After the news came out the next day that Princess Yang ordered Kang Lizhang not to leave the hospital, Chunran and others were a little worried: "Did Princess Yang find out that we and Miss Cousin..."
"What are you afraid of! She just knows that I have recruited Kang Lizhang to do things, so what can she do to me?" Qiu Yilan disagreed, "Besides, Kang Lizhang is not so easy to be grounded. Just wait and see!"
If Kang Lizhang had already made a showdown with Qiu Mengmin, then Qiu Mengmin would definitely give her support; if not, then she would not be able to accept the punishment of being grounded. Cousin Kang's city has been ruined and now she is "sick" Princess Yang may not be able to keep everything from leaking to water.
Sure enough, it was not yet noon. Su He heard the news and came in and said: "The aunt is making a fuss. More than a dozen women can't hold her back. They barged into the prince's bedroom and asked him to make the decision... Princess Yang was scolded by the prince. Got it!"
"This is natural. After all, it has only been a few days since Mr. Lu died?" Qiu Yilan curled her lips, "If he doesn't help Aunt Kang at this time, how can he prove his feelings for his biological mother?"
Su He said with a smile: "It is said that my aunt wanted to come over and make trouble for the princess! My cousin arrived, knelt in front of her, hugged her legs and pulled up her skirt, and begged her to go back after all the troubles - my aunt also said that my cousin The lady is protecting you! It’s so funny. Who in this house doesn’t know that my cousin is afraid that my aunt will suffer a loss?”
"You just know that Aunt Kang is stupid?" Qiu Yilan smiled and nodded her forehead, "By the way, Princess Yang was scolded, what should she say now?"
Su He said: "What else can you say? When the servant came back, she saw someone leaving the house. She said that the princess was unhappy and wanted to call a doctor..."
"Huh?" Qiu Yilan thought for a while and said to her, "Go find Kang Lizhang tonight and give her a few words."
Su He asked curiously: "What are you talking about?"
"Princess Yang's unhappiness will most likely lead to a long-term illness. In May, Miss Ding's family will pay filial piety and prepare for marriage, right? If Princess Yang can't get up by then, how about Qiu Hongzhi? How thorough can a marriage be? How can he manage his marriage well if he is studying all day long?" Qiu Yilan's lips curved slightly and she said, "Let her remind Qiu Hongzhi to think of a solution quickly! The Ding family is not happy because they have to lose face in front of the Yue family. They are determined to ignore their daughter and son-in-law. Why will he fight with Princess Yang in the future? "
Chunran said with a smile: "Unless you are truly helpless, how can you handle a life-long event by yourself from beginning to end? If Princess Yang is really so sick that the eldest son is unable to take care of her marriage, the eldest son's marriage will be troublesome."
"My maid is thinking that this may be more than just trouble." Xia Ran thought for a while and said, "The eldest son is the eldest son after all, and his marriage is too ugly. As a prince, it is impossible to give him everything. Right? So we have to wait until Princess Yang gets better. In this case, if Princess Yang is not in good health, then Miss Ding may not be able to come in? "
"Miss Ding is almost 20 years old. If the delay continues, how can the Ding family have no objection?"
Qiu Yilan lazily told Su He, "This reminder is not for nothing. Ask Kang Lizhang to tell Qiu Hongzhi and ask him to quickly get the 10,000 taels of silver notes in private. This reminder counts as 1,000 taels. When sweeping the tomb, He has never taken over the six thousand taels he told him, and now he has to give me nine thousand. Of course, he can continue to refuse, or he can say that the princess refuses and the prince refuses. Anyway, I won’t see you until sunset tomorrow. If the money reaches 10,000 taels, then I will stand by Princess Yang on the matter of Miss Ding’s visit... Let him use his brain to think about whether he wants to pay the protection fee or not!”
... The next day Qiu Hongzhi listened to Kang Lizhang's message, and his face twisted for a while. Finally, he sighed and asked his confidant Jin Chan to take out three thousand taels of silver notes and two pieces of jade: "Tell her , I only have so much cash. I originally bought these two pieces of ancient jade for more than 8,000 taels, which is worth the remaining 7,000."
Kang Lizhang and Qiu Hongzhi were familiar with each other because they were both enemies of Princess Yang. Seeing that only Jin Chan was in the room at this moment, they asked in a low voice: "How come my eldest cousin got money from her last time?"
"When Princess Ruan passed away, the Yang family took 5,000 taels of silver from Ruan Qingyan and spent several hundred taels on the funeral -" Qiu Hongzhi said with a gloomy face, "In the end, this bitch started to argue with me!"
"In my opinion, this matter is probably the work of my eldest aunt. Otherwise, is that person afraid of my eldest aunt? She didn't ask her for it, but asked you for it. I think her eldest aunt promised her some benefits in private. "What?" Kang Lizhang pondered for a while and said, "My aunt is deliberately pretending to be sick and asking you to be the housekeeper and putting you on fire!"
Jin Chan interjected from the side: "Miss Cousin, our young master also knows what you are talking about, but there are only so many people in the mansion now. If the prince and princess fall ill, if our young master does not come out to take charge of the overall situation, who else can we do? There are always others. The name is not right and the words are not right, don’t you think so?”
Kang Lizhang heard that this was Jin Chan's fear that she would ask Qiu Hongzhi for power next and deliberately squeezed her, and her face immediately sank!
Just looking at Jin Chan's half-smiling look, he realized that his grandmother, Mrs. Lu, had passed away. Without this support, Jin Chan, who had served Qiu Hongzhi in the hibiscus tent last year, relied on the power of the pillow wind to do it in front of her. Don’t take yourself too seriously!
Recalling how Jin Chan flattered him when Mrs. Lu was here, and looking at the frivolous behavior of this maid now, Kang Lizhang gritted her teeth with hatred. But when he saw Qiu Hongzhi drinking tea quietly without any intention of scolding Jin Chan, he knew that his eldest cousin might have the same thoughts, fearing that when Mrs. Lu was around, everything in the inner courtyard of the palace was decided by his mother and daughter.
She calmed herself down and said with a smile: "Did I ever say that my eldest cousin shouldn't take charge of the overall situation? What I mean is that in the past, Aunt Yang used to take advantage of her second aunt and the leading concubine. What if that guy keeps finding excuses to ask for this or that?”
Jin Chan curled her lips. She was jealous of this commoner who was favored by Mrs. Lu. She had been living in the palace for a long time rather than being the princess's cousin. Now that she had the opportunity to step on Kang Lizhang, she naturally couldn't miss it. : "Then you mean to pay for our young master?"
These words almost made Kang Lizhang so angry that he whipped her!
But Kang Lizhang was an unusual person after all. He actually held back his anger and said coldly: "If you want to impose a crime, why bother? If this money is given to the first payment, it will continue to flow from now on. How can I be afraid of her?" No reason to keep asking for it? Who can afford this kind of money?”
Qiu Hongzhi watched coldly as the maid quarreled with her cousin until now, and finally said: "Cousin, don't argue with Jin Chan... what do you have in mind?"
Kang Lizhang realized that he should be more protective of Jin Chan. He felt cold in his heart, but it didn't show on his face. He just said lightly: "I think since it was my eldest aunt who collected the money in the first place, it's better for her to repay it herself."
"I told my father about this matter. My father was not in good spirits. He probably heard it and asked me to talk to Mr. Yang." Qiu Hongzhi was very disappointed with this idea and said in a mocking tone, "Ms. Yang said that the money I have paid homage to my grandmother—who knows the truth now? She also said that the government could not afford such a sum of money, so she told me not to pay attention to it. The seal for withdrawing a large amount of money was in her hand, and I was afraid of disturbing my father's recovery... these three thousand. Both are my own private residence.”
Qiu Hongzhi also has his own difficulties: his biological mother has passed away and cannot soften his cheeks. After Mrs. Lu is gone, his only support is Qiu Mengmin, and the reason why Qiu Mengmin values him, the eldest son of a concubine, is even more important. The only reason for having the youngest son is that he is more capable than Qiu Yin.
Therefore, Princess Yang's deliberate embarrassment meant that he could not always seek help from Qiu Mengmin.
Once Qiu Mengmin thinks that he is actually useless, you can imagine his fate. Otherwise, how could he use his hard-earned private money to pay protection fees
Kang Lizhang frowned and said: "If you give all this money to that person to win over the servants in the house, what will you do?" She lowered her voice and said, "To be honest, my aunt has to be sick now. These days…”
Now is also the best time for Qiu Hongzhi to take control of the palace - at least to cultivate his own power.
If it weren't for the fear of leaving a mark on her filial piety, Princess Yang would never have claimed that she was ill and let her eldest son become the head of the family!
Qiu Hongzhi frowned tightly.
"Actually, since you can use your own things as compensation, why don't you use...the sixth cousin's and the seventh cousin's?" Kang Lizhang pursed her lips and said softly.
"The things around them?" Qiu Hongyi was startled, "Those two little things are Yang's darlings, and the people around them are all chosen by Yang himself."
Kang Lizhang said calmly: "But that's not necessarily the case." For fear that Qiu Hongzhi wouldn't understand what she meant, "Grandma also cared about them very much when she was here."
Qiu Hongzhi glanced at her unexpectedly and leaned forward slightly: "How much can you take out?"
"When grandma was here, it was easy to talk." Kang Lizhang sighed, "But now... they may not have the courage!"
"Cousin, do you and I still see each other?" Qiu Hongzhi frowned, "I know what you are worried about - we are just grasshoppers on a rope now! If I can push Yang down, won't you and auntie be able to loosen up more quickly? "
Kang Lizhang glanced at Jin Chan who was biting his lip, and said with a faint smile: "My eldest cousin said this as if I was negotiating terms with you. Am I that kind of person? With your words, I will look back. Go ahead and do it... If you take this thing out, you want to cash it in?"
Qiu Hongzhi heard that she didn't intend to tell him about the manpower assigned by Mrs. Lu. He frowned and relaxed, saying: "Don't worry, as long as you bring something, I still have some connections." Again. Reminder, "But tell them to be bright-eyed and don't take worthless things, which is a waste of effort!"
"That's not the case. They still have some discernment." Kang Lizhang assured.
Qiu Hongzhi added: "Also, if something is missing, if it is found..."
"It's definitely none of my cousin's business," Kang Lizhang said knowingly.
"Now that our young master is the head of the family, I'm afraid that the people over there have noticed something is wrong. Even if they don't know anything, they still have to drag the young master to give them an explanation?" Jin Chan was unwilling to be left out, and was also annoyed that Kang Lizhang looked at her with a meaning just now. He said lukewarmly.
Qiu Hongzhi was not used to her this time, and immediately shouted: "Why are you talking to your cousin?! Palm!"
Jin Chan was startled and looked at Qiu Hongzhi aggrievedly, but saw that he had completely lost the tenderness when they were rubbing their ears and temples together, and looked at her coldly, with clear anger in his eyes!
"Pah! Pah!" Seeing Jin Chan slap her twice in the face with tears in her eyes, her pink cheeks swollen, Kang Lizhang smiled sweetly and persuaded: "Cousin, why should I be angry for a slave? How could I follow her? Are you fussing over it?" These words were clearly an insinuation of Qiu Hongzhi's understatement just now: "Cousin, don't fuss with Jin Chan."
Qiu Hongzhiquan pretended not to have heard it and said with a smile: "You and I, brother and sister, how can we be compared to a maid?"
Although Kang Lizhang knew that he was asking for her now and said this, and looking back, he was not sure how to belittle himself to comfort Jin Chan, but looking at Jin Chan's pale face, he still felt a sense of pleasure and said with a smile: "Let's be serious: If you find something missing over there and come to find it, my cousin will inevitably find you to express your anger. But what if the sixth cousin and the seventh cousin don't live up to their expectations and want to take out the food?"
Qiu Hongzhi's eyes lit up!