As soon as he finished speaking, Ming Xi immediately handed the fruit over.
Ling Cang took it and finished it in two or three bites.
"Sleep a little longer. It's snowing outside, a real blizzard—better not go out today."
Ming Xi nodded, lay down, and pulled the quilt over his head.
After a moment, he peeked out again. "Ling Cang, I can't sleep."
Ling Cang pulled out a mirror and handed it to him.
"Here, play with this."
It was the Qiankun Mirror, capable of showing mountains, rivers, and all phenomena across the three realms.
Holding the mirror, Ming Xi was long accustomed to Ling Cang's boundless magical power and countless rare treasures.
Looking down, he suddenly saw a mansion appear in the mirror.
Someone in the courtyard was skulking around. Ming Xi found the person very familiar but couldn't quite remember where he'd seen them. He called over Ling Cang, who was fiddling with a potted plant.
"Look, doesn't this person seem familiar?"
The figure in the mirror held a bowl of medicine, glancing left and right like a thief.
Ling Cang took one look and said,
"Zhang Yane, from the Zhang family in Yunxi Village."
He suddenly looked at Ming Xi.
"The one who had ayes on your husband."
Ming Xi pouted. "Then I want to see what she's up to.
Skulking around like that—it can't be anything good."
Zhang Yane was indeed up to no good.
Sold by Li Laizi to the owner of a gambling den, her pretty face had initially won her a few comfortable days. But this woman's ambitions soared too high; unsatisfied with being a nameless, status-less mistress, she delusionally aimed to become the master's rightful wife.
Hearing that the rightful wife was pregnant made her even more anxious. If that woman gave birth, she herself would be cast aside like a useless object, forever abandoned in some dark corner.
Gritting her teeth, she bought an abortifacient, deciding to first eliminate the child in the wife's belly before dealing with the wife herself.
She brought in the abortifacient. The maids in the inner room exchanged glances, as if they had long known Zhang Yane would come.
Ming Xi gripped the mirror, watching intently.
After tending to his plants, Ling Cang took off his shoes, climbed onto the kang, held Ming Xi in his arms, rested his chin on Ming Xi's shoulder, and watched together how Zhang Yane was digging her own grave.
In the mirror, Zhang Yane said sweetly,
"Sister, this is medicine I brewed for you to stabilize your pregnancy. Drink it while it's hot!"
Ming Xi couldn't help saying,
"All medicine is poison in a way. That lady probably won't drink it, right?"
Ling Cang's interlaced hands warmed Ming Xi's belly.
"Not necessarily. I bet she'll drink it."
Ming Xi turned to stare at the mirror, as if to verify.
In the mirror, the rightful wife slightly lifted her eyelids.
"Put it there."
A maid moved to take the bowl from Zhang Yane's hands, but she dodged.
"Sister, this medicine must be drunk while hot. When I brought it, the master said you're afraid of bitterness and wanted to watch you drink it."
"Oh." The wife smiled at her.
"Then bring it here!"
The maid brought the medicine over, and the wife raised the bowl and drank it all.
Clatter! The bowl fell to the ground.
"It hurts! You... you!"
She clutched her stomach and cursed,
"You vile woman! You're trying to harm me and my child!"
As she finished, the hem of her skirt was already stained red.
Zhang Yane stood frozen on the spot, her face deathly pale.
She muttered softly, "It shouldn't work this fast..."
"Madam! Madam!" The maids rushed to support her.
One maid nodded slightly to the wife.
The wife's lips curved upward, then she cried out and lunged to grapple.
"You vile woman! You killed my child! I'll fight you to the death!"
The gambling den owner entered the room to see his wife and beloved concubine wrestling.
He quickly called for a doctor.
After examination, the doctor said the child was lost.
Enraged, he shouted,
"Someone! Tie this vile woman up and drown her! Drown her!"
He ordered Zhang Yane stuffed into a sack and thrown into the river.
"Was it Zhang Yane who killed it?" Ming Xi turned to ask Ling Cang.
Ling Cang kissed his cheek. "That wife was never pregnant."
Zhang Yane thought she was being clever but had walked right into a trap set by others.
She had no one to blame but herself.
In the mirror, several people stuffed Zhang Yane into a sack.
Ming Xi was watching intently when suddenly the image vanished.
The Qiankun Mirror turned ordinary, reflecting Ming Xi's delicate face.
He turned it over to examine it. "Is it broken?"
He turned to look at Ling Cang with questioning eyes.
Ling Cang tucked him into the quilt.
"Sleep. It's not good for your eyes to watch too much."
The scene was too bloody.
His Xi'er was still young and shouldn't see such filthy things.
From then on, the greedy and vicious woman Zhang Yane vanished from the world, leaving people only to discuss her misdeeds in leisure time, unanimously condemning her actions.
[Capital City]
Ming Li sent people to Song Mountain, as Ling Cang had said, to retrieve the greeting gift.
To his astonishment, the gift was a mountain of gold.
When the messenger hurried back to report, Ming Li was shocked, his face filled with disbelief.
He had thought Ling Cang's greeting gift was in the mountains and assumed it was something like medicinal herbs. He never expected it to be solid gold.
"Your Majesty, the heavens have blessed our Great Qing!"
an old minister kneeling beside him exclaimed.
Ming Li nodded.
Only now did he understand why his father had said Ling Cang was no ordinary person. He truly was a deity of Qing.
"Quickly, accompany me to Song Mountain!"
Ming Li hurriedly stood and set off with a group.
Along the way, he thought that if the greeting gift was real, then Mingqi's ambush must also be real. He needed to make arrangements early to ensure nothing happened to Mingqi.
Upon arriving at Song Mountain, they found a section of the collapsed mountainside glittering with golden light. The prime minister stepped forward, picked up a piece of rubble, and examined it carefully.
"Your Majesty, it's gold. It really is gold."
The old prime minister wept tears of excitement. In decades of service, this was the first time he had seen so much gold.
Ming Li took it and looked it over. Gazing at the glittering golden mountainside, his hands trembled slightly.
"Surround this area heavily! No one is allowed near!" he ordered loudly, his voice cracking with excitement.
"Yes."
The snow had not yet melted, making transportation difficult. But leaving it here made him uneasy. For a moment, Ming Li was at a loss.
How should he transport so much gold back? And where should it be used?
In a few moments, he thought of its use.
His father had once said that for the people to live well, roads must be built. At that time, due to limited national funds, it was impossible to cover all of Qing. But now, with this mountain of gold, he could realize all his plans.
This gold mountain was relatively close to the capital. He would first build a major road directly to the capital and slowly mine the gold later.
That night, Ming Li returned to the Cao residence and told his father and dad about the gold mountain and how he planned to use it.
Cao Jun nodded. "You're right. To prosper, build roads first."
He picked up a piece of braised pork for Shu ge'er.
"Eat more, Shu'er. You've felt thinner lately."
Shu ge'er pinched his leg.
Cao Jun grimaced in pain.
Ming Li shook his head.
Every time his father annoyed his dad, his dad would pinch him.
But after suffering, he would do it again next time without fail.
"Eventually, you'll need to find ways to expand trade. Too much gold isn't necessarily a good thing," Cao Jun said.
"At best, it leads to idle resources and waste. At worst, it causes currency value imbalance, soaring prices, rising living costs for the people, and turmoil in Qing."
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