Chapter 35 Decisive Prince of Yan
Hearing what Chu Weizhou said, she could tell that he had fallen for Jiang Yashuang’s trick before. And it happened yesterday. Qiu Yelan smiled. She didn’t try to cover up her gloating look.
Chu Weizhou looked her angrily and said to Chu Weize, “Weize, why are you with him?” His discontent with Jiang Yashuang showed between the lines.
“We met on the road,” Chu Weize was one year older than Chu Weizhou. He was 18. But he was way calmer than his brother. People couldn’t tell his att.i.tude towards Jiang Yashuang and Qiu Yelan from his expression at all. He was pleasant and graceful, “Weizhou, why are you here?”
“I was pa.s.sing by. I saw someone seeking justice. So, I stopped to take a look,” Chu Weizhou’s look was gloomy, “I didn’t think Commandery Princess Ningyi was so glib that she was able to pa.s.s the buck completely with a few words. Instead, she accused this poor couple for something they didn’t do. She even wanted to blame me.”
Qiu Yelan put on an innocent look, “Prince of Zhou, I can’t agree with you. First, I never blame you. Second, I said it was hard to tell whether this couple was blackmailing, or they were being wronged without trial. Was I wrong?” She kept on saying, “Even if they are really being wronged, they can seek justice through the law. What possible reason could they have smashing Renqing Pharmacy like this?”
Jiang Yashuang said immediately, “Commandery Princess Ningyi is right. A country has its laws and a family has its rules. Everything needs to follow the rules. Prince of Zhou, you are biased. You really have wronged Commandery Princess.”
“I can take the injustice. It’s just that Renqing Pharmacy is a decades-old shop. It’s not easy for two generations to build up its reputation. Now its reputation got trod on like this. It’s such a pity!” Qiu Yelan was choking with sobs.
“Alas! Prince of Zhou, you are truly reckless,” Jiang Yashuang sighed with pity and looked around, “The shop is also common folk’s property.”
Qiu Yelan cried sadly, “Grandfather is sick. He must take all his medicine every day. Ruan Family doesn’t have much property left nowadays. Renqing Pharmacy is the most important one. Grandfather’s medicine is stored in the warehouse at the back. I’m afraid to go back there to check until now. What if it’s ruined too…. My mom died last year. Now I only have my grandfather left in my mom’s family….”
Speaking of which, she cried out loud naturally!
Jiang Yashuang’s face went dark, “It’s really outrageous! They didn’t know whether Renqing Pharmacy gave them the wrong medicine or not. And they dared to ruin General Ruan’s medicine. General has dedicated his whole life to the country. Now he is sick. And he has to endure humiliation like this? They really aren’t taking the soldiers who dedicated their whole lives to the country seriously.”
Since Chu Weize couldn’t jump in while they were talking, he was asking Chu Weizhou about the detail. When he heard that, he frowned a little and approached, “Yashuang, please relax. I think these folks didn’t know General Ruan’s medicine was back there. Otherwise how dare they?”
He turned to Qiu Yelan reproachfully, “Normally, pharmacy doesn’t open during the first lunar month. Why do you leave General Ruan’s medicine in the pharmacy instead of taking it home? Now general can’t take his medicine in time. How can you fix it? In this case, I will try to find the missing medicinal materials for you.”
What he said was really smart. First, he blamed that family which was in mourning for destroying the medicine in order to get Prince of Zhou out of it. Second, he accused Qiu Yelan of not taking seriously of General Ruan’s medicine. Because she left General’s medicine in the pharmacy instead of at home. Finally, he tried to be the good guy.
However, Qiu Yelan wouldn’t fall for his trick. She said pitifully, “On behalf of my grandfather and cousin, thank you so much, Prince of Yan. Truth to be told, I had to leave my grandfather’s medicine here. It has been hard for General’s Family in these two years. Except for grandfather’s room, other places haven’t been fixed for years. If I put medicine in grandfather’s room, the smell is too thick for him. If I put medicine in other places, I’m afraid that the old rooms may have leaking roofs that will damage the medicine. So…”
Chu Weize frowned a little. He felt the situation was not good.
“If my cousin didn’t use his money to support the family after he was adopted by my grandfather, my grandfather wouldn’t be able to take the best medicine in the last few days,” Of course, Qiu Yelan hadn’t finished yet. She looked at him without a blink and said pitifully, “We won’t dream of repairing the whole General’s Mansion. It will cost five to six thousand taels of silver to just repair the medicinal materials storing warehouse. My cousin doesn’t have much money. And he needs to pay for my grandfather’s treatment. We really… really don’t have enough money!”
“Your Grace, why are you crying?” Jiang Yashuang added fuel to the fire calmly, “Hasn’t Prince of Yan already agreed to help you? You don’t need to worry about General’s medicine getting damaged anymore.”
Qiu Yelan turned to Chu Weize immediately with surprise, “Prince of Yan is willing to help Ruan Family repair the General’s Mansion?”
Chu Weizhou was so p.i.s.sed off that he snarled, “Don’t push your luck!”
“… I’m not an officer yet. I also don’t have much money,” Chu Weize stopped Chu Weizhou with a bitter smile, “I want to help you repair the whole General’s Mansion. But I can’t. I may be able to help you repair the medicinal materials storing warehouse,” he turned to his bodyguard, “Pick up six thousand taels of silver note after we get back and send it to General’s Mansion!”
“Your Highness, you are so righteous and easy-going! I can never repay you.” Qiu Yelan wiped her tears gratefully and kept thanking him, “You are such a nice guy!”
Listening to the familiar lines, Chu Weizhou felt unparalleled grievance and humiliation. He couldn’t help pulling Chu Weize’s sleeve violently and snarled, “Weize, don’t listen to her! Pretending to be poor is what she does! Before you guys got here, she was so glib. Now she is all about grievance and misery. How shameless!”
“Prince of Zhou, you are so mean!” Qiu Yelan showed him how to be shameless at once. She looked at him timidly. And then she hid behind Jiang Yashuang even more timidly. She showed half of her head and said with grievance and fear, “Prince of Yan, I don’t dare to take your money…”
Jiang Yashuang frowned, “Prince of Zhou, you are over the line indeed. Is it worthy of intimidating young Commandery Princess in public for just six thousand taels of silver? If this gets out, it won’t sound good, will it?”
Chu Weizhou snarled, “Jiang Yashuang! You have been acting against me on everything for these few days. And now you are obviously taking her side. What’s wrong with you? Don’t forget that she is Deng Yi’s fiancée. You come from a powerful family. Is your conscience clear that you are doing this?”
Qiu Yelan was stunned. She spat on Chu Weizhou’s shameless behavior inwardly. She thought Prince of Zhou was innocent. After she heard what he said, she knew that he shouldn’t be overlooked. Men and women’s relationship was the most complicated thing. Besides at this time, cousins would feel uncomfortable even their younger female cousins just holding their arms. Although Jiang Yashuang was calm, he was still young. How could he bear someone attacking him with this kind of thing?
Of course, Jiang Yashuang was stunned. He seemed to be very embarra.s.sed.
A complacent look flashed through Chu Weizhou’s eyes. He was about to keep on. Jiang Yashuang suddenly looked at the family which was in mourning and said in surprise, “According to what you said… Your Highness… But this family, I really don’t see anyone who is your type no matter how I look.”
Chu Weizhou was stunned. He looked at the same direction as Jiang Yashuang. He was checking out the wife and their eldest daughter. The wife was over 30 which was considered an old woman at this time. Moreover, she was probably ugly when she was young. And now she was a completely faded old woman. The eldest daughter was the one reminding her parents just now. She was 11 or 12. She looked smart with her big black eyes.
However, this girl might have suffered too much and it was cold. She was sniffling ceaselessly. Her dark and skinny face was badly chapped from the cold. Chu Weizhou’s unskilled maid (maids who only do the rough work) was way more good-looking than her.
After Chu Weizhou understood what Jiang Yashuang meant, he was furious, “Bulls.h.i.t! I was just pa.s.sing by. And I couldn’t stand them being wronged….”
“The court doesn’t rule yet. How do you know they are being wronged?” Jiang Yashuang said flatly, “Are you saying that whoever you see first is the one being wronged? How ridiculous!”
Chu Weizhou was so furious that he was shivering, “Fine! Let’s say that I was biased. But what did you mean just now? How… How can I lack beautiful women? That I will be this desperate?”
There might be no one who was willing to bet a few taels of silver on this mother and daughter in the gambling house. How could they seduce him?
What kind of person did he think he was? Would he take any women? Just as everyone knows, there were countless beautiful women in the brothels in the city. Among those women, there were countless prost.i.tutes who wanted to hook up with Chu Weizhou. But until now, there was only one woman he was willing to pay attention to. That woman was Hua Shenshen, the top prost.i.tute of Spring House, which was known as the number one brothel in the city.
He came to look for trouble in Renqing Pharmacy on that day. Backing up Gu Family was one of the reasons. But the main reason was Hua Shenshen was very unhappy because Ruan Qingyan chose to sponsor Penglai Yue of Jinpa Pavilion instead of her.
It would take a gorgeous and beautiful woman like Hua Shenshen who was also good at manipulating men to make Chu Weizhou do her bidding willingly despite her low status. Hus Shenshen represented his taste!
This mother and daughter were too much below standard. Being his maids would embarra.s.s him, okay?
At this very moment, Qiu Yelan muttered behind Jiang Yashuang, “Who knows if you want to try something new or not today….”
“Ahem!” Jiang Yashuang coughed immediately trying to cover up his irresistible laugh. Seeing this, Chu Weize knew it would be a mess afterward. He was decisive. He pulled his brother at once and said, “It’s the first lunar month. Everyone must be busy. There is no need to be locked in a stalemate for something beyond our jurisdiction. In my opinion, let’s do it like this. I will send someone to notify Governor Feng Rugui about this and ask him to investigate. How about this?”
Qiu Yelan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she looked at Jiang Yashuang inquiringly.
Jiang Yashuang smiled, “Feng Rugui was one of my family’s followers. I’m afraid that Prince of Zhou may be worried.”
“Yashuang, you must be kidding. Mother selected Feng Rugui by herself. He is the strictest and most impartial person. How can my brother be worried?” Chu Weize smiled gently, “We need to meet with our grandmother. We have to go now. Yashuang and Commandery Princess Ningyi please suit yourselves… Goodbye!”
After he said that, he did a fist and palm salute. Then he dragged unreconciled Chu Weizhou and walked away. He left decidedly!