Inner Demons

Chapter 32: A Beautiful Flower

Once Li Yunxin and Old Daoist Liu left, the other side started scheming.

Qiao Jiaxin, listening to Li Yunxin, stopped speaking in her strange, sarcastic way. Instead, she walked over to the table and sat down, her eyes darting around before finally fixating on the feather duster in the vase, unable to look away.

Madam Qiao Wang, the main wife, looked at Qiao Jiaxin, then glared at Qiao Jiaming: "Have you howled enough? Get up! What a sight!"

Qiao Jiaming pouted and stood up, looking Qiao Jiaxin up and down, wanting to speak.

But the second wife, Madam Qiao Liu, quickly waved him over: "Come out, come out, quick, come out!"

Ultimately, she felt that Qiao Jiaxin might be possessed and was a little afraid. So, he dusted himself off and walked out.

Once the door was closed, the three of them instructed the servants to watch carefully, then walked towards the main house.

Qiao Jiaming used to slouch his shoulders when he came here, but now he strode confidently. As he walked past the flower garden, he saw a charming peony in bloom, reached out, snapped it off, and stuck it in his hair, humming a tune.

Madam Qiao Wang frowned: "Such a beautiful flower... Oh, never mind."

Qiao Jiaming laughed triumphantly: "Auntie is still the sensible one. My uncle's injuries look fatal; once he's gone, I'll be the only male heir in the Qiao Family. At that time, both aunts might have to live with me, so what are these flowers and plants? They're all mine! And Jiaxin—"Madam Qiao Liu glared at him: "Don't you dare think about her!"

Qiao Jiaming blinked strangely: "Ha? What kind of talk is that? She's not your biological child, aunts. Didn't she always give you a cold shoulder when she saw you? My sister followed the escort, exposing herself, and who knows if she's still pure? It would be her fortune if I took her—"

"You fool." Madam Qiao Liu reached out to pinch his ear. Madam Qiao Wang just watched them both, frowned, and said nothing.

"Didn't you see who sent them back? Young Master Yu of the Yu Family! The Dragon Head of the escort agency! I ask you, the Yu Family, even a guard from their household acts like we're beneath them. What good fortune did Qiao Duanhong, that dead ghost, cultivate in his past life for Young Master Yu to personally send them back and leave ten ingots of silver? Wasn't it because he fancied Jiaxin?"

Qiao Jiaming blinked: "Dragon Head? Young Master Yu? Yu Meng? Huh? Second Aunt, what you said makes sense."

He rubbed his hands together again, smiling sinisterly: "But if you ask me, although Yu Meng is a known fool in Weicheng, he certainly isn't lacking in women. Hmm... He probably just wants to play around... My cousin Jiaxin is indeed good-looking. Well... it's not too late after Young Master Yu gets tired of her. I can also take her as a concubine..."

Madam Qiao Wang frowned again, but after thinking for a moment, sighed: "Alas. Why say such things now? Your uncle's fate is still unknown. But that Young Master Yu seems to... to Old Daoist Liu..."

Qiao Jiaming snorted: "Who doesn't that fool treat well? He'll give a beggar an ounce of silver just from a fit of silliness. As for Old Daoist Liu, hmph... what did we discuss before? This escort mission failed, and we'll have to find money to compensate and appease, which might empty our family's coffers. That Old Daoist Liu, a rotten old man, has occupied such a good place like the Dragon King Temple for nothing. If you ask me, both aunts should bribe the Lord Prefectural Governor to accuse him of colluding with bandits and hijacking the escort, and then seize that Dragon King Temple for us—at current land prices in Weicheng, that property of his is worth three hundred taels of silver!"

"But... this Old Daoist Liu, after all, has some reputation," Madam Qiao Wang hesitated, "Other families also ask for his paintings, for example, the Zhang Family by Little Stone Bridge..."

Qiao Jiaming burst out laughing: "I say, aunts, you are womenfolk, after all, and don't go out much. Do you really believe everything that Old Daoist Liu brags about? He does have some reputation—who doesn't know he shamelessly goes to the gates of those wealthy families, begging them to buy his paintings? They buy one or two out of pity or annoyance, and then he comes to you, bragging that they begged for his paintings. You mention the Zhang Family by Little Stone Bridge—that time Old Daoist Liu was short of money and it happened to be a good weather year with no one going to the Dragon King Temple, so he ran to the Zhang Family's gatehouse and drank tea all day. It was the gatekeeper who got annoyed with him and gave him two jiao of silver to send him away!"

Madam Qiao Wang and Madam Qiao Liu exchanged surprised glances: "Is that really what happened?"

Qiao Jiaming pouted: "That rotten old man, hmph. And that kid, they're both colluding with bandits! Once we find someone to heal my cousin Jiaxin, we'll report them to the authorities!"

"But Old Daoist Liu said... once Qiao Duanhong wakes up, he'll know what happened..."

Qiao Jiaming turned his head, said nothing, and smiled: "Heh heh. That is, if he wakes up."

After this sentence, the three fell silent for a moment.