Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six: Reunion of Old Friends

  Shen Mu Qing was taken aback for a moment.

  How did Xiao Xiao know that he had sent Yan Feng to inquire about his news?

  She raised her head in surprise and saw Xiao Sa's overly scorching gaze.

  Shen Muqing was stunned once again.

  That's a gaze with an unmistakable longing and expectation!

  What is he looking forward to?

  What's expected?

  A thought flashed by, and a stormy wave surged up from the bottom of her heart... Something was suppressed and wanted to break out from the bottom of her heart... It made her feel afraid...

  But before she could think carefully, Xiao Sa took a step forward and asked aggressively: "You sent your personal maid to inquire about our family's affairs... why?"

  The height difference was so obvious at this moment, and the sense of oppression made Shen Muqing feel his own weakness for the first time in front of Xiao Sa.

  "No, nothing's wrong!" She heard her own voice was hasty and flustered. "Nothing's wrong. I just saw you that day at the entrance of a tea house alley, looking very unhappy, wearing coarse clothes, without even bringing a servant or an escort..." As she spoke to this point, she suddenly felt a little guilty.

  "Xiao Xiao, let's be friends?"

  A somewhat perplexed look.

  Xiao Xiao was taken aback, then nodded slightly.

  "Friends should help each other out, right? What's going on with you? Can't you tell me? Maybe there's something I can do to help?"

  A faint smile emerged from the corner of Xiao Xiao's eyes, and then this smile gradually overflowed from the bottom of her eyes, falling on her eyebrows and mouth corners.

  "You thought something happened to me, so you came looking for me?"

  His voice was very soft, like a gentle breeze blowing through the treetops, with a hint of caution.

  "Mu Qing, did you think something happened to me, so you're in such a hurry to find me?"

  Xiao Xiao asked her again.

  Unlike the first time, this time the interrogative sentence from his mouth came out as a declarative sentence - and with this sentence, his demeanor also became calm, gentle, and had a kind of confident composure that made him look mature and steady.

  Shen Muqing suddenly let out a sigh of relief.

  Xiao Xiao's attitude made her feel familiar and secure.

  Polite and confident, yet reserved. Not overly familiar with others, nor too distant... just like her former close male colleague at the company. He would help her within a certain scope when she was in trouble, and offer some comfort within a certain scope when she was down... that distance, more than friends but less than lovers, made her feel at ease.

  Time will change everything.

  It's been almost three years since they last saw each other.

  In her youth, she had a faint affection, perhaps it was forgotten long ago, or maybe she considered it an embarrassing thing and suppressed it deep in her heart - after all, at that time she was still a married woman!

  Calm and clear, relieved of worries.

  I'm too suspicious!

  Xiao Xiao's eyes were originally very bright, and when he was young, he looked at people with a sharp gaze... let alone now that he has slowly grown up.

  She smiled: "Of course I'm worried about you getting into trouble, so I went to ask?"

  Xiao Xiao gazed at her delicate and lovely face, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

  Mu Qing had a very keen intuition... This intuition allowed her to judge right from wrong in her actions. It was like when she was in the carriage - she didn't say anything, but based on her feelings, she made a decision... Although it broke his heart, after calming down and thinking about it, it was actually the most correct decision.

  There is also Yao Wang Temple.

  Among so many people coming and going, she just happened to find herself...

  Xiao Xiao's smile deepened, and his eyes held a doting love that even he himself didn't realize.

  "Nothing's happened to me," he said with a smile. "It's my third brother who's had some trouble!"

  Shen Mu Qing listened and immediately let out a sigh of relief.

  "I thought something had happened to you?" As soon as she finished speaking, her heart that had just fallen was lifted again. "What's wrong with your third brother? Why do you want to sell the house? And what are you doing in Kyoto?"

  Xiao Xiao smiled, with an unprecedented gentle attitude.

  "This spring, Third Brother received a shipment of porcelain to Quanzhou and was going to start a maritime business with Xiao Cheng, my older half-brother. Who knew that on the way back, they encountered a tsunami... all their capital lost. Now it's almost the end of the year and our family needs to settle accounts... since he helped me before, I want to help him out."

  It's great that brothers can help each other out, and of course I'll support it!

  "How much is missing?"

  Xiao Xiao was taken aback.

  "I still have some savings," Shen Muqing said with a smile, "Let's just say I'm lending it to you. When your third brother recovers, you can return it to me then. Businessmen always have their ups and downs!"

  "Let's just forget it... there are too many of them..."

  Shen Zhen was in prison, thanks to him for running around. Let's just say it's paying off this favor!

  "Many hands make light work!" Shen Muqing laughed and said, "You say so, I'll lend a hand according to my ability!"

  Xiao Xiao's face was expressionless, staring blankly at her, without making a sound.

  "Don't tell me you're not short of money!" Borrowing money from others is always a difficult thing to do. Shen Muqing's tone was urgent, "Otherwise, you wouldn't have gone to sell the house either?"

  Xiao Xiao gazed at her deeply and smiled: "Probably short of 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver!"

  Xiao Xiao's smile has a kind of flying flavor, Shen Muqing feels warm in her heart every time she sees it.

  So she absent-mindedly said: "How can there be so much silver? What kind of porcelain did he collect? Even if it's the newly released pink porcelain from the imperial kiln, two ships wouldn't be worth this much!"

  Xiao Xiao looked at her with great surprise.

  Is there still something in this story that I don't know about?

  Shen Muqing's eyes were filled with suspicion.

  Xiao Xiao's face turned serious and he hastily said: "This matter is hard to explain clearly, it has to be told from the beginning."

  Shen Muqing sat down in a nearby armchair - it was only then that she realized, at some point, the room had become completely empty.

  She pouted and poured herself a cup of tea.

  Xiao Xiao smiled and sat down in the armchair beside Shen Muqing.

  "Our family is wealthy, but we are strictly managed on a daily basis. For unmarried children, regardless of whether they are legitimate or illegitimate, expenses such as food, clothing, and education are all covered by the family, but there is also a certain limit. The only money that can be used freely is the five taels of monthly allowance, and the red envelopes received during Chinese New Year. If it's not enough, you either have to think of ways to earn more or use less. Except for a few exceptions, like my fifth brother - his family is the largest landowner in Linfen, and he receives a large amount of money every year. Others don't have much money on hand. To do business, one has to borrow from their ancestors with an annual interest rate of 30%."

  Shen Mu's eyes widened suddenly.

  "Your grandfather is really something, isn't he? To think of a method like this?"

  Xiao Xiao laughed: "It's very fierce. Our family became rich only when it reached my grandfather's hands, and my great-grandfather was just a local landlord at that time."

  Shen Mu nodded quietly.

  Xiao Xiao continued: "After I started serving, the most outstanding among my brothers were San Ge of the second house and Wu Ge of the third house. At that time, when San Ge borrowed money from Grandfather to do this business, Grandfather did not agree at all. Er Shu saw that the profit was considerable and it was a business with Xiao Cheng, so he secretly transferred some money to him, wanting him to make some private money, and then fight with Wu Ge later. If it were just the loss of porcelain, it would be around 100,000 to 200,000 taels. Later, when something happened, none of the people on the boat came back, but the settlement fee had to be paid immediately. This money was borrowed from Quanzhou at high interest... San Ge has never dared to tell anyone in the family, afraid that Er Shu would know and worry, or Wu Ge would find out and report it to Grandfather. As a result, the interest snowballed, and finally reached 240,000 taels..."

  Shen Muqing suddenly thought of Xiao Sa's reluctance to ask someone to tutor her privately...

  "Your family are all ducks..." she muttered under her breath.

  "What?" Xiao Sa's eyes widened.

  That sixteen-year-old boy in red is back again!

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but smile: "What's not a duck? In order to make the movement of swimming beautiful and natural, every foot is desperately paddling in the water... What does it look like if not a duck?"

  The rustling of leaves is already in harmony.

  Shen Mu Qing smiled a few times and said seriously, "Then how much silver are you planning to lend to your third brother?"

  "How about borrowing at least 200,000 yuan?" Xiao Sa said with a smile.

  What's wrong?

  Shen Muqing was quite unexpected.

  Xiao Xiao explained: "Third Brother's family is one of our family's managers, and he didn't dare to speak to the other brothers. The Xiaos sold everything they could at home and managed to scrape together 50,000 taels..."

  Shen Mu nodded calmly: "Then how many do you have in your hand now?"

  Xiao Xiao hesitated and said: "Adding up to 170,000 taels... I still have the courtyard in Bai Shu Hutong, some antiques, paintings and so on..."

  Shen Mu Qing interrupted him: "In other words, there's still a shortage of 30,000 taels?"

  Xiao Xiao's eyes flashed, and he shook his head: "I already agreed with the buyer yesterday that the courtyard would be sold to him for 3,000 taels of silver... still short of 27,000 taels."

  "Has the yard already been promised to someone?" Shen Muqing asked in surprise, "So soon?"

  Xiao Xiao nodded: "That place is next to the Petrified Bridge, and all three departments of the Six Institutes are nearby..."

  It's also true! The houses in that area are often unsellable. As soon as someone puts out the word that they're selling a house, it immediately gets bought!

  "Then where do you live?" Shen Muqing asked with concern.

  "I'll be heading back to Gansu soon," Xiao Xiao said with a smile, "This time I've come to Kyoto to urge Zeng Laoye to send military pay and also to give New Year's gifts."

  "Not bad!" Shen Muqing smiled and said, "Being able to help send New Year's gifts, it seems that Zeng Daren has a high opinion of you. Have you been promoted?"

  "It's still a fifth-rank official!" Xiao Xiao was young after all, and there were hints of pride on his seemingly calm face, "But it's a promotion to a regular fifth-rank official."

  "Rank five, not bad!" Shen Muqing felt a bit surprised but also thought it was within reason.

  Xiao Xiao is clever and resourceful, with a strategic mind.

  "It's just so-so!" Xiao Xiao said with a seemingly casual expression, but actually with a hint of pride and humility, "Not as good as the best, but better than the worst!"

  Shen Muqing looked at him like this and let out a sigh of relief.

  Well done is half done!

  "By the way, speaking of which, I came to see you because there's something I want to ask of you!" Xiao Sa suddenly changed the subject.

  "Find me!" Shen Muqing was somewhat surprised.

  Xiao Xiao smiled and said: "I want you to introduce me to Mr. Shen."

  "Old Master?" Shen Mu Qing was tongue-tied.

  "Hmm!" Xiao Xiao said seriously, "In the past few years in Gansu, the military salary from the Ministry of War has always been difficult to arrive on time. Every October, I would go to the capital to visit the officials of the Ministry of Revenue..."

  (I've written four drafts... and I don't know if it's expressed clearly or not... (*^__^*) Hehe... I'm going to get a shot later, so I don't know if I can write another chapter...)