Chapter 340

The so-called successors had appeared today: Lord Liu’s students had stepped forward, declaring that the claims pointing to their teacher’s private minting of silver as evidence of rebellion were mistaken. Their teacher had lived an incorruptible life, loyal to the sovereign and devoted to protecting the realm; he would never commit such a treasonous act. Those who accused Lord Liu of plotting rebellion were slandering him, and rather than investigating whether Lord Liu had conspired against the throne, they ought to investigate those clowns stirring up trouble.

Wang Xiujin nearly laughed when he heard this. If these so-called students had not come forward, that would have been what surprised him. Whether or not they had been involved, they would all do their utmost to clear Lord Liu’s name—that was only natural. For a high-ranking court official to die in a fire, with no body to be found, was tragic enough. If the enormous charge of treason were added on top of that, these students would hardly fare well either.

“The students are not entirely wrong. Private minting of silver alone truly cannot prove that a person harbored rebellious intentions.” Wang Xiujin was no saint, but Lord Liu seemed to have quite a number of students, most of whom were probably pillars of the court. Unless he produced solid evidence capable of silencing them, there was no way they would keep quiet.

“We must also add the matter of his collusion with refugees from the Kou Kingdom,” Li Linshan said slowly. That alone would have been enough to have Lord Liu executed a hundred or a thousand times over.

“But the dead cannot testify, and Lord Liu is dead.” Wang Xiujin shook his head. As for the matter of the Kou refugees that Li Linshan had mentioned, he did not think it could be presented as evidence. The moment they raised the subject, those so-called students might claim that someone was smearing Lord Liu’s reputation. “It would be best if we could find other evidence. Even if those students believed the refugees’ testimony, that still would not prove Lord Liu intended to rebel. They might instead say he was merely taking revenge for some private grievance.”

Li Linshan’s gaze darkened. It was clearly powerful evidence, yet because the man was dead, there was no one left to confront it. How could he possibly quell the resentment in his heart?

Looking at Li Linshan’s expression, Wang Xiujin felt that something was amiss. Could Lord Liu have offended Li Linshan at some point? Or was there some old grudge between Lord Liu and the Li family? Civil and military officials had never seen eye to eye, and it would not be strange if Lord Liu and Old Master Li had some history between them.

Wang Xiujin did not press him. He still held the same view: no rebellion could be carried out by one person alone. There had to be other accomplices or co-conspirators. Once those people were caught, there would be no fear of failing to establish guilt. The question was whether they would investigate, and that depended on what the Emperor thought. They also had to determine how the great fire at the Liu residence had begun, who had started it, and whether it had been the work of Lord Liu’s fellow conspirators. Everything had to be investigated to the very end.

Setting the matter aside, Wang Xiujin suggested taking a stroll in the courtyard. Li Linshan thought nothing of it and accompanied him around the yard several times. When they returned to the room, Wang Xiujin entered first, then shut the door in Li Linshan’s face, nearly smashing his nose.

Staring at the tightly closed door, Li Linshan finally realized that Wang Xiujin had not forgotten the seafood matter. Helplessly, he could only head to the study.

The following day, Wang Xiujin went to the Wang residence to pay his respects to his mother. Not seeing his father, he casually asked about him. Madam Wang answered crossly that Master Wang now treated the government office as his home. If she had not been married to him for so many years and known that he had never cared much for relations between men and women, she might have begun to worry that he had taken a mistress.

Wang Xiujin thought his mother was overthinking things. He comforted her, reminding her that quite a few things had happened in the capital recently. If anyone came asking questions, she must not speak carelessly.

Madam Wang shot her son an annoyed look. Was she the sort of person who spoke recklessly? She knew perfectly well that the capital had been unsettled lately. A few days earlier, Master Wang had also warned her before leaving for the government office. She had already declined visits from quite a few guests. In any case, everyone in the capital knew that she was in poor health. With the gates tightly shut, no one could find fault with her.

Wang Xiujin chatted with his mother for a while before leaving. He still had work to do. Lately, he had been busying himself aimlessly, darting from one matter to another without anything of real importance to occupy him. He needed to sort everything out; he could not continue rushing around without distinguishing priorities.

With that in mind, Wang Xiujin went straight to the grain shop. He would organize the affairs under his control. The year was nearly over, and when the new year began, should he launch a new project? But after thinking it over, he realized that he had already developed nearly everything within his reach. His energy was limited as well. He was already rushing about every day as though running between performances; if he added another undertaking, he feared he would be unable to keep up with everything.

At the shop, Wang Xiujin listed his various businesses one by one, from the grain shops to the oil mills. Neither could be allowed to stop. Although the grain business was no longer his primary enterprise, it had been his first venture and certainly could not be abandoned.

Then there was the school and the businesses connected with it: textiles and knitwear. The school had originally been established as an offshoot of those enterprises, yet who could have imagined that it would grow to its present scale?

The people who had once been hired to settle the accounts had all become teachers at the school, and their reputation was even greater than that of instructors at many famous academies. Who could have expected things to turn out this way?

As for textiles and knitwear, workshops had been established, but the operations in the new residential compound could not be moved. Those workshops were responsible for custom orders for high-ranking officials and aristocrats.

Then there was the ready-made clothing shop, which could be called one of the most profitable businesses at present. Its quarterly earnings were on par with those of the oil mills. Clearly, once people had money in their hands, they developed an extraordinary desire for fine clothing and beauty.

Apart from these enterprises, the one with the greatest potential was the craftsmen’s workshop. It produced bicycles, which had already evolved from being made entirely of wood to a combination of wood and iron. Iron construction was still too expensive, however, and mass production had not yet been achieved.

The modified carriages had also become custom-made products. Wang Xiujin was now considering replacing wooden rails with iron ones. There was also the matter of iron-plated carriages. Even if they could not build trains, merely fitting carriages with wheels capable of running on iron rails would greatly increase the speed at which the horses could pull them.

As for the snack shop, he had essentially handed its management over to Sister Liu. She had worked at the Wang residence for many years, and Madam Wang had never treated her as a servant. She had even said that she would arrange another marriage for Sister Liu. Yet all these years had passed, and Sister Liu had still not married, which had disappointed Madam Wang greatly.

Wang Xiujin could understand why Sister Liu had no wish to find another husband. Although she had once been betrothed, given the Wang family’s position, there would be plenty of people eager to marry her. Who would care whether she had been married before? For the sake of gaining the Wang family’s favor, they would certainly overlook that matter.

Sister Liu probably did not want to make things difficult for him, which was why she had never agreed to remarry. Still, that meant she was the one who had suffered.

Leaving Sister Liu’s situation aside, there was also the chain of marinated-food shops. Wang Xiujin wondered whether he should place those under Sister Liu’s management as well, treating them as a form of compensation.

Once he had made up his mind, he sent a shop assistant next door to ask Sister Liu to come over. The assistant returned quickly, and Sister Liu arrived soon afterward. She assumed Wang Xiujin wanted to order some dishes, but she never expected him to open by asking her to manage the marinated-food shops.

There were so many of them. How could she possibly handle them all?

Sister Liu hurriedly refused, but Wang Xiujin had no intention of letting her reject the offer. He produced a long string of reasons. Sister Liu could not outargue him, and before she knew it, she had agreed. By the time she came to her senses, she regretted it terribly, but she knew it was already too late to say anything.

After settling one matter, Wang Xiujin began considering what he should focus on in the coming year. There was the medical clinic he had planned, as well as the large-scale cultivation of medicinal herbs. There was also the construction of standardized housing. And the shipyard—the shipyard had begun its restoration and ought to resume operations once more at the beginning of next year.

He did not know when the great ship would return from overseas. He hoped it might bring back professionals specializing in electricity.

Then there were the coal mines. How should the coal be extracted? The iron mines in the northeast, and the petroleum as well—how were those to be exploited? Could they even be mined or extracted?

The more Wang Xiujin thought about these things, the more vigorously he rubbed his head. He had originally wanted to reduce the number of matters on his hands, yet taking on mining and extraction would only be creating more work for himself.

However, until the people were brought back, he decided to put the matter aside. Everything could wait until the great ship returned from overseas.

There was also the matter of coastal aquaculture. Wang Xiujin decided to send his elder brother a letter, giving him the coastal farming operation as a gift. It could serve as the nephews’ education and upbringing fund.

As for the estates, Wang Xiujin was not yet prepared to give those away. They concerned the food that entered his own mouth. Seafood, in particular, was out of the question. Otherwise, he would not have given the aquaculture grounds to his elder brother.

Given Li Linshan’s aversion to seafood, Wang Xiujin was unlikely to get any even if he wanted it. That was why he had so casually given the seafood operation to his elder brother. Still, knowing his brother’s wife, she would never fail to send them their share each year.

Wang Xiujin thought his elder brother had made a good choice this time. It was not that his former sister-in-law had been a bad person; she had simply spent too long confined to the inner household, and her horizons had narrowed.

He patted his forehead. So much time had passed. What use was there in dredging up old matters?

Setting that aside, Wang Xiujin continued calculating his other shares of profit: the construction business he operated with the Fourth Prince, the annual summer earnings from ice production, the illustrated magazine he ran jointly with the Fourth Prince, the profits from the activity grounds, and more.

Even these alone would provide him with enough yearly income to spend through his next life.

“Master, an attendant official has arrived and wishes to see you.” A shop assistant stood at the door, not daring to enter without permission.

“Ask him to come in.”

There was no ostentatious escort. This attendant had not come from the palace, for the only attendant official stationed outside the palace was the man in charge of the military workshops—in truth, the one primarily responsible for the gunpowder workshop.

A visit from him certainly meant that he needed something. “Have a pot of fine tea brought in.”

Wang Xiujin rose and went to the door to welcome the attendant inside. The shop assistant immediately served the tea, and Wang Xiujin personally poured the man a cup.

“May I ask what brings you here?”

“Imperial Merchant, I came to ask you to take a look at something for us. The workshop has produced a new cannon barrel, and we would like your opinion.” The attendant wore a broad smile, and his eyes gleamed with pride.

Wang Xiujin did not miss that look. Could there be something special about this new cannon barrel?

“Very well. Let me know when it is convenient, and I will make the trip. Should we invite the Fourth Prince as well, along with some of the generals from the army? I only have a superficial understanding of cannons. The military commanders will certainly know more about their practical use.”

“Of course they must be invited.” The smile on the attendant’s face grew even broader.

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