Free Web NovelChapter 608: The Ke Family's Gift
Before them spread an open lake, its surface glittering with rippled light.
“Whoa!” There’s actually a lake on Mount Qilin? And it’s not a small one either. “How deep is it?”
“At least thirteen meters.” Fushan Yue stroked his chin. “It’s not bad for fishing, or...”
He made a swimming motion.
“Good place.” He Lingchuan laughed too.
The reeds by the lakeshore were tall, and the shrubs along the bank were dense. If he slipped into the water from here, no one would be able to keep watch on him.
Escaping into the water really was more convenient than anything else. It could even cut off spiritual sense probing. Were the Tongxin Guard not intent on keeping tabs on him? Then he would give them some difficulty.
“The Lord Emperor actually granted you a manor with a back door—no, a back lake.”
Fushan Yue laughed loudly. “The Lord Emperor handles ten thousand affairs a day. How could he dig into these little details? Lingxu City has so many peaks, so many manors like this. Do you really think that the Lord Emperor can count and criticize them one by one?” He added, “I heard that two servants of the original owners once lost children here. Only later did they learn there was a catfish in the lake that had become a monster and eaten people.”
“Did they catch it?”
“Took nearly half a year.” Fushan Yue tossed a stone into the water. Unexpectedly, the surface splashed, as though some creature beneath had been startled. “Living water flows down from the mountain. This lake can’t be drained dry.”
He Lingchuan stroked his chin. “In that case, it would be bad if someone used the waterways to slip in. We should place a few guards in the lake too.”
“Should we find a few monsters?”
He Lingchuan smiled and said, “Leave that to me. I happen to know some.”
Over the past three days, the rumors had been given plenty of time to spread. Crown Prince Huan murdering people and setting fires at their Mount Pan Residence had been witnessed by countless people—not only commoners, but also spies and informants from various households, who had gone back and reported everything clearly.
So not only did all of Lingxu City’s upper circles know about it, but the news had even crossed districts and begun spreading outward.
More importantly, the Lord Emperor had turned around and granted Fushan Yue a great residence.
Everyone knew that the act was one of appeasement and apology. No matter how it was dressed up, it proved that Crown Prince Huan had committed wrongdoing, and the imperial household had admitted fault.
To make even the Lord Emperor silently apologize, heh!
The name of Chiyan’s Crown Prince once again resounded through Lingxu City.
Thus, on the day Fleeting Thoughts Manor reopened, this residence that had lain quiet for seven years became crowded with visitors. Nobles and distinguished guests gathered in droves, all coming to congratulate the Crown Prince of Chiyan on his relocation.
The main character was Fushan Yue. The halo belonged to Fushan Yue. Naturally, He Lingchuan was happy to be idle. No matter how noisy the front hall and rear courtyards became, all he needed to do was hide in the kitchen and eat.
Among the new cooks Fushan Yue had hired, three specialized in hot dishes, one in cold dishes, and one plump kitchen matron was exceptional at brewing wine and making pastries. He Lingchuan said a few flattering words to her, and immediately received two full plates of assorted cakes.
The hawthorn cake melted as soon as it entered his mouth. He Lingchuan ate two in a row, then unexpectedly found himself thinking of Madame Ying. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Back in Heishui City, he and He Yue had often stolen pastries from the kitchen matron too. The matron knew and would often secretly leave a basin of pastries in the rear kitchen for the two brothers, though the flavor had been far inferior to what He Lingchuan was eating now.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen He Yue. He should be the second-in-command at Dunyu’s Governor-General Residence by now, right?
The garden Madame Ying spent so much effort creating, is it finished yet?
He Lingchuan sighed. Suddenly, the hawthorn cake in his hand did not taste as sweet.
Thinking back to his days as the eldest young master of Heishui City, the joys of that time had been simple joys, and the troubles had only been simple troubles.
Only a year had passed, yet it felt like another lifetime.
The kitchen matron grew anxious. “Young Master, is it not good?”
He Lingchuan said solemnly, “It’s passable. Still room for improvement.”
“Maybe it’s gone cold.” The kitchen matron thought for a moment, then took out another white, soft-looking pastry from the rear kitchen. It was only palm-sized and clearly not meant for guests. “Please wait a moment.”
“...” Does every kitchen matron have a private rear kitchen stash?
She went into the kitchen and bustled around for a while, then quickly came out again. The pastry was steaming hot. “Here, try the lard cake.”
He Lingchuan picked up a piece and tasted it. Sticky, soft, and tender. Osmanthus was mixed into the lard, fragrant but not greasy. In autumn, it was especially satisfying.
“Delicious. This isn’t for guests, is it?”
“No, not for guests. It’s made with a new batch of osmanthus gathered from the manor’s old osmanthus trees. There’s too little of it, so it can’t be served outside.”
Freshly gathered osmanthus had to be dried in the shade and stored carefully, and that took time.
Over these three or four days, He Lingchuan had already become familiar with the people here. He was approachable too, so the kitchen staff did not treat him as an outsider. At this moment, as they bustled around, they gossiped.
He Lingchuan ate while listening and learned that Lingxu City had burst out with two new pieces of gossip in the past few days.
First, the Deputy Director of the Palace Treasury, Jia Qingmin, had been implicated in embezzlement and corruption. The Court Commandant had submitted a report, and Jia Qingmin had been dismissed and placed under investigation.
“How much did he embezzle?”
“Supposedly two million taels?” the kitchen matron muttered, though everyone within ten meters heard her.
“Two million taels? For such a high official, that doesn’t seem like much.” That was only two billion large coins. Elsewhere, the amount might be shocking, but Lingxu City people had seen the world. For a Lingxu official, that number was not particularly astonishing. Because of this, the cooks actually sounded a little disappointed. “I heard the Ke Family—yes, that Ke Family, the one rich enough to rival the four seas—spent almost 900,000 taels on a broken sword not long ago.”
“How can that be the same?” the kitchen matron said. “Gold, pearls, jewels, and fine artifacts aren’t counted. Also, do you know Golden Hook Gambling House by the east water gate, the one with the best business?”
“Of course, I... a friend of mine went there a while ago and said the service inside was extremely thorough!” The man laughed dryly. “Very thorough. Everyone spoke so sweetly!”
“That’s a golden hen that lays eggs. Supposedly, the Jia Family is the hidden owner behind it.”
Everyone drew out a long “ohhh.”
“Also, the future son-in-law of Third Master Hu of Tianxiang Island has had a scandal exposed recently...”
He Lingchuan ate several pastries here and heard several pieces of gossip.
He asked the kitchen matron, “Is Lingxu City usually this lively? Major revelations every few days?”
“That’s hard to say.” The kitchen matron smiled. “Lately, it really has been too lively. There are so many things to talk about at the dining table that they string together like beads.”
He Lingchuan’s mouth was full of sweetness when Jiao Yu suddenly came running over from somewhere, carrying something in its mouth. It set something down before him.
It was a stack of invitations.
“For you.”
“For me?” He Lingchuan ate while opening them.
They were indeed for him.
Clearly, more powerful households had taken notice of “He Xiao” now than just a few days ago.
He Lingchuan read while asking, “Did you know Deputy Director Jia is under investigation?”
“Of course.” Jiao Yu took it as natural. “The Court Commandant started investigating the Jia Family half a month ago. The Lord Emperor only ordered the arrest these past two days.”
“These past two days?” He Lingchuan looked thoughtful.
Over the past three or four days, had Lingxu City not seen a little too many big matters, small matters, and matters neither big nor small?
As a result, the heat surrounding the elixir of youth case and Crown Prince Huan’s murder and arson had both been somewhat divided away.
Who’s throwing smoke bombs?
He pushed these thoughts aside and first looked through the invitations in his hand.
Most invited him to various events hosted by different households. On the floating islands, there were banquets, refined gatherings, operas, hunts, and the like almost every day. This was a tradition cultivated over many years, and even monsters had long since blended in, taking it as fashionable.
After flipping through a few, He Lingchuan gave a small sound of surprise and picked one out. “From the Ke Family?”
This gilded invitation had been sent by the Ke Family.
Yes, that Ke Family, the Lingxu magnates with mines.
He Lingchuan had originally planned to use Old Ge or some other intermediary to find an opportunity to visit the Ke Family. He had not expected them to take the initiative and invite him.
He and the Ke Family really did have a mutual understanding, rushing toward each other from both directions.
“Why would they invite me?” There was also a gift list attached to the invitation. The gifts listed on it were all very expensive. Gold, pearls, agates—apparently, those were too vulgar for them to send. The very first item was a miniature carved landscape.
He Lingchuan had someone bring the miniature over. It depicted mountain rocks and a flower house, and the carving itself was exquisitely detailed. Through the flower house’s window, something inside could be seen, green and flowery.
He Lingchuan tried reaching inside.
Eh?
He pulled out a fruiting vine.
It was a real, lush green vine, two fingers thick, actually heavy with fruit. The red fruits it bore looked at first glance like strawberries, but they carried a strange fragrance.
Like... cream?
The fierce tiger leaned close and sniffed a few times. “Smells ripe and edible.”
He Lingchuan immediately tossed a red fruit to it.
Jiao Yu swallowed it whole in one bite, smacked its lips, and said, “I don’t think I tasted anything.”
He Lingchuan tasted one himself. It was extraordinarily sweet and fragrant, a top-quality berry.
He reached in again, and this time actually pulled out an emerald-green melon.
The kitchen matron wanted to join the fun too. She came over holding a kitchen knife. “Let me!”
The melon was larger than a football, and with a few quick chops, she cut it open. He Lingchuan took a piece and ate it. It was sweet as honey, rich as syrup, and full of juice, though in autumn it felt a little chilly to eat.
“Don’t be polite, everyone. Come have some.”
At his invitation, the cooks and kitchen helpers who had just become free hurried over smiling, each taking a piece.
“So this thing is basically a portable orchard?” He Lingchuan examined the miniature. “Tch, it doesn’t even come with instructions.”
The squirrel came out of nowhere, jumped onto the table, and pointed at two lines of tiny text on the side of the miniature.
Isn’t it right there? It looked at him with its big eyes.
The text stated: “Plant seeds and water. Fruit in two days.”
“So I can grow things myself?” Whatever he wanted to eat, he could plant, and within two days, there would be a harvest.
In this age of declining heaven and earth spirit qi, this treasure was indeed miraculous.
Jiao Yu asked, “Does it not require profound crystals to activate?”
“Heh, maybe it does.” Using precious profound crystals to grow fruit was not something normal people would do, but that did not mean Lingxu City’s nobles would not, and that was especially so for the Ke Family. They owned a profound crystal mine. To them, what difference was there between profound crystals and copper or iron? Weren’t they all dug out of the ground?
He Lingchuan blindly guessed that the flow of time inside this treasure was faster than outside.
He just did not know whether it needed fertilizer.
He picked up the gift list and continued reading. The next two items, like the miniature carved landscape, were indeed treasures that rich people would give. They were beautiful and amusing, but not very practical.
Compared with the miniature, He Lingchuan would rather the Ke Family had given him gold. He did not mind vulgarity. After all, he was always short of money.
However, the fourth item was truly valuable. Jiao Yu looked and was surprised too.
“The Ke Family actually gave you a boat?”
“A pleasure boat[1]!” He Lingchuan corrected it. “It clearly says a pleasure boat!”
1. Search up ornate pleasure boat, or 画舫 (huāchuán), to see what these look like. ☜
