Chapter 68 Hey, Time to Pay the Protection Fee!
After hearing the news that Princess Yang forbade Kang Lizhang to go out of her yard, Chunran and others were a little worried, “Did Princess Yang find out about Lady Lizhang and us….”
“There is nothing to be afraid of! Even if she knew that I bribed Kang Lizhang to work for me, what’s she going to do to me?” Qiu Yelan didn’t care, “Besides, Kang Lizhang won’t be grounded so easily. You guys just wait and see!”
If Kang Lizhang had already shown her hand to Qiu Mengmin, Qiu Mengmin would definitely have her back. If she hadn’t, she was even less likely to accept the grounding punishment. Considering how sophisticated Cousin Kang was, if she went for drastic measures, Princess Yang who was sick right now might not be able to stop her.
Just like what she thought, when it was about noon, Su He heard some news and said, “Lady Yuqing threw a tantrum. Even a dozen of old maidservants couldn’t pin her down. She barged into Prince’s bedroom and asked him to uphold justice. Prince scolded Princess Yang badly!”
“That was reasonable. Lu hasn’t been dead for very long after all,” Qiu Yelan curled her lips, “If he doesn’t help Aunt Qiu at this time, how can he prove his love for his biological mother?”
Su He said with a smile, “It’s said that Lady Yuqing even wanted to come and throw tantrum at our place! Lady Lizhang found her and kneeled on the ground in front of her. Holding her leg and dragging her dress, she went through a lot of troubles begging her to go back. Lady Yuqing accused her of protecting you! So hilarious. Who in the Mansion doesn’t know that Lady Lizhang did it to protect Lady Yuqing?”
“Did you just realize that Aunt Qiu was stupid?” Qiu Yelan tapped on her forehead with a smile, “Oh, Princess Yang got scolded. What’s her condition now?”
Su He said, “Can there be any other condition? When I came back, I saw someone going out, that people said that Princess didn’t feel well and needed a doctor.”
“Um?” Qiu Yelan thought for a while and said to her, “You go find Kang Lizhang tonight and send her a message.”
Su He asked curiously, “What message?”
“Princess Yang doesn’t feel well now. She may not get better any time soon. Miss Ding’s mourning period will be over in May. And she will begin to prepare for the wedding, right? If Princess Yang is still not well, how well-prepared could Qiu Hongzhi’s wedding be? Considering that he just cares about studying, how can he prepare his wedding nicely?” Qiu Yelan said with a bit of smile, “Tell her to remind Qiu Hongzhi to figure his way out as soon as possible! Don’t let Princess Yang make him embarrassed in front of his wife’s family. If that makes Ding Family unhappy and they decide not to take care of their daughter and son-in-law, how can he fight against Princess Yang in the future?”
Chunran said with a smile, “How could people prepare for their weddings all by themselves if they had someone to rely on? If Princess Yang is still sick until Young Master Qiu Hongzhi’s wedding, Young Master Qiu Hongzhi will have a problem with his wedding.”
“In my opinion, he doesn’t just have a problem,” Xiaran thought for a while and said, “Young Master Qiu Hongzhi is the eldest son. His wedding should be ceremonious. Given Prince’s status, he can’t bustle around for Young Master Qiu Hongzhi’s wedding, right? So, they have to wait until Princess Yang gets better. In that case, since Princess Yang is not well, Miss Ding may not be able to get married?”
“Miss Ding is almost 20. If her wedding gets delayed, how could Ding Family be okay with it?”
Qiu Yelan instructed Su He lazily, “I don’t remind him for free. Ask Kang Lizhang to tell Qiu Hongzhi that he’d better bring me ten thousand taels silver notes quickly in private. My reminder of this time is worth a thousand taels. And he hadn’t brought me the six thousand taels which I mentioned when we visited the grave. Now he owes me nine thousand. Of course, he can refuse like he always does, or he can blame the Princess and Prince for not willing to give the money. Anyway, if I don’t see the ten thousand taels silver notes before sunset tomorrow, I will be on Princess Yang’s side on the matter of his marriage. Whether to give me the protection fee or not, ask him to think about it thoroughly!”
Kang Lizhang said the exact words to Qiu Hongzhi on the next day. Qiu Hongzhi’s look changed for a few times. Finally, he let out a deep sigh. He asked his trusted maid Jin Chan to withdraw three thousand taels silver notes and take two pieces of jade ware, “Tell her that I only have this much in silver right now. I brought these two pieces of jade ware with more than eight thousand taels. They can offset the rest seven thousand taels.”
Kang Lizhang and Qiu Hongzhi had always been close because they had the common enemy Princess Yang. Seeing that there was only Jin Chan in the room at that moment, Kang Lizhang whispered, “How did she blackmail you for money last time?”
“When Princess Ruan died, Yang took five thousand taels from Ruan Qingyan. But she just spent several hundred on the funeral,” Qiu Hongzhi said with a gloomy face, “And that b*tch asked me for it.”
“In my opinion, First Aunt may be behind this. Otherwise, do you think she will be afraid of First Aunt? She asked you for the money instead of First Aunt. I think First Aunt might promise her something in private,” Kang Lizhang muttered to herself for a while and then said, “First Aunt is pretending to be sick and letting you manage the family. She put you on the spot.”
Jin Chan interrupted, “Lady Lizhang, my young master also knew that. However, there are just these few people in the Mansion. Now Prince and Princess are sick. If my young master doesn’t come forward, who will? Others aren’t perfectly justifiable after all. Am I right?”
Kang Lizhang realized that Jin Chan was disparaging her on purpose. Because Jin Chan was afraid that she might ask Qiu Hongzhi to yield power to her. Kang Lizhang’s face went dark immediately.
Seeing Jin Chan with a faint smile on her face, Kang Lizhang realized that her grandmother Madame Lu had died. Without Madame Lu backing her up, Jin Chan dared to look down on her to her face. Because she had been sleeping with Qiu Hongzhi since last year and was sure she could manipulate Qiu Hongzhi via pillow talk.
Recalling how flattering Jin Chan was when Madame Lu was alive, comparing to how frivolous she was now, Kang Lizhang hated her guts inwardly. However, seeing that Qiu Hongzhi was drinking his tea quietly and had no intention to reproach Jin Chan, she knew that he had just the same thought. He was afraid of things going back to when Madame Lu was alive that Kang Lizhang and her mother were in charge of the Prince’s Mansion’s family business.
She calmed herself down and said with a fake smile, “When did I say that cousin shouldn’t be in charge? I meant that First Aunt took a lot of Second Aunt’s and old Princess’s stuff! If she asks cousin for stuff via all kinds of excuses every now and then, what will you guys do?”
Jin Chan curled her lips. She had been jealous of Lady Lizhang for a long time. Because Lady Lizhang was born a civilian, but she had a life better than a Commandery Princess in the Prince’s Mansion relying on Madame Lu . Now she had a chance to step her down. She surely wouldn’t miss it, “Do you mean that you want to pay for my young master?”
What she said made Kang Lizhang so furious that she wanted to slap her!
However, Kang Lizhang was not a normal person. She withheld herself despite of her fury. She just said coldly, “She who has a mind to beat her dog will easily find a stick. If you give her the money once, it will never end. Don’t you worry about her not having excuses to ask for more money? She will empty your pocket no matter how rich you are. Who can afford that kind of expense?”
Qiu Hongzhi sat aside and watched his cousin and his maid arguing with each other. Finally, he said, “Cousin, don’t mind Jin Chan. What do you have in mind?”
Kang Lizhang sensed that he was biased against Jin Chan. She was bitterly disappointed. But she didn’t expose her feeling. She just said flatly, “I think since it was First Aunt who took the money, it’s better she pays it back herself.”
“I talked to my father about this. Father was not feeling well. He listened roughly and asked me to go talk to Yang,” Qiu Hongzhi was disappointed at this idea. He mocked, “Yang said she gave all the money to grandmother. Who knows if she was telling the truth? She also said that our family didn’t have that much money. And she asked me to ignore Qiu Yelan. She has the seal used for withdrawing large amount of money. And I am afraid of disturbing father. The three thousand taels is my money.”
Qiu Hongzhi had his own difficulties. His mother was dead and couldn’t help him. After Madame Lu died, he only had Qiu Mengmin to back him up. Qiu Mengmin valued him the eldest son of a concubine more than the youngest son of the wife. Because Qiu Mengmin thought he was more capable than Qiu Yinzhi.
So, he couldn’t go to Qiu Mengmin whenever Princess Yang deliberately gave him a hard time.
Once Qiu Mengmin thought he was actually useless, one could imagine how he would end up. Otherwise, how could he use his money which he saved so hard to pay the protection fee?
Kang Lizhang said frowning, “If you give all your money to her, how are you going to buy over the servants in the Mansion?” she lowered her voice, “Frankly speaking, First Aunt has to be sick right now. After this period….”
It’s the best time for Qiu Hongzhi to control the Prince’s Mansion, or at least expand his influence.
Princess Yang was afraid of people questioning her filial piety. Otherwise, she would never claim to be sick at this moment and let the eldest son of a concubine be in charge of the family.
Qiu Hongzhi frowned tightly.
“Actually, since you can use your stuff to offset, why don’t you use sixth cousin’s and seventh cousin’s?” Kang Lizhang puckered her lips and whispered.
“Their stuff?” Qiu Hongzhi was stunned, “Those two are Yang’s sweethearts. Yang picked their servants and maids herself.”
Kang Lizhang said in an unhurried tone, “That’s unlikely,” she was afraid that Qiu Hongzhi couldn’t understand her, “When grandmother was alive, she also cared about them very much.”
Qiu Hongzhi looked at her with surprise. He leaned forward a bit, “How much can we get?”
“It would be easy when grandmother was alive,” Kang Lizhang sighed, “But now… they may not dare!”
“Cousin, are you treating me like an outsider?” Qiu Hongzhi said frowning, “I know what you are worried about. We are in this together now. If I could take Yang down, would you and aunt feel more relaxed?”
Kang Lizhang glanced at Jin Chan who was biting her lip and said with a faint smile, “Why did you sound like I was negotiating with you? Am I that kind of person? Now I have your word. I’ll ask them to do it right away. It’s just…after we take the stuff out, how do we cash them?”
Qiu Hongzhi realized that she didn’t want to tell him who were the people planted by Madame Lu. He frowned and unfolded his eyebrows and then said, “Don’t worry. As long as you give me the stuff, I’ll handle the rest,” he reminded, “Tell them to select wisely. Don’t pick the worthless stuff and waste our time!”
“They won’t. They know what to pick,” Kang Lizhang promised.
Qiu Hongzhi said again, “And if they find out their stuff are missing…”
“It definitely has nothing to do with you,” Kang Lizhang said knowingly.
“Now my young master is in charge. I’m afraid that when they find out something is wrong, they will bother young master for answers, even they don’t know anything.” said Jin Chan tepidly. She was not willing to be left out. And she also hated Kang Lizhang for glancing at her with insinuation just now.
Qiu Hongzhi didn’t indulge her this time. He rebuked, “How could you say that to Lady Lizhang? Slap yourself!”
Jin Chan was stunned. She looked at Qiu Hongzhi plaintively. However, he was no longer the gentle person he was when they were intimate. He looked at her coldly. There was obvious anger in his look.
“Snap! Snap!” seeing Jin Chan slapping herself with tears in her eyes and her pink cheek swelling up, Kang Lizhang smiled gently and persuaded, “Cousin, why get angry for a maid? How could I take her seriously?” she said this to insinuate what Qiu Hongzhi just said “cousin don’t mind her”.
Qiu Hongzhi pretended that he didn’t realize what she meant. He said with a smile, “How could a maid compare with us?”
Although Kang Lizhang knew that he only said this because he needed her help, he would belittle her in every possible way to comfort Jin Chan later, she still felt happy seeing Jin Chan’s pale face. She said with a smile, “Let’s talk business. If they find out something is missing and come to you, First Aunt inevitably will blame you. However, what if sixth cousin and seventh cousin are not so great either that they are also selling stuff themselves?”
Qiu Hongzhi’s eyes were brightened!