Chapter 92: The Secret of the Gong Family

  Nie Bowen glared at him: "Don't look down on me, I may be the eldest son, but my Nie family has never had a rule that only the eldest son can inherit the family business. The pressure I've endured over the years is no less than yours."

  Du Haoran raised an eyebrow and glanced at him: "I didn't say you're not working hard. But your background, destined that even if you don't work hard, you can still live a good life."

  "That's true." Nie Bowen agreed on this point, "However, after you've worked hard and reached your goal, you can relax and never be so tired again. But I'm different. Once I take on that burden, I have to carry it for a lifetime, and I'll never be able to put it down again."

  Du Haoran didn't say a word, slowly leaned back, and his whole body was buried in the shadows where the light couldn't reach, making it impossible to see his expression.

  And so, Ye Zhuo followed Ye Yuqi and others back home in Wei Daxiang's carriage. As soon as the carriage entered the Purple Robe Alley where the Ye family lived, a carriage was seen parked at the entrance of the small alley where the main house of the Ye family was located, and the person sitting in the carriage looked very much like Tang Shungui.

  She was delighted: It seemed that Luo Jing Sheng had some news.

  Just now, Yuan Chaolin interrogated Xie Jia and his son. Both of them insisted that they did not know Luo Jing Sheng. They only sent a young servant named Zhang Xin to Yu Zhuo Fang, planning to secretly give him a hint when Luo Jing Sheng was exhausted from carving, making his hands powerless to spoil or break the jade material. However, before Zhang Xin could act, Luo Jing Sheng himself had already ruined the jade material.

  While avoiding Xie's father and son interrogating Zhang Xin, Zhang Xin's words were exactly the same.

  Xie Jia has already confessed, and Xie Jizu was imprisoned and exiled. Xie Yunteng also suffered a downfall in reputation, so they had no reason to continue covering up for Yu Diaoshi. Therefore, neither Yuan Chaolin nor Ye Zhuo suspected Luo Jing Sheng of being related to the Xie family anymore.

  In Ye Zhuo's mind, Luo Jing Sheng must have made a big mistake, either he was truly careless for a moment or he was sent by the Gong family or the Tao family. Suspecting the Gong family or the Tao family is simple, as the Gong family has become so poor that they pawned their valuables to Ye Fu's house, and the Tao family has fallen to calculating the cost of a small workshop with all their heart's blood, it can be seen that they are truly poor. They do not have the ability to use the kind of scheme used by the Xie family, so they can only send a jade carver to intentionally carve badly when there are guests bringing valuable jade materials for processing, trapping Ye's family in a desperate situation. Perhaps, they also plan to take advantage of Ye's family being at a loss and buy the workshop at a low price.

  However, whether this guess is true or not still needs to be confirmed by Tang Shun Gui himself.

  The horse carriage couldn't enter the small alley where Ye's big house was located. Wei Daxiang drove his horse carriage to Tang Shungui's side and stopped, then shouted loudly: "Brother Shungui, I've arrived!"

  "Da Xiang, isn't it late for you to be back?" Tang Shun saw that the Ye family had rented not only Wei Da Xiang's car but also another one. The driver of that car was not particularly close to him or Wei Da Xiang, so he pretended to be surprised and asked Wei Da Xiang a question.

  "Uh, I'll just finish this job and then head back." Wei Daxiang was also a clever person. Knowing Tang Shungui's concerns, he asked: "Why are you still waiting for work so late?"

  Tang Shungui nodded slightly and said: "He brought a guest back to pick up something, he'll be going out again in a while, so he asked me to wait here for a bit."

  At this time, Ye Zhuo had already helped Zhao Shi and Zheng Shi get off the carriage, took out ten copper coins, and handed them to Wei Da Xiang in a matter-of-fact manner: "Here's your money." Taking advantage of Wei Da Xiang receiving the money, he gave him a signal with his eyes, indicating that he should wait a bit before leaving.

  Wei Daxiang took the money and didn't leave, instead standing beside Tang Shun's carriage to chat with him. Another rickshaw puller knew that Wei Daxiang got along with Tang Shun like brothers, so he wasn't surprised to see them waiting for customers together. After taking the money from Ye Yuxi, he bid farewell to the two and left.

  "Grandma, you go in first, I have something to discuss with Brother Tang." Ye Zhuo said to Guan Shi.

  "It's so late, let's talk about it tomorrow." Mrs. Guan didn't want her pure and innocent granddaughter to be with these rough men like the coachman at such a late hour, ruining her reputation.

  "Alright, let's go. Yuezhi will handle things, she has her own way of doing them. Besides, there's also Autumn Moon to accompany us. Let's go, we'll head in first." Yuezhi knew that these carters were all hired by Ye Zhi, and Tang Shungui was waiting here, so he must have something to say to Ye Zhi. But this matter couldn't be let known to the Guan family. It wasn't that they didn't trust them, but rather they didn't want to worry them unnecessarily. Apart from worrying and being afraid, there was no benefit to it. So at this time, he took Guan's hand and headed inside. Zheng was worried about her daughter, but after hearing Yuezhi's words, she couldn't say anything opposing, so she could only follow behind, looking back three times as they entered the alleyway.

  "Brother Wei, you've worked hard today. Here's ten taels of silver, take it and have your wife and kids make two new sets of clothes." Ye Zhuo handed over the ten taels of silver to Wei Daxiang.

  "Miss Ye, no need for so much." Wei Daxiang stuttered. It turned out that Ye Zhuo was saying five qian of silver to buy an important message, and today he didn't even use it to testify in court. In his mind, being able to earn one or two liang of silver would have been enough. But unexpectedly, the amount Ye Zhuo handed over to him was actually ten liang of silver, which made him dare not accept it.

  "Brother Wei, you don't know how important this news is to our Ye family today. If it weren't for the Xie family's trust in him, those two wouldn't have retreated and we wouldn't have been able to catch them. Your role would have been even greater then. You've helped our family a lot, so this money is well-deserved." Ye Zhuo said. Where there are heavy rewards, there will be brave men. Giving Wei Daxiang ten taels of silver today will surely make him keep a close eye on people related to the Ye family and gather information about them. With these people as our eyes and ears, the Ye family will be much safer.

  "This is Miss Ye's intention, you just take it. In the future, just pay more attention to those people and things for Miss Ye." Tang Shungui said with a smile. He had known Ye Zhuo for longer than Wei Daxiang, and had also borrowed money from her several times. He knew that Ye Zhuo was a very generous and open-minded person, unlike those petty and stingy girls.

  "Thank you, Miss Ye." Wei Daxiang happily accepted the money. After putting it in his pocket, he "thudded" to the ground and gave Ye Zhuo a loud kowtow.

  "Brother Wei, what are you doing? Quickly get up." Ye Zhuo hastily shifted her body to avoid his gesture. Then she stretched out her hand to support him lightly. In her heart, however, she felt extremely moved. The difference between people was just that great. She had only given Wei Daxiang a bit more silver, and he could be so grateful; while some people were greedy to the point of coveting others' possessions, never knowing what it means to be satisfied.

  When Wei Daxiang got up, Ye Zhuo turned his head to ask Tang ShunGui: "Tang brother, is Luo JingSheng really someone sent by others to harm my family?"

  Tang Shun-gui's smile faded. He said, "That Na Luo Jing-sheng is indeed cautious. After leaving the Jade Pavilion, he circled around the town for a big round, frequently looking back to see if anyone was following him. If I hadn't met my younger brother along the way and asked him to follow for a while, and then got off the carriage and pretended to be a passerby for a segment of the road, he would have almost discovered me. In the end, he took a carriage and arrived at a small courtyard. The courtyard is in a relatively secluded place on the outskirts of the town. If it weren't for you, Miss, asking me to keep an eye on Second Mistress Gong during this time, I wouldn't know that he has any connection with her."

  "Who is it related to?" Ye Zhuo saw Tang Shun Gui stop here and asked. Although the answer was on the tip of her tongue, she wanted a definite answer.

  Tang Shungui looked at Ye Zhuo, opened his mouth wanting to speak, but then closed it again, as if some words were hard to say.

  "Whatever you want to say, just go ahead." Ye Zhuo said.

  "I'll tell you then." Tang Shungui scratched the back of his head, "Last time, I saw Mrs. Kung take a carriage to that place and stayed for over an hour before coming out. And the one who sent her out was... was her cousin, Mr. Tao. The two of them... looked very intimate. Later, I asked around and found out that this house doesn't belong to the Kungs or the Taos, but is rented by Mr. Tao."

  Tang Shungui was a simple and honest man, he felt that telling Ye Zhuo, an unmarried girl, that her stepmother had an affair was extremely immoral.

  "So that's how it is." Ye Zhuo suddenly enlightened.

  She said, someone like Gong who is neither ugly nor stupid, and has some status in the family, how could she marry a man like Ye Jiaming who has a wife and concubines, is not young, and has no power or influence. The first time they met, she suspected that the child in Gong's belly was not Ye Jiaming's. To think that Ye Jue is already ten years old. In the past decade, Ye Jiaming had many women, but none of them got pregnant. From this, it can be seen that not being able to have children is not a problem with those women, but rather a problem with Ye Jiaming.

  It seems now that the seed in Mrs. Gong's belly should be Tao Changsheng's.

  That is to say, Gong had lost her virginity before marriage, became pregnant, but was unwilling to become a concubine of Tao Changsheng. So she used her wits to deceive Ye Jiamei, letting him believe that the child she was carrying was a descendant of the Ye family, and married into the Ye family.

  But is it really that simple? Gong's meticulous plan to control the second house, secretly selling Ye's family belongings, these actions are too strange.

  "Does anyone know about Tao Changsheng's situation?" Ye Zhuo asked.

  Tang Shungui and Wei Daxiang shook their heads: "Not clear."

  "You go next and help me find out about Tao Changsheng and Gong Shuban, especially if there's anything wrong with their finances." said Ye Zhuo.

  "Good." The two nodded.

  Ye Zhuo took out ten taels of silver and handed them over to Tang Shun Gui: "Thanks for your trouble, Brother Tang."

  "Miss Ye, let's just say what we owe is what we owe. Don't worry that I'll be envious of the ten taels of silver that Brother Wei has. Your care for me during this time has made our family's life much more comfortable. When my mother was ill, you even gave me an extra two taels of silver. My mother always says that good people will have good rewards, and tells me not to be too greedy, that asking for news is just a matter of convenience, but I shouldn't keep asking Miss for money." Tang Shun said seriously, "So this money, I won't take it. If you really want to give me something, five qian silver will do."

  Ling Shui said: There is still one more chapter in two hours.

  Thank you dorothies, na yun huan, dong fang feng yun for the peace symbol, thank you yun xia ni qiang, qin mu jin for the new year red envelope. Thank you tinapan, little witch 0106, yuan shan yi mo, dqlei, yan wei fu 6806, habehappy, sleeping dog 11, sophia1108, thousand god, tongghui, lonely fish child, yuki_zx, flying yang sui feng, jykuan4569, Addict, long yu ice for the pink votes!