Xu Di stood at the courtyard gate and waited for a while before the shopkeeper came out of the study. Upon seeing Xu Di, he bowed and Xu Di said to Qingfeng, "Go and arrange for the shopkeeper to rest."
Qingfeng agreed and led the shopkeeper away. Xu Di walked towards the study. Before he even reached the door, he heard the sound of porcelain shattering coming from inside the room.
Xu Di paused for a moment, quickened his pace, and pushed open the door to see Marquis Yongning standing in front of his desk. In the dim light of the room, Xu Di could see a hint of ferocity on the Marquis's face.
Seeing that Xu Di was afraid of entering, the Marquis suppressed his anger and said calmly, "You've come."
Xu Di came in, and although he didn't know what had happened, judging from the shopkeeper's expression when he left, it probably wasn't anything good.
Xu Di stood with his hands at his sides in front of the desk. When the Marquis saw this, he sighed and said, "Never mind, it won't hurt to tell you. It's better for you to know about this than for your uncle to find out. You can give your grandfather some advice."
The eldest son, Xu Wei, was a man without much ambition. It was feared that he would fail in his duty to guard the vast Marquis's mansion, and that someone would seize the family's property. As a result, the Marquis would not consult him on important decisions. He had thought that if his son was not capable, his grandson would be. However, Xu Wei's grandson was also a weak-willed person. The Marquis had high hopes for Xu Di, but unfortunately, this eldest grandson was born into the family of his third son due to his inferior birth status.
Xu Di nodded and said, "Grandfather, is someone eyeing our family business?"
The Marquis sneered twice and said, "It's not just about trying to steal it anymore, they're openly robbing us. This afternoon, the newly dyed fabrics that were drying at our dye shop were vandalized and splashed with water."
Xu Di's eyes widened in astonishment. He wondered who had come up with such a simple and brutal method.
Marquis Yongning said, "Although this dye shop is not our family's most profitable business, it still earns a lot of money every year. This batch of fabric was ordered by the Ministry of War to make winter robes for the soldiers."
Upon hearing this, Xu Di frowned and thought for a moment before asking, "Grandfather, it's already early winter, why haven't the soldiers' winter robes been finished yet? This batch of fabric is needed so urgently, why did our family's dye shop have to get it? As far as I know, there are several dye shops in the vast capital, and ours is not the largest."
The Marquis said somewhat impatiently, "This is the crux of the problem. A small order, a hundred or so bolts of cloth, has been ruined just like that. Anyone could have come up with such a simple method, but I just can't understand why they would use such a method."
Xu Di thought about it carefully and said, "Grandfather, if that's the case, why don't we go to the dye shop tomorrow?"
The Marquis sat down, propped his forehead with his hand, and sighed deeply. He said, "Di-ge, these seemingly absurd methods are actually the most troublesome. We don't know who they are, nor do we know when they will come back. Most importantly, Di-ge, their actions are like a signal. Who knows if someone else will target our other shops next?"
Xu Di was shocked when he heard this. Indeed, what if someone joined forces to deal with his family?
Xu Di's expression immediately turned serious. When the Marquis saw this, he sighed and said, "This is the worst-case scenario I can imagine. Tomorrow, we should find out who sent these people. There's nothing else we can do now but deal with whatever comes our way."
After Xu Di came out of the Marquis's study, he stood in the courtyard and turned to look at the light shining from the room. It was already midnight. In the huge Marquis's mansion, except for those on night duty, almost everyone was asleep. But the Marquis was indeed up early and going to bed late. The Marquis was almost sixty years old.
Xu Di felt a pang of heartache. Thinking of the Marquis's expression earlier, he sighed and returned to his own courtyard.
Because he had something on his mind, Xu Di didn't sleep well all night. When he woke up in the morning, he felt that his eyes were swollen and his mind was not clear.
Seeing that Li Yuexi was still sleeping soundly, Xu Di tiptoed to the corner room to wash up, did his daily exercise as usual, and after breakfast, hurried off to report for duty.
After Xu Zhi took Chen Shifang back to the Zheng residence, the Pingxi Marquis's mansion received the news. Not long after, a well-liked old woman from there came and said that the old lady wanted to invite the eldest mistress to come over. Xu Zhi knew in her heart that she wanted to ask about the matter of meeting the emperor. Seeing that her clothes were still neat, she got up and followed the old woman.
Marquis Pingxi and Madam Chen were both present. Upon seeing Xu Zhi arrive, Madam Chen glanced at Old Madam Zheng.
When Madam Zheng saw Xu Zhi, she waved to her and said, "Zhi, your uncle said you went to the palace to meet the emperor today. Tell them what it was about."
Xu Zhi smiled and bowed to Madam Zheng, saying, "Grandmother, this is all thanks to His Majesty's grace. When I went to Yuezhou, I met Sister Mingwan from the Shen family. Sister Mingwan has been orphaned since childhood and couldn't bear to see children and the elderly who have lost their support, so she wanted to do something. Later, we both felt that doing things would require a lot of money, so we decided to open a pastry shop together. Who knew that His Majesty would find out about this? His Majesty summoned Sister Mingwan and me to the palace to meet him, took 20,000 taels of silver from his private treasury, and even assigned us a steward so that we could do things well."
Marquis Pingxi and Madam Chen listened to Xu Zhi's words as if they were listening to a story. Finally, Madam Chen said, "Niece-in-law, meeting the Emperor is the greatest honor for our family. You just finished it in a few simple words?"
Xu Zhi looked at Madam Chen with some confusion and said, "Aunt, that's how it is. If I don't explain it all, what else can I say?"
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