Chapter 130.2
Thank you to an anonymous reader for the Ko-fi!
Editor: Casey
Shi Qing’s maidservants felt like Qing-er was becoming stranger and stranger these days.
Instead of having one of the beautiful and delicate maidservants or an obedient manservant wait on him, he insisted that vicious and wicked-looking brute Jiang Bieyu do it.
When had Shi Qing ever had anything less than the best growing up? The maidservants responsible for cleaning him up didn’t do the least bit of rough work usually for fear of making their hands rough and causing their delicate little master discomfort.
But Shi Qing insisted on Jiang Bieyu cleaning him.
Every day, the maidservants could only watch with their hearts in their throats as the tall, fierce-looking man washed Shi Qing’s face, changed his clothes, and then washed his feet at night.
It wasn’t that they were afraid of Jiang Bieyu suddenly flipping out. Although they were still afraid of this man who looked very aggressive, they also knew that he wouldn’t hurt Shi Qing.
The only thing they’re worried about was that this guy might not be able to serve the little master properly.
On the tenth day that Jiang Bieyu came to the Shi family…
Father Shi was feuding with the Jiang family, demanding that his daughter be allowed to divorce Jiang Liye.
Jiang Liye and Shi Qing went ice skating together. Despite him obviously being the one who brought it up, he laid all the blame at his young brother-in-law’s feet when something went wrong. Word of that got out as well as the news that the two families were at odds.
As a matter of fact, just as Shi Qing said before, no one thought it was wrong for Father Shi to bring up divorce.
Who was Shi Qing?
He was the only son of the Shi family.
Jiang Liye had offended him severely enough to become public knowledge. The fact that Father Shi was only asking for a divorce instead of his head was already quite considerate.
If their only son who they spoiled rotten was allowed to be disrespected like this, who would take the Shi family seriously in the future?
The outside world was in turmoil, but the instigator, Shi Qing, lived in peace in the manor like he didn’t know anything.
He was always with Jiang Bieyu.
The little master never said anything, but ever since the last time in the palanquin, he has been more indulgent with Jiang Bieyu than he was with others.
They ate, drank, and played together. The first person he saw in the morning was Jiang Bieyu, and the last person to put him to sleep at night was also Jiang Bieyu.
Shi Qing hid away in his study, saying that he was studying. But in reality, he was still nestled in the arms of the tall man as they read the play he had secretly hidden there beforehand.
These days, if Shi Qing was an emperor, he would probably be a really negligent one.
He acted like everything would be fine if he didn’t go out and just cuddled with Jiang Bieyu everyday.
When he really starts to get lazy and attach himself to someone, that person would need a heart of steel for it to not waver.
At least Jiang Bieyu’s animosity value went from 69 all the way down to 63.
After that, it stopped just above 63 and didn’t move again since.
The System saw that its Host’s prediction had come true. The animosity value really did stop going down at a certain point. Thus, it gradually became anxious.
On this particular day, Shi Qing was again holding a book and pretending to read.
Father Shi had quite the temper from feuding with the Jiang family these days. Part of his bad mood was because he had to see the Jiang family’s sons #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 every time he went over to their manor.
The most annoying thing in his life was a family with many sons.
So what if you have a lot of sons?
Was it really that impressive?!
Did having many sons mean you can bully people?!?
Although he only had one son, quality was more important than quant.i.ty.
He was so smart, and his wife wasn’t dull either, so why was Shi Qing such a mess??
In any case, even if his son really was a mess, Father Shi had to gather him into some semblance of order so that he could one day take over the grand family business.
So Shi Qing was ordered to read in his study and could not go anywhere else.
But when there’s a will, there’s a way. He wasn’t allowed to go anywhere, but his father didn’t say that no one else could come in to see him.
As long as Jiang Bieyu could come in.
As he was pretending to study, the door was pushed in. The tall man walked in, without saying anything and came straight over.
Ever since Shi Qing said he disliked his voice last time, Jiang Bieyu had tried not to speak.
Even if he did open his mouth, it was to someone else and not this little master of the Shi family.
As soon as he saw him enter, Shi Qing lazily crooked his finger to tell him to come closer.
When Jiang Bieyu came to him, the little master smoothly leaned into his arms, his soft voice complaining petulantly, “There’s no fireplace in the study, only a fire pit. I’ve been here for almost half an hour! I am very sore, what took you so long?”
The man didn’t say anything. He reached out and picked Shi Qing up like a child, hugging him and basically using his own body heat to warm Shi Qing.
The little master settled down.
He reached out and grabbed Jiang Bieyu’s hand, playing with the long, slender fingers while whispering:
“I’ve heard that the Jiang family refuses to let my sister go, and Father thinks it isn’t the right time to sever all ties with them. Is that true?”
“En.” Jiang Bieyu answered with one word in a deep voice.
Just as he answered, he felt the soft little hand gripping him tighten violently.
He looked down and saw the little master of the Shi family had a sullen look on his face, cursing openly, “Who gave that Jiang family the audacity to do this? If they really valued my sister, why didn’t they treat her well in the first place? I can’t believe they have the face to stop us from bringing her back now. Pei, how shameless.”
His body was lazy, but the hands that were holding the man felt like they were itching to hit the Jiang family.
“Father can’t give up his face, but I can! He’s an elder so it’s hard for him to criticize his juniors, but Jiang Liye and I are of the same generation. If he shamelessly refuses to release my sister, I’ll come to his door and scold him personally, so that he’ll know not to mess with my Shi family!”
Jiang Bieyu looked at the little master displaying his teeth and claws, as well as the fierce look in his eyes.
In the back of his mind, he thought it would be a bad idea for Shi Qing to go scold Jiang Liye.
His voice was just too soft for that. Jiang Bieyu knew he was deliberately trying to appear intimidating right now, but Shi Qing’s tone was still very delicate. It was so sweetly coquettish that it made others want to hold him in their arms and dote on him.
Before he spoke up, the little master himself dismissed the idea.
“No, I won’t go scold him.” He fumed, leaning indignantly into the man’s arms and coldly snorting, “If I were to stand at his door and scold him, wouldn’t I lose the moral high ground and make a joke of myself?”
Jiang Liye was still his brother-in-law after all.
Shi Qing suddenly sat up straighter in Jiang Bieyu’s arms. He turned and gently patted the man’s cold, hard cheek with a serious expression.
“I’ve decided to go into business.”
“One cannot go without rice for a day, I want to monopolize all the rice and grain coming to and from Crane City. As long as his Jiang family does not agree to sign those divorce papers, they will not be able to buy even a single grain from outside.”
Jiang Bieyu was silent.
It was a good idea, he thought.
But the problem was how difficult it would be to implement.
To control all the rice and grain coming and going to and from Crane City and even the stockpiles within the city, not to mention Shi Qing, even Father Shi would have to prepare quite a bit.
Even if a little master like Shi Qing, who has always been kept in the courtyard, was smart enough, it was still too difficult to put his plan into action.
Still, although he was thinking that on the inside, after taking a look at the little master who acted like victory was within his grasp, Jiang Bieyu didn’t bother saying anything.
Instead, he thought about how he could comfort the little master who had never tasted defeat later.
However, Shi Qing’s plan went much more smoothly than Jiang Bieyu had imagined.
After all, he didn’t need all those twists and turns.
Did the little master of the Shi family need all kinds of plans to get rid of someone? No!
He could just go for it!
But before that, he had to get a little financial support, of course.
Shi Qing got up and scampered off to find his father.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t at home at the moment.
He was at the Jiang family manor.
And he was furious.
Father Jiang’s been chatting about every topic under the sun but the divorce.
And when Father Shi brought it up, Father Jiang sighed and pretended to be helpless.
“Shi-xiong, I know you love Xi-er, but this is a matter between children. We elders should not get involved.
The way he downplayed things, like his Xi-er’s humiliation by Jiang Liye and him falsely accusing Qing-er were all trivial matters…
Father Shi was so enraged that he wanted to throw the cup of tea in his hand in Father Jiang’s face.
However, he couldn’t do that.
The King was in charge of Crane City, and the Jiang family was also working for the King, just as Father Jiang had said.
It’s okay for children to make a scene, but if their elders follow suit and antagonize each other…
When the time comes, whoever makes the first move will have their reputation tarnished and might even be forced to back out of this power struggle.
Father Shi was seething.
In the end, he couldn’t erase all of his discontent from his expression. He could only continue to endure until he was green and blue and head back home for the day.
As soon as he returned, he ran into his son, who was waiting for him in his study.
Shi Qing was happy to see him. He ran up and pulled out his hand.
“Father, give me some money.”
Father Shi was so angry at his heartless lack of tact that he nearly pa.s.sed out.
Aiyo, what kind of sins had he committed to deserve this?
Did someone switch out his actual child at birth? How come his own son was like this??
After successfully getting money from Father Shi, Shi Qing began his plan for revenge.
The Jiang family started out as a military family. So unlike those large families who tend to be prepared, or the Shi family who began as a merchant family with a wide variety of shops and a large amount of land. Their primary source of income came from rental properties and the money changers they had opened before the Shi family arrived.
Recently, business has taken a downturn. They wouldn’t have refused to let Shi Xi leave otherwise.
She was, after all, the legitimate daughter of the Shi family. If she didn’t leave and had children, could her family really refuse to help out a little?
In any case, the Jiang family has no granaries of its own.
Thus, they had to buy from the grain shops in Crane City.
Shi Qing bought all these shops outright with the start-up capital from Father Shi.
The merchants who came and went had to replenish their goods, and most of the shops in Crane City were either owned by the Shi family or had them as an investor. Shi Qing then stepped out as the little master of the Shi family and made it clear to the world that:
Anyone who sells a grain of rice to the Jiang family is my, Shi Qing’s, enemy.
Would I sell something to my enemy?!
I won’t!!!
I’m sure you get what I’m trying to say.
The merchants: “……”
So capricious?
There was nothing they could do but play dead when the Jiang family came.
Why could they recognize the Jiang family’s people?
Because the little master of the Shi family had sent people to watch the entrance of the Jiang family manor. Anyone coming out was immediately tailed by two or three people.
They didn’t do anything but follow them from the time they left the house to the time they returned. Even at night.
You wanted to lose them in the crowd? With a ratio of 1:5, those who could escape their detail were either immortal or could ascend to heaven.
You wanted to report them to the authorities? Who said that only the Jiang family could walk down this street?
The Jiang family’s previous leftover rice and grain were quickly eaten.
If this goes on, things would really be like Shi Qing had foretold. Despite having mountains of gold and silver, they wouldn’t be able to buy a single grain of rice.
Now in the Jiang manor, the masters still had food to eat, but the servants were so hungry that they couldn’t stand it anymore.
You couldn’t even eat your fill in the household of the Jiang family of Crane City.
People would laugh their heads off if news of this got out.
Father Jiang was ordered by his father to come to the Shi family.
He was now lacking his previous courage. With an ugly expression, he talked about the matter of Shi Qing targeting the Jiang family.
Father Shi smiled, his tone deliberately light as he returned this guy’s previous words.
“We elders should not get involved in the matters between children. Between brother-in-law and brother-in-law, how can there be any enmity?”
Hahahahaha!
Sure enough, my Qing-er’s smart too.
There’s no doubt he’s a son of mine!