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Chapitre 23

Wang Anshi noticed his disappointment but didn't mind. He simply smiled and said, "If Your Majesty truly wishes to revive the Song Dynasty, how can you judge people by their appearance? Can simply dressing well change the country's poverty and weakness?"

He was shocked upon hearing this and immediately realized that this person was no ordinary person, a fact that was later proven to be true.

Of course, the little girl in front of me now looks completely different from her father: clean and fresh, with a petite but delicate figure, and most impressively, her eyes always sparkle with intelligence.

He finally told Wang Pang, "From now on, when you're studying, feel free to bring them along; you don't need to dress up as men anymore."

Wen'er thought Zhao Xu was truly extraordinary.

When faced with a beauty like Pang Di, he simply admired her without any desire. Unlike Wang Shen, who couldn't help but put on airs of a charming and talented scholar in front of beautiful women, and kept pestering them with idle chatter.

Is it because he's seen so many beautiful women that he's become desensitized, or is beauty simply not important to him? The way his brother was so nervous when he looked at Pang Di made him seem so petty.

Discovering this made Wen'er slightly happy, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel disappointed: he wouldn't be an easy opponent to deal with.

As she pondered these thoughts, she and Pang Di sat in the sedan chair on their way home. Pang Di, noticing her silence throughout the journey, was puzzled. After a moment's thought, he smiled and said to her, "I know what you're thinking."

Wen'er looked up and asked, "What?"

Pang Di smiled and said, "In another year or two, the Emperor will be selecting concubines again."

"Oh," Wen'er said indifferently, "that's none of my business."

"Really unrelated?" Pang Di asked deliberately.

"His eyes are full of sharp intelligence; you can tell he's not someone who'll be easily swayed by beauty or emotion," Wen'er said. "He has the same distinct personality and unwavering opinions as me, and I'm not confident I can control him. Marrying a man I can't control is a huge danger. Besides," a faint smile appeared on her lips, "he already has so many concubines; dealing with them one by one would be exhausting."

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Rescuing the Beauty

Since Pang Di arrived, Pang Gong's illness has greatly improved. After more than ten days of recuperation, his life was no longer in danger, but he was not completely cured. Sometimes, catching a cold would worsen his condition. Therefore, Pang Di continued to stay and take care of his father, deciding not to mention returning to the capital until his father was fully recovered.

Of all the people in the family, Pang Di disliked Xu Shi the most. Although she wanted to curry favor with Pang Di, she couldn't help but complain to her frequently about the negative impact of Wang Anshi's reforms on her management of the estate, especially her strong objection to the Green Sprouts Act, which she grumbled about endlessly all day long.

Pang Di knew that the Green Sprouts Act had affected wealthy landlords, including her own family, who were lending money at exorbitant interest rates. However, she felt that poorer households should be able to benefit from it. So, she summoned some maids and servants from the manor and asked them if anyone in their families had borrowed money from the Green Sprouts Act and how it had gone. There were two kinds of answers. One kind consisted of families whose fathers and brothers owned their own land and had some assets. Therefore, the Green Sprouts Act was most suitable for them, as they would be completely free from the exploitation of usurers and would have access to collateralized loans to easily repay the interest. These people all said that the new law was very good. The other kind consisted of families who were all tenant farmers or hired laborers on the manor and did not own their own land. Therefore, they could not talk about collateralized loans. For them, the Green Sprouts Act was just a piece of paper and they did not care much about the implementation of the new law.

Seeing his daughter's concern for the effects of the new law, Pang Gong said to her, "When I was in the capital, I only cared about being an official and neglected the management of the villa. Only after returning did I realize that my family was also involved in usury. I am truly ashamed. It seems that the strong opposition of the old party to the Green Sprouts Act is somewhat related to this."

Reflecting on the Green Sprouts Act and other new laws, it's easy to see that those with modest wealth benefited the most, while the wealthy suffered considerable losses, and the destitute received no benefit whatsoever. Jie Fu's stance was related to his background and experiences; it's difficult to say whether it was right or wrong. He only hoped that the majority of the population would have modest wealth, preventing the wealthy from raising objections, and that the next few years would continue with favorable weather and national peace. Otherwise, he feared that the rich and poor would take advantage of the chaos to join forces and shift the blame onto Jie Fu, leaving him in an awkward position.

Pang Di felt that his father's words made sense.

Seeing that his wife had been gone for dozens of days without any intention of returning, Wang Pang wrote a letter urging her to come back: "Before we parted, I repeatedly told you 'you must return quickly,' and you, half-leaning against the rain curtain and slowly rolling up the willow catkins, agreed wholeheartedly. Now you are in Jiangnan, where the small bridges and flowing water must keep spring here, so you do not think about the passing of time. For me, nineteen autumns have already passed." He attached a poem, "Regretful Parting," at the end of the letter: "The wind is cold, the cicada shadows move on the painted screen, the red flowers on the fragrant path are withered and the dew is heavy. Perhaps it is difficult to dream, so I trim the lamp wick in the late night."

A mound of green hair, piled high on the pillow, embraced by light, cloud-like curls; with whom can I share this feeling? The cuckoo returns to the cloud-covered eaves, yet the orchid-scented quilt still carries its warm fragrance.

Pang Di read the poem with a smile, and also felt a longing to return home. However, thinking of her father, she was still worried about him, so she replied: "It is not that I am heartless, but I am truly worried about my father's illness and cannot bear to leave him. The autumn of nineteen is not something you alone have experienced; I have felt the same way. If you were not with me, I would not bother to admire the green mountains and clear waters of Jiangnan, even if the rivers were covered in snow and the streams were filled with blooming flowers." She also composed a poem in the same rhyme scheme as her husband's "Regretful Parting": "The cicada's shadow dances on the screen, my heart is moved; my brows are pale with sorrow. The wind, drunk, startles my evening dream; I listen to the plum blossoms' song in the deep night."

The lingering scent of my clothes is too heavy to hold, I deeply recall the time we spent together until our hair turned white. A light rain brushes against the eaves, and a glance in the mirror brings me back from the gloom of spring.

After receiving the letter, Wang Pang did not reply, but instead sent a special messenger to Liaoxiao Manor.

When Wen'er appeared in front of Pang Di, Pang Di was naturally overjoyed and pulled her aside, asking why she had come so suddenly.

Wen'er laughed and said, "Seeing that you are determined not to return, your brother originally intended to treat you as a runaway wife and come to arrest you himself. However, the Fangtian Equal Tax Law has been promulgated recently, and there are many miscellaneous matters to attend to. In addition, he is preparing to argue with those who oppose it in the court, so he had no choice but to send me to capture you and bring you back."

Pang Di sighed, "But my father is not yet fully recovered; how can I leave in peace?"

Wen'er blinked and said, "It's okay. I promised my brother I'd bring you back, but I didn't say when. Ten days, half a month, three or five years—it's up to me. I want to stay in Jiangnan a little longer."

The two then smiled knowingly.

Hearing Wen'er mention the Square Field Equal Tax Law, Xu Shi couldn't help but worry again. This law was primarily a new measure to address the previous unequal distribution of land taxes and the tax evasion by landlords. Previously, the size of fields varied across regions, and there was no unified measurement. Taxes were collected solely based on land deeds, and land was not graded; regardless of fertility, the same tax was levied. Large landowners, while acquiring land, did not pay taxes. They used the acquired land, yet the government still collected taxes from those without land. Over time, the state's tax revenue steadily decreased. Therefore, Wang Anshi and others decided to change this situation by establishing a square field system and equalizing taxes. Special personnel were dispatched to measure the land in various regions and classify the land into five grades based on soil color, fertility, and yield, with taxes levied accordingly. This exposed the long-hidden land holdings of many large landowners, leading to a corresponding increase in taxes. At this time, the Fangtian Equal Tax Law was only implemented in areas such as Jingdong, Hebei, and Shaanxi, and had not yet spread to Hangzhou. However, Xu Shi remembered that she had concealed a considerable amount of land, and had also heard that the land of several imperial relatives had been investigated. Naturally, she was uneasy and asked Wen'er, "I heard that the Empress Dowager Cao's family was also found to have concealed a lot of land that should have been taxed. How will Minister Wang handle this?"

Wen'er said, "It was her cousin Cao Chuo from her maternal family in Zhending, Hebei, who concealed these fields and even forced others to exchange sandy fields for fertile fields. So my father sent Zeng Bu there to handle the matter according to the law, verify the land and report it, and order them to pay taxes in this way in the future and return the land to the farmers."

Cao Chuo refused to accept this, so Zeng Bu gave him more than ten lashes. Heh heh, he was beaten until he begged for mercy repeatedly, daring not to disobey.

Xu felt a chill in her heart, thinking that if Wang Anshi could deal with the Empress Dowager's family so severely, he would probably not care about the marriage ties with the Pang family and would investigate her family's land in the future. In that case, the Pang family would have to pay more taxes.

Seeing that her face was pale, Wen'er asked with a smile, "Why are you so worried about the Cao family, sister-in-law? Could it be that you've also been hiding a lot of land from the Pang family?"

Madam Xu quickly smiled and said, "Young lady, what are you saying? We have always been law-abiding citizens; how could we do such a thing?"

Wen'er nodded deliberately and said, "If that's the case, I'll go back and tell Father that when he implements the equal land tax system in Hangzhou in the future, he should carefully measure the land managed by my sister-in-law to prove that what she reported was true, and set a good example of public service and law-abiding behavior for the world."

Hearing this, Madam Xu cursed inwardly: This little vixen is just like her father, always doing things that harm others without benefiting herself. However, she maintained her smile and said:

"That's wonderful, thank you for your thoughtfulness, young lady."

Wen'er settled into the villa and, as expected, wasn't in a hurry to return. She spent her days playing and having a great time. By early September, Pang Gong's illness had finally been largely cured. He and Madam Pang felt it was inappropriate to leave their daughter at home for so long, so they urged them to set off for the capital. Pang Di then bid farewell to his parents once more and embarked on his journey home with Wen'er.

The two of them sat in the carriage, accompanied by maids and several servants. Wen'er chatted and laughed all the way. Pang Di was initially in a bad mood because he had just left his parents, but seeing how lively and amusing Wen'er was, he finally started chatting and laughing with her.

After traveling for most of the day, passing Hangzhou, they continued on their journey. Unexpectedly, as they entered a mountain road, they suddenly heard the sound of galloping hooves all around them. A dozen or so burly men on horseback galloped towards them and arrived in front of the carriage in an instant. While Pang Di and the others were still in surprise, the men did not utter a word and instead brandished their swords, slashing at the maids and servants on either side.

Caught off guard, most of the servants fell to the ground. Pang Di exclaimed, "Oh no! We've run into bandits!"

Before the words were even finished, a bandit leader-like man pulled the coachman off the carriage, leaped onto it, whipped the horse, and the carriage sped off in the direction he had indicated. Seeing this, the other bandits also abandoned their wounded servants and rode off after the carriage.

Wen'er was both shocked and frightened, clinging tightly to Pang Di and asking what to do. After the initial shock subsided, Pang Di calmed down and said to Wen'er, "Luckily, I'm wearing a gold hairpin today. At worst, I can just stab myself in the throat and commit suicide."

Wen'er exclaimed urgently, "But I don't want to die at all!"

Pang Di couldn't help but chuckle. Wen'er retorted, "What's so funny? Even if I'm going to die, I'll have to execute these bandits one by one by slow slicing first!"

The carriage stopped outside a dilapidated temple dedicated to a mountain god. The bandit leader dragged them out and tied them to a pillar inside the temple.