"Madam Chu, I... I have made it clear that the invitations to this Autumn Night Banquet have been sent out... Even if you kill me, it is impossible to send out another one... Give it to your son."
Seeing Fan suddenly reveal this expression, Liang Qiu's heart trembled, but remembering someone's promise, he still forced himself to speak.
Fan gave him a cold look.
"According to Zhou law, how could my Chu family not have a place at the Autumn Night Banquet? Sir Liang, do you think I'm easy to deceive because I'm a woman?"
"… This… As one of the great Zhou Dynasty's divine marquis families, the Chu family naturally has a quota…"
"What about my Xiao'er's spot?!"
"... This... Young Master Chu Huang will come to Tianjue City on behalf of the Chu family. He should... come to visit Madam Chu soon..." Liang Qiu suppressed his panic and spoke slowly and calmly, saying with a hint of sarcasm, "The quota for the Chu family's autumn night banquet has already been given to Madam Chu."
At this time, Chu Tianxiao, who had been silent all the time, suddenly interrupted and continued, "The Chu family of Jingdu and the Chu family of Tianjue have long been separated. Even if the kinship still exists, Ding is Ding and Mao is Mao. This trick of misattributing the wrong person is too clumsy."
"Hmph!" Liang Qiu might still be a little afraid of Fan, who was a first-rank imperial lady, but who was Chu Tianxiao? Just a prodigal son. Since they had already torn their faces apart, he no longer pretended to be polite. He subconsciously snorted and said in a weird tone, "Mr. Chu, don't talk nonsense. This is an order from above. What does it have to do with me? Besides, isn't this good for Mr. Chu?"
"May I ask you, Master Chu, which of the martial arts and literary competitions at the Autumn Night Banquet are you qualified for? You are a loser who would embarrass yourself in vain, it is better not to go!"
Chu Tianxiao said calmly, "Don't worry too much. I just want to ask you, according to Zhou law, should my Tianjue Chu family have a share in the Autumn Night Banquet? It was the same in previous years, but this year it suddenly changed... for a reason."
Liang Qiu snorted, "The Great Zhou was founded on military power. You are a member of the Divine Marquis family, but you are already seventeen years old but have been lazy in your practice. You are not qualified to attend the Autumn Night Banquet at all. This place should have been filled by someone else in the family."
After Chu Tianxiao finished speaking, before he could answer, a burst of laughter suddenly came from outside the door.
"Hahaha! I can testify! What Liang Qiu said is true!"
But Manager Qiu had a smug expression on his face. As soon as he walked in, he pointed at Chu Tianxiao, raised a piece of Huiying Jade high in his hand, and said loudly.
"This boy loves to have fun and is lazy about cultivation. Apart from squandering money, he is good at nothing! The Huiying Jade is proof! He is absolutely not qualified to attend the Autumn Night Banquet!"
The sudden change caught everyone off guard, except Chu Tianxiao, who remained expressionless and sneered in his heart: The traitor has finally defected!
At the moment of wrestling with the prince of destiny, Chu Tianxiao would never allow any stab in the back, so he made a big fanfare and acted in a high-profile manner as soon as he returned to the mansion, just to force those unreliable people to rebel. For him, the decline of the power of the Purple Robe Marquis Mansion was not a problem, nor was it a problem if it split on the spot. Only after he took action, there were still "rebels" lurking and leaked the "secret refining" he was about to carry out, that would be a big problem!
Since time was too tight, Chu Tianxiao had no way of playing slowly by gentle tactics. He could only choose the tail-swinging tactic. Besides, he had no habit of getting rich with stupid teammates.
Buying local refined jewelry and holding lottery draws in advance are all preparations for such extreme situations.
The chess game has already started...
"It's just that I didn't expect this old traitor to defect so quickly..."
Chu Tianxiao couldn't help but think of something, and his heart trembled...
Could it be that it was from my father... Yes, it could only be that incident that caused my father to be stuck in the quagmire and unable to get out...
Chu Tianxiao's face remained calm despite his thoughts. At this time, Liang Qiu took the Huiying Jade, but just touched it without even looking at it carefully, and said arbitrarily: "Well... With the Huiying Jade as evidence, no matter what the truth is, the son of the Tianjue Chu family is suspected of slacking off. Before a thorough investigation, he is not qualified to attend the Qiu Ye Banquet."
After these words fell, several servants in the Purple Marquis's Mansion were so angry that they trembled all over - a thorough investigation? This is simply an excuse for procrastination! By the time they found out, the Autumn Night Banquet had already passed. It was clear that they were determined not to let Chu Tianxiao appear at the Autumn Night Banquet!
The means... are too despicable!
At this moment, Fan looked at the steward Qiu and said lightly, "Not bad, Qiu Ming, the master kept you and promoted you to be the steward. Is this how you repay him?"
A trace of shame flashed across the face of the chief steward Qiu, but it was quickly replaced by a fierce look. "Hmph! Good birds choose trees to inhabit. You Chu family don't distinguish between rewards and punishments, and you employ people based on personal connections. Don't you allow me to find another way out? The Qin family offers me three times the monthly salary, where I don't have to endure the bully's bullying and let him boss me around! The Qin family has been kind to me, and I should repay them! I have already reached an agreement with many of my old friends in the weapon refining field, and we are leaving together. You guys can play with this bully slowly! We won't accompany you anymore!"
As soon as these words were spoken, several people realized that there were actually dozens of people following Butler Qiu. They lowered their heads and remained silent with a guilty look on their faces, but they were all dressed like weapon refiners. These people might have something on Butler Qiu, or they might be his relatives or subordinates… After being promoted to the butler who stayed behind in the Purple Robe Marquis’ Mansion, he had enough time to accumulate connections, but now that he has turned against them, he has poached as much as 30% of the weapon refiners of the Tianjue Chu family!
When this scene appeared in front of everyone, some people who were familiar with Manager Qiu could not believe it at all - he was promoted to Manager out of the ordinary and was entrusted with the important responsibility of staying in the Purple Robe Marquis' Mansion. Is this how he repays his great kindness
Not only did he cooperate with outsiders to harm his own young master, but he even instigated 30% of the weapon refiners that the Purple Robe Marquis Mansion needed most to rebel
How can people be so shameless
The group of people subconsciously moved away from Manager Qiu, with looks of extreme contempt.
Chu Tianxiao's expression was "appropriately" slightly cold, and he said: "Butler Qiu is quite resourceful... His conscience towards you is probably worthless, right?"
"I have worked hard and made great contributions, but I have to endure the bullying of a prodigal son like you! You, the Chu family, were unkind first, so don't blame me for being unjust later!" Seeing everyone's contempt, Manager Qiu felt ashamed and angry, but he still snorted stubbornly.
"Hard work and great achievements? Haha..." Chu Tianxiao sneered, "Come on Liu Ling, don't give this guy face!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Manager Qiu felt inexplicably uneasy. Then, at the glance of Chu Tianxiao, Mu Liuling, who had been standing by the side, nodded and walked forward.
There was a stack of account books in her hand!
“This is…” Manager Qiu frowned and sweat appeared on his forehead.
"These are some accounts from last month." Mu Liuling smiled slightly, "I was doing some calculations when I had nothing to do, but I found a little surprise..."
"In early July, the Purple Robe Marquis's Mansion purchased fifteen pieces of Xiling City colored glaze, two pieces of Western Region screen costumes, and three antiques... The total price was 755,000 spirit coins."
"This account is in the charge of you, Manager Qiu. Liu Ling wants to ask, why is it that when I calculated it, the number... is more than half smaller?"
"The colored glaze from Xiling City is a fake. One of the antiques is damaged and worn out, so it can only be traded at 10% of the price. And there are many other things... But why, with all these things, the expenditure was calculated to be more than 750,000 spirit coins? Or..." Mu Liuling smiled faintly, "Did you, the steward Qiu, swallow all that money?"
"Liuling has many similar accounts here," Mu Liuling casually flipped open one, "Oh, this one is even more bizarre, young master?"
Chu Tianxiao nodded and said calmly: "Read it out, let everyone in the Purple Marquis's Mansion hear how great his 'hard work and contributions' were, and how we forced him to 'turn to another wise master'? Oh, that's right, we were too poor..."
As soon as these words were spoken, many people in the room couldn't help but laugh softly - yes, Manager Qiu kept saying that the Chu family had treated him unfairly, and that Chu Tianxiao had let him down for what he did yesterday, so what did this mean now
Someone only blocked your path to wealth once, but you have already embezzled so much from the Purple Robe Marquis's Mansion. So, don't you know what the bargaining chip for betrayal is
If you are a woman or a mistress, stop pretending to be a good person. If you are a traitor without tolerance and vision, stop pretending to be a loyal person who has no choice but to rebel!
For a moment, even some people from the Wasteland Guild looked at Manager Qiu with a hint of contempt...
"Enough!" Manager Qiu finally couldn't bear it anymore. He wanted to take the opportunity to hit the reputation of the Purple Marquis' Mansion again and draw more people away, but he didn't expect Chu Tianxiao to break all his little tricks and conspiracies with just a flip of an account book. Even the weapon refiners behind him were a little shaken at this moment, and only did not leave his side due to various pressures. However, his eyes flickered, and he lowered his head and remained silent. It was obvious that the Qin family could not use them with confidence in the short term.
Manager Qiu's forehead was covered with cold sweat. He gritted his teeth and said, "This... this is just your one-sided statement! Let's... wait and see!"
"Yeah, let's wait and see. According to Zhou law, embezzlement is a serious crime, and if the embezzlement exceeds one million..." Chu Tianxiao said leisurely, "Liuling, how many types of punishments are there?"
"My Lord, the lightest punishment is to abolish your cultivation and be punished with cutting off the nose. If it is more severe..."
"Shut up!" Manager Qiu roared suddenly, and the two men looked at him with a mocking expression.
"Brother Qiu, don't worry... You have provided us with important evidence, we will not sit idly by..." Liang Qiu hurriedly spoke to comfort him, but before Manager Qiu could feel relieved, Fan's voice rang out.
"Before you say something like that, think about whether you can protect yourself..."
Liang Qiu's expression changed, and after a pause, he smiled awkwardly: "Haha... What does Madam Chu mean by this?"
Fan stared at him, her eyes neither happy nor sad, and said: "Maybe... you can force my Xiao'er to leave the wasteland, and force him not to attend the Autumn Night Banquet... I, a woman, can't make any decisions on those important matters... But!"
At this point, Fan's aura changed again, her eyes were as cold as a knife: "If my Xiao'er is unhappy because of this matter, frowns and sighs, then... I can definitely decide what happens to you two!"
As soon as these words were spoken, both Manager Qiu and Liang Qiu's hearts trembled. They subconsciously wanted to retort, but when the words came to their lips, they were intimidated by the other party's momentum and could not utter a word of rebuttal!
"Let's... let's go!" The chief steward Qiu used all his strength to turn around with Liang Qiu and leave the Purple Robe Marquis Mansion. The people who followed him and dozens of weapon refiners also bowed to Fan and left one after another. The expressions on everyone's faces were extremely complicated...