Chapter 277: Meeting Hua Hua Again

The area in front of Juhai Hang in the East Market was crowded with people. Word had spread throughout Chang’an that this bank offered interest on deposits. For days on end, long queues formed outside the bank, and the ox carts carrying money even blocked traffic. Countless merchants and ordinary people from all directions rushed to deposit their money here. This situation continued until yesterday, when the famous Wang Baoji Bank in the capital finally couldn’t withstand the pressure of people demanding cash withdrawals and announced it would also offer interest on deposits.

With Wang Baoji taking the lead, other banks that had been watching also followed suit, adopting new policies of offering interest on deposits. Originally, banks charged fees for deposits, but now they were paying out interest instead. As a result, their profits would drop significantly, making Juhai Hang the target of everyone’s anger.

Li Qing’an arrived at the East Market early in the morning, wanting to see for himself how silver and money were circulating.

“General, do you really think Prince Qing will be sent to Anxi?” his personal guard, Yu Sheng, asked anxiously along the way.

“Whoever goes, it makes no difference to us.”

Seeing his worried expression, Li Qing’an smiled and said, “Don’t worry too much. Success depends on human effort, but ultimately depends on fate.”

“But if a prince goes to Anxi, he’ll surely take away the general’s power. Even if he doesn’t take it all, he’ll still restrict the general’s actions. It’s like putting sand in our food—deliberately making it hard for us to eat.”

“Just ignore that sand. You should see that the court used to give us just a small bowl of rice, but now it gives us a big basin, enough to fill us up. A few grains of sand won’t hurt; it prevents us from choking by eating too fast.”

As they spoke, they arrived at the entrance of the East Market. From afar, they could see Juhai Hang bustling with activity.

Seeing the crowd, Li Qing’an nodded and said with a smile, “Good business!”

“General, shall we go in and take a look?”

“Since we’re here, of course we should. Let’s enter through the back door.”

The group entered the bank through the back door. The bank covered over ten acres, with two floors above ground and one below. There were more than twenty clerks and staff, along with fifty guards. In the back yard, there was even a pigeon house where pigeons for messaging were raised.

Inside, things were in full swing. The clerks were counting copper coins, putting them into chests, and then transporting them to the underground warehouse. Some were responsible for deposits, some for loans, some for keeping accounts, and some for issuing money orders. The manager, Li Yunfeng, was busy back and forth, his eyes red from exhaustion and his voice hoarse from shouting.

“Manager Li, the general has arrived.”

Someone called out, and Li Yunfeng rushed out from the front desk, quickly bowing and saying, “General, what brings you here today?”
“I’m here to check on the situation.”
“Very well! Please come inside, General.”
Li Yunfeng invited Li Qing’an into the room, poured him a cup of tea, and then went to fetch an account book.
“General, since the opening of the banks in the Eastern and Western markets, they have accumulated a total of 500,000 strings of copper coins in deposits, with 30,000 strings lent out. Our underground vault is almost full, so we plan to transfer the money to the Rehaiju treasury.”
“Can’t the underground vault hold a million strings of coins? Why is it already full at 500,000?”
“General, you may not be aware, but these are just deposits. There’s also silver and coin exchanges, which account for the larger portion.”
“What’s the situation with silver and coin exchanges now?” Li Qing’an was most concerned about silver, as it related to the future of Anxi.
“The silver and coin exchanges are going well. In fact, the black market has been exchanging gold and silver for a long time; it’s just now being made public. Silver is convenient to carry and very popular. The official exchange rate is 100 copper coins per silver coin, but I heard the black market rate has reached 110 copper coins per silver coin. It’s dropped slightly these past two days to 105 copper coins per silver coin. As soon as our 6,000 strings of silver coins arrived, 3,000 strings were exchanged on the first day—that’s 300,000 strings of copper coins!”
“What about gold coins? Has anyone exchanged them?”
“Gold coins aren’t doing well. It’s 1 string of gold for 1 string of silver, as the price is too high. Ordinary people prefer to exchange for silver. Of our 100 strings of gold coins, only 15 strings have been exchanged so far, mostly by nobles for collection. I heard that many shops even refuse gold coins and only accept silver coins.”
At this point, Li Yunfeng ordered someone to bring over some silver coins and arranged them on the table, saying with a smile, “General, please take a look. These silver coins are all different.”
Li Qing’an immediately became interested and stepped forward to examine them closely. At first glance, they all seemed similar—cast using the same mold as Kaiyuan Tongbao silver coins. But upon closer inspection, they indeed differed. The obverse side was the same, with the four characters “Kaiyuan Tongbao” in clerical script, but the reverse sides varied. Anxi silver coins had the four characters “Anxi Jianzhu” on the back, while those from the imperial court featured patterns like stars and moons. Even among the imperial court coins, there were differences—some were very standard and finely crafted, while others were clearly thinner, lighter, and poorly made.
“General, you must have noticed too! Someone is minting counterfeit coins by cutting corners. These coins are privately minted, and their quality is clearly inferior. I suspect they contain brass.”
Li Qing’an picked up a few of the counterfeit silver coins. Indeed, they felt different—thinner and heavier. Since silver is less dense than copper, it’s possible they contained brass.

He didn’t expect fake silver coins to appear so quickly. Li Qing’an suddenly realized a serious problem: if private minting of coins were allowed, surely some would take the opportunity to forge fake ones. In the past, copper coins had low value, so their forgery had little impact, but silver coins were different. A single fake silver coin could cause huge losses and undermine its credibility, eventually leading the public to lose trust in silver coins. The ones who would suffer the most would be Anxi. It seemed necessary to use the strictest criminal laws to prevent private minting of silver coins. But would such laws work if the nobles were involved? Those princes and nobles had large amounts of gold and silver. To make them valuable, they would surely mint them into coins. But would they honestly use pure silver in the minting process? Maybe some would, but most wouldn’t—they would inevitably mix in other metals to reap huge profits. Even if Anxi didn’t forge coins, it would still be easy to forge fake Anxi coins. By then, if someone pretended to be Li Kui while actually being Li Gui, who would dare to use Anxi’s silver coins? So how could forgery be prevented? Li Qing’an suddenly thought of the Yuan Daitou coins from later generations—hold them between your fingernails, blow hard, and listen by your ear; if there’s a ringing sound, it’s a good silver coin. This was a characteristic of silver itself, making it almost impossible to forge. Why did he insist on minting Kaiyuan Tongbao coins instead of ringable Anxi silver coins? As for the technology, he believed the Tang Dynasty’s craftsmen could solve it with sufficient rewards. With this in mind, he immediately said to Li Yunfeng, “Temporarily stop exchanging silver coins. I need to send a quick message to Anxi.” Li Yunfeng didn’t dare delay and quickly brought fine brushes and silk. After a brief pause, Li Qing’an wrote a pigeon message, stamped it, rolled it up, and placed it in a red bamboo tube before handing it to Li Yunfeng, saying, “Send someone to Rehaiju immediately to deliver it to Anxi by pigeon.” Li Yunfeng promptly arranged for it. Li Qing’an had no interest in exploring the Eastern Market anymore. After giving Li Yunfeng a few more instructions, he left the money shop. As soon as he stepped out, a middle-aged man approached him, “General, my master is inviting you!” “Who is your master?” The man pointed into the distance. “My master is over there.” Li Qing’an followed his gaze and saw a woman standing at the entrance of Yang’s Money Shop. She was dressed in a flamboyant and alluring manner—none other than Yang Huahua. Seeing Li Qing’an looking at her, she puffed out her full breasts and lifted her beautiful face. She had also come to inspect the money shop that day and happened to see Li Qing’an. Li Qing’an smiled and stepped forward, saying, “It seems we meet everywhere in life. Madam, here we meet again.”

Yang Huahua bit her lip. How dare Li Qingan walk up to her as if nothing had happened? Could really all the past events and grudges just blow away like wind, leaving no trace? Suddenly, Yang Huahua felt a bit sad. She would have preferred Li Qingan to come over with a furious expression—at least then he would still have her in his heart. But now, his gaze seemed to be directed at a complete stranger.

She hid her emotions and said in a sweet voice, “I would like to invite General Li to dinner. Do you think I have the honor?”

“It should be an honor for me, Li Qingan, to be invited by the Third Lady. As the guest, I follow the host’s lead.”

Yang Huahua pointed to an inn about a hundred steps away. “Then let’s go to that Huji Inn over there for lunch!”

“As you wish, my lady!”

Dozens of maids and servants surrounded Yang Huahua as they headed to the inn. Li Qingan also mounted his horse and arrived at the inn with over twenty followers. He dismounted, looked up at the flag, and saw the words “Na Sebo” written on it.

Li Qingan smiled. He knew it was run by a Sogdian from the Xiaoshi Kingdom.

“Welcome to our humble establishment!”

The owner was also a Sogdian who spoke fluent Chinese. Seeing Yang Huahua and Li Qingan accompanied by so many people and carrying such grandeur, he realized they must be important guests and quickly went out to greet them personally.

“Madam, please come to the second floor. It’s quiet and elegant, and I’m sure it will satisfy you.”

Yang Huahua smiled slightly and pointed at Li Qingan, saying, “Do you know who he is? He is the ruler of Anxi.”

The owner’s eyes widened instantly, and he stammered, “Sir… are you General Li?”

Li Qingan glanced at Yang Huahua. She actually called him the ruler of Anxi—what ulterior motives! He smiled and said in Turkic, “Be casual. Don’t be too enthusiastic.”

The owner was stunned and quickly replied with a smile, “Yes! Yes! General, please come upstairs. Madam, please come upstairs too!”

The servants all ate downstairs, with only four bodyguards following them upstairs. They stood at the door of the elegant room, swords at their sides, preventing anyone from disturbing them. Li Qingan entered the room and saw that it was beautifully decorated. He nodded in approval and sat down.

“Madam, please sit.”

Yang Huahua sat down gracefully and asked curiously, “What did you say to him just now? I didn’t understand.”

Li Qingan chuckled and said, “I told him that this is the Lady of Guo, the second most beautiful woman in the world, and he should serve her well.”

“You’re lying!”

Yang Huahua smiled and said, “If you really say that, he will surely take a few more glances at me. But this barbarian didn’t even glance at me once from start to finish. You definitely aren’t talking about me.”
Though she said this, Yang Huahua felt somewhat uncomfortable when Li Qing’an called her the second most beautiful woman in the world. She certainly didn’t want to be the number one; it was simply that Li Qing’an ranked her after Yang Yuhuan, and she hated it the most when people compared her to Yang Yuhuan.
“What, are you unhappy being called the second most beautiful?” Li Qing’an noticed a hint of anger in her eyes.
“There’s nothing to be happy or unhappy about. I’m already old; my youth is gone. How could I dare claim to be the best in the world?”
Yang Huahua’s mood darkened. Despite her excellent maintenance, fine wrinkles had appeared at the corners of her eyes, and her face had lost its former luster and elasticity, appearing slack and dry. To hide these changes, she, who usually went bare-faced, began to wear makeup.
She sighed secretly, picked up the wine pot, poured herself a cup, drank it in one gulp, and forced a smile. “Has General Li not noticed my changes?”
Li Qing’an bowed slightly and said in a diplomatic tone, “Madam, you are even more beautiful than before.”
“I forbid you to speak to me like that!”
A layer of frost seemed to cover Yang Huahua’s face as she said coldly to Li Qing’an, “Between us, it’s either friendship or enmity—there’s no third possibility. And certainly no such boring flattery. If you’ve forgotten, let me remind you: back then, I wanted you to be my man, but you refused. That’s why you ended up in prison. It was like this before, and it will be like this in the future.”
Li Qing’an stared at the wine glass in his hand and said calmly, “Why do you say I should be your man instead of saying you should be my woman? That’s where our conflict lies.”
“Qilang, what if I were willing to be your woman now?” Yang Huahua’s voice suddenly trembled slightly.
“Why would the third madam make things difficult for herself?”

Li Qing’an sighed softly and said, “You are the Lady of Guo State. Your very existence is one of independence—neither dependent on any man nor bound by rules, doing only what you desire. Whether it’s your cunning or your unrestrained nature, they are all part of your character as Yang Huahua. If you become my woman, then you will no longer be Yang Huahua. Likewise, my nature is to keep grudges clearly distinct. You once gave me a bow, and I still remember that kindness to this day. But you also framed me and sent me to prison; I still hold a grudge against you. Because of my gratitude, I won’t retaliate, which is why I’ll come to dine with you. But because of my grudge, I can no longer accept you. Lady, do you understand?”

Yang Huahua stared at Li Qing’an for a long time, her eyes showing complex emotions. Suddenly, she let out a coquettish laugh, poured herself another cup of wine, and said leisurely, “I was just testing you. Do you really think I’d become your woman? Dream on! Unless I hide a knife and slit your throat when you’re at your most passionate, killing you beneath my pomegranate-colored skirt. Li Qilang, do you know? I’ve had this dream more than once. How I long for it to become reality.”

Li Qing’an narrowed his eyes, sipped his wine carefully, and smiled. “To die beneath a pomegranate skirt—even as a ghost, one would remain elegant. To die beneath the skirt of the Third Lady is also my dream, Li Qing’an’s dream. May it come true.”