Chapter 1 Messenger

The one who came was Tan Weixin's messenger. Ye Tao had met him before, the guard who was obsessed with military chess, Lu Dan.

Lu Dan brought a letter from the princess and also brought a messenger for future communication between the two places, a golden eagle that had been carefully trained and was one in a thousand.

"Ye Tao:

Since we parted that day, more than three months have passed in a flash. If Governor Peng hadn't sent a report every three days, I wouldn't have known you were so obsessed with pendulum clocks.”

The letter began like this. From Yicheng to the capital Danyang, even a fast horse would take 3 to 4 days. What arrived in the capital could definitely not be called news. Ye Tao could perhaps understand Tan Weixin's anxious waiting, because he himself longed to meet Tan Weixin again in the near future. When they both thought they were living alone in this era, hiding their secrets in their hearts, swallowing all the stories, grievances, and happiness themselves, it was out of necessity. However, when they knew of each other's existence, when pouring out their hearts became a possibility, such a feeling could easily seize a person's heart.

Having become accustomed to classical Chinese, Tan Weixin did not deliberately use more modern grammar and writing to describe the things she had experienced these days, but between the lines, she still maintained her faint but consistently peaceful and happy demeanor.

His music box had become extremely popular in the capital. After appearing once in the imperial study and again at a banquet, the music box, which the princess kept hidden and no longer showed to others, had more and more legends surrounding it. Divine craftsmanship? Perhaps Ye Tao deserved this description. But when a trinket became deified, became filled with mysterious colors, it became somewhat... interesting. Perhaps even more interesting was the set of wood carvings "Ten Li Misty Waves" that Guan Huan had taken to the capital and was now collected by Situ Huang Xuping. When Huang Xuping learned that the person who made this set of wood carvings was actually a 14-year-old boy, and that this boy was about to come to the capital to develop his business, he was even more excited than Tan Weixin.

"The matter of the Yi Zhan Lou (Chess Battle Tower) has been settled. Tian, ​​an executive under my command, has already met with your father-in-law. The date of the foundation laying depends entirely on your word. The image of the tall buildings and mansions you depicted is shockingly beautiful, but only you can create such a structure with a flying beam.”

Tan Weixin really put a lot of thought into selecting the location for the Yi Zhan Lou's flagship store in the capital. In the end, she settled on a spot on the banks of the Yongding River, which ran through Danyang, the capital. This place was only a few steps away from the bustling commercial street, and it was also located in the middle of the Ministry of War, the Imperial Academy, and the Forbidden Army's large camps in the city. No matter how you looked at it, it was considered a first-class location. Since the land itself was Tan Weixin's capital for investing in Yi Zhan Lou, and the agreed-upon share ratio would not change due to the value of the land, Tan Weixin did not mention how much the land cost, but judging from her later complaints about the time spent on demolition and resettlement, it probably wasn't cheap either.

Feng Yu Sheng Jian (plump pan-fried buns) had also taken root and sprouted in the capital, with 4 stores already open. As expected, business was also quite good. But what was more depressing was that, seemingly inspired by the Sheng Jian business, Tan Weixin seemed to want to become a super tycoon in the catering chain industry. She actually opened a second chain store in the capital called "Wei Qian Ramen." From the recipes to the style of the store decorations and staff uniforms, everything was very much like the "Wei Qian Ramen" in Ye Tao's memory. Carrying out piracy to the end? Perhaps that was the only way to put it. But there was clearly some dissatisfaction in Tan Weixin's tone.

“What I deeply desire is to spread one store's name throughout Danyang, Cangping, Hanning, Chengan, and Yuhang, naming it 'Wu Jing Tang.' Even though the world may never be in my hands, it can still be called a great feat.”

Wu Jing Tang? If even this chain store was opened, she would really become a chain catering tycoon in the future. Tan Weixin's whimsical ideas really made Ye Tao admire her. However, Tan Weixin was not satisfied with the expansion of these businesses. After smoothing out the deliberately left accounting problems, she had to concentrate on directing funds, manpower, and material resources to the Jin Gu Garden, which was being built for the upcoming Bai Lian (White Lotus) princess. After all, this was a major event related to the relations between the two countries and could not be taken lightly. Garden designers and craftsmen from the Spring South Kingdom had already arrived in Danyang, the capital of the Eastern Peace Kingdom, at the location of the Jin Gu Garden, and were pointing fingers at the original experienced garden craftsmen of the Eastern Peace Kingdom. In Tan Weixin's opinion, it would be great if Ye Tao could find the time to come to Danyang once to suppress the arrogance of those guys. But if things were busy, there was no need to force it. Historically, the Eastern Peace Kingdom was very good at building cities, fortresses, passes, and those magnificent and practical buildings, but in creating gardens of this small and delicate nature, they were indeed somewhat lacking.

In the letter, Tan Weixin wrote down another of her expectations, hoping that Ye Tao could prepare carefully. When the Eastern Peace Kingdom's ruler and the White Lotus Princess were married, a large number of craftsmen and literati from the Spring South Kingdom would come to show off their power, flaunt the so-called flourishing culture and prosperous moral governance of the Spring South Kingdom, and even promote their superb craftsmanship on those exquisite utensils. She hoped that he could really put on a show to suppress the arrogance of the Spring South Kingdom. Managing the progress of the Jin Gu Garden project and providing appropriate funding in stages was now one of Tan Weixin's responsibilities, and she had to deal with those craftsmen, garden designers, and the officials leading the team who had arrived in Eastern Peace ahead of time. From between the lines, it was not difficult to see that dealing with these people did not seem to be a pleasant experience.

Ye Tao picked up his pen to write a reply, but after hesitating again and again, he put down the pen. He had never expected to become famous in this time and space for his poetry and articles, so he had never put any effort into poetry and books. However, his calligraphy was still passable. To write a letter, even in classical Chinese, he could still express his meaning, but for a moment he couldn't think of which aspect to start with when communicating with Tan Weixin about so many things.

"Lord Lu," Ye Tao never dared to neglect the guards around the princess. Although these people were often carefree and unremarkable, many of them had high ranks. This Lu Dan, based on his guard level converted into an official rank, was also a sixth-rank official. Addressing him as "Lord" was not at all pretentious for a commoner like Ye Tao. "Does Her Royal Highness the Princess have any other instructions?"

Lu Dan was startled. How favored Ye Tao was by the princess was something that these guards, who had been selected to travel thousands of miles back and forth and had stayed in Yicheng for almost a full month, could not possibly not know. Being addressed as "Lord" by Ye Tao made Lu Dan feel very uneasy. And Ye Tao had always gotten along very well with them before, and everyone called him "Little Brother Ye."

"Little Brother Ye," Lu Dan replied with a smile, "Don't call me 'Lord.' The reason I wanted this assignment was not to flaunt this status, but to ask you for advice. When the princess was on her way back, she told us about the 'grand strategy' gameplay of that military chess you were working on, which made a bunch of us brothers a little restless. This time, when this assignment came up, I asked for it. You can call me Little Brother Ye, and you can just call me by my name. Let's be straightforward and not talk so much nonsense." After a moment's hesitation, Lu Dan said, "Besides asking me to bring the letter and this eagle, Her Royal Highness the Princess didn't have any other instructions. I have a diagram here for the carriage used to raise and deliver letter-carrying eagles between armies. Other than that, the Princess has no other instructions. However, Little Brother Ye, Her Highness often mentions you. If you go to the capital sooner, Her Highness will be very happy."

Ye Tao thought for a moment and said, "Let me go in a few days after I prepare a gift for the princess. I'm just busy with work, so I might not be able to stay in the capital for long this time. I'm sorry to trouble you, Brother Lu, you won't be able to rest for a few days and will have to make another trip."

Lu Dan didn't mind at all when he heard this, and chuckled, "It's okay. We who are on duty are not afraid of traveling back and forth, not afraid of having nothing to do, but afraid of staying put all day, which makes people rusty."

Ye Tao took out a thick card and a silver note from his desk, handed them to Lu Dan, and said, "Brother Lu, I know you like to play chess. This is a VIP membership card for Yi Zhan Lou. With this, the employees in Yi Zhan Lou will naturally arrange a game for you. If you want to go upstairs to see the rules of the grand strategy gameplay, just tell the store manager. The experimental chessboard for the grand strategy gameplay still uses the sand table map of Yicheng and the surrounding area, which involves military secrets to some extent, but you can freely enter and exit with your Forbidden Guard waist tag."

Lu Dan was a straightforward person, and Ye Tao's gift was exactly what he liked, so he didn't decline and took it directly. He said happily, "Okay, then that's settled. I'll give the eagle, the feed, and the diagram to your family's servants, and then I'll go play."