Chapter 213: then translation of chapter title

Zhang Mama sighed: "She's still asleep, can't wake her. But fortunately, Doctor Du said there's no serious problem."

Li Qingluo: "Grandmother must be overly tired; let her sleep well. How are your injuries? Have Deng Mama and the others returned?"

Zhang Mama smiled: "Thank you for your concern, Miss, this old servant is fine."

Deng Mama and the others were fetched back in the middle of the night by Prince Su, Your Highness's guards; Miss, you were also tired yesterday, so we didn't wake you.

Li Qingluo sat beside Pei Lao Furen's bed.

She reached out and took Pei Lao Furen's hand, her gaze low and sorrowful.

"That's good. However, we can't stay here long, but for now Grandmother can't leave this Doctor Du; let's wait until her condition stabilizes before we leave."

Zhang Mama: "Miss, Old Lady has already entrusted everything to you last night; from now on you make all decisions, no need to ask me. Whatever you decide to do, I will follow you."

Li Qingluo quickly waved her hands: "No no no! Granny, last night's everything was a misunderstanding. That plaque should still be returned to Grandmother; once she wakes, she will still be the head of the Tianfeng Trading House."

"As for me, I'm still far from enough; I need Grandmother's guidance, to grow and be trained."

Zhang Mama felt embarrassed: "But this..."

Li Qingluo: "Then it's settled like this."

"If one day I truly gain the ability to take over the Tianfeng Trading House, then when Grandmother entrusts it to me, I will surely accept without hesitation. But for now, I really am not qualified."

Zhang Mama smiled: "You're joking, Miss. You are the most talented person I have ever seen besides Old Lady; whether in martial arts or business, you have the same flair Old Lady had in her youth."

"Given time, Miss will surely achieve great things just like Old Lady did in her youth!"

"But since you're attending to Old Lady now, I won't press you."

"But there is one matter you cannot avoid: you are the person Old Lady personally designated as the future heir of the Tianfeng Trading House, set in stone. Do you accept this?"

Zhang Mama gazed at Li Qingluo with a smiling, narrowed eyes.

Li Qingluo blushed.

Such tremendous wealth, if she didn't take it she wouldn't be human.

Li Qingluo gritted her teeth: "Yes! I accept! From now on, please, Granny, teach and guide me more."

Zhang Mama couldn't help but laugh.

"Miss, you're straightforward! From now on you'll be our young master."

Li Qingluo still felt a bit uneasy in her heart.

She knows her own weight, so to speak.

It seems she must grow up faster, and humbly seek advice from the grannies.

Having said that, Li Qingluo naturally turned to the main point: "Granny, regarding Grandmother's poisoning, have you recalled anything unusual?"

Zhang Mama: "I've also been thinking all night. Just now I was wondering, Old Lady's Small Kitchen, whether ingredients or cooking, are entirely under our own people's control—how could something go wrong?"

"And Doctor Du said Old Lady has been taking poison for a while now; but when exactly did this start? I... really... could it be that there's a bad seed among our own people?"

Li Qingluo: "Don't rush, think again carefully. During this period, has there been anything different from usual?"

Zhang Mama: "If we're talking about what's different, there is indeed one thing: previously, the fresh vegetables and meat Old Lady ate were all sent from her own estate."

"But on the sixth day, the vegetables from the estate failed to arrive in time."

"Then the steward came rushing to report that the estate had been raided by thieves; overnight the chickens, ducks, and fish were harmed, and those vegetables were also destroyed in large numbers."

"There was no choice; from the seventh onward we could only send a tiny amount to the manor... Could it be that something went wrong at the estate?"

Li Qingluo: "And what about you? Where do the vegetables and meat we've been eating at the Hongfenguan recently come from?"

Zhang Mama: "They're sent from the Li family estate!"

Li family?

Isn't that the estate where Deng's former concubine used to live?

That estate supplies all the vegetables and meat for the entire Jiangjun Fu; if everyone ate the same, perhaps there would be no problem.

But the problem is that Grandmother and they eat different things.

"Granny, investigate!"

"This matter must be investigated quickly to get to the bottom of it!"

"If I find out which petty villain dared to harm Grandmother behind the scenes, I will make him pay with his life!"

Li Qingluo knows this matter inevitably involves Li Chao Jing and Qu Shi!

They clearly had prepared that night to drag Grandmother to her death alive.

If one claimed it had nothing to do with them, she would not believe it even if she staked her own life on it.

Jiangjun Fu.

Li Chao Jing, after leaving court, immediately asked the steward of the manor whether they had found any trace of Li Qingluo and Pei Lao Furen.

The answer he got naturally left him greatly disappointed.

He flew into a great rage, scolding all the ineffectual servants.

"Not only were the people not found, but several went missing. What are you good for, eating for nothing?"

"Not even a teenage girl or a dying old woman can be found; I'm raising a bunch of good-for-nothings, aren't they worse than those old maids?!"

The steward approached tremblingly: "Sir, please calm your anger..."

Li Chao Jing: "Go summon the lady!"

The steward wiped sweat from his forehead: "My lady, the lady went back to her natal home early this morning..."

Li Chao Jing, hearing this, looked annoyed: "You idiot, why go back again? All these troubles in the manor are because of her, and she still doesn't reflect on herself!"

"Go, hurry to the Qu family and bring her back!"

The steward hurriedly retreated: "Yes, yes, sir..."

The steward withdrew with the servants, and Li Kechuan himself came over in his wheelchair from the corridor.

"Father."

Li Chao Jing rubbed his brow, seeing Li Kechuan arrive, his anger still not eased: "Chuan'er, your younger sister is utterly outrageous!"

"Her temperament is just like your grandmother's—stern and stubborn; once she decides something, she never easily yields. She's truly difficult to deal with!"

"Look, she's a young lady, yet she actually abducted your grandmother of unknown life or death and just ran off, vanishing without a trace, unknown where she went! It's utterly lawless!"

"Once we catch her back, I as father will surely give her a proper beating! Let her learn what propriety is!"

Li Kechuan: "Then you say... will grandmother give that thing you want to her?"

Li Chao Jing: "What are you saying?"

His face changed as he followed, and he immediately vehemently denied: "Absolutely impossible! I am your grandmother's own son! She is merely a young lady; your grandmother must have gone mad to give it to her!"

"What would you give her for? Give it to her so she can later take it and give it to a man of the opposite sex? Your grandmother would only do such a thing if she were senile!"

Li Kechuan gloomily stared at Li Chao Jing and asked again: "But Father, do you really think grandmother is unaware in her heart that you want to use this to force her to death?"

Li Chao Jing let out a furious low shout: "Chuan'er! What nonsense are you spouting!"

Li Kechuan: "Although Father and grandmother have always been on bad terms, I can see that deep down you still retain some affection for grandmother."

"Why, this time, must you allow Mother to act like this?"

Li Chao Jing's face full of surprise: "You... you know?"

Li Kechuan: "Since you discovered Mother's scheming, you have continually permitted it to happen. So, do you truly wish grandmother dead? Why is that? Is it because you want the silver from Tianfeng Commercial House?"

"Father, what exactly happened, that you still refuse to tell me?"

Li Chao Jing's eye sockets slowly turned red.

He wearily leaned on the chair and sat down.

"If it weren't for your grandmother stubbornly refusing to hand over those things to me, why would I resort to such a cruel act?"

"I as father do all this solely for the Jiangjun Fu and for you!"

"Do you still remember, when Father returned wounded from the battlefield that time? Father actually... actually stole the military merit!"

"The one who truly earned the battle merit was a Deputy General surnamed Jiang. By a fluke, he used his strategy, turning the tide and securing victory for our DaLiang."

"But although he won, he insisted on puffing himself up in front of Father, spouting words like flaunting his might, mocking and provoking, deserving death by a thousand cuts."

"He said I relied on my ancestors, especially your grandmother and grandfather's patronage and glory, to have the chance to become today's General of the Valiant Cavalry; otherwise I'd be nothing!"

"Father, young and hot-headed, in a fit of anger... accidentally killed him."

"Afterward, to conceal the truth, I staged the scene of him drunkenly knocking over a candlestick and wine jar, then set fire to his remains..."

"I thought no one would know of this. So after returning victorious to court, I quietly accepted that military merit as my own, thereby firmly establishing this General's position."

"Moreover, it was then that I used this merit to secure a military camp position for you!"

Upon hearing this, Li Kechuan's facial color also slowly drained.

Who would have thought, the Junior General position I once took pride in actually came about like this!

"Could it be that this matter suddenly became known, and someone produced something to threaten Father?"

Li Chao Jing's face full of sorrow: "It's the Jiang family."

"I also don't know how they suddenly produced that Deputy General Jiang's letter from back then; the letter contains the details of the battle and strategy where Father falsely claimed military merit, and it's genuinely his handwriting!"

"If this letter were sent to the imperial court, Father... not only would Father be doomed, but our entire Jiangjun Fu would face the catastrophe of confiscation and extermination!"

Li Kechuan's breathing involuntarily tightened: "Father, what do the Jiang people want?"

Li Chao Jing: "They demand outright five hundred thousand taels of silver!"

"If I give them the money, they will hand over Deputy General Jiang's original letter from back then for me to dispose of. From then on, money and goods settled, this matter will be completely buried in dust, neither side will bother the other! Our Jiangjun Fu will then be completely free of worry!"

Li Kechuan snapped the wheelchair's armrest with one hand: "How much!? Five hundred thousand taels!? Our entire Li clan... we, we can't come up with..."

Li Chao Jing closed his eyes and sighed: "Yes, even our entire Li clan can't scrape together a hundred thousand taels, let alone find five hundred thousand taels of silver."

"If it weren't for Father being driven to desperation, Father wouldn't have lost all conscience, forsaken humanity, and schemed to coerce your grandmother!"

"She, after all, is my own mother!!"

Li Chao Jing, in grief, shed a few tears.

"Your grandmother's Tianfeng Commercial House producing five hundred thousand taels of silver shouldn't be difficult."

"So I... I discovered that your mother had actually teamed up with the Qu clan to poison your grandmother, and only then..."

Li Kechuan: "But if we told grandmother about this, wouldn't she produce those five hundred thousand taels of silver to save the entire Li family?"

Li Chao Jing gave a grim smile: "Your grandmother? She would surely uphold righteousness over kin, being the first to report Father to the imperial court."

No sooner had the words fallen than a faint sound came from outside the door.

Li Chao Jing grasped his sword and thrust it out: "Who——?"