Chapter 23: Greed Grows Wild

Mo Zichen said: “Brother, you are responsible for approving the kiln porcelain that was replaced with ordinary official porcelain, the price difference is a thousand taels of silver, if father finds out about this, how will you explain it?”

At these words, Mo Shu Jie’s face immediately changed.

“This… “

Mo Shu Jie gritted his teeth: “You dare to threaten me!”

Mo Zichen held his wrist, and said: “Madam Jiang is a distinguished guest, please show her some respect, brother.”

Mo Shu Jie bit his lip hard, he shook off his hand, pointed at him, his face contorted: “You wait for me.”

Then he stormed out.

The private room finally became quiet, Mo Zichen apologized to Jiang Yao: “I’m sorry for scaring you, I apologize to you on behalf of my brother.”

Yao shook her head: “It’s alright.”

“I didn’t expect you to come here today.” Mo Zichen paused, then said, “If you come again in the future, please let me know in advance, so I can prepare.”

“Thank you, Mo Gongzi.”

Mo Zichen looked at the manuscript in his arms, and smiled: “You brought the manuscript?”

Yao hesitated and nodded: “I brought it, but my husband is in poor health, he has never taken the imperial examination, and he has no official rank, his writings are not widely circulated, and he doesn’t have any aspirations.”

Originally, Yao wanted to try, after all, Mo Zichen had agreed.

But seeing Mo Shu Jie’s arrogance and arrogance today, she could guess that this Mo family was not peaceful, and she was afraid that Mo Zichen’s own situation was not good either.

She didn’t want to add to his troubles.

Mo Zichen directly took the manuscript from her: “Buying books is not the purpose, it’s about understanding the author’s background, throughout history, many talented people have remained unknown, and only a few of their works have been published, causing a sensation, so I need to see how this manuscript is.”

Yao nodded: “Thank you, Mo Gongzi.”

Mo Zichen looked at the slightly delicate handwriting on the manuscript, his eyebrows raised slightly: “This is your handwriting?”

Yao smiled a little embarrassedly: “I copied it, my handwriting is good, my husband’s manuscript is precious, I’m afraid it will be lost, so I copied a copy.”

Mo Zichen smiled: “You’re very thoughtful.”

Mo Zichen flipped through the article first, and couldn’t help but praise: “This article is indeed written very well, every word is penetrating, and it gets to the heart of the matter, what you said just now is not false, you are indeed a scholar.”

Yao curved her lips and smiled.

“I’ll keep this manuscript for now, and we’ll discuss the matter of publishing it after a few days.”

“Okay! Thank you, Mo Gongzi!”

Yao left Xi Lou and went straight back to the Marquis’ mansion.

As soon as she entered the door, Wang, the steward, greeted her: “Madam has returned.”

“What’s the matter?”

Wang, the steward, took a post and handed it to her: “Miss Chen sent this post.”

Yao took the post and opened it.

Chen Shiyun was holding a tea tasting banquet, it was common for the ladies of the capital to hold various banquets and gatherings, Yao had received such posts before, but she had declined them all.

She wasn’t interested, and besides, she was using Ling Xiao’s name to flaunt her wealth.

But Chen Shiyun sent a post, she had to consider it.

After all, she would be married into the mansion soon, and they would be sisters-in-law in the future, she had to give her some face.

Yao hesitated and considered, she finally decided to go: “Okay, tell Chen that I’ll go.”

“Yes, Madam!”

As they were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of horses’ hooves, Yao turned her head, and saw that Ling Xiao was riding back to the mansion.

He pulled the reins, and then dismounted, he threw the reins to the servant, and walked in.

Yao stood at the door, seeing him suddenly return, she couldn’t dodge, she could only stand there, a little stiff and politely greeted him: “Marquis has returned.”

Since the argument in the palace that day, they hadn’t spoken a word, they hadn’t even seen each other.

Of course, Yao had seen him, but every time she saw him, it wasn’t a good thing.

Ling Xiao’s voice was flat: “This door…”

Yao: “…”

“Why is he so annoying!”

Yao swallowed hard: “I just happened to be back at the mansion.”

“Er…”

Yao was just about to say Xi Lou, but then she remembered the inexplicable remark about Mo Zichen being suspicious, the words were on the tip of her tongue, but she changed the subject.

“Ning Ge.”

Ling Xiao had just heard that she had opened a fabric shop, and it was doing well.

Yao pursed her lips, alert, he wouldn’t be making a fuss about this, would he?

Ling Xiao was silent for two breaths, then said flatly: “Okay.”

Yao raised her head in a daze, a little surprised, “Why is he suddenly so easy to talk to?”

But of course she wouldn’t ask, otherwise wouldn’t it be a good thing to scold him for being easy to talk to?

Yao swallowed: “I’ll go back to the inner courtyard first.”

“Okay.”

Now that he was so angry, Yao blamed herself, she hurriedly turned towards the inner courtyard.

Ling Xiao stood there, looking at her hurried back, he restrained himself and clenched his fist.

A ball of suppressed anger was burning wildly in his heart.

He had always been calm and collected, and had always been in control, but now, for the first time, he felt out of control.

“How could this be!”

“How could she…”

This thought suddenly popped into his head, his breath hitched, greed was like a demon, it instantly grew wildly.

He suddenly turned his head, retracted his gaze, and turned to leave.

The sword followed his footsteps: “Marquis, Miss Chen is holding a tea tasting banquet, she invited the Marquis to the banquet, the post has already been sent…”

Ling Xiao’s face was gloomy, his heart was filled with annoyance, he ordered: “I’m not free.”

“Yes.”

Yao had already walked along the corridor to the garden, but she inexplicably felt a chill on her back, she stopped and turned her head.

But she saw that the mansion gate was empty.

She only saw Ling Xiao’s departing back.

“Madam, what’s wrong?” Er asked.

Yao looked at his back blankly, and shook her head: “Nothing.”

“Probably.”

“The Marquis didn’t make things difficult for Madam today, this servant told you so, the Marquis is busy with state affairs, he doesn’t even have time to manage his own marriage, how could he care about these things, Madam?” Er smiled.

“Okay.”

Yao nodded, but she felt inexplicably uneasy.

The chill she felt on her back just now was bone-chilling, as if she was being stared at by a wild beast, it made her hair stand on end.

She shook her head vigorously, “It’s nothing.”

“I’m tired today, I’ll go back to see Lin Shi first, accompany her for dinner, and then come back to wash up.”

She was very sleepy, and she fell into a deep sleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Ling Xiao’s face appeared, he was pinching her neck, his two cold eyes locked on her, like a crazed wild beast.

“A Yao, don’t leave.”