Remarrying Chun Yuan

Chapter 401 Exhaustion and Injury

"What merchant family is ever kind? Don't be fooled by the fact that the Duke of Baoguo bought double your family's property; he wanted something big!"

"I heard that the eldest daughter-in-law of the Liu family and the daughter of the Vice Minister of Revenue are best friends, and she has even been to the palace to meet her."

"Perhaps one of these two mansions is playing the good cop/bad cop game, so they can buy your mansion at a low price and you'll be grateful!"

"Did you buy it? Prove it!"

"There's no evidence for that, but with such a good deal, who wouldn't first ask their friends and family for it? Besides, in the Great Qi, the only ones who can afford it, and who have the guts and qualifications to buy it, aren't they the Liu family?"

"If the Liu family buys double the amount of the Duke of Wei's mansion and its belongings, they will be truly benefactors. Do you poor wretch even know how much silver it costs to maintain such a mansion?!"

"The Duke of Wei's mansion receives a stipend from the imperial court, a thousand taels of silver annually."

"A thousand taels? A thousand taels is nothing compared to the Duke's mansion! The annual summer and winter repairs alone cost more than a thousand taels!"

"Goodness, the expenses are really that high?"

"So the Duke of Wei's mansion is constantly living off its past wealth and squeezing out its reserves to keep itself afloat!"

……

The Duke of Wei's mansion was renowned, and people naturally talked about it with him as the main figure.

The Duke of Wei's mansion only made a couple of statements and then said nothing more. In any case, they had already made their stance clear, and they would just wait and see what happened next.

They also wanted to know who was behind this.

The Duke of Baoguo's mansion remained silent, and Yuan Cuo completely ignored the outside world's comments.

Liu Musheng was also bombarded with questions by a group of people, leaving him overwhelmed. He could only keep telling all the curious people that he knew nothing about this matter and that it was all just a hoax.

The only one who was terrified was Huang Wanwan.

Because she was indeed involved in this matter.

If it weren't for the lack of funds, she would have loved to join forces with Fang Ziqing alone. But the current situation was giving her nightmares. Who would have thought that the mansion Fang Ziqing mentioned was the Duke of Wei's mansion? Wasn't this deliberately digging a pit, just to bury her alive?

Huang Wanwan cried in anger inside the mansion.

No matter how Liu Musheng asked her, she refused to say anything, because this matter was too embarrassing.

After observing for two days, the Empress personally went to ask Fang Ziqing. Fang Ziqing only said that her father had taught her to do it, and she didn't know the specific reason.

"You are the Crown Prince's concubine, you have a brain. You do whatever Minister Fang tells you to do? If he tells you to die, would you also die?" The Empress was very dissatisfied and felt it was absurd.

The Crown Princess was astonished. After all, the Empress was the mother of the Great Qi, and she rarely spoke so harshly. What was wrong with her?

"Mother, please don't be angry. My sister is a well-behaved person. When she heard that her family needed help, she didn't ask too many questions or think about it carefully. Besides, the Liu family is indeed the one who benefits from this matter, so she was tempted to help her friend..." Now that the Eastern Palace is in ruins, the Crown Princess has no intention of suppressing Fang Ziqing. She only hopes that everyone in the Eastern Palace can be preserved.

The Empress scoffed, "The Liu family benefits? That's a nice way to put it. Let her go and ask them if they'll even acknowledge her if she invites anyone from the Liu family to come over again!"

Fang Ziqing knelt on the ground and sobbed. She had no idea that asking a simple question would cause such a big reaction.

"Father was at his wit's end, which is why he had this idea. Mother, please calm down. From now on, I will never interfere in state affairs again, and I will never dare to mention money again."

"From now on, you must ask the Empress Dowager before doing anything, understand?" the Crown Princess reminded her from the side. "No matter how much your father can't do, he is still the Vice Minister of Revenue, while we... have no other way but to rely on the Empress Dowager for protection."

Fang Ziqing nodded repeatedly, quickly admitting his mistake.

Seeing her soft and docile appearance, the Empress couldn't bring herself to scold her, no matter how angry she was.

"However, this also shows that the eldest daughter-in-law of the Liu family has other ideas as well."

The Empress was referring to Huang Wanwan, saying, "Send her a gift to apologize, and be sure to maintain a good relationship with her."

"This servant understands, this servant will go right away." Fang Ziqing quickly got up and went to get busy.

The Empress rubbed her temples. The reason she didn't reprimand him harshly was that she understood that Emperor Qi Xiao must be behind Minister Fang.

"I've also been having headaches lately, so I'll rest for a few days. I'll also skip the morning and evening greetings from the concubines and tell them they don't need to come." The Empress wanted to keep to herself and didn't want to help Emperor Qi Xiao save face.

She was really tired and injured.

……

Three days passed, but the people's discussions did not subside with time; instead, they intensified.

Several other mansions also began to display items for sale, waiting for people to make offers.

Moreover, they not only displayed them for sale, but also openly took them to the pawnshop, saying that since they had no home, what use were all these decorations?

When Fang Suozi found out, he was immediately startled.

He dared not accept the items casually, so he went to Liu Yuechu's side to ask, "...After all, we are a pawnshop, it would seem like we are taking advantage of you if we accepted the items."

"What do you mean by 'seemingly getting a good deal'? It means getting a huge good deal." Liu Yuechu listened to his roundabout way of speaking and clearly realized that he had his eye on it, but he didn't dare to because of the current situation.

“Yes, it’s about taking advantage. But should we take advantage of it or not?” Fang Suozi said. “Actually, even if the son-in-law buys double the items from them, he will still be questioned. We are no longer the Liu family of merchants, but the Duke of Baoguo’s mansion.”

"No matter how virtuous the Duke of Baoguo's family is, there are still those who resent the rich and are envious."

"And if we really don't accept a single item, people will question whether we were involved in the previous events..."

Liu Yuechu looked at him, her mouth practically watering with longing for money.

"Besides the Duke of Wei's mansion, what other residences are there?"

"And there's the Marquis of Wu'an's residence, the Marquis of Guannei's residence, the Earl of Zhongyong's residence..."

"Is there a Zhenning Marquis's residence?" Liu Yuechu asked directly.

Fang Suozi was taken aback. "The items in the Zhenning Marquis's mansion have already been pawned. What's on display now are just junk. Nobody would even look at them."

Liu Yuechu: "..." Wei Gongming left so completely?

“We’ll pick and choose a few items from the Marquis’s and Earl’s residences within the pass, but the items from the Marquis of Wu’an’s residence are 20% more expensive than those from other residences.”

“We will not accept a single item from the Duke of Wei’s mansion.”

Liu Yuechu made the decision directly.

Fang Suozi nodded in agreement. Although he wouldn't earn much, it was still better than earning nothing at all.

"So, will the palace really take back their mansions? And if they do, will they be sold off again?" Fang Suozi was very curious about this.

Liu Yuechu shook her head. "No, just give up on that idea."

Fang Suozi sighed, completely abandoning the idea. Otherwise, he would have also wanted to pay to live in a grand mansion that a duke or marquis once lived in; that would have been so impressive.

Liu Yuechu's words were not false.

Soon, the palace was thrown into a state of panic because of this incident.

Emperor Qi Xiao was put on the spot and had no choice but to deal with the matter.