NOVEL NEXT Chapter 65: Busy little bees
Rian relaxed the moment he entered Ren Xiyang’s quarters at the Rosewood Capital house.
It was evening, after dinner. He would have liked to have eaten dinner with Ren Xiyang, but Rian knew the boundaries that he could or couldn’t push when it came to his Imperial Parents. He compromised, having dinner at the Imperial Palace with tonight’s round of nobles, and went to the Rosewood house afterwards.
He came in time to see Ren Xiyang packing his suitcase, instead of waiting courteously for him.
Rian smiled wryly. “I’ve noticed that you’ve become less and less polite with me.”
Ren Xiyang glanced up. “You know the way from the front door to my rooms.” And then he continued packing.
Rian acknowledged, “I do.” He caught sight of the snacks on the coffee table and so he immediately headed over and took a seat on the sofa in front of the table. Yes, he had recently had dinner. But there was always space for the delicious things that Ren Xiyang made.
This time, there were baked parsnip ‘chips’ with sea salt, and long, very thin stick-like biscuits coated in chocolate on one end. There was hot ginger tea to accompany.
“Why, did you make these especially for me? Do you make such things for Lady Florence too?”
Ren Xiyang inwardly rolled his eyes. “Yes, they’re for you. No, I don’t make such things for Florence too.”
Rian felt a huge satisfaction. His eyes brightened as he bit into the crispy salted baked parsnips. This would be great to have alongside the sweet baked apple crisps.
“Many nobles stay in the Capital over the autumn-spring season,” Rian said. “And yet, you are leaving at the earliest possible time, depriving me of your cooking.”
Ren Xiyang snorted. “If it was the earliest possible time, then I would’ve left after meeting with Cordovans.”
Rian formed an ice ball and threw it over.
Ren Xiyang didn’t even blink as the ice ball vaporised mid-flight.
“Fast, we should duel again,” Rian said meaningfully.
“Too busy.” Ren Xiyang finished packing. He walked over and sat down.
“Then when will you be free?”
Ren Xiyang’s eyes lowered in thought. “Autumn is the harvest, census, and tax collection. Winter will be busy to ensure adequate food and housing for the Rosewood residents. Spring is the main planting season.” He looked up and smirked slightly. “I’ll be relatively free next summer.”
Rian: “…”
“I’m joking.”
Rian: “…Then could you sound as though you’re joking?”
Ren Xiyang raised his eyebrow. “You dare speak while reaching for something I made at the same time?”
Rian straightened imperiously, biting into the thin long chocolate-coated biscuit he had picked up. It was also delicious! “I forgive you,” he said magnanimously. “The Capital Investigators have shifted their priorities to other matters. The monitoring on you should decline. But I will uncover that anonymous letter writer.”
Ren Xiyang yawned. “You don’t need to. It’s a waste of your time.”
“But I care. This person has offended both of us.”
“Okay.”
Rian ignored Ren Xiyang’s lack-lustre response. “Now, I won’t leave until we get through my agenda for tonight…”
Ren Xiyang sipped his ginger tea and let the talkative prince talk. He even conscientiously refilled Rian’s tea cup a few times—talking was thirsty work.
The next day, Ren Xiyang left the Capital with Kel, Maria, and Master Otto Silvercharm.
The new tax collectors stayed at the Capital because they still needed to undergo the training given out by the Rosewood managers about taxation. The Rosewood managers and Solicitor Carmine would handle matters for the new legislation draft and the Cordovans’ compensation for the most part, unless Ren Xiyang needed to intervene.
In the week that Ren Xiyang had been away, the harvest had proceeded very well. While the farmers and temporary staff continued to harvest the remaining wheat, Ren Xiyang spent some time speeding up the drying process for the harvested wheat and organising the storage of all the food.
After the hard labour, he did not want food spoilage.
Wheat was best stored in an airtight, cool, dry, dark environment, and it lasted even longer if frozen.
Ren Xiyang had thought about freezing some of the wheat and vegetables—there was a cold storage room in the Rosewood summer manor by the kitchen, powered by some kind of magic spell.
But he didn’t have time to figure it out yet, and personally maintaining something like that was unsustainable. So instead, everything was stored or processed as usual, with the vegetables salted, pickled, or dried for preservation.
During this time, Ren Xiyang also received the water systems engineering team’s visit.
Since they had last met over a month ago, the engineering team were ready to continue discussions and complete an initial scoping of Redmond town.
The engineering team didn’t expect the detailed underground water-and-earth maps Earl Rosewood placed on the table in front of them at the very start of the meeting. Earl Rosewood noted potential locations for water treatment factories and re-iterated his pollution and worker-safety concerns.
It showed them just how serious Earl Rosewood was about it, which made them more serious in turn. If they worked with Earl Rosewood, this would become the biggest, most ambitious project they would have ever done.
Not long after Ren Xiyang left, Rian also set off on his own trip around the kingdom with a large group of Royal Guards.
As promised, Rian’s Imperial Father had provided him with extra Royal Guards—i.e., more people to watch him and report back to the king.
One tutor also came along to teach him for part of the trip, as ordered by Rian’s Imperial Mother. Count Aegean had firmly declined the invitation and was much less stressed staying in the Capital.
The first fief Rian visited was near the Azure fief. The resident nobles travelled from the Capital with him back to their fief so that they could host him. This allowed Rian to talk to the resident noble family in a more personal setting.
They weren’t part of his faction yet, but they seemed inclined to support him on at least some matters.
Rian also spoke to the servant farmers in their fields and to the commoner farmers outside their immediate estate. He visited their main town as part of the tour.
The second fief Rian visited followed the same format.
The third fief Rian visited followed the same format, with the addition of picking a family of commoners up.
It happened while he was on the tour of the third fief’s main town.
Given the year, and given what he knew of Callum Dinan’s history, he suspected that Callum would be found in a nearby market square.
It wasn’t hard to ask his host to show him around the different markets—Rian was building a reputation for interest in different foods, after all. They travelled through the town mostly by horseback, but at the markets, Rian dismounted and had a closer look at things, while his Royal Guards stressed about his safety.
As expected, Callum was wandering down the market street nearest to his home, carrying a writing box in clear distress. He went up to various market stall owners and into various shops.
“Please, are you looking to hire someone? I can write, I can add accounts. Or—or, I can carry goods, and talk to customers. Please, I need a job, my little sister is sick…”
“Sure, sure, my daughter is sick too, do me some charity or go away!”
“Make way for His Highness Prince Rian!” The Royal Guards habitually called out to alert the commoners.
Callum pressed himself up against the side of the street along with the other commoners. His eyes lowered as he thought about what he could do.
Footsteps drew near Callum, but he didn’t look up.
“Hey, you! Look up and greet your prince!” one of the Royal Guards said.
Callum’s head snapped up, and his heart jumped when he realised people were looking at him.
The person in front of him smiled, settling Callum’s nerves a little. “Don’t mind my guards. I saw your writing box, and I couldn’t help but overhear what you said…”
Callum’s nerves returned. ‘My guards’? His legs went weak and he fell to his knees, bringing his height below that of the young prince. “Your Highness!”
Rian gazed down at Callum. “I know some healing. But I don’t do charity.”
Callum hugged his writing box and quickly shook his head. “I wouldn’t dare impose, your Highness!”
“I could see to your sister,” Rian continued. “But you will need to pay it back, either by finding your own job or by working for me. I need an accountant and administrator for one of my projects.”
Callum’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Please hire me, your Highness! I’m the best at calculations! Please save my sister, Your Highness, please!”
Rian smiled reassuringly. Callum didn’t know it, but future-Callum had the potential to be very, very good with money. Rian glanced at his Royal Guards who were also in disbelief. “Let me test your knowledge first.”
Callum’s chest tightened with anxiety. “Yes, Your Highness.”
What happened next was a whirlwind for Callum.
Prince Rian whisked him to a high-class tea parlour and asked him multiple different calculation, accounting, and business-related questions, and requested a sample of his handwriting. Callum didn’t think he answered everything correctly, yet Prince Rian accepted Callum for the job.
Then, Prince Rian personally went to see Callum’s sister. Prince Rian did some initial healing and evaluated the seriousness of the disease. He then gave his word to send Callum’s sister to the Capital to see senior healers for her disease and directed some of his Royal Guards to escort Callum and his sister to the Capital immediately and deal with their debt collectors by the way.
Prince Rian also graciously allowed Callum’s mother and other siblings to move to the Capital too.
Yes, Callum would have to work for years and years to earn enough money to pay back Prince Rian. But he had also critically saved his sister. He hadn’t even realised just how dire his sister’s situation was (he suspected, but he was afraid to think it—).
Callum’s family had been a merchant family, and they had been relatively well off, allowing Callum to learn to read and calculate. But then his father was involved in some scheme that went bankrupt, leading to his father running away. Whether he was dead or alive, Callum didn’t know. All he knew was that he hated his father. Hated how debt collectors came to them, hated how his mother was forced to work from day to night, as a shop hand, as a maid. And then his little sister had gotten terribly sick and they didn’t even have enough money to find a village doctor, let alone a healer.
What Prince Rian did could not be repaid with just gold; Callum would forever be in gratitude to Prince Rian.
After Callum and his family were escorted back to the Capital, Rian continued on his trip around the kingdom.
Callum had been one of his most loyal servants in his first life. Now that Rian had saved his sister, he believed that Callum would be even more loyal to him in this life.
That was one person down. Many to go.
As the days grew cooler and as more of the staple crops were harvested, many of the farmers started to focused on post-processing, such as sorting the wheat from the chaff and taking the wheat to the mill to be turned into flour.
Ren Xiyang also received a shipment from Florence Sage: rice, soybeans, and a few (live) ducks. Grateful for all the rice, Ren Xiyang organised a return shipment of some chilli oil, soy-based products, and autumn-spices-scented soap.
Among the busyness of the autumn and the preparation for the approaching winter, Master Otto Silvercharm came to Ren Xiyang with a complex expression. Kel was also with Ren Xiyang in the main study room—she was going over some papers herself (that she could now read!).
“My Lord, we have a problem. Baron Carmine has cancelled all of our trade agreements…”
Ren Xiyang blinked. “We traded with him?”
Otto gave a weak smile. “Yes. The Rosewood family sells cut and live flowers, some patterned cloth, and some food to the Carmine family. And we buy wool and some livestock from the Carmine family. Perhaps you could speak with Baron Carmine, my Lord?”
Given that Ren Xiyang didn’t intend to let Baron Carmine win a second duel, he didn’t see how this could be resolved until Baron Carmine got over himself for losing.
“Don’t worry about it. We just won’t trade with him then.”
Kel, who was listening in, suddenly realised. “My Lord, I think the distribution team has been preparing the goods that the estate usually sells to various other noble families.”
“The problem is the cut flowers, I assume.”
Kel and Otto both nodded.
“The cloth can be kept for use in the fief, and the food is for us to eat…” Ren Xiyang thought for a moment and came to a decision. “Kel, send some of the cut flowers to Lady Florence Sage, Lady Adrienne Obsidian, Prince Alexius, and Prince Rian. I’ll determine Prince Rian’s schedule and where we need to send his share. Put the rest of the unsold cut flowers into cold storage. As for wool and livestock…if needed, those can be sourced elsewhere as part of the winter preparedness.”
Kel stood up. “I’ll do so immediately, my Lord!”
Otto frowned though. “But, my Lord, this broken trade agreement means a loss of income to the estate…” He stopped when the earl raised an eyebrow. Right. Otto had forgotten. The estate now had multiple new sources of income…but it also had multiple new sources of expenses. Otto had complex feelings in his heart, not knowing whether he should be relieved or anxious.
“The last report you gave me looked fine,” Ren Xiyang said.
“It is fine now…”
“In that case, you can update the projections for the estate’s expenses and income, excluding these nullified trades.”
Otto was partially mollified. “Yes, my Lord.”
Kel smiled kindly at Otto. “Don’t worry, Otto. Come on, let’s go.” Kel didn’t look particularly worried, but it wasn’t her job to oversee the accounts, it was him!
After Otto Silvercharm and Kel left, Ren Xiyang was left wondering why Otto had been so worried. The trading income earned from Baron Carmine must have been minor for Ren Xiyang to forget about it. And the amount Ren Xiyang earned from Baron Carmine from that duel must have been at least ten times as much.
The two poor men:
Count Aegean: Prince Rian is being a menace again! He’s making me age prematurely!
Master Otto Silvercharm: Earl Rosewood wants to do what?! Ah, what is up? What is down? What is the meaning of life?? (?_?)
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