Chapter Thirty-Six: Refining Gold

  "What profound insight does Duke Wen have?"

  "It's nothing, just follow the trend. The emperor's edict can't be changed, but you are the envoy. Look at Zhang Langzhong today, the Liao people don't want to fall out with the Song Dynasty, after all, the Jin people have been winning continuously, if they want to negotiate a peace treaty, not only will the states and counties that have already been occupied by the Jin people be ceded to the Jin people, but also many other benefits will have to be given. Most importantly, the Liao people are originally from outside the Great Wall, their ancestors' tombs are in Shangjing, how can they easily hand them over to the Jin people? So as long as the Song Dynasty's demands are not too excessive, they will all agree. When the time comes, you will hand over the documents, the Liao people will definitely haggle over the price, just yield a little and don't force the Liao people to negotiate with the Jin people."

  "Lord Wen's words are indeed true!" Han Xiao nodded, and at this moment he couldn't help but think of the list that Zhao Liang had handed over to him when they met, which included some Han officials who were dissatisfied with the Khitan people in private and had the possibility of turning against them. This made him have a greatly improved impression of this escaped minister, after all, these things were not only a means for Zhao Liang to get promoted and rich, but also the foundation of his life, and he was willing to hand them over to himself, he had underestimated him in the past.

  Everyone in the house discussed and then went back to their rooms to rest. After washing up, Zhou Ping lay on his bed and fell fast asleep. In a daze, he saw Zhi Shan standing in front of him with a frosty face, scolding him in a low voice: "You got so much wealth, but only thought of one person going south to enjoy the blessings, abandoning the people of Manchu above and below under the iron hooves of the Golden People. This move is no different from that of beasts."

  Zhou Ping had been running for a while, but he didn't know how far he had gone. Suddenly, someone appeared in front of him. When he looked closely, it was Xue Liangyu. He saw that the other person's face was full of murderous intent, holding a sharp cow horn knife in his hand, and sneered: "You have so much wealth, but no one else knows about it. Today I will take your life, and this gold will be mine alone!" After speaking, he pounced on Zhou Ping. Zhou Ping turned around to escape, but his foot was caught by something and he fell to the ground. When he looked back, a shiny sharp knife was stabbing towards his heart.

  "No!" Zhou Ping let out a mournful cry and woke up with a start, only to realize that it was just a dream. He sat up in bed, his forehead covered in sweat, and by the bright moonlight outside the window, he could see Xue Liangyu sleeping soundly opposite him, breathing evenly.

  "It was all just a South Ko dream!" Zhou Ping let out a bitter laugh, he could still feel his rapid heartbeat at this moment. He reached under the pillow and felt around with his fingers until they touched a hard object - it was the small wooden box that held the deceitful gold. Only then did Zhou Ping finally calm down completely, lay back down again, but for some reason, he couldn't shake off the feeling of heat and restlessness all over his body, no matter how hard he tried to sleep. He got up, put on his robe, pushed open the door and walked out, gazing at the bright moon in the sky, lost in thought.

  "But having obtained 5,000 taels of silver, he's become so anxious and worried. Is it really worth coming back just to be a rich man?" Zhou Ping suddenly sneered: "In the past, when I was studying, I looked down on Zhao Laoniu who fled in fear at the sight of the Jin army and destroyed his own city. At least he had been a hostage in the Jin army camp as an imperial prince and had seen the ferocity of the Jin army. But I'm still several years away from the Jin army's arrival, yet I'm already thinking of running to Hangzhou or Quanzhou - isn't that even more despicable? What right do I have to mock him?"

  "Anyway, it's just as well that my father-in-law is an ironworker. When I return to Youzhou, I'll use this 5,000 strings of cash as capital to renovate his shop thoroughly. A towering building rises from the ground, and I won't believe that in a few years' time, nothing can be done! Thinking of this, Zhou Ping's heart was completely unblocked, feeling refreshed all over, he lay back on the bed and fell fast asleep before long."

  The next morning, Zhou Ping called Xue Liangyu and Li Bao into the room. After making sure no one was around, he closed the door and windows tightly. He had the two men sit down at a table, then fetched a wooden chest from the bed and placed it on the table, laughing as he said: "Brother Li Bao, Fourth Brother, I've recently come into some small wealth. As the ancients said, 'A gentleman has a duty to share his wealth.' If either of you is short of money, just take some and use it!"

  "Really?" Xue Liangyu smiled and said, while opening the lid of the wooden box. "If you had arrived in Tokyo a few days earlier, you would have made a fortune, and I could have gone to play at the Daishogun Temple. Although this Youzhou City is majestic, it can't compare with Tokyo when it comes to places to have fun..." He suddenly stopped talking, staring blankly at the gold bars filling the box. After a while, he came back to his senses and asked urgently: "Zhou Dage, where did all these come from?" Unconsciously, he had changed his tone, replacing "Aping" with "Zhou Dage".

  "It's just ill-gotten gains, might as well take it and not be stingy!" Zhou Ping laughed and casually took a gold ingot from the wooden box, tossing it to Xue Liangyu saying: "This ingot is five taels, probably worth around 80-90 strings of copper coins. You'd better keep it safe, when we get back to Dongjing, find a gold shop to exchange it for copper coins and have a good time!"

  "Yes, yes!" Xue Liangyu received it as if he had obtained a precious treasure, put it in his mouth and took a bite, only after confirming that it was real gold did he carefully put it into his bosom, sat down, looked at him with an expression on his face that seemed to have more words to say to Zhou Ping, but Zhou Ping's just heroic move had stunned him, not daring to interrupt the other party's speech.

  "Brother Li Bao!" Zhou Ping turned around and smiled slightly at Li Bao: "This time you escaped from Tokyo Castle, you must find a place to lay low for a while, and you can't do without some silver coins. Coincidentally, I've made a fortune recently, which can be considered as borrowing your good luck, brother! Please take some as travel expenses, it's also a small token of my goodwill!" After saying that, Zhou Ping made a gesture inviting Li Bao to take the money from the wooden chest.

  Xue Liangyu was shocked by the scene, he didn't expect Zhou Ping to let Li Bao take whatever he wanted. The small box contained gold ingots worth 80-90 guan of copper coins each, if Li Bao were to grab a handful with his large palm, wouldn't that be equivalent to losing 700-800 guan? Thinking this, Xue Liangyu's heart felt like it was being scratched by cat claws.

  Li Bao did not, as Xue Liangyu had expected, pounce on the wooden chest and grab a handful of gold. Instead, he just looked at the gold inside with a cold gaze. In his good business days, he would have an income of three to five taels per night, and he didn't value money as much as Xue Liangyu did. After a moment, his eyes shifted to Zhou Ping's face, and he asked in a deep voice: "I dare to ask, Brother Zhou, where did this money come from? Although our family is just a humble performer, I was taught by my parents not to take ill-gotten gains!"

  "It turns out that Brother Li Bao is indeed a man of integrity!" Zhou Ping also didn't think it was a big deal, and explained the whole story of how he had secretly asked Han Xiao to speak on his behalf at the banquet hosted by Ye Luyuancheng in Xincheng that night, and how he had borrowed money from him. In the end, Zhou Ping laughed and said: "This money must have been extorted from the people of Liao State by Ye Luyuancheng, it's ill-gotten gains, taking it doesn't hurt anyone, Brother Li, you can take it without worrying."

  "Alas!" Li Bao sighed upon hearing this: "This Ye Lu Yun Cheng, who rose to the position of governor and was granted the surname Ye Lu, was treated with great favor by those above him. However, he secretly colluded with enemy states, being two-faced and deceitful. He is truly a treacherous and cunning person. The Liao Emperor trusted such a person, how can his country not perish?"

  Li Bao stood up and bowed to Zhou Ping: "Brother Zhou, if it weren't for your timely rescue that day, I fear my life would have been lost in the Eastern Capital. Along this journey, I've seen the people of Yan suffering, with strong enemies pressing at the borders. It seems a great war is imminent, and I fear our Great Song will also be unable to escape this calamity. You are a man of vision, able to adapt to changing circumstances, a true hero. As for me, Li Bao, I have nowhere else to go. Why not entrust my life to you and see if we can achieve something together?"

  "Hurry up and get up!" Zhou Ping was overjoyed at the sight, and hastily stepped forward to help him up. This time, he was just testing him out, if Li Bao was a greedy little man, he would naturally reveal his true nature, and by taking the risk of exposing the origin of this money, he could gain a trusted aide, which would be worth it anyway.

  "Fourth brother, this time I'm back, I plan to use this money to do something big, and when the time comes, I'll ask for your help!" Zhou Ping'an said as he turned around to face Xue Liangyu.

  Xue Liangyu smiled and said, "Brother Zhou, why be so polite? In the past when I was in the village, I always thought that Heaven was the greatest and I was the second. But after coming out, I realized that you are the real hero. As long as you don't despise me, from now on, Xue Liangyu will follow you!"

  "Alright, alright! With the three of us brothers working together in harmony, what can't we accomplish?" Zhou Ping smiled and said: "This time I didn't come out to get this several thousand taels of wealth, but rather to gain two more sworn brothers from different surnames." As he spoke, Zhou Ping's voice dropped low: "However, the origin of this wealth is not suitable for outsiders to know, so please keep your mouths tight!"

  "That's natural!"

  "Don't worry, big brother!" Li and Xue hurriedly patted their chests in guarantee.

  At this time, there were two knocks on the door outside, and then a familiar voice came: "Is Zhou Chengxin here?"

  Li and Xue's faces changed suddenly, Xue Liangyu's right hand was already on the hilt of the knife at his waist, apparently as long as Zhou Ping gave a signal, he would kill the uninvited guest outside the door to silence him. Zhou Ping stood up, lightly patted Xue Liangyu's right arm twice, stopping his impulse, and signaled him to clean up the wooden box on the table before loudly responding: "Who is it?"

  "It's me, Wen Cheng!"

  "It turned out to be Lord Wen!" Zhou Ping saw that Li and Xue had already tidied up the room, so he opened the door, only to see Wen Cheng standing at the entrance with a normal expression. He cupped his hands together in greeting and said: "Just now I was chatting idly with two brothers inside the house, didn't expect Lord Wen to arrive. It's windy outside, come in quickly and have a cup of hot tea to warm up."

  "No need, today is just right for nothing to do. This Jingyuan Temple is also a famous temple in Yanjing. I have long wanted to visit it. I don't know if Zhou Chengxin has time and is willing to go with me?"

  Zhou Ping was taken aback by the words, thinking to himself that Wen Cheng probably had something he wanted to discuss with him in private under the guise of this opportunity. Anyway, it couldn't be avoided, so he smiled and said: "As you wish, I wouldn't dare ask!"