Chapter Eighty Leaving the Capital

  Onsan Base

  The jade stone pool emitted a pure white light, warming and cleansing Yang Yu's body. The spiritual energy was abundant, and after inhaling and exhaling, her entire chest felt extremely comfortable.

  It's just a bathtub, not to mention the time and effort spent on carving the array of the refining masters. It's truly made of white jade, over two meters long, one meter wide, with edges as thick as ten centimeters. Who would have thought that even a wealthy tycoon would dare to indulge in such luxury? And yet, it's not just about the material, but also the spiritual energy emanating from this beautiful jade. Spending three to five billion is probably just the cost price. No wonder those who obtain the Time and Space Gate can cultivate so quickly - with conditions like these, even a wooden puppet could be transformed into an immortal.

  Yang Yunqiu spent a considerable amount of time collecting so many spirit stones, all of which were jade stones that absorbed spiritual energy the easiest. It took her half a year after entering the Hanlin Academy to complete the collection.

  After soaking in the bath for an hour, Yang Yunqiu finally crawled out and put on her clothes.

  Gunfire echoed from underground.

  Yang Yunqiu had gone for a stroll with Li Da and twenty guards, entering the shooting range to play a game of survival, trying out various terrains.

  The final result was quite good, all twenty of them were excellent marksmen. Yang Yunqiu was very satisfied, and what he was even more pleased with was that the twenty people he had chosen were all of a particularly good character, honest and loyal, and could be trusted to follow him faithfully, which was far better than those professional bodyguards in the 21st century.

  "Young master, you're going to Qingzhou for a job, how can you go alone? It's not good at other times, take me with you."

  Li Da circled around Yang Yunqiu, "Dali Ge is so careless, driving for you is not stable, and when he goes hunting, the prey bleeds too much, making the meat not fresh and tender, lacking in blood and energy, it's hard to eat. I know the young master's taste."

  Yang Yunqiu sipped the ginseng soup in small mouthfuls, regulating her breath. She raised her head to see Li Dabai standing beside her with an unusually sincere expression, and suddenly couldn't help but laugh: "Alright, stop spouting nonsense or I'll give you a good scolding. This time going to Qingzhou will definitely require many hands, all twenty of you will follow."

  Li was overjoyed at once.

  This is not deceiving them, Qingzhou and Quanzhou are tens of thousands of miles apart, even the local accent is different. Yang Yunqiu went to Qingzhou, even if he can speak Mandarin now, which is relatively awkward, but he always felt that in order to work well in a place, he must integrate more deeply, and must relearn the local language, thinking about it slightly also knows how much workload there is, bringing some helpers makes it easier to work.

  Qingzhou is a good place, rich in mineral resources, with plenty of spiritual stone resources. The people are simple and honest, and the culture is flourishing. However, recently it seems that a group of bandits has appeared in the mountains.

  The Yin Dynasty was still in its heyday, and these so-called rebels were not a match for them. Yang Yunqiu understood that the Emperor intentionally wanted to give him the credit for eliminating the rebels.

  "You twenty come with me and take a special passage back to the capital first, the guard team leaves half to defend the base and continue training, and the other half goes by sea to Qingzhou to meet us."

  Yang Yunqiu briefly instructed a few words and called the two maids, Yu Rongyu and Yu Yan, who had just been trained, to stay behind and take good care of Chen Juhua. Since he had obtained the original host's body, even if the original host was already dead when he arrived, he still wanted to fulfill the original host's wishes.

  In the past, Sun Zhaoming had little attachment to his father, Sun Zhifu. Perhaps due to Sun Zhaoyang's influence, he didn't like Sun Zhifu, but towards Chen Jyuniang, who was also somewhat cold and distant, he was filled with filial piety and wanted to be a good son to make her happy. His weakness and self-abasement couldn't conceal his desire to be a good son.

  Yang Yunqiu didn't understand, but since this person's idea was like that, he should at least take good care of Chen Junniang and let the woman get the life she wanted.

  After dealing with some trivial matters, Yang Yunqiu ordered Li Da and the others to bring their equipment, and then led them through the transmission array to the mansion in the capital.

  Li Da was still experiencing the teleportation array for the first time, and this instantaneous thousand-mile feeling made his whole body tremble violently. As for the others, two of them fainted from fright, while the rest were left floating lightly and unable to stand steadily.

  Yang Yunqiu cried and laughed: "Alright, remember, your identities are all my hired servants. Climb over the wall and come in through the front door once, I'll inform the doorman, they won't interrogate you."

  It's just twenty people, with Yang Yunqiu's current status, although he is only a sixth-grade official, in the imperial city, even hiring a hundred servants would be a trivial matter.

  As a poor Hanlin, of course, there is not so much silver to support people, but don't forget that Yang Yunqiu's other identity is also the owner of Zhenbaoge. With just this one Zhenbaoge, it's no problem to support tens of thousands of people.

  Li Da led the men into the Fu residence, and as expected, they didn't attract anyone's attention. They remained inconspicuous, just like they usually did when training in hiding and concealment on the beams of other mansions.

  Yang Yunqiu was busy packing his luggage, letting them go, anyway, he would be leaving the capital soon, and it wouldn't take long. Besides, these people had to put on makeup when they went out, even if something went wrong, they could still run away, and they wouldn't reveal him. If he didn't have this bit of confidence, he wouldn't waste his precious contract.

  Li Da and his men indeed didn't stir up any trouble.

  A little fellow had been listening at the eaves of the outer house of King Jing for three days, and those guards were completely unaware.

  Yang Yunqiu couldn't help but praise her for being bold enough.

  This time, Li Shanshan did not leave the capital with them. It's not that she didn't trust Rouzi, Rouzi had signed a contract, even if she wanted to be disobedient, it wouldn't work. The Zhenbao Pavilion was handed over to her, and Yang Yunqiu could completely rest assured.

  But Li Shanshan's condition has now improved a lot, and she is very interested in doing business recently. She also set up an orphanage to take care of the elderly and orphans who have no one to rely on. Recently, she is also preparing for a relief association, wanting to give those women who were rescued by the government after being trafficked a way to survive.

  These women who were once abducted, even if their husbands' families disdain them, and even if the husband's heart is kind and cannot bear to divorce his wife, will spend the rest of their lives in solitude. If they are of a strong temperament, they may have already taken their own lives rather than suffer humiliation.

  Li Shanshan wanted to give them a new path that could support themselves.

  Yang Yunqiu was very supportive, as long as it was beneficial for the girl's spirit, she could do whatever she wanted.

  Yang Yunqiu was about to leave, but Li Shanshan didn't react much. She wasn't bad at her job, and once she got into the right mindset, she wouldn't worry about anything. However, Rouge was worried about what would happen to Zhenbao Pavilion after he left.

  At first, there was nothing going on, but since Jinbao Pavilion developed, it's not that no one wants to get involved.

  Even with the support of the Crown Prince.

  This is the capital, where a brick can hit seven royal relatives out of ten people. The remaining three must also be treated with caution. The Treasure Pavilion makes so much money that who wouldn't covet it? Especially now, when all the princes are competing for the throne, whoever wants to seize power needs a lot of silver and money. Not to mention just the Crown Prince's slightly hinted-at shop, even if several princes were involved together, as long as the profit is high enough, someone will still take action.

  Besides, the relationship between Yang Yunqiu and Wei Wang, in the eyes of outsiders, is about the same as Wei Wang's previous idle boasting about those number one scholars, number two scholars, and number three scholars, and even giving them financial support, which is far from intimate.

  There was a time when many people wanted to swallow the Treasure Pavilion in one gulp, without fear of choking them, causing trouble and complexity, making everyone in the Treasure Pavilion break out in cold sweat.

  It's just these troubles, most of which were anticipated by the doll and solved with a clever trick by Yang Yunqiu, and a small part didn't affect the overall situation, and the losses suffered were limited.

  Nowadays, such situations have decreased significantly.

  Zhen Bao Ge's high-end business has a very small inventory of goods and has not had any disputes with anyone, nor has it had much conflict with other similar shops in the capital. Sometimes, if the owner of another shop can't find something that suits a customer's taste, they will even introduce them to Zhen Bao Ge.

  The low-end shops that were once very annoying, however, they also sold fresh goods that could not be found elsewhere, and most of them were practical sundries.

  Yang Yunqiu agreed to supply these goods at wholesale prices to other shops in the capital, a win-win cooperation that allowed them to pass the test smoothly. Now, Zhenbaoge is developing very stably and there is no need for rouge's unsafe behavior.

  However, he still left the contact information of Weiwang to Yanzhi, and let her go to Weiwang if something happened, and also left a pair of pigeons for her. In case something big happens that can't be solved, she can write a letter to him.

  The day of departure has been fixed, and it will be right after the grand ceremony of the crown prince's accession.

  Although he was just an infant in swaddling clothes, the emperor spared no expense in holding a grand ceremony to establish him as crown prince. The pomp and circumstance were only slightly less than that of the emperor's own coronation, with little difference in the overall proceedings.

  All of you princes must kneel down and kowtow nine times.

  Not to mention other arrogant princes, even the open-minded Wei Wang couldn't help but complain. Yang Yunqiu felt that Mu Nanxing looked clever, but he was still old. If he wasn't old, how could he have done something so unconstructive, which would only bring hatred to his own son?

  "Wen Shan's base needs to be safer, Da Li, you arrange for a few people to hire some shipbuilding craftsmen, the more the better, I have use for them. Also, the money from Zhen Bao Ge can be divided and taken with us."

  Yang Yunqiu took out the doll and let it collect some materials, preparing to build that kind of stone fortress that wealthy families were accustomed to building in Qingzhou, and also had to train private soldiers.

  He really didn't have much confidence in Mu Nan Song, and he had some predictions about what would happen after Yin Chao. In case of war, if there were no soldiers in hand, it would be true that one's life would be controlled by others. The status he had worked hard to regain couldn't be thrown away before it even took effect.

  After some thought, Yang Yunqiu sent a group message via the communicator - all classmates who have descended to this lower plane must learn some self-defense skills. Learning kung fu is fine, if you can't take the hardship, think of your own way, if not, get some sulfuric acid for self-protection, if you don't know how to do anything, then raise a group of thugs.

  Yang Yunqiu himself didn't help, relying solely on them to cope with the crisis, which is the best way to train people. To motivate these students, he also used rewards as bait. Whoever scores the highest and lives the longest will be able to get a permanent spell. As for what kind of spell it is, it depends on the person's character and occupation.

  Don't worry about these students being lazy anymore.

  The doll is in charge of giving them scores, and this score is not just about being rich and noble, living a long life, or getting high marks. There are many considerations, such as one's moral character, mental state, contributions to the world, and so on.

  There are many competitors, and most of them are young people without social experience. It's hard to get high scores, and I estimate that even passing is rare.

  Apart from Wang Yi and a few others, the students Yang Yunqiu chose to help later were all people who had at least a shred of kindness in their hearts. Perhaps men all thought they should be ruthless and unfeeling, that this was what it meant to have grandeur. They always sympathized with others, were good to others, too much like a saint, and too weak. He believed that if a person didn't even have the heart to sympathize with or help others, their life would inevitably be dull and lacking in true brothers and friends.

  After the grand ceremony, Mu Nan Song still wanted to posthumously confer the title of Empress on Zhen Niangniang, who had unfortunately died in childbirth. This was naturally impossible, and none of the ministers agreed or would have supported it.

  Nowadays, there are two imperial consorts from noble families in the palace, one is Yu Gui Fei and the other is Zhang Gui Fei. Below them, there are four Pin, who also come from good families. As for the Mei Ren and Cai Nu, it's not necessary to mention that they all have a higher status than the palace maids. If she were to be posthumously honored as an empress, during festivals in future years, the Gui Fei would still have to pay their respects and offer sacrifices. How could they possibly be willing?

  Moreover, the aristocratic family will inevitably send young concubines into the palace, and there may be children in the future. Of course, they don't want a woman with no status or background to rise up and elevate the status of the little prince.

  Yang Yunqiu did not have the mind to ponder these things, and when he became a senior official in one of the six ministries and was ranked alongside the prime ministers, it would not be too late to think about such matters that concerned the fate of the nation.

  Before leaving, he had to take Li Shanshan to visit several families of old friends in Zhengzhou, which also meant entrusting her to these families for care. Although the Yin family had declined and their descendants were sparse, they were still a noble family, and naturally, their social circle consisted of other noble families. The person with whom Mr. Yin had the best relationship was his good friend Tang You, who now held the position of Shangshu Ling. In daily life, he also took great care of Li Shanshan and was very considerate of her.

  However, every time she went to the Tang's house before, Li Shanshan always went by herself. This was the first time Yang Yunqiu had escorted her there with such solemnity.

  The aristocratic families always have a bit of an arrogant and reserved air. At least in the past, when Yang Yunqiu had to visit the Sun family, he encountered many young people with their noses upturned, just like he treated those people as jesters, never taking them seriously, and wouldn't get angry. If it were someone from a humble background who became an official, they would definitely hold a grudge.

  The Tang family was different, with a very good atmosphere. Yang Yunqiu walked around and felt refreshed, like a spring breeze. Later, the 12th son of the Tang family hid behind a tree to sneak a peek at Li Shanshan, but his nephew kicked him out and he fell flat on his face. The official in charge of receiving guests, Tang You, was so angry that he almost lost his composure, which added to the lively atmosphere and made things more interesting.

  No wonder the Yu family has been declining more and more, while the Tang family is thriving day by day.

  Li Shanshan was entrusted to Yin's family friends and relatives, and a group of people of the same age gathered to drink and bid farewell. Yang Yunqiu set off in midsummer after packing her luggage.

  The day they left the capital was a torrential downpour, Li Da and his twenty guards, fully equipped, walked in the rain with only a bamboo hat on their heads. Friends who came to see them off joked that even the heavens couldn't bear to part with Yang Yuxiu, and this was practically a funeral procession.

  No matter whether heaven is crying or blocking the way, Yang Yunqiu is unhappy anyway.

  When it rains in the warm and blooming season of spring, it's elegant and refreshing. But if it's a torrential rain in the scorching summer, blocking the way, it can be quite troublesome.

  Unfortunately, these small characters do not have the habit of finding auspicious days to travel, and Yang Yunqiu himself did not notice the weather. The luggage was all packed up, and they had already left the capital city, so they could only continue on their journey in the rain.

  Yang Yunqiu didn't know that he had casually drunk a farewell wine with his classmates and left by car, while Jing Wang and Shang Wang were also nearby, just happened to have something to do, coincidentally bumped into him.

  "How are you?"

  Jing Wang smiled, he was the best-looking among all the princes, over thirty years old, and had a dignified demeanor.

  The king of commerce sighed at his unimpressive appearance and said: "A talented young man like you, why are you a Sun, and still a bastard son?"

  These two families both have daughters, and it's the time for them to get married. They are thinking of choosing a good son-in-law. Among the three top scholars, only the number one scholar is young and promising, so many people have set their sights on him. Moreover, Sun Zhao Ming has the merit of saving the emperor, but unfortunately, he is not from a noble family, which makes several princes who want to rely on their daughters to form alliances with noble families and increase their chips feel somewhat disappointed.

  Yang Yunqiu never thought that this grandson of the Sun family, a child born out of wedlock, would be favored by Prince Wang. He was sitting in the carriage playing cards with Er Ya and two other maids.

  Also a common item in Zhen Bao Ge, a set of poker made from jade pieces.

  Playing this IQ game, the three maidservants combined couldn't beat Yang Yunqiu alone. Not only did she win all their silver and money, but also took away their hairpins and jewelry without leaving any behind, winning everything. The second maid was so angry that her mouth was pouting.

  Yang Yunqiu couldn't help but smile, and in the end, she didn't take any money either. She gave it all to Er Ya and the others to buy some snacks, and only then did the little maids' faces light up with smiles.