After the poetry gathering in Governor Leng's residence, Huang Cixi once again stayed cooped up in her room. Hearing the master poets had had a great impact on her psyche. And she felt like she was ready to finally attempt the first step of the second layer from 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'. Just like Cao Yun had done himself, she had spent several weeks focusing on her Five Agents to form her first Five Echoes Pearl. Finally, after almost twenty hours of work in a row, she had formed a perfect pearl in the center of the rotating characters.
It should have been way harder for her because she couldn't enter her own sea of consciousness, but she had studied many manuals about mind cultivation as well as the indications Cao Yun had given her on the first layer. This did not mean that it was easy in any way though. Moreover, her own blood cultivation was very similar to this second layer in a sense. Indeed, 'Nine Chambers of Life Fire' consisted in extracting the blood essence of the True Fiery Fenghuang blood running through her own veins. As such, it was rather close to this second layer. Instead of extracting essence from her blood, she had to extract energy from the Five Agents which were a representation of her own mind.
By the end of the day, she had finally energized her Chamber of Ultimate Truth. Thanks to this, her memory expanded and all of a sudden, all she had read in the recent weeks came crashing down on her. Even though she had understood most of it, she suddenly realized that her understanding had been shallow. And right now, she saw everything with a new look. And she realized how mistaken she had been about her own ignorance. Indeed, a little bit of knowledge could be dangerous. An entire new world of knowledge and possibility opened up right before her eyes. However, it would take her a lot of time to browse through this insight and put her mind in order.
During this time, she decided to let her mind cultivation alone. Right now, she needed to enhance her blood and her Qi cultivation. Blood was essential in the Huang family as it was a great sign of power. In fact, some members of the Huang family even considered that, to a degree, it was more important than Qi cultivation. But she couldn't disregard it either. After all, even though she had done so knowingly, she had to admit that provoking Gui Bei and giving him one month to prepare himself was dangerous.
It was necessary because she suspected him of at least having knowledge from demonic cultivators, if not being directly connected to them. And she knew the pressure she had put on him would push him to make a mistake. Thanks to that, she hoped to uncover more of the truth. The massacre of the Cao family was important to her because of Cao Yun but also for her own family. The fact that the demonic cultivators were active and so brazen in their attack was dangerous for all her family. And she would not sit by while doing nothing. She had decided to be way more decisive from now on.
Strangely, she felt conflicted about this Gui Bei. He was detestable, but she realized that she was a bit biased because he reminded her of her first brother Huang Longwei. Her sentimentality had thankfully prevented her from killing Cao Yun, but she couldn't show mercy to such a heinous boy. Yes, the fact that he had killed during a duel was not illegal as both of the fighters had agreed beforehand. But from the testimonies of the witnesses, he had been especially vicious. Moreover, he had tried to assault his fiancée. And the only thing that had prevented him from committing this crime were the guards.
Deep within herself, Huang Cixi was debating whether she should injure him to stop him from doing it ever again, or even kill him. It wouldn't be good for her family to inflict too much harm to an outsider who would come in their own residence for a duel that she had initiated. However, keeping him alive would also be very dangerous. If his cultivation could stay as fast as it was right now, he would become a huge threat in the future. Well, they could still send someone after him later. Huang Cixi was unsure of what she should do. But one way or another, this boy had to be taken care of and despite her feelings, she knew that he was not deserving of mercy. If he had the opportunity, Gui Bei would surely kill her without any problem. Maybe, she could just wait for that and act in self-defense...
-
Just as she had predicted, only a couple of days after the tea gathering, someone came into the Huang residence. Walking alongside Ye Zhiyun, this man was wearing plain clothes which could hid his face. There was a great elegance in his posture and his way of walking though. The path he walked through was devoid of guards. In fact, both men encountered no one in the corridors. And soon, they arrived in front of Huang Cixi's private chambers.
Of course, this man was Fang Shaolong. As soon as he had entered the residence, Huang Liyue had warned her young mistress. And just as her bodyguard suspected, she was not surprised at all. Most likely, Fang Shaolong had asked Family Head Huang Yi to help him enter the residence without being noticed. With Ye Zhiyun, they had been extremely careful so that no one in Baziyun City could know about this visit, just in case Fang Shaolong's intuition was right.
Despite knowing his young mistress very well, Ye Zhiyun still got surprised when Fang Shaolong asked him to accompany him. The man was usually very calm and took all his time before doing any business. But now, he was rushing to meet with a young girl.
After knocking on the door, Ye Zhiyun had to wait for at least the time to drink a cup of tea before a servant deigned to open the door.
"Excuse me, Hall Master. My young mistress is very tired right now, but she can still receive you. Follow me."
Bao Zhong's words strengthened Fang Shaolong's worries. The fact that he knew who he was meant that Huang Cixi had told him of his visit. This meant that she knew he would come as soon as possible. Unlike his usual self, he wasn't annoyed by the wait and didn't even make any remark. Ye Zhiyun felt as though he was completely absorbed in his thoughts. And indeed, many things were going on in Hall Master Fang's head.
Huang Cixi had stopped acting as the frail little girl, but she still received Fang Shaolong with a weary face. She was sitting at her desk with many documents all other the place. It looked like she had been frantically searching for something and the place was a mess.
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"Hall Master Fang, I'm sorry to receive you in such a way."
"No need to apologize, Miss Huang. I'm the one who came unannounced. Excuse my haste." Fang Shaolong had very good manners. Led by Bao Zhong, he took a seat close to Huang Cixi. On the other hand, Ye Zhiyun stayed standing behind him.
"You said that you wanted to talk about the Xiliang Mines?"
"Indeed. Even though the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall has the rights to exploit them, these mines belong to my family in the first place. And you know that..." She paused a bit before continuing. "Well, it's no secret that I am interested in becoming the next matriarch. As such, I tried to get a better understanding of our family's properties and investments."
"Very commendable. And do not worry, Miss Huang. I don't intend to intervene in your internal affairs. Whatever you say will stay confidential, I won't interfere with the choice of the next matriarch at all."
"I'll trust you, Hall Master.... The truth is that my position is very uncertain. I am sure that you know about my Pure Golden Dantian, but this won't be enough to secure the position of matriarch. Senior Huang Si is a very talented woman with many investments all other the Wu Province. So I tried to find flaws in her business to use it against her. That's when I found strange things in the records. Although I have some achievement in finances, I am still a bit perplexed. I wouldn't want to embarrass you but..."
After hearing Huang Cixi, Fang Shaolong relaxed quite a bit. This wasn't apparent at all but Huang Cixi was able to see it as she was watching him very attentively.
"I understand. I'm not sure that I should know about the internal business of your family, Miss Huang. But I'm ready to hear you out, maybe I can dispel your confusion."
"Thank you, Hall Master." Huang Cixi parsed through several papers and showed them to Fang Shaolong. "I asked my grandfather to give me documents on the current situation of the Xiliang Mines. There is something I do not quite understand..." As Hall Master Fang was examining the documents, she kept on talking. "There seems to be a disparity between the amount of ores extracted from the mines, the amount declared to the Imperial City, to the Myriad Hall and even to my own family. Each time, it isn't much, and I must say that finding all these small variations is extremely difficult."
Hall Master Fang smiled a little and his voice was slightly calmer. "Miss Huang, you are indeed correct. But there are always small errors while measuring the ores after extraction. Moreover, we have to clean every extracted ore and it can change the weight by a few fen each time, nothing much."
"Well, I thought of that at first. But after looking through the records over several decades I realized that these small errors were random at first, but then, they increased a bit and got way more stable over time. Thankfully my family kept all the records of the mines, otherwise I would never have noticed it at all. Don't you find it peculiar, Hall Master?"
Hall Master Fang let go of his smile and stopped talking for a while. Then, he completely let go of all pretense.
"I will not humor you any longer. What are you trying to say?"
"Oh, nothing much... Just that you've been stealing a very small part of all extracted ores from the Xiliang Mines."
Suddenly, Hall Master Fang stood up in rage. "Miss Huang, how dare you insult me in such a way?! How would I even sell this ore that I supposedly stole?! I came here because I sincerely wanted to help you! It seems that I was mistaken about your character."
Just as he was walking toward the door to leave in anger, Huang Cixi's voice stopped him.
"I also discovered how you sold this ore." Fang Shaolong's arm stopped in midair just before opening the door and he stayed frozen in place.
Huang Cixi stood up from her chair and very slowly walked toward him. "Maybe, you would rather discuss it into my private study where no one can hear us? Or do you still insist on your absolute innocence?"
Very slowly, Fang Shaolong turned his head around. What he saw sealed his fate. Not only was Huang Cixi holding a document he perfectly recognized, Ye Zhiyun had stayed by her side. For a split second, Fang Shaolong entertained the possibility of murdering the three people in this room. A year ago he would have done anything to hide this, but now he wasn't as determined. Moreover, as soon as a killing intent emanated from him, he felt a powerful spiritual pressure all around him. He knew that if he moved while harboring ill intent, he would die instantly.
Dropping his head down, he mechanically walked into Huang Cixi's study with the girl and Ye Zhiyun. Huang Cixi sat at her desk with Ye Zhiyun standing behind her and Fang Shaolong slumped in a chair in front of the desk.
"Hall Master, you've created a fantastic financial construct to hide your theft. Even Ye Zhiyun with his expertise of imperial taxes wasn't able to see through it at first. Thankfully, I also had all the documents of my family. You've not only stolen from the Xiliang Mines, but also directly from the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall and the Imperial City while manipulating the various taxes. The mere fact that you were able to hide it from Governor Leng is impressive. But duping Ye Zhiyun, that's really amazing. I did not even think that possible...
"The doubt I had in mind was on the use of this money though. Your lifestyle is rather plain. From what I know, you have no hidden mistress or favorite courtesan. Neither you nor your wife have an extravagant lifestyle and you don't have children who would be in need of this money. So, Hall Master, can you humor me once more and satisfy my curiosity?"
During long minutes, a deep silence tortured Fang Shaolong. He was alone with his thoughts. But in the end, he did not try to deny anything. He raised his head with a firm determination in his eyes and looked Huang Cixi straight in hers.
"I won't ever tell you that! You can denounce me to Family Head Huang Yi right away. I won't humor you!"
"It's good that you know how to keep a secret. I have no intention of denouncing you to anyone. In fact, I even went to the trouble of hiding your tracks in my family's records. Moreover, I saw that you stopped your little embezzling operation. As the next matriarch, I am ready to pardon you completely. However, I have things that I need from you. After all, you took so much from our family, you can give it back in service. If my count is accurate, you stole more than five thousand Yuanbao from my family. This is equivalent to a good year of production from our mines."
The Hall Master had to admit that this was accurate. Huang Cixi stood up and walked behind Fang Shaolong who was still waiting for what she would ask next.
"Don't you think it is natural that you repay us for that?"
"What do you want from me?" In his voice, Huang Cixi heard that he still wasn't convinced.
"Hall Master, do not worry. I do not wish for much. You will first cede all your shares in the Xiliang Mines to me, personally. Then, I will need your help to gather information and invest my newfound money in several projects. It isn't that bad, right?"
"What kind of information do you want?"
"About the demonic cultivators, and the Cao family."
Hearing this, Fang Shaolong abruptly turned his head to look at the young girl. And he saw that she was dead serious.