Chapter 938 Extra Chapter: Bai Rui 6

When Laifu's father saw his son bring three children back, he was initially angry and about to scold Laifu when he saw Bai Rui's appearance.

"Young master, what brings you here? Did the princess and the prince come together?"

Laifu's dad changed his expression incredibly quickly, especially with that beaming smile; anyone who didn't know better would think it was his real father.

Bai Rui knew this manager; although he was a bit glib, he was still loyal to his father.

In short, the steward felt that being able to work for the Prince's Mansion was a blessing accumulated by his ancestors for three generations, so he worked with utmost dedication.

Of course, there are bound to be some benefits to be gained during this period.

"Uncle, I may have to stay here for a while. This afternoon, could you please send someone to the Prince's residence to ask my father and mother to send someone to pick us up?"

Although Bai Rui is young, his air of nobility is no less than that of his father.

Upon hearing Bai Rui's instructions, the person in charge dared not refuse and immediately nodded in agreement.

Lai Fu was told to take Bai Rui and the other two to rest, and the steward immediately went to attend to his work.

"Laifu, how's your studying going lately?"

Bai Rui looked at Lai Fu like a little adult. Although he was just the son of a manager, Lai Fu had started his education at the age of six and was still attending a nearby school.

When asked by his employer, Laifu scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly, "The teacher said that I am the fastest learner he has ever seen."

Upon hearing this, Bai Rui was somewhat surprised.

In his view, Laifu had always been a kind and honest child, and surprisingly, he was also a promising student.

"Then let me ask you a question and you can answer it?"

If Bai Rui had said this to anyone else, they would have felt humiliated, but coming from Bai Rui, Lai Fu was overjoyed.

Last year, he heard Bai Rui recite an entire book of poems. At that time, Bai Rui was only five years old, but he was better than the children who had studied in their school for several years.

"Please give me a question, young master."

Lai Fu was so respectful that he didn't seem like an older child, a sight that left Gu Qiong and Xu He speechless.

The children were all getting along well on the farm, as if nothing had happened yesterday.

Little did Bai Rui know that he would soon bring disaster to the village.

After finishing his business, Lai Fu sent an old woman to the Prince's mansion to deliver the message. On the way, they encountered a group of fierce-looking bandits.

The traffickers delivered the letter to the west of the city, and on their way back, they saw their own carriage.

At first, the leader was a little puzzled, but when he saw the two exposed feet, he immediately knew something was wrong.

He had his underlings woken up, and after learning the whole story, the old man was so angry he gritted his teeth.

"Boss, I told you that kid was something else!"

The man was met with a cold glare as soon as he opened his mouth, so he had no choice but to shut up.

Where did they go?

The leader asked his two underlings, who shook their heads and looked at their surroundings. "Could they have gone to the capital?"

They are only a few miles from the capital now. If they abandon the carriage here and walk there, it shouldn't take long.

The eldest brother agreed, and with his men, they prepared to head to the capital to find someone.

But as his gaze swept across the horse's back, something bright caught his attention.

After taking a few steps forward, the leader's eyes narrowed. He ordered a few of his men to hold the horse back, and then pulled a thorn from the horse's back.

At this moment, Ma struggled to jump up, and one of his underlings was kicked to the ground.

"Boss, what's going on?"

The man looked at the thorn with a puzzled expression. The thorn was quite long; what kind of person could have inserted it?

"Could it be that the other side has a master?"

This was the man's first thought, but the leader quickly understood what had happened.

"I never thought that after all these years, I would be tricked by a little kid."

The leader's lips curled into a vicious smile. He then turned around and ordered his underlings, "Gather all the brothers. Let's go and have a good chat with this little brat."

"yes!"

The henchmen turned to head towards the city, but the man said, "Not to the city, but to the countryside."

The eldest brother was certain that Bai Rui had not returned to the capital, and it was precisely because of this that he dared not underestimate that kid.

He could come up with something as simple as luring the tiger away from the mountain, so he could no longer view this little child the same way he used to.

Meanwhile, at the Prince's residence, Zhong Lin placed the jewelry his subordinates had brought on Yun Yichen's table.

"As expected, it's Rui'er's stuff. Did the person who came say anything else?"

Zhong Lin carefully observed Yun Yichen's expression and, seeing that he didn't seem too angry, said, "The other party wants 100,000 taels of silver. They said if we can't pay, they'll mortgage our shop, or they'll kill us."

"Oh? So, they know the shops in the west of the city can't come up with 100,000 taels?"

This is an outrageous demand, and they even gave them a solution; it's likely that things aren't as simple as they seem.

"Has anyone had a conflict with the shops in the west of the city recently?"

Yun Yichen couldn't help but wonder if it was the work of his enemies.

Zhong Lin shook his head. "No, I asked the shopkeeper. Our shop has always had a good reputation and we haven't offended anyone. If we're talking about business, we do have a competitor."

"How so?"

Yun Yichen had thought he might be overthinking things, but when he heard that last sentence, he realized that it was probably pretty much the same as what he had guessed.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Lin continued, "Before we opened our shop in the west of the city, there was a shop there that did very well, just like ours now. But ever since we went to the west of the city, that shop quickly went out of business and closed down."

Yun Yichen only knew that his shop was doing well, but this was the first time he had heard of such a thing.

"Did we use unfair means?"

Yun Yichen thought of this first, after all, it was really hard to believe that a shop would close down so quickly.

However, Zhong Lin shook his head. "No, we do business based on our own abilities. My subordinates have inquired privately and heard that it's because that company's products are never as good as ours. With the same price, they naturally lose business."

Zhong Lin meant that the other party was deliberately deceiving the people and extorting their money.

Given this situation, Yun Yichen felt that the other party deserved to go bankrupt.

"Since the other party is dishonest, they are certainly not a good person. Have someone investigate who is behind that shop and whether Rui'er's matter has anything to do with them."

After Yun Yichen finished speaking, Zhong Lin turned to leave. Just then, Gu Shuyan arrived after hearing the news.

"Brother Yun, is there any news about Rui'er?"

Yun Yichen nodded at Gu Shuyan, "The other party wants us to pay a ransom of 100,000 taels. If we don't have that, we'll use our shop in the west of the city as collateral to raise the 100,000 taels."