Chapter 464: Gathering
Editor: Atlas Studios
Everyone thought that the Qi family was trying to cover it up, including the Zhang, Shu, and Zhou families. The women of the three families had seen how precarious the situation in the delivery room was back then.
If Madam Li and her son were really safe now, why did the imperial physician who returned to the palace keep his mouth shut?
The only explanation was that they were seriously ill and untreatable. Moreover, now that the imperial physician had returned to the palace, why was the doctor hired by the Qi family still in the farmstead? It was most likely because the Qi family was unwilling to give up hope.
Everyone thought so, including the Zhang, Shu, and Zhou families. Hence, the three families suddenly didn’t feel so pained by the benefits that they had given up. At least they could avoid becoming enemies with Qi Xiuyuan, right?
Except for the Emperor.
Emperor Jingyan was sitting in the throne room and watching the joke of the whole Lin’an City. At this moment, he felt that everyone was drunk and he was the only one sober.
When the imperial physician returned to the palace, he was the first to summon him. Then, he asked him to guard this news first. His original intention was to see the reaction of the Zhang family and the Shu family. Unexpectedly, he found out about the existence of the casino. Seeing that so many people had bet that Madam Li and the child were seriously ill, and that many court officials were involved, the Emperor even more so did not allow the imperial physician to reveal the actual situation.
“How many people bet that Madam Li and the child are safe and sound?” the Emperor asked.
The secret guard was already used to the Emperor’s unreliability. Hearing this, he paused for a moment before replying, “I’ve taken a look. There are about 100 or so people. Other than Qi Haoran and Madam Mu, the rest just bet two to three taels, probably hoping to get lucky.”
The Emperor’s lips twitched as he asked, “How much did Madam Mu bet?”
“She placed a bet of 14,000 taels previously and increased it by 2,000 taels yesterday. If this drags on, I’m afraid she’ll continue to bet a higher amount.”
The Emperor asked curiously, “That’s almost as high as Qi Haoran’s bet. Why did the couple bet separately?”
“Your Majesty, Madam Mu bet with her own dowry.”
The Emperor pondered for a moment. “Is the Mu family that rich?”
The secret guard explained, “Your Majesty, the people from Xingzhou Prefecture have already replied. The Mu family isn’t considered rich, but when Madam Mu got married previously, the Mu family gave her almost all their cash as her dowry. Coupled with the income from the farmstead for the past half a year, this amount is just right. The 2,000 taels invested yesterday was obtained from selling the produce from the farmstead the day before yesterday.”
The Emperor could not help but sit up straight and ask, “What did she sell to earn so much?”
“Your Majesty, since the Fall Quarter Examinations is about to start, there will definitely be a lot of banquets soon. So in just these two days, there has been many orders of a lot of vegetables, fish, chickens, ducks, and eggs. These 2,000 taels are from these earnings. Although I don’t understand the economics of it, I can tell that Madam Mu’s farmstead is very profitable. From the beginning of spring until now, the farmstead has already earned more than 6,000 taels. I’m afraid the earnings will soar even more during the new year.” The secret guard continued after a pause, “This doesn’t include the production of grains because Madam Mu hasn’t sold grains this year. I’ve found out that she plans to open a shop to specially sell the farmstead’s produce. At that time, the grains won’t have to be sold cheaply to the grain store and will be sold directly.”
Not only the Emperor, but the secret guards also did not expect that the presumed to be loss-making farmstead was actually so profitable in the hands of Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling.
The Emperor was overjoyed, feeling that Qi Haoran didn’t lie to him back then. When they bought this farmstead back then, they really saw that it was a treasure land. He thought for a moment and said, “Speed things up at Jinghu. We have to settle it before the new year. I want to send Qi Haoran out during spring.”
The secret guard agreed and was about to bow and leave when the Emperor stopped him. After a moment of silence, he said, “Go to my private vault and take out 20,000 taels of silver to place a bet. Use some random name.”
The corners of the secret guard’s mouth twitched as he helplessly agreed and left.
The Emperor felt a little regretful. The odds given by the casino were 10.2 to 1. After deducting the casino’s commission, he received 200,000 taels on his bet of 20,000 taels. Although 200,000 taels was not much, still, it was better than nothing.
If not for the fact that he was afraid that the casino would just flee with the money, the Emperor really wanted to invest 200,000 taels of silver at once. Just thinking about winning that much money felt awesome.
Qi Haoran chose a good day to return to the capital. During this period of time, there had been people keeping an eye on the Qi family’s farmstead. However, because the Qi family was strictly guarding it, no one could obtain much news. Still, the moment the Qi family’s carriage came out, the people in Lin’an City knew.
Following behind the carriage, many people craned their necks to peek into the carriage. However, the carriage was very tightly closed and did not even leak a crack. Everyone could not help but complain. Why were the women of the Qi family so shy? Why weren’t they lifting the curtain to look outside when the scenery outside was so gorgeous?
Qi Haoran first glared at the people behind him in anger, but because there were several famous playboys in the capital and they were only following the carriage with their necks craned, their actions weren’t offensive, so it was not appropriate for him to deal with them.
Seeing that Qi Haoran was angry, the playboys behind looked up happily and met his eyes. Did he think that they didn’t know? Before they came, they had already formulated a strategy and tried their best not to make any moves that could be used against them. Otherwise, with Qi Haoran’s bad temper, wouldn’t he cripple them on the streets?
Although they did not know the exact situation of Madam Li and her son, it was still a joy to see Qi Haoran angry. Not in the mood to leave, they either rode their horses or followed behind the carriage. They even greeted Qi Haoran from time to time.
Qi Haoran was angry for a moment, but at the thought that he would receive the winnings from his bet soon, his mood lifted again. He raised his chin and looked at them disdainfully before walking ahead in high spirits.
Interpreting Qi Haoran’s reaction as him trying to force a smile, the playboys felt sympathy for him.
The commoners along the street saw a group of carriages followed by a vast crowd. No matter what era it was, when there was no danger, everyone liked to join in the fun. Therefore, without knowing the truth, everyone followed behind and “sent” Qi Haoran and the others back to the Qi Residence.
They blocked the entire street in a grandiose manner. Those who did not know would think that the Qi family was incredibly popular.
Qi Haoran got the coachmen to drive the carriage into the house. Then, he clenched his fists and said to everyone, “Thank you for sending us home. It’s just that I have something to do now and can’t entertain everyone. I’ll treat you another day.”
A playboy came out of his carriage and said casually, “Qi Haoran, don’t put up a happy pretense. We can all understand. You couldn’t have anticipated the accident. When I see Big Brother Qi later, I’ll definitely speak up for you. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t skin you alive.”
Qi Haoran snorted and glared at him. “If you don’t leave now, I’ll make sure you can’t keep the skin on your body.”
The playboy pursed his lips but did not tease him anymore. He only chuckled and waved his hand to get his coachman to turn the carriage around and return to his residence.
After discussing it for a while, the playboys felt that it was very difficult to get the truth from Qi Haoran. After all, he was in grief now and knew that they had ill intentions. He would definitely not be willing to communicate with them. So they agreed to leave.
The crowd behind did not know the truth. Before they realized why they were following the convoy, they saw the crowd disperse. They asked around for a long time, but everyone gave their own version of the story. They suddenly felt that it was meaningless, thus dispersed.
Mu Yangling felt that the citizens of Lin’an City had too much time on their hands.
