After Han Qian had Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Yang Qin arrange the night watch personnel, he had everyone else go rest first.
Han Qian and Zhao Wuji went to the east courtyard. By this time, Feng Xuan and his men had already been bound by Lin Zongjing and confined together with the other trackers and Gao Bao’s group. This would prevent Feng Xuan’s subordinates from possibly leaking the secret that they had already been employed by the new Regional Inspector.
Han Qian went to the west courtyard and separately pulled out Feng Xuan and Gao Bao. His eyes fixed on the two men as he asked: “Have you ever thought that one day you could replace the Four Surnames and become the great surname and powerful clan of these mountains and waters?”
Greedy light flashed in Gao Bao’s eyes, while Feng Xuan’s pupils showed only confusion.
“No matter how the situation develops in the future, while my father is in Xuzhou, he will still need to employ mountain Yue tribespeople to do things. When the time comes, you need only not refuse,” Han Qian said to Feng Xuan.
In outsiders’ eyes, Feng Xuan was among the first batch of mountain Yue tribespeople they had contacted before entering Xuzhou. For his father to accomplish things in Xuzhou and cultivate new mountain Yue tribal leaders before the Four Surnames’ descendants, Feng Xuan was naturally a choice.
The village where Feng Xuan lived was extremely poor and destitute. To maintain their livelihood, accepting some profitable matters entrusted by the new Regional Inspector—at least before the conflict completely intensified—no one could say anything about it.
And based on what could currently be predicted, to prevent Feng Xuan from being completely employed by the new Regional Inspector and becoming a “traitor” to the mountain Yue people, the Four Surnames would inevitably also secretly try to win him over and control him.
Han Qian’s plan was to make Feng Xuan become a double agent controlled by them during this process, becoming the ant hole that would breach the dam of the Four Surnames’ great clan power in the future. Gao Bao’s task was to use his position in the Feng family as much as possible to push this matter to success, while also having him and Feng Xuan mutually cover for and mutually restrain each other.
After hearing Han Qian finish, Feng Xuan was filled with alarm and uncertainty. He had originally thought Han Qian would have him lead his tribe to openly pledge allegiance to the new Regional Inspector. He hadn’t expected Han Qian’s plan to be far more profound and meticulous than he had imagined.
Gao Bao, on the other hand, felt much more at ease.
In the heat of the moment, he had struck down Xi Cheng to save his own life, but afterward he still worried about the matter being exposed, or that the new Regional Inspector would demand he directly expose the Four Surnames’ conspiracy. In that case, not only would his wife and children left in the village have a hard time, he would also have to constantly guard against being assassinated by people arranged by the chieftain.
Han Qian’s strategy of proceeding gradually and systematically was exactly what he most hoped for. He secretly anticipated that with the new Regional Inspector’s support, there might truly come a day when he could replace the Four Surnames between the Wu Mountains and Wu Waters and become a new great surname and powerful clan.
“Very well, you may leave first. Think carefully about your story so you don’t slip up after returning,” Han Qian had Lin Zongjing lead Feng Xuan and Gao Bao away. He was extremely exhausted at this point and returned to the rear courtyard to rest first, leaving other matters to be handled tomorrow.
Zhao Ting’er and the various female family members still hadn’t gone to sleep, worried that the situation would spiral out of control.
“Why haven’t the lord and Master Fan returned yet? Did Wuji come back with the young master?” Zhao Ting’er asked worriedly while helping Han Qian remove his heavy armor.
“Why do you have no confidence in me again? Seeing me return with such a relaxed expression, you should know everything is fine,” Han Qian said with a smile.
Although Xuzhou remained cool after entering summer, there was still a thick padded layer inside the armor. After removing the armor, Han Qian reeked of sour sweat. After Zhao Ting’er had someone pour hot water into the large wooden tub, Han Qian stripped himself naked and slipped into the water bare, so comfortable he wanted to moan.
“Ting’er, come help your young master massage my shoulders,” Han Qian said, thinking of his former dissolute and frivolous lifestyle.
“Ptui! Young master, you look quite ugly all naked like that. Ting’er is afraid of going blind,” Zhao Ting’er scolded from the adjacent room, not giving Han Qian any chance to take advantage of her.
“You stubborn girl, your mouth is getting more and more sharp. Go fetch the homework I assigned you these past few days for me to review,” Han Qian said.
“The young master is very tired today. This small matter of Ting’er’s needn’t trouble the young master today,” Zhao Ting’er said.
Seeing that no matter how he threatened or coaxed, Zhao Ting’er just wouldn’t enter the room, Han Qian said resentfully: “I’ve heard that tribal girls are petite, beautiful, and obedient. Tomorrow I’ll have Zhao Kuo go to the market and buy two obedient tribal girls to serve as maids.”
“Tribal girls may look submissive and obedient, but if they hide scissors in their sleeves and the young master gets handsy, it won’t be as simple as receiving a few scoldings,” Zhao Ting’er said.
Han Qian bantered intermittently with Zhao Ting’er, who sat in the outer room. Perhaps due to excessive fatigue, he unknowingly fell asleep in the large wooden tub. When he woke from a sound sleep, he was already lying on the bed, with Zhao Ting’er sitting on the floor by the bedside, her small face resting on the bed’s edge, sleeping sweetly.
Scheming and calculating against so many people, having to plan everything flawlessly, Han Qian was mentally exhausted beyond measure. Looking at Zhao Ting’er’s delicate little face sleeping beside his pillow, with a thread of bright drool hanging from the corner of her rosy lips, Han Qian felt immensely comforted.
Zhao Ting’er slept very lightly. When Han Qian turned his body and reached out to wipe away the drool at the corner of her mouth, she woke with a start, still somewhat dazed, opening her beautiful eyes to stare at Han Qian.
“Come sleep up here and keep me company for a chat,” Han Qian said, moving inward to make room for Zhao Ting’er to come up.
“Talking like this is fine,” Zhao Ting’er said, her chin resting on the bed’s edge, her dark and lively eyes fixed on Han Qian as she asked, “When can we return to Jinling?”
“What’s wrong with here? Such a large courtyard? Where in Jinling could we live in such a beautiful courtyard?” Han Qian said. “Besides, in Xuzhou, I can truly be a second-generation heir. Back in Jinling, everyone’s background is several times more impressive than mine. It’s really quite boring.”
“Here I can’t help the young master do anything. Ting’er feels so useless,” Zhao Ting’er said coquettishly.
Han Qian smiled slightly. Throughout this journey, Zhao Ting’er and Qing Yun had been squeezed into a cramped cabin with several female family members for over a month, unable to accomplish anything.
And just arriving in Xuzhou, they immediately faced such intense confrontation. Add to that the fact that Qianyang City had only three or four thousand residents, with few people able to speak the official language, and even those with extremely strange accents—this made it impossible for Zhao Ting’er to disguise herself and go out to help gather intelligence.
Over the past year, what he had instilled in Zhao Ting’er was knowledge and concepts far beyond this era. She herself was by nature a curious girl with ambition. Naturally, one couldn’t expect her to be like Qing Yun, who even while idly confined to the residence would feel that the years were peaceful and good.
Zhao Ting’er’s thoughts of returning to Jinling were because in Jinling there was still work she could do.
“Maybe after one night’s sleep, tomorrow there will be things for you to help me with,” Han Qian said with a laugh. “With a thousand tangled threads here in Xuzhou, if you want to help me do things, how could there be nothing to do? Why don’t you come up and massage my shoulders?”
“Ptui.” Zhao Ting’er shot Han Qian a sidelong glance with her beautiful eyes, her chin resting motionlessly on the bed’s edge, making Han Qian truly want to pull her onto the bed.
Talking with Zhao Ting’er, Han Qian quickly fell back into deep sleep. He slept until the sun was high in the sky. Hearing people talking in the courtyard, he threw on his clothes and walked to the corridor, only to see Fan Xicheng standing in the courtyard talking with Zhao Ting’er. Behind Fan Xicheng stood an elderly man wearing blue official robes, quite deferentially looking in this direction.
“Has everything at the provincial prison been handled? Where’s my father?” Han Qian asked.
“The lord is still at the provincial prison. Six prisoners are physically weak. After Lord Zhao examined them, they seem to have contracted miasma poisoning. The lord sent me to bring Lord Zhao here to see if the anti-miasma wine would work…” Fan Xicheng said.
With over four hundred prisoners with light sentences to be pardoned and released, this wasn’t something that could be handled in a short time. And to have these four hundred-plus released prisoners with light sentences remember this pardoning grace and transform it into a powerful factor for stabilizing the Xuzhou situation required Han Daoxun’s personal attention.
Fan Xicheng then introduced the blue-robed elder behind him as the prefectural Medical Academy Doctor Zhao Zhixian.
Six hundred years ago, Ge Hong had written in the “Emergency Formulas to Keep Up One’s Sleeve” that sweet wormwood was effective in treating malaria. However, the contemporary era hadn’t found the correct processing method for sweet wormwood and other medicines. Using conventional decoction methods severely destroyed the effective anti-malarial components contained in sweet wormwood, causing sweet wormwood’s medicinal efficacy in treating malaria to not be very obvious.
Zhai Xinping from the dream realm’s knowledge of medicine wasn’t much higher than the common sense possessed by ordinary people. However, a thousand years later, China’s successful extraction of artemisinin from sweet wormwood was sensational news that continued for many years as a hot topic. Therefore, Han Qian knew that using alcohol to extract sweet wormwood at low temperatures was an effective means of processing anti-miasma medicine.
It was now midsummer with mosquitoes rampant. When Han Qian was in Jinling, he had prepared some anti-miasma wine—first, to have on hand for the household troops and family members, and second, thinking that if he had the opportunity to go to Xuzhou, he could sell it as a life-saving miracle medicine at a high price to fill the deficit.
Of course, Han Qian worried his father would play the bleeding heart, so he hadn’t even told his father the formula for the anti-miasma wine. The several bottles of anti-miasma wine temporarily made in Jinling were kept by Zhao Ting’er.
It seemed his precaution was truly correct. If those several bottles of anti-miasma wine weren’t being kept by Zhao Ting’er, who knows—Fan Xicheng might have already taken them directly to give to the prisoners.
Damn it, never mind the effort he had spent on this matter—in this era, who knew how difficult it was to produce truly high-purity alcohol!
Han Qian had seen Zhao Zhixian yesterday, but like most other officials, Zhao Zhixian hadn’t been particularly enthusiastic about attending yesterday’s banquet. When viewing the suppression of the riot at the provincial prison, his mind had also wandered, and afterward he left early. Therefore, Han Qian didn’t have a deep impression of him.
Han Qian thought to himself that he must have been summoned by his father to the provincial prison early this morning to examine and treat the prisoners.
Han Qian cupped his hands toward Zhao Zhixian as a greeting, then said to Zhao Ting’er: “The anti-miasma wine is hard to come by. Portion out two cups for Master Fan to take out and have the sick prisoners take orally diluted with ten parts water.” He specifically emphasized the amount of two cups, lest Zhao Ting’er foolishly give Fan Xicheng the entire bottle of anti-miasma wine.
Zhao Ting’er went into the inner room to fetch the wine. Han Qian stood in the corridor telling Zhao Zhixian and Fan Xicheng how difficult it was to obtain this anti-miasma wine, and that when giving it to the sick prisoners, they must emphasize this point and not think it was just some quack doctor’s prescription.
Zhao Zhixian hesitated for quite a while before finally making up his mind to take out a silk handkerchief-wrapped package from his bosom and hand it over, saying: “Yesterday was too rushed, and I didn’t prepare any gift for your lordship’s assumption of office. The lord is busy with official duties at the provincial prison with no time to spare. This humble small gift—I can only ask Young Master Han to accept it with a smile on his behalf.”
Fan Xicheng’s eyes widened round as saucers. Zhao Zhixian had said at the provincial prison that he wanted to personally accompany him to take a look at the anti-miasma wine. Unexpectedly, it turned out Zhao Zhixian felt it inconvenient to give gifts directly to the lord at the provincial prison, so he specially made the trip to Furong Garden to deliver the gift into the hands of the young master, Han Qian.
Seeing that Zhao Zhixian was truly quite a tactful and sensible person, Han Qian was so enthusiastic he wanted to grab his hand and kiss it twice.
Taking the silk handkerchief package, Han Qian opened it carelessly to find it contained two superior white jade bracelets. Even in Jinling these would be worth over a hundred thousand cash. Thinking that with Zhao Zhixian’s official salary as prefectural Medical Academy Doctor, this was already quite a generous gift, he cheerfully tucked them into his robe sleeves and cupped his hands toward Zhao Zhixian with a smile: “Lord Zhao, you’re truly too polite.” Then he called into the inner room, “Ting’er, we brought some preserved fruit from Jinling. Package some for Lord Zhao.”
Someone had given two superior white jade bracelets, and Han Qian shamelessly accepted them, then only gave back a package of preserved fruit as a return gift. Fan Xicheng felt so embarrassed he wanted to turn around and leave this courtyard that made him uncomfortable.