DLWAV CH31

Could Ao Ruize say that, in the beginning, he really just wanted to invite Xia Jingyao for a hot spring soak to get a few days of good rest?

After all, since transmigrating to this world, he had been busy with rehabilitation, so he hadn’t actually had much contact with Xia Jingyao.

In other words, up until now, he didn’t really understand the personality or preferences of this world’s Xia Jingyao.

Under such circumstances, it was naturally impossible for him to do anything out of line to Xia Jingyao right off the bat.

So, on the journey from Fuzhou City to Qingyun Mountain, the atmosphere between Ao Ruize and Xia Jingyao was very normal and harmonious.

That is, until they entered the bathing pool, and the servants Xia Jingyao brought in delivered two pots of green plum wine and then retreated.

Ao Ruize didn’t think much of it. While saying, “The scenery here really is quite nice,” he walked behind the screen and began to undress.

Seeing this, Xia Jingyao immediately walked behind another screen on the opposite side.

However, he came out earlier than Ao Ruize.

So he entered the water first.

This meant that everything Ao Ruize did next would be taken in by his eyes.

Seeing Ao Ruize walk out from behind the screen wearing an exceptionally thick white undershirt, Xia Jingyao’s good mood instantly dissipated by seventy or eighty percent, leaving only a heart full of disappointment.

Wearing such thick clothes… even if his eyesight was perfect, what could he possibly see?

But soon, the hand holding his wine cup froze.

Because at that moment, Ao Ruize entered the water.

And some colors, some things, could not be hidden even by thick white cloth.

Although he had imagined that this scene would be pleasing to the eye, he never expected it to be this pleasing…

Ao Ruize: “…”

Ao Ruize wasn’t stupid; how could he not notice the change in Xia Jingyao’s expression?

Not to mention that Xia Jingyao had no intention of hiding it. Even after realizing Ao Ruize had noticed his gaze, he didn’t withdraw his sight. Instead, he scrutinized him even more unscrupulously.

Ao Ruize suddenly realized that he seemed to have taken a detour.

Just then, the Milk Dumpling’s voice rang out. It said, “Alright, you guys take your time soaking. I’m going to read storybooks.”

“By the way, it’s best not to soak in the hot spring for more than half an hour, or it’s bad for your health. Help me keep an eye on my wife.”

Ao Ruize: “…”

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to pity the Milk Dumpling or rejoice that the Milk Dumpling “tactfully” exited the stage on its own.

However, Ao Ruize still added another barrier in his sea of consciousness.

To prevent it from popping out again at an inappropriate time.

Only then did Ao Ruize look up at Xia Jingyao again.

He also realized that although Xia Jingyao had lost his memories of the previous world, the fact that he loved him was an unchangeable reality.

Even if his personality and preferences might be vastly different from the previous world due to the influence of his original self in this one.

Since that was the case, he didn’t need to take things step-by-step, did he?

So, naturally, he no longer needed to worry about whether taking off his shirt would offend Xia Jingyao.

Thinking of this, he said, “This wet shirt sticking to my body seems quite uncomfortable.”

As he spoke, he placed his hand on the sash tied around his waist.

Seeing this scene, the wine cup in Xia Jingyao’s hand was instantly gripped tighter. He couldn’t help but tilt his head back and down the wine in one gulp.

Ao Ruize: “…”

Was the reaction that big?

Ao Ruize’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down involuntarily. Then, as if self-taught, he slowed down the movement of undoing his belt.

Xia Jingyao’s breathing instantly quickened at a visible rate.

Although he tried his best to conceal it, to the point that his facial expression didn’t change much, how could such concealment escape Ao Ruize’s piercing gaze?

Ao Ruize smiled.

Then, under Xia Jingyao’s gaze, he cleanly took off the undershirt.

The next second, he swam directly toward Xia Jingyao, finally stopping less than ten centimeters away from him.

He said, “Why is the Duke drinking alone? Is there something unhappy on your mind?”

As he spoke, he reached across Xia Jingyao’s front, the muscles on his arm almost grazing Xia Jingyao’s line of sight, and took the wine pot and a small cup from the tray on the other side.

“Why don’t I drink a couple of cups with the Duke?”

The moment Ao Ruize stood firm, water splashed against his broad, powerful chest.

Once the water in the pool settled, the droplets splashed on his body, having lost their support, flowed down his chin and over his Adam’s apple.

Xia Jingyao subconsciously followed the flow of the water with his eyes, and the taut string in his brain snapped instantly.

Only one thought remained in his mind.

How did Ao Ruize go from being reserved before to becoming so skilled all of a sudden?

Just then, Ao Ruize had already poured the wine.

He picked up the cup, gently clinked it against Xia Jingyao’s, and then threw his head back to drink it dry.

Xia Jingyao finally came to his senses.

What was wrong with being skilled?

At least he got what he wanted, didn’t he?

If he had previously only been somewhat moved by Ao Ruize’s body, then now, he couldn’t wait to thoroughly explore this young, powerful physique.

Thinking of this, he immediately raised his cup and drank it down as well.

Before he could speak, Ao Ruize had already lifted the wine pot and refilled his cup.

Following that, the two of them tacitly drank cup after cup.

During this time, Ao Ruize even called for the servants to bring in a few more pots of wine.

By the time the wine pots on the shore were all empty, Xia Jingyao was slightly tipsy.

Ao Ruize didn’t call for more wine.

He looked at Xia Jingyao: “I heard that one shouldn’t soak in a hot spring for more than a quarter of an hour at a time, or it’s not good for the body. It happens to be getting late, so why don’t we call it a day?”

Hearing this, Xia Jingyao leaned back against the pool wall and looked up at Ao Ruize. His lips, stained crimson by the wine, parted slightly: “Alright!”

“But what should I do if I have no strength left?”

Ao Ruize looked down at him. His hair crown hung loosely atop his head, ink-black strands hair following his smooth profile to drape over his neck, which was as red as jadeite. The corners of his eyes tilted slightly upward, flushed with a faint red hue. His gaze was hazy, seemingly drunk yet not drunk, soul-hooking and heart-stirring.

Ao Ruize’s Adam’s apple rolled even more violently.

So, Xia Jingyao’s meaning was actually very obvious, wasn’t it?

Ao Ruize simply said, “Then, pardon the offense.”

After speaking, he stood up, approached, scooped Xia Jingyao up in his arms, and turned to walk up the steps.

Feeling the heat unique to Ao Ruize beneath his palm, Xia Jingyao’s right hand relaxed, and the wine cup dropped straight into the pool water. The splash it created collided with the water droplets dripping from his pale feet.

Outside the hot spring pool, seeing the screen open, the waiting servants were about to step forward to serve, only to see Ao Ruize walk out carrying Xia Jingyao the next second.

Their pupils constricted.

Their first reaction was whether Ao Ruize had done something to Xia Jingyao, like drugging him—

But the next second, they saw Xia Jingyao’s hand, which was hanging at his side, wave in their direction.

Their movement to rush forward and stop Ao Ruize froze instantly.

Then, they could only watch helplessly as Ao Ruize carried Xia Jingyao into his room, and he did not come out again that night.

Ao Ruize wanted to say that initially, he really just wanted to invite Xia Jingyao to soak in a hot spring and rest well for a few days.

The result was that he fooled around with Xia Jingyao in the hot spring villa for three whole days.

It wasn’t until he received news that the people from the Ministry of Works had arrived, asking him to return to take charge of the overall situation, that Ao Ruize finally sat up in bed.

He touched the scratch marks on his chest, couldn’t resist planting another kiss on the corner of the still-sleeping Xia Jingyao’s mouth, and then got out of bed.

Although Ao Ruize had figured out that Xia Jingyao was currently just lusting after his body and hadn’t realized he liked him yet…

It didn’t matter. They had already slept together; could Xia Jingyao really kick him out now?

So, after getting dressed, Ao Ruize opened the door directly and, ignoring the strange looks from the Duke’s estate servants outside, strode away.

What he didn’t know was that the moment he left, Xia Jingyao opened his eyes.

Hearing the movement in the room, the steward immediately brought a group of servants in.

Seeing the hickey on Xia Jingyao’s neck, the steward’s old face flushed. As he handed him a face cloth, he couldn’t help but ask, “My Lord, what exactly are you thinking?”

Hearing this, Xia Jingyao paused in wiping his face.

Now that he had calmed down, he admitted that he had indeed been possessed by a ghost (Ao Ruize) at the time.

But to say he regretted it—

He really didn’t.

After all, he did enjoy it.

And Ao Ruize’s flavor was indeed very good.

Most importantly, he hadn’t planned on letting Ao Ruize go anyway.

He had just advanced the timeline by a tiny bit.

Thinking of this, Xia Jingyao simply said, “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

He paused, then added, “Once I get tired of playing with him, I’ll kick him to the curb.”

For Xia Jingyao, putting aside the deep-seated blood feud between him and Prince An’s family, even if there were no grievances, he wouldn’t truly get entangled with a royal prince. After all, anyone could see that such a thing could have no result.

Even though Ao Ruize’s flavor was really quite good.

Steward: “…”

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to say Xia Jingyao was too open-minded or to pity that Prince An.

On Ao Ruize’s side, he returned to Fuzhou City in no time.

As if remembering something, he finally let the Milk Dumpling out.

As soon as it connected with Ao Ruize, the Milk Dumpling couldn’t wait to say, “What happened? How did I disconnect again?”

It thought it had just dropped offline again, just like in the previous world when Ao Ruize and Zhong Chi first started dating and it suddenly lost contact with him.

After all, it was a wild system; having a few bugs was normal.

Before it finished speaking, the Milk Dumpling’s attention landed on Ao Ruize’s radiant face. “Huh? What did you go do? You look so happy.”

Ao Ruize: “…”

He thought for a moment and simply said, “The people from the Ministry of Works have arrived. The gold mine can start excavation immediately, and the salt boiling can also be put on the agenda.”

After all, he couldn’t tell the Milk Dumpling that it was because he had just slept with its wife!

Hearing this, the Milk Dumpling’s attention was indeed diverted instantly. “That’s great!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go check the gold mine now…”

The following days passed like flowing water.

Ao Ruize arrived in Fuzhou in late October.

Three days later, a group of Ministry of Works officials and recruited craftsmen arrived in Fuzhou City.

Five days later, the two thousand miners recruited by the Ministry of Works in Fuzhou were all in place.

The next day, the last day of October, the gold mine officially began production. On that day, it produced two jin, three taels, and one qian of gold.

In November, the gold mine’s production began to rise steadily, finally stabilizing at a daily output of seventy jin.

At the same time, the five thousand soldiers of the Fuzhou Mine Protection Battalion recruited by Xia Jingyao under imperial decree were all in place.

In late December, after handing over all remaining military duties to his deputy, Xia Jingyao led troops to escort Ao Ruize and the Ministry of Works officials to Zhaoxian County in Zhangzhou.

In early December, Ao Ruize led a group of craftsmen to dig over a thousand natural gas vents in the natural gas field of Zhaoxian. Once ignited, they could boil salt day and night without stopping.

Simultaneously, five thousand salt worker households were fully recruited.

The seawater transport pipelines and purification facilities from Lixian to Zhaoxian were also completed.

In mid-December, the Zhaoxian Salt Field began operation, with an expected daily output of 1.3 million jin of salt and an annual output of about 500 million jin.

In late December, Ao Ruize and Xia Jingyao rushed to Haizhou again to witness the launch of the first batch of new sea vessels built by the newly established Haizhou Shipyard.

On the day these ships were launched, Ao Ruize and the others encountered a group of pirates. Relying on the speed and stability of the new ships, which far exceeded the old ones, the Haizhou Navy wiped out the pirates in less than an hour.

At the same time, the imperial court issued an edict announcing the abolition of the government salt monopoly law, liberalizing salt prices. The salt tax remained at four wen per jin, but the price of salt nationwide was capped at no more than twenty-five wen per jin.

When the news reached the capital, there was an uproar both inside and outside the court.

“The Fuzhou Gold Mine produces seventy jin of gold a day? That’s four hundred thousand taels a year! That’s equivalent to increasing the national treasury’s annual income by nearly half.”

“No wonder the Emperor and Prince An suddenly made a move on Fuzhou. It turns out they discovered such a huge gold mine there.”

“The Zhaoxian Salt Field produces 500 million jin of salt annually?”

“You must know that in previous years, the total sales of all major salt fields were only 500 million jin.”

“Other salt fields mostly buy firewood and grass to boil salt, with costs as high as five and a half wen per jin. If sold externally, they have to sell for at least six wen per jin to barely make a profit. The Zhaoxian Salt Field uses that… natural gas to boil salt and uses new frying pans. The salt comes out fast, and the cost of five jin of salt is less than one wen. I heard they set the selling price at one wen for two jin. Moreover, the salt produced in Zhaoxian is said to have almost no impurities and no bitter taste. The quality is far higher than salt from other fields. If salt prices are truly liberalized, aside from prefectures very far from Zhaoxian or very close to other salt fields, most merchants will probably rush to Zhaoxian to buy salt.”

“Those other salt fields are finished.”

“Those salt fields will be fine. Didn’t you see a shipyard built in Haizhou? The salt workers laid off from the Haizhou Salt Field have all been moved to the shipyard to build ships.”

“As for the other salt fields, the court has promised to lend them a batch of sea vessels free of charge. They can use those ships to fish or transport goods for people. They’ll survive.”

“The ones truly suffering are those salt merchants in Lianghuai.”

Before this, the Great Yang Dynasty had always implemented the government salt monopoly law.

This meant the court designated an area as a salt field and relocated nearby commoners to become salt households. Salt households were responsible for producing salt, and the court spent money to buy all the salt from them.

If merchants wanted to sell salt, they had to sell a certain amount of grain to the court or help the court transport a certain amount of military grain to designated places to obtain a corresponding amount of “salt yin” (salt tickets/permits).

Then, the salt merchants could use these permits to buy salt from the salt fields and sell it to the commoners.

At the beginning of the Great Yang, salt merchants were everywhere. Over time, due to the convenient transportation in Lianghuai, salt merchants gradually gathered there. These merchants grew larger, began to monopolize the market, and finally gave birth to the four great salt merchants whose wealth rivaled nations.

“Suffering? I think the Emperor and Prince An are targeting them on purpose—”

“When Great Yang was founded, the population was only 60 million, and the annual salt consumption was 600 million jin. Now, our dynasty’s population has risen to 90 million, and the people’s lives have improved significantly, yet the amount of salt sold by major salt fields has dropped to 500 million jin.”

“Where did such a big gap come from?”

“That was all caused by the private salt fields opened by the salt merchants themselves.”

Because buying salt from the court’s salt fields required paying a salt tax of four wen per jin. But if salt merchants produced their own salt, they didn’t have to pay the tax.

So, most major salt merchants privately opened their own salt fields. Then, when selling salt, they mixed official salt with private salt, or even mixed sand into the official salt, forcing commoners to buy their private salt.

Because of this, the court used to receive 3.6 million taels of salt tax annually, but in recent years, the annual salt tax collected was less than 2 million taels.

But now, the ex-factory price of Zhaoxian salt plus the tax is only four and a half wen. The cost price of private salt alone is five and a half wen. Buying private salt also carries the risk of going to jail. Who would buy private salt in the future?

The court abolished the government salt monopoly, meaning merchants no longer need to invest massive manpower and resources to obtain salt permits. Now, anyone can trade salt. Without these advantages, if the great salt merchants can’t find a way out, their decline is only a matter of time.

“Good.”

“It’s simply satisfying.”

“Wait, this means that although the court abolished the monopoly law, the salt is actually still in the court’s hands. That means just from salt alone, the court can increase its revenue by another twenty percent.”

“Fifty percent plus twenty percent, that’s seventy percent.”

“The most important thing is, if everyone can trade salt, the price will plummet. In the future, the people of our Great Yang Dynasty can eat salt freely.”

“In this matter, Prince An has performed a great service!”

“By the way, I heard that the Fuzhou gold mine and the Zhaoxian natural gas field were also discovered by Prince An in a travel journal left by a scholar from the previous dynasty. But he didn’t keep them for himself; instead, he offered them all to the court.”

“Hiss!”

“Prince An’s virtue is something we can hardly catch up to even on horseback.”

“Prince An is truly a model for our generation.”

“In contrast, the First Prince and the Fourth Prince…”

“Shh, is that something we can discuss?”

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