Chapter 17 The Vacation

That year, Ye Tao was seventeen, and Tan Weixin was seventeen.

When summer came again, Ye Tao had become the youngest person in Dongping to be attacked by the censors three times in a year. Moreover, he was the only non-official ever to have experienced such treatment.

In the spring of that year, Ye Tao agreed to the application for live-fire exercises by the Mengxue Army and the Huoqi Army around Danyang. The Mengxue Army, simulating an invading enemy, used various harassment and surprise tactics to torment the Huoqi Army, which was simulating the Danyang city garrison and the Imperial Guards, making them unable to eat or sleep, and suffering a complete defeat. Dai Yun used the Mengxue Army, with its strong mobility, continuous combat capability, reconnaissance, and logistical support capabilities, to try out tactics that, if they really happened, even veterans like Zhuo Mang and Tan Xiaopei were not absolutely sure they could deal with. As a result, Ye Tao was impeached with very inexplicable charges such as "harboring rebellious intentions" and "enlightening the enemy." It was only when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stated that the exercise had been approved by him, and the Ministry of War and the Imperial Guards sealed up and studied the detailed plan of the exercise, that things calmed down.

In March, Deloitte Accounting, a financial institution jointly established by the Inner Treasury, Jiuzhou Business, and Qihai Business, was established. This membership-based financial institution already had some banking functions and simultaneously issued promissory notes for internal settlement within the membership-based accounting firm. Ye's Workshop used a new type of precision color printing press to undertake the printing of all account forms and negotiable instruments that used the new accounting standards. This aroused the dissatisfaction of some people in the Ministry of Revenue, the "supervisory" party, who demanded that the printing system and technology be transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. Deloitte Accounting refused. As a result, Ye Tao was impeached for "establishing names cleverly and plundering people's wealth"... With the support of Princess Zhaohua's mansion and the two largest business groups in Dongping, a group of officials from the Ministry of Revenue were dismissed, while Ye Tao was unscathed.

In May, without Tan Weixin's involvement, the Ye family and the Du family jointly opened a restaurant with a strong modern flavor called "Sanchianyuan." Many novel dishes quickly made Sanchianyuan a popular place for people from all walks of life in Danyang. However, a small detail was picked on. In Sanchianyuan, there was a set of salt and pepper on each table. For the condiment bottles, Ye Tao used a design that he had always liked: two small porcelain figures, one black and one white, embracing each other. This heartwarming design always brought a smile to people's faces. However, an impeachment for "harming public morals" appeared. Tan Xiaopei asked Ye Tao to show him a set of the embracing porcelain figures, and then the impeachment ended without a conclusion.

It was not without reason that he was under pressure from all sides. The most critical issue was the Liangjun Chayue Fu (Two Armies Inspection Office). After the second National Military Chess Open Tournament, a new batch of probationary officers was produced. Perhaps seeing that a considerable proportion of the first batch of probationary officers had been granted formal military positions, and the starting point of their positions was not low, although they were still employed in the Liangjun Chayue Fu, that was only because the military needed to make room for them. This other shortcut to officialdom made donations to the military in the second year even more enthusiastic. Sensing the strong training effect of the Liangjun Chayue Fu, the two armies under the Liangjun Chayue Fu each expanded to five thousand people. Ye Tao had command of these ten thousand elite troops, who were not stationed in Danyang but whose position was still very sensitive, and he also had the right to use nearly four million taels of silver in special expenses.

These things were too enviable. In comparison, Ye Tao's shares in multiple businesses and the prosperity of several of Ye's industries seemed to be nothing.

As a 2% shareholder in Deloitte Accounting, responsible for technology and confidentiality, Ye Tao's daily schedule now included attending routine board meetings every few days. This time, the board meeting held in the Princess's mansion was particularly long. Because, with the expansion of Deloitte's business and the prosperity of basic credit services, Deloitte, which was actually a combination of a bank and an accounting and auditing institution, faced a shortage of physical silver. Since the loans that were given out were generally to those more reliable merchants, and these merchants often had business relationships with Deloitte, several directors finally raised the possibility of internally circulated promissory notes issued with an increased amount, secured by physical silver.

Although the tentatively proposed issuance circulation was only 200% of the value of the physical silver, which would make many bankers laugh their heads off in later generations, the act of issuing currency that actually bypassed the Ministry of Revenue, which represented the country's finances, still had to be handled with utmost caution. In the end, everyone barely passed the motion, instructing the directors and staff of Deloitte Accounting, who already had some sensitivity to financial matters, to formulate detailed rules, strictly regulate the scope of circulation, and address the issue of payment guarantees outside the inevitable scope of circulation. In addition, Tan Weixin also worked through Lin Chengzhe, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue who attended the meeting, to get Lin Chengzhe to consider the issue of the Ministry of Revenue issuing gold and silver standard currency and establishing a de facto national bank.

Tan Weixin's weak body made her less afraid of the hot weather, but the long and arduous meeting exhausted her. After the meeting, Tan Weixin lay on a comfortable lounge chair, hugging a large plush rabbit, her eyes slightly squinted, looking as if she would fall asleep at any moment. Speaking too much at the meeting made her lips, which no amount of tea could moisten, seem even drier.

As Ye Tao was about to say something, Tan Weixin fell asleep. Ye Tao sighed and took a silk jacquard blanket from the cabinet beside him, gently draping it over Tan Weixin. He knew that closing the windows and doors of the room they were in now would be too stuffy, but as the evening grew later, he didn't want to risk Tan Weixin catching a cold from the breeze.

As for him, he sat cross-legged beside the lounge chair, leaning his back against the armrest, watching the clouds outside the window gradually being painted golden-red, rendered into a light purple, and then gradually cooling into a deep blue. Gradually, he also fell asleep. In this spacious room, only the even breaths of the two of them remained.

It seemed to be less than two hours later when Ye Tao was gently shaken awake. Tan Weixin softly asked him, "Why didn't you go back? Aren't you hungry?" But the expression on Tan Weixin's face showed that she liked this silent companionship.

"Actually, I came to talk to you about something today. Seeing that you were asleep, I thought I'd wait," Ye Tao said, scratching his head.

"Oh," Tan Weixin's tone seemed somewhat disappointed. "What is it?"

Ye Tao took a deep breath and said, "Leave."

"Leave?"

"Yes. Leave."

Tan Weixin asked strangely, "What are you going to do? Why are you asking me for leave?"

"You've pretty much given half of the voting rights of the Yizhan Lou (Chess War Building) to the military. The Liangjun Chayue Fu wants to leave for a while. Anyway, there haven't been any major activities recently, as long as you can take over and occasionally inquire about things. The main distributor of the clock shop is now Jiuzhou Business, and you're also the big boss of Jiuzhou Business and Deloitte. Even if I don't contribute much effort normally, I still have to ask you, the CEO, for leave, right?" Ye Tao said with a wry smile. He didn't feel depressed that he could see Tan Weixin everywhere in his many businesses. Since their lives intersected three years ago until now, their lives had been intertwined. However, occasionally, Ye Tao felt that Tan Weixin was always urging him on, urging him to do things at an increasingly faster pace. Although he had tried hard to adjust during this time, trying to catch up with Tan Weixin's pace, he was being dragged along to the point of exhaustion. Especially with so many things he wasn't familiar with entangled around him, that feeling was really not good. He wanted to rest for a while, wanting to use some time to sort out his life and work... Speaking of which, even in his original era, he couldn't possibly have gone three consecutive years without taking a vacation.

"You haven't been in good spirits these days... You've wanted to ask for leave for a long time, haven't you?" Tan Weixin asked with a sigh.

"Yes."

"Too tired?"

"Yes."

"Is it because of me?"

"...Yes." After hesitating for a moment, Ye Tao responded.

Tan Weixin sat up straight. Her frail body made her look a few years younger than Ye Tao, who was the same age as her, which made the hint of heaviness in the corners of her eyes and eyebrows even more out of place. "I'm sorry. I've made things too much and too complicated."

"No... I'm just a little tired, a professional burnout. Actually, it's not entirely a vacation. I want to go to Yicheng. The project is only in its final stages now, which is much faster than I expected. I want to direct the installation of the clock chamber and the chiming clock on-site. Things there are simpler, easier, like giving myself a vacation," Ye Tao said.

"Professional burnout..." Tan Weixin shook her head and said with a wry smile, "Such a bourgeois ailment."

"Alas, just finding an excuse."

"Okay, your leave is approved... But, you must come back soon," Tan Weixin said softly, hugging Ye Tao gently.

"I originally wanted to give you a surprise after a while... Forget it, let you see it in advance," Tan Weixin said with a slight sense of helplessness.

"What surprise?" Ye Tao asked.

"It's hard to classify!" Tan Weixin turned her head exaggeratedly, saying with a slightly smug expression, "...If I had to say, it would be in the collectibles category?"

As Ye Tao asked, "Collectibles?" Tan Weixin had already strode to the doorway, leaning her head out to say a few words to Sisi and Qiao'er, who were sitting in the hallway, already looking somewhat listless. Then, Tan Weixin also sat cross-legged on the ground, right next to Ye Tao.

Before long, two brown-haired girls wearing crab-green silk robes appeared at the door. Looking at their faces, their figures, and their temperament, they were also Franks.

Ye Tao was stunned. He was familiar with these two faces, just as he had singled out Sophie from that group of dancers back then. The faces of these two Frankish girls could almost perfectly overlap with the faces of two French stars that Ye Tao had once known by heart: one was Isabelle Adjani, and the other was Alizée. In Dongping, where the world map was vastly different from the time and space Ye Tao came from, but which seemed even more distant from that distant civilization, Ye Tao didn't know how Tan Weixin had found such similar people.

The two girls looked a little nervous. They obviously couldn't understand why Ye Tao looked at them with such a strange expression. They should have been used to people being intoxicated and mesmerized by their beauty, but what they saw on Ye Tao's face was surprise... even some horror.

"It wasn't easy to find them," Tan Weixin said with a smile. "We're looking for a teacher to teach them Chinese. Originally, I was going to give them to you after the Chinese problem was solved. What do you think? It's quite an accomplishment to be able to collect three French national treasure-level beauties, right?"

Ye Tao's expression clearly didn't have any excited elements in it. His eyebrows furrowed. Tan Weixin waved her hand to signal the two Frankish girls to leave, and asked, "What's wrong? Are you not satisfied?"

Ye Tao sighed, placing his hands on Tan Weixin's thin shoulders and saying as gently as possible, "The matter of Sophie... we've never really talked about it properly, have we?"

Tan Weixin asked, "What do you want to talk to me about? I already knew..."

Ye Tao said helplessly, "I don't want to say that this time and space gave me that kind of right. Being with Sophie, I don't feel like I've made any mistakes. Yes, I feel like I'm a little sorry to you. That's why I haven't really talked to you about this. We... are both too busy. But, don't use this kind of method to demean Sophie, okay? Perhaps Sophie can't be the same as you, but she's definitely not my collectible."

"I didn't want to denigrate Sophie, really." Tan Weixin understood why Ye Tao had such an expression, but before her explanation could be spoken, what Ye Tao said next angered her.

"I will marry you. Really," Ye Tao said.

Tan Weixin took a step back, shaking off Ye Tao's hands. She turned around, facing away from Ye Tao, tears flowing uncontrollably. Being misunderstood was nothing, but for Tan Weixin, being pitied in this aspect was too unbearable.

Tan Weixin said with a cold laugh, with a hint of self-pity, "I know, this medicine jar of mine is hard to raise. But I don't want you to give me a marriage as charity. I don't want you to pity me."

Tan Weixin's tone softened. She tried to control the trembling in her voice, whether it was caused by sadness or anger: "I like to talk to you about those topics that only the two of us can understand, I like to watch you turn so many strange ideas into reality little by little, and I especially like you making meat floss and all kinds of other snacks and candied fruits to get me to eat more meat and more things... I can't help but want to see how many tricks you can come up with. Do you remember the dreams we talked about? To make this world a little more like the world we came from, that's all. I don't know when I'll die, even the imperial physicians don't dare to say. Maybe, I do demand too much, too fast... Because, because all I can do is these things. I don't have a good body like you, perhaps not just generally good, besides racking my brains, I can't do anything else."

"I may be a little envious of Sophie, but I would never denigrate her. I know how my body is, and I also know how things are in this era. Bringing Isabelle Adjani and Alizée to you was just to let you see that I, like you, am greedy for that world. Okay, I was wrong."

Tan Weixin wiped away her tears with her sleeve and turned around. She said, "You can go. No need to rush back."

Ye Tao was stunned. He saw Tan Weixin straightening her shoulders. In that instant, Tan Weixin's figure seemed to become taller because of her strength. "Please believe me, I really want to marry you, to become a wife who can't do anything. But, pity and charity are a little too much for me." Tan Weixin seemed to have returned to that kind of indifferent, uncaring mood of hers. She calmly instructed, "Now, you can go. No need to rush back."

Ye Tao felt that what he had said was indeed a bit too much. Just as he was about to explain, Tan Weixin turned around with an arrogant smile and stepped out through the French windows leading to the balcony. Her hand rested on the balcony railing. As she walked along the balcony to the side, her hand was dragged across the railing. This scene seemed so helpless.

There would inevitably be a sincere, calm conversation between them to resolve this matter. There inevitably would be. One or two conflicts, some differences in ideas, were too insignificant compared to the secret commonalities between them. But this conversation probably wouldn't be now, nor would it be soon. Ye Tao watched Tan Weixin walk into the room next door. He knew that today's visit to the Princess's mansion had not had a good ending.