Xu Lanyin was speechless.
The same thing happened to the Chai family. For money, the father and stepmother even tried to force their own daughter to death. As long as there's a lot of money to be made, there will always be greedy people who will do anything to get it.
The two were silent for a while. Xu Lanyin stood up and said to Zhao Wu, "You go and rest for a while. We'll go to the new house to clean up. I still want to move in soon. Living in my own home is better than living here."
Zhao Wu was most happy that Xu Lanyin didn't go against his will. When he heard her call the house "her home," he became more excited and got up to go with them.
The men and the two maids worked around the house for a long time. After lunch, Zhao Wu took He Xi to the Zhou residence. He wanted to discuss with Zhou Zijun about picking up Wen Zhaofeng the next day. He Xi would serve Wen Zhuofeng at the Zhou residence, so he brought him along.
Zhao Wu briefly told He Dong, He Xi, and Zhang Qi about his previous friendship with Master Wen's younger brother and his intention to help Master Wen. The servants were all smart people and would listen to whatever their master said.
Zhao Wu and He Xi didn't come back that night, nor did they come back the next day. Although Xu Lanyin was worried, she still took He Dong to the house and spent another day cleaning.
Looking at the neat and beautiful house, Xu Lanyin was very happy. She could move in tomorrow and finally had a real place to stay in the capital.
She gave the two maids two hundred coins each and returned to the courtyard with He Dong.
It was already the end of the You hour, and there were many people on the road, most of whom were rushing to enter or leave the city before the city gates closed.
Zhou Zijun, the third master of the Zhou family, dressed in casual clothes, took two followers and a carriage to the Wen family of the Duke of Qing's Mansion.
Zhou Zijun is tall and handsome, with a smile on his face.
He had only just learned today that the infatuated Wen family's fourth son, who had jumped off a cliff to commit suicide for Miss Su, was not dead. Instead, he was pushed off the cliff by someone, but fortunately survived. And Wen Zhuofeng's broken leg ten years ago wasn't an accident; it was murder. Although both brothers claimed that it was someone sent by Master Wen, they currently had no evidence, and the perpetrators had been dealt with.
What Zhou Zijun couldn't have imagined was that the renowned constable, Zhao Wu, who rescued the old demon and set fire to the Longxing Inn, was none other than Wen Xiaosi. He had been disfigured after falling from a cliff and then healed with the Ruyu Regenerating Ointment, resulting in a dramatic transformation. His grandfather even described him as a rare martial arts master...
Apart from his grandfather, father, and eldest brother, he was the only one who knew this secret.
Although he felt his grandfather had exaggerated somewhat, disagreeing with the description of Wen Xiaosi as a "rarely seen" martial arts master and that those five words should be removed, it did not prevent him from admiring the boy from the bottom of his heart. As a child of an aristocratic family, becoming a martial arts master was already very difficult.
When the carriages and horses arrived at the Wen Mansion, Zhou Zijun dismounted and asked his attendant to hand over a letter from Grand Tutor Zhou, requesting an audience with Duke Wen.
At this time, except for Duke Wen and Wen Zhaofeng, everyone in the Wen Mansion was having dinner in Madam Wen's Qingfu Hall. Duke Wen never wanted to come over for dinner, and Wen Zhaofeng was never invited to come over for dinner.
The Wen family has three branches and has not yet split up.
The eldest master, Wen Xing, his wife, Zhu, and second son, Wen Zhuo'an, were all dead, leaving behind only a disabled son, Wen Zhuofeng. The second master, Wen Yan, and his wife, Liu, had two sons and a daughter. The third master, Wen He, was a concubine's son, and his wife, Jiang, had a son and a daughter.
After everyone finished their meal, Wen Yan personally helped Madam Wen to the upper room and sat down. Everyone else followed, and the next few minutes were their time to dress up and entertain their parents.
While they were chatting and laughing, an old woman came into the room and whispered something behind Wen Yan.
Wen Yan was surprised and asked with a gloomy face, "Did father agree?"
The old woman bowed and said, "Agreed, the master has been taken away."
Wen Yan was so angry that he slapped the armrest of the chair and cursed, "How unreasonable, father... Oh, how could Wen Zijun act like this!"
He almost cursed Duke Wen, but quickly stopped and changed his words to Wen Zijun.
Madam Wen asked, "Why are you so panicked?"
Wen Yan said, "Mom, Zhou Zijun took Zhuo Feng to the Zhou Mansion."
Madam Wen was a little confused. After thinking for a while, she realized that Zhou Zijun was Grand Tutor Zhou's third grandson. She asked, "What? The Zhou family's mistress took Zhuo Feng away? How, how is that possible? Why are they doing this?"
Wen Yan said, "Zhou Zijun told my father that he and Zhuo Feng were like brothers when they were in the Imperial College, and he felt sorry for Zhuo Feng who hadn't left the house for ten years. So he went to ask Grand Tutor Zhou, and Grand Tutor Zhou asked him to take Zhuo Feng to live in the Zhou Mansion for a few days."
Madam Wen asked, "Did your father agree?"
Wen Yan clenched his fists in anger and said, "The people have already been taken away."
Madam Wen said, "The second brother and his wife will stay, and you can all go away."
After everyone left, Second Madam Liu asked in a panic, "Did the Zhou family find out something and take Zhuo Feng away?"
Wen Yan was also afraid and said, "I'm going to the Zhou Mansion now to get him back. Zhuo Feng has been disabled for ten years. Except for the first one or two years when people came to visit him, later only Fujian residents would occasionally return to Beijing to visit him. Zhou Zijun hasn't even shown up. How could he suddenly feel pity for him after all these years?" He then said to Liu, "Investigate carefully to see if Zhuo Feng has had any contact with the outside world during this period."
Madam Wen frowned and said, "Look at you guys. At your age, you're still so impatient. Are you sure those two things have been dealt with?"
Wen Yan said, "Of course."
Madam Wen continued, "He's clean now, what are you afraid of? He hasn't left his home in ten years, can't even walk, and is almost isolated from the world. What are you afraid of? Besides, the Zhou family is powerful. Are you sure you can get Zhuo Feng back if you go there?"
The Duke of Qing's mansion was declining. The Duke, nearing his seventies, held no official position other than his title. Despite his age, he had not passed down his title, nor even requested a crown prince, devoting himself to alchemy. Wen Yan and Wen He, respectively, were fourth-rank military and seventh-rank civil officials, respectively, and their grandchildren were even less promising. Without a title, the Wen family wouldn't even be considered a middle-class household in the capital, let alone the Zhou Grand Tutor's Mansion, one of the most powerful families in the capital.
Wen Yan blushed and remained silent. He was furious. If his father had passed the title to him, he would have been right to ask for the title. He never understood why other families' elders would die from anger, but his own seemed to thrive and remain energetic no matter how angry they were. Could it be that those pills really worked?
Madam Wen felt sad again as she thought about the past. She wiped her tears with a handkerchief and said, "Alas, if you had let the Zhuo Feng brothers live well, your father would not have been clinging to the title at this age. I have always hoped that the second brother could inherit the title and that the two brothers could survive, but look at what you have done. No matter what, you should have spared Zhuo An's life."
Wen Yan sighed, "My son doesn't want him to die either. But, Zhuo Feng can't be disabled. If I disable him again, others will become suspicious..."
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