Chapter 104 Wu Shi Impersonates Princess Zhenbei to Extort Money
Weishi County, located in the capital region of the Great Zhou Dynasty, is an important gateway to the south. It is a bustling commercial area with people coming and going on the streets, and stalls selling all kinds of goods lining the streets.
Upon hearing that the meeting was to be dismissed, the others immediately rushed into the clinic, fearing that they would miss out on medicine if they were late.
Seeing Yun Zhaoxue standing still, Madam Wu assumed she didn't have any money and that's why she wasn't going in. She sneered, "Oh, so eager to come in, but you don't have any money to buy anything. What's the point of coming?"
Her arm was broken, and she went to town on behalf of the second wife to buy things and get treatment for her injury.
The day before yesterday, the eldest son's family was so poor they were eating wild vegetables; they had no money to buy anything.
She guessed that Yun Zhaoxue only had twenty taels of silver that she had taken from their second and third wives, so why should their silver go to the eldest wife?
The eldest son's family members are vicious and ruthless; she wants to take back the silver and let them die of illness and starvation.
As he spoke, his large body rammed into Yun Zhaoxue's back.
The moment she collided with him, Yun Zhaoxue suddenly turned around to avoid it and hooked her foot out.
Wu tripped and fell face-first to the ground, her hands flailing wildly in the air as she screamed, "Ah!"
"Bang!"
A cloud of dust rose up around them.
Yun Zhaoxue stepped back a few meters away. "Why did you fall like that? Did you deliberately fall next to me to extort money from me? You said you don't have any money, and actually I'm very poor and can't afford to pay for it. Stop pretending and get up."
He took the opportunity to kick her twice more, "Bang! Bang!!"
"Ouch, stop, stop kicking me! I'm not pretending to be dead, I can't get up! Help me up..." Wu cried out in pain, trying to get up by supporting herself with her hands on the ground. She could only use one hand, and all the bones in her body ached as if they were about to fall apart.
"Ouch, hiss... It's you! You deliberately tripped me, that's why I fell. You owe me twenty taels of silver, or I'll report you to the authorities."
Yun Zhaoxue tilted her head, shrugged, and spread her hands. "Sue me? Do you have any evidence?"
Sometimes when ordinary people report to the authorities, the officials don't care. Who has the time to deal with exiled criminals?
She turned to look at the money pouch in her hand. Did they really think they could steal her money with such a simple trick?
No way!
She only stole other people's portions.
I ate cold pastries and fruit this morning, so I didn't have much of an appetite. Now I'm hungry, so I plan to go to a restaurant to fill my stomach first, and then pack some food for them.
Before she left, Yang and the others gave her silver to buy medicine and food.
Xiao Xuance secretly slipped her one hundred taels of silver, telling her to buy whatever she wanted.
Zhuiying was already waiting for her in private room number three on the second floor of Fenglelou Restaurant in the city.
She would also prepare supplies, and all she had to do was go into the city to eat, drink, and enjoy herself.
If no one prepares it in advance, there's no need to buy it; it's more convenient to just take it from the storage space.
Behind her came Wu's cries for help to passersby, "Help! I can't get up! Help me get up and find a doctor, it hurts so much..."
An elderly woman passing by kindly helped Ms. Wu up, and several nearby clinics were packed with people.
I kindly helped the person to a small clinic at the end of the alley.
The old woman helped her inside and then prepared to leave.
Wu touched her sleeve and found that her money pouch was gone. Her face changed drastically. She searched her body but still couldn't find it.
"Where is my money? My shadow has vanished! Where has my money gone?"
She grabbed the old woman's arm, preventing her from leaving, and said, "Stop! Did you steal my money? Hand it over!"
"I didn't steal your money. I kindly helped you into the clinic, and you're slandering me? No good deed goes unpunished. How can there be such a person as you? Let me go, I want to go back."
Wu suspected that Yun Zhaoxue had stolen it, but the woman had already run far away. She was in a hurry to use the money and didn't have time to go and settle accounts. That woman was always cunning and vicious; she might have lost the money pouch. Without evidence, she wouldn't get anything out of her.
The only option is to find a sucker to rob Peter to pay Paul, otherwise she won't have money for medical treatment or food, and the whole family will go hungry for the next few days.
She clung tightly to the old woman, refusing to let go, "You're the one who stole it! I even found my purse at the clinic entrance. You were the only one who touched it. If it wasn't you, who else could it be? Pay up!"
The old woman's arm was being held tightly and she couldn't break free. Helplessly, she said, "I swear to God, I didn't steal your money at all, otherwise may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death."
Wu's tone was fierce, "What good is an oath? You only came to help me because you wanted to steal the money, otherwise why would you have come to help me?"
The old woman was dumbfounded. She had kindly helped the woman walk down the street, so how did it become her fault?
"I didn't steal it, I really didn't steal it. Maybe it fell somewhere. Look for it on your way back."
The people around didn't know what was going on, but seeing the kind face of the old lady, they didn't think she was a thief.
Wu's aggressive behavior seemed more like a deliberate attempt to extort money.
Some people thought that they should never help someone who had fallen to the ground, because they would be in trouble if they were falsely accused and had to pay compensation.
A patient who came to get medicine chimed in, saying to the old woman, "You're wearing prison clothes, you must be a criminal who was exiled after their home was ransacked, where did you get the money? You must be broke and deliberately collapsed at the clinic entrance, waiting for someone to come and help you so you can extort money. Do you all agree with what I said?"
The others nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, that's what I guessed at first too."
"You're trying to extort money from people because you don't have money for medical treatment. You repay kindness with evil, but good deeds go unrewarded. You have no conscience whatsoever and will be punished by heaven."
"If you don't have money, then beg like a beggar. Your behavior is even worse than that of a beggar. At least beggars don't steal or rob."
"Auntie, ignore her and go home quickly. She's obviously trying to scam you out of your money."
Hearing the crowd's mockery, Madam Wu chuckled coldly and said, "I have no money? Do you know who I used to be? Before my family was raided and I was exiled, it was difficult for any of you to even see me. If you did see me, you would all kneel down and call me Madam."
"I don't care who you are, you're a convict now."
Someone, sensing that she didn't seem to be lying, asked curiously, "Tell me, which household did you belong to before?"
"Bang!" Mrs. Wu slammed her hand on the table. "I'm afraid I'll scare you to death if I tell you."
"Stop keeping me in suspense and just tell me."
Wu said, enunciating each word clearly: "The Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion!"
Upon hearing that it was the Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion, everyone became extremely excited. "The Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion? You are the Princess Consort of Zhenbei?"
Seeing the other party's excited appearance, Wu felt uneasy and anxious.
Oh no! In a moment of carelessness, I forgot that the Prince of Zhenbei's mansion had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the country, making it a target of public criticism.
Just as I was wondering whether I should change my address to the Yong'an Earl's Mansion next to the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion,
Suddenly, a group of people knelt down and kowtowed to her, saying, "This humble subject pays respects to Your Highness!"
"What's going on here..." Madam Wu looked bewildered. What was happening? Had the name of the Prince of Zhenbei's Mansion intimidated them back then?
An old man spoke up, “Six years ago, there was a famine and bandits ran rampant. They robbed people everywhere outside our Weishi County, and the people were suffering. What was even more despicable was that they intercepted the relief grain that the imperial court was sending to help with the disaster. That was the life-saving grain for all the people in the county.”
They were highly skilled in martial arts and killed without blinking an eye; some of their fighters could take on ten men single-handedly. Even the government couldn't do anything about them.
Upon hearing this, the Prince of Zhenbei, who was training troops at the capital's military camp, launched a night raid, leading his men a hundred li to suppress the bandits and retrieve the grain. The Prince of Zhenbei is our savior from Qian County.
“That year, my whole family almost starved to death. It was Prince Zhenbei who saved us. He is our great benefactor. We do not believe that he would rebel.”
"Yes, the Prince of Zhenbei would not rebel; he was framed."
...
Upon hearing this, Wu decided to impersonate Yang and become the Princess Consort of Zhenbei.
Their benefactor's wife was also their benefactor.
They believed in and revered the Prince of Zhenbei, and they also believed that his queen would not lie.
His attitude changed drastically in an instant, demanding that the old woman hand over the stolen money, or he would send her to see the authorities.
The old woman burst into tears, loudly proclaiming her innocence, "I really didn't steal it! Just because the Prince of Zhenbei is a good man doesn't mean his wife is a good man too..."
Someone accused the old woman, "You're from Weishi County too, right? Back then, the Prince of Zhenbei saved the lives of the entire county. You stole his wife's medical money. Have you no conscience? Hand over the money right now!"
Without wasting words with her, Wu started searching her body for silver.
They found a money bag, opened it, and found five silver ingots inside.
Unexpectedly, this old hag was quite wealthy; the silver stolen from her was only a dozen or so taels.
This is a huge windfall, hehe.
Wu held up the fifty taels in her hand and said angrily, "You still say you didn't steal it? This is my money, fifty taels in total. Caught red-handed, you still dare to say you didn't steal it? Since you helped me in, get out of here... Go now, or I'm afraid I'll change my mind and have the government arrest you and throw you in jail."
"The princess is kind-hearted, why don't you kowtow and thank her?"
“This is my money, given to me by my sons as a token of their filial piety. It’s not yours, you can’t take it away, give it back to me.” The old woman reached out to snatch the money back.
Ms. Wu knocked the person down with a swift movement, causing them to cry out, "Ouch!"
The old woman got up from the ground, and everyone around her assumed she was a thief and began to criticize her.
"They said they wouldn't report it to the authorities, but they still didn't repent and tried to rob us. They're shameless. Back then, the Prince of Zhenbei saved the entire county. Even if we had given them fifty taels of silver, it wouldn't have been too much to ask."
“That’s different. I can give her fifty taels to repay her kindness, but she can’t falsely accuse me of stealing fifty taels from her.”
"Let's go quickly."
The old woman was so frightened by being accused and threatened with being taken to the authorities that she almost cried. She quickly picked up her vegetable basket from the ground and left the clinic.
Yun Zhaoxue found the most bustling restaurant, with the words "Fenglelou" written on the signboard.
This is it.
The restaurant was bustling with people. Yun Zhaoxue smelled the aroma of the food and her stomach rumbled with hunger.
Just as they were about to go inside, the waiter at the door rushed forward and shooed them away, saying, "Where did this prisoner come from? Hurry up and leave, this is not a place for you to go."
"Why can't I go in? It's not like I can't afford it. Who am I looking down on?"
As she spoke, she shook the silver pouch in her hand.
The waiter had never seen a convict carrying silver before. He suspected it was filled with stones. "Is it filled with real silver?"
Yun Zhaoxue opened a corner of the money pouch for him to peek at, "It's more real than real gold, can we go in now?"
The waiter saw her prison uniform and said, "Well, I'll take you in through the back door."
Yun Zhaoxue grabbed the waiter by the collar and questioned, "You run a shop to do business, and I come here to pay for a meal. Why should I have to use the back door?"
"Uh..." The waiter was struggling to breathe as the collar tightened around his neck. He had never seen such a fierce woman before, who would resort to violence at the slightest provocation.
With a mournful face, she said, "Grandma, your clothes are too conspicuous. If you go in to eat, the customers in the main dining area will see you and suspect that you are an escaped fugitive. They won't dare to eat in the restaurant, and the manager will scold me to death. Isn't it the same whether you go in through the front door or the back door? Everyone goes in to eat."
"I'm a guest here to eat. It's like I'm doing something shameful to use the back door. I'm going to come in openly and honestly." With that, he pushed past the waiter and strode toward the door.
The waiter caught up with her, saying, "Grandma, please have mercy on me and don't make things difficult for me by making me lose this job, okay? The back door is over there."
Yun Zhaoxue told him, "I'm in a hurry to eat. There are people waiting for me in private room number three upstairs. If anyone asks why I'm wearing prison clothes, just tell them it's a new style from the Embroidery Pavilion that I'm wearing for fun."
The waiter scratched his head, "..."
Is it still possible to do this?
Just as I reached the door, a voice came from behind me.
“Big sister, the Xiao family doesn’t have much money to spare for hunting and digging for wild vegetables. If you use their money to eat at an expensive restaurant by yourself, you could use that money to buy rice and noodles, cook porridge or rice paste with wild vegetables, and the whole family could eat for ten or fifteen days.”
His words were laced with a sense of superiority, implying that Yun Zhaoxue was only fit to eat wild vegetables.
Yun Zhaoxue rolled her eyes at her, "Mind your own business, you're just worrying about nothing. Mind your own business first."
Besides Yun Jiaoyue, there were also the Third Prince, Yun Xiuwen, the Duan family, and the Shen family. This was a gathering of the Third Prince's faction.
They even changed into new clothes. Is this how exiles eat with dignity?
Yun Jiaoyue bit her lip in grievance, "Big sister, I think I gave you some advice, why are you still cursing? You're squandering the Xiao family's life-saving money for medicine, they definitely won't let you off the hook, they might even divorce you. I'm doing this for your own good."
Yun Xiuwen felt that Yun Zhaoxue's extravagant spending and selfishness meant she was not far from being divorced by her husband's family. He pointed at her and scolded, "You unfilial daughter, if you continue to be so lawless, don't even think about returning to the Yun family if you are divorced and sent back to your parents' home."
"Our Yun family has no daughters who have been divorced, so there is no place for you in the Yun family. You only have two choices: either shave your head and become a nun, or find a rope and end your own life."
“Master Yun, you’re getting old and your mind isn’t working as well anymore. You should say these things to Yun Jiaoyue. She’s your daughter. If you’re ever divorced, then you can say these things to her.”
I have severed ties with the Yun family. My future, whether good or bad, is none of your business. If I become successful, you can forget about getting involved.
Yun Xiuwen, hands on his hips, sneered, "Heh, you think you're so great? You should be grateful you didn't drag me down with you."
"I'm already thankful that your Yun family didn't implicate me."
Yun Jiaoyue forced a fake smile, "Big sister is really joking. I am well-versed in the rules for women and I abide by the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues. If I have not committed any serious mistakes, His Highness will definitely not divorce me. But you have not even read the rules for women and do not know how to serve your mother-in-law or be considerate to your husband. That is why you might be divorced."
She thought Yun Zhaoxue was hoping she would be divorced so she could take her place, but she shouldn't even think about it.
"Don't speak too confidently, or you'll regret it later. As for whether I'll divorce someone, that's none of your concern. I'm the one who divorces others."
The Yun family are all hopeless cases. The Third Prince prioritizes his own interests, while she only has a destiny, which can change at any time. And those two concubines in the Third Prince's household are no pushovers either.
Seeing her arrogant demeanor, Yun Jiaoyue secretly sneered. She thought that she had gone out to shop but was spending money recklessly. When she returned, the Xiao family would definitely not tolerate her anymore and would divorce her.
"Yun Zhaoxue! I've been waiting for you!"
A faint female voice drifted over, the sound of her clenched teeth seemingly filled with venomous hatred.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com