Union

Chapter 113 Donated
After changing her clothes, when Yunying walked to the gate of the Hibiscus Courtyard again, most of the people there had already left.

But Qiu Ning is still there.

She personally oversaw the arrangement of the thorns.

Seeing this, Yunying told her to go back first.

With the old women watching over things, no one will disturb the "crime scene."

Qiu Ning responded with a soft yawn, her eyes still heavy with sleep.

Just as Yunying was about to walk past her, Qiu Ning suddenly remembered the boast she had just made. She hurriedly leaned close to Yunying's ear and whispered, "You'll pay the fifty taels of silver, right? Let me tell you first, I don't have fifty taels. Don't expect me to pay that amount."

Yunying: "..." Her emotions vanished without a trace.

"Alright, I'll pay. I'll pay a hundred taels, let alone fifty. You should go back now, you can barely keep your eyes open."

"Okay, then I'll really go back."

"let's go."

Qiu Ning went back, and Yun Ying also hurried to the front yard.

After all this delay, it was already quite late when Yunying arrived at the front yard.

Fortunately, Lei Ting was at the mansion today, and he was aware of Yun Ying's series of arrangements.

Seeing that Yunying hadn't come over for so long, Leiting had already arranged for Prefect Zhang to go to the guest courtyard to bathe and change.

When Second Master heard that Yunying had arrived, he came out with his wet hair disheveled.

He was dressed in a light blue robe, and while wiping his hair, he asked Yunying, "Why are you only coming now? Did you rest earlier?"

"No, I thought you and Prefect Zhang would definitely be back tonight, so I've been waiting for you."

Seeing that she was standing while speaking, the second master pointed to the armchair next to him and said, "Sit down, aren't you tired?"

Yunying shook her head, "I think standing is fine too."

The second master paused in his act of drying his hair, then tossed the white handkerchief aside and stared intently at Yun Ying with his bright eyes. "Tell me, what happened?"

Yunying didn't intend to hide the matter from the Second Master, but it was too late today, and the Second Master had to dine with Prefect Zhang later. She didn't want to spoil the Second Master's mood at this time, so she decided to talk about it tomorrow.

Yunying immediately said, "It's not a big deal. I'll talk to you about it properly when you have time tomorrow."

As she spoke, she went to pick up the handkerchief she used to dry her hair.

The second master casually tossed the handkerchief onto the armrest of the armchair, but it quickly slid to the ground.

But the simple act of bending down to pick something up caused Yunying a sharp pain in her tailbone. She couldn't help but let out a soft cry, freezing in place.

The second master had already walked up to her.

His sword-like eyebrows were furrowed tightly, and his phoenix eyes held a darker glint.

The second master looked at her pelvis and tailbone, then restrained himself and looked away after a moment. "What happened? Did you fall and hurt yourself? How could you fall and hurt yourself in the manor? Are those two people with you just sitting around doing nothing?"

"It's not their fault."

Yunying placed the handkerchief on the chair and invited the Second Master to sit down. She then tied up his hair for him.

Second Master will be dining with Prefect Zhang later, so it would be very impolite for him to be disheveled like this.

The Second Master didn't need her to do these things, only saying to let it air out first, and to have Suiyun come over to tie her hair later.

Second Master: "Don't change the subject. Tell me in detail what happened."

Yunying subtly rubbed her pelvis, "I stepped on tung oil and slipped and fell."

"Tung oil?" Second Master immediately grasped the key point. "Who would spill tung oil on the ground? Is that person intentionally trying to harm you?"

"uncertain."

Then, Yunying recounted the whole story.

She remained relatively calm, and her account of the incident was devoid of any unusual emotion. However, the Second Master was furious, saying only, "It's all because you have such a good temper that you've spoiled those people in the back courtyard, making them arrogant and ignorant."

Yunying was stunned. "How is this still my fault?"

"If it's not your fault, whose fault is it? It's because you're too lenient with your subordinates that those people in the back courtyard aren't afraid of you, which is why they dare to act recklessly. If you were Aunt Ding, do you think those people would dare to even frown upon you?"

That's something I really wouldn't dare to do.

So, is the problem really with her?
Yunying fell into self-doubt.

Second Master had already summoned Lei Ting over, "Go to the backyard and investigate Yun Ying's slip and fall, with a focus on Mu Jin."

Lei Ting responded and quickly went downstairs.

Yunying hadn't expected things to progress to this point so quickly. A little embarrassed, she said, "You've been busy all day. I was thinking of asking you to send someone to investigate tomorrow."

"By tomorrow, the daylily will be too cold."

The second master spoke in a harsh tone, which wasn't very pleasant. Yunying knew he was angry that she didn't take her seriously, and her heart warmed, so she didn't mind his sarcastic tone.

Yunying then asked Second Master if today's trip went smoothly.

Second Master nodded. “It went fairly smoothly. Wutou Mountain is under martial law, and the gold mine is scheduled to be started before the end of the year. Before the mining begins, the Prefect has decided to allocate funds to repair the road from Yungui County to Wutou Mountain.”

"Road construction?" Yun Ying perked up immediately.

She had been thinking about road repairs for a long time, and she truly loathed the roads in Yungui County.

"Are you really going to repair the road, Second Master? Is it just the road from the county town to Wutou Mountain, or are the roads around the county town being repaired as well?"

"Repair them all at once? Do you think the prefectural city has a lot of money? The prefectural city is also very poor. The money allocated to the county for road repairs this time was all saved up by the prefect himself. This time, we're only repairing the road from the county town to Wutou Mountain. As for the rest of the roads, we'll repair them ourselves when we have the money."

"When will we have money?"

Second Master said, "Once the gold mine is started, we'll have money."

When discussing the wealth generated after gold mining, it's inevitable to talk about the ownership of the gold mine and the distribution of profits.

Second Master said, "You are the owner of the tea mountain, but you also know that the imperial court has always only had two ways of dealing with such owned mineral deposits."

Yunying nodded, "The Second Master you mentioned to me. Isn't it either a buyout from the imperial court or a share of the profits from the gold mine?"

"It's good that you know what's going on. It's just..."

"But the profits from gold mines are too great; the government certainly won't let such huge profits fall into the hands of an ordinary citizen like me. So, in the end, they'll definitely just buy out this tea mountain, right?"

"Yes." The Second Master showed an approving look. Yunying had always been intelligent, and talking to a smart person was always pleasant.

The second master said, "That buyout money is also quite substantial, roughly estimated at over ten thousand taels." Yunying was startled, "So much?"

"How much? Not much! It's just compensation according to the principle of one hundredfold compensation."

This was the first time Yunying had heard of this "hundredfold compensation principle." What did this principle mean? It meant that the imperial court would compensate her one hundredfold based on the price she paid for the tea plantation.

Of course, sometimes you don't have to pay this money.

It has only been a month since Yunying took over the tea plantation.

She hadn't put in the slightest effort on the tea plantation for the past month, yet she made a hundredfold profit with just a flip of her hand, which displeased the government.

Therefore, this price could have been waived.

Now that it can be given, it's entirely thanks to the Second Master's great efforts.

This was all for her own good, but after thinking it over, Yunying still said, "Second Master, why don't we just donate this tea plantation? I don't want this money."

The second master paused in his tea-drinking motion. "What do you mean by this?"

"So...that's what you meant?" Yunying felt embarrassed by the Second Master's gaze and simply turned her face away. But the Second Master not only didn't restrain himself, his gaze became even more audacious.

He seemed to have realized something, and then he stopped restraining himself.

It was as if he was about to unleash the insatiable wolf within him.

Yunying couldn't stand his burning gaze, and her cheeks gradually flushed red.

But she still forced herself to explain, “Second Master, the land deed for that tea plantation is in Suiyun’s name. Although we insiders know that I am the true owner of the tea plantation, who outsiders would bother to investigate? They’re only looking at the name on the deed. Suiyun is your close attendant, and the tea plantation was bought with real money, and all the procedures were handled according to the law. But if word gets out, there will inevitably be gossip, and they might even blame you.”

"What did you say about me?"

"There are many. For example, it's said that you sold the tea plantation to your subordinates at a low price, profiting those around you. Or that you didn't fight for the government's interests, but instead demanded large sums of compensation for your subordinates, showing your selfishness rather than public duty, and that you are unworthy of being a county magistrate; and..."

"What else?"

"And then there are those who judge others by their own petty standards, who might secretly speculate that you sold that tea plantation to yourself at a low price, and that you're trying to get compensation to profit yourself."

The second master let out a cold laugh, "Heh."

Yunying quickly defended herself, "I didn't think that way. It's just that there are many people in this world who say it's sour grapes. Those people see that you have made a name for yourself in front of Prefect Zhang and that your political achievements are just around the corner, so they can't help but feel resentful."

If the Second Master had no dirt on him, people could say whatever they wanted. But now that someone close to him had bought the tea plantation, wasn't that a ready-made pretext for attack?

Rather than letting people use this incident to attack Second Master later and make it a stain on his career, it's better to remove this stain now.

"Then tell me, what should we do? Donate the tea plantation?" Second Master asked her leisurely, resting his chin on his hand.

Yunying nodded hesitantly, "This is the only way I have, but it's feasible. Second Master, what do you think?"

"I also think it's feasible."

"Then..."

Are you willing to accept this? Are you willing to give it up?

Yunying feigned indifference, "Give... well, of course I'm reluctant. I sold two sets of jewelry you gave me, and only got two thousand taels of silver in total. But with this tea plantation, I can easily make ten thousand taels just by reselling it. That's ten thousand taels! With ten thousand taels of silver, I'll achieve financial freedom."

"Financial freedom?"

"Yes, that's it..."

“I know what you mean.” Second Master finally couldn’t help but laugh. “If you donate it, your financial freedom will be a long way off.”

“Then let’s earn more. There’s always money to be made. I’m still so young, I’ll be able to earn ten thousand taels someday. Besides, this tea mountain was bought with one hundred taels of your money. The money came from you, so it should naturally be used for you.”

Yunying rambled on and on, saying quite a lot more. By the end, she didn't even know what she had said anymore. The Second Master had been staring at her intently, his gaze growing increasingly intense, making Yunying blush, her heart race, and her mind go blank.

Finally, the matter of donating the tea plantation was settled, but the second master said that he would make up the 10,000 taels that should have belonged to her.

Yunying stammered, "Aren't you already overwhelmed with your own problems?"

"But I'll have a lot of money coming in soon."

Yunying asked warily, "Where did you get all that money? It couldn't be... Second Master, you're not planning to seize some mineral resources, are you?"

Second Master laughed, “Why would I need to intercept it? The gold mine is located in Yun Gui County, and it was discovered by the two of us. Putting aside the latter, just the fact that the mine is located in Yun Gui County means that the county government should be able to keep three-tenths of the output.”

Yunying was shocked, then overjoyed. "Second Master, are you serious? Has the Prefect agreed?"

"It has been agreed. Seven-tenths will go to the prefectural government. As for how much the prefectural government should contribute to the imperial court, the prefect will handle it according to regulations. But three-tenths must remain in Yungui County."

With the county government now flush with cash, he could recoup the large sum of money he had advanced. With his finances more comfortable, giving Yunying ten or twenty thousand would be a piece of cake.

Of course, the Second Master wouldn't give the money to Yunying all at once.

He was afraid that if he actually gave it to her, her heart would wander away.

Yunying was even happier after confirming the news.

If circumstances allowed, she would have spun the Second Master around twice while holding him up and down.

We have money now!
With the money, everything else can be started.

Whether it's buying more plows and oxen, or recruiting more craftsmen and undertaking more industries.

In short, with money, the county government had the confidence to try and fail, and the Second Master had more to rely on to make Yun Gui County rich.

And what about those ordinary people, those who are so poor that they can't even afford a meal of dry rice? Can they hope that next year or the year after they can have a meal of dry rice every day?
Yunying was eventually escorted out by the Second Master.

Since Prefect Zhang is coming over for a meal, it's not appropriate for Yunying to stay any longer.

Yunying was so overjoyed that she forgot her pain. She suddenly jumped up halfway up the road, her face contorted, and she was pulled into the Second Master's arms in a very ungraceful position.

This scene was witnessed by Prefect Zhang, who immediately turned his back and said to Suiyun, "I suppose that was the girl who discovered the gold mine with Magistrate Chen?"

Sui Yun nodded, "It is indeed that young lady."

Prefect Zhang was in a great mood and everything looked beautiful to him.

The discovery of the gold mine solved his immediate problem. Moreover, with this treasure trove, he could unleash his full potential and accomplish many things. At that time, even the impoverished Lingnan Prefecture would become wealthy under his rule.

These are all achievements, accomplishments that will be remembered for generations to come.

When Prefect Zhang thought of these things, he felt as sweet as if he had drunk honey.

Upon seeing the beautiful woman who had discovered the gold mine, Prefect Zhang felt she was as beautiful as a celestial being. He couldn't help but laugh and comment, "She and Magistrate Chen are a perfect match, a handsome man and a beautiful woman."

Sui Yun forced a smile and said, "You flatter me."

(End of this chapter)