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墨書 Inktalez
"You... what nonsense are you talking about?" Qiu Mingqi's face turned pale after hearing her words, and he angrily retorted, "Why would the esteemed Marquis Residence need to sell shops? Don't slander the reputation of the Marquis Residence!" This damned woman was constantly opposing him; it was simply asking for trouble.
"Is that so?" Seeing his anxious expression, which showed no embarrassment, she realized that Qiu Mingqi was unaware of the situation at home. She curled her fingers and said slowly, "The Embroidered Shop, the teahouse, and a Small Tavern on East Street... these should belong to the Qiu Family... oh no, I should say they are your mother's dowry." With each word she spoke, Qiu Mingqi's expression darkened further, and she continued nonchalantly, "But I wonder why they are being sold one by one?"
"You... you're talking nonsense," Qiu Mingqi was a spoiled young master who felt guilty when it came to serious matters, and his expression grew tense. "My family has plenty of silver. I still need to marry a wife and take concubines. My mother even gave me five thousand taels of silver to carry with me. Look..." As he spoke, he pulled out a stack of banknotes from his clothes to convince everyone that Zhu Qingluan was lying.
When Zhuang Youlan saw Qiu Mingqi casually pull out a stack of banknotes, her eyes lit up. She thought about how indifferent Xuanyuan Rui had been towards her and decided to hold onto Qiu Mingqi tightly. She scoffed disdainfully and mocked Qing Luan, "Hmph, just because you've lost your shops and taverns doesn't mean everyone else is as unfortunate as you. Your heart is too malicious and despicable!"
Xuanyuan Rui remained silent. He seemed to be casually standing aside but was actually keeping a close watch on the group. Anyone who acted against Qing Luan would find themselves at his mercy; he would make them cry for their mothers.
Qing Luan couldn't be bothered to respond to Zhuang Youlan. In her mind, she thought it might be interesting not to expose Qiu Mingqi's true nature until Zhuang Youlan married him and discovered that his family was just an empty shell, unable to maintain even a basic living without relying on her dowry. However, she also considered that the Marquis Residence itself was an empty shell; the Old Madam's greatest desire at that moment was to find her son a respectable girl with a substantial dowry. There was no way she would look at someone like Zhuang Youlan.
A dealer could never provide more than sixty-four taels in dowry, so this spectacle was something she couldn't witness; she could only continue poking at Qiu Mingqi's heart until he cried back to his mother.
"The corners of these banknotes are all marked with five hundred taels each, and there's a black five-pointed star mark in the right corner," having said this much, if Qiu Mingqi didn't check, he would truly go mad. However, once he did check, he would be even more frantic... no, he would be insane.
In truth, Qing Luan hadn't expected to encounter these people today; she had only wanted to teach Qiu Mingqi a lesson for constantly trying to belittle her so that he wouldn't even realize when his family fell apart.
Sure enough, after hearing her words, Qiu Mingqi inexplicably opened a stack of banknotes and saw the marks in the right corner. He was utterly dumbfounded.
"This... this is impossible! You... you're lying to me!" The truth was right in front of him, yet he still found it hard to accept.
"Go," Qing Luan said coldly upon seeing his shrinking expression. Losing interest in teasing him further, she turned to leave.
" Luan'er," Xuanyuan Rui's sudden voice made Qing Luan stop in her tracks and left the others stunned.
"General Xuanyuan... do you know Miss Zhu?" Zhuang Jianming stammered in shock.
Qing Luan didn't answer; she merely stared at Xuanyuan Rui, unsure of what he intended—his appearance today had been quite strange, leaving her confused. She hesitated to engage with him but now that he had spoken up, she blinked in curiosity and awaited his response.
“Qiu Mingqi…” Xuanyuan Rui did not answer them directly, but instead provided a shocking revelation. “The girl you want to take as a concubine is the one I, Xuanyuan Rui, wish to marry as my legitimate wife, carried into the General's residence in a grand bridal sedan chair…”
“What?” At this moment, there was no need for further words; Qiu Mingqi knelt down immediately.
“Xuanyuan Rui?” Qing Luan looked at him in disbelief, stunned into silence for a long while.
“General, you can’t mean… no, it’s impossible,” Zhuang Youlan said, shaking her head in denial after a moment of shock. Her voice sharpened as she continued, “The Emperor has already granted a marriage decree. Xuanyuan General is to wed Miss Jing'er from the Prime Minister's Residence. This news has spread throughout the capital. You don’t intend to defy the Emperor’s order and refuse the marriage, do you?!”
Fortunately, she often ventured outside and had heard some rumors; otherwise, she would have been completely fooled by Xuanyuan Rui today.
Hmph, Zhu Qingluan wouldn’t have such good fortune. If she could marry Xuanyuan Rui, she would be able to enter the palace as a consort herself.
“ Luan'er, let’s go!” Xuanyuan Rui did not explain anything further; he simply took Qing Luan's small hand and they strode away confidently. No one dared to stop them, especially not the group of stunned onlookers.
“What… what is going on here?!” Qiu Mingqi sat weakly on a stone stool, trembling as he asked.
“…” No one could answer him; no one knew when Zhu Qingluan had become involved with Xuanyuan Rui. They were completely caught off guard and had no inkling of any rumors—this took them all by surprise.
If they had known that Zhu Qingluan was connected to such a powerful figure, they certainly would not have dared to trouble her.
“This Zhu Qingluan might not be simple,” Zhuang Jianming suddenly murmured as everyone remained in shock.
“Brother, what do you mean by that?” Zhuang Youlan questioned sharply, thinking her brother had taken an interest in Zhu Qingluan.
Zhuang Jianming had truly given up on this sister and didn’t want to dwell on it too much; he simply voiced his thoughts. “Just now, she was able to detail the properties within the Marquis's Residence, even knowing the amounts and markings of items sold. Do you think this is something an ordinary person could know?”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone’s expressions grew even more serious.
Marquis's Residence
"Mother," Qiu Mingqi rushed into the Marquis Residence, throwing a pile of silver notes in front of his mother, demanding loudly, "Where did these silver notes come from?"
Madam Marquis initially smiled at the sound of her son's voice, but when he burst in and tossed the silver notes at her, she froze. A myriad of emotions flickered in her eyes as she struggled to speak for a long moment.
Seeing her expression, Qiu Mingqi immediately understood that what Zhu Qingluan had said was true. He shouted angrily, "Did you really sell...?" His words were abruptly interrupted by Madam Marquis, who ordered the maids and servants still lingering in the hall to leave. Soon, only the two of them remained.
"My dear ancestor, lower your voice! Do you want to make this a public scandal?" Madam Marquis covered his mouth while trying to calm him down.
With a heavy sigh, he forcefully pried her hand away and took a deep breath to regain his composure. He sat down on a chair and looked at her, asking, "Mother, did you really sell your dowry to fill the household's needs?"
"Alas," seeing her son's incredulous expression made Madam Marquis feel a pang of sadness. She gazed at her naive son and slowly began to share the pain she had kept buried inside. "What you said is true, Qi'er. If I hadn't sold those shops, how could we afford so many servants? How could we live such a luxurious life?"
"What about Father? Can't we even scrape together that little bit of silver in the Marquis Residence?" He was used to living in luxury; how long could they rely on his mother's dowry?
"Your father?" Madam Marquis scoffed bitterly as she sat down beside him, wiping away her tears with a forced smile. "He only knows about frivolities and believes that the Marquis Residence still has its former glory. He has no idea that it has long been empty. If I hadn't sold my dowry, we would have had to sell off our servants by now and live beyond our means."
"How... how could this happen?" Qiu Mingqi was stunned; this time, he was genuinely frightened.
"Qi'er, since you know now, I won't hide it from you any longer," seeing her son's disbelief pained her heart. But now that it had come to this, she decided to be straightforward and tell him the best way to resolve their situation. "I sold my dowry so we could maintain this lifestyle for a while longer without raising suspicion. Once I find you a suitable match and they enter our family, won't that dowry be in your hands? At that time, our life in the Marquis Residence can return to its former splendor!"
Looking at his mother’s confident demeanor as she plotted their future, Qiu Mingqi sat there dumbfounded for quite some time without saying a word. He simply scratched his head and slumped back into the chair, unable to process everything.
"Qi'er," after finally voicing what she had been suppressing for so long, Madam Marquis felt much lighter. Then she remembered something she had kept hidden and asked curiously, "How did you find out that I sold my dowry?"
As soon as Qiu Mingqi heard this question, he recalled something even more important and asked with an unfriendly tone, "Mother, who did you sell your shops to?" Since Zhu Qingluan knew so much about it, it must be someone familiar—could it be Xuanyuan Rui?
"Sold to... um... the Merchant Alliance," Madam Marquis said without hesitation. "They knew we were selling the shop and offered more money than anyone else, so I sold it. What's the problem with that?"
"The Merchant Alliance?" murmured Qiu Mingqi, puzzled about what connection the Merchant Alliance had with Zhu Qingluan. How could they know about the marked banknotes so clearly? "How did she find out?"
"She? Who is she?" Madam Marquis asked, confused.
"Zhu Qingluan," Qiu Mingqi replied directly, not wanting to hide anything. "She not only knows that you sold the dowry but also about the marks on the banknotes. Mother, have you been deceived?!"
"Deceived?" Madam Marquis was taken aback, then shook her head. "No way, the banknotes are all real. How could it be a scam?"
"No, I can't let this go. I need to find out who she is," Qiu Mingqi felt his mind in chaos. Until he clarified the relationship, he felt a tightness in his chest that was uncomfortable.
"Qiu'er, where are you going?!" Seeing her son mumble something and rush out, Madam Marquis called anxiously, but no one answered her...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bad luck struck; it was truly speechless—power outage and internet down, a tragedy beyond words...
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