After letting Tao Yao go back, Zhu Jiayu found some Moon-Attaching Grass in the courtyard.
She took a walk in the yard during the day and happened to spot this kind of grass.
"What are you doing?" Wei Qinglou asked when he saw her pick a few wild herbs and crush them with the bottom of a teacup to extract their juice.
"This grass juice can be used to dye cloth. Experienced female workers know that they have to be careful when they come into contact with it, because once it gets on their hands, the color won't fade for at least five or ten days."
“In Suiping, there was a young lady from a wealthy family who was dissatisfied with the marriage arranged by her parents. She even found the juice of this herb and applied it to her face. Her half-blue face scared away her fiancé, thus successfully getting him to cancel the engagement.”
As Zhu Jiayu applied the herbal juice to her neck with a folded silk handkerchief, she explained, "Hu Yanwang's men can't just die without a clear explanation. Tao Yao came to us hoping we could give that child a reasonable excuse for his death."
"He was greedy and wanted to kill me to silence me, but I accidentally killed him with a stone. Is there anything wrong with this logic?"
As she spoke, she had already drawn a bluish mark, like a child's hand, on her neck.
"So that's what you were planning when you had Tao Yao put the hairpin in that child's arms?"
Zhu Jiayu nodded and continued drawing her fingers.
After she finished drawing, she went out with Wei Qinglou and found Hu Yanwang, who was in charge of goods transactions in the council hall.
Night had fallen, yet the council chamber remained brightly lit. King Hu sat as before, his presence clearly defined above the "goods," the downstream buyers, and the final customers.
In order to make it to King Hu's banquet, many of his customers delivered their goods earlier than scheduled.
Right now, the two buyers are arguing in the council chamber. They have their eyes on the same "goods" and neither is willing to give in.
King Hu was also very troubled – these two people were of noble status and both were generous spenders. Offending either of them was not a good solution, unless he stopped doing business with that person in the future.
But how could he bear to part with it!
Seeing the young master wearing a bamboo hat enter the hall, he breathed a sigh of relief, temporarily setting aside the two arguing individuals. He glanced at the beautiful young woman weeping pitifully and asked with a gentle expression:
"What's wrong, young master? Did this wretched woman offend you? But we have our rules: once goods are sold, they cannot be returned or exchanged..."
Wei Qinglou lowered his voice and said, "No, we came here to ask Master Hu to make a decision. One of your children has offended someone I've taken a liking to..."
Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a sneer. It was one of the men who had been arguing earlier: "I only knew that Master Hu was a businessman, but I've never heard of you becoming a judge. Do you really need to speak up for such trivial matters? Could it be that Master Hu doesn't want to do business with us and has specially hired a shill?"
After he finished speaking, King Hu hurriedly said, "What are you saying? I sincerely want to do business with you all, but now that my men have committed a crime, it is indeed necessary to explain to our customers, isn't it?"
He adopted a humble attitude, so the other man knew when to back down and coldly snorted, "Then hurry up!"
Hu Yanwang then looked at Wei Qinglou: "I wonder who Young Master Lou is referring to? Well then, once I find the person, I will definitely punish him severely to appease Young Master Lou's hatred, how about that?"
"No need," Wei Qinglou said coldly. "That child is greedy and stole my little mistress's hairpin by chance. Not only did he refuse to return it, but he also tried to take advantage of the fact that no one was around to do it. He truly is a person trained by Master Hu."
"This..." King Hu frowned. Those brats, how could they have such audacity?
Seeing his hesitation, Wei Qinglou turned around and lifted Zhu Jiayu's chin, revealing a bluish-purple handprint on her slender neck. The handprint was small, with short, thin knuckles, and indeed looked like the work of a child.
"In a moment of panic, my young mistress smashed his head with a stone. Will Master Hu blame us?"
Hu Yanwang then realized: it turned out that this young master Lou had killed his man, but refused to apologize and even wanted to use the pretext of questioning him to turn the tables on him.
That's why people say these rich kids are so arrogant; they can't bear to lose any face. Even ordinary people should know that when you're in someone else's territory, you should abide by their rules. But they insist on doing things their own way; in the end, they're just all bark and no bite.
Master Hu clicked his tongue, rubbed his chin with his index finger, and said with a smile, "I see. It's not a big deal. Since that beast offended Young Master Lou, he certainly deserved to die. I, Master Hu, apologize to Young Master Lou here."
Wei Qinglou nodded and had Shujian drag Tiancheng's body up.
He said coldly, "I will return the people to Master Hu, but I hope Master Hu can keep a close eye on his dogs and make sure they don't run into anyone again."
Hu Yanwang squinted and agreed, then turned to look at the steward beside him.
The manager quickly understood, bowed his head and dragged Tiancheng away.
Wei Qinglou, having received a satisfactory explanation, didn't linger. After speaking with Hu Yanwang, he prepared to leave with Zhu Jiayu, but at that moment, a deep male voice came from the side: "Wait—"
Zhu Jiayu lowered his head, like a wooden doll, unresponsive, still sobbing softly; Wei Qinglou turned his head, but not to look at him, but at Hu Yanwang.
At this moment, King Hu was also completely baffled. He saw a man in a crimson robe walk past the crowd and stand in front of Young Master Lou. He then casually used a lacquered gold fan to lift the chin of the woman beside him.
"This woman is indeed stunningly beautiful. I wonder if you, sir, would be willing to part with her?"
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