Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 598 Business is business
At the appointed time, a lamp was still lit in Bai Zaixiang's tent.

"Sister, you haven't rested yet?" Bai Zaiying lifted the curtain, walked to Bai Zaixiang's desk, and stood with her head bowed.

"What are you doing here so late?" Bai Zaixiang glanced at her, then propped her head up and continued reading by lamplight.

“Go ahead and whip me,” Bai Zaiying slowly knelt down, then pulled out a thorny branch from behind her back and raised it high. “I shouldn’t have said such nasty things.”

"Hmph. No way. How could I dare to hit you, Miss Bai?" Bai Zaixiang took a piece of paper covered with dense writing, added a few strokes, and then crossed out a few lines.

Bai Zaiying, still holding the thorns, bent down and gently placed her head on the carpeted ground.

Bai Zaixiang simply ignored her and picked up another document to read carefully.

The oil lamp burned quietly, its charcoal smoke rising slowly. Beneath the table's shadow, Bai Zaiying, whose limbs were numb from kneeling, couldn't help but shift slightly. Bai Zaixiang raised an eyebrow, her lips twitching slightly. "Get up if your knees are numb."

"I won't get up until you've calmed down." Bai Zaiying straightened up slightly.

"Then you can keep kneeling." Bai Zaixiang put down the documents she had finished reading and picked up a new one.

"You're not going to read this whole stack, are you?" Bai Zaiying moved forward slightly while still kneeling.

"Hmm." Bai Zaixiang responded lightly, then added a few more strokes to the manuscript paper.

"Sister, it's getting late. You should rest. You can take care of anything tomorrow." Bai Zaiying secretly observed her older sister's expression.

"These things need to be arranged first thing tomorrow morning." Bai Zaixiang put down the documents in her hand, and then picked up another document that she had read not long ago. Comparing the two documents, there were indeed contradictions.

"Then let me help you." Bai Zaiying stood up.

"'I won't get up until you're satisfied.' Who said that?" Bai Zaixiang mimicked Bai Zaiying's tone, making a few sarcastic remarks before forcing Bai Zaiying to kneel back down in a foul manner.

"Sister, I know I was wrong," Bai Zaiying moved closer to Bai Zaixiang and gently rubbed against her shoulder. "I was just worried and confused."

"You care about her, so you have to hurt me?" Bai Zaixiang dodged Bai Zaiying's lean, her eyes, illuminated by the candlelight, quickly welling up with tears of grievance. "I really can't believe you could say such a thing."

"I...I won't say it again." Bai Zaiying lowered her head and pursed her lips. "Please calm down and forgive your sister."

“Alright,” Bai Zaixiang held out her hand, “bring me that bramble branch!”

"Hmm," Bai Zaiying pouted, shrinking back as she handed over the bramble. "Please be gentle with your blows."

“Go over there,” Bai Zaixiang put down the file, picked up a thorny branch, and pointed to the empty space next to the desk. “Stick your butt out.”

"I... let it go," Bai Zaiying said, clasping her hands together in a pleading gesture. "I'm a grown man, please don't spank me."

“What are you afraid of? There’s no one else watching here,” Bai Zaixiang stood up and went around to Bai Zaiying’s back. “Tomorrow morning, that brat Bai Zaiyun will have to get a beating in front of the whole battalion on the drill ground.”

"You really want to hit her?" Bai Zaiying was taken aback.

"Nonsense!" Bai Zaixiang raised her hand and, without warning, slammed it down on Bai Zaiying's buttocks. The force was so great that it even made a whooshing sound as it cut through the air.

"Hiss, ah!" Bai Zaiying was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground by the blow.

"Stop yelling." Bai Zaixiang raised her hand and slapped her again. "You chose this bramble yourself!"

"Ouch! That hurts!" Bai Zaiying jolted, quickly covering her buttocks and crawling forward a few steps. "Stop hitting me! Please stop hitting me! I know I was wrong!"

Bai Zaixiang wasn't about to let her get away so easily. She chased after her, grabbed Bai Zaiying's hands, and pinned her to the ground. Then, Bai Zaixiang straddled Bai Zaiying's back in a grappling position.

"Explain to me what 'borrowing a sister to buy a public property' means!" *Slap!*

"What do you mean you have no experience?!" *Slap!*

"What do you mean by disobeying orders?!" *Slap!*

Bai Zaixiang stared wide-eyed, gritting her teeth, delivering a blow with each sentence. However, this posture made it difficult to exert full force, so these consecutive blows were not as excruciatingly painful from the buttocks to the brain as the first two.

"I really know I was wrong, I'll never do it again. Ah!" Bai Zaiying struggled desperately, but she couldn't break free from her older sister's grip at all.

“I haven’t hit you since you got married, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid to hit you or can’t hit you!” Bai Zaixiang slapped her a few more times, but the force in her hands gradually weakened. “Borrowing my sister for the market, what can I do for the market? What is there to buy? I’m just afraid that brat will leave alive like Brother Ran Liu and Uncle Shu San, only to come back cold and heartbroken. How can you say that to me?” As she spoke, Bai Zaixiang gradually shed her tigress demeanor and began to sob softly like an ordinary woman who was heartbroken.

"Waaah." Bai Zaiying also cried, partly because she empathized with him, and partly because she was really hurt by the beating.

Bai Zaixiang's emotions came and went quickly. After venting, the last bit of anger and grievance that had been building up in her chest gradually subsided.

After letting out a sigh, Bai Zaixiang slowly stood up.

"Get up," Bai Zaixiang threw the thorny branch far away and wiped away a lingering tear from the corner of her eye with a finger. "Didn't you just say you were going to help me?"

"Ouch!" Bai Zaiying clutched her buttocks and writhed on the ground.

"Get up!" Bai Zaixiang couldn't help but gently kick Bai Zaiying twice.

“It’s definitely swollen,” Bai Zaiying turned to Bai Zaixiang and said in a trembling voice, “Please rub it for me.”

"What are you rubbing me for? You're a grown man!" Bai Zaixiang slapped Bai Zaiying's hand. "Get up right now. If you don't get up, I'm going to get some brambles."

"It really hurts." Bai Zaiying supported herself on the ground and struggled to get up.

"Can pain be worse than being cut by a knife?" Bai Zaixiang picked up the two case files she had just put down and continued to compare and read them.

"Hmph." Bai Zaiying gave a coquettish laugh, picked up a low stool, and half-squatted down next to Bai Zaixiang. "Can they be the same?"

“Look,” Bai Zaixiang said, not responding to Bai Zaiying’s question, but instead showing her the case file, “this case file says that it takes half a day to reach Shuozhou after disembarking at the river mouth. But this other case file says it takes two days to reach Shuozhou after disembarking. How many days does it actually take?”

"I don't know. I've never been there," Bai Zaiying said with a resentful look. Bai Zaixiang glared at Bai Zaiying. "You're the one who came here to apologize, and now you're throwing a tantrum, aren't you?"

"I really haven't been there. Why don't you call the people who mentioned these two newspapers over tomorrow and ask them?"

“That makes sense.” Bai Zaixiang put the two case files aside, then picked up the memo and made a note.

While Bai Zaixiang was making notes, Bai Zaiying took the messy draft and looked at it. "So you're already preparing to arrest the envoys sent to Korea by the slave traitors?"

Bai Zaixiang was taken aback. "You can think of it that way."

“But judging from the contents of that letter of denunciation, the chieftain probably hasn’t officially sent anyone yet, right?” Bai Zaiying recalled the contents of the letter.

"Better safe than sorry," Bai Zaixiang replied casually.

"Then why don't you let Yun'er go?" Bai Zaiying suggested.

"You really want her to die?" Bai Zaixiang snatched the draft and added a few more strokes.

“How could that be!” Bai Zaiying said. “I wanted her to atone for her crime by doing good deeds.”

“She can’t atone for her crime,” Bai Zaixiang immediately understood Bai Zaiying’s thoughts and said decisively, “She has to take the punishment tomorrow. There’s no point in saying anything!”

"Why? They've already taught them a lesson," Bai Zaiying said.

Bai Zaixiang remained silent for a while. Finally, she lowered her voice and said, "Now that this matter has been brought to court, I must handle it officially. If I leave that person with the impression of bending the law for personal gain, the entire Youyang chieftain might be in trouble."

"Hasn't Yuan Bingxian already been pardoned?" Bai Zaiying asked, puzzled.

"I'm not talking about Yuan Bingxian."

"Who is that?" Bai Zaiying pressed.

"You'll know in a few days," Bai Zaixiang waved her hand.

Bai Zaiying tried hard to think, but still couldn't come up with a clue. "Could you hit her a little lighter? Don't really flatten that girl's bottom."

"Do you really have to ask so clearly?" Bai Zaixiang glanced at Bai Zaiying.

"I understand." Bai Zaiying smiled knowingly.

"Silly girl."

--------

On the 27th day of the fourth month of the first year of the Taichang reign, just as dawn was breaking, Tong Qiaonian, the garrison commander of the Hushan Great Wall, got out of bed.

"Still sleeping?" Tong Qiaonian always made a lot of noise when he got up, and this time, unsurprisingly, he woke up his wife, Tan, who was lying beside him. "What time is it!"

"Tsk, oh dear!" Tan Shi, who hadn't slept well to begin with, was now enraged by the thunderous noise, and her morning grumpiness flared up instantly. "It's not even dawn yet, what are you yelling about!" Tan Shi was quite sharp-tongued, immediately scolding him before kicking Tong Qiaonian's old backside from the earthen bed. "Up so early, are you rushing to steal someone or steal chickens?!"

Tong Qiaonian was kicked and stumbled. If he hadn't managed to brace himself with his hand, he would have fallen flat on his face. "Damn it! What the hell are you doing so early in the morning?"

Seeing this, Madam Tan felt a pang of guilt, and her morning grumpiness subsided considerably. She quickly turned over, intending to help him up. But before Madam Tan's hand could touch Tong Qiaonian, Tong Qiaonian's angry complaint rang out: "You damn shrew, if I didn't have business to attend to today, I wouldn't be spending the night here!"

Tong Qiaonian and Tan's small family home was located in the camp near the border wall. Although Tong Qiaonian was assigned the best and largest barracks in the camp, he did not come back to stay there often.

"Hey! You old lecher!" In an instant, even greater anger surged from her heart to the top of her head. Tan shoved him barefoot onto the ground. "With your pittance, how many days a month can you even sleep outside?"

"I can sleep as many days as I want, as many times as I want. Even if I'm broke, I'd rather sleep at the city gate than serve you, you old bastard!" Tong Qiaonian was, after all, a military officer in his prime, and he was prepared. Tan Shi had no way to deal with him. Tan Shi grabbed his neck and shook it a few times, but she couldn't move him.

"You worthless bird, you didn't serve your mother well last night either!" Madam Tan roared.

"I'm afraid of having nightmares at night!" Whether it was to make the curse sound more vicious or simply because his throat was itchy, Tong Qiaonian spat on the ground as he said this.

"Say that again!" Madam Tan's face instantly turned red.

"I'm afraid of having nightmares at night." Tong Qiaonian said, almost emphasizing each word.

"Ah!" Madam Tan was so angry that she raised her fist and started punching Tong Qiaonian on the back.

"Stop this fucking nonsense," Tong Qiaonian wouldn't tolerate Tan Shi's tantrum, turning around and pushing her onto the bed. "I have important business to attend to. Help me put on my armor!"

"You good-for-nothing lazybones, don't you have hands and feet?" Mrs. Tan stood up from the bed, seething with resentment. "I won't serve you!"

"If I were useless, would you, a lazy, good-for-nothing woman, still have food to eat?" Tong Qiaonian glared at Tan Shi, then continued dressing on his own.

"I'm lazy and good-for-nothing?" Madam Tan was about to help Tong Qiaonian put on his armor, but upon hearing these outrageous words, she immediately stopped. "Take a deep breath and tell me, who patched your clothes? Who sewed your shoes?"

"What woman can't do this little thing?" Tong Qiaonian fastened the last tie of his red padded jacket, then took the standard armor of a seventh-rank military officer from the rack and put it on. "If it weren't for the fact that you gave me two sons, I would have divorced you, you shrew, the day I became an official!"

"Go ahead and divorce me, I'm not afraid of you!" This wasn't the first time Tan had heard such words, and she wasn't intimidated at all, immediately retorting. "Even if you divorce me, I'll still have to take care of your two little brats in their old age." Tan proudly raised her head, and with a belly full of resentment, took the arm guards off the shelf and put them on Tong Qiaonian.

“Having a mother like you,” Tong Qiaonian still spoke harshly, but her tone seemed to soften a little. “My good son is truly cursed for eight lifetimes.”

"Having a cowardly father like you is a good thing?" Madam Tan skillfully tied the ropes connecting Tong Qiaonian's arm armor and body armor, and then took two shoulder pads and put them on Tong Qiaonian's arms.

"No matter how stupid I am, I'm a seventh-rank official now, it's time to take a concubine." Tong Qiaonian was genuinely itching to do so. "You stupid woman! Go and take me a concubine!"

"Hmph, taking a concubine is fine. But bring the money!" Madam Tan sneered. "If you, you old lecher, could afford to keep a concubine, why would you still go to brothels? Bring those lovers who call you 'Master' in bed to your home."

"I don't even want those cheap goods that will sell for a penny. If I'm going to take a concubine, I'll find a respectable woman. Damn it!" Tong Qiaonian suddenly perked up, his scales rustling. "Didn't you send all my money to your two stupid sons to study at Liaoyang Guard School? What kind of bullshit books are they? Less than half a basket of them could be used to buy this suit of armor!"

(End of this chapter)