Chapter 578: Worry
Qi Shaotai was furious. “Even if they’re in a high position now, they can’t disrespect their mother. Aren’t they afraid that others will criticize them for being unfilial?”
Qi Shaosheng couldn’t help but clench his fists. He looked at his mother in confusion and asked with difficulty, “Mother, do you think he won’t acknowledge our status as legitimate sons?”
“Why?” Qi Shaotai jumped up. “Mother is Father’s step-wife. What right has he to not acknowledge our status as legitimate sons?”
“Shut up.” Madam Wu stopped Qi Shaotai in embarrassment and berated in a low voice, “Are you afraid that others don’t know? Their identities are different from before. If he simply refuses to admit it, what can we do?”
At this point, Madam Wu couldn’t help but feel resentful. It was said that a woman would rely on her sons after her husband passed. Her two sons were clearly older than Qi Haoran, but they had achieved nothing up till now. Qi Shaosheng was just a xiucai, and Qi Shaotai didn’t even qualify to be a tongsheng.
She had thought that she could use Qi Xiuyuan as an excuse to establish a force in the capital while they were fighting in a war outside. She would then be able to negotiate terms with Qi Xiuyuan when it came time to give out rewards based on merits.
Alas, as soon as Qi Xiuyuan left, he had his men surround the Qi Residence. Not only could the woman not leave, but even her two sons could not step out of the residence. Even though he claimed to do this to protect them, everyone knew that he was just wary of them.
When Qi Xiuyuan went out to fight for a year, they were locked up for a year. Even when Li Jinghua and the others came back later, they still couldn’t go out.
Her two sons were still dreaming of being conferred Princes when Qi Xiuyuan became the Emperor, but she knew that it was just wishful thinking on their part.
However, she still had a glimmer of hope in her heart. She felt that Qi Xiuyuan and Qi Haoran cared about their reputation and would give her the proper respect of a mother. At that time, even if her two sons could not be conferred the title of a Prince, they would at least be ensured the title of a Duke. Then with her, the Empress Dowager, taking care of them, they should be able to live pretty well.
But logically speaking, having returned victorious today, Qi Haoran should have come to greet her before returning to his residence. If he did not come in the afternoon, he should at least show up for the reunion dinner at her invitation. However, Nanny Wu was sent away before she could even catch a glimpse of Qi Haoran. It could be seen that Qi Xiuyuan and Qi Haoran did not even intend to acknowledge her as their legitimate mother.
For a stepson to not acknowledge his stepmother, even if Qi Xiuyuan was the Emperor, he was still breaching the rules of etiquette. However, she did not dare to retort loudly because she knew that her stepmother status didn’t come via proper means.
Her name was only registered in the genealogical records and according to the government office records, she was still a concubine. Moreover, many people knew this secret. If Qi Xiuyuan refused to acknowledge her as his stepmother, there was nothing they could do about it.
If she lost even this identity that could restrain Qi Xiuyuan and Qi Haoran, Qi Xiuyuan wouldn’t have any qualms about dealing with them.
No one knew how much Qi Xiuyuan abhorred her. Looking at her two fuming sons, Madam Wu did not say how afraid she was of Qi Xiuyuan.
She only hoped that Qi Xiuyuan would be mindful of the opinions outside and not make things too ugly.
Qi Haoran still did not visit Madam Wu the next day. After breakfast, he went to the palace with Qi Xiuyuan.
Seeing that his expression was normal, Qi Xiuyuan was relieved and did not take the initiative to mention this matter. Little did he know that Qi Haoran had long forgotten about Madam Wu. Now that the East and West Manors were living separately and she did not appear in front of him, why would she come to mind?
“Zijin is currently in charge of all the rations and military equipment of the Qi Family Army. He’s having a hard time. You can choose whether to follow me or follow him now that you’re back.”
Qi Haoran hesitated for a moment before asking, “Big Brother, are you short of manpower?”
Qi Xiuyuan could tell what he was thinking from his expression. He said, “I know you’re impatient to deal with the officials in the Imperial Court, but you still have to do what you have to do. It’s fine if you want to follow Zijin. But in the future, you’ll still have to lead the army outside. Though it’s good for you to learn how to manage the rear from Zijin, you’ll have to come when I call for you.”
Qi Haoran heaved a sigh of relief and nodded hurriedly.
How can it be so easy to build a new dynasty?
Taxes, laws, and even etiquette had to be changed. Although these could be postponed for two to three years, discussions had to begin right now.
Most importantly, they had to help the refugees settle down first. Since the refugees had no fields or grains, they had to give them fields and distribute food relief.
Some places had a lot of people but little land, while in other places the opposite was true. Thus, they had to allocate freehold fields differently depending on the place. In addition, they had to think of ways to move people who were willing to migrate to less densely-populated areas.
Considering the grains and silver in the national treasury were limited, doing this would deplete all the resources in the entire country. What would then happen next year and the year after?
Therefore, he could only slightly stagger the tax-exempt years. He still had to think of a way to generate income. In short, there were a lot of miscellaneous matters. Just as he settled one issue, another official brought up another issue with a memorial.
Although everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, there were so many miscellaneous things that even a good-tempered and steady person like Qi Xiuyuan was a little irritated, let alone Qi Haoran, who typically couldn’t sit still for even an hour.
After dazedly listening for the entire morning, he used the excuse of inspecting the troops to run out to look for Fan Zijin.
Qi Xiuyuan sighed, feeling that there were too few people he could use. Haoran was not good at this, so he could not force him to help.
On Fan Zijin’s side, things were much easier since the most difficult period had passed.
When the war was in full swing, there were records of Fan Zijin not sleeping for three days and three nights. Therefore, now that the war was over, he leaned back in his chair with a pot of tea and looked at the account book in satisfaction.
The scale of the Qi Family’s army was not small and the national treasury could not fork out a single tael of silver to the army, so it was all up to him to support it. He had to be very careful with the dispatch. However, because he had previously come up with a plan that had become the norm, he only had to hand it over to the officials of the military under him. He was now only responsible for supervising and inspecting.
Those who came to Fan Zijin’s place were all from the military. When they saw Qi Haoran, they greeted him respectfully and went about their business.
Qi Haoran was very envious when he saw that Fan Zijin was so free here. “Big Brother asked me to learn how to manage the rear in case it comes up useful during a war.”
Fan Zijin threw him a booklet and said, “Learn to read the account book first.”
After flipping through it, Qi Haoran threw it aside in frustration. He muttered, “I hate reading these things the most. I can’t even learn them on the spot.”
Fan Zijin glanced at him. Looking up, Qi Haoran saw that he was lazily nestled in the chair. It was already early summer, but there was still a blanket under him. He looked at the jacket on him and reached out to pinch his hand. With a frown, he said, “Why are you so thin? Don’t tell me you’ve damaged your health.”
“I was lucky and didn’t damage my health. I’m just a little afraid of the cold.” Fan Zijin said nonchalantly, “Don’t you and Eldest Cousin have internal injuries too? I was just so busy that I went out of shape a while ago. I’ll be fine after recuperating for some time.”
Qi Haoran rolled up the ledger on the table and said, “I’ll take it home to take a look. Since there are already old records to follow, you don’t have to sit here anymore. Leave it to the subordinates. Go back and rest.”
Fan Zijin shook his head. “I might as well stay here since it vexes me to see them at home. You should go back and spend more time with Little Bear. Tell him that I’ll visit him tonight.”
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