Chapter 274: Another Kind of Merit

Yan Huaiwen could tell his younger brother wasn’t speaking from the heart.

Tian You had always valued money, and this time, though it was a narrow victory, he had taken it through proper means. How could he not feel resentful?

“For now, let’s handle this matter according to the precedent set in Crouching Tiger. I’ll look into the details myself, then we’ll decide what to do.”

Guanzhou was a poor region. Officials here, whether civil or military, couldn’t all be called incorruptible, but neither were they shamelessly greedy.

If someone truly craved power and wealth, they would’ve left this place long ago. No need to suffer here.

And since Magistrate Tian had already tried and failed to borrow supplies from the Garrison, Yan Huaiwen had a general idea of what kind of person Commander Xue was.

He drew a clear line between insiders and outsiders.

His own soldiers were treated generously.

But with outsiders, he was as stingy as could be.

“I’ll listen to you, Brother.”

With that, Yan Lao’er seemed to have found his backbone. He no longer brooded over the bit of silver he’d missed out on from a single head, and instead began talking about the prices in Changping City and Guiyuan Town, how he’d found some fellow villagers from Da’an Village in Gufeng City, and even mentioned the Divine Water incident.

He only touched briefly on the Divine Water, not going into detail.

Most of his focus was on the fellow villagers who, like them, had fled from Qishan all the way to Guanzhou.

Yan Huaiwen had a knack for catching the key points. From just a few words, he sensed Tian You’s resistance toward the Li family uncle.

“What does your wife think?”

That was her maternal family. What the brothers thought didn’t matter as much. In the end, how to handle it would depend on her attitude.

“My wife…” Yan Lao’er hesitated, as if weighing his words. “Seems she’s been hurt by her uncle and aunt. Just yesterday, she told Xiao Er that from now on, they should keep their distance from that side of the family. Once they find Xiao Er’s eldest aunt, it’ll just be the two sisters who stay in touch.”

Yan Huaiwen nodded, already forming a picture in his mind.

Ever since Tian You had changed for the better, his wife had changed too.

It seemed that in the past, Tian You hadn’t done enough to give her peace of mind. Even if her family was unreliable, she still couldn’t let go.

But now that life had improved, her mindset was starting to shift…

“If there are relatives you want to visit, pick a time and go see them. If life’s hard for them, help out where you can.

Things in Crouching Tiger have stabilized. From what the old master says, in three or four days, the lockdown on Crouching Tiger City will be lifted. Once the roads are open, you won’t have to run around so much. The herbs the villagers gather can be kept for our own use or sold elsewhere.”

Yan Lao’er was overjoyed.

“Brother? The lockdown’s really going to be lifted? That’s great! Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner. I was worried you’d have to spend the holiday stuck in Crouching Tiger.

Our house is almost finished too. I’ll go urge Master Lu and the others to speed up the work. This is our first big festival in Guanzhou—we’ve got to make it count. We should really celebrate properly…”

Yan Huaiwen listened with a smile as his brother excitedly imagined this year’s Mid-Autumn festivities.

He couldn’t help but drift into memories.

Would this year’s moon be full? Would it be bright?

His memory had grown hazy. He couldn’t recall.

He only remembered that he and Heng’er had once been destitute and alone, sheltering under a crude lean-to just outside Qishan Prefecture.

It wasn’t quite like the shelters outside Crouching Tiger City now. It was more like the refugee camps Tian You had described in Gufeng City.

Wind blew in from all sides.

The only thing it offered was a bit of shade from the harsh midday sun.

It had no other use.

They weren’t alone under that shelter—two or three other families were crammed in as well. It was far from ideal.

It wasn’t until he swallowed his pride and took a job as a bookkeeper that they finally had a place to stay.

He managed to maintain the dignity of a Xiu Cai.

Compared to Guanzhou, Xiu Cai scholars in other major provinces were worth next to nothing.

At the time, they were still drowning in the grief of losing their loved ones.

Status, pride—none of it mattered in the face of that kind of pain.

Yan Huaiwen lowered his gaze.

Everything was different now.

He had chosen a different path, and things were getting better. Better and better…

His Qian Chu was still here.

His Heng’er was still here.

Tian You, his sister-in-law, Xiao Er… they were all still here.

“Oh right, Brother, we can keep the coin pouches we found on those Northern Rong, right? The officials from Yongning didn’t touch them. I ran into them in Gufeng and casually asked. They said as long as there’s nothing with writing on it, we can keep it. Not just the money, but their weapons too. Heh!”

“Coin pouches?” Yan Huaiwen thought for a moment. “Did you bring them?”

“Yeah, I brought them.” Yan Lao’er retrieved a bundle from the cart and unwrapped it layer by layer, revealing several roughly made coin pouches.

He had checked each one himself.

Unfortunately, out of the six men, only three had carried money.

Just a few bits of broken silver, and more copper coins than anything else.

They’d clearly been careful to maintain their disguise. They hadn’t brought much money, which made sense for the hunter roles they were pretending to be.

Yan Huaiwen examined them one by one.

He looked very carefully.

When he finally raised his head, there was a subtle change in his expression. A hint of amusement flickered in his eyes.

“Yongning might be a prefectural city, but their constables sure aren’t thorough.”

Yan Lao’er blinked. “What do you mean? Is there something wrong with this pouch? Is something hidden in it? No way! I turned them inside out! Just a few bits of silver, not even a full tael with the copper coins added in.”

Yan Huaiwen turned one of the coin pouches over in his hand, inspecting it. Then he grabbed a loose thread tucked inside and gave it a hard tug.

The string couldn’t withstand his tug and snapped with a sharp pop.

Yan Huaiwen went on to dismantle a few more money pouches in the same manner.

Silver fragments and copper coins scattered across the ground, but he paid them no mind.

Before long, the money pouch had been torn into two uneven pieces of coarse cloth.

What left Yan Lao’er utterly dumbfounded was that between those two scraps of fabric, there was a tightly folded, meticulously pressed—banknote!

“Dear heavens! This is… this is…”

The Northern Rong were actually carrying banknotes on them!

“Brother, let me see that!” His voice carried a hint of urgency.

To be hidden so carefully, it must be a sizable sum.

He had to take a good look.

Yan Huaiwen handed it over, then proceeded to dismantle the remaining two pouches in the same way.

Yan Lao’er carefully unfolded the banknote, his hands almost reverent in their gentleness.

He thanked his brother, his sister-in-law, his precious Dabao.

Thank you all for constantly nagging him to study. Now he could proudly declare that he recognized every single important character on this banknote!

“One hundred taels! A hundred taels! This is insane, Brother! A hundred taels! These Northern Rong are seriously loaded? They had three money pouches—does that mean three hundred taels? Sweet heavens, we’ve struck gold! We’re rich!”

His eyes sparkled as he babbled incoherently.

He looked exactly like a lottery player who’d been buying tickets rain or shine for decades and had just hit the jackpot. The grand prize. The kind you didn’t have to split with anyone.

Overwhelmed by the windfall, he was completely losing it.

Yan Lao’er felt hot all over, like he could burst. He had an uncontrollable urge to strip.

He wanted to run. His blood was boiling, and some strange energy surged from the soles of his feet, shooting upward. He wanted to leap, to shout, to sprint!

Yan Huaiwen unfolded the other two banknotes.

One was for fifty taels.

The other, two hundred.

He glanced at Tian You, then quietly tucked the two-hundred-tael note away.

Clearing his throat, he said calmly, “This one’s fifty taels.”

But Yan Lao’er was sharp now, his mind moving fast. “So that’s one for a hundred, and two for fifty… That’s not bad at all. Two hundred taels! Two hundred taels we picked up for free!”

Yan Huaiwen couldn’t help rubbing his temples, both amused and exasperated. “Tian You, all this… we’ll have to turn it in.”

Yan Lao’er: Huh?

“Brother, what did you say? Turn it in? To who? Why?” Yan Lao’er was completely lost.

“Think about it. Why would the Northern Rong be carrying so many banknotes?” Yan Huaiwen asked.

“Travelers carry money, right? They’re far from home, of course they need to bring a lot,” Yan Lao’er replied without hesitation.

Yan Huaiwen chuckled and shook his head. “You! These six snuck into Guanzhou under false identities. They’re clearly up to something big. In a place where they don’t know anyone, money is the only way to smooth their path and get things done.

Or perhaps… these banknotes have another purpose altogether.”

Money, since ancient times, had always served one purpose.

Transactions.

Not just for goods, but for people too.

Yan Huaiwen had seen much and thought even more.

Guanzhou guarded the border, a thorn in the side and a blade in the flesh of the barbarians.

Years of conflict had made the frontier a battlefield of constant skirmishes—some successful, others not. The two sides were locked in bitter enmity.

Each side paid close attention to the other’s movements.

As far as he knew, the border garrison had a dedicated unit tasked with gathering intelligence and tracking enemy activity.

Naturally, the Northern Rong would do the same—sending agents deep into enemy territory to gather information about Guanzhou.

Things like troop deployments, military formations, personnel transfers, even the state of the local populace.

To those with a mind for it, no piece of information was useless. All of it could be pieced together into intelligence that could shift the tide of war.

These six might very well have been sent for such a mission.

To infiltrate Guanzhou and gather intel.

As he said, money opens doors. It made everything easier.

How could Yan Lao’er not understand? He just didn’t want to accept it.

Come on, the people from their village had shed blood and sweat, and even then, the reward money was meager. Now even the spoils from looting corpses had to be handed over?

What a cruel joke!

“The reason we have to turn it in,” Yan Huaiwen patiently explained, “is because we don’t yet know if these banknotes are connected to anyone else.

We need to trace their origin.”

Yan Lao’er hung his head, dejected. “I know. Banknotes have writing on them. We can’t keep them.” He’d been so overjoyed earlier that he hadn’t thought of that.

“You only get a banknote by depositing silver at a moneyhouse. Guanzhou’s notes only circulate among a few nearby prefectures—Xizhou, Leshan, and Linhai.

Linhai doesn’t really use them, so only Xizhou and Leshan would accept these. So, tell me—who deposited this silver? At which moneyhouse? Did anyone else handle it in between?”

“You can tell all that from the note? Where’s it written?” Yan Lao’er squinted, practically pressing his face to the paper, but couldn’t spot anything suspicious.

Yan Huaiwen smiled. “We can’t tell, but someone can.”

“Who?”

“The moneyhouse where the note was issued,” Yan Huaiwen said with certainty. “They have their methods. They’re used to marking the notes. If someone really wanted to investigate, they could find out a lot.”

Yan Lao’er: …

“So you’re saying the moneyhouse knows every single transaction? That’s… that’s insane!”

How was anyone supposed to stash money or pretend to be poor now?

One trip to the moneyhouse and everything would be exposed?

“They keep those marks hidden. They won’t use them lightly, and they certainly don’t let people know about them.”

Yan Lao’er frowned. “So can they trace it or not?”

Now he was just confused.

“That depends on how much Prince Ying cares,” Yan Huaiwen said calmly.

“Why does this have to do with Prince Ying again?” Yan Lao’er asked in surprise.

“This silver shop is set up in Guanzhou. There’s definitely some backing behind it,” Yan Huaiwen said. “And that backing is most likely tied to Prince Ying.”

“If the prince wants to investigate, it would be easy. But if the matter gets buried and no one pays attention, it’ll naturally fade into obscurity.”

Yan Lao’er stared intently at the silver notes in his hands. His eyes seemed to say two things: one said “Yes,” the other said “Pity.”

“For us, finding these silver notes comes with another benefit…” Yan Huaiwen trailed off deliberately.

Yan Lao’er immediately perked up, eager. “What benefit?”

“The reward silver for the village will not only be distributed in full, but we’ll probably get a little extra on top,” Yan Huaiwen said with a subtle smile, but his tone carried a quiet confidence.

Yan Lao’er understood instantly.

This counted as another merit to their name!

And this time, it was different from before. The value of this contribution was huge! Who would still have the nerve to shortchange them on their original reward?

Huh? Would they really?

They helped recover hundreds of taels! Wouldn’t it be shameful not to give them a little bonus?

Of course it would!

Thinking this, Yan Lao’er’s mood instantly shifted from gloomy to sunny skies, bright and clear.

He was glowing again.

But speaking of silver… he darted his eyes around sneakily, then walked a little farther away before beckoning to his older brother.

Yan Huaiwen: …

He followed at a leisurely pace.

“Brother, there’s something big I need to learn from you,” Yan Lao’er said mysteriously.

Yan Huaiwen nodded, signaling him to go on.

Yan Lao’er swallowed and lowered his voice. “Brother, Xiao Er and I ran into the Crown Princess Consort’s wedding barge in Changping. You know who she is, right? Prince Ying’s daughter-in-law.

The ten-mile bridal procession was no joke. The first boat passed by and half a day later, there were still more coming. All those red-lacquered boxes dazzled our eyes. Just looking at them made you feel festive.

Prices in Changping were sky-high, and we were in a rush to get to Guiyuan County in Linhai Prefecture. But guess what? Someone stopped us from leaving. We had to wait forever before they let us go. Xiao Er and I rowed like mad, and then we saw…”

Yan Huaiwen didn’t interrupt, just listened quietly.

His gaze was calm and gentle.

Yan Lao’er paused, glancing around again.

Noticing his nervousness, Yan Huaiwen reassured him, “Don’t worry. I’ve already checked. No one’s around.”

“Mm!” Yan Lao’er nodded seriously. “Brother, Xiao Er and I saw a boat break off from the procession and toss a box into the river. Then a few people went into the water with iron chains. When they came back up, they were empty-handed, and the chains were gone too.”

This was the version he and Yan Yu had agreed on.

They had to hide the fact that they already knew what was inside the box.

To make it more believable, they framed it all as something they had personally witnessed.

Yan Huaiwen’s expression didn’t change.

He had long known that the Prince Ying household wasn’t a monolith.

If he had no memory of this incident, there was only one explanation.

Someone had deliberately covered it up, keeping it from outsiders.

“You said you and Xiao Er saw them moving boxes from a distance?”

Yan Lao’er nodded. “Yeah, lots of people were busy, going back and forth. We couldn’t see exactly what it was, but they were definitely working hard, moving things from one box to another.”

Yan Huaiwen asked again, “What time of day was it?”

“A little past the Shen hour(3pm to 5pm), I think,” Yan Lao’er answered after thinking it over.

(End of Chapter)