Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 283 The "Big Pie" Drawn for Zhao Nishang

That night, Zhao Qi'an's house was filled with faint and sharp cries.

It's like a ghost...

Zhao Qi'an lay in bed, tossing and turning but unable to fall asleep. He could not help but sit up and shouted into the ear chamber:
"Why are you crying like a sissy? Can't you be a little more manly?"

Strangely enough, at first the crying sounded like someone crying under the quilt, vague and indistinct. But as Zhao Qi'an finished speaking, the cat-like crying sound turned into a loud howling.

Zhao Qian'an was defeated and had to pack up and spend the night in Old Nie's room.

……

The next day, Zhao Qi'an, who had not rested well the night before, went to Fuxiang Tower in the east of the city with dark circles under his eyes.

Fuxianglou, just hearing the name, seems to be an indecent place, like the name of a brothel.

But this Fuxiang Tower is actually a folk art teahouse. The best singers and dancers in Kyoto are all in this Fuxiang Tower.

"It turns out that all the beautiful flowers are left to the broken wells and dilapidated walls..."

Zhao Qi'an arrived at Fuxiang Tower. Before he even stepped over the threshold, he heard the beautiful voice of the singer Yingying singing.

He entered the building, a square structure with three floors, and a stage was set up in the open air in the middle.

At this moment, there was a troupe singing on the stage, with red, green and yellow paint on their faces. The singer was dressed as a woman and his voice was more charming than that of a woman, but judging from his bone structure, he must be a eunuch.

Although it was early in the morning, there were quite a few guests listening to music in Fuyun Tower. There were a few tables of three or four people, with morning tea and snacks on the tables. Judging from their clothes, they were all wealthy people in Kyoto.

Zhao Qi'an stood at the door, and soon a servant came over with a teapot and greeted him with a smile:
"Would you like to sit in the lobby, or in the private room upstairs?"

The servant did not recognize Zhao Qi'an.

This is normal. On the surface, Fuxianglou has distanced itself from the Zhao family. Even if someone were to investigate, it would be difficult to find any connection between it and the Zhao family.

For this reason, Zhao Qi'an rarely comes to Fuxiang Tower. If there is really something, he will call Zhao Nishang to his side.

He took out a jade token from his sleeve and threw it to the boy: "Where is your master?"

The servant took the jade token and his expression changed immediately. He put away the smile on his face and said respectfully, "The master is in the accounting office sorting out the accounts. Would you like me to let you know?"

"No need, I can go by myself."

The servant respectfully handed the jade token back. After Zhao Qi'an took back the jade token, he walked towards the second floor.

But just as he reached the stairs, he heard a noise coming from the lobby corridor.

He looked in the direction of the voice and saw two soldiers wearing fish-scale armor stopping a manager of Fuxiang Tower to talk.

Zhao Qi'an quickly glanced at the two soldiers and said to himself, "Fish scale armor, tiger head shoulders... Soldiers of the expeditionary force?"

He thought for a moment, then reached out and called the servant to his side: "Who are those people?"

The servant looked in the direction he pointed, and immediately frowned, and said in a low voice: "Dear guest, please don't let them hear it, they are the eldest prince's people."

"What are the eldest prince's people doing in Fuxiang Tower?"

"They said... they were looking for someone to take away all the foreign girls we bought in our building in the past few years. Don't you think this is asking for trouble?"

When the servant said this, his face was also filled with indignation.

Although most foreign women do not conform to the aesthetic tastes of the Central Plains people, the noble gentlemen in Kyoto City have long been tired of the beauties from the Central Plains. It is fresh and fun to experience some exotic customs occasionally.

Many foreigners are good at singing and dancing. Fuxianglou would go to various brokerages almost every year to select suitable foreign slaves to buy. This cost real money. Now the eldest prince wanted to take them all away. It was really overbearing. Zhao Qi'an didn't understand what the eldest prince was going to do for a while: "Ji Wuchang is the biggest foreign slave trader. Most of the foreign slaves in Jingdu City came from the expeditionary army. What does he want so many foreign female slaves for?"

But now is not the time to explore these things.

Zhao Qi'an did not intervene in the matter. He just glanced at the two expeditionary soldiers for a few more times, then retracted his gaze and walked towards the accounting office upstairs.

……

In the accounting office on the second floor, the abacus beads could be heard clicking.

An accountant was flipping through the accounts, working hard with his head down. From time to time, quiet conversations could be heard in the accounting office.

Zhao Nishang sat in the middle. From time to time, someone handed her a whole book of accounts, and she was tapping the beads on the abacus.

She glanced and noticed that several accountants were almost asleep while counting accounts, so she slammed the account books on the table.

"Snapped!"

The sudden noise startled the sleepy accountants, and they immediately began to pretend to calculate the accounts.

Zhao Nishang stood up and said, "Come on, everyone. If we can sort out the accounts today, each gentleman will get more money this month."

"One is too little, let's add three more!"

Suddenly, a voice interrupted her and openly sang a different tune.

But Zhao Nishang was not annoyed when she heard the voice, but looked surprised instead.

She turned around hurriedly and saw Zhao Qi'an standing behind her.

"Father, why are you here?"

"Come and hide away for a while."

Zhao Qian'an looked around the accounting office, and it was not known whether these accountants were motivated by his arrival or the reward, but they were all as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Zhao Qi'an came to Zhao Nishang and said, "Are you so busy here too?"

"Of course I can't be busy. Deacon Sha came up with a bad idea before, to organize an auction of the 'Exotic Treasure Pavilion' to compete with the 'Treasure Pavilion'. In the end, the job has to fall on me. The venue is my Fuxiang Building, I provide the staff, I handle the work, and in the end, the bills have to go to me. How can the few account offices I have be enough? I have to borrow some from the merchant bank, and I'm not going to lend them to you!"

When Zhao Nishang mentioned this matter, she was full of complaints.

The "Deacon Sha" she mentioned was also one of the eight deacons in Kyoto. He was in charge of some of the Zhao family's shady businesses, such as salt, iron, and smuggling. He traveled back and forth between Kyoto and Jizhou all year round.

Before the Emperor's birthday banquet, many people wanted to get some rare items as birthday gifts to celebrate the Emperor's birthday. Naturally, the Zhao's Company could not miss this opportunity to make money. It was not enough that the auction of the Treasure Pavilion was increased from once every half a month to once every three days. They also secretly supported the "Yibao Pavilion" auction to compete with it. It can be said that they made a lot of money.

The only one who was unhappy was Zhao Nishang. She was the most idle among the eight deacons. On weekdays, she was mainly responsible for managing the Xiaowei and didn't care much about the affairs of the business.

However, Gou Xiangxi, one of the original eight deacons, was transferred to Zhao Qi'an's side, and the Zhao Company became too busy to handle the affairs. Even Deacons Xiong and Sha, who were originally working outside the city, returned to Kyoto City to help. Zhao Nishang, who was originally in Kyoto City, was in trouble and had to work like a top.

Zhao Qi'an looked at the dark circles under Zhao Nishang's pretty face and could only give her a sweet answer: "This time, all the income from the Yibao Pavilion will be left with you. I won't ask whether you use it on the Xiaowei or somewhere else."

Zhao Nishang frowned: "It's not about the money, godfather, you promised me that..."

Looking at Zhao Nishang's expectant eyes, Zhao Qi'an knew what she was thinking.

But after all, this was what I had promised before.

He could only smile helplessly: "Okay, okay, now that the longevity banquet is over, I will keep Deacon Xiong and Deacon Sha for a while and give you a long vacation."

(End of this chapter)