Chapter 23 Why is it different from my previous life?

Resolving this matter? Gu Nanxiao's attitude was clear: he obviously didn't want to resolve it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a high-profile spectacle of it, making it known to everyone.

However, even though he knew it wouldn't be easy to solve, the Prime Minister was currently clueless, so he had to seek a solution from Gu Nanxiao.

The Prime Minister was always baffled as to how the prescription ended up in Gu Nanxiao's hands. Theft? That was obviously impossible.

It wouldn't be surprising if only a few prescriptions were stolen, but it's impossible for hundreds of prescriptions to be stolen all of them.

Furthermore, neither the Shi family father nor son had ever seen the refined iron formula, nor did they know how the deceased Yunxi had given these formulas to Gu Nanxiao.

Shi Qingchen had long suspected that Yunxi had more prescriptions than this; she always brought out the most beneficial prescriptions for herself at the right time.

That's why, even though Shi Qingchen married a legal wife, he absolutely refused to let Yunxi leave.

Furthermore, Shi Qingchen felt that Yunxi was the love of his life, someone no woman could replace. Even if he married someone else, his heart would only belong to Yunxi.

But to his utter surprise, Yunxi was so strong-willed that the more he tried to keep her, the more determined she became to leave.

So, out of desperation, he came up with the idea of ​​forcing Yunxi to sign a confession and sell herself into slavery, but these methods were only meant to keep Yunxi around.

Shi Qingchen did not regret what he did; his only regret was that he had not protected Yunxi, which led to Liu and his father conspiring to kill Yunxi.

If given another chance to choose, he would only do things more meticulously, but he would still choose to force Yunxi to stay.

In fact, he had a better idea of ​​where the prescription came from than his father. It was from Yunxi, his adopted sister who had mysteriously disappeared after sending him the diary, a fact he had never mentioned to his father.

He felt that if the prescription were to leak out, it must be related to Yunxi's sworn sister.

The Prime Minister's question successfully transformed Gu Nanxiao's disgust for them into utter contempt. He felt that the Shi family father and son were utterly shameless.

Now that the truth has come out, he shows no remorse whatsoever and has no intention of seeking justice for that woman. Therefore, Gu Nanxiao ignored their anxious expressions and spoke in a bureaucratic tone:

"I don't understand what the Chief Minister meant by how to resolve this. Is there something between us that we absolutely have to resolve?"

I think it's perfectly fine for you to open your shops and me to open mine, each earning our own money—there's no conflict at all!

Upon hearing this, the Grand Secretary's face turned ashen; he was clearly angered by Gu Nanxiao's attitude. After all, since he took office as Grand Secretary, it had been a long time since anyone had spoken to him in such a manner.

If it weren't for the fact that the Shi family's reputation was getting worse and worse, and the emperor was also showing a lot of dissatisfaction with them, he would have risked his reputation to fight Gu Nanxiao in a contest and see who would win.

Although the pharmacy and ice shop brought enormous profits to the Shi family, they did not cloud the mind of the Grand Secretary. He understood that the emperor's trust and his own and his family's future careers were far more important than money.

So today, rather than coming here to resolve the shop's problems, it's more accurate to say that we're here to address the enormous crisis the Shi family is facing in their official careers.

The two sides went back and forth, asking and answering questions, playing a game of cat and mouse for ages, despite the presence of a mediocre king trying to smooth things over. They made no progress whatsoever in resolving the issue they wanted to address.

In the end, the Shi family father and son failed to obtain even a single useful piece of information from Gu Nanxiao, and instead left feeling utterly frustrated and angry.

Shifu

Shi Qingchen was summoned to his father's study and severely reprimanded. After all, if he hadn't lied about the prescription, the Shi family wouldn't be in such a dilemma, and the current prime minister wouldn't have to grovel and beg for peace with a junior.

In reality, Shi Qingchen's heart was a thousand times more bitter than that of the Prime Minister, because after learning that Yunxi's death was caused by him, he began to hate himself.

After returning to his study, Shi Qingchen dismissed all the servants and threw himself heavily onto the soft couch behind the screen. Yunxi's charming, smiling face began to uncontrollably appear in his mind.

He reached under his pillow and took out the diary, then began to read it again. Every page of this thick diary was filled with Yunxi's love for him.

He felt that he needed Yunxi's words to sustain him every day he lived.

Yunxi had been with him for three years, more than a thousand days and nights, and he had long since grown accustomed to her companionship. If only Yunxi were still alive, he wouldn't be all alone now, in his most exhausted moment.

Just as Shi Qingchen was staring at the diary in a daze, the study door creaked open, and he immediately hid the diary again.

Then, frowning, he asked impatiently, "Didn't I tell you all to leave? I don't need anyone to serve me."

The visitor did not answer. Instead, there was a tinkling sound of jade pendants, and a woman emerged from behind the screen. It was his newlywed wife, Liu.

Looking at her husband's dejected appearance, Madam Liu could not reconcile him with the brilliant and upright Prime Minister Shi from her previous life.

She remembered that there were no recipes or ice shops in her previous life, but for some reason, many more twists and turns occurred in this life.

She remembered that in her previous life, Shi Qingchen was already twenty-five years old when he came into the public eye. He entered the court through a law to reduce the power of the princes.

And there has never been any word of him ever having a close female friend he couldn't forget.

All Liu remembered was that Shi Qingchen's principal wife was the eldest daughter of the Grand Tutor, and his two concubines were also married for mutual benefit. His five or six concubines in his harem all came from families involved in military, political, and financial affairs. Their motives were clear: all marriages aimed at advancing his career.

In his previous life, Shi Qingchen had four sons and three daughters, but he never showed any particular favoritism towards any of his wives or concubines. He spent his entire life scheming for the family's official career.

The reason why Lady Liu rushed to marry Shi Qingchen was precisely because she had just been appointed as the young master of the family after being a son of a concubine, and before he could make any achievements in the court, so she wanted to strike first.

Liu's purpose in marrying Shi Qingchen was very clear: she didn't need any useless romance; she only needed to enjoy the honor of being a titled lady with Shi Qingchen.

She will become the most esteemed First Lady of the Great Yan Kingdom in the future, bringing immense benefits to her family.

Thinking of the promising future, Liu put aside her doubts. She felt that even though things were different from her previous life, the ups and downs would eventually pass.

She believed that Shi Qingchen's moment of glory had not yet arrived in this life, so taking advantage of his moment of despair was the best opportunity to enter his heart.

Lady Liu put on a very concerned expression and said, "My husband, you don't need to worry about the rumors in the capital. The innocent will be proven innocent. I believe in your abilities. Your future achievements will be unmatched. Then those who look down on you will regret it so much they'll beat their chests in despair."