A Clash of Gods - Chapter 87

Chapter 87 The Secret Code
“Did you go there?” Gu Qinghan frowned. “That’s not a good place. Don’t go there in the future.”

It appeared that Gu Qinghan also knew that courtyard with a ghost. Of course, Yang Ning wouldn’t give up this subject. He asked, “Why? Because there is a ghost?”

Gu Qinghan responded, “Don’t talk nonsense. Don’t listen to their bullshit. That is a deserted courtyard. What ghost? Just don’t get close to it in the future.”

Yang Ning moved his chair forward and laughed. “Aunt, if it is just a deserted courtyard, why did you tell me not to go there? I find that the courtyard is surrounded by wild grass and withered vines, and we should tell somebody to clean it up. Although we don’t live here, it’s our old house after all, and we can’t ignore it.”

Gu Qinghan seemed unwilling to talk about it, and Yang Ning begged, “If you don’t tell me, I will think about it all the time. Aunt, just do me a favor and tell me.”

Seeing his expression, Gu Qinghan was unable either to laugh or to cry. She chuckled. “Don’t pretend to be so pitiful.” She hesitated for a while and then continued, “When I got married, the wedding was held here. And I also found that courtyard by chance. At that time, somebody told me that there was a ghost, but the old marquis was upright and the Qi family was a powerful noble family. There might be no ghost existing in such a family. But there was a rule set by the old marquis in the old house then. Nobody can approach that courtyard, let alone entering it. Otherwise, they would be punished severely.”

Yang Ning questioned, “Why? There must be a reason if it is not because a ghost exists, right? Aunt, do you know there are sounds of the vertical flute from that courtyard?”

“Play vertical flute?” Gu Qinghan moved her red lips slightly, which were sexy. “They just incorrectly relay an erroneous message, and you don’t need to listen. Since the old marquis didn’t allow us to get close to it, it is the Qi family’s rule. Don’t need to ask why. You just have to obey it.” Seeing that Yang Ning was disappointed, she added after a moment’s hesitation, “Your uncle told me in private. It seemed that… a woman died in the courtyard in the past. She seemed to be resentful before her death. Later the courtyard was locked, and there were rumors.”

Yang Ning asked instantly, “A woman? What kind of woman?”

Gu Qinghan shook her head. “Your uncle didn’t say more. He didn’t want to talk about that courtyard. Almost nobody knew what happened in the courtyard.” She raised her head. “Go out now. Don’t disturb me. I am checking the accounts.”

Yang Ning was clear that even if he asked more, Gu Qinghan wouldn’t say more, and she seemed to know little about that courtyard, so he was about to get up. Suddenly, he thought of something and asked, “Aunt, when you check these account books, don’t you think they are complicated? I think it is a mess.”

Gu Qinghan rolled her eyes at Yang Ning. She was charming and flirtatious. “You never checked account books in the past, so you think it is a mess. All the account books are like this. It’s the best to be detailed. How is it complicated?”

“I didn’t mean that the accounts are complicated, but the way of recording is a mess.” Yang Ning pondered for a while and then conveniently picked up an account book. He checked a few pages and then took out a piece of paper. Afterward, he grabbed a brush pen with ink to write freely on the paper. Gu Qinghan didn’t know what Yang Ning planned to do and felt surprised. She saw that he had drawn a chart in an instant, which was like a fishing net. She was more astonished.

Then she saw that Yang Ning wrote something in the chart like a fishing net. Later he picked up an account book and checked it before writing figures in the chart. Gu Qinghan naturally didn’t know the Arabic numerals written by Yang Ning. She was astonished and got up to watch behind him, bending slightly to check.

Yang Ning was absorbed. After a while, he put down the brush pen and glanced at Gu Qinghan next to him. He happened to look at her chest, to find that her chest still didn’t return to be prominent and attractive, and it must be restrained by something. So he was involuntarily worried that it would damage her chest, and he wanted to ask if she felt uncomfortable.

Gu Qinghan certainly didn’t know what Yang Ning was thinking about. She just looked at the strange chart made by him and asked in doubt, “What’s this?”

She came from a wealthy family and had seen many paintings. So she thought Yang Ning finished a painting, but this painting was not beautiful at all.

Yang Ning explained, “This is the number, and the words on it are used to summarize the numbers. The one on the right is the single digit, and the one on its left stands for ten, and this is one hundred…”

Yang Ning patiently taught her. The Arabic numeral was easy to learn and Gu Qinghan was smart. Just in an instant, she was clear about the Arabic numerals from zero to nine and could recognize ten, hundred, thousand. When Yang Ning was explaining, she looked astonished. This was the knowledge she had never learnt. After he finished, Gu Qinghan was still in a daze and asked in surprise after quite a while, “Ning, is… is this what you figured out?”

“I think you are tired while checking the accounts, so I entertain all sorts of ideas.” Yang Ning thought if he told her this was the Arabic numeral, she might think that he was a ghost. “Aunt, have a look. Such a diagram on less than half a page can include all the details on five or six pages in the account book, and it can be apprehended at a glance.”

“Is this called diagram?” Gu Qinghan roughly understood the diagram and Arabic numerals. She picked up that diagram and checked carefully according to the account book. Surprise in her eyes deeper, she suddenly raised her head, asking again, “Is… is this really what you have figured out?”

Yang Ning rubbed his cheek and noticed Gu Qinghan’s astonishment, thinking that the Arabic numerals wouldn’t be introduced to their country soon and he was not afraid that he would be exposed, so he responded calmly, “I just have random conjectures. Aunt, what do you think about this way?”

While Gu Qinghan looked joyful and replied, “Ning, you are so smart. You can even figure out such a solution.” She looked at that diagram and continued excitedly, “Your solution is really simple and clear, and anybody can understand it at a glance. If we made it in this way earlier, I wouldn’t need to check them for so long.”

Yang Ning felt happy as Gu Qinghan approved him, so he moved closer to her. “Aunt, it can be used not only for accounts but also for secret codes.”

“Secret codes?” Gu Qinghan was startled. “What do you mean?” She just thought that since Yang Ning’s inducing resuscitation, he became smarter and smarter. He had lots of fresh ideas and new weird words, but she didn’t understand what he meant.

Yang Ning laughed. “If I go out and write to you in the future, in order to prevent an imposter, I just need to write a secret code as we agreed on the letter and then you’ll know if it is true. If we make it more complicated, the numbers can say something. Others don’t know what they mean even if they see, but we can understand.”

Gu Qinghan opened her beautiful eyes wide and asked curiously, “What shall we do?”

Yang Ning grabbed the brush pen and wrote a series of numbers on the paper, giving it to her. “This is the simplest secret code. Aunt, have a look. Can you recognize it?”

Gu Qinghan glanced at it. Yang Ning had just taught her ten numbers, and she remembered them clearly, so she read them one by one. “Four, one, nine.” She raised her head and asked in confusion, “Ning, what do they mean?”

Yang Ning chuckled. “Aunt, you are so smart. Can’t you recognize such a simple secret code? Read them. For one night.”

Gu Qinghan was stunned and then blushed, throwing the paper away.

Seeing that, Yang Ning continued, “Aunt, this is the simplest. And…”

“Ning, you get bolder and ignore the rules.” Gu Qinghan’s face fell. “Don’t say anything crazy like this in the future.”

“Aunt, you misunderstand me. I…”

“I talk about more than the secret code.” Gu Qinghan looked serious. “After you go back to the capital, the imperial court would probably tell you to inherit the title of Marquis of Honor. After you become the marquis, you need to be careful while doing or saying anything. You should be cautious when you are outside in front of the civil and military officials. And you can’t ignore the rules even in the marquis’ mansion like before.” She paused for a while and then added more seriously, “I am your aunt. You can’t speak randomly to me or disrespect me. If you can’t be well-behaved in front of me, how would you be cautious outside?”

Yang Ning didn’t expect that Gu Qinghan would overreact. He was clever. To be frank, he was quite attracted to such a young and beautiful woman like Gu Qinghan. He admired and respected her. Although he looked like the other teenagers, he was mature mentally. If he said that he didn’t have any improper feelings for her, he just cheated himself and others, but he showed respect to her, doing anything and speaking with caution in front of her at ordinary times.

Of course, he could notice that since last time, Gu Qinghan was sensitive to their relationship and tried to keep away from him. He was clear that she was afraid there might be trouble if they were close to each other as before.

However, he just joked this time and thought it didn’t matter much, but Gu Qinghan was so emotional, which was beyond his expectation.

Noticing Yang Ning’s frown, Gu Qinghan thought she had hurt his feelings. She cared about him a lot, so she softened her voice. “I do it for your own good. You are the eldest legitimate son of the Qi family and would inherit the title of Marquis of Honor. Many people pay attention to you. If you are careless, you would bring trouble not only on yourself but also to the whole family. Ning, do you understand?”

Yang Ning thought he was not the real heir of the Marquis of Honor and might disappear someday. If he was asked to protect Gu Qinghan alone, there was room to negotiate, but what did the Qi family have to do with him? However, he had to nod. “I see.”

Gu Qinghan seemed to feel the tense atmosphere and smiled faintly. “But Ning, the way you taught me today is really brilliant. I won’t be so tired when I check the accounts in the future. You did me a great favor.”

“What about the accounts here?” Yang Ning asked, “Is there anything wrong?”

Gu Qinghan shook her head and replied in a low voice, “The expenses and incomes of the old house are quite clear and there is nothing wrong. The tax from the fiefdom and the crops of the land this year were recorded in the account book in detail. According to the accounts, they collected twenty percent of the crops as the tax.” She wrinkled her brows. “Even the tax silver sent to the capital in late September was recorded in the account book clearly.”

Yang Ning leaned forward and whispered, “Are these false accounts? They were afraid that the marquis’ mansion would send somebody here suddenly, so they prepared the false accounts?”

“It’s possible.” Gu Qinghan responded softly, “I also doubt that there is something wrong in the account books, so I wanted to find the flaws, but I have found nothing till now.”

Yang Ning said gently, “They said that when they escorted the silver to the capital, the governor of Jiangling sent soldiers to protect them. When Qi Feng comes here tonight, we can tell him to check if it is true. What’s more, as the heir of the Marquis of Honor, I can find a reason to summon all the village heads in the fiefdom and ask them to their faces. If the people in the old house cheated, the village heads would expose them when they come.”