All Hail Cousin Brother

He reached out to take the token, and the two of them exchanged blows a few times. Yin Huaixi held the token tightly.

Xie Jingliu took a deep breath. “Let go!’

Not only did Yin Huaixi not let go, but he also said eloquently, “That won’t do. What if you accidentally lose your grip and break the token?”

Xie Jingliu felt a lump in his throat. “Am I such a person?”

Yin Huaixi glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “One can never be too careful. It doesn’t matter if you’re such a person or not.” Xie Jingliu took a deep breath and had to calm down.

He had to calm down.

H-how could he calm down? Before he could warm up to his cousin, she was already about to become someone else’s.

He couldn’t calm down.

Xie Jingliu was exasperated. “If you don’t let go, how am I supposed to see it clearly? You said that this is a token, so it’s really a token? You could have casually taken out an item and lied to me. If you say that this is a token, do I have to believe you? Do you think I’m a fool?”

To a family, a token had an important inheritance meaning. As long as they saw the token clearly and went to the Yu Residence to ask about it, they would know if it was real.

Yin Huaixi hesitated for a moment.

He actually dared to hesitate!! Xie Jingliu said angrily, “If you don’t let go, I’ll use more strength.”

A jade object would shatter with a little force.

Yin Huaixi quickly said, “Open your hand. I’ll put it in yours.”

Xie Jingliu gritted his teeth in anger and opened his palm.

Only then did Yin Huaixi carefully place the token on Xie Jingliu’s palm. He did not forget to instruct, “Be careful. Yao Yao also has the same token. This is a pair. Don’t break it.”

Xie Jingliu suspected that these words were really meant to provoke him!

At that moment, he really wanted to break this token. If he accidentally broke it, it wouldn’t be a pair.

Therefore, Yin Huaixi’s worry was not unreasonable.

Under Yin Huaixi’s bright eyes, Xie Jingliu took a deep breath and gradually calmed down. He carefully examined the jade pendant. “This is a family heirloom of the Xie family. Auntie has carried it with her since she was young. It’s carved from a piece of red and yellow Hetian jade. It’s as red as blood, as beautiful as cinnabar, as yellow as pride, and as soft as fat. It’s a rare piece in the world.’

The Jade Theory recorded the color of jade. “In this day and age, green and white are common, black is less common, and yellow is definitely rare.” Red and yellow were colors that were definitely unique.

When Yin Huaixi heard this, he knew that Old Madam Yu was a reliable person. She had given him the “token” without any hesitation. Since the double fish round pendant was so important, his marriage with Yu Youyao was more than settled.

There was no need to worry if someone in the Xie family did not like this token. No one would accidentally shale their hands, not hold it well or accidentally drop it.

Xie Jingliu handed the token back to Yin Huaixi with a complicated expression. “Why didn’t you mention this when Great-Grandfather entered the capital previously?”

Yin Huaixi said calmly, “It wasn’t good to reveal my identity previously.”

Xie Jingliu sneered. “So, you’re sending my cousin to Quanzhou this time and confessing to my great-grandfather?”

Yin Huaixi lowered his eyes and rubbed the embroidered fish token in his hand. “In the previous dynasty, there was a silk merchant with the surname Shen. How similar is the current situation of the Xie Residence to him? Marquis or king, thousands of riders returned to Mang Mountain. When a cunning rabbit dies, its lackeys will be cooked. When all the birds are gone, a good bow will be hidden deep in the mountains.”

Xie Jingliu pursed his lips and said nothing.

Yin Huaixi pointed at the ragged and disheveled laborers at the dock. “The drought is far more serious than the flood. It’s not even October, but it’s already winter in the north. The commoners will face a desperate situation of hunger and cold. The Imperial Court’s disaster relief is only a temporary relief. They’re lucky to survive the winter. What about next year?”

Xie Jingliu suddenly closed his eyes.

What about next year?

If the drought continued next year, where would the Imperial Court get the money to fund the disaster relief?

How were the commoners going to survive the situation of the farmers starving to death next year?

The root of everything was that the treasury was empty.

Yin Huaixi sighed softly. “In the previous dynasty, Zhejiangs state policy of converting rice plantations into mulberry plantations blew up the embankments and flooded the fields, resulting in unbearable consequences.

There were also officials of the Imperial Court who joined forces with the local merchants to implement a political campaign selling farmland for food. It was actually buying and annexing the land of the commoners at a low price, angering the emperor. In order to appease the emperor and make up for the consequences, disaster relief and filling the deficit of the treasury became the top priority.”

Xie Jingliu slowly opened his eyes. “Regardless of whether he’s loyal or traitorous, only Merchant Shen has a huge sum of money to fill the deficit in the treasury.”

The Xie Residence was also sensible. In the end, it was the winds howl around the highest peaks. “The Xie Residence helped the Imperial Court open the sea ban. This is a merit, but in the emperor’s opinion, the Imperial Court’s

merchant ships rely on the Xie Residence to get rich, but the Xie Residence’s wealth doesn’t belong to the Imperial Court.”

Compared to the wealth of the country, business was already a source of trouble.

“In recent years, the pirates often plundered merchant ships at sea, and the Imperial Court suffered a lot. Previously, the pirates colluded and invaded the southeast coast wantonly. Ye Hanyuan temporarily stabilized the situation, but after this incident, it’s not so easy for maritime trade to return to its former prosperity.”

Yin Huaixi did not finish his sentence, but Xie Jingliu already understood.

The merchant ships of the Imperial Court relied on the Xie family to make a fortune. The Imperial Court obtained huge benefits, and the Xie family still had to pay a large sum of trade taxes to the Imperial Court. This was a win-win situation.

However, a goose that laid golden eggs could not lay eggs.

The Imperial Court had no choice but to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Previously, it was because Yu Youyao had donated a million taels of silver to the Imperial Court that the dog emperor had temporarily looked at the corrupt officials in Zhejiang.

What about next year?

Yin Huaixi continued, “A few days after the dirty money from Zhejiang enters the treasury, it has to be used for disaster relief again. When the treasury runs out of money next year, they can only raid the Xie Residence to make up for the shortfall. The Xie Residence has so many merchant ships, so it’s only logical that they belong to the Imperial Court. The business of maritime trade will be monopolized by the Imperial Court. Isn’t that wonderful?”

Xie Jingliu said sarcastically, “The Xie familys ancestral teachings state that if one doesn’t become an official in the world, wealth under the heavens should be obtained and used by the people. A few years ago, Great-Grandfather was already consolidating the family’s business. Every year, he took the initiative to pay an additional 15% of the merchant tax to the Imperial Court. In the past few years, there have been natural and man-made disasters. The Xie family hasn’t been idle either. They’ve used silver to hoard food for disaster relief..”