Lady of Fortune, Jiao Niang

Chapter 115

Ye Ping Rong also knew the Qi family medicine shop. Previously, when Meng Shi had pretended to be the proprietress of Meng's Medicine Shop, she had been invited by Dong Shi to have tea. Ye Ping Rong had also served as a guard outside for quite some time, and it was here that he had reunited with his little sister. Naturally, his memories of this place were fresh.

However, it was slightly different from that time. Now the Qi family medicine shop had grown much larger and looked much more impressive.

Although Fang Li was cautious and upright, he wasn't someone skilled at business research. After taking over the medicine shop, he could barely make ends meet and had no grand ambitions.

But after having a son, Fang Li was wholeheartedly focused on making the business bigger and bigger, using this to build a foundation for his wife and child. Naturally, he was willing to spend effort on various considerations and numerous plans. Within two years, he had expanded the Qi family medicine shop by half.

Previously, he had absorbed the shops on both sides. Now he had even acquired the one across the street.

The original Qi family medicine shop sold medicine, while across the street was a medical clinic where Doctor Li sat with several other doctors. Facing each other across the street, both businesses were thriving.

But since it was Qi family property, it naturally bore the Qi family name.

Looking at it, Ye Ping Rong thought that since it was his brother-in-law's property, he couldn't just stand by and ignore it. Even though he didn't believe the mad woman's words, he still needed to go take a look.

At worst, he was now a court official and could provide some support if something really happened.

Tie Zi was also anxious. He couldn't quite tell whether Ye Ping Rong was speaking sarcastically, and it wouldn't be good if Ye Ping Rong misunderstood his Second Young Master.

Hearing Ye Ping Rong's words, Tie Zi immediately responded and said: "I'll go take a look too." Then he quickly followed Ye Ping Rong.

As soon as they entered, Fang Li saw them.

Having someone invite Qi Yun was Fang Li's idea. This was Second Young Master's family matter, and he shouldn't interfere. He was here waiting for Qi Yun, but instead, Ye Ping Rong and Tie Zi arrived.

Because Fang Li had seen Ye Ping Rong when Second Brother Ye had caused trouble last time, and knew he was Second Young Mistress's biological brother, he immediately walked out and cupped his hands: "So Young Master Ye has come. I apologize for not welcoming you properly."

Ye Ping Rong returned the courtesy. After Tie Zi greeted Fang Li, he quietly asked: "Manager Fang, where are the people?"

Since Tie Zi was a capable person by Qi Yun's side, there was nothing to hide from him. Fang Li raised his hand and led them to the back courtyard.

While passing through the front hall, Tie Zi glanced around and saw that there was still a pile of broken porcelain pieces on the floor that hadn't been cleaned up yet. He couldn't help asking: "What happened here?"

Fang Li's face showed some helplessness: "Those few people were making such a racket when they were dragged in just now that they carelessly broke two vases. These were all fine white porcelain."

Tie Zi could hear Fang Li's heartache and quickly said a few consoling words before walking with him to the back courtyard.

As soon as they went over, they could hear a shrill voice from afar: "Make Qi Er come out! He's wronged my family, wronged my daughter! My family worked themselves to death for them, and this is the result we got. With their wealth and power, they still want to make trouble for us common people. The world is unfair, the world is unfair!"

Several people quickened their pace. Passing through the corridor, they saw a woman sitting on the ground, shouting while slapping her thighs and the ground. She was covered in dirt but had plenty of energy, sounding particularly vigorous.

Nearby, a young man was pulling at a teenage girl without saying a word. The girl especially had a pale face covered with tears, apparently frightened terribly.

On the other side were several shop assistants and Dong Shi, who was frowning as she looked at them.

Dong Shi was crystal clear about the identities of these three people.

The incident where Liu Shi had directly dismissed the little vixen's family to protect her daughter-in-law had spread throughout the entire town. When Dong Shi usually had tea and admired flowers with those women from other households, even the wives from official families in the city said Ye Jiao was fortunate to have her mother-in-law's care.

After all, for married women, the biggest mountain was getting along with their mother-in-law. The more the family belonged to officials, the more the mothers-in-law liked to cause trouble. Today they'd call their daughter-in-law to establish rules, tomorrow they'd stuff a concubine for their son. This was all common.

It wasn't that they deliberately caused household discord, but when the father's generation aged and had to rely on their son's abilities, if the son was won over by his wife, some mothers-in-law would feel their sons wouldn't be filial.

So they'd make a fuss and stir up trouble, breaking up the couple. As long as they could hold onto their son, that was fine. After all, in their hearts, daughters-in-law were just outsiders, and they didn't care how much suffering they endured.

Even worse was like the Wu family, where the mother-in-law indulged concubines to harm the legitimate wife to death. It was truly astounding.

Now, the Qi family's approach was naturally quickly taken as a positive example and rapidly spread by these daughters-in-law.

As the wife of a shopkeeper under the Qi family, Dong Shi had specifically inquired about it and quickly learned the whole story.

When this evil woman was making a scene on the street, she had targeted them and had people capture them and bring them in.

Actually, according to Dong Shi's temperament, when encountering such ruffians and scoundrels, she would have someone beat them up and then throw them out. Such people were bullies who feared the strong, and as long as you showed a little ruthlessness, they'd run faster than anyone.

But now Dong Shi couldn't take action. First, because these were old and young people, and beating them up might lead to lawsuits. Second, Dong Shi understood Liu Shi's meaning. Now Ye Jiao was pregnant and most needed to accumulate merit. Liu Shi, who ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddha's name, believed in such things. Dong Shi was afraid that if she beat them, even if it solved the problem, it would displease Liu Shi.

She and Fang Li ultimately had to make a living under the Qi family, so naturally they couldn't provoke the master's family's displeasure.

Therefore, Dong Shi only had people gag them and drag them inside so they wouldn't disturb the master's reputation outside, but she didn't know what to do next.

That Lady Li was still wailing: "The Qi family treats my son and daughter poorly! My daughter, a pure maiden, entered their family and was actually ruined and then thrown out. My son was doing well as a steward and was also driven away. How can our family survive, how can we survive!"

Fang Cao beside her trembled even more. Finally unable to bear it, she rushed up wanting to cover Lady Li's mouth.

It wasn't because her mother was lying with her eyes open, but because Lady Li was clearly ruining her reputation!

Actually, when Fang Cao was driven out by the Qi family earlier, she hadn't thought much of it. It was just that her seduction failed and she lost a job. After all, she hadn't signed an indenture contract, so she could just do other things after leaving.

But when Fang Cao returned home, she learned that their entire family had been driven out by the Qi family.

Her father and elder brother were driven from the estate, and her mother was also expelled by the Qi family. Especially because of this failed seduction, several servant women her mother had paid to help were all ferreted out by Qi Yun and cleared out. This caused those servant women to take revenge on Lady Li, beating her severely to vent their anger.

When the family of four gathered together, they had all lost their jobs and the family had no income.

And who within ten li around here didn't receive the Qi family's favor? They all avoided them when they saw them.

Only then did Fang Cao understand that things had blown up.

After all, she was just a young lady who didn't understand the world. Besides crying, she couldn't do anything.

But before she finished crying, she heard that her parents wanted to send her to be a concubine for an old wealthy man.

Fang Cao knew that person, someone with one foot in the grave. His legitimate wife was jealous and had beaten countless concubines to death. If she went there, would she have any life left?

She stubbornly refused to go, even threatening to die if forced.

Later, her parents said they had thought of a solution and even bought her bright clothes. Who knew the solution they thought of was to make a scene in town!

Even though Fang Cao was young, she felt that as long as they left this place and found somewhere else to seek other opportunities, they could always survive. But her parents, for the sake of seeking prospects for her elder brother, had thrown her away.

First, they threw her away to seduce Second Young Master, then they wanted to sell her to be someone's concubine, and now they were out here ruining her reputation.

It didn't seem like treating a daughter, but like treating a speechless cat or dog.

Fang Cao suddenly felt that her family members had all become very strange and unfamiliar. That's why she was shaking with fear.

But when Lady Li kept shouting endlessly, Fang Cao cried and threw herself forward: "Mother, stop talking, please stop talking. If you do this, how can your daughter face people in the future?"

But Lady Li was single-mindedly scheming for her son and couldn't care about her daughter's reputation at all. Seeing Fang Cao trying to cover her mouth, Lady Li pushed her away and pointed at her while scolding: "Useless thing, what are you standing there for? Cry for me, shout for me, incompetent girl, raising you was truly in vain!"

Fang Cao had always been prepared to be sent as a concubine and had been pampered. With this push, her hand was bleeding. Her hand hurt and her heart hurt. For a moment, she cried so hard she couldn't say anything.

When several men walked over, they saw this chaotic scene, with Dong Shi standing to the side looking disgusted.

It wasn't that she couldn't see through their intentions. On the contrary, Dong Shi could see very clearly, but the clearer she saw, the more annoyed she became.

What kind of family was this? The roots were all rotten.

Seeing Fang Li and the others arrive, Dong Shi quickly stepped forward, greeted each of them, then stood to the side. Obviously, she didn't want to deal with it anymore, afraid that if she opened her mouth, she'd beat up that unreasonable old harridan sitting on the ground and throw her out.

But Tie Zi didn't have so many concerns. He was someone by Qi Yun's side, and everything had to prioritize Qi Yun. Others weren't important.

Now hearing Lady Li speak so outrageously, he called for people: "Go, gag her mouth for me."

The assistants nearby were also getting headaches from the noise. Now seeing someone who could make decisions had come, they immediately rolled up their sleeves and went forward, directly pressing down Lady Li and using cloth to gag her mouth.

Even though Lady Li had the strength of a laborer, she couldn't resist them. Without much struggle, she was tied up.

When her son Li Da Lang nearby tried to come protect her, the assistants weren't so polite with him. One kick sent him sprawling.

Tie Zi took this opportunity to inquire with Dong Shi in detail about what had happened.

When asking, Tie Zi specifically made clear: "This is Second Young Mistress's brother, just returned from the capital. He probably doesn't know the family affairs clearly. Lady Dong, please speak in detail."

The implication was to have Dong Shi be selective and not let Ye Ping Rong misunderstand.

Dong Shi could understand Tie Zi's meaning and knew his intentions, but she didn't feel there was anything to hide.

Not only was there no need to conceal anything, she should praise greatly. A gentleman like Second Young Master was truly rare in this world. She wouldn't be comfortable without praising him several times!

So, after Dong Shi finished speaking, Tie Zi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking "fortunately, fortunately" while his face showed righteous indignation: "So that's what happened! They really wasted Madam's good intentions. She originally wanted to settle things properly, but they didn't know what's good for them. They truly have no shame."

Ye Ping Rong patted Tie Zi's shoulder and said indifferently: "I said before that my brother-in-law is good. He wouldn't do such things."

Hearing this, both Dong Shi and Fang Li nodded. Who didn't know that Second Young Master and his wife were deeply in love? These few were just trying to extort money. Only fools would believe them.

Only Tie Zi had a complex expression, because he knew Ye Ping Rong trusted his Second Young Master not because of emotional reasons, but because of his poor physical condition... He really didn't know whether he should defend Second Young Master.

In the end, Tie Zi chose to pretend not to know, silently apologizing to Second Young Master in his heart, while his eyes looked toward Lady Li.

Seeing that woman's behavior just now, he knew she was crazy. Tie Zi was too lazy to be polite with her and had her continue being gagged. Tie Zi then looked at Li Da Lang nearby: "You, speak clearly. What exactly did you come for?"

Before coming, Li Da Lang had already calculated everything. Now when Tie Zi asked, he stuck out his neck and said: "Give us a sum of money, and we'll leave."

Lady Li also stopped struggling and looked at Tie Zi expectantly.

But little did they know, Tie Zi, Fang Li, and Dong Shi were all thinking the same thing: as expected.

Only Ye Ping Rong frowned and said: "Since my brother-in-law has nothing to do with this woman, and you were at fault first, why should we give you money?"

At these words, Tie Zi coughed lightly and walked to Ye Ping Rong's side: "Young Master Ye, with reasonable people we reason, but with unreasonable people, we..." When he got to this point, Tie Zi suddenly stopped speaking.

He remembered these words. Qi Yun had once said this to him, right outside the Qi family's main gate, when a group of women had cursed Second Brother Ye and his wife. His Young Master had said this to him then.

'The affairs of this world aren't such that just because you want to be reasonable, there will always be someone to reason with you. With people who care about face, we talk about face with them. With people who don't care about face, we just tear off their face and trample on it. With reasonable people, we reason. If they won't reason, there's always the authorities. We can't let ourselves suffer losses.'

Tie Zi might not be thoroughly understanding in many matters, but from the day he started following Qi Yun, he had decided that whatever Young Master said was right.

Turning Young Master's words over in his mind, soon Tie Zi had an idea in his head.

Just then, Tie Zi heard Li Da Lang say through gritted teeth: "You're just bullying us helpless people because of your wealth and power. Let me tell you, don't look down on the poor young."

Don't look down on the poor young?

At these words, Tie Zi immediately raised his eyebrows: "Oh, what, you want to take revenge?" Then, before Li Da Lang could say anything more, Tie Zi turned to look at Dong Shi and asked: "Did they break anything just now?"

Hearing this, Dong Shi immediately pointed toward the front hall: "Naturally they did. The two vases I had displayed there were smashed to pieces by them."

Tie Zi immediately turned to look at Lady Li and Li Da Lang, saying: "Listen clearly. Now, pay for the vases."

Dong Shi understood: "Thirty strings of cash, not one coin less."

Li Da Lang's face turned red with anger as he shouted: "Why should we pay? It was clearly broken when you dragged us just now!"

Tie Zi stared at him: "If you have no money to pay, that's fine too. Tie them up and take them to see the magistrate. I think the magistrate can give you justice." Then Tie Zi bowed to Fang Li: "Please ask Manager Fang to serve as a witness and explain clearly to the county magistrate. After all, thirty strings is not a small amount. We can't let the shop suffer losses."

Before Fang Li could react, Dong Shi was the first to respond: "Don't worry, we have our principles." Then Dong Shi narrowed her eyes as she looked at them.

She hadn't acted before because she was considerate of the master's thoughts. Now it was good, they had an excuse to send them to the authorities. Whether they'd get beaten with sticks or thrown in jail would depend on them.

Only Li Da Lang was taken away, since he was the male of the family. When something happened, naturally he had to take responsibility.

Lady Li couldn't care about making scenes anymore and cried as she chased after Li Da Lang. After all, she was just a common street woman with little knowledge. She might be good at making scenes, but when it came to dealing with officials, she became cowardly. She only thought about going to the authorities to plead for mercy, completely forgetting about the accusations she had just made against the Qi family.

Only Fang Cao, watching her mother and brother leave, wiped her tears. Her pale face showed changing expressions, sometimes fearing her parents' beatings and scolding, sometimes fearing that when she returned, she'd be sold to that old wealthy man as a concubine to await death.

Finally, she chose to silently slip into the crowd and disappeared.

Dong Shi kept Ye Ping Rong and Tie Zi to stay for a meal, with the reasonable excuse: "If the master knew Young Master Ye came but left on an empty stomach, the master would probably blame us."

Ye Ping Rong didn't refuse and ate lunch at the Qi family medicine shop.

When the two mounted their horses again to continue their journey, Ye Ping Rong suddenly said: "Your full name is Su Zheng, right?"

This name was given to Tie Zi by Qi Yun before going to the capital. Tie Zi worshipped Qi Yun like a deity, so naturally he remembered clearly the name Qi Yun had given him.

With a big smile on his face, Tie Zi said: "Yes, that's what I'm called. Isn't it nice? Young Master gave it to me."

Ye Ping Rong nodded and said: "Then, Su Zheng, if you ever have the heart to join the military, come find me."

Tie Zi: ...

What direction was this going?

However, Ye Ping Rong had only mentioned it suddenly and didn't say anything more. He spurred his horse and rode away. Tie Zi quickly followed, and the two rode one after another toward the Qi family.

When they reached the Qi family's main gate, they happened to see a carriage parked outside.

Entering, they indeed saw Qi Ming already sitting inside.

Originally, Ye Jiao rarely left her courtyard these days, but she wanted to see Ye Ping Rong early, so she had followed Qi Zhao to the front hall to wait. She was now talking with Qi Ming.

Seeing Ye Ping Rong enter, Ye Jiao immediately stood up with a bright smile on her face: "Elder Brother, you've finally returned."

At these words, Ye Ping Rong felt his nose tingle.

Speaking of it, when Ye Ping Rong was fighting desperately on the battlefield, he didn't even blink. When he accompanied Chu Chengyun through life-and-death situations in the capital, he could remain composed.

But this single "Elder Brother" from his little sister could bring out all his tenderness.

However, Ye Ping Rong didn't dare go over. His eyes stared directly at Ye Jiao's slightly protruding belly: "This is, my great-nephew?"

Xu Bao was also nearby, swinging his little legs as he sat in Qi Yun's arms listening to the adults talk. Hearing this, Xu Bao said crisply: "It's Xu Bao!"

Ye Ping Rong looked over and was stunned again: "Xu Bao can talk now?"

Qi Yun immediately carried Xu Bao over, first saying gently to Ye Ping Rong: "Elder Brother." Then he whispered to Xu Bao: "Call Uncle."

Xu Bao had never heard this title before. He blinked, pursed his little mouth, and softly said: "Choo-choo."

Ye Jiao: ...

Qi Yun: ...

But Ye Ping Rong burst into laughter. His laughter was hearty, and being tall with a broad chest, his laughter was much louder than others.

Hearing this, Xu Bao actually leaned back a bit, but wasn't afraid. Instead, he stared at Ye Ping Rong with wide eyes, his mouth slightly open, looking particularly surprised.

Ye Ping Rong then picked up this little treasure and lifted him high.

Xu Bao immediately giggled, thinking this "choo-choo" was wonderful.

However, Ye Ping Rong had serious business this time. Since Qi Ming was also there, he only played with Xu Bao for a while. Seeing Xu Bao was tired, he handed him back to Qi Yun.

As soon as Xu Bao was received by his daddy, he immediately hugged Qi Yun's neck tightly and lay softly in his arms, panting from exhaustion but still laughing cheerfully. He looked like he had played happily.

Ye Ping Rong then took out a box from his chest and solemnly handed it to Qi Ming: "This is what Third Master asked me to bring you. Keep it safe."