Black Belly Wife

Somehow Nie Qing was able to convinced the emperor to agree to building the bank warehouse in Shang Yang, and the printing process had also commenced. As soon as the warehouse was done, the reform could be pushed out.

Once the negotiation was done, Murong Yun Shu immediately began her return trip to Jinling. Nie Qing was now her right hand man, so he was travelling with her. Feng Ling volunteered to be the second Lu'er, joining the party and helping out with errands and serving the others. Naturally, everybody knew what her real intention was. Chef Gao went to Sholin Temple, bringing with him Murong Yun Shu's "thank you note" to Chu Changge.

Sitting inside the spacious horse-drawn carriage, Murong Yun Shu fished out the hair clasp she bought the day she arrived at the capital for Chu Changge. She stared at it for a long time with an intricate look. Finally, she lifted the curtains and tossed it out. When she found out all the extreme behaviors he had in the past for a woman, she realized they were not meant to be. Their relationship would never go beyond friendship.

Luckily, so far she had only viewed Chu Changge as someone who's nice to have around to chitchat with when she's board. She couldn't care less whether he was with her or not.

The carriage was spacious, large enough for a tall person to lie down. And for someone who's of average height like Murong Yun Shu, she could totally lie down as though she was in her own bed and move around however she wanted. So she laid down and closed her eyes. She figured they'd arrive at Jinling when she woke up.

Nonetheless, some people were never meant to have a smooth sailing life and Murong Yun Shu certainly was one of them.

Murong Yun Shu was woken up by the abrupt stop of the carriage, her body flew forward, almost tossing her off. Luckily she had quick reflexed and was about to reached out to steady herself between the interior walls of the carriage. 

"What happened?" She lifted and curtain and looked outside. There she saw about seven or eight roughnecks blocking the path of the carriage. They were all dressed in grayish hemp garments with their hairs sloppily tied up with hemp strings, making them look awfully like bandits. However, what made them appeared to be even more like bandits were their cliche saying:

"We planted the trees, we paved the road; you want to pass, you must pay us!"

Murong Yun Shu simply pretended that she didn't hear them. She did not appear to be frightened at all. She exited the carriage in a leisurely manner, scrutinizing the bandits with her gaze, "How much do you want? I don't have too much on me today. If I don't have enough, just put it on my tab."

The bandits were caught off guard that not only was she not frightened, angered, or worried, but rather open to negotiation. They didn't know how to respond.

Nie Qing snickered. Nobody knew whether that was directed toward Murong Yun Shu or the bandits. Murong Yun Shu watched on as Nie Qing wanted to the "front line". She figured he had some plans up his sleeves, instead he let out a very grandeur bureaucratic jargon of "Robbing under the broad daylight? Do you know there are laws in our country?"

Murong Yun Shu busted out laughing, that was very pedantic of a top scorer in the imperial examination. If bandits would observe the law, they wouldn't become bandits in the first place.