Frost for a Thousand Years

"Miss has arrived?"

Just as Sun Qian was frantically collecting evidence of Song Shi'an's crimes, preparing to unite with the opposition to fight him to the death, he heard this news and was so shocked that he froze.

"Yes, young master, the young lady is outside the manor," the servant replied.

"It's still snowing, and she's already come all the way from Sheng'an to Fujun?" Sun Qian was still incredulous. "Wait, which young lady are you talking about?"

“Young master, it is the young lady.” The servant could not address him by his name directly, so he could only explain in a low voice, “the young lady you think of.”

"This is insane! What is Jin Hua doing here? She's a young woman!" Sun Qian felt this was surreal. "Would Father allow her to come?"

"Miss said that it was Lord Situ who sent him," the servant said.

"..." Hearing this, Sun Qian understood. His clever mind quickly guessed everything. "Father thought I wouldn't listen to him, so he sent Jin Hua to persuade me."

As expected of the second-place scholar of Sili and the third-place scholar of Yu, his mind is truly brilliant.

However, if you were to praise him like that, this young master would definitely kill you.

“I know my father’s concerns, and I understand that my actions will inevitably affect the family.” Sun Qian was already on the verge of disaster and there was no turning back, so he said with great resistance, “If I succeed this time, I will not take credit. If I lose, I will never implicate the family, nor will I give Song Shi’an the opportunity to judge me. At worst, I will die, but I will die with the shameful reputation of being jealous of talent!”

The father was right; his letter couldn't persuade him to turn back.

As expected of Lord Situ, he understands human nature and his son so well.

But if he were to be mocked like this and nailed to the pillar of historical shame, he would rather fight to the bitter end.

"I won't see Jin Hua. Tell her to go back," Sun Qian said immediately, waving his hand.

“Young Master…” He was so extreme at this moment that he knew he couldn’t persuade him and would only get scolded, so the servant could only try to appeal to his family ties, saying with some sadness, “When we came, the snow wasn’t so heavy. If we go back now, the roads will be even more congested. Although Miss is a resolute and extraordinary woman, she is still a woman after all… In any case, could we wait until the weather is better before we talk about it?”

To come all this way and not even see him is extremely unbecoming of an elder brother.

As expected of a servant, he immediately hit Sun Qian's weak spot.

If something really happens to his sister on her way back, he won't be able to explain it to his father or to himself.

“Alright, let her go…” Shaking his head, Sun Qian changed his mind and said, “Let her in.”

"Yes." The servant's face lit up with joy, and he immediately went to relay the message.

Sun Qian closed all the impeachment letters on the case and covered them with other case files.

The next moment, Sun Jinhua walked in.

Upon seeing Sun Qian in the candlelight, her first reaction was heartache. She said directly, "Brother, you look so haggard. You haven't shaved, and you look like you've aged ten years in an instant."

Once a top-tier son of an official in Sheng'an, a romantic and talented man, and a handsome man from Dayu, he is now so decadent.

Engaging in such struggles really harms one's health.

"I've been quite busy these days," Sun Qian changed the subject, asking, "Was it cold on the way? Did anything happen?"

“Brother, the journey was very safe,” Sun Jinhua said. “When we passed through Huai County, Song Shi’an even sent troops to escort me.”

Sun Qian felt a headache coming on whenever he heard the name Song Shi'an.

If the person being mentioned wasn't his sister, he would have already started breathing on the servants.

Of course, he restrained himself, as if he hadn't heard what he just said, and said, "You chose a good time to come to Fu County this time. There are some temple fairs here in winter. I'll send a maid to take you to visit them."

“Brother, I’m not here to play around.” Sun Jinhua said seriously, staring at Sun Qian.

"I'm still a bit busy right now, but I'll be free in a few days," Sun Qian said casually, continuing his usual nonchalant manner. "It's already quite late, you should go and rest. I'll have the servants bring you some food..."

"Brother!" Sun Jinhua saw that her brother was trying to avoid her, so she walked up to him without giving him a chance to look away, and said very seriously, "Father sent me to deliver a letter to you!"

"Okay, okay." Sun Qian clicked her tongue and said reluctantly, "Give me the letter. And, as a girl, don't speak so hastily."

"Because you make us so anxious, brother."

As she spoke, Sun Jinhua took a letter out of her sleeve and handed it to him.

It was quite obvious that the stamp on the letter was cracked and had been resealed.

It even felt like there was no attempt to conceal the fact that it had been seen by others.

"Jinhua, did you open and read this letter before it was given to me?" Sun Qian asked her calmly.

“I haven’t opened it to look at it,” Sun Jinhua said seriously.

"Your answer has disappointed your brother," Sun Qian sighed. "You used to be a good kid who never lied. This envelope is obviously opened. How can you deny that you read it?"

"I really didn't see it."

"Alright, I'll pretend you're..."

"Song Shi'an has read it."

“…” Sun Qian’s eyes widened immediately, and then he was completely dumbfounded. He exclaimed excitedly, “Where did this Song Shi’an come from!”

"On my way to Fu County, I passed through Huai County, which is how I met Song Shi'an."

“I know you met Song Shi’an. What I mean is…” Sun Qian was speechless and asked back, “Why should Song Shi’an read the letter my father gave me first? Did my father specifically ask him to read it first?”

“Brother.” Having said this much, Sun Jinhua stopped pretending and said, “The military settlement in Huai County is an inevitable trend, and Song Shi’an will surely succeed. No matter how you impeach him now, even if you unite all the officials, at this critical juncture, His Majesty will not allow Song Shi’an to suffer the slightest attack. And it is not impossible for you to be physically punished by the Sixth Prince.”

These words came from Sun Jinhua, but they did not move Sun Qian in the slightest. He asked in a cold tone, "This letter wasn't shown to him by Father first, was it?"

"Yes."

After Sun Jinhua firmly admitted it, Sun Qian immediately raised his hand and slapped her across the face.

But the other party didn't dodge at all.

The slap landed squarely on the younger sister's face.

Sun Qian's heart almost skipped a beat.

However, he still reprimanded her sternly: "Sun Jinhua, this is a family war. You disregard the safety of the family and leaked a secret letter that could harm the Sun family of Yangzhou to your political enemies. Do you want to be expelled from the family?"

Sun Jinhua's fair face turned red and hot after being slapped, and tears welled up in her eyes from the pain.

“Brother, Father told you to withdraw in time and not to impeach impeach me impulsively. Did you listen to him?” Sun Jinhua retorted stubbornly.

"..." Sun Qian raised his hand again, but after being hit where it hurt, he stopped arguing, lowered his head to open the letter, and said, "I will send someone to take you back to Sheng'an. I won't tell you about showing the letter to Song Shi'an, but remember, I will be keeping an eye on you."

This guy completely forgot about the family's interests because of his personal feelings for his children.

Are you saying I disregarded my father's instructions?
How can it be the same!

He angrily tore open the letter, and then froze the moment he saw the words on it. After a long while, he finally said, "Is this really my father's letter? No, it is. This is my father's handwriting."

Sun Jinhua is becoming increasingly curious about what the letter is, and Song Shi'an's reaction after reading it is very similar to hers.

That is, everyone felt that the content above could not have come from their father.

But Song Shi'an also told her not to watch, which confused her even more...

Just then, Sun Qian suddenly went berserk, tearing the letter to shreds. As Sun Jinhua looked up in fear, tears streamed down her face, and she choked out, "Father, am I really that worthless?"

Sun Jinhua stood there, stunned and speechless. Sun Qian, utterly devastated, slumped in his seat, utterly despondent.

It's normal that her father saw through Sun Jinhua's treacherous nature; she is a traitor!
But what hurt him the most was that his father practically begged Song Shi'an to let him go.

Even before this battle and the tearing of masks had begun, he seemed to already see that the only consequence of opposing Song Shi'an was death.

That's why I said, please let him go.

"Jinhua, am I really that much worse than him?" Sun Qian asked his sister, his voice choked with emotion.

Putting aside the fact that we were tricked during this grain purchase, putting aside the previous imperial examinations, and putting aside the battle against Northern Liang, and the time the Yan state went out to fight...

Forget it, don't throw it away.

“Brother, winning or losing doesn’t mean anything.” Sun Jinhua looked at him with concern. “The most frightening thing now is that everything you do is just to do the opposite of what Song Shi’an does.”

"..." Sun Qian retorted, unconvinced, "Then how else can I beat him?"

"But brother, is all your life's learning just to defeat Song Shi'an?"

Looking at her brother, Sun Jinhua asked with rare excitement, "If you win, where will the food come from for the 500,000 soldiers and civilians in Huai County? Have you thought about that?"

"..."

In a single sentence, Sun Qian's defenses were completely shattered.

He had forgotten the meaning of the journey.

Having fallen far behind in literature, he attempted to compete with Song Shi'an in his official career.

But his greatest goal in life was not to be included in the "Biographies of Famous Officials".

In order to bring down Song Shi'an, he was even willing to become a treacherous official.

Is a nobleman in his early twenties really only interested in becoming a treacherous minister?
He stood up, picked up all the impeachment documents and confessions he had collected from the table, and burned them to ashes in the candlelight...

.........

"My lord, the money from Sheng An selling the books totaled more than four thousand taels, and none of it has been touched."

San Gou, who was riding a horse with Song Shi'an in the snow, said to him.

"Writing books is still about making money," Song Shi'an said.

"I really didn't expect that so many people would buy those books that cost 500 yuan each," San Gou exclaimed. "That money could buy meat for many days. There are really a lot of rich people in Sheng'an."

“Those are illustrated, hardcover books. Even if they cost only one or two taels of silver each, many people would still buy them,” Song Shi’an said.

If this "Journey to the West" were managed by me, I could easily rake in tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Although this amount of money is not much, compared to the losses incurred in land reclamation, it is truly a drop in the ocean and insignificant.

But this money is Song Shi'an's private property.

Just like when you start a company, you must pay salaries to yourself and your family members.

This is clearly defined.

"Lord, there's something I don't quite understand," San Gou asked curiously, "Why collect these extremely tragic lists of people, and why are you personally involved?"

"Social assistance".

Song Shi'an uttered these four words that left him completely baffled.

Doing charity is ahead of its time in this era.

In ancient times, everything required a reward.

Some might argue that modern charity is also about helping others, even without any real demands, and is ultimately about personal fulfillment.

There's no need to say that. In ancient times, if you helped some people or many people purely to enrich your spiritual world, then such a person was no different from a saint.

And so, the two men rode their horses through the snow and finally came to a crossroads. A burly man was kneeling in the snow, wearing only a t-shirt on his upper body, with a rolled-up mat behind him. As soon as he saw Song Shi'an, and a wealthy man on horseback at that, he immediately shouted, "Sir, are you buying slaves?"

Song Shi'an feigned surprise, as if he hadn't come for him, and asked in bewilderment, "Da Yu, where did these slaves come from?"

"All the poor in the world are slaves," the burly man said without looking up. "And I am willing to be your most powerful slave."

He is indeed the most powerful.

In this kind of weather, wearing such light clothing and kneeling at a crossroads, most people really couldn't withstand it.

"Lord Song is currently cultivating land and recruiting all displaced people. Why don't you go?" Song Shi'an asked.

"I went to ask, but they won't give me the money."

"Give me money?" San Gou asked, puzzled. "The Tuntian (military settlement) provides you with food and shelter, so how can you ask for money?"

“I don’t want money, but I do want money for my mother’s grave,” he said directly.

Burying the elderly is indeed expensive.

In ancient times, people would spend a lot of money after they died.

Even emperors, who were known for their frugality, would build their tombs very well.

For this person, it was simply that his mother had suffered her whole life and he wanted to have a better afterlife.

Song Shi'an dismounted and walked up to him, and San Gou quickly followed to protect him.

"Do you know how to be a slave?" Song Shi'an asked.

“All you need to do is give me a bite to eat, and you can treat me like livestock.” He glared at Song Shi’an and forcefully promoted himself, “I’m more useful than livestock.”

It was cold, and snow was falling.

His muscles were already somewhat stiff.

But the mat wrapped around his mother behind him only had a thin layer of snow, which fell while the two were talking.

He didn't let his elderly mother suffer from the cold.

“Give him money to buy a coffin, to carve a tombstone, and to make mourning clothes,” Song Shi’an said. “Also, give him enough rations for this winter.”

"..." The burly man decisively accepted the grain and money, and looked at him, "Sir, I am your slave now."

No, you are yourself.

"..." The burly man was dumbfounded. "Who does the master want to kill?"

"Don't kill anyone, and don't need slaves. Go bury your mother."

With that, Song Shi'an mounted his horse.

The burly man kowtowed forcefully to him, then shouted, "I will repay my benefactor after I bury my mother. Please leave an address!"

"I am moved by your filial piety, and I don't need any reward!"

Song Shi'an refused outright and turned to leave, but before leaving, he called out to him, "I'm at the Jianxing Prefectural Governor's residence. If you need anything, just come find me!" (End of Chapter)