Chapter 133: Marrying Beneath One’s Status

If the Regent truly bore a grudge against her mother, he wouldn’t have sent a gift on her birthday. 

Su Wan even had a bold speculation: the reason the royal family forbade her mother from marrying anyone but the Emperor was out of fear that the Qi family, with its military power, might join forces with a prince to stage a coup. This could potentially lead to an alliance with Xiliang, which would overthrow the Ji family dynasty and transform the Great Zhou into a state ruled by the Xiliang lineage.

She herself carries Xiliang blood. To ensure her safety and that she could grow up without danger, her mother arranged her engagement to the Crown Prince. Even so, this would still make the royal family wary.

While she could become the Crown Princess, she would never be allowed to become the Empress, and even more cruelly, she might not be permitted to have children of her own.

The Regent’s sudden intervention might be because he knew some of these secrets. Perhaps, in his own way, he sought to protect the offspring of the woman he loved by arranging for her to marry Gu Huaizhi. Though Gu was from a poor family, this marriage would likely ease the royal family’s concerns, allowing Su Wan to live a safe and ordinary life without the burden of royal suspicion.

There’s another possibility: perhaps, before her death, Su Wan’s mother entrusted the Regent with the task of preventing her from marrying into the royal family once she came of age.

Regardless of which theory is true, it all seems to have been done to protect her.

This also explains why the Regent helped Su Mixue marry the Crown Prince and why he didn’t intervene when Su Wan and Su Mixue had conflicts—there was an internal struggle within him.

Su Wan felt a deep sense of melancholy, regretting the unfulfilled love between the Regent and her mother.

The fact that the Regent never took another woman in his life spoke volumes about the depth of his feelings for her mother.

Qi Third and Qi Fifth didn’t argue with Su Wan; their boss had told them that whatever the young lady said was correct. Even if she were wrong, they’d only refute it in their hearts, never aloud.

“The Regent sends me gifts every year. This year, after I married Gu Huaizhi, he probably feared I wouldn’t have a good life, so he gifted me a house in the capital and several prosperous shops. Even if I do nothing for the rest of my life, I’ll be well taken care of,” Su Wan said, offering a fair word in defense of the Regent.

Qi Third and Qi Fifth were stunned, their mouths agape. Had they misjudged the Regent?

Su Wan glanced toward Guangren Hall and instructed, “Unload the goods quickly, and then find an inn where we can stay.”

“Got it!”

The carriage stopped in front of Guangren Hall.

A pharmacy apprentice noticed the sign on the carriage that read “Xinglin Workshop” and quickly approached with enthusiasm. “Are you Divine Doctor Su? Why have you come here in person? Please, come inside!”

“Since I had some free time, I thought I’d drop by to see how things are going on your end,” Su Wan said as she followed the apprentice into the pharmacy.

The shopkeeper happened to be coming out from the backyard.

The apprentice brought over some tea and called out to the shopkeeper, “Shopkeeper Qian, Divine Doctor Su has personally come to deliver the medicine.”

Shopkeeper Qian hurried over, not daring to delay. “Divine Doctor Su, I’ve long heard of your great reputation, and today I’m fortunate enough to meet you in person. The wound medicine I bought from Xinglin Medical Hall has been very effective for the patients. I wanted to ask if you have any other highly effective remedies?”

“For common ailments, your current medicines work quite well. However, for more complex and difficult-to-treat conditions, the treatments can be somewhat limited, or the healing process might be prolonged. That’s the area I’m focusing on.”

Since the medicine was still in development, Su Wan didn’t elaborate further.

Shopkeeper Qian’s eyes flickered for a moment, and he said with a cheerful smile, “If you have any good medicine, send it to me as soon as possible. I’ll take as much as you have.”

“Alright,” Su Wan agreed, then pointed to the goods that had been brought in. “Go ahead and count these, then settle the remaining balance.”

Shopkeeper Qian instructed the apprentice to do the inventory. There were a total of ten thousand bottles, and he handed over the remaining one hundred and fifty taels of silver to Su Wan.

After collecting the payment, Su Wan left with her people.

Once they were gone, the apprentice called on a few others to help move the goods to the backyard.

Shopkeeper Qian took out one of the bottles of wound medicine that Su Wan had delivered. He poured a small amount of the powder onto the table, dabbed a bit with his finger, sniffed it, and rubbed it between his fingers. Then, he suddenly pulled out a packet of medicine powder from his sleeve and made a comparison.

The color and scent were almost identical, but it wasn’t as fine as the powder that Su Wan had delivered.

Shopkeeper Qian handed the bottle of wound medicine to the apprentice. “Go to the porcelain shop and order ten thousand bottles.”

The apprentice was taken aback. “Shopkeeper, what are you planning to do?”

“Stop asking so many questions and just do as I say!” Shopkeeper Qian kicked the apprentice on the backside.

The apprentice stumbled, a vague suspicion forming in his mind. Not daring to say anything further, he quickly went to order the bottles.

Shopkeeper Qian, knowing the effectiveness of the injury medicine Su Wan had produced, had started having people study the formula. After nearly a month, they finally managed to replicate it. Unless someone was well-versed in medicine and had a keen eye, it would be difficult to distinguish between the genuine and the fake.

The medicine Shopkeeper Qian had formulated used inferior ingredients, costing him only three or four wen per bottle. He could then sell each bottle for ten to twenty wen, which was far more profitable than buying from Su Wan.

To avoid raising suspicion, Shopkeeper Qian planned to mix the fake medicine with the genuine ones, selling them together.

When the deception was eventually uncovered, the blame would likely fall on Su Wan.

—

Su Wan, along with Qi Third and Qi Fifth, went to a restaurant for a meal. However, her refined palate found the food to be mediocre.

She began to consider that since the prefectural city now had another workshop, it might be a good idea to open a branch of Zuixiang Pavillion here as well. If she could expand the restaurant chain across the entire Great Zhou, she would always have a place to enjoy dishes that suited her taste, no matter where she went.

This thought energized Su Wan, filling her with motivation. However, she knew it would take time and careful planning. She would need to discuss this idea with Shopkeeper Xu.

Qi Third and Qi Fifth weren’t picky; they devoured their meal quickly, finishing with a satisfied burp. “It’s still early, Young lady. Why don’t we go look for a storefront?” Qi Third suggested.

“Alright, let’s go find a place,” Su Wan agreed. She took Qi Third and Qi Fifth on a tour around the prefectural city. They eventually settled on a large estate, somewhat out of the way but close to the inn. The price was much cheaper than a more central location.

Just as Su Wan was about to continue their search, she suddenly paused and looked up at the inn. A graceful young woman was just entering.

“Hey, isn’t that the Governor’s daughter?” Qi Third recognized her.

Su Wan responded with a simple “Mm,” but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Cao Suxue seemed less pleasant than her sister, Cao Wanqun.

A few doubts surfaced in her mind. The sisters had traveled together to the capital, only to be attacked by enemies. Why had the elder sister barely survived, while the younger sister emerged completely unscathed and even managed to find the Prefect without any issues?

The two sisters had split up, which dispersed the enemies’ forces, preventing all their firepower from being concentrated on the elder sister.

However, the guards accompanying Cao Suxue showed no signs of having been drugged with Mongolian sweat medicine.

Su Wan couldn’t help but sigh. Indeed, within the deep recesses of such large, influential families, the waters ran deep and murky.

“Let’s go,” she said.

With her own life far from peaceful, Su Wan had neither the time nor the inclination to meddle in other people’s affairs.

At the inn, Cao Suxue peeked out and saw Su Wan entering a nearby estate. After sending off a letter, she returned to Liu’s residence.

The next day, at the break of dawn, the guards returned and reported their findings to Cao Suxue in meticulous detail.

“Second Young lady, Mr. Gu is already married. He wed the eldest legitimate daughter of the Dingyuan Marquis’s household and is currently in Guangling Prefecture participating in the provincial examination,” the guard paused briefly, somewhat uncertain as he continued, “It’s said that the couple does not get along well, and Young lady Su, having married beneath her station, seems to look down on Mr. Gu.”