Crossing the Mountains

Chapter 131 But for Your Majesty
Post station outside Wuwei County.

"Could you please stop following me?" Shen Tu Zhuo said earnestly, looking at the person opposite him at the table.

"Who said I followed you? I'm just traveling back to Andu with you." A clear voice replied.

The speaker had a pair of round, dark eyes, wore a dark blue Shu brocade robe, and had three haphazardly wrapped camel hair ropes around his waist. Underneath his blue cloth turban were several tightly braided strands of hair, and two fake mustaches made of black rabbit fur had curled up at the corners, which he would occasionally smooth down with his thumb, which wore a jade thumb ring. At first glance, he looked exactly like a mischievous boy who had stolen his father's or brother's clothes.

Of course, anyone with a slightly better eye could tell that this was a girl disguised as a boy. Even though she had deliberately drawn sharp, pointed eyebrows and applied dark, sallow makeup to her face.

Shen Tu Zhuo pointed to his lips and reminded her, "Your mustache is all crooked, you might as well just tear it off. Tao Ying, you don't really think people can't tell you're a young lady, do you? How blind would they have to be?"

Tao Ying stroked his mustache again and said, "I don't care if others can tell or not, I just think it's fun. Besides, dressing like this can at least conceal my stunning beauty. Otherwise, what if I encounter some ill-intentioned villains on this long journey to Hexi?"

"A stunning beauty? Where is she? I can't see her."

"Shentu Zhuo! Watch your mouth!" Tao Ying said angrily. "When we get back to Andu, I'll change into my brightest dress and see if I don't bewitch you."

"It's too difficult to charm me to death." Shen Tu Zhuo said helplessly, "So why did you, the daughter of the Grand Herald, make this trip? Coming and going in such a hurry, aren't you just making Lord Tao worry?"

"I told you before, I came here specifically for you," Tao Ying said calmly. "Now it seems my trip wasn't in vain..."
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A few days ago, Tao Ying disguised himself as a wealthy merchant from Andu and personally escorted a shipment to Zhangye County.

She brought several boxes of brocade and silk from Jiangnan, all of which were fashionable and of the finest quality, each piece quite expensive. As soon as they were displayed, they attracted the attention of all the cloth shops in the county.

Manager Du of Zhiyun Cloth Shop would never pass up such a rare opportunity. He immediately wanted to buy all of her goods and even wanted to discuss future supplies with her. However, Tao Ying was not greedy for money. She was not in a hurry to sell the silk. Instead, she used the guise of doing business to build relationships with various cloth shops, chatting casually and subtly inquiring about the Shentu family's gossip.

Seeing through her intentions, Manager Du thought to himself, "This is business delivered right to my door." So he casually told the merchant from Andu, "Boss Tao, you've come at an inopportune time. Our boss has been in Andu these past few days, otherwise we would have definitely asked her to come and see these silks for herself. Even if our shop can't get the supply, I think our boss would be willing to pay a high price to buy a few bolts and make a couple of skirts to present to Old Madam Shentu and Lady Ji."

As expected, Tao Ying's eyes lit up: "What is the relationship between your master and the Shentu family?"

Manager Du replied, "Our boss is the eldest daughter-in-law of the Shentu family, a newlywed who just married last year."

Tao Ying's face darkened again: "Bride? The bride of the second young master of Shentu?" As far as she knew, the eldest young master of Shentu died in battle at the border last year, so the only one left to marry was Shentu Zhuo.

Manager Du was adept at reading people and could tell at a glance that the woman in front of him was not a young merchant, but most likely a young lady from some family in Andu who had come to Hexi under the pretext of selling silk. Seeing her keen interest in the Shentu family and her inability to hide her feelings, it wasn't hard for him, being a woman himself, to guess her little scheme.

Ah, as expected of a notorious playboy, it's clear that the news of the Second Young Master Shentu taking the imperial examination has not only spread throughout the four prefectures, but has also attracted his childhood sweetheart from Andu.

Not wanting her to worry, Manager Du quickly explained, "She's not the second young master's bride, she's the eldest young master's. It's a long story. Our boss is also a tragic figure. Because of a previous engagement, she married in place of her elder sister. It was a wedding ceremony with the memorial tablet of the eldest young master of the Shentu family..." Tao Ying immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt sorry for Tan Huai Ke, "So she's the eldest young master's bride. It's pitiful that she's widowed at such a young age."

She quickly came to her senses and realized that the Zhiyun Cloth Workshop was the property of Shen Tu Zhuo's widow.

It doesn't matter who she sells these boxes of silk to; she's not really here to do business. It doesn't matter how much she earns; what's most important is being able to establish a personal relationship with Shen Tu Zhuo.

And so, Manager Du happily acquired the batch of silk.

Tao Ying originally intended to go directly to Shen Tu Zhuo's home, but after making a few inquiries, she learned that Shen Tu Zhuo was busy with the Qianjin Canal project in Lude County and hadn't returned home for many days. Moreover, while others might not know, she did: Old Madam Shen Tu was thoroughly disgusted by the infighting among officials in the capital. In all these years of maintaining peace on the border, she had never lowered herself to ask for help from Lord Shen Tu's former friends and subordinates. She probably wouldn't even allow Shen Tu Zhuo to participate in the recommendation process.

Tao Ying dared not easily provoke such a stubborn mistress, so she quickly came up with another way to get close to Shen Tu Zhuo.

It would be pointless to go directly to the ditch to look for someone; it would seem abrupt and beneath her dignity. She wanted Shen Tu Zhuo to follow the clues she had deliberately left behind and come to her on his own initiative.

Selling Jiangnan silk to Zhiyun Cloth Workshop was the first step. Then she inquired about the other businesses owned by that Lady Shentu. Before she knew it, she was drooling over the delicacies of the Western Regions at Yanzhisi Restaurant. She thought to herself that this widowed sister-in-law was really good at business. If this restaurant were opened in Andu, it would surely be packed with customers.

However, she also noticed something strange: this shrewd lady had somehow managed to take over five shops on Huaqi Street by using most of the shops as collateral.

After wandering around for two days, Tao Ying realized that Huaqi Street, with its current structure and state, was not a good place to do legitimate business. Although those shady businesses could earn a lot of money, the selection of imperial merchants was imminent. A clean and honest merchant like her clearly had better ways to get rich. Logically speaking, Madam Shentu shouldn't be gambling so heavily on this. What was she thinking?
She didn't understand, but she found something in this matter that could attract Shen Tu Zhuo.

Tao Ying spent a fortune to take over the other five shops on Huaqi Street from the maternal family of Shen Tu's mother, Master Tan. He became another sucker for the five shops next to Shen Tu's.

This made Master Tan extremely happy.

The cash that had been swindled away was all returned at once, and there was even a considerable extra profit. Master Tan felt that his luck had turned around; the losses in his business had been almost completely covered, and obtaining the title of Imperial Merchant was just around the corner!

Just as Tao Ying had predicted, the news quickly reached Shen Tu Zhuo's ears.

Not long after he was almost tricked by Tan Anfu last time, he was incredulous to hear that Master Tan had transferred the remaining shops on Huaqi Street: "Really? Which fool took on this hot potato? Could he have been tricked by Tan Li?"

Chi Fanyu took a bite of grilled fish and said, "I heard he's a wealthy merchant from Andu."

Shen Tu Zhuo frowned: "From Andu?"
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Next chapter: If you submit to me, you'll surely rise to great heights.