Jing Zhe swore to God that he did not do it intentionally.
It happened so suddenly, he acted instinctively.
This resulted in him catching Zhou Ziqiong, but while one hand supported her back, the other hand accidentally touched something indescribable.
Zhou Ziqiong's mouth was agape, her eyes were panicked, and her mind was blank as she looked at Jing Zhe, not knowing what to say.
Fortunately, people kept pouring in from outside, and the hall was noisy, so no one noticed what was happening here.
"Ms. Zhou, I didn't mean to!"
Jing Zhe quickly explained.
"..."
Zhou Ziqiong stared unblinkingly at Jing Zhe with her beautiful, gleaming eyes, still not saying a word.
Seeing this expression, Jing Zhe immediately panicked.
"Miss Zhou, don't you believe me?"
"I really didn't mean to do that!"
"I just want to help Miss Zhou!"
"..."
Zhou Ziqiong took a breath and said in a deep voice, "I believe you didn't mean it—but could you please take your hand away first?"
"..."
As a normal man, some actions are not intentional, but rather conditioned reflexes.
When Jing Zhe removed his hand, Zhou Ziqiong's expression softened a bit. At this moment, she began to doubt whether coming here was the right or wrong thing to do. At first, he said it was unintentional, and she could understand, but at the end, he said it wasn't intentional. She would never believe it!
He clearly appears to be a well-educated and reasonable young man, how could he do such a thing?
Zhou Ziqiong was conflicted as she thought about it.
...
"Cough cough..."
To break the awkward atmosphere, Jing Zhe cleared his throat twice and asked, "Miss Zhou, why did you come so early in the morning? Did you come to invite me to your home?"
When he asked her, Zhou Ziqiong remembered why she had come. She reached up and brushed her hair back from her forehead, and hurriedly said, "Young master, did you steal...someone's money?"
"..."
Jing Zhe was taken aback, then chuckled, "What does Miss Zhou think?"
"I don't think... Young Master is that kind of person!"
Zhou Ziqiong simply couldn't reconcile the scholarly-looking Jing Zhe with the image of a robber. After a moment's thought, she said, "But early this morning, when I went out, I heard many people on the street discussing the young master's robbery, and they described it so vividly that I followed them..."
"Heh, it's just that someone doesn't want to admit defeat, so they came up with this despicable excuse!"
"Young master means..."
Jing Zhe nodded and said, "Just before you arrived, Manager Hu said something similar. I found it laughable, but I didn't expect they had planned it all along. Hehe!"
"That's absolutely outrageous! But they were all in cahoots last night, so I should have expected that..."
Zhou Ziqiong also looked indignant.
Jing Zhe chuckled coldly, then asked with some curiosity, "Miss Zhou, did they say I robbed someone's money? Thousands of taels of silver isn't something ordinary people can have. Do you think commoners will just believe that?"
"yes--"
"Young Master Yu Haixing!"
"..."
Before Zhou Ziqiong could speak, her voice was drowned out by the surrounding voices.
"You mean, the two or three thousand taels he spent on lighting fees yesterday were robbed from Young Master Yu?"
"Exactly! Otherwise, how could he have taken out so much silver without even blinking an eye?"
"But... that young master doesn't look like a robber at all."
"Heh, you can know a person's face but not their heart. Have you ever seen a robber whose face says 'robber'? Also, have you forgotten about the entourage that beat him up last night? What kind of person goes out with a dozen or twenty people around?"
"Oh...now that you mention it, that makes sense! No wonder Young Master Yu has been locked up at home by Governor Yu recently. It's said that Young Master Yu has committed another crime. It turns out that he was robbed of so much silver!"
"That's right! The commotion he caused yesterday by winning so much silver reached Young Master Yu's ears! After hearing about it, Young Master Yu reported it to the authorities!"
"What a pity! I thought that yesterday, with his riddle-solving and poetry writing, he would not only win the praise of Miss Zhou and Pavilion Master Mu, but also win silver and Juxianlou, which would become a legendary tale!"
"Bah, what a wonderful story! It's just become a joke!"
"..."
Jing Zhe is, after all, an outsider. He received so much praise last night, and now he has to endure just as much slander.
"Young master, you'd better leave quickly. Once Prefect Liu and Young Master Yu arrive, you won't be able to leave even if you want to!"
Zhou Ziqiong said somewhat anxiously.
Regardless of whether Jing Zhe robbed the silver from the sea, the current result is that he has done Zhou's cloth shop a great favor. For this reason, Zhou Ziqiong does not want to see Jing Zhe arrested, especially since he was wronged.
However, Jing Zhe waved his hand and said, "I can't leave."
Why not?
"Because I didn't steal any money, why should I leave? If I really left, wouldn't I be accused of fleeing from justice?"
Zhou Ziqiong said anxiously, "Young master, you may not know this because you come from out of town, but in Ruzhou City, if we're talking about the highest-ranking person, it would be the Prince of Yu. But if we're talking about the most powerful person, it would be the Governor of Ruzhou, Yu Li. He's in charge of all affairs in Ruzhou and Jinxi, and even the prefect has to listen to him!"
"The charge they're bringing against you now is that you robbed the young master of Governor Yu's house of silver. Even if you didn't rob him, you'll probably have no way to defend yourself. And last night you offended some powerful figures in Ruzhou, including the heir of Prince Yu and Prefect Liu. Once you're arrested, you'll never be able to turn things around!"
"Young master, why don't you escape before they arrive? Even if you're not afraid, you should at least think about your wife, Miss Zhang."
Zhou Ziqiong spoke with great emotion, and Jing Zhe was deeply moved.
"Miss Zhou, you wouldn't happen to have fallen for me, or you're worried about me, would you?"
However, Jing Zhe still hasn't gotten rid of his habit of being a smooth talker, and he couldn't resist making a few sarcastic remarks at this moment.
"I--"
Zhou Ziqiong was speechless with anger. "Yes, I was just worried about you. Can you hurry up and run away? It'll get really late!"
As Zhou Ziqiong watched the growing crowd gather in the Juxianlou hall, she became even more anxious. She no longer cared about Jing Zhe's flirtatious words. As long as he could escape, she didn't care about his flirtatious words or even his flirtatious gestures just now.
Upon hearing this, Jing Zhe said seriously, "Miss Zhou, I must tell you in advance that even if you like me and want to be my woman, you'll still be ranked far below me!"
"..."
————
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