The Rebirth of Han Yuxi

Chapter 384 : Closing In

Early in the morning, Zijin said, “Madam, I’m going to the school to have a look.” Zijin’s favourite place to go nowadays was the school.

Without waiting for Yuxi’s reply, Mama Qu chided, “Zijin, you are Madam’s personal maid of Madam. How can you always go out?” If it were an errand ordered by Yuxi, it would have been fine, but Yuxi didn’t even request Zijin to do it, yet Zijin always ran outside. This was not a good trend.

Zijin was stunned.

Mama Qu said to Yuxi, “Madam, please do not blame me for overstepping. It’s not a good idea for Miss Zijin to act like this. If all the maids follow this same example, the residence will be in chaos.” In fact, Mama Qu had wanted to say it for a long time, but she had no opportunity to do so.

Yuxi nodded her head. “Mama has a point.” After saying this, she reminded Zijin, “From now on, don’t go out without my permission.”

Zijin lowered her head and conceded, “Okay.” She wasn’t angry but felt awfully depressed that she couldn’t go out even if she wanted to. Now, she would be stuck inside the house all day, causing her to be spiritless.

Upon seeing Zijin’s reaction, Yuxi added, “In the future, everything about the school will be left to Yu Zhi, and you can’t go out all the time any longer. Although your wedding date has not yet been set, you should start to embroider your dowry.” She was worried that if she continued to let Zijin run around outside, Zijin would eventually be unruly.

How could Zijin not understand Yuxi’s words? Once Yuxi made her decision, there would not be any turning back. Hence, Zijin hung his head and answered dejectedly. “I know.” Embroidering a dowry was really a painful task, okay?

At this time, Han Gao asked for an audience with Yuxi. He came to bid his farewell to her. “Madam, I want to return home early.” Han Gao was also the offspring of State Residence’s servants with some martial arts background.

Yuxi shook her head. “It’s already the tenth day of the lunar month, and we’re going to celebrate the New Year in twenty days. Do you want your group to spend the New Year on the road? Then again, since you’re travelling during the New Year’s celebration, many inns may be closed, so where are you going to sleep? Sleeping out in the open must be freezing during these cold days.”

Han Gao responded, “The others will leave after the New Year, but I will take a few people back with me. Madam, those bandits and robbers will not come out in this cold weather, so the road will be much safer.”

Seeing that she could not prevent him from leaving, Yuxi said, “Then you can depart in a couple of days. I still have a matter that needs to be solved these days. When the matter is resolved, you can leave.”

Han Gao finally agreed after hearing these words.

Yuxi stared at Han Gao and pondered for a while before asking, “I don’t have many useful people in my hands. What did these people you brought with you do in residence before?” What Yuxi lacked most now was not money but people. Just like Hao Dazhuang. Although he was awfully diligent in his work, he could not manage the school properly. Yuxi also wanted to take in more children next year. At that time, she had to start sorting out the good from the bad, and the teaching style would definitely not be the same.

Han Gao replied, “Most of them are the residence guards, and some are able-bodied subordinates who had just been transferred into the residence.” There was no way around it. The State Residence just couldn’t find the time to find more suitable people for the trip.

Yuxi was a little disappointed. She already had as many guards as she wanted. She needed someone like Han Ji to help her care for external affairs. “You can withdraw.” In Yu City, she couldn’t hire anyone to her satisfaction even if she wanted and would have the problem of not feeling at ease with anyone she would be employing. Ahem, it seemed that she had to request her Dage’s help in hiring another personnel for her again. It was a bit of a shame to say that she had been using so many of the family’s resources, yet she hadn’t given even half of them back to the family.

Yuxi immediately called Xu Wu and instructed him, “Have someone bring a message to Hao Dazhuang, asking him to inform Mr Chen to come to the mansion. I have something to discuss with him.” Luckily, she was in the northwest. If she were still in the capital, there would not be any possibility for her to meet a male stranger casually.

Mr Chen had been waiting for news from Yuxi, but he had received nothing for almost a month. The good thing about him was that he had good determination and was not impatient.

Hao Dazhuang entered the Chen family’s house and informed Mr Chen, “Sir, Madam invites you to the mansion to discuss something.” Madam could really test someone’s composure by being silent for nearly a month.

Mr Chen looked pleased, saying, “I’ll go with you after changing my clothes.”

Putting on his best clothes, Mr Chen followed Hao Dazhuang to the Yun residence. Mr Chen stood frozen outside the Yun Mansion while looking up at the big signboard, ‘General’s Mansion’.

Hao Dazhuang asked, “Is there anything wrong?”

Mr Chen shook his head as he answered, “It’s nothing.” After saying that, he went inside the mansion behind Hao Dazhuang. Then they followed an old woman servant straight into the backyard.

Although Mr Chen hadn’t reached thirty years old, his difficult life in Yu City for the past ten years and the heavy burden he had to carry for being wrongly accused made him look similar to a forty-year-old man.

After entering the room, Mr Chen bowed and greeted Yuxi, “Good day, Madam.” He used to think that Yuxi was a pretty good schemer. But ever since he found out that she had told the story of Huo Qubing to a classroom of children, he had a better view of her. It was clear from this incident that Han Yuxi was a person whose heart was for the world.

Yuxi ushered him to the right-hand seat. “Please have a seat, Mr Chen!”

Shiliu brought a cup of tea and put it on the table. Then she went out, followed by the others.

Yuxi said with a smile, “Two days ago, I heard from my husband that he had once been to your home, requesting you to be his staff, but you refused? Can you tell me why?” Seeing Mr Chen’s hesitant face, she added, “Feel free to say anything. No need to have any fears.”

Mr Chen pondered for a moment before answering, “General Yun has shallow roots in Yu City. His enemies are too powerful, and he has few helpers. In addition, his poor reputation, and most importantly, General Yun’s nature, is too straightforward. In this chaotic world, he is bound to suffer great losses for being such a straightforward person, even if he is a good fighter. Throughout history, how many commanders-in-chief have died because of someone’s schemes? There’s no need to look far as Marshal Yan is the best example.”

Yun Qing was a straightforward and upright person who was not good at scheming and playing tricks. In times of peace, this type of Commander-in-chief could put an Emperor at ease. However, this nature would be a person’s fatal weakness in times of chaos. Yuxi smiled and asked, “Sir trusts me that much?” Since both were smart people, there was no need to probe each other’s real intentions. The reason Mr Chen defected to Yun Qing’s side right now was because of her.

Mr Chen didn’t deny it either. “Yes. Madam takes pity on the weak, puts forth Madam’s own money to help them, and acts with principles which I admire.”

Yuxi picked up the pear juice on the table, drank it and put it down, saying, “Sir, there is no need to shower me with flatteries. Just say what you really want to say.”

After hearing these words, Mr Chen finally expressed what he had in mind, “Madam, you are very good at scheming, and these are exactly what General Yun lacks.” Han Yuxi was Yun Qing’s greatest strategist, and the two had the same interests. Hence, there wouldn’t be any disagreement.

These words made Yuxi interested. “Tell me, what made you think I am good at scheming?” She wasn’t at all upset that someone had said that about her.

Mr Chen explained, “If not for the limited conditions, Madam would not have opened Qingming Hall for only three months. Madam, am I right? If my guess is right, Madam started the academy not only to make a name for herself but also to pick out good seedlings from it to cultivate.” Even if only one-tenth of these children became talented, they would be a massive help in the future. An ordinary person wouldn’t have thought of it that far.

Hearing this, Yuxi nodded. “I think you know very well how the General’s situation is. How do you think we should change his current state?”

Mr Chen replied, “Qin Zhao is the General’s biggest obstacle for promotion, and Marshal Qin’s great kindness to the General has prevented him from dealing with Qin Zhao personally. This is contradictory, but Qin Zhao must be eliminated, so we can only find another way to handle him.”

Yuxi said, “I’m all ears.”

Mr Chen had been pondering these things at home. “Qin Zhao’s greatest advantage is the few generals under his command who are good at fighting and extremely loyal to the Qin family. But these generals all have major weaknesses: Xia Hong is lustful and biased; Kang Donglin is temperamental and has a short temper; Geng Jichen is greedy for money. With proper planning, these three people will no longer become Qin Zhao’s aids but will turn into liabilities for him instead.”

Yuxi shook her head. “That won’t do. Although these three generals are loyal to Qin Zhao, once they are removed, it will weaken Yu City’s defence force. The northern barbarians will take advantage of this loophole at that time, and we will likely lose the city.” Once something happened to these three generals, the army’s morale would drop. After receiving this news, the northern barbarians would immediately take the city under siege.

Mr Chen froze but quickly said, “In addition to these three generals, Qin Zhao’s biggest help is the Xu family, connected through marriage. But the Xu family’s weight is not that big. We will not be able to bring Qin Zhao down by aiming at the Xu family.”

Yuxi did not comment further, only stating, “There is no hurry. There will always be a way.” There were some things that it was not time to tell Mr Chen. Furthermore, Mr Chen had not yet gone through an evaluation period and could not be fully trusted still.

Mr Chen was not stupid. He naturally knew that Yuxi already had an idea. In this regard, Mr Chen became even more confident in Yun Qing’s future. The real reason Yun Qing failed to recruit any talent was not that he was notorious for his fierceness but that these talented people did not think he could achieve greatness in the current political climate. Who would want to follow him when he had no future, with their lives constantly in danger?

Yuxi said, “I know all about you, but your case is too far away, thousands of miles away from here. If we want to clear your name, it will take a year or two to be done.” This meant that it could be done within these two years.

Mr Chen was thrilled to hear this and conveyed his gratitude, “Thank you, Madam.” He had been waiting for more than ten years, so he didn’t mind waiting for another two years as long as his name could be cleared.

Yuxi nodded. “Since there are too few people around the General, you can help him in the future. If the General has difficulties and does not want to tell me about them, you can tell me privately.” Yuxi worried that Yun Qing would be reluctant to inform her of anything dangerous, lest it would make her anxious.

Mr Chen was a little hesitant. This seemed a little inappropriate.

Yuxi smiled and said, “If the General doesn’t say anything to me, it will be difficult for me to make an accurate judgment without knowing the actual situation.” Misjudging and making the wrong decision could very well be fatal.

Hearing this, Mr Chen nodded and said, “As long as it is not a confidential matter, I will let Madam know.” He wouldn’t tell her if the matters involved confidential information.

Yuxi smiled a little.