When Zheng Yi wanted to find the people rescued by Jiang Zhen from the pirates to create momentum for Jiang Zhen, For fear of affecting the future business of Qingfeng House, he did not allow women and gers working in Qingfeng House to live outside, so Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi stayed in Qingfeng House all the time.

Hearing that Jiang Zhen had an accident, they were so worried and anxious that they kept asking people to  go out  and find out the news. But the result was, before they could even find out any news, Qingfeng House was besieged!

“What on earth is going on? Why are you surrounding us?“ Liu Qianqian glanced at the frightened guests and asked anxiously, worried about the boys who had greeted the guests at the door.

The boy, who happened to have seen Zhou Maohe a few days ago, cried out at this time, “Miss Liu, what should I do? The man who made trouble at Qingfeng House a few days ago and insulted you turned out to be an imperial envoy!“

“Imperial envoy?“ Liu Qianqian was so surprised she gasped.

That old pedant turned out to be an imperial envoy? This . . .

Liu Qianqian immediately turned to look at Zhao Lingxi. When they looked at each other, they found that the other person’s eyes were also full of anxiety.

It was not because he had been wronged in Qingfeng House before that the imperial envoy wanted to arrest Jiang Zhen, right? If that was the case, then they would really have made big trouble for Jiang Zhen, so now what were they going to do?

“A person like that, just cry miserably in front of him,“ Liu Qianqian said, and just as her words fell, someone walked in from outside. It was Zhou Mahoe.

Zhou Maohe was followed by many scholars, as well as Jiang Zhen and Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi’s identity was not ordinary, but Liu Qianqian and others were not familiar with him. But even so, when they saw him, they were relieved. However, when they saw Jiang Zhen, they calmed down even more.

They don’t know why, but they always thought that as long as Jiang Zhen was there, they would be safe.

As soon as Zhou Maohe saw Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi, his face became ugly.

He was not addicted to a woman’s sensuality and did not care much about their looks, so naturally, he was not charmed by their beauty. He only thought that these two really did not know shame, not staying at home but, instead, selling their bodies.

However, those who followed Zhou Maohe were scholars, who, after seeing the decoration of Qingfeng House and Liu Qianqian and the others, already had positive feelings about the place.

Everything here was elegant; those few women and gers were all dressed simply, which gave them a more  unique flavor.

“Isn’t Young Master Zheng  going to introduce me? What do these women do?“ Zhou Maohe sneered. “I didn’t expect the Zheng family to open a brothel!“

“Your Excellency is wronging me. Qingfeng House is just a restaurant!“ Zheng Yi immediately said.

“How can there be a woman in the restaurant? Who knows what they do! Or were they forced by you?“ Zhou Maohe asked with a sneer.

“Your Excellency,“ Jiang Zhen called out, “if you feel that there is something wrong, you can let them all come out and get a clear understanding! But please don’t indiscriminately frame others!“ As he spoke, he pointed to the room next to him.

“Of course I will ask. I also don’t have to wait for them to go there!“ Zhou Maohe immediately said. Go to the room? This Jiang Zhen did not want to give him money privately, right?

“Your Excellency can try asking them in here, and I will not care if anything happens!“ Jiang Zhen sneered.

Jiang Zhen didn’t want Zhou Maohe to interrogate anyone publicly.

Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi were saved by him from the pirates. But those servants and guests of Qingfeng House were not clear about this matter.   If he questioned them in public, it  would be equivalent to showing the scars of Liu Qianqian and Zhao Lingxi to everyone.

 Those women and gers who moved to Hexi Village to live on the side of the docks, everyone already knew their situation. But Liu Qianqian and others were different. If people here were to know, that they have encountered such things, some people would start looking down on them. Guests who were originally nice to them might also start being disrespectful toward them.

As soon as Jiang Zhen said that, Zhou Maohe remembered the previous scene of being hugged by that crying old lady Jiang, so his heart could not help jumping in consternation.

With a cold hum, he said, “Bring them out to the room over there!“

Without the need for Zhou Maohe and the people, he brought with him, Liu Qianqian and the others. They showed a shivering and scared look one by one then opened the table flap from inside and lined up out from behind it.

The room Jiang Zhen pointed out was not large. Zhou Mahoe let the yamen officers wait at the door and went in with the scholars who followed him to hear what Liu Qianqian and others had to say.

As a result, before he could ask anything, Liu Qianqian knelt on the ground and said, “My lord, my lord, spare my life . . . I did not know the identity of the lord, so we offended you. Please forgive us . . .“

“Don’t say that. Why are you here? Are you being coerced?“ Zhou Maohe asked with a cold expression.

“My lord, we have not been coerced. Master Jiang saved us from the pirates,“ Liu Qianqian said while starting to cry. “My lord, my husband was killed by those pirates, and I was taken captive by those pirates and lost my reputation. I should not live in this world anymore . . .“ As she spoke, she hit the wall next to her.

“My Lord, we were homeless and didn’t want to marry again, so I begged Master Jiang to find us a job. I never thought that I would hurt Master Jiang, so I can’t live anymore  either.“ Zhao Lingxi, like Liu Qianqian, also chose a wall and bumped into it.

Both of them were fine, but they were quickly stopped by several scholars and began to cry even more. “My Lord, you are talking about the brothel. This is not giving us a chance to live!“

“Lord Zhou, this is what happened, these people were suffering so I hired them to work in the Qingfeng building. I pay them two silver per month. . . if the Lord is not satisfied, it is fine to kick them out.“ Zheng Yi said.

Zhou Maohe and the scholars around them felt pity seeing this scene. Hearing Zheng Yi’s words, they hummed. “How can it be? This is unacceptable! Isn’t this simply killing them?“

Zhou Maohe has always felt that the women and gers who get involved with pirates should just throw themselves to the river early, so they would not lose their reputation. But now when the matter had come to this, he could not force this group of women and gers to die . . .

He didn’t care much about anything else, but he still cared about his reputation.

With a loud crying in the room, Zhou Maohe’s face grew uglier and uglier, so he finally shook his sleeves and left the place.

There was nothing wrong with these women, but there definitely would be a problem with this Qingfeng House! Zhou Maohe and his men searched all over Qingfeng House, and the result was . . .

“My lord, this is the specialty of our restaurant, fried chicken and egg cakes . . .  These are all made from the most common things, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the palace! If the lord doesn’t believe me, I will have someone prepare it for you on the spot.“ In the kitchen, Zheng Yi spoke as several chefs kept shivering.

“My Lord, this is where you can take a bath. It’s really just a bath. If the lord doesn’t believe me, you can try it yourself.“ Inside the bathhouse, Zheng Yi explained its amenities while several guests wrapped in bath towels hid next to the charcoal basin as if they were too afraid to even look at Zhou Mahoe and the others.

In the courtyard: “My lord, this is the place to play little games like throwing pots and so on . . .“

By the pond: “My lord, this side is the place for people to fish. I let people add some fish every day but they were not fed yet today . . .“

In the study: “My lord, this is a place for people to read and write as well as study and draw . . .“

 

. . .

 

“My lord, this side is a place for eating, but some people will also talk about business here.“ Zheng Yi finally brought Zhou Maohe to the restaurant.

Over here were originally some guests eating. The food on their tables was still the fried chicken and egg cake that Zheng Yi pointed to them in the kitchen before, but there were also several other things. Although it looked very delicate, from what they saw in the kitchen . . . In fact, it was all made from very common ingredients.

Zhou Maohe strolled everywhere, but in the end, he did not see anything taken or copied from the imperial palace. He felt that it was not easy for such a small place to come out with so many tricks, and the scholars around him were . . .

“These dishes look good and smell very good.“

“These wooden balls on that table were played with poles, but I don’t know how to play them.“

“The way of playing cards here is quite different from the ones taught at the capital.“

 . . .

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: Xiao Hua

 

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