"There is that," said Murong Yun Shu as she picked up the pace and hasten towards the palace door.

You don"t want to spend more time than necessary in a palace. The emperor might just changed his mind the next minute, have her arrested and her head chopped off. Although she didn"t think whether living longer or shorter make too much of a different, but there is definitely different is a good death versus a bad one. She would rather die unknowingly from King Liang"s Jr."s Soul s.n.a.t.c.her than being sent to heaven by a unskilled executor wielding a dull sword.

Murong Yun Shu couldn"t help but smiled when she thought about the Soul s.n.a.t.c.her. This King Liang Jr. must have surrounded himself with quacks. How else could he have come up with such a superfluous idea? Frankly, had he given her drugs that cause diarrhea, she may have given in already.

***

A few days later, an official announcement was made by the court stating that the court has approved Huifeng Bank to be the main distributor of the new "silver dollar", calling it "the number one bank" and Murong Yun Shu the Revenue Regulator, who could enjoy the benefits of a first cla.s.s officer. As soon as the announcement was made, the listlessness atmosphere of the dynasty dissipated right away. Even the pa.s.sersby were so full of energy, let alone the street vendors shouting at the top of their lungs.

With the court as its backer, Huifeng Bank had regained it"s reputation. Bank notes with the words "Huifeng" printed on them appeared in the market like spring bamboo shoots after a shower. Huifeng Bank reopened it"s door for business. "Silver dollars" were not yet in print, so Huifeng Bank"s business model was the same as before. Overnight, everything returned to normal. The House of Murong returned to the rich and overbearing, most raved about House of Murong in Jinling.

But deep down inside, Murong Yun Shu understood that this is just a move planned by the emperor, the road that he laid out. If she didn"t want to turn into a p.a.w.n of the emperor, and be cast aside1 when all said and done, she had better keep a watchful eye at all times, and have a plan on how to safely retrieve herself when the time comes.

Lying in a yellow bamboo recliner in the most comfortable position possible, Murong Yun Shu closed the ancient-looking book in her hands. She signed, the power of the emperor was so fearsome. It"s power so absolute, no wonder so many would risk grave danger or total destruction of their reputation if they could only step on other"s dead bodies and get close to the emperor.

"Miss, why are you still looking so worried when the emperor had made you an officier?" Lu"er was baffled. The post of Revenue Regulator was first cla.s.s officer, same level as the Prime Minister, why wasn"t miss happy about it?

"Because he has hidden agendas." That should have been a hateful statement, but coming from Murong Yun Shu, the tone was much more mild. It was as though she was merely commenting that "oh, the weather is quite nice today."

Lu"er rolled her eyes, "How could he have hidden agendas when he had a.s.signed you to such an important post?"

Murong Yun Shu understood that no matter how she explained the complex situation in the matter to her, someone as simple as Lu"er would never get it. So she took the approach to just closing her eyes and pretended she was napping and didn"t hear her. A few seconds later, she recalled the matter regarding the warehouse. She opened her sleepy eyes and asked, "Has Nie Qing returned yet?"

"Yes, I heard he just got back from the Ministry of Revenue. You want to go look for him?"

"Can you go tell him not to come and bug me?"

"... How do you know he is going to swing by?

"I am guessing." Yesterday he didn"t like the idea when they talked about building the warehouse in Shang Yang. He must have went and reported to the emperor today. Murong figured the emperor probably objected to that idea as well. So he must have returned to try to convince her. Even though she"s quite draconian when it comes to business and would never let him convince her, but it"s always a ha.s.sle when someone"s nagging next to her when she"s trying to nap.

Just as expected, shortly after Nie arrived shortly after Murong dozed off, only to be stopped by Lu"er.

Lu"er stammered, "Master Nie, Miss tends to get up from the wrong side of the bed. I don"t think it"s a good idea to wake her. You know, when someone who rarely gets upset gets upset, it could be quite awful." Lu"er remembered the one time she had witnessed that, she had wanted to dig a hole and bury herself to avoid being torn apart by Miss"s ghastly stare.

Nie agreed that it probably would not be a good idea to upset Murong. After all, this was the woman who even threatened the emperor. Surely she would have no hesitation in taking care of a court official. It didn"t take him long to come to the conclusion, "I will wait for her."

________________

1. The original saying was 飞鸟尽、良弓藏，狡兔死、走狗烹. Direct translation means when all the birds are gone, the bow and arrows are put away; when the wicked hare is dead, the hound gets eaten [by the owner]. In short, it means one might be cast aside, or worse, gotten rid of, once your usefulness is up.