Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 444 Caravan
Madam Zhou squinted, her breathing gradually becoming even, and she stopped stroking the Hetian jade. Only then did Zhao Mama carefully raise her hand, cover Madam Zhou with the blanket, and then leave.

Zhao Mama instructed the maid at the door, "Let Madam rest for a while."

The maid nodded.

Zhao's mother walked quickly outside; she was going to find the cook to see how the evening's meal was going.

Just as I passed through the moon gate, I heard a voice coming from behind the rocks: "Mother Zhao".

Zhao's mother turned around and saw the figure standing there.

"Second Young Master," Zhao's mother said with a smile as she bowed.

Xie Chengrang walked over: "When I came back from the temple, I noticed that my mother didn't look well, so I came to ask her about it."

Zhao Mama replied, "Madam was just upset by Xie Shi, nothing else. She's resting in the room now."

Xie Chengrang seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: "That's good."

Zhao Mama said, "If there's nothing else, I'll go and get busy."

"Thank you, Mother." Xie Chengrang bowed again, appearing exceptionally gentle.

Xie Chengrang spent a considerable amount of money to get Zhao Mama to pass on some messages to him. However, people like Zhao Mama may not necessarily value these immediate benefits; what they value is that a son born out of wedlock, without family support, can still manage to spend so much money, which shows he has some ability.

They were just servants of the Xie family, and who would inherit the family business in the future wouldn't concern them much. Making some good connections would give them more options in the future.

After Zhao's mother left, Xie Chengrang's gaze slowly darkened. He had obtained a lot of information from Zhao's mother, which seemed to be trivial matters, but they could corroborate some of his guesses.

Xie Chengrang knew many secrets about his family, especially about the village. Over the years, he had inquired about the village quite a bit, but when his grandfather was alive, the village was managed by his grandfather himself, and even his father and mother were not allowed to interfere.

After his grandfather passed away, only his father went to handle various matters. The only thing he knew was that after his second uncle passed away, his grandmother was indeed sad, but she did not suffer from hysteria as rumored. He did not witness firsthand the fact that his second younger sister was taken to the countryside to be raised by his grandmother.

He only remembered that after giving birth to her eldest sister, Zhou became pregnant again, but he didn't hear the baby cry during the delivery. A year or two later, he heard from his relatives that the child had been taken to his grandmother's side.

Zhou rarely mentioned his second sister at home. Although he was very happy to bring his second sister back to Bianjing, he knew that it was all just a facade.

The smile Zhou gave her when facing her second sister was almost the same as the smile she gave him.

He could see better than anyone whether someone was sincere or not.

The reason he put so much effort into this was simply because his second younger sister was going to marry the Prince of Huai.

Being treated as the second elder brother by the Prince of Huai makes many things much easier.

Nothing seemed to have happened at Baode Temple, but he felt that his father was even more wary of Xie. After returning home, his father didn't mention Xie at all.

Only by taking it seriously can one act with caution.

Furthermore... Father never consults him on any important matters in the household. From this point of view, Xie is no longer an insignificant person, but a threat to Father.

It seems he needs to pay closer attention to Xie's every move.

……

Wang Yan could not stay at Baode Temple for too long; he had to go to the palace to report back to the Emperor.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he could only find an opportunity to whisper to Xie Yuyan, "Have you chosen a meditation room? I had Sang Dian send over some things, which I will give to Mother Yu in a little while."

"I've returned from the palace and made you some tea."

Xie Yuyan nodded, and Wang Yan then left with his men. After seeing off the master of ceremonies and the bookkeeper, the master of ceremonies looked at Xie Yuyan before leaving and advised, "Although Madam was able to secure the business at the border market, this is only a small step on that path. Whether she can truly establish herself there remains to be seen, and she will need to put in more effort."

Xie Yuyan thanked the master of ceremonies and returned to the meditation room with Mama Yu. Yan Sui happened to bring over some vegetarian snacks: "Master asked me to tell Madam that Baode Temple will not officially open until tomorrow."

“It’s alright,” Xie Yuyan said to Yan Sui. “Go back and tell the master that we’re all family, I don’t care about these things, and there’s no need to prepare vegetarian meals for me separately.”

“That won’t do,” Yan Sui said. “If Master won’t see me off, I will.” He knew that his master was using this excuse to deal with the other believers, not Lady Xie.

Yan Suihuan sat down happily, and Xie Yuyan immediately heard the sound of copper coins clinking together.

Yan Sui revealed a smug smile.

"How much money did you make?" Xie Yuyan asked.

Yan Sui lowered his voice: "It costs less than a string of cash. A believer wanted to give a hundred coins to buy a peace charm, but I didn't accept it. I remember my wife saying that there must be rules for business to last."

“Accepting one hundred coins would damage the temple’s reputation, which is not worth it. Besides, the peace charms I wrote are really not worth one hundred coins.”

Xie Yuyan looked at Yan Sui: "What's written on your peace talisman? It's not some Taoist inscription, is it?"

Yan Sui looked at Madam Xie in surprise: "How did you know, Madam? I really did write the wrong one, but luckily I found out early and changed it to the Six-Syllable Mantra."

Xie Yuyan reached out and patted Yan Sui's round head. It turned out that his master had had that problem since childhood. No wonder he mixed Taoist and Buddhist styles when drawing talismans. But the master who wrote the Six-Syllable Mantra back then was probably reminiscing about his grandmaster.

Yan Sui sat in the meditation room for a while, then went to help Master Zhiyuan "send off the saints." After the Dharma assembly ended, there was a "sending off the saints" ceremony to clean up the traces of the Dharma assembly and restore the temple to its usual appearance.

After Yan Sui left, Xie Yuyan rested for a while, and then Yang Xiaoshan brought Guo Xiong, Tang Xing and others over.

Everyone sat down and drank tea.

Yang Xiaoshan then said, "I see that those vassal lords really like Buddhist porcelain. If that's the case, our porcelain will definitely be able to be sold at the border market, right?"

After being busy for so long, we finally got a good result.

Xie Yuyan looked at the joyful faces of everyone. Although saying these things now might spoil their mood, there were some things that needed to be made clear to them sooner rather than later.

Do you know why everyone is vying to conduct their business at the border market?

Yang Xiaoshan, Guo Xiong, and Tang Xing looked at each other.

Yang Xiaoshan said, "Isn't it because the border market needs a lot of porcelain, making trade easier?"

Guo Xiong chimed in, "We can sell it for an even higher price."

Xie Yuyan nodded: "That's all correct, but there's something even more important. You can only travel this trade route if you have the sales permit issued by the imperial court."

"But this road passes through the passes of Daliang. Although the passes are heavily guarded, many places are sparsely populated and often robbed by bandits."

"Whoever can open up this road will control the discourse, and in the future, they will not only have to transport their own goods, but other merchants will also come to them seeking business."

Tang Xingxian then understood.

"What Madam means is that we need to support a large number of people, at least comparable to the garrison troops, in order to deal with the bandits."

Caravans were only allowed to carry weapons when traveling on trade routes through the border regions.

Such a caravan, if properly trained, can be comparable to an army.