Chapter 379: Competitiveness
Shen Shian could no longer bear it and said sternly, "Xiao Yunqi, have you had enough? The fifth prince of Dayu? I'm the prime minister of Dayu! And now you've fallen to this point? If you have the guts to beat a woman at home, why don't you go to your father and ask him to pardon you and restore your status as a prince? If you really have this ability, our whole family will kneel down and let you beat and scold us! If not, then you'd better behave yourself in the future, otherwise you'll be deserted by everyone and then regret it too late!"
Xiao Yunqi looked at Shen Shian with terrifying eyes. After a long confrontation, he suddenly sat down on the chair dejectedly as if he had lost all his energy.
During his exile, he was waiting for the imperial edict from the palace to pardon him.
He framed the prince and poisoned him, but it was all his father's suggestion.
He had made such great contributions to his father, so why would his father demote him to a commoner and exile him to the wilderness?
This is all due to the coercion of those senior officials in the court, as well as the two bastards, the Second Prince and the Sixth Prince. My father had no choice but to do this.
When the limelight passes, my father will naturally pardon him, bring him back to the palace, and make him the crown prince.
Because of this thought, he was able to control his temper during his exile.
However, after waiting all the way, he only heard the news that the queen was pardoned and recalled to the palace, and that the prince was the crown prince appointed by God, and that God sent down a plague to avenge him, as well as those nursery rhymes.
These things are tantamount to confirming the fact that he framed the prince, and he will probably never be able to turn things around in the future.
It was precisely because of this that Xiao Yunqi revealed his true nature.
Now any common people can look down on him, beat him and scold him, and the only ones he can vent his anger on are Shen Meixin, who is weaker than him, and Shen Shian and Yang Cuicui, who are older than him!
Chen Meixin looked at Xiao Yunqi with hatred and coldness, and was pulled back to the room by Yang Cuicui.
By midnight, all four of them began to vomit and have diarrhea.
Shen Shian had no choice but to run to the village chief to ask for help.
The village chief, fearing someone might have died, threw on his clothes and came to investigate. Seeing the broken bowl and the spilled fish, mushrooms, and other things on the ground, and hearing the whole story, he couldn't help but feel both angry and amused. He said, "How dare you eat poisonous mushrooms? It's a good thing you knocked it over and didn't drink much. Otherwise, even the gods wouldn't be able to save you!"
After hearing this, several people couldn't help but break out in cold sweats.
Xiao Yunqi asked fearfully, "Village Chief, do you have any antidote? Give it to me quickly! I don't want to die!"
The village chief glanced at him and said, "No need to take medicine. The most you'll do is suffer from vomiting and diarrhea, but you won't die."
Xiao Yunqi wasn't willing to suffer and wanted to beg for more, but the village chief ignored him and continued, "I heard from my wife that you didn't go into the mountains until noon today? Those in our village who go into the mountains to pick wild vegetables and mushrooms always go early in the morning. If you go again tomorrow, get up early and go with the village women so they can tell you which wild vegetables are edible and which mushrooms are poisonous. Don't do it on your own. If you lose your life, it will be all over! Also, buy some seeds and plant the small plots of land allocated to you by the government. If you miss the spring plowing, are you going to starve next year?!"
After the village chief finished speaking, he went back.
Xiao Yunqi looked at Yang Cuicui and Shen Meixin with cold eyes.
They might have picked those poisonous mushrooms on purpose to poison him!
Fortunately, his cooking skills were not good and he didn’t eat many bites, otherwise his nickname would have been revealed here!
The more Xiao Yunqi thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't help but slap Chen Meixin several times to vent his anger.
Chen Meixin was beaten so hard that she cried so hard that the whole village could hear her.
Qin Mengyue was woken up in the middle of the night. She put on her clothes and came out to check. Seeing that Chen Fenghe was also awake, she asked, "Fenghe, whose house is this? Why are you crying so miserably?"
Chen Fenghe said calmly, "Looking at the direction the sound came from, it should be Xiao Yunqi's family."
The crying woman must be Chen Meixin.
Qin Mengyue couldn't help but frown slightly when she heard this. She said, "In the past, in the palace, the Crown Prince and I saw Xiao Yunqi as very cautious and prudent. We felt sorry for him being bullied, so we took good care of him and his mother. Back then, he came to my palace every day to pay his respects, appearing very honest and respectful. Who would have thought that he would be so cruel and cowardly! He even hits women!"
Although Chen Fenghe had no good feelings towards Shen Shian and Shen Meixin, she also felt that no matter how hateful Chen Meixin was, she should not be subjected to domestic violence and beatings by Xiao Yunqi for no reason.
However, although she would not gloat over someone's misfortune, she also had no intention of saving anyone. She only said, "If Xiao Yunqi were a good person, he wouldn't have framed Your Highness so viciously. Mother, you should go to sleep. This is a family of dog-eat-dogs. Let's just ignore them."
Qin Mengyue nodded and said, "Mother knows. If she hadn't thought that maybe it was a good family and she should go and persuade them, she wouldn't have gotten up. You should go to bed quickly too. You have to get up early tomorrow morning."
Early the next morning, the news that Xiao Yunqi had beaten his wife again in the middle of the night spread throughout the village.
"I thought marrying a prince would give me such a good life, but I didn't expect to be beaten like this. Tsk tsk! It seems my man is the best. Even though he's a little poor, he's never hit me!"
"What's a prince or not? Other places may not know, but how could we in Hejian Prefecture not know? The Fifth Prince framed the Crown Prince and was demoted to a commoner and exiled. How could he be a good person? And Chen Meixin, isn't she Miss Shen's concubine sister? She took Miss Shen's place and enjoyed wealth and glory for so many years. Now she's fallen on hard times. It's justice. It's time for her to get her comeuppance!"
As he was speaking, Shen Fenghe passed by carrying a bamboo basket.
Everyone stopped talking and greeted with a smile: "Ms. Shen, are you going into the mountains again?"
Chen Fenghe smiled and said, "I have nothing to do at home, so I thought of going into the mountains to dig some more spring bamboo shoots and pickling them to eat."
Someone laughed and said, "Miss Shen, your mother-in-law is so lucky to have a daughter-in-law like you. If I could have a daughter-in-law like you, I would wake up laughing in my sleep!"
After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but tease her, "You're dreaming. Miss Shen is the Crown Princess, and your son, I'm afraid he won't be able to become the Crown Prince even if he cultivates for another eight hundred lifetimes!"
After chatting and laughing for a few more times, Chen Fenghe went into the mountains.
Seeing Shen Fenghe walking away, everyone couldn't help but sigh in admiration: "Alas! Miss Shen has such a good character, but she has a miserable life. If the prince hadn't died, she would have been the future queen. But now she is just a miserable village woman in this shabby village..."
"Yes. She's a widow at such a young age, and because of her status, it's probably difficult for her to remarry. She really has to endure a lifetime of suffering..."
"That's not possible, is it? Even though she's the Crown Princess, since there's already an imperial decree allowing the Queen to live with her in the village for the rest of her life, surely they won't restrict her from remarrying, right?"
"That's what I mean. Miss Shen is only a little old now, do you really want her to be a widow for the rest of her life?"
"But, even so, which family would dare to ask to marry the former Crown Princess? If the Emperor blames us, wouldn't that be a grave crime that could lead to the extermination of the entire family?"
"Come to think of it, do you still remember when Mr. Sun came to the village to cause trouble and even brought in the then prefect, Mr. Wang? Didn't Mr. Yun from our village mention that he wanted to marry Miss Shen? But then the imperial edict came, and no one mentioned this matter again..."
"Yes, yes! Now that you mention it, I remember it. There was indeed such an incident. I guess that Master Yun was also afraid of causing trouble? After all, when he proposed to marry her, Miss Shen was still a criminal, but now she has been pardoned. But in terms of appearance and character, Master Yun and Miss Shen are indeed a good match."
"I think the rumors about Young Master Yun marrying Miss Shen are all groundless. Miss Shen may be beautiful and capable, but she is a widow after all. Young Master Yun is a wealthy man and has never been married, so why would he marry a divorced woman?"
Everyone was discussing enthusiastically when suddenly someone made a hasty "hush" sound and winked at everyone.
Everyone looked back and saw that Chen Meixin and Yang Cuicui had approached without them noticing.
Chen Meixin's face was wrapped with a piece of cloth. Like Yang Cuicui, she was carrying a bamboo basket on her back, looking like she was going into the mountains.
Everyone looked at her face curiously, wanting to see what she looked like after being beaten last night.
Chen Meixin ignored everyone and just walked with her head down.
However, she heard everything these people were talking about just now.
Before arriving in the village, she had heard that the richest person in the village was a young man named Yun who had recently moved in, and that the most imposing house in the village belonged to him.
Although his ancestors had never been officials, they had been engaged in business for generations and now owned many shops across the country. The family was very wealthy. It was a pity that he was a tuberculosis patient and had to recuperate at home all day long.
Therefore, even after entering the village for a few days, I have never seen this Young Master Yun.
Chen Mei was proud and arrogant, and originally did not take this Young Master Yun seriously.
Even if she were to seek another way out, she would definitely go to find a son of a high-ranking official. Even if the son of a village merchant had some wealth, how could he compare with the son of a powerful official?
However, because she had been beaten and bullied by Xiao Yunqi in the past two days, and because of what she had just heard from these people, as if Young Master Yun had wanted to marry that bitch Chen Fenghe, she suddenly changed her mind.
In the past, when the Crown Prince was marrying the Crown Princess, she was unable to compete with Chen Fenghe simply because she was not a legitimate daughter.
This time, she must win over her!
Of course, she wanted to compete with Chen Fenghe for Young Master Yun, not because she was attracted to the tuberculosis patient.
Firstly, it was to defeat Chen Fenghe, and secondly, even if he was a tuberculosis patient, he still came from a wealthy family, which was a thousand times better than that bastard Xiao Yunqi.
Moreover, Young Master Yun is sickly. If she tries to marry him first, he might die of illness in a few years. Then, wouldn't the Yun family's immense wealth be hers?
At that time, she was trying to find a son of an official to marry so that she could still live a life of wealth and glory without suffering!
Having made up her mind, Chen Meixin couldn't help but glance towards Yun's house.
I just don’t know how to meet Young Master Yun.
No... it's not the time yet. She has to heal the wound on her face first. By then, with her beauty, she will surely charm Young Master Yun so much that he will immediately forget about Chen Fenghe and only have her in his heart and eyes!
However, she cannot compare to Chen Fenghe in appearance, so she needs to work harder in other areas.
Thinking of this, she subconsciously looked at Yang Cuicui, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but curl up slightly.
Back then, Chen Fenghe's mother was thousands of times better than her mother Yang Cuicui in terms of appearance and family background, but wasn't her father still completely bewitched by her mother and even favored a concubine over his wife?
It can be seen that knowing how to win a man's heart is much more useful than appearance.
She will never lose to Chen Fenghe!
After entering the mountain, Chen Meixin saw that there was no one around, and then her face turned slightly red. She said: "Mother, yesterday you said that the most important thing for us women is to hook a man's heart. Mother, can you teach me how to make a man fall in love with me..."
Upon hearing this, Yang Cuicui was stunned for a moment, then said happily, "If you want to learn, mother will naturally teach you. With your looks, if you learn these things, will you still worry about men not taking the bait? Then, all we need to do is beckon, and they will give us money endlessly. We, mother and daughter, won't have to suffer anymore in the future."
Chen Meixin felt uncomfortable after hearing this and said coldly, "Mother, don't try to use your tricks on me. I won't do anything to sell my smile and body! In the future, I want to be the wife of an official!"
Yang Cuicui could naturally hear that her daughter looked down on her. She sneered in her heart, but said with a smile: "Is it okay if my mother said something wrong? My daughter is destined to be the wife of an official. Don't worry, I will definitely teach you well..."
Chen Fenghe was unaware of the gossip of the villagers and Shen Meixin's thoughts.
She dug some bamboo shoots in the mountains, then went straight into the space and went to the town through the space.
These days, she would go to the carriage and horse shop every day to settle the payment for the goods that were delivered to the customers in Youzhou City by Manager Zheng.
Although all the businesses were under her name, Chen Fenghe still kept the business of selling pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks and the transportation accounts separate in her management.
The money from the sale of pigs, sheep, chickens, and ducks was collected by Zheng, who would then give it to her. After she received the payment, she would deduct a certain amount of money from the money and return it to Zheng as shipping fees. This portion would be considered the profit of the carriage and horse business.
This is also how modern group companies operate.
Although there is a relationship between the parent company and its subsidiaries, and there are certain business connections, if the accounts are not separated and all are calculated together, the end result will be a mess. It is difficult to understand which link is losing capital, and naturally there is no way to improve and turn losses into profits. Over time, the situation becomes difficult to reverse and is not far from closure.
When Chen Fenghe arrived at the carriage and horse shop, Manager Zheng anxiously greeted her and whispered, "Boss, something terrible has happened."
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