Mo Xi nodded to himself, thinking: With Tang Ren's stubborn temper, he would definitely offend a lot of people if he were a civil servant in the capital. If he weren't from the Tang Clan, it would be hard to say.
The group arrived at Jushui Pavilion. Tang Ren was about to greet them when, upon seeing Mo Xi, they were immediately ushered to the room with the character "Lan" on it. Now, Mo Xi no longer needed to show her jade token; her face functioned as a VIP card.
Seeing Tang Ren's bewildered expression, Lü Yun couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "Someone like you dares to be a constable. You haven't been sold off, all thanks to the Tang Clan's reputation for suppressing evil."
The group took their seats one after another.
After Tang Ren exchanged some polite words, Mo Xi took the initiative to order the dishes.
Soon all the dishes were served, and the group ate and chatted.
Green Cloud said, "Third Young Master hasn't said how he met the young lady yet."
Tang Ren then briefly recounted the previous incidents of the eighth young lady of the Ling family hanging herself at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and the murder of the monk Zhiqing. He then concluded, "The case of Master Zhiqing was so incomplete that I got a beating when I got back."
Upon hearing this, Mo Xi almost choked on her amaranth and fish soup, secretly applauding in her heart: This is what it means to have your wishes fulfilled.
Green Cloud chuckled and said, "Who told you to insist on becoming a constable? Did you come to Jinling this time for another case?"
Tang Ren blinked his clear black and white eyes, grinned to reveal a set of white teeth, and said mysteriously, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed." After a pause, he showed an expression of admiration and said proudly, "However, this time it was the Fifth Prince who personally issued the order. Since the Fifth Prince took charge of the Ministry of Justice, many officials in the capital who had a lot of public resentment have been dealt with."
Green Cloud scoffed, “These high-ranking officials and their descendants are all the same. Once they become emperor, they’ll still exploit the people just the same. Anyway, I’m a江湖人 (jianghu person, a person of the martial arts world), so I don’t need to concern myself with the affairs of the court.”
Mo Xi thought to himself: The martial world and the imperial court have always been irreconcilable. Imperial power cannot tolerate any challenge, while the martial world has its own set of rules that operate outside the imperial system and are not subject to its control. If the imperial power wants to fully integrate the martial world into the national system, it will inevitably take measures to suppress it. Han Fei, as a representative of Legalism, once said in "Five Vermin": "Scholars use literature to disrupt the law, and knights use martial arts to violate prohibitions." To put it bluntly, he disliked scholars who liked to talk nonsense and seduce people when they had nothing to do, and knights who used violence to disrupt social order when they had nothing to do. Both of them were destabilizing factors that undermined the stability and unity of the country. This was undoubtedly said from the perspective of the imperial rulers. The reason why "Biographies of Assassins" became a "Tea Table Chronicle" is not so much because the knights violated the imperial power with their martial arts, but rather because when the two rights clashed and the two forces pursued the supreme imperial power, the lowest-level martial artists were used and sacrificed.
Seeing that Xi'er was very well-behaved and listened quietly to the adults chatting, Mo Xi picked up a piece of braised chicken for her and said, "Xi'er has grown into a young lady. Have you started school yet?"
"Yes. But Xi'er still prefers listening to Gu Mama tell stories; she tells them even better than the private tutor."
Green Cloud smiled and said, "This child is quite likable and knows how to make good connections. A few years ago, I saw that woman was all alone and took her in to do some needlework. I didn't expect her to be such a well-educated and reasonable person, and she really likes Xi'er."
All of them were well-informed and talked as they ate, and the atmosphere of the meal was quite harmonious.
After leaving Jushui Pavilion, Lüyun pulled Moxi aside and reached out her hand, saying, "Miss, please bring it here quickly. Fourth Young Master has been waiting anxiously."
Mo Xi was quite generous, and smiled slightly, saying, "I will finish writing the letter in a few days and send it to 'Ingenious Pavilion' for you."
Green Cloud smiled and said, "I am fine, but Fourth Young Master will have to wait a few more days. I wonder if he can bear it."
To everyone's surprise, Mo Xi said calmly, "You four young masters are truly extraordinary. Your patience is exceptional."
Knowing she couldn't see Mo Xi blush, Lü Yun thought to herself: No wonder the Fourth Young Master is so enamored with the young lady; his generosity and ease are something no one else can imitate.
After saying goodbye to Green Cloud and the other two, Mo Xi headed towards "Swallow." He ordered a pot of Yuqian tea and sat down to listen to the man chatter on about all sorts of things.
"I heard that the local fire loss tax has been abolished."
"Yes, the Fifth Prince has done a great thing for the country and its people this time."
"That's right. In previous years, Jinling alone collected an extra four qian of silver in fire tax every year."
"This money has now been directly handed over to the national treasury. I heard that the subsidies for local officials will be issued separately by the imperial court."
Mo Xi knew that the silver paid by the people here was similar to modern personal income tax. Because the tax amount was small, it was mostly in the form of small pieces of silver. When the various prefectural and county governments collected the silver and submitted it to the national treasury, they would melt down the pieces and recast them into larger blocks. However, the officials in various prefectures and counties still demanded that the people make up for the losses incurred during the melting process. Therefore, they devised a pretext to collect an additional amount on top of the tax payable. This extra amount was called "fire loss," and it was used to compensate for the losses incurred in melting down the silver and the cost of transporting it to the capital.
Originally, given the local craftsmanship, the loss rate for smelting silver was only about one to two percent. However, local officials levied exorbitant taxes, adding two to three qian (a unit of weight) per tael of silver, bringing the surtax to twenty to thirty percent of the regular tax. In wealthy areas like Jinling, the loss was often even higher, reaching four qian. The people were already overwhelmed and filled with resentment.
Even the emperor knew that the salaries of local officials were too low. A typical county magistrate's annual salary was only fifty-five taels of silver, far from enough to support his family, let alone hire secretaries, curry favor with superiors, and handle official receptions. Therefore, the court tacitly allowed these people to scheme for money through tax evasion and turned a blind eye to the rampant extortion and levies imposed on local governments.
Now that provinces are turning over the collected "fire tax" to the public and issuing it separately as a "clean-up allowance" for officials' financial subsidies, this will undoubtedly stop the previous situation of excessive collection of "fire tax," which eroded tax revenue and undermined the foundation of the country.
Mo Xi thought to himself: This Fifth Prince does have some tricks up his sleeve. However, his actions will surely offend everyone in the court and among the people.
Author's Note: All sorts of monsters and demons are about to gather together.
Hehe, actually you should be able to guess.
This isn't a fake update; the entire chapter just disappeared! Ugh.
Deceit and treachery
( ) It was another sunny day.
The Ingenious Pavilion. The Flower Hall.
Green Cloud brewed a cup of pre-Qingming Longjing tea for Mo Xi and said, "Fourth Young Master knows that Miss likes tea, so he specially instructed Green Cloud to keep this on hand before he left."
Mo Xi took a sip and praised, "This 'pre-Qingming' tea is indeed much better than 'pre-Yu' tea."
"Mingqian Longjing" is harvested before Qingming Festival, while tea picked between Qingming and Guyu (around April 20th) is called "Yuqian" (before Grain Rain). Although these two types of tea differ by only a few days, their freshness and tenderness are already quite different, making "Mingqian" naturally much more precious.
Mo Xi handed a letter to Lv Yun and said, "Thank you for your help with this."
Green Cloud took the letter, chuckled, and said, "Miss should have sent the letter long ago. Look, before Miss's letter was even mailed, Fourth Young Master's letter has already arrived." As she spoke, she took out a letter.
Mo Xi immediately tore open the seal and took out the letter.
It was a lotus-shaped note, exactly the same one she had used when making a wish on the river lantern that day. She couldn't help but smile slightly. Back then, all she could think about was how to save her life from Tang Huan's clutches; how could she have foreseen this situation today?
Upon opening the letter, I found only one sentence written on a large lotus-patterned stationery: "My longing for you is like the full moon, its radiance waning night after night."
To maintain his composure in front of Lü Yun, Mo Xi forcefully swallowed back the mouthful of tea he almost spat out. He thought to himself: "I'm still 'Qinghui Pavilion's' dimming of light!" Good heavens, he was comparing himself to the moon after the fifteenth of the lunar month, saying that the pain of unrequited love had tormented him, making his handsome face grow thinner and dimmer each day…
Mo Xi secretly pondered, this can't go on. She'd fallen for his trick so easily, partly because of his unparalleled handsomeness. If he were to lose his looks, it would greatly diminish her future prospects. Although relying on beauty to win someone's heart couldn't last, she could at least prolong the time. So, after racking her brains for a long time, she had no choice but to take back the letter she had already written from Lü Yun, reopen it, and add a superfluous line: "My hatred for you is like the moon over the river, sometimes full, sometimes waning." She thought to herself: Please make sure you understand the deeper meaning, eat well and sleep well, and be sure to maintain a certain level of plumpness.
While the ink was drying, she held up both letters, one on the left and one on the right, comparing the handwriting. The comparison immediately brought a look of distress to her face. She couldn't help but sigh inwardly: "Dating someone from the ancients, being uncultured is really a disaster!" She had only crammed a few days ago to practice some traditional Chinese characters before daring to show them to anyone. But compared to this guy's handwriting, she was still at least at a level worse than a dog's scratch. Fine, I'll just go for it. Dating means showing your most authentic self; I can't be afraid of making a fool of myself. As long as he can understand my ugly handwriting, that's fine.
At this moment, Mo Xi had no idea that when Tang Huan received the reply later, he would be alone with the moon, and his thoughts would be quite different. The second line of the poem, "I hate you like the moon over the river, sometimes full and sometimes waning," would be "Sometimes full and sometimes waning, when will we be reunited?" He would gaze at the moon and think of her, a blissful smile on his lips, and he would secretly make up his mind: Don't worry, now it is just longing, but in the future we will definitely be able to stay together forever.
It is evident that the understanding of poetry from the past is still superficial and cannot compare to the profound and nuanced understanding of the indigenous people.