Chapter 1 The Meeting

Consort Lian wanted to see Ye Tao, but that usually depended on whether Ye Tao was in the mood to pay her any attention. However, it seemed much easier for Ye Tao to see Consort Lian, Chang Ling. The female officials and stewards closest to Consort Lian were all from Chun Nan. Although the selection and screening of personnel had become much stricter since a Daoming Sect spy was discovered next to Consort Lian, Dongping still took great care to respect Consort Lian's sensibilities and her somewhat out-of-place life habits as a noblewoman from Chun Nan, still allowing her to choose these people herself. Perhaps these people allowed Chang Ling to come up with so many tricks outside of her duties as a Dongping princess, but these people would absolutely not dare to put on airs in front of Liu Yong, who was there to deliver documents. Even though this was Chun Nan, in Yu Hang. And Consort Lian had been residing in the Xia manor these past few days.

Some of the old ministers in the Dongping delegation grumbled about Consort Lian not staying in the spacious, well-equipped, and luxuriously decorated courtyard complex that served as the Dongping delegation's residence, but instead staying at her mother's home. No matter what Consort Lian's previous status was, she was now a Dongping princess and the mother of Dongping's youngest prince. Staying at her own home for a day or two could be said to be missing her family, needing time to pour out her heart after a long absence, but Consort Lian had hardly stayed at the Dongping delegation's residence for a single day, which was not very appropriate. The people of Dongping were not afraid of Chang Ling saying things like she was not comfortable in Dongping. Everyone knew that she actually had not been very comfortable in Yu Hang before, and that this was originally due to her awkward personality. However, they strongly resented Consort Lian's disregard for the big picture, her lack of identification with Dongping, and her almost dismissive attitude towards the young scholars who also lived in the delegation's residence.

However, the place where Ye Tao arranged to meet Consort Lian was still at the Dongping delegation's residence, in a small building that should have been occupied by Consort Lian, but was now vacant.

"Chief Ye, I wonder what you wanted to see me about?" Although it was said to be a meeting between the two parties, Chang Ling was very dissatisfied with this form, which was actually equivalent to her being summoned, and her hard tone seemed to reveal her mood slightly.

"Everyone is starting to discuss the matter of the delegation returning to Dongping. The students from the Imperial College and the National Academy and some other people want to travel around and see more places, and they plan to disband on the spot in Yu Hang and then return to Danyang on their own. However, it seems that Consort Lian, you, me, and those with official positions cannot be so carefree. This trip and mission are basically completed, and I would like to ask Consort Lian, regarding when to return, has Your Highness made any plans?"

Ye Tao spoke very politely, but Chang Ling was still stunned for a moment. Perhaps she was unwilling to think about the question of when to return. In Yu Hang these days, she had received more adulation than she had received in Dongping in the past few years combined. If possible, she really wanted to stay in Yu Hang like this. Every day, or at least every other day, there would be the kind of banquet she liked very much, or the kind of private gathering among the noble ladies of Yu Hang. At such gatherings, status, position, and wealth were the only criteria by which a person would be sought after or suppressed. At various banquets, occasionally some handsome young men would compose poems, just to win a smile from the bigwigs present. They did not dare to say a single wrong word, for fear of making anyone unhappy. And the people present often could change the course of these intimate and sensible people's lives with their connections.

Those sisters who had been quite close in the past were now vying to please her, because she was not only the highest in status among them, but even this status had the potential to be further elevated. The concubine of a country lord and the princess of an empire were completely two different concepts. In order to show their closeness to her, those close sisters from the past did not even hesitate to tell her their private affairs. Just the stories of keeping male favorites that she had heard these days made her feel quite amused. The feeling of others trying their best to please her was something she had been missing for a long time.

In Dongping, Tan Xiaopei himself was not a fussy person. The fact that he would argue with ministers or subordinates in court over some issues until their faces were red happened almost every month. And whether it was Crown Prince Tan Weiming, Prince Tan Weiran, or the two princesses, Tan Weixin and Tan Weishi, what they were pursuing was something she could not understand. She did not understand why a crown prince would run off to be a governor and enjoy it so much; she did not understand why two princes were clearly very capable, but there was absolutely no struggle for the crown, or even a trend towards it. Tan Weiran went to Yunzhou to be a military commander, leading only over 30,000 people, not for military power or to avoid disaster; she also did not understand why Empress Zhuo Xiu did not seize power or interfere in politics, but was obsessed with organizing military books and strategies, and was now even dedicated to guiding the studies of young people… She especially did not understand why everyone regarded all of this as a matter of course. Although some ministers suggested that the country lord should be more majestic, that the hierarchy should be more strict, and that consideration should be given to the fact that such a transparent government was not conducive to the governance of the country after its future expansion, that was only a suggestion. In fact, one of the ministers who made such a suggestion could be said to be downright sloppy in his appearance…

However, there was one thing about Dongping that seemed to give her hope. Tan Weixin had been in charge of the internal affairs for many years, creatively guiding Dongping's economic development with her own mind and ideas… To put it bluntly, if Tan Weixin said she was going to take a long sick leave and not care about anything, it would be a normal reaction for Dongping's gross national product to decline by a few percentage points that year. And Tan Weishi had only conducted a considerable amount of funding work in a low-key manner, and had won the loyalty of the younger generation of scholars. The energy of the "Embroidered Garden Disciples" group might not have been seen by many people yet, but Chang Ling, who had grown up in Chun Nan and was accustomed to seeing cliques of officials intermittently controlling the government and then being purged, had long been aware of it.

And in Dongping, due to the complexity and formalization of government affairs, and due to the needs of the country's economic and territorial expansion, there was already a rather serious shortage of grassroots officials. In this situation, some places had already begun to employ women as court officials… For example, Huang Wan, who had been doing nothing and running around all day in Danyang, had taken office herself after coming to Yicheng with her husband, Lu Dan, and was supervising the popularization of elementary education in Yicheng. As for the number of women who were not in any position but were still playing a huge role, there were even more. Liu Xiangyuan, who came from a family of qin players, had clearly become the representative of Dongping's booming culture. And next to Ye Tao, a mixed-race girl who had originally been just a dancer had become the manager of the main branch of the Yi Zhan building at the age of less than twenty-two, and this position meant an annual salary of 15,000 taels and a share of the profits. Just this income figure alone made Chang Ling speechless at the time.

It should be known that Chang Ling's Golden Valley Garden now only received 100,000 taels of silver in various expenses from the internal affairs department each year. If there were other expenses, she would have to look at the face of the person in charge of the internal affairs department. Although Tan Weixin no longer interfered much in the operation and expenditure of the internal affairs department, the entire system was filled with people she had trained, each of whom regarded controlling unnecessary expenses and despising the powerful as their motto. Even when facing Tan Xiaopei, some funds were still opened reluctantly, let alone her.

Yes, in Dongping, if a woman had the ability, if she was willing to do things and happened to have the opportunity, she could indeed personally wield power instead of hiding behind a man. This made Chang Ling's heart burn with passion. However, the things that those other women did were all things she could not do. Of course, some people had followed her path and been appointed to various departments of the court through her recommendation, but they were all very low-level positions, and such appointments were not very secure. Once they performed unqualifiedly, they would still be dismissed without regard for her face.

Dongping, for Chang Ling, was really a place she could not understand and could not integrate into. And she could only isolate herself from too many things she did not understand, and concentrate on raising her son and managing every plant and tree in her Golden Valley Garden.

However, returning to Yu Hang seemed to have revived her. For her, it was definitely not just as simple as visiting relatives. And the fragmented information she knew was of such great significance to the Xia family and to Chun Nan, and it seemed that she could personally control something… She also saw another path for herself. Although such a path still required her to return to Dongping and return to Danyang, she really hoped that that day would come later.

However, that inappropriate sense of loneliness in Dongping was not entirely without benefit to Chang Ling. Although she was very unwilling in her heart, there was not a trace of it on her face. Chang Ling smiled charmingly, and the demeanor of a middle-aged beauty suddenly appeared. She said gently and calmly, "Since things are all done, when to go back is naturally something that everyone will discuss together. I'm just gathering with some relatives and friends in Yu Hang, and there's nothing else going on."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "Consort Lian is too polite. Then let's call everyone together for a joint discussion the day after tomorrow and settle this matter."

Chang Ling naturally nodded slightly in agreement. Ye Tao had not come to seek her opinion in the first place.

However, if Ye Tao had simply come to chat with her about these things, then why bother so much?

Sure enough, next Ye Tao actually talked to Chang Ling about her activities in Yu Hang these days. Ye Tao hinted at everyone's complaints about her disregarding her status as the Princess of Dongping and staying in the Xia residence for a long time; without hinting at her or Xia Yu's contact with the Black Hawk Gang, he said that the Seven Seas Trading Company had some conflicts in some businesses, and asked Xia Yu to pay more attention to his own safety… In short, Ye Tao said all the words vaguely, as if he was considering Consort Lian Chang Ling. Although Ye Tao's attitude was consistent throughout, and Chang Ling had always been very restrained and calm, after Ye Tao turned around and left, Chang Ling, who had relaxed her mind, almost instantly revealed a hesitant and distracted expression.

"Sir, it seems that you are not completely ignorant of these power struggles." On the way back, Liu Yong sat in the car with Ye Tao, which was a rare occurrence. He said with a smile. When Ye Tao was chatting with Consort Lian just now, everyone else was dismissed, but he, as the commander of the guards with a detached status, had been in the room all along. Ye Tao's intertwined words in front of Consort Lian also made Liu Yong marvel. The implied words in these carefully designed conversations and the implied content were enough for some restless Consort Lian Chang Ling to digest for a while.

"Uncle Liu, you're joking." Ye Tao was rather embarrassed instead. He had always advocated that the strong should not use any means against the weak, but should directly subdue them with force. However, for people with the status of Consort Lian, there was really no other way besides this subtle way of reminding and warning. Making those things too clear would not benefit anyone. Ye Tao and the Seven Seas Trading Company had indeed suffered a bit this time, but on the one hand, there was still no direct evidence to prove that Consort Lian was involved, and on the other hand, the current relationship between Dongping and Chun Nan was neither good nor bad, mutually using and restraining each other, and Consort Lian's identity could indeed play a buffering role in it. Seeing the overall situation, even if he had suffered a bit, although Ye Tao was still a little unwilling, he could only do this. "Bullying a woman… that's all. This kind of thing is not difficult. I didn't want to learn it before, but I never said I couldn't learn it."

After this meeting between Ye Tao and Chang Ling, the following things became simple. At the meeting to discuss how to arrange the return schedule, Ye Tao and Chang Ling, the two initiators, were absent by appointment.

That day, Ye Tao finally found an opportunity to meet with Chang Hongquan and discuss the matter of the Hidden Dragon Box. Chang Hongquan did not want to share much of the hidden benefits in the Hidden Dragon Box. What he cared more about was what he could get if he completely gave up the requirements for the derivative benefits of the Hidden Dragon Box. This was certainly a very wise attitude. Due to a series of incidents caused by Chen Kai's arrest, the Hidden Dragon Box and the Chen Jia clan had now become the most high-end topics in Chun Nan. Because this topic involved the Daoming Sect and the previous dynasty, and Chun Nan had always regarded itself as the successor of the previous dynasty, the matter involving the previous dynasty could touch some people's nerves even more.

And after the Hidden Dragon Box was no longer a secret exclusively enjoyed by King Juxian, Chang Hongquan, trying to get a share of it became a very dangerous thing. It would be better to get something more substantial from Ye Tao. Ye Tao's character was too good to be a high-ranking official like him, but his promises were reliable. More importantly, Chang Hongquan's previous attempt to conceal the Hidden Dragon Box and keep it away from the center of power in Chun Nan and fade out of sight of others had completely failed. And now the direction of the Chun Nan court was very strange, and Chang Hongquan could not help but think about strengthening his power to protect himself. The Chun Nan country lord was also not in very good health, and it was estimated that he would not live more than ten years. Although the current crown prince did not like him very much, who said that this guy would definitely be able to inherit the position of country lord?