Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
I really couldn’t tell that you were such a person, Master Yuanjing!
When Liu She tracked down Master Yuanjing’s accommodations, he also learned that he had taken his students to Ji Shan Hot Spring and it would be a couple of days before they came back. Liu She wasn’t impressed by failing to see Master Yuanjing. Does that mean that I have to wait for several days for him to come back?
Liu She was in an infinite depression.
Why? He couldn’t really take his baby girl to the hot spring in order to apprentice Master Yuanjing, right?
Even though the hot spring had separate pools for males and females, they were not in the same place.
That was not the only reason. The ethos in the recent years was inclined to be conservative. Women’s social status was decreasing rapidly. The discrimination towards women from the outside world, in a way, restricted their freedom. It also explained why, on such a freezing day, there were barely any women in the hot spring––most were men.
If there happened to be some women in the pool, most of them were from noble families and they had an entourage along with them in case there were any incidents.
It would be some kind of a joke if Liu She took his baby girl to a hot spring designated for men just to look for Master Yuanjing.
He was left with only one choice if they didn’t pay a visit to the hot spring they were at presently: They would have to be patient and wait for them to leave the hot spring after they had enough fun.
If Master Yuanjing is a true legend like everyone said, why didn’t he oversee my coming for him? Why did he have to decide to go to some stupid hot spring at this time? That is real irritating. Liu She swore at Master Yuanjing in his mind for a bit, but he had to come up with a solution after all the moaning and whining.
Before he came up with an idea, Feng Ren sent him an invitation to have some relaxing days in Ji Shan Hot Spring with him. He even had a perfect reason for it.
“The evaluation is at the door and all the young elites will be gathering in Shangjing. There will be all sorts of verse clubs and gatherings being held one after another. You have been sinking in your work all the time and you deserve some personal time. Ji Shan is one of the hot spots for people to have gatherings and we might as well release some of the stress from work during our stay here.”
He had said the purpose was to release stress; however, another purpose of the trip was an incognito inspection that would help them learn about the young elites in Dongqing Dynasty.
Liu She compressed his lips and didn’t say a word. He wondered how the Head of the Secretariat had so much time.
Judging from Feng Reng’s words about the Ji Shan Hot Spring, he was apparently one of their loyal customers. It sounded like he went to have a hot spring bath every other day.
Looking at himself, Liu She was only the County Chief of Hu County. He had never ceased working for a second over the last few years. He worked days and nights without having a holiday at all in a year.
He got paid as a County Chief, but the quantity of work matched that of an emperor.
Feng Ren was standing at a high rank as the Head of the Secretariat, but he seemed to not be so occupied.
After some struggling, Liu She was still going to ask his daughter her thoughts on the matter. She could make the choice if she wanted to go immediately or wait for a couple of days.
But without a doubt, Jiang Pengji’s answer was a definite yes. “Why not?” Jiang Pengji asked Liu She instead.
Liu She moved his lips but he didn’t know what to respond.
Right, why not? But my girl, you are a girl! Liu She was shocked and he started to realize that his baby girl had a different ideology than him.
As the result of distinctive geographical reasons, there were multiple hot springs in the northern part of Dongqing––especially in Ji Shan Area, which was in Shangjing territory.
The royal family built the Hot Spring Temporary Palace in Ji Shan in the previous dynasty and the next several emperors kept expanding the palace.
The emperors highly praised hot springs. According to some official history records, hot springs had miraculous functions like increasing life expectancy, prolonging life, and curing any diseases which was why the majority of citizens gave it a respectful name like “Spring of the gods.” People followed the example of their superiors, and having a hot spring bath became an activity for the average people.
No one could resist falling in love with the hot spring, no matter if he was an aristocrat or a citizen. After the fall weather hit, it would be extremely hard to pull them out of the hot spring.
The world fell apart after the destruction of the Xia Dynasty. Dongqing founded the country and established the capital in Shangyang County, which was nowadays called Shangjin.
Ji Shan had the advantage of the amount of hot springs, which happened to be near Shangjing. It was normally a two to four hour trip by wagon, which was rather convenient.
The Dongqing royal family took advantage of the Xia Dynasty. They took over the temporary palace from the Xia Dynasty and did some renovations to make it their new palace.
The former three emperors in Dongqing Dynasty were incompetent at their work and their life’s purpose was to seek the most possible pleasure. Therefore, they spared extra time and attention to the hot spring palace, which brought them joy. They had four tours to the palace in a year and their stay would be at least a month each time for the emperors. Each time was a big consumption of money and a burden to the citizens.
Ji Shan’s layout of strata in the land decided that there were sufficient hot spring spots. The largest one belonged to the royal family, which was where the Hot Spring Palace was located. The rest of the spots were taken by the gentry clans and some wealthy businessmen. They built different sized hotels with hot springs and the guests they served were relatively different.
The ones with money and power took the quality service, and the average citizens could still afford to experience the hot spring in a lower quality hot spring. Therefore, every freezing season of the year, there was a booming business in every hot spring hotel.
Ji Shan Hot Spring was no longer a place for having a hot spring bath. After many years of development, it had been altered to be a place of interest centered around the hot spring. There was not only hot springs, but also a bar, tea house, food court, and vendors that sold all kinds of exquisite products. Besides all of that, it was a main place for young people to host gatherings and verse clubs. It was not rare to see some whore houses around for people to seek out some pleasure.
It was a sleepless town.
The Fengs’ wagon came from the foot of a mountain to the mountainside and it stopped in front of an extravagant house.
They got off the wagon and noticed that there were well-decorated wagons parked around them, and most of the wagons had clan insignias on them.
“If it wasn’t you leading me, I would have almost believed that we were at some noble family’s place. There is no way for me to tell it is simply a hot spring hotel.”
The gentry clans who built the hot spring hotels were not out for the purpose of making profit. They simply built a place for their leisure and provided a place for their own people.
The hot spring hotel in front of Liu She was many times bigger and more gorgeous than his own house.
Luxurious! He couldn’t think of another word to describe it.
“This one is under Prince Changshou. Rumor has it that he built this place with the design blueprint of his own place. Every evaluation month it will be open free to the young elites, and that is why it is the spot that most of the verse clubs and gatherings are held. It is fun to have a large group of people. I just want to show you and have some fun nights, as well.”
Liu She was speechless and Jiang Pengji burst into laughter standing behind him.
She couldn’t imagine that Feng Jin, who had an old head on young shoulders, would have such a funny father.
Feng Ren made himself clear: He took them there just because of the luxury and delicacy of the hot spring hotel. What was more important was that it was free.
“Prince Changchou…” Liu She frowned. “He doesn’t even bother to hide his ambition… considering he is winning talented people to his side by any means.”
Liu She put all his effort into managing Hu County all these years and he was negligent in regard to the different parties of the politics.
He had learned from Gu Min that Prince Changshou was one of the contestants for the regime. But unfortunately, Gu Min was never good at commenting on history. What she remembered was that Prince Changshou was off the game very soon and he was nothing but a susceptible, terrified sucker. The only well-known advisor who worked for him was Qiguan Rang. The information she shared with him was biased and, subconsciously, he had the same thought that the Prince Changshou was just a piece of crap who didn’t have spine or any capability. But now it seemed that at least he had ambition.
Feng Ren coughed to bring Liu She back and said to him in a low voice, “Let’s get in first and talk about it.”
They planned to take advantage of someone, but they were being ungrateful towards him. They were not going to talk about him until they could take some actual benefit from him.
They could criticize him as much as they want, but after they had the hot spring bath.
Liu She didn’t know how he should respond to him.
I really couldn’t tell that you were this type of person, Feng Ren!
