Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Plan; Daiyu knows about the courtesan...
It is said that Wu Tianyue was about to deal with Xue Pan, but Fei Yan came back. He immediately forgot about Xue Pan and ordered someone to take Fei Yan to the small study in Yihongyuan.
He quickly walked to the study and saw Fei Yan waiting inside. Wu Tianyue stopped him from bowing and asked, "How is the situation?"
Fei Yan replied, "That group of people couldn't be called bandits. They were just landless people from several surrounding villages who banded together to rob merchants and didn't bother the locals. They only harassed the larger caravans, but the villagers helped cover up for them. The caravans didn't want to cause trouble, so they paid escort agencies or tolls. The people accepted the money or gave way to them. The court officials saw that they were local people, and that intervening wouldn't bring much benefit and would risk a reputation for oppression, so they turned a blind eye."
"Nothing else?" Wu Tianyue frowned. "Something farther away?"
"Master Mei led his men to wipe out all the large strongholds a while ago. The remaining bandits are just petty thieves, except for this one who has the protection of the villagers." Fei Yan said, "And this one is quite far away. You..."
"There's no reason for me to go so far." Wu Tianyue felt a headache after hearing this. The scale was too small and the journey was too long. If the prince asked him how he knew it in the future, it would be difficult to answer.
Furthermore, if this small-time thief were to speak directly to the Crown Prince, he would surely insist that everyone should do their job, and that the bandits would not become a major force, and that he could not interfere with the county magistrate's affairs. Furthermore, the Crown Prince did not like merchants very much. These people only robbed caravans and did not harm the people, so he would definitely not want to interfere.
Wu Tianyue was thinking about it, and suddenly thought of Xue Pan. The Xue family seemed to be royal merchants, and they must often go out of the city to sell goods. If he made friends with him, then if he encountered any problems outside in the future, wouldn't it be natural for him to go out himself?
However, the Xue family is a wealthy family, and outsiders dare not offend them easily. He has to "collude" with those bandits first to set a trap for Xue Pan. In addition to this excuse to allow himself to go out, he also has to let people spread rumors that these bandits are harming the people. The prince's life creed is "love the people as his own children". If he has anything to do with the people, he should not refuse.
Wu Tianyue had an idea in mind and instructed Fei Yan: "Continue to find out the strength of those bandits. Find someone unfamiliar and try to infiltrate their ranks. It would be best if you can round up some of the roving bandits, but keep them under control and don't let them commit crimes."
Fei Yan agreed to go, and Wu Tianyue called another servant, Chang Jian, and asked him to investigate the Xue family.
Chang Jian took the order and left. Then Wu Tianyue got up to meet Xue Pan. It was time to get acquainted with his future "partner".
He rode to the temporary courtyard next to the Jia Mansion and entered the study room. He saw a handsome but naive man coming up to greet him. "Greetings, Prince."
"No need to be so polite." Wu Tianyue had made up his mind to use Xue Pan, so he was naturally very kind. He sat down on the chair and asked kindly, "What do you want from me?"
"It's nothing important." Xue Pan smiled innocently, "I just came to thank the prince."
Wu Tianyue pretended to be surprised and said, "No need to thank me. Even if you weren't involved, I would still do it. And you already sent me a thank you gift yesterday."
Xue Pan said respectfully, "Your Highness has seen everything. The Xue family is just a merchant family. How can such a small thank-you gift be worthy of your Highness?"
"I've been feeling like I've hit a bottleneck in my martial arts training these days. I need someone to practice with me." Wu Tianyue pondered for a moment and said, "Why don't you practice with me?"
Xue Pan had heard that the prince of Prince Zhongshun had redeemed the new courtesan in the city a few days ago, and with Prince Zhongshun as his "example", he must be a lover of beauty as well.
In addition, Xue Pan had been blamed by his family for Baoyu's affairs in recent days, and he was very angry. He wanted to take this opportunity to take the prince out for drinks and fun. After he hooked up with him, wouldn't the Imperial Household Department treat him well? And he could also let his mother see his ability.
But he didn't expect Wu Tianyue to break the rules and ask Xue Pan to practice martial arts with him. Xue Pan wanted to refuse with a bitter face, but he didn't dare to.
Wu Tianyue didn't know him well, so seeing him hesitate, he smiled and asked, "But what's the difficulty?"
Xue Pan chuckled after hearing this and said, "It would be nice to practice martial arts with the prince, but I heard that he is so busy studying literature and martial arts every day that he must have no time to go out. I have a good place here that will surely make the prince happy."
Wu Tianyue saw that his expression was extremely vulgar, and all the handsomeness of his facial features was gone. He subconsciously felt that the good place he mentioned must not be a good place. He said with a cold face: "Why? Are you not happy to practice martial arts with me?"
Xue Pan saw that his attitude had changed, so he didn't dare to do anything rash. He knelt down and said, "I dare not."
"If you don't want to go, don't force yourself."
Xue Pan heard this and wanted to persuade him to go out with him, but when he looked up, he saw Wu Tianyue with a cold face saying, "Show him away."
This clearly showed that he was angry. Xue Pan did not dare to refuse and said hurriedly, "I am just worried that my riding and shooting skills are not good enough and I will delay the prince."
"Don't worry, I know what to do."
Since he had said so, how could Xue Pan dare to refuse? He forced a smile and said, "It's all up to you, my Lord."
Wu Tianyue pretended not to see his bitter face and stood up to go to the courtyard where he usually had classes. "I haven't finished my literature class today. You can go to class with me first, and then go to the martial arts field after class."
The Master had already arrived at the courtyard, waiting. Xue Pan followed Wu Tianyue in. Seeing the Master's serious face, his legs weakened. He was about to say that he and the servant would wait outside when he heard Wu Tianyue say, "What are you doing here? Come with me."
Wu Tianyue originally thought that he often heard Baoyu and Daiyu say that Baochai was knowledgeable and well-read, so no matter how poor her brother was, he should have some knowledge. But seeing that Xue Pan was very resistant, he did not dare to leave. He sat in the room and felt very uncomfortable at first. Later, he began to doze off and was speechless.
After class, seeing Xue Pan’s dull eyes and the look of being badly tortured, Wu Tianyue couldn’t help but find it a bit amusing and took him to the martial arts field again.
After the training, Xue Pan was exhausted and out of breath, but Wu Tianyue felt very comfortable. Xue Pan looked like a dandy boy who was a little bloated, but he was unexpectedly so tough.
"Come find me here at 1 a.m. tomorrow." Wu Tianyue said while wiping the sweat off his face.
"What?" Xue Pan couldn't control his voice for a moment.
"What?" Wu Tianyue squinted at him, "Aren't you going to repay me?"
Xue Pan was extremely tired and subconsciously wanted to refute, but then he realized that he was the Prince of Zhongshun. He felt even more regretful for coming to him today to establish a relationship with him. However, he still nodded respectfully and said, "I will come on time tomorrow."
Wu Tianyue smiled and nodded, patted him on the shoulder and left.
"Don't you still want to use him?" the system asked doubtfully. "Why are you still treating him like this? Aren't you afraid he'll run away?"
[Given the difference in status between him and me, if I were very enthusiastic, he would have run away long ago.] At this point, Wu Tianyue paused. This man looked so naive, would he not have the brains to think deeply about his other intentions even if he was a little enthusiastic?
After thinking about it, he shook his head and thought that it should be impossible. Baochai is very smart, and her brother should not be that stupid.
Wu Tianyue was in a good mood and rode back to the Grand View Garden. After washing up, he hurried to find Daiyu to chat.
Daiyu was reading by the window. When she saw him coming, she didn't say anything, but looked over him and behind him.
Wu Tianyue looked back, but saw nothing. He asked in confusion, "What are you looking at, sister?"
"See if you brought any beauty with you today."
"What beauty?" Wu Tianyue scratched his head, "Why would I bring a beauty here?"
"Of course you wouldn't bring them. They're all hidden at home." Daiyu sneered, "My room is small, so I can't let your beauty suffer."
"What are you saying, sister?" Wu Tianyue stepped forward and asked, "I don't understand a single word you say."
"Don't you understand what I'm saying?" Daiyu turned away, "The Prince of Zhongshun fell in love with the most popular courtesan in the capital at first sight. He disregarded social status and snatched her from the Second Prince. He was reprimanded by the Emperor and the Retired Emperor for this, but he refused to hand her over and instead hid her in his mansion."
Wu Tianyue remembered and widened his eyes in surprise: "When did I fall in love with an Oiran at first sight? That day was..."
"This story of a hero and a beautiful woman has spread everywhere, and you still want to lie to me?" Daiyu interrupted him. "Did you rescue that person? Did you bring him back? Is he in the palace now?"
These were indeed true, and Wu Tianyue could not refute them. He explained, "I don't know her at all. That day, the Queen had given you a hard time and wanted to give you something to settle the matter. I couldn't possibly bully the Queen, so I wanted to beat up her favorite son to vent my anger on you."
Afterwards, he excitedly described to Daiyu how miserable Wu Tianyue was after being forced to drink, and how he had made plans and arranged every step carefully after entering the palace and escaped unscathed.
As he spoke, seeing Daiyu's distrustful look, he lowered his voice: "Although the process was a bit exaggerated, I was indeed not punished, and the Queen also suffered a loss."
"Who wants to hear you say this?" Daiyu heard that he was doing this for her, and her tone softened a lot. "Explain to me the matter of the courtesan."
"There were only three of us in the room at the time. Wu Wuyu's ugly appearance was seen by others, so she must be unhappy. She is also a troublemaker and dared not to mess with me. She must have taken her anger out on the courtesan. I am a man, and I take responsibility for my own actions. I can't let others take the blame for me, so I casually gave her some money and told her to go to the palace to find someone if she needed anything."
"Then why did you bring him back in the end?"
Wu Tianyue decisively passed the buck: "This is Cai Rang's fault. Who knows what he was thinking? He redeemed the person and gave him to me. I didn't know where to throw him, so I brought him back to the mansion for my mother to deal with."
"Why did you take him back after he redeemed her? He's just the chief eunuch, and he can't even arrange for someone?" Daiyu snorted, "You're just tempted by his beauty."
Wu Tianyue thought about it and it seemed to be true. Why didn’t he think of asking Cai to solve it himself at that time?
Seeing him stunned, Daiyu pointed at him and said angrily, "I guessed it right. You just can't bear to part with someone because they are pretty."
"I didn't." Wu Tianyue repeatedly protested, "If my sister hadn't mentioned it today, I wouldn't have even remembered this person."
Daiyu snorted, ignored him, and walked to the bed and sat down.
Wu Tianyue hurriedly followed, pointing at the woman sweeping fallen leaves outside and said, "Of all the people in this world, only my sister is different to me. That courtesan is just like them all to me. If she hadn't appeared before me, I wouldn't even remember she existed."
As he spoke, he saw tears in Daiyu's eyes, and he squatted down in front of Daiyu with a distressed look on his face and apologized repeatedly: "I was wrong. Even if I didn't have that idea, I shouldn't have taken someone back so casually. Sister, please don't ignore me."
Daiyu remained silent, and Wu Tianyue swore, "If I don't change next time, let me..."
Before he could finish, Daiyu put her hand over his mouth and said, "You want to die, and you can make such a vow so casually."
Wu Tianyue pulled down her hand and held it, saying with a guilty look on his face, "I'm sorry, I was so careless this time."
Daiyu was amused by his choice of words: "How could a man describe himself like that?"
"From now on," Wu Tianyue promised, "don't worry, sister. I will abide by the rules on time in the future. We will be together for the rest of our lives, and there will be no accidents."
Daiyu was stunned when she heard this and saw his serious expression. Then she smiled and said, "Me too."
The two smiled at each other and were about to speak when Lu Chen came in with tea and said, "Finally it's all right. Nanny has been urging us to come in and serve her. If the young lady and the master were not well, she would come by herself."
Daiyu blushed: "You are the one who said everything."
"It's also because of the girl's good training." Lu Chen put down the tea, teased, and asked, "Is it time to serve the meal?"
Daiyu blushed even more when she heard the hidden meaning in her words. She said, "Then why don't you go?"
"Yes, sir." Lu Chen went out with a smile, and soon brought back the food.
Wu Tianyue and Daiyu had dinner and chatted for a while until midnight before returning to their own courtyard.
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The author has something to say: Thanks to the little angel "Zhao Moumou" for irrigating the nutrient solution~
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