Chapter 47: Begin Planning
Translator: DavidT Editor: celllll
Ling Tian jumped in exultation, Mister Qin actually agreed so readily. In that case, both matters should not be a problem if he left them to Mister Qin. This was because Ling Tian had neglected a point: Mister Qin’s students were far and plenty, not just for an ordinary noble house; even for the current Imperial Court, many of them were actually under Mister Qin’s tutelage! So long as Mister Qin was willing to open his mouth, this sort of matter like Ling Tian’s was not worth a fart to him!
Ling Tian smiled, "Since that’s the case, I can put myself at ease. Tomorrow I shall get some banknotes from grandma and pass them to Mister Qin for you to use as you see fit. Hmm, I estimate 5 million taels should do the job."
"Five million?!" Mister Qin staggered, nearly slipping and falling! Even if one wanted to buy a large residence, one would not need so much! Five million taels, this was enough to build a palace!
"Mm." Ling Tian nodded his head, smiling at Mister Qin as he continued, "Mister, regarding the military workshop left to me by the Xiao family, I will only need a few of the experienced smithers. If I were to take them all, the Xiao family would not be able to bear it, while I would have reservations even in using them."
Mister Qin sucked in a breath of cold air, "In that case, I need to find two thousand people to replace those inside at least?"
Ling Tian grinned, "Mister does not need to panic for as long as the laborers have strength, that would be good. Two thousand people will not be difficult to find; the majority of the silver would be spent on the residence. The residence must firstly be big, as big as possible. Secondly, it has to be deserted, best outside the city where it will not attract anyone’s attention. Thirdly, the location must be good, being able to account for an all-round defense. Yep, just these three. After you have found one that fits, no matter what the residence is, I will still give it a total facelift. And the silver will be mostly used for the facelift!"
Mister Qin let out a breath in relief, "So that’s the case." However, he furrowed his brows soon after, saying, "For those requirements that you have stated before, this old man does have a place which will fit in all three criteria."
"Oh?" Ling Tian’s interest was piqued and he hurriedly asked, "Where is it?"
Mister Qin replied, "It’s at a forested riverside, south of the city, below Mount Victory. It is the Liang dynasty’s King Fu's Courtyard. The position is strategic, with mountains on a side and a river on the other, making it hard to attack but easy to defend. It is just that this is built by the Liang dynasty emperor for his royal brother. However, before it had finished building, the Liang dynasty was annihilated by our army and thus, people started to claim that it was an ominous land. Although the location is good, the place has literally turned into ruins, with nobody showing interest. The foundations are still intact, with a bit of renovations and building, it would be considered to be barely fit for use. As long as young noble wills it, we do not even need the silver to buy it. We only need to send people to fix it and there would be no one poking their noses in."
Ling Tian rested his chin on one hand and thought for a while, before saying, "If that is so, Mister, how about I follow you out of the city to visit your friends tomorrow?"
Mister Qin blanked out for a while before coming to an understanding. Ling Tian wanted to make use of this time to check if the King Fu's courtyard was up to his expectations or not. And to use the excuse of visiting friends would be the perfect cover! Who said that a student could not accompany his teacher to visit his friends? Thus, Ling Tian planned to go there in an upright and righteous fashion, and he could even avoid scrutiny and undue concern. A flawless plan!
This was even more true now that Ling Tian had just flipped the entire residence upside down, and thus he had to lie low a while, else he would be stuck at Ling Zhan and Ling Xiao’s side listening to them nag, or even worse, getting beaten up. In addition, given that Xiao FengHan was still staying inside the Ling residence, Ling Tian did not want to see that shrewd old thing come out with stunts to wreck his plans.
After realizing this point, Mister Qin gave a bright smile, looking at Ling Tian with an undisguised mischief in his eyes.
Now that matters were settled, Mister Qin had no reason to stay, and after a few teasing words, he bade farewell and left for his own room. On the other side, Ling Jian who had been training non-stop while the other two were discussing, had almost reached his bodily limits, looking entirely as though he had been pulled out from the water. Every strand of his hair stuck onto his scalp and his body constantly emitted steam. Ling Tian let out a smile of praise when he saw this, and threw a few more pieces of charcoal into the brazier, letting the dying embers blaze up once again. In just a few short moments, the room was so warm that people did not need to wear clothes any longer.
At this point, Ling Tian realized that he forgot to refill the brazier whilst in discussion with Mister Qin. No wonder Mister Qin did not bother staying on afterwards, it was because he felt cold….
Shaking his head, Ling Tian smiled, "Ling Jian, slow down your pace and recover step by step. Walk towards the brazier and change your clothes." Ling Tian was very clear that for this sort of grueling training for Ling Jian, if he did not take a break, he would never reach maximum effectiveness for the training. Instead, he would even end up injuring himself greatly if his body was not warmed.
With a sound of acknowledgment, Ling Jian slowly halted his movements. When he stopped, without waiting for him to come over, Ling Tian had already thrown an overcoat over his body, bringing him close to the brazier to sit down. Ling Jian’s lips trembled, saying, "Many thanks, Young Noble!"
Ling Tian stared deeply at him, saying, "Ling Jian, if there was one day that you die protecting me, I would not say thanks! Do you understand what I mean?"
Ling Jian, however, replied emotionally, "To die while protecting the Young Noble, that is my honor!"
Ling Tian patted his shoulder, saying, "Thus, you don’t need to thank me either."
Pausing a while, Ling Tian turned his head over and said, "Between men, there is no need for thanks. Using just the mouth, you can never express yourself fully. It’s too bland!"
Ling Jian’s eyes twinkled and he lowered his head, "Understood!" Even though Ling Jian did not fully understand what Ling Tian meant with that sentence, he stored it in his heart. To him, every word and action of his young noble was worth the effort to learn. Even if he did not understand now, there would come a day when he would. And when the time came, he would definitely understand the intentions behind his young noble. That was what he thought.
The next day, dawn. Ling Tian first made his way into Madam Ling’s room, where they had a conversation, muttering about god-knows-what. This was followed by him bringing Ling Jian as well as a bodyguard, and following Mister Qin into his carriage to visit his friend.
Behind him, by the doors of the great hall, stood several people. All of them had various forms of expressions. Ling Zhan was still depressed and did not even bother stepping out. Ling Xiao was, on the other hand, still angry, and looked as though he could not wait to grab Ling Tian to give him a thorough beating. Chu Ting’er had an expression of concern while Madam Ling’s was one of pride. Further back, a silhouette watched the tiny shadow of Ling Tian with a heavy face, appearing as though he was meeting his lifelong enemy! Carrying this face of deep probing and investigation was naturally Xiao FengHan.
Watching this scene, Xiao FengHan said, "The little fellow is moving out, there must be something going on. Follow him and tell me what he does." While there was nobody behind him, not even a shadow, the moment he finished talking, a barely noticeable body shape flickered in the sunlight before disappearing. He only left a word hanging in the air, "Yes!"
Ling Kong rushed back to his run, his emotions in an eager mess. Bending over the case, his hand casually grabbed the piece of paper and wrote a few words on it. "The flowing river surrounded by trees, below Mount Victory, obstruct and kill Ling Tian. No mistakes are tolerated!"
In a jiffy, a pure white carrier pigeon took flight from the Ling residence. It flew in a circle on top of the residence before heading south. Looking at the carrier pigeon soar through the air, a flash of happiness shone in Ling Kong’s eyes, and his malevolent face was suffused with excitement.
Within the Ling residence, in the tallest attic, was the location Madam Ling used to recite her Buddhist prayers daily. Currently, Madam Ling stood at the window, her hand holding on to a scripture book, yet her eyes were facing east. Seeing the carrier pigeon suddenly rise from the East Striding Courtyard, her eyes flashed with a coldness akin to ice! Her killing intent flowed out unchecked!