The Overachieving Little Husband of the Top Scholar’s Household - Chapter 75: The County Lord

When Qiu Huanian arrived at Qingfeng Academy, it was close to dusk. The teachers had already finished their lectures, leaving the students to study on their own.

Qiu Huanian explained his purpose to the gatekeeper at the mountain gate, and very soon, Du Yunse came out.

Du Yunse was dressed in a white upper garment with a blue-green collar, dark lower garments, his waist cinched tight, and over it he wore Qingfeng Academy’s lake-green outer robe. He approached with measured steps in the setting sun—like a gentleman, refined as jade.

“Hua ge’er, what brings you here? Has something happened at home?”

Qiu Huanian shook his head and tugged at Du Yunse’s sleeve. “Let Old Zhou watch the carriage. Come take a walk with me.”

The mountain was full of blooming flowers and plants, a stream murmured nearby, and birds whose names were unknown chirped in the shade of trees.

Qiu Huanian recounted what had happened during the day. Du Yunse’s grip on his hand tightened slightly.

“Are you involved in something you haven’t told me about?”

“If it’s inconvenient, you don’t have to tell me yet.” Qiu Huanian gently covered Du Yunse’s lips.

“Today, I just wanted to see you.”

Qiu Huanian smiled radiantly amid the mountains and waters.

Du Yunse’s deep eyes gazed fixedly at him.

“Three days from now.”

“What?”

“Three days from now is the next day of rest. I’ll go with you to visit Elder Gu to get a new prescription, and then I’ll accompany you for a proper outing.”

Qiu Huanian blinked.

Did this mean that everything would be settled within three days?

With the setting sun behind him, Du Yunse’s handsome and noble face was buried in shadow—ambiguous and unreadable—yet his profile, touched by light, was sharp as a sword.

But in those eyes that looked at Qiu Huanian, there was still the most familiar tenderness and affection.

“If you could only tell me one thing, what would it be?”

Du Yunse spoke in a low voice. “Not long after arriving in the provincial capital, I received an imperial edict.”

Qiu Huanian’s heart skipped a beat. Although he had considered the possibility before, he still felt nervous.

Du Yunse raised his hand and gently kissed Qiu Huanian’s hand with reverence.

“Hua ge’er, grow your cotton well, write your books, and fulfill your ambition to serve the common people. I will definitely protect you.”

It wasn’t the first time Du Yunse had said he would protect Qiu Huanian, but this time, Qiu Huanian felt it more deeply.

Du Yunse had already done so much behind the scenes, beyond Qiu Huanian’s sight.

Qiu Huanian realized that since the sudden upheaval in the capital and their return home, after a year of keeping a low profile and honing himself, Du Yunse’s character and strategy had both reached a new level.

Yet Qiu Huanian, who had lived a slow and quiet life by his side, hadn’t realized it immediately.

What kind of person was Du Yunse now, when he was out of Qiu Huanian’s sight, having shed his gentle facade?

The thought brought Qiu Huanian a subtle sense of excitement.

Du Yunse, who spoke of imperial envoys and edicts without batting an eye, and who calmly mentioned a three-day deadline—this was a completely different person from before, and it was irresistibly captivating.

With anticipation in his heart, Qiu Huanian returned home feeling reassured.

On the first day, someone from the manor reported that the steward of the imperial envoy’s residence had come to fetch Wei Li. Qiu Huanian didn’t tell the dazed and absent-minded Wei Li about it and found an excuse to delay a few days.

Su Xinbai informed Qiu Huanian that Zhao Tianyu had uncovered a few more merchants in Liaozhou involved in smuggling across the border. All of them had their homes searched and were thrown into prison, causing widespread fear among the business community.

On the second day, Zhao Tianyu paid a visit to Su Yi, the Left Administration Commissioner of Liaozhou. He left looking quite pleased. Not long after, Su Yi claimed to be ill and took a leave of absence from his duties.

At the same time, rumors spread among the people of Xiangping Prefecture that the imperial envoy planned to divert the grain from the official granaries to the border. The losses from the granaries would be covered by increased taxes on the people of Liaozhou. Qiu Huanian heard this from Granny Qiao when she returned from buying groceries and frowned.

On the third day, Qiu Huanian didn’t let Jiujiu and Chunsheng go to school and sent Old Zhou to both academies to ask for leave.

He was somewhat uneasy, and the rest of the household, unaware of the reason, obediently stayed inside, waiting.

After lunch, a shocking piece of news finally reached the ears of the entire family.

Out on the streets, the rumors were already flying.

“Our imperial envoy in Xiangping Prefecture has been stripped of everything!”

“How can that be? Don’t they always say in the plays that an imperial envoy carries a Sword of Imperial Authority? Who would dare go after him?”

“It happened in broad daylight! Everyone saw it with their own eyes. The Commandery’s Office even dispatched troops. I heard the one leading them was a very young scholar!”

“Could it be another imperial envoy?”

“Who knows? They say the reason for the raid is corruption and abuse of power. He embezzled so much money and still wanted to use the people’s grain to fill the granaries. Serves him right!”

“I heard that many big merchants in Liaozhou, trying to protect themselves, sent him all sorts of treasures and antiques. All of that has been confiscated—imagine the spectacle!”

…

In the center of Xiangping Prefecture, the imperial envoy’s residence, nestled in the bustling city, was completely surrounded by soldiers.

The soldiers in charge of the raid had confined the envoy’s family to one area. Several beautiful concubines trembled with tear-streaked faces.

Zhao Tianyu sat alone in the main hall, a half-drunk cup of tea by his side. Without the arrival of the imperial edict, no one dared to touch him.

From the smooth stone path in the courtyard came the sound of steady, unhurried footsteps.

Zhao Tianyu looked up. The sunlight outside the house was piercingly bright. He blinked a few times and saw the face of the person approaching.

“…Du Yunse. So you really are one of the Crown Prince’s men. The Emperor truly still harbors feelings for the Crown Prince,” Zhao Tianyu said hoarsely and darkly.

Du Yunse, wearing Qingfeng Academy’s lake-green outer robe, looked just like a scholar out for a casual stroll.

He lowered his eyes to look at Zhao Tianyu from the doorway, his gaze filled with pity, as if he were looking at a ridiculous, failed performer. That pity deeply stung Zhao Tianyu.

“Victory belongs to the king, defeat to the enemy. No need for words. Just read the decree.”

Du Yunse raised his hand to signal the soldiers behind him to wait.

“Does Lord Zhao believe his downfall today is merely due to political faction struggles?”

“What else could it be?” Zhao Tianyu said angrily. “I have served the court with the utmost loyalty. Had I not overlooked your interference and been caught in your scheme, how could I have ended up like this?”

“Utmost loyalty,” Du Yunse slowly repeated the phrase.

“Extorting merchants under the name of the imperial envoy, imprisoning and raiding those without connections or bribes regardless of right or wrong—is this what you call loyalty?”

Zhao Tianyu sneered. “And what of it? I acted under imperial orders to suppress the Liaozhou merchants. This was within my official duties! Merchants are nothing but lowly commoners. For every one caught, there’s another to replace them. As long as I do my job and suppress smuggling at the border, such trivial matters are irrelevant.”

“Then what about repeatedly profiting at the people’s expense, and scheming to take grain from the granary for personal gain—how do you explain that?”

Zhao Tianyu asserted, “Most of the grain from the official granary is sent to the borders. I merely took a few percent—insignificant in the grand scheme. As for taking from the people, that’s nonsense. Without us court officials guiding them with the words of sages, how could ignorant commoners ever prosper? It’s only right that they pay more for what they’ve benefited from.”

“Since coming to Liaozhou, I’ve cut off the smuggling routes, replenished supplies at the border, and carried out my duties diligently. I’ve made no mistakes.”

“Du Yunse, stop putting on this hypocritical display of righteous talk and distorted facts!”

Du Yunse slowly nodded, a faint smile curling on his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Lord Zhao, you truly are beyond saving.”

“You—”

“In your eyes, merchants are lowly, farmers are ignorant, and only scholars are noble.”

“But it is precisely those ‘ignorant commoners’ and ‘lowly merchants’ you speak of who feed parasites like you—who do not farm nor weave, yet live above all others. Lord Zhao, you likely can’t even tell one grain crop from another in the fields, yet you dare claim you guide the farmers?”

“…Twisting words and making baseless claims!”

Du Yunse shook his head and drew out the bright yellow imperial edict from his sleeve.

“I have no need to argue with you.”

“The Imperial Commissioner is ordered to investigate the merchants; I am likewise ordered to investigate the Imperial Commissioner.”

“Let Lord Zhao know this well—in my eyes, every single commoner is no small matter.”

He unfurled the edict and added one last remark.

“This decree was in my hands a month ago. The performance you put on over the past month, my lord, was truly spectacular.”

“You—”

“Don’t count on Left Censor-in-Chief Su to save you. The handle you thought you held over him was a lie. The flaw in the Zhu family was deliberately leaked to you by Zhu Jingcheng.”

His words were light and airy, yet pierced to the heart like a blade—the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

Zhao Tianyu’s mind thundered, and as he stared at Du Yunse’s moving lips, his ears could no longer register any sound.

Dismissal from office, confiscation of property, facial branding, exile—it was all settled.

Along with this, the arrangements made by Zhao Tianyu’s backers at the border were uprooted in one fell swoop.

Those tasked with the confiscation worked through the night. More than ten carts of gold, silver, and treasures were sealed and transported out of the residence. That such wealth had been amassed in just half a year left everyone stunned.

Du Yunse returned home under the cover of night and saw the light still burning in the main room. He quickly stepped inside.

“I thought you wouldn’t make it back today.”

“I knew you were waiting. How could I not come home?”

“Is everything finished?”

“It’s come to a pause.” Du Yunse pulled Qiu Huanian to sit down with him, but didn’t quite know where to begin.

Qiu Huanian gave a soft yawn. “If it’s hard to say, then leave it for tomorrow. You must’ve been busy for many days.”

“Alright, I’ll go boil water for you.”

Qiu Huanian chuckled. “People are all saying how amazing this mysterious young Imperial Commissioner is. Who would imagine that when he comes home, he still boils water himself? If anyone knew, they’d drop their jaws.”

“What’s wrong with boiling water for one’s own husband?”

Du Yunse returned carrying the hot water, loosened Qiu Huanian’s cloud-like long hair, and half-embraced him as he helped brush it.

After a tense day, Qiu Huanian relaxed into his arms, comfortably leaning and rubbing against him with drowsy eyes.

Du Yunse could only hold him tighter to keep him from sliding down.

“Is there more to come after this?”

“Of course. I’ll continue with my studies and aim for the imperial examination.”

Qiu Huanian pouted. “You haven’t even been officially appointed yet, and already you’re working for the court without pay. Such a loss.”

Du Yunse was amused by his words, his deep, pleasant laugh making the candle flame flicker.

“Who said I’m not getting paid?” Du Yunse copied Qiu Huanian’s choice of words.

Qiu Huanian’s eyes lit up at once, fully alert. “There’s a reward? Silver or gold?”

Du Yunse flicked his nose. “Little money-grubber.”

“I have to provide for a whole household. How could I not care about money?” Qiu Huanian replied, justifying himself.

Du Yunse’s eyes were full of tenderness. “Not silver or gold, but I requested an imperial decree on your behalf. It’ll make supporting the family easier for you.”

“What?”

“I memorialized the matter of the cotton and requested His Majesty to confer upon you the title of ‘Xiangjun’—Village Lord. Once the agricultural treatise is officially presented, there’ll be even greater honors to come.”

Qiu Huanian knew that in the Yu Dynasty, titles for women and ge’er were divided into four ranks:

They were Princess, Commandery Lady, County Lady, and Village Lord (Xiangjun).

The daughters of the Emperor were titled Princess, the daughters of Princes were Commandery Ladies, legitimate daughters of Dukes and Marquises were County Ladies, and their illegitimate daughters were Village Lords.

Apart from this, women and ge’er who made great contributions to the court could also be granted the titles of Village Lord or County Lady. Anything higher was reserved strictly for imperial kin.

To Qiu Huanian, this title of Village Lord wasn’t just about receiving a monthly stipend. More importantly, it would allow him to do many things that were previously beyond his reach.