After rebirth, I made the princes cry

"Why did a bird fly into the shop?"

A spectator who was watching the seal fight felt a cool breeze passing over his head. He looked up and saw a green bird.

How did Wen Ji fly in? Ying Shu's heart moved.

Although Wen Ji had been following her from time to time today, a bird as alert as Wen Ji would naturally not fly into the shop to attract attention. When he flew in at this time, no one knew whether he had discovered any danger. Ying Shu and everyone else looked at Wen Ji, and Wen Ji circled over a person's head and quickly flew away.

Yingshu looked at that person.

An unfamiliar face.

Yingshu withdrew her gaze and remained calm. She could understand Wen Ji's hint. In Wen Ji's opinion, this person was dangerous, but the specific degree of danger was unknown. However, the trainer who had been training Wen Ji was on the scene, so it was not convenient to ask him at this time. She would find an opportunity to ask him later.

After a while, the shopkeeper of Zhenxiguan appeared with a brocade box in his hand. He was a middle-aged man who looked very capable, with double peaks on his forehead, sword-shaped eyebrows, and bright eyes. The spectators called him "Shopkeeper Xie". He smiled and bowed, and was even more gentle and enthusiastic towards the guests who wanted to fight for the seal.

"Our store uses a seal contest as a sign of interest. Actually, it's just for fun. As for the rules, we always take out the seal first. No matter we win or lose, we won't let the customer suffer any loss. This is your first time to visit our store. Although we have proposed other rules, we still adhere to the principle of not letting the customer suffer any loss. If you win, we won't charge you for the seal. Even if Mr. Xie has opened his eyes, I am willing to give you a private gift. If our store wins by chance, we will exchange this seal for 3,000 strings of cash. You only need to pay 19,000 strings of cash to buy it. Do you have any objections?"

Shopkeeper Xie opened the brocade box as he spoke.

The seal in the brocade box is not big. Generally speaking, auspicious seals are also of this size. But you don’t even need to touch it. You can tell with your eyes that the shiny black jade with a faint green color is indeed a rare and fine product. Not to mention 19,000 strings of cash, even if you double the price, it would be worth it.

Yingshu only noticed the seal's button decoration, which was carved with two fish, and she smiled: "I am sure I can win, but it's not that I can't afford the 19,000 strings of cash. It's just that I've just arrived in Dajing, and it's inconvenient for me to exchange such a large amount of Dachu coins. I wonder if your bank will accept the exchange."

Yingshu threw out the Fu Lu jade pendant. This jade pendant was from a box of jade and jewelry that Madam He gave to Dianjun as a "bribe". Yingshu picked it out and took it for herself.

Shopkeeper Xie took the initiative and smiled more gently: "Your Excellency's generosity is extraordinary. Our shop is honored."

Yingshu then took out her own black jade mirror. She was confident and smiled as she thanked the shopkeeper for his judgment.

"Our shop has lost." Shopkeeper Xie sighed, but he couldn't let go of the customer's black jade mirror.

"Manager Xie, please watch carefully, do you really want to admit defeat?" A spectator felt even more regretful than Manager Xie.

"If we lose, we lose." Shopkeeper Xie held up both seals and said, "This seal of yours is made of excellent jade. As far as the quality of the jade is concerned, our shop has not lost. But please take a look at the button decoration of this seal. The carving is as natural as if it were made by nature, without any trace of craftsmanship. It must have been made by a master. If so, the seal text is naturally well-made and its composition is also incomparable.

Dear guest, our shop has already admitted defeat. I wonder if you can allow our shop to appreciate your writings and seals again?"

"Manager Xie is a straightforward person, how dare you disobey my orders?"

Shopkeeper Xie quickly stood up, found paper and ink, used the seal, admired it while sighing, and circulated it to the spectators. He also asked the young man who had just greeted the guests to pack the seal that had been sent out properly. Of course, the "buyer" had to personally inspect the packaging, so Yingshu and others were invited to the back hall. In addition, according to the laws of the Northern Han Dynasty on the transaction of precious goods, the buyer and the seller had to sign a contract as a proof. When the contract was signed, the spies arranged by the guest order did not pay attention and stood far away, so Yingshu was able to write the cipher calmly. Shopkeeper Xie looked at it and wrote a cipher reply.

When they arrived at Weitai, the spies arranged by Ke Cao Ling were waiting outside the elegant room as a matter of course.

The Third Prince and his entourage had not yet arrived at Weitai, and only Nanci and Yingshu were in the elegant room.

"Bai Ni wants to see me, but I can't spare the time today. Just to be on the safe side, you should not go to Zhenxiguan again. Just now, Manager Xie's secret letter informed me that the clerk Shen Jiu in the post station is from the Flying Eagle Department. He will immediately use him. When I have another chance to get away, I will first tell you to inform Shen Jiu, and the Flying Eagle Department will arrange the specific time and place. You can let Wen Ji pass the message to let me know."

Time was running out, Ying Shu hurriedly said: "Wen Ji found a strange person today and gave me a hint, but I can't communicate with the bird, the trainer should be able to grasp more information. If there is no time today, you can only find another time to tell the trainer. If the situation is too complicated, you can also come to the palace to see me. Now it is more convenient to discuss in secret in Baoguang Palace."

Just as he finished speaking, the door was pushed open, and the Third Prince came in first, saying unhappily, "I heard that Deputy Envoy Zuo earned a valuable jade seal for nothing today?"

Yingshu simply took them out, both black jade mirrors, and let the Third Prince and Ke Cao Ling admire them.

The reason why the guest commander could serve as the guest commander was that he was not a rough man. He was quite fond of stationery such as seals. He said in amazement: "This auspicious seal of the left deputy envoy is really good. I wonder which famous artist carved it?"

"Even I don't know this. It was a reward from His Majesty." Ying Shu said frankly.

What exactly the Flying Eagle Tribe's token was was a secret not only in Northern Han but even in Dayu. Even the Third Prince didn't know it, so he treated the Black Jade Mirror as an ordinary toy and put it aside with great contempt.

Ke Cao Ling had originally been thinking about whether he could exchange the pair of jade seals from the Left Deputy Envoy, but when he heard that it was one of the awards from His Majesty the Emperor of Dongyu, he gave up the idea. As for the other one... Zhenxi Pass would not run away, so he could go there anytime and pick out a piece of top-quality black jade seal stone and find a seal engraver to make a private seal for him.

After lunch, Yingshu and Shenyuan Dianjun returned to Weiyang Palace, hung up a "tired sign" and declined all visitors. The two of them lay on the soft couch in the flower pavilion, enjoying the cool air from the ice basin. Yingshu listened to Dianjun talking incessantly about the survivors' slaves.

"The vast majority of slaves do not seem to have been tortured..."

"My Lord, the majority of slaves are without eyebrows." Ying Shu said, "Among the six northern states, Northern Han occupies the least land. Apart from the capital, only Hanzhong is considered a provincial capital. The rest are small towns in border counties, and there are not many nobles living there. However, those officials who enslave the slaves without eyebrows and even humiliate the good people cannot be the only one, Liu Kangan.

After all, Chang'an is the capital, where important officials and dignitaries gather, and there are many merchants from Zhao, Qi, Yan and other countries. If the Northern Han court uses inhumane means to crush the survivors living in the capital, so many survivors will have no way to survive and will surely rebel. On the other hand, we must admit a cruel fact that the nobles of the Northern Han Dynasty may not take pleasure in crushing the survivors, but there are many officials like Liu Kangan, who are obviously survivors, but their methods of treating them are even more brutal. "

The Lord of Shenyuan Palace sat up straight. She felt that even leaning forward was shameful.

"Among the survivors, there are also several categories. Those who have learned a skill and are valued by their masters have the hope and opportunity to join the nobles and wealthy families and live a stable life. Those who do not have any "skills" but can farm can only do hard work, but they still have the possibility of staying in the capital. Those who cannot stay in the capital have an extremely miserable fate. Being well fed and warm has become a luxury. They just want to survive.

Northern Han officials like Liu Kangan thought they could please the Northern Han nobles by oppressing and torturing the Han people, and indeed they could. To be frank, the Northern Han nobles did not care how they pleased them, they just wanted to see their ugliness, just like pets. The more vicious they were to outsiders and the more they wagged their tails and begged for mercy to their masters, the more meat bones they would get. "

"Ashu, what should we do?" Dianjun asked sadly.

Yingshu also sat up straight: "My Lord, in Dayu, it is the same for slaves, but there is no Wumei Cang in Dayu."

"That's not the case. Your Majesty is kind and merciful. Ah Shu, you have never abused a maid..."

"My fourth sister executed her maid, and I did not plead for her." Yingshu said, "It happened many years ago. I even forgot the maid's name. I only remember that she followed the instructions of my fourth sister and called a lot of people to beat Qingying. If I had been a step later, Qingmei's fingers would have been broken by them. I was furious and complained to my grandmother. I sued my fourth sister, but later, my grandmother only let her punish the maids who beat Qingmei.

I refused to accept it and kept biting my fourth sister. When my fourth sister heard about it, she executed her maidservant and beat her to death. If I had begged for mercy, the maidservant would not have died, but I did not beg for mercy. "

The Lord of Shenyuan Palace was stunned.

"At that time, I hated that maid so much because she was the one who proposed to cut off Qing's fingers. I hate cannibalism the most, but I didn't realize that I am just like that maid, we are both human. I was indifferent to her execution. In fact, I was also cannibalistic. But my Lord, if I were the me now, I would also sit back and watch her be executed."

"Why?" asked the prince in surprise.

"Because of the distance between us, I cannot allow others to hurt my relatives and friends. I don't have that much sympathy. Today, the Lord and the Third Prince each bought a slave without eyebrows. I understand your compassion. What I don't like is the maid."

"Why?" the prince asked again.

"She obviously could speak Chinese, but she didn't say a word. Even when the Third Prince gave her delicacies at Weitai, she pretended to be deaf and dumb and wolfed them down without any thanks. When she left Yijihang, she didn't even look back at her grandfather."

"She probably can't speak Chinese."

"She would. She understood what her grandfather said. There was hatred in her eyes at that time."

"Why?"

"She hates us." Ying Shu said calmly, "She thinks that if her miserable situation is caused by the ruler and ministers of Dayu, she has become accustomed to submitting to the Northern Han. She thinks that the Qiang people are absolutely right to treat her like this. Anyone who is not of our race must be killed. She takes the kindness of the Third Prince for granted. She has no gratitude at all. She even hates her grandfather because she thinks that if her grandfather had died earlier, she would not have done so many years of hard labor in Wumei Cang."

"Ah Shu, I think you are overthinking it."

"I actually hope that I am just overthinking and it is my prejudice," said Yingshu.

She did not hate the eyebrowless slave. He had lived in a hopeless and miserable hell on earth for a long time, and had accumulated too much resentment in his heart. But human nature is to live. People will only adapt to comfort and smoothness, and will never adapt to pain and suffering. People do not want to die, nor do they want to live in pain. When in such a situation, they are used to seeing the law of the jungle, and their inner desire must be to become strong.

"Then why didn't Ah Shu remind the Third Prince?"

"Because she has no ability to harm the Third Prince." Ying Shu lowered her eyes: "The only one who can bribe her is the Guest Commander. The Guest Commander will certainly not murder the Third Prince. Even if Jiang Tai goes back on his word, the Guest Commander will not be held responsible for dereliction of duty. This eyebrowless slave will at most be treated as a spy. If she is kept here, she may be used to accomplish something."

As for chess pieces, Yingshu also doesn't care about their life or death.

There is no Bodhisattva in the power field, and she believes that the Third Prince's sympathy for the eyebrowless slave is extremely limited.

"Then...what about the male servant I bought?" asked the Lord of the Divine Yuan Palace: "If he is also a hidden danger, why not..."

It would be better for him to stay in Yi Ji Bank.

"He is a courageous man." Ying Shu said, "He asked for the opportunity. Ke Cao Ling would not try to threaten or bribe such a man. When we get out, it would be fine to take one more person with us. However, whether this person is suitable to stay by the side of the Palace Master depends on how he treats the slave bought by the Third Prince."

The Lord of Shenyuan Palace heaved a sigh of relief and forced a smile.

"At first, I saw that he wanted to protect the grandfather and spoke Chinese. Later, I heard that grandfather begging the Third Prince to buy his granddaughter. Although he also expected it, he did not fight for it... So, the grandfather was obviously helped by others, but he only wanted to benefit his granddaughter. He was indeed selfish."

"It doesn't matter how close we are." Ying Shu leaned back again. "Grandfather, no matter what, he was willing to give the opportunity to his granddaughter. He was selfish and truly loved her. The male servant that the prince bought was also very considerate of Grandfather's feelings, so he didn't fight with her. He was able to hold back his selfish desires, and he deserved to be rewarded with the delicacies today."

Dianjun suddenly felt guilty: "I didn't think of it, eh, I should have thought of it."

"My Lord, how could you be so easily fooled? How could the Third Prince only reward his own slaves and not the Lord's servants? It was just that the Third Prince wanted to embarrass the guest Cao Ling, so he specially called the female slave into the elegant room to prick the guest Cao Ling's eyes. After all, we were all in the elegant room at that time, so the Third Prince did not replace the male servants. However, the food and drink were also rewarded. The Fifth Prince was responsible for paying the bill. He saw the bill clearly. There were eight meals in total, but two of them were not sprinkled with water."

Although Weitai is a restaurant of the Northern Han Dynasty, it adopts the separate dining style. The same dishes are served in eight portions. But in fact, there are only seven people dining in the elegant room today, Yu Shi and Liang Hui, a total of five people, plus a guest commander, and an eyebrowless slave owned by the Third Prince. The other portion of dishes must be for the eyebrowless slave owned by the Lord of Shenyuan Palace.

"How much did this meal cost?" Dianjun was curious for a moment.

"A thousand kan of Taichu coins."

The Lord of the Divine Yuan Palace lost his voice and said, "One thousand strings of cash???"

"I gave you a discount out of consideration for the guest commander Cao. Anyway, the seafood we ate today should have come from Northern Qi. The cost of the ingredients alone is not low. And I noticed that the private room fee is 150 guan, so the price should be fair."

The Lord of the Divine Yuan Palace held his forehead and asked: "How many Taichu coins did the Fifth Prince exchange today?"

"It's not much. A thousand strings of cash would have to be transported by a cart. But anyway, we have Ke Cao Ling with us. We can use gold bars to settle the bill. We don't have to pay now. Just sign the bill and have someone deliver the money later."

Yingshu said, "I spent a little money to buy the best rouge cream and turmeric powder. When I return to Jiankang, I will use these two as the main ingredients and add a few other ingredients to make the best rouge powder and lip balm. When I finish making them, I will definitely give a set to you, my Lord."

However, the prince still felt sorry for spending a thousand strings of cash on a meal.

Looking sad and sighing.

But after thinking about it, he turned his sadness into joy: "Today, Ah Shu earned a jade seal for free, and I heard it is worth 20,000 strings of cash. So we are not at a loss!!!"

Yingshu smiled and said yes.

She would never tell Dianjun that the jade seal was actually earned from the Flying Eagle Tribe. It was all "internal consumption". The merchants of Northern Han did make a lot of gold from them today.