Chapter 97: Gossip

  "Alright, you'd better keep quiet too. Speak elegantly and express your feelings." Ye Yuqi glanced at Guan Shi.

  "Hmm." Guan's family hummed and stopped talking.

  "Come on, let's go see more houses." Ye Zhuo stood up with some helplessness.

  She started listening to Zheng's words, thinking that today would be a gentle passing of the matter. Who would have thought it would still end in dispute? At the time, looking at how things had developed to this point, she was also quite stunned. In fact, from her perspective, today's events were really not something that could be said to be right or wrong.

  Honestly speaking, Zheng Pengju is not a bad person and has some feelings for the Zheng family. He came today with good intentions; he didn't want his sister to live alone because he thought it was good for her. As for Liu, she's always been like that, liking to take advantage of small benefits and being meticulous in her calculations. But you can't say she's too bad either. Regardless of her reasons, the fact that she came today and humbled herself is already not bad; we can't expect too much from her.

  As for Zheng, what she said was not a problem. Although there was some resentment, since Zheng Pengju and his wife came to apologize, it's normal for her to say some complaining words to vent. As for Guan, as an elder, scolding Zheng Pengju a bit and supporting Zheng Manwen is also not wrong.

  But ironically, as the conversation went on, things developed to this point. And she stood by, unable to get a word in edgewise - because she was younger, no matter what she said, Liu might vent her anger on her; Gu and Zheng were biased towards their own, and Ye Youqi was no exception, no one could tolerate outsiders saying anything about her. At that time, the conflict would only be further intensified, like adding fuel to the fire.

  So she could only remain silent.

  "Let's go take a look at the house." Zheng felt exhausted from inside out, she really wanted to have a place of her own, where she could eat when she wanted, sleep when she wanted, do as she pleased, and no longer had to care about other people's joys and sorrows.

  Several people came out of the door again and went to Qingyun Alley. As soon as they came out, they saw Tang Shungui's carriage stopped at the entrance of the alley. Since asking Tang Shungui to stare at Gongshi, it was usually Wei Daxiang who waited for Ye Zhuo here. Ye Zhuo knew that Tang Shungui must have come with some news this time. He said: "Grandfather, Qingyun Alley is not far away, I know the way. You all go first, and I'll talk to Brother Tang for a while."

  "Good." Ye Yuqi nodded slightly at Tang ShunGui from afar, then led Guan Shi and Zheng Manwen forward. Leaving Qiu Yue to follow Ye Zhuo.

  "Brother Tang, why is it you today?"

  "Miss Ye, my friend went to see Wu Yu last night as you instructed. At the time, I didn't know that the third courtyard had been sold to someone else recently, so there was no news to report back to you, which is why I didn't mention it to you last night. Now that I have some news, I've come specifically to inform you."

  "What? What news?"

  "It's a coincidence. Last night, my friend was trying to find out more information and ran into Nie Gongzi and Du Gongzi who had also arrived at the courtyard by carriage. As soon as they got off the carriage, a steward-like person came out to greet them, addressing Nie Gongzi as 'Young Master'. Neither Nie Gongzi nor Du Gongzi exchanged pleasantries with him, but went straight in. It can be confirmed that the three-compartment small courtyard was recently purchased by Nie Gongzi."

  "So that's it, Wu Yu is sent by Nie Gongzi or Du Gongzi to help us?" Ye Zhuo raised an eyebrow.

  Tang Shungui nodded and said, "It should be."

  "Alright, I understand..." Ye Zhuo hinted at Qiu Yue to take out a small silver ingot and give it to Tang Shun Gui.

  Tang ShunGui didn't decline this time and smiled: "I will definitely transfer the money to my nephew."

  Ye Zhuo knew that Guan and the others were not at ease with themselves, so she didn't bother to exchange pleasantries with Tang Shun anymore. She took Qiu Yue with her and hurried forward. Sure enough, right in front of them, not far from the bend, Ye Yuqi and the others were standing there waiting for her.

  Ye Zou also did not avoid mentioning Guan's and Zheng's families, telling Ye Yuqi about the situation that Tang Shungui had mentioned.

  "I thought it was strange at the time, Wu Yu coincidentally always helped us raise prices at critical moments, as if he had to get it, but in the end, he didn't even buy a piece of jade carving. It turns out it was like this." Ye Yuke suddenly realized.

  "What's going on, what's going on, hurry up and tell me." Gu heard that this matter was related to Nie Gongzi and Du Gongzi, and asked repeatedly. Last night in the public hall, she was worried about the future of the Ye family and didn't have time to think about other things. Now, as soon as she heard that Nie Gongzi and Du Gongzi had sent someone to do such a thing yesterday, her granddaughter in front of her was so beautiful and capable, her gossip fire suddenly burned fiercely. Even Zheng Shi perked up her ears.

  I'm afraid I can only repeat what happened yesterday again.

  Guan's eyes stared straight at Ye Zhuo, frowning and remaining silent for a long time.

  Ye Zhuo felt very self-conscious under her gaze and blushed slightly as she scolded: "Grandma, why are you staring at me?"

  "What's wrong?" Ye Yiqi asked strangely.

  "I don't understand. You say that Niece Gongzi and Du Gongzi are not related to us, but they want to help us like this. Shouldn't it be because they have taken a liking to our granddaughter? But if they want to help, couldn't they just directly buy the jade carvings for us? I heard you say that those two jade carvings crafted by our family are extremely fine. Anyway, they don't lack those three thousand taels of silver, so why did they let people bid on them and not buy them? What's the reason?" Guan Shi said with a furrowed brow.

  As soon as she finished speaking, she clapped her hands again and said: "I know, I understand. It was wrong to buy that jade carving back. Whether the jade carving was auctioned or obtained from somewhere else, after all, Yu'er is a beautiful young girl, and the one who bought the jade carving is a handsome young man. If someone sees the jade carving in his possession in the future, it will definitely lead to rumors that we are secretly giving the jade carving to our lover. So for Yu'er's reputation, he can't do that. Look, no matter which young master helped us, they really thought it through."

  Yue Zhuo couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time: "Grandma, what are you thinking?! They just took pity on us and lent a helping hand, where did you get such ideas from?"

  Ye Yiqi shook his head: "I'm telling you, old companion, don't mention this again. Whether it's Nie Gongzi or Du Gongzi, we can't reach their level. We can't control what they think, but if they only want to take my family's Zhu'er as a concubine, I absolutely won't agree."

  Guan was suddenly sobered up by this cold water, and muttered: "Won't it? Our Zhuo'er is so beautiful and capable, how can they only take her as a concubine?" However, she felt that this question was unnecessary even to herself. It's worth noting that with the family background of Ye Jia's second house, Xie's family thought it was most suitable to take Ye Zhuo as a concubine. Now Ye Zhuo has been adopted into the main house, and Nie Bogu's family is thousands of times stronger than Xie Yunfeng's; even if Du Haoran were to become a honored guest of the Nie family, his status would not be low. For Ye Zhuo to become a concubine for one of them, it was still a great blessing in the eyes of others.

  "Aunt, I only hope that Zhu'er will marry someone who truly loves and cares for her, and can spend the rest of his life with her. As for those rich families' sons, let's just forget about them." Zheng said, "You don't know, although I'm angry with my brother, but I really want Zhu'er to marry someone like him. Although my sister-in-law has had a harder life, she has gained my brother's protection and respect, and that makes this lifetime worthwhile."

  "Don't worry, Auntie isn't that kind of person who clings to the powerful. I said that just now because I think our Zhu'er is so beautiful and capable, she deserves a prince." Guan Shi said with a smile.

  Everyone laughed at her words. One's own child is always good in one's own eyes. Guan Shi was like this, also because she liked Ye Zhuo too much. She had an essential difference with Ye Yu Zhang and others, and would not ignore Ye Zhuo's happiness in order to curry favor with the powerful. If Ye Yu Qi dared to give Ye Zhuo to someone else as a concubine, the first person to jump out and confront him would definitely be Guan Shi.

  Zheng looked at Ye Zhuo, feeling a sense of emotion. During her stay with the Ye family these past few days, she saw that everyone in the household, from top to bottom, loved Ye Zhuo deeply; even Zhao, who usually didn't speak much, truly cared for Ye Zhuo as well. She finally felt completely at ease.

  As they spoke, they had already arrived at Wang's house. Guan's wife opened the door and told Wang what was happening. Wang immediately took off her apron and said enthusiastically: "Let's go, I'll accompany you." Seeing how beautiful Ye Zhuo was, she praised her profusely, saying that Ye Yuxi and Guan's wife were very fortunate.

  Qingyun Alley was not far away. Several people walked slowly and arrived at the courtyard that Wang Pozi had mentioned in no time.

  "Old Jiang, someone has come to see the house." Wang's wife knocked on the door and shouted loudly inside.

  An old man in his fifties responded from inside.

  "This is Old Man Jiang, the old servant of the Jiang family. The young master has taken Old Master Jiang away to live a life of luxury, leaving Old Man Jiang here to guard the house until it's sold."

  "Come on in." Old Jiang smiled and opened the door.

  Ye Zhuo had noticed the houses of his neighbors on both sides when he entered this Qingyun Alley. The houses here were all made of green bricks and tiles, and none of them had only one entrance. Inside, there were lush trees and seemingly large gardens, obviously inhabited by people with some wealth or status. They walked a distance into this alley, but did not hear any loud noises. Occasionally, they met a few people who were dressed neatly and cleanly, looking very well-educated; even the servants behaved politely, stopping to one side when they met them, waiting for them to pass before continuing on their way.

  So, she was very satisfied with the environment here before even seeing the house.

  Several people entered the yard at Jiang Lao's invitation. The yard was square and not very large, with two jujube trees on either side of the east and west walls. Except for a narrow ring-shaped path paved with bluestone slabs about one zhang wide, all other places were filled with flowers and grasses. Entering from the path, there was a hall, in which several chairs and a long table were placed. Although the layout was simple, whether it was the carved wooden doors or the pillars, beams, and colorful paintings inside the house, they were all extremely exquisite.

  (Thank you, I am a little girl, Flowing Ting's New Year's red envelope reward, thank you Wang Xiao Huang, Aki's pink ticket!) RQ