sick leave, telling him to rest at home until a full recovery.”
Ling Zhang furrowed his brows. “Is the Zhongxin Marquess really ill or is he just faking it?”
“All servants in his residence seem as calm as usual, and it doesn’t strike me that their master is ill.”
An official like the Zhongxin Marquess was the pillar of his whole family. If he were really ill, everybody else in the residence would be harassed-looking, for their well-being depended heavily on their master’s well-being. Had their master really fallen ill, their definitely would’ve been signs of it on their faces.
Ling Zhang came to understand that the Zhongxin Marquess must’ve been pretending to be ill to express his disgruntlement about the emperor’s decision to build a mausoleum, but the emperor, instead of appeasing him, actually had told the Zhongxin Marquess to stay at home nursing his illness until recovery, allowing him to be off from work. Wasn’t he deliberately alienating the Zhongxin Marquess? It seemed that the emperor was quite displeased with the Zhongxin Marquess’ trying to stop him from building a mausoleum. Even if the Zhongxin Marquess was not ill, he would probably fall ill from anger.
What with his close relationship with Yuwen Tong, it was inconvenient for him to pay a personal visit to Ji Feng’s grandfather, though he wanted to, for the emperor might become suspicious if he did that, which would bring trouble to the Zhongxin Marquess. Eventually, Ling Zhang had no alternative but to instruct Xia Feng to prepare some gifts, and then personally deliver them to the Zhongxin Marquess’ abode and hand them to Ji Feng the next day.
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