He Lingchuan's eyes glinted. "The Marquis speaks true."
Li Qingge said meaningfully, "Where there is power, there is money."
"I haven't taken up an official post yet."
"Yet you are the eldest son of the He family, Governor-General He's primary heir, standing right beside that supreme authority," Li Qingge said with a smile. "They say proximity leaves its mark. Why shouldn't Eldest Young Master He make good use of it in the days ahead?"
He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow. "Now that, I like!"
"If you have faith in your own family and in Xiazhou, you can sweep up goods at low prices right now," Li Qingge continued to advise him. "At a time like this, your status as the Governor-General’s son is more useful than anything. Even if you encounter resistance, you can brush it aside with ease. Once the crisis passes, these will all be golden hens laying eggs. Will you ever have to worry about money again?"
He Lingchuan rose and bowed deeply to her. "A true epiphany! My heartfelt thanks, Marquis."
Having never done business before, he had lacked that particular knack, but with the Marquis of Songyang pointing the way, everything clicked instantly.
Indeed, everyone in Dunyu and throughout Xiazhou was clamoring to curry favor with the new Governor-General, but he alone had no need to do so.
Why wouldn't he make full use of such an advantage?
Fairness aside, a gentleman must know how to leverage circumstance.
Li Qingge waved her hand dismissively. "A trivial matter, nothing more than a bit of idle chatter. The shop next door really is quite good. Would you like me to acquire it for you?"
"Yes." This time He Lingchuan did not refuse. Navigating the world, how could one avoid owing favors? He could always find an opportunity to repay it later. "Then I shall trouble you, Marquis."
Seeing him accept the favor, Li Qingge smiled with evident satisfaction.
He Lingchuan looked at her and sighed softly. "Why are you helping me so much, Marquis?"
"As I said, I have good foresight." Li Qingge answered bluntly. "In Songyang Mansion’s ventures, the lowest tier of investment is in land and storefronts; the middle tier is in trade; the highest tier is in people—and I think very highly of Eldest Young Master He." She was willing to forge ties with him for that reason.
He Lingchuan mocked himself, "Looks like I'll have to start from the lowest tier."
Li Qingge chuckled softly.
With their conversation finished and an unexpected windfall secured, He Lingchuan rose and took his leave.
Standing by the loft window, the Marquis of Songyang watched him cross the covered walkway below and head back toward the front hall. Then she asked the maidservant behind her, "Did Manager Zhao finalize the shop next door?"
"It's already settled. The contract was finalized at noon."
"Tell him to change the buyer's name to Eldest Young Master He, and have the deed delivered to the He residence before dinner."
***
He Lingchuan made another trip to the bank, breaking the one-hundred-thousand-tael banknote into smaller denominations with a mix of whole and broken amounts.
Then, he took a carriage to tour every corner of the city.
On the streets, pedestrians hurried past, few wearing smiles. Dunyu felt starkly divided: along the main avenues, commerce still seemed brisk and the great taverns were packed with guests at night, yet across the rest of the city, trade was withered and panic hung heavy in the air.
He Lingchuan had just passed several grain shops, each with a long queue snaking outside. At two of them, clerks were sticking "Sold Out" placards in front of the grain bins, leaving the empty-handed commoners who arrived too late utterly despondent.
None of this was a good sign. He Yue had mentioned to his elder brother that Dunyu wasn't actually short on grain.
The sudden buying frenzy stemmed purely from panic and merchants hoarding their stock, reluctant to sell.
Right, and over the past two days, wealthy local gentry had also been buying and donating grain to curry favor with the new provincial officials.
He Lingchuan didn't believe his father was blind to this, but the authorities weren't putting much effort into reassuring the populace either. They had only posted a notice to placate the citizens, filled from start to finish with stiff, bureaucratic platitudes, with predictably abysmal effect.
Before meeting the Marquis of Songyang, He Lingchuan had merely lamented the cruelty of war; but after walking out of the Songyang Mansion branch, his perspective had shifted completely. It was as if gold and silver were beckoning to him from every street corner.
Not capitalizing on this would be doing himself a great disservice.
At the He residence, renovations were still proceeding at a feverish pace. When He Lingchuan returned to his courtyard, the rock wolf was nowhere to be seen. Its hearing was too keen to endure the endless clatter and clanging, so it had simply run off to play with He Yue’s big black wolf.
Sipping water, He Lingchuan looked at the Mountain of Blades. Seeing its color growing more and more golden, it was obvious the broken saber was eagerly absorbing the wujin.
He looked forward immensely to the saber’s transformation.
Stroking the saber hilt, He Lingchuan suddenly remembered the commercial shop that the Pengcheng Office had specially exchanged for him.
Could the broken saber have been hinting that he could follow the same pattern in reality to resolve his cash shortage?
Unfortunately, he had failed to catch on until the Marquis of Songyang punctured the paper screen and laid it bare.
"My apologies, I was rather slow on the uptake." The saber could certainly understand him. "Still, next time you give a hint, could you be a bit more direct?"
Naturally, the broken saber did not respond.
Right then, the monkey hopped in from who-knew-where and knocked on the doorframe. "Sun Hongye is here, and he brought someone with him."
It had practically become He Lingchuan’s doorman—couldn't it get an extra salary?
Sun Hongye stepped into He Lingchuan's courtyard, shut the door behind him, and pointed to the man with him. "Master, this is Shan Youjun."
One of the two Li clan private guards he intended to recruit for He Lingchuan.
"After that incident, Jiao Tai was arrested, and Shan Youjun left the private army. Neither of them belongs to the Li clan anymore."
Shan Youjun immediately dropped to his knees, saying resolutely, "So long as Jiao Tai is saved, this humble one, Shan Youjun, is willing to serve the Young Master like a faithful dog and steed!"
The movement was too abrupt, pulling at the wounds on his rear and making him grimace in pain.
"Get up." He Lingchuan caught him by the arm and hoisted him up. Shan Youjun felt an overwhelming strength from the grip, pulling him upright almost uncontrollably, and felt a twinge of astonishment.
This wealthy young master seemed to possess real skill after all.
He Lingchuan turned to Sun Hongye. "Can Jiao Tai be gotten out?"
"I have already found three or four eyewitnesses who can testify that someone else shoved the pregnant woman into the rockery, not Jiao Tai," Sun Hongye said. "They have already gone to the government office to give their statements and sign their depositions. Once the real culprit is caught, Jiao Tai should be released shortly."
He paused, then added, "With me doing all this, the Li clan will likely find out soon enough."
"The one who shoved the pregnant woman was merely a minor squad leader in their private army, a distant relative of Li Zhi. In a pinch, the Li clan won't go out of their way to protect him. If Li Shuang has any sense, he'll tie him up and deliver him to the government office as soon as possible." He Lingchuan smiled at Shan Youjun. "Don't worry, this matter will be sorted out quickly."
Over the past two days, Shan Youjun had been beside himself with terror and consumed by a suffocating sense of helplessness at being unable to save his comrade. Yet in just a few casual remarks, Eldest Young Master He before him had decided the life and death of two men.
He started to kneel again, but He Lingchuan gripped his arm to stop him. "Enough of that. If your knees are that soft, how are you going to get work done for me?" He turned around and poured hot tea for both men.
Sun Hongye accepted his cup naturally, while Shan Youjun took his with trepidation.
"Over the next day or two, you need to find a way to recruit another person for me," He Lingchuan gave Sun Hongye another task. "This person needs to be a seasoned hand, someone who knows Dunyu's local ways inside and out, perfectly conversant with all walks of life from high to low, and knows the ins and outs of the local gentry and the four great clans like the back of his hand. Someone like..."
He paused in thought, then found a comparison: "Like Fixer Liu back in Shihuan City."
Sun Hongye had only become He Lingchuan's advisor shortly before leaving Shihuan, and had only met Fixer Liu once or twice, but he understood very well what sort of work a "fixer" did.
"What the Master wants is a fixer well-versed in Dunyu's affairs?"
Well put. He Lingchuan wagged his index finger. "More than that. This person also needs to be skilled in business, capable of managing financial and commercial matters on my behalf."
He could already foresee that the keynote of his life going forward would be either cultivation or warfare; how would he have the time to run a business?
Therefore, he needed a proper manager.
Hearing this, Shan Youjun spoke up suddenly, "This humble one has someone to recommend."
"Speak." Right, this fellow was a local after all.
"He is the former steward of Third Master Shu. His surname is Ding, named Ding Zuodong, a Dunyu native who has lived here for more than forty years. When Third Master was alive, Ding Zuodong took charge of the household's procurement, purchasing, and management, handling everything without a hitch. Among all the masters of the Shu clan, Third Master's household was the most orderly and respectable.
"Later, after the old man of the Shu family died, Third Master lacked self-awareness and tried to contest the eldest brother for power. He lost, and from then on was sidelined. Two years later, Third Master went out of town on business and drowned in a river, so the Shu clan made up an excuse to drive Ding Zuodong out.
"Ding Zuodong found several jobs after that, but the Shu clan sabotaged every one of them. He was utterly disheartened, and these past few days he’s been thinking of taking his family south. It would truly be a shame to lose him."
Sun Hongye asked, "What is his character like?"
"Good," Shan Youjun replied. "Right after Third Master died, an elderly gentleman down south in Daji Township offered to hire him as steward with very high pay. Ding Zuodong turned it down because Third Master had left behind a widow and three young children. As far as I know, even after leaving the Shu family, Ding Zuodong neatly settled what little estate Third Master had left and handed it over properly."
He Lingchuan nodded, then asked, "How do you know all this in such detail?"
"The stewards under the four great clans are frequently judged and compared by everyone, and Ding Zuodong's reputation is quite solid." Shan Youjun gave a soft cough. "And also... he is my maternal uncle. I originally lived in Youxu County to the north, and came to Dunyu specifically to seek his help."
He Lingchuan smiled. No wonder.
"Then if he was a steward for the Shu clan, why did you become a private soldier for the Li clan?" Serving two different houses.
"When I arrived in Dunyu, he had just been thrown out by the Shu clan," Shan Youjun sighed. "He couldn't even look after himself, so he found a connection to squeeze me into the Li estate."
He and Sun Hongye exchanged a look, and the latter gave a slight nod.
He Lingchuan then said, "Recommending talent shouldn't avoid kin. Go back and speak with him. If he is willing to work under me, have him come over tonight for an interview."
Shan Youjun was overjoyed. "Yes, I will go right away!" Bowing, he backed out of the room.
Sun Hongye said to He Lingchuan, "Master returned with a spring in his step. Did you gain something while you were out?"
This fellow was observant. He Lingchuan told him about the advice the Marquis of Songyang had given.
"Her words ring true. I should have thought of it sooner," Sun Hongye chided himself upon hearing it. "The streets are full of opportunity, yet I was blind to it."
"Your talents do not lie in making money and running businesses," He Lingchuan laughed heartily. "Otherwise, after lingering in Shihuan for so long, you wouldn't have gained only a few extra patches on your clothes."
***
An afternoon slipped by in a flash.
Before dinner, Manager Zhao from Songyang Mansion arrived, presenting He Lingchuan with a box.
Inside was indeed the deed for the shop next to Songyang Mansion. He Lingchuan would still need to register the deed with the relevant government office to create an official record before the real estate truly belonged to him.
Chapter 233