Chapter 352

Xu Chunming spoke calmly and unhurriedly.

His demeanor and etiquette perfectly matched that of a refined scholar.

Yet it was precisely this that made Su Qiao feel uneasy and dangerous.

How had I suddenly become a delicacy?

Maintaining absolute vigilance, Su Qiao's face remained calm. "Oh, it's Young Master Xu. I see. Is there anything else? I'm in a hurry to get home; the sweet potatoes will get cold soon."

"Nothing else, then. I shall not disturb you further."

Xu Mingming's conduct was firm and proper in both advancement and retreat.

Su Qiao played dumb, nodded lightly, and continued walking home.

Only after returning home did that tension finally ease.

"No, that person is not good!"

Su Qiao took a deep breath and pretended to be calm as he entered the courtyard.

Liu Rushi heard the commotion and came out to greet him with Qing'er.

"You're back?"

"Mm, I'm exhausted."

Su Qiao handed the sweet potato to the maid Qing'er.

"I happened to see someone selling roasted sweet potatoes on the way back. They looked good, so I bought three. They're quite sweet; try them while they're still hot."

Su Qiao caught his breath, accepted the hot tea Liu Rushi handed him, and smiled.

206, the "Fourth Brother" who's always traveling on business!

Su Qiao did not tell Liu Rushi or the others about Xu Chunming.

He feared it would cause Liu Rushi worry.

Xu Chunmeng, such a special and very strange person, had suddenly appeared before him.

Su Qiao had to admit his heart had been unsettled at the time.

Looking back now, he felt his own worry was somewhat ridiculous.

The other party had appeared blatantly yet dared not reveal their true identity; clearly, they were a rat in the gutter.

No matter how refined and elegant they pretended to be.

A thief is still a thief!

They dare not be exposed to the sunlight.

Having figured this out, Su Qiao's heart settled greatly, and a relaxed smile returned to his face.

Liu Rushi was a very meticulous person.

She noticed the change in Su Qiao's mood and saw that he had become relaxed again.

She too felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted.

"You two eat first; I'm not hungry yet. Have the steward come over."

"I'll go!" Maid Qing'er quickly volunteered.

Only Liu Rushi and Su Qiao remained in the room.

Liu Rushi hesitated for a moment, then spoke up to ask:

"Did something happen today?"

Su Qiao was stunned by her words, then immediately understood what Liu Rushi was asking.

28 He chuckled, took Liu Rushi's jade hand, and comforted her, "It's nothing. There was something I couldn't figure out before, but now I have. None of it is a big deal."

"Alright. I can't help with the major affairs of the court, but if anything happens, you'd best not keep it all bottled up inside yourself."

"Rest assured!"

Liu Rushi was simply too gentle and understanding; her words were carefully phrased to avoid hurting Su Qiao's fragile heart.

How could Su Qiao not hear that?

……

The steward was summoned, and Su Qiao asked him to find several craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, and he returned.

He went nowhere, neither to the Embroidered Uniform Guard nor to the imperial palace.

He simply spent half a day doing carpentry work at home.

The next day, he lazily put on his clothes as usual and went to the Ministry of Works to continue his work.

Zhu Youjian reviewed several memorials, and around the same time, he was once again pulled into a group video call by Zhu Yuanzhang.

"How are things over there now?"

Ever since learning that the Wa country of Fusang had silver mines with extremely high output, Zhu Yuanzhang had taken an interest.

During this period, on one hand, he continued sending people to investigate the situation at the Iwami Silver Mine, and on the other, he mobilized the Great Ming navy to clean up the smuggling families within the country.

Previously, Zhu Yuanzhang had not paid much attention to these people.

Now that he knew there was such huge profit overseas, he certainly would not allow those smugglers to make money behind the court's back.

So Zhu Yuanzhang had been quite busy these past few days.

Fortunately, matters had eased somewhat for now, giving him a chance to ask about Zhu Youjian's situation.

On Zhu Youjian's side, he sat respectfully while Wang Chengen and others were sent away.

Only Zhu Youjian remained alone in the entire main hall.

"Great-Grandfather, recently there have been some matters, neither many nor few…"

"Get on with it!"

"Ah, well, it's like this…"

It took nearly an hour before Zhu Youjian finished recounting the recent situation.

Zhu Yuanzhang roughly understood what had happened to Zhu Youjian during this period and the Decisive method to resolve it.

Learning that Su Qiao had been busy with shipbuilding in the Ministry of Works recently.

He thought of the fourth son, Zhu Di.

"Fourth son, what is the fourth son doing? Answer me!"

Seeing no response from Zhu Di for a long while, with the area pitch black, Zhu Yuanzhang's mood became somewhat unpleasant.

At this moment, Zhu Di was inside his sleeping quarters, using a Ma Bian to discipline his two sons.

Being urged by Zhu Yuanzhang like that nearly made him twist his waist.

"Get out, get out immediately and go kneel!"

To say Zhu Di was so angry, there was actually a reason.

Zhu Di rose to power through rebellion; his three sons below him—the eldest Zhu Gaochi, the second Zhu Gaoxu, and the third Zhu Gaosui—all actually had designs on the throne.

Zhu Gaochi was the eldest son; he himself possessed no stunning talent, was simply honest and decent, yet he was the legitimate eldest.

According to the order of seniority, the position of heir apparent belonged to him!

Thus, Zhu Gaochi became the Crown Prince.

The second son, Zhu Gaoxu, resembled Zhu Di the most; he followed Zhu Di in rebellion, fought north and south, and achieved great military merit.

He looked down most upon the "cowardly" eldest becoming Crown Prince.

He felt unbalanced in his heart.

So he always sought trouble with the eldest, Zhu Gaochi.

This time they started fighting again; Zhu Di could no longer endure it and directly summoned them into the palace to whip them one by one!

The time Zhu Yuanzhang sought Zhu Di happened to coincide perfectly.

After Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu slunk out to kneel, Zhu Di finally took a few deep breaths and opened the group chat.

"What's the matter? Is my word no longer good? Do you think I can't come over and whip you, fourth son?"

As soon as he opened the group chat, Zhu Di was blasted by Zhu Yuanzhang.

After being blasted for a while, Zhu Did not dare to retort and could only lower his head and act cautiously.

"Father, this is just bad timing; I was just disciplining my sons when you called me..."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the whip Zhu Di was holding, sneered, and said:

"If the beam above is crooked, the beam below will be askew; if you hadn't set a bad example, could this have happened today?"

Zhu Di: "Father, why are you speaking cold words?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes bulged, "What's wrong with saying that?"

Zhu Di: "Nothing, nothing, what you say makes sense; I do not know what matter you have summoned your son to attend to."