Chapter 225

Ningguo Prefecture.

After noon, Keqing asked Ruizhu to help organize her makeup; she wore a white front-opening jacket embroidered with cold plum blossoms, a light green cross-collar padded jacket, and a dark green horse-face skirt with blue woven edges.

She was still considered a new bride, so this outfit was a bit too plain, especially every time she went to Rongguo Prefecture, her dress and makeup became more and more elegant.

People like Jia Mu and Wang Xifeng all felt strange, seeing her in her prime, born so graceful and moving, and a new bride, her dress and makeup should be rich and festive, yet it was so plain.

Only Keqing herself knew clearly in her heart why she dressed so elegantly; she just wanted to meet him in Rongguo Prefecture and didn't want him to think she was a festive new bride; she was still the Keqing from Jin Ling.

It was just that she had come to Rongguo Prefecture so many times, except for the one time he came to Rongqing Hall to greet the Old Lady and she saw him once, she never met him again.

Later, she found out that in Rongguo Prefecture, he was not liked by the Old Lady from a young age, and the Qingzhi Studio where he lived was in the northwest corner of Rongguo Prefecture, very far from the Rongqing Hall where the Old Lady lived.

This was also the reason why it was difficult to meet him in Rongguo Prefecture; Ruizhu heard the news that he was now observing governance at the Ministry of War and had to go to the office every day, so the chances of meeting him were even smaller.

After tidying up, Keqing took Ruizhu and Baozhu to take a carriage at the west corner gate.

And at the entrance of the tea house female dormitory, many women stood there pointing and gesturing.

In that courtyard west of the city, there were still seventeen children being raised, and the daily food and clothing expenses were not small; every once in a while, she would go west of the city to purchase rice and other daily necessities.

But as soon as the two of them entered Xin Chun Street by carriage, they felt that the atmosphere was a bit wrong; looking from afar, the shop was actually sealed, and there were always two yamen runners patrolling opposite the shop, which shocked her heart.

Ruizhu replied indifferently: "This is Steward Lai's nephew, called Lai Shangrong; I heard he is the biological son of that Steward Lai in the West Prefecture; in short, they are all one family."

Baozhu knew this man; he had been to Xiuniang Incense Shop several times, wanting to buy shares and distribute in the shop, and even threatened and intimidated Aunt Feng, and was finally knocked unconscious by me from behind and taught a harsh lesson.

It was just that Baozhu stood there stupidly, not moving, staring at the man, with surprise in her eyes.

So Ruizhu usually paid close attention to the surroundings on weekdays, so she could help the young lady guard against things; she probably knew about the people who came in and out of the mansion daily.

Qu Hongxiu was used to the world, naturally more sensitive than ordinary people, so she let Jiang Liu stop the carriage at the intersection and let him go to find out what happened.

Baozhu was surprised in her heart; didn't this person say his name was Zheng Quan when he came to the shop? What a cunning guy; it turns out his name is Lai Shangrong, and he is the nephew of the Ningguo Prefecture steward.

Keqing and Ruizhu didn't care much, just avoiding the male entering the mansion.

She tilted her head and thought for a while, feeling more and more wrong in her heart, thinking that this matter must be told to Sister Xiu and Brother Cong as soon as possible.

Early this morning, Qu Hongxiu let Jiang Liu drive the carriage and followed her to the East Market.

But how could he appear in Ningguo Prefecture?

"Ruizhu, who is that man, and how could he come to Ningguo Prefecture?"

Ever since Ruizhu followed Keqing into Ningguo Prefecture, the young master of the mansion was dissolute by nature, the couple was newly married, but he stayed out all night, and the Old Master's appearance was also very wretched, and the look in his eyes when he looked at the young lady was not right.

……

But at the west corner gate, a tall and thin man, wearing a brocade robe with patterns, hurried into Ningguo Prefecture.

After buying everything, settling down in the courtyard west of the city, and returning to the incense shop on Xin Chun Street with Jiang Liu, the ice cubes Jia Cong made recently made the shop's business much better.

Jiang Liu didn't spend much effort to find out the reason, and when he came back and told the story, Qu Hongxiu was shocked.

Not long ago, the yamen runners of Zhen'an Prefecture sealed the shop on the grounds that Xiuniang Incense Shop owed official silver, and even the shop manager and clerk were arrested and taken to Zhen'an Prefecture.

It was just that the government people didn't catch the owner of the shop, and now they were guarding here...

……

Rongguo Prefecture.

Baozhu followed Keqing to the West Prefecture by carriage, and was then taken to Rongqing Hall by Feng Jie, waiting until Keqing and Jia Mu and others finished chatting, and several people sat down to play cards.

Baozhu slipped out of Rongqing Hall; she knew Jia Cong lived in Qingzhi Studio, but she had never been there, so she could only wander around the garden to find him.

Usually at this time, Jia Cong was generally busy at the Ministry of War office or the Firearms Bureau of the Ministry of Works.

And today was the day of rest every five days, and he happened to be in the mansion all day, and he never expected that Baozhu would come to Qingzhi Studio to find him.

Baozhu was now Keqing's personal maid, and Keqing was now a new bride in the East Prefecture; the seniority of the two prefectures and the defense between men and women made it difficult to meet alone in the mansion.

So he had seen Baozhu less, not to mention Baozhu finding Qingzhi Studio alone.

Jia Cong knew that Baozhu must have something extremely important to come to him regardless of suspicion.

"Brother Cong, do you know who I saw in the East Prefecture today? It was that guy who went to the shop several times, threatened Aunt Feng, and wanted to buy shares in the shop."

"I heard from Ruizhu that he is Steward Lai's nephew, Lai Shangrong, but he only said his name was Zheng Quan when he came to the shop; I knew this guy was not a good thing, and I even beat him up..."

As soon as Jia Cong heard the name Lai Shangrong, his face sank, and he didn't even listen carefully to the pile of words Baozhu said later.

He had heard Qu Hongxiu say that someone had repeatedly wanted to buy shares in the shop, obviously coveting the prosperous financial resources of Xiuniang Incense Shop.

He didn't expect this person to be Lai Shangrong, and behind Lai Shangrong, it was nothing more than the stewards Lai Da and Dong Laier of the East and West Prefectures.

In Jia Cong's impression, neither of these two was a good thing.

Relying on their mother being the companion maid of the Old Lady, and the two brothers being favored servants, they became stewards of the East and West Prefectures respectively; not to mention how much they embezzled from the Jia family on weekdays.

Just looking at the garden that the Lai family could build, which was half the size of the Grand View Garden, was shocking enough.

Relying on the Jia family's power, these two brothers had also done many shameless things outside; the Lai family was actually a parasite attached to the Jia family.

And behind Lai Da and Dong Laier were the masters of the East and West Prefectures, Jia Zheng, Jia She, Jia Zhen, etc.; it was actually these people who were coveting Xiuniang Incense Shop!

But he believed that Jia Zheng had nothing to do with this matter; at this moment, he suddenly thought that he had seen a bottle of Dongying water jade perfume in Daiyu's room that day, and he had paid attention to it at the time.

Hearing Daiyu say that this perfume was obtained by the East Prefecture's Zhen elder brother, and given to Jia Mu by the East Prefecture's You sister-in-law, and then Jia Mu gave it to Daiyu and Baoyu to play with.

At that time, Daiyu also said that this water jade perfume was a woman's item, and only women would buy it, yet Zhen elder brother, a man, obtained it.

At that time, he had doubts in his heart, but after all, the matter was not big, and nothing happened later, so he forgot about this matter.

Thinking about it now, it really wasn't without reason.

This matter happened more than a month ago, and it was very close to the time when someone harassed Xiuniang Incense Shop; today Baozhu met this person in the East Prefecture again, and it was recognized by Ruizhu as Lai Da's son, Lai Shangrong.

There cannot be so many coincidences in this world.

Jia Cong could almost be certain that the one who coveted Xiuniang Incense Shop was Jia Zhen of the East Prefecture, and Lai Shangrong was instructed by Jia Zhen!

At this time, the old woman guarding the back corner gate came to Qingzhi Studio to pass a message, saying that the third master's little servant was waiting outside the back corner gate and had something important to find the third master.

(End of chapter)