Chapter 53: CH 53

Xie Yu Zhi gave him a meaningful look, and then he reached out to fix Chen Miao Ping’s clothes. He smoothed the wrinkles away, checking him over twice before saying, 

“If so, that’s good. If you are obedient enough not to go around and spread your seeds, the money will be your money. If you aren’t obedient enough…… Don’t hold a grudge against me if I take over and manage it for you.”

Don’t worry. For the good of money, I would not.

Chen Miao Ping internally was feeling a bit complicated and felt like he had somehow exposed a terrible weakness of his. He clutched onto his money pouch that was currently in danger and uneasily went out to patrol. Any entertainment houses that he knew were on a street, he made sure to go in a big circle to avoid them. Qian Tong joked with him,

“Da-Ren is really an amazing individual. Since you have taken up the position, there haven’t been any more troublemakers from high status or wealthy families. There haven’t even been any incidents of them galloping on a horse wildly through the streets.”

Chen Miao Ping said, 

“This is only the second day. What could you see? Perhaps……”

Before he even finished, there was the sound of tables and stands being flipped and destroyed nearby. All around were gasps from the commoners and even the birds were flying in flocks away from the scene. 

He looked over to where the sound originated from and saw four barbaric-looking men in the middle of the road. Their faces were long and their noses looked like hooks. They wore long robes made of a leather material tied down with a waist belt and scandals on their feet, with each side of their head tied into braids. It did not seem like they were people from around here.

Qian Tong had retired from the army and he had never felt his face get slapped this hard since he joined the army. He narrowed his eyes in uncertainty, 

“Da-Ren, those people seem to be from the Liao Empire.”

A year ago, the Liao Empire had invaded the borders of Da Jin. The Emperor specifically sent General Yuan to hold up the borders, and this one war was waged for more than half a year with the conclusion being a loss for the army of the Liao Empire. 

Right after that terrible loss, the head of the empire passed away and the new king sent a letter of surrender, specifically sending emissaries to represent their sincerity. Counting the days, they should be arriving within these couple of days.

This was related to the affairs of the country, so Chen Miao Ping could not even pretend he didn’t see it and said to Qian Tong, 

“Let’s go. We should check out what’s going on.”

Seeing that the men were all very buff, he was afraid that there would be an incident that could result in something bad for him. So he specifically called back all the subordinates  patrolling the other areas, and brought them with him to the scene. Because of the sight of him leading a gang of soldiers behind him, they presented a dangerous aura of people who shouldn’t be messed with, and all the common folk immediately got out of the way to let them pass.

“Ah! It’s Chen Da-Ren!”

“This should be good. Chen Da-Ren is here, what are those people from Liao going to do now!”

There were some in the group of foreigners that noticed Chen Miao Ping in his official’s outfit with a group of soldiers holding weapons behind him. They looked at each other, and at once, loosened the grasp they had on the peddler. Their yellow beady eyes stared at him like wolves eyeing their prey.

“This imperial official is the City Warden Inspector. What is this racket that is causing so much strife on the streets?!”

Chen Miao Ping knew that he must show his authority in front of the foreigners, presenting himself without an ounce of weakness. That peddler seemed to have taken the sight of him as if he was seeing his birth parents again, and he ran as if he had peed his pants multiple times, straight towards Chen Miao Ping. He grabbed onto Chen Miao Ping’s leg and started crying painfully, which made those who saw this really ache in pain for him.

“Da-Ren, please save this tiny speck of a citizen. These Liao foreigners came to my stand to eat, and they ate more than ten kilograms of lamb meat, drank more than five jugs of wine and devoured even more small dishes of other food. But they didn’t have the money to pay the bill and forced me to take their daggers as payment. This insignificant citizen said to them that their daggers aren’t worth any money and they destroyed my stand, and- and they even beat me up! Wu wu wu…..”

That peddler immediately presented to Chen Miao Ping a heavily rusted and corroded blade, the entire shine dulled and grey. It definitely did not look like it was worth any money. Chen Miao Ping took a closer look and saw that the blade was filled with a coppery red color. With this kind of dagger, even cutting tofu would be a hassle. 

This was, undoubtedly and purposefully, causing trouble.

Chen Miao Ping’s mind was flying at high speed, analyzing what his options were and should be, and he decided he should follow the ye olden rules and be polite. And if it didn’t work out, then he’ll just use force. After all, if a fight starts after, reason would be on his side. He turned his gaze towards those from the Liao Empire and lightly smiled, 

“This blade has already rusted. It can’t even be worth three copper coins. You can either present something else that is of worth as payment, or you will all be sent to the courts and be punished accordingly. Pick the option you want to go with.”

There was a gold scimitar by the waist of the leader of this group of foreigners, and it was detailed with many jewels, shining and gleaming under the bright rays of the sun. When he heard Chen Miao Ping, he had one hand on his waist as he laughed out loud. Arrogant to the brim, he said, 

“It has been said that your country is full of goods and wealth, to the point of overflowing. Since our two countries have signed a nonaggression pact, we are friends, are we not? A friend eating just a little bit from your stockpile, how could you ask for money?”

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And so everyone, from the administrative officials to the military officials, knew that the newly appointed City Warden Inspector had gone to an entertainment house yesterday. But it wouldn’t be considered a big deal, as what kind of man does not have a sexual drive? Who in their youth has not gone?

They just purely think that for Chen Miao Ping to live past the second day under Xie Yu Zhi was a curious case. There was an official from the Ministry of Rites1, Assistant Minister Shen2, who had gone to Chun Xiao House just once, and his brutish wife, who was well versed in martial arts, chased him down eight streets, brandishing a broadsword at him. His life almost flew away that day.

Xie Yu Zhi then said, 

“Wu An Hou sent someone to deliver your 7000 guan today.”

Hearing this, Chen Miao Ping’s eyes lit up and automatically shuffled closer to him, 

“In coins or banknotes?”

Xie Yu Zhi smiled very meaningfully before saying, 

“Banknotes.”

Chen Miao Ping immediately squeezed himself beside Xie Yu Zhi, attentively looking at him. He lifted Xie Yu Zhi’s right leg into his embrace, gently and carefully massaging him, 

“The days are getting cold, and your knees will easily ache with pain. When we get back home, you should treat it with some medicine. I’ll help you.”

A handsome, elegant, princely man, no matter what he did, it was as if his entire being was in love with you, doing everything drenched with love. The other’s warm palm was slowly sliding along his legs, and Xie Yu Zhi couldn’t help but remember the last time Chen Miao Ping helped him with his medicine. His ears blushed, but he coldly snorted before saying, 

“You don’t get up early if there’s no value in doing so. I don’t see you being this attentive and caring normally, you must be scheming for a scam.”

This phrasing was not right. Sleeping with his own husband is not scheming, taking back his own money cannot be counted as scamming.

Chen Miao Ping sighed, 

“Second Master, you have such a ruthless heart. How I normally treat you, do I not scrape out everything I have in this body for you? How could it be that I am not attentive and caring towards you?”

“Oh?” 

Xie Yu Zhi smiled, 

“And here I thought you wanted your money. So it was me who created such a misunderstanding.”

“What’s mine is yours. What’s yours is mine. A family should not talk about splitting.” 

Chen Miao Ping pulled on Xie Yu Zhi’s slightly cold hands, warming them up in his hold. 

“Money should not be so carelessly placed. A thin flimsy wavy sheet, what should you do if you lost it?”

So,

“Where did Second Master put it?”

Xie Yu Zhi brushed off his hands and continued to read his book, 

Notes:

*1 Ministry of Rites- a division in the Imperial Court that oversees all imperial and court rituals, managing visits by foreign dignitaries, supervising state-sponsored education, managing the civil service examination recruitment system and more along these lines.

*2 Assistant Minister Shen- there’s actually different positions that this title could be referencing based on the dynasty such as moving up in the ranks based on three categories, being an vice minister, an assistant to the head of the ministry, or an assistant to anyone in the ministry itself…

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