Chapter 446: Requesting
Editor: Atlas Studios
Because of the fight, Qi Haoran was impeached by the imperial censor. The Emperor asked him to write a confession memorial and had him confined at home for half a month.
Qi Haoran returned home tiredly. Mu Yangling laughed and packed up the account books before going home with him to face the wall and ponder about his misdeeds.
The Emperor also realized that he could not let Qi Haoran wander around outside like this. After all, the latter was a fourth-grade assistant commander. Hence, after some thought, he temporarily arranged for him to be sent to the Ministry of War.
When he was done with his confinement, he could go to work in the Ministry of War. As for the other young masters who had participated in the fight with Qi Haoran, the Emperor could not be bothered. However, their fathers had been impeached by the imperial censors for their failure to take their sons in hand. Not only were those young masters beaten by their furious fathers, they were also locked up at home for half a month.
Therefore, Qi Haoran was still considered lucky. Because his father couldn’t control him, he wasn’t beaten up.
The two sides were not foreign to fighting. Although they had drunk together before, they mostly fought whenever they got together. In the Spring Quarter Examinations, Chen Qian was ranked on the rankings while Min Zhou failed to make the list. When the two sides met in the teahouse, they mocked each other and this escalated into a fight.
If not for the fact that Qi Haoran was an official, this matter would most likely have passed as usual. After the fight, he would just gather some money to compensate the Shang family.
However, Qi Haoran was different from them. He was a high-ranking official and unfortunately, they encountered the imperial censor. Hence, everyone blamed Qi Haoran for the fighting incident.
Min Zhou said to himself, “That bastard Qi Haoran. If he hadn’t been impeached by the imperial censor, how would my father have been implicated? If my father hadn’t been implicated, he wouldn’t have beaten me up in anger. When I get out, I’ll definitely teach him a lesson.”
The others also gritted their teeth and swore that they would not let Qi Haoran off after they could leave the house.
On the other hand, Chen Qian was beaten up the most. Even though he knew that he still had to participate in the Palace Examinations, Chen Fang did not show any mercy.
Inconsolable, Chen Qian pounded the bed and said, “Haoran, that fool. He actually publicly threatened them not to report this to the imperial censor. Wasn’t he looking for impeachment? Even if he wanted to threaten them, he should have found a small alley to drag them in after they left…”
In Chen Qian’s opinion, if it wasn’t for Qi Haoran’s threat of “If you dare to tell the imperial censor, I’ll beat you up every day”, the imperial censor might not have bothered with such a trivial matter. Considering there were so many sons of officials who fought every day in Lin’an City, could the imperial censor control them all?
Qi Haoran was completely unaware of everyone’s resentment. He was originally depressed about being grounded, but when he saw that Mu Yangling was willing to come back and accompany him, he instantly felt better.
When Spring entered the house, she saw Qi Haoran sitting cross-legged on the couch and reading a book with a straight face. This surprised her. One had to know that Fourth Young Master had been pestering Fourth Madam a lot these past two days. Why was he so obedient today?
Mu Yangling looked up and asked, “What’s the matter?”
Spring came back to her senses and said, “Fourth Madam, Steward Zhao requests to see Fourth Young Master outside.”
Qi Haoran immediately put away the book and threw it aside. He jumped off the bed and said, “I’ll go take a look at what’s going on.”
Steward Zhao was here to ask Qi Haoran for money. He said carefully, “The expenses in the residence are a little high, so…”
Qi Haoran waved his hand nonchalantly and said, “I’ll send my and Big Brother’s post over later. You guys can go straight to the government office to collect your salary.”
“Erm…” Steward Zhao was dumbfounded. “Your salary isn’t much.”
Qi Haoran glared at them angrily. “Other than our salaries, what other money do Big Brother and I have? We’re selfless and honest officials, and have already handed over all our salaries to the family treasury. What more money do you want?”
“Fourth Master, calm down. That’s not what I meant.”
Qi Haoran snorted coldly and said, “Since we’ve handed over our salary to the family treasury, the residence has to be responsible for our expenses. You have to give me every cent of Eldest Madam’s and the fourth branch’s allowance, as well as the servants’ salaries. As for the small kitchen at Eldest Madam’s place, because no other master in the residence has that, we’ll take care of that expense by ourselves.”
Qi Haoran added maliciously, “Eldest Madam will supplement it using her own dowry.”
Steward Zhao was instantly speechless.
It was impossible for Qi Xiuyuan and his brother not to have any private assets. Qi Xiuyuan was a second-grade feudal official, but the key was that he was far away in the north. Even if he was in Lin’an City instead of the north, it would still be a piece of cake for him to make it look as if he didn’t have any private assets.
He just had to put the assets under the name of his aides.
Not to mention anything else, everyone in the residence knew that Fourth Young Master had a share in the businesses under Young Master Zijin’s name. Otherwise, why would Fourth Madam help Young Master Zijin manage those businesses?
Even if Fourth Madam was willing, Young Master Zijin had to consider it carefully.
However, the restaurant, the dry goods shop and other businesses were all under Young Master Zijin’s name. If Fourth Young Master insisted that Mu Yangling was simply helping Young Master Zijin, they did not have any evidence to say that this was Fourth Young Master’s private property.
Steward Zhao could only go back and reply to Master and Madam.
Qi Haoran snorted. He and Big Brother had long stopped counting on their family, and most of the assets in the family would be given to Second Brother and Third Brother in the future. Of course they were going to set aside private assets instead of bringing everything back to the Qi family?
Wouldn’t that be like throwing a meat bun at a dog1?
Qi Feng wasn’t angry at all when he heard that. He said, “In that case, just take the invitation and collect their salary. His monthly allowance will be in line with Second Young Master and Third Young Master’s. Madam Li and Madam Mu’s will also be in line with Madam Xu’s.”
Steward Zhao heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly agreed.
However, Madam Wu was a little unwilling and said, “They clearly have so much money. What’s wrong with providing support to our family since we’re having difficulties? You’re their father, but they’d rather put the money under the Fan family’s kid’s name than give it to you…”
“Alright.” How could Qi Feng not know what Madam Wu was thinking? He waved his hand and said, “Without evidence, we won’t be able to gain anything if this continues. In any case, since these family assets will be left to Second and Third Son in the future, we won’t interfere in their matters outside.”
“Master?” Madam Wu looked at him in surprise.
Qi Feng’s expression was solemn as he said in a low voice, “Haoran rejected the marriage and angered Minister Qin. I thought that our family would definitely be suppressed, but who knew that Minister Qin’s consecutive actions were ineffective? Haoran only knows how to eat, drink, and have fun. He doesn’t have much of a relationship with the Yan and Yuan families. The only one who can ask them for help is Xiuyuan. He can remotely control the matters in the capital even while in the north. Let’s not provoke him.”
Qi Feng didn’t have much of a father-and-son relationship with Qi Xiuyuan. After all, his son had hated him since he was young and had left home for ten years. Whatever little family ties there had been between them had worn off. He believed that Qi Xiuyuan had similar sentiments and even hated him. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he knew that Madam Zhu’s death was more or less related to him.
Since he knew that there was not much affection between the father and son, he naturally had to avoid Qi Xiuyuan since the latter was in power.
Initially, he thought that Qi Xiuyuan was just a general. He did not expect the Emperor to be so wary of him and the other old ministers to value him so much.
For a moment, Qi Feng had mixed feelings. His heart was bitter and sour.