Threads 250-Capital 2

“A statement has been prepared.” Yinhui slid a folded sheet of paper to her from across the table.

Ling Qi picked it up gingerly, unfolding it, and felt her eyebrows rise at the number of spirit stones listed there. It was enough to make her personal cultivation expenses irrelevant for years, if they were spent on just that. But she had peeked into Cai Renxiang’s planning, and she knew that the costs of building and running early settlements far exceeded those expenses. Even so, it was a princely sum.

“Isn’t just spirit stones kinda boring?” Hanyi interjected. “Shouldn’t there be, like, super cool treasures and stuff?”

“Hanyi,” Ling Qi scolded.

“Nah, any of the counts could offer spirit stones,” Sixiang drawled. “The squirt is right.”

“Both of your spirits are correct.” Meng Dan chuckled, steepling his fingers. “The spirit stones are the baseline. My grandmother and her peers have prepared a raft of other options for you to choose among. These are rather less prosaic options for payment, and I have been given leave to grant you any two of them.” A flick of his wrist brought forth a sheaf of densely written contracts, which he then fanned across the table. “I expect you will wish to read these in full, but if you would like, I can give you a summary.”

“Please.” Ling Qi sighed, eyeing the legal documents with some resignation.

“First, we offer a number of exclusive texts and melodies from the tradition of Grandmistress Lei. Not her works themselves, unfortunately, but these would be from musicians in the direct line of her descent, one of which you seemed to have acquired on your own,” began Meng Dan.

The Forgotten Vale Melody had long since been made a part of her, fueling the Mist of her domain. Ling Qi could think of nothing else that he could be referring to. “I’m surprised at such an offer given what I know of your clan.”

“Oh, it was a bit of a fight,” Meng Dan said lightly, brushing over it. “Nonetheless, we guarantee no reprisals. There are no complete arts among the offer, but a cultivator of your talent and stage will no doubt find insights among them.”

Reading between the lines, these were probably the copied physical notes of other musicians and cultivators from which she could create new arts or modify her own arts with relative ease. This compromise was likely to give the more conservative elements of the Meng clan some face in retaining their secrets.

“Go on,” prompted Ling Qi. It wouldn’t do to express interest yet.

“Second, we offer the services of a Meng geomancer for a period of ten years, fully paid for his time,” Meng Dan continued. “He will offer aid in constructing settlements and shaping your land. He will also be authorized to share the same level of our knowledge which is granted to our own barons and viscounts, and he will tutor up to six individuals in this knowledge.”

That was a good offer. Without the last part, she might worry that the Meng were intending to make Lady Cai dependent on them for maintenance and expansion. That they would explicitly not be sharing their full knowledge made her trust the offer more. Zhengui perked up at the mention of tutoring too.

“I see. And the others?” Ling Qi gestured to the remaining three contracts on the table.

“Perhaps a little less personally exciting, but we also offer a trade agreement.” Meng Dan tapped one of the remaining contracts with his finger. “Under this agreement, all goods originating in your land will be tariff-free for a period of one hundred years, and you will receive preferential rates on all other tolls and taxes.”

“It will probably be quite some time before we are producing anything worth trading.” Ling Qi said dubiously.

“Ah, but as far as imperial law is concerned, being written with war plunder in mind, goods from external polities originate with their first imperial ‘buyer.’ This is a loophole that will likely be closed in the future, if negotiations go our way, but for now, it is useful, no?”

Ling Qi didn’t exactly have a head for economics, but yes, she supposed she could see how that could be useful. By cutting the costs of importing goods to the bone, it would encourage more traders at least. It might make any efforts to open up Black Lotus Pass again less useful, though, hurting her efforts in the central valley. She waved him on.

“Next, I had noticed in our journey that your primary weapon talisman was out of date for your cultivation…” Meng Dan paused as he saw her expression. “My apologies, is something wrong?”

“It was destroyed recently, and it had some sentimental value,” Ling Qi explained tersely. She let out a breath as Hanyi hugged her arm. “Please continue. I really should have retired the flute sooner.”

He pursed his lips but gave a small nod. “Well, the Meng clan has a tradition of musicians, as you know. My grandmother can offer the services of a master crafter, one of my great-uncles who is a sixth realm specialized in instruments. You would need to provide the materials for this talisman though. Uncle is… eccentric and demands such from all his clients.”

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“Understandable.” What upper realm didn’t have eccentricities? She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do about her flute since she had no idea what she would do about materials yet.

“Might be something for our trips,” murmured Sixiang to her.