roccoschili Chapter 996 His Way of Making Money Was Different From Others
Chapter 996 His Way of Making Money Was Different From Others
He Linzhang was furious and immediately summoned the Marquis of Jing to the palace for an audience with the emperor.
After finally getting two days of peace and quiet, Lord Jing was urgently summoned to the palace again. He was filled with trepidation and went through all the bad things he had done in the past few days. In the end, he attributed it to the fact that Prince Jin had reported his family for forcing the Zhou family, a merchant family.
Upon entering the Imperial Study, Marquis Jing hurriedly apologized: "Your Majesty, I had no choice but to ask the Zhou family to marry my daughter. I did not intend to compete with the Hua family for a son-in-law. Please understand, Your Majesty!"
He Linzhang narrowed his eyes: "...So, there was such a thing."
Lord Jing: "..."
He glanced at the emperor in disbelief, then instantly felt remorseful. How could he have self-destructed? It seemed His Majesty had scolded him so harshly that his mind had been clouded.
"Ahem, may I ask why His Majesty summoned me to the palace?" Marquis Jing's heart was pounding with anxiety.
"You'll have to ask your good daughter about that," He Linzhang said, leaving Lord Jing completely baffled.
"My daughter injured her leg and is recuperating at home. I wonder what she did to enrage His Majesty?"
He Linzhang gave Zhang Fuhai a look, and Zhang Fuhai stepped forward and said, "My lord, although your daughter is injured, she is not at rest. She actually hired someone to injure someone. She called a few thugs to beat up Xiao, the compiler of the Hanlin Academy, and broke his leg. He is an official of the imperial court. According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the maximum penalty for assaulting an official of the imperial court is five years in prison."
Upon hearing this, Lord Jing thought, "This is outrageous!" Even though he held a high position, he wouldn't dare to openly scold or beat an official of the court. This Jing Yuwei must have a death wish; she's not at peace even with her leg crippled.
"Your Majesty is wise. My daughter... my daughter... she shouldn't..." Marquis Jing naturally couldn't admit it directly, so he had to argue a few things.
"My lord, the Prefectural Magistrate's Office has already investigated the case thoroughly. The person who hired the assassin was the nanny who served your daughter. The nanny also confessed that your daughter threatened her with their two children, forcing her to take the risk and help her hire someone to injure someone. When Your Highness was summoned to the palace, the nanny had already been arrested by the Prefectural Magistrate's Office. His Majesty summoned you to the palace to ask you, my lord, what is the status of this matter?"
Upon hearing this, Lord Jing realized that he had no choice but to admit it, as there were both witnesses and physical evidence to prove it. He could not deny it.
He glanced at the emperor who had ascended the throne and pleaded tearfully, "I am guilty. My greatest fault is that I failed to properly educate my daughter. I beg Your Majesty to spare her life, considering that my daughter's legs are already crippled!"
Once a person dies, everything is gone. Although Lord Jing now particularly loathes Jing Yuwei, she is still his daughter, and he cannot bear to see her executed.
He Linzhang walked to the side and looked out the window. It was early spring, and the branches were sprouting tender buds, full of vitality. In recent years, influenced by Tao Yanyan, he rarely entertained murderous thoughts anymore. As he grew older, his reverence for life deepened. In the past, given Jing Yuwei's repeated trouble-making, he would have already executed her with a white silk ribbon.
"Minister Jing, in this life, wealth, honor, and immense power are all fleeting clouds. But raising children well, setting a good example for them, and ensuring the prosperity of future generations and the flourishing of the family are far more valuable than acquiring more wealth. I have summoned you to the palace today, and I will not scold you. Go back and think carefully about how to guide your ruthless daughter back to the right path. As for Compiler Xiao, he was completely innocent. You will personally go to apologize and be fined two thousand taels of silver as a warning to others."
Marquis Jing immediately knelt down to express his gratitude for saving Jing Yuwei's life; the fine of confiscating her silver was already the best possible outcome.
As for His Majesty's words about guiding people towards goodness, Marquis Jing pondered for a long time on his carriage back to his residence. Finally, he sighed, "It's too late."
It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature. If Jing Yuwei could turn to good, she wouldn't be the daughter he raised from childhood.
Because of her beauty since childhood, this daughter had long been used by him as a tool to amass wealth, and she had committed countless evil deeds. Now, keeping her around was only to arrange a marriage with the Zhou family. The Zhou family only had one son, and after the marriage, all the wealth in the mansion would eventually become his, the Marquis of Jing's, estate.
After returning to the manor, Marquis Jing went to Jing Yuwei's room and scolded her harshly, which made Jing Yuwei very sad.
“What’s the use of crying now? If you’re going to do something bad, you should clean up the mess. If you can’t do anything, don’t do it. You’ll only end up losing more than you gain.” After saying this, Lord Jing was angry at his lack of ambition: “You should hurry up and recover from your injuries. The marriage with the Zhou family has been arranged. Once you’re healed, we’ll go back to Yanzhou, bring that Zhou boy with us, and get married.”
Jing Yuwei was now powerless to object and had no choice but to obey her father's arrangements: "What about the Hua family? Did they break off the engagement?"
Lord Jing shook his head: "No, the second daughter of the Hua family volunteered to be a concubine, which is a good thing. I heard that the Hua family is giving a generous dowry. In the future, that Hua family girl will serve you and support you. You can just be a good mistress."
Seeing how happy Jing Hou was, Jing Yuwei couldn't smile at all.
Her eyes darkened. Originally, she could have been a princess!
On Xiao Nan's side, Marquis Jing arrived with his men and delivered two thousand taels of silver.
“My daughter is unruly, and I have already disciplined her. His Majesty has also reprimanded her. I hope that Editor Xiao will accept the money and focus on recovering from her injuries.”
Although Lord Jing came to apologize, his arrogant attitude was nothing like that of someone who should be apologizing. After a few words, he refused to mention any wrongdoing and only wanted to get rid of him with money.
Yesterday, the Crown Prince sent someone to offer condolences and also mentioned His Majesty's decision. Although Xiao Nan did not want to simply accept the money and let the matter rest, he could not fight against the powerful. He could not afford to offend these influential people, so he said indifferently, "I hope that Your Excellency will go back and properly educate your daughter. I am but a humble official, and I can use money to settle some of my troubles. However, there are people in this world that your daughter cannot afford to offend. I hope your daughter will learn from this lesson and not go astray again."
Lord Jing snorted coldly, not listening at all.
"Since Editor Xiao needs to recuperate, then I will take my leave first." With that, he led his men away, showing no intention of listening to anyone's advice.
Xiao Da saw the man out and returned to collect the silver: "After taking office, the young master earned a total of 125 taels of silver. After sending it back to his hometown to supplement his family's income, he only had a dozen or so taels left to maintain his daily expenses. On the contrary, after suffering two hardships, he actually earned a huge sum of 4,000 taels, which is equivalent to his salary of twenty or thirty years."
Xiao Nan looked at him with amusement: "Judging from your tone, it seems I've been suffering quite a bit?"
Xiao Da scratched his head: "I didn't say that. I just... I just felt that the way you make money is a little different from others..."
After putting the silver away, Xiao Dacai said, "Young Master sent me to inquire where pink jade can be sold. After asking around, I found that only Zhenbaozhai in the capital has it. Once Young Master can walk, I will hire a carriage to take you there. Alas, a piece of uncarved pink jade is worth a thousand taels. If you also need to hire a skilled craftsman to carve the phoenix pattern exactly the same, I'm afraid it will cost more than ten taels for the labor fee."
Seeing Xiao Da's pained expression, Xiao Nan smiled and said, "In the end, it was I who broke the jade pendant, so I should compensate you with a new one."
Fortunately, he managed to exchange this body for four thousand taels of silver, enough to buy the most expensive and best pink jade.
Xiao Nan couldn't help but smile, thinking that he should get out of bed and walk around as soon as possible and hurry to the Treasure Pavilion, for fear that if he was too late, the pink jade would be bought by someone else.