Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne-Chapter 153 - 133: What Secret is Hidden in the Pei Mansion?

Chapter 153: Chapter 133: What Secret is Hidden in the Pei Mansion?

Having accepted four younger brothers, Zhao Yao, as their leader, naturally had to treat them to a meal to strengthen their bond.

Zhao Yao invited Chu Huan and the others to have hotpot at Zhenxiu Building. Since Zhao Yao introduced hotpot, it became a sensation among the people. Various major restaurants in the capital, to attract customers, would launch new hotpots from time to time.

Chu Huan and the others loved eating hotpot. The hotpot at Zhenxiu Building was famous throughout the capital, and they liked coming here for hotpot, but they didn’t have enough money to come every day.

The hotpot was Zhao Yao’s creation, and he was an expert in hotpot. The sauces he blended were exceptional. He personally made sauce for Chu Huan and the others, instantly winning their hearts.

Zhang He and the others liked drinking, so Zhao Yao generously ordered the best drink at Zhenxiu Building for them.

While eating the hotpot, everyone chatted and laughed, quickly becoming familiar with each other.

Zhao Yao might not be good in other areas, but when it came to food, he was outstanding. He shared many stories about food with Zhang He and the others.

Chu Huan and his friends also loved good food, and after hearing Zhao Yao’s stories, they became even more tempted, thus eating a lot more hotpot.

They also shared many interesting stories with Zhao Yao. Of course, most of the time, they were bragging about their "fame" in the West Market. Zhao Yao thoughtfully did not expose them and cooperatively praised them occasionally.

"Boss, we still don’t know who you really are." Shen Sen and the others were now calling him "boss" very smoothly, without any reluctance.

"Yeah, boss, what does your family do?" Zhang He asked curiously.

"My family is just ordinary merchants, with no power or influence." Zhao Yao deliberately teased the four of them, "You wouldn’t look down on me just because my family background is not as good as yours, would you?"

"Of course not, we’re not that kind of people." Zhang He suddenly became very serious, "We never judge people by their family background."

Shen Sen nodded repeatedly: "We despise people who use their family background to bully others; we would never be that kind of person."

Listening to Shen Sen’s words, Zhao Yao laughed to himself: Who was it last night who threatened me by bringing up his father, the Great General?

Of course, as a good leader, he wouldn’t dwell on past grievances or embarrass his younger brothers.

Song Jicai said while eating chicken wings, "We never relied on our families while hanging out in the West Market."

Zhao Yao: "..." Fatty, are you not even a bit guilty saying that?

Chu Huan put down his teacup, and solemnly said to Zhao Yao, "You’ve already become our boss; we won’t look down on you just because you’re the son of a merchant."

Zhang He nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, looking down on you, our boss, would be like looking down on ourselves."

Shen Sen asked curiously, "Boss, what kind of business does your family do?"

"A little bit of everything." Zhao Yao didn’t want to reveal his identity to Chu Huan and the others yet, afraid of scaring them away. Although he, the Tenth Prince, wasn’t very favored, their fathers never supported any one Prince. If they learned their youngest was close to the Tenth Prince, they would definitely stop him. "It’s not very big, but it’s enough to support the family."

Chu Huan thought Zhao Yao wasn’t telling the truth, but without evidence, he didn’t press further.

"Your families don’t oppose you associating with merchants, right?" Zhao Yao asked.

"They don’t oppose, as long as we don’t cause trouble, our families won’t bother us." Shen Sen said this with an unnoticeable undertone of disappointment in his voice.

"Our family never bothers us." Zhang He didn’t find anything wrong with that. If his family disciplined him like they did his brothers and made him learn all sorts of things, he would go crazy.

"As long as we don’t cause trouble, our families don’t interfere with us." Song Jicai said with a proud smile, "You see, we can go wherever we want, do whatever we want, and skip studying if we want."

After hearing what Song Jicai and the others said, Zhao Yao was very envious. He didn’t want to study either.

Chu Huan said, "Our families rarely control us."

"That’s really nice. I wish I could be like you guys and not be controlled, but unfortunately, I can’t." Zhao Yao said with a bitter face, "Every morning I have to study, and in the afternoon learn other things, with only one day off a month. This time, my father allowed me a few more days off because something came up."

After hearing Zhao Yao’s words, Zhang He and the others looked at him with sympathy.

"Boss, you have it really tough."

"Studying every day would be the death of us."

"If I had to study every day, reading those old texts, I would go crazy too."

"I’d rather practice archery every day." Although Chu Huan was the smartest and most steady of the four, he also didn’t like studying.

"I’m the youngest too, just like you guys, but I’m not as lucky. I wish my father wouldn’t control me either." In the future, he only wanted to be a carefree Prince who could read, without needing to be very knowledgeable, so why force him to study every day?

Zhang He and the others were delighted to see the envy in Zhao Yao’s eyes.

"Boss, you can learn from us. When we used to study, we often drove the teacher away, and eventually all the teachers in the capital refused to teach us, so our parents stopped forcing us to study."

"Boss, we can give you ideas to drive away your teacher."

"Boss, we’re very experienced in this matter."

"I’d love to drive the teacher away, but I don’t have the courage." Zhao Yao said, wrinkling his delicate little face, "My father is very strict and very mean. If we don’t study diligently, we get beaten with a stick or punished to copy books."

"Beaten with a stick?" Hearing about beatings, Zhang He and the others felt their butts hurt. They had been beaten before too.

"Yes, the kind where your butt gets whipped." Zhao Yao sighed heavily, "Not long ago, my father punished me to copy ’The Analects’ a hundred times by hand, with no help from others, and no missing words. My father would check every word carefully, and if any were missing, he would punish me to write it a hundred times again."

Although Shen Sen and the others didn’t like studying, they had read ’The Analects’ and knew it had many words. Hearing Zhao Yao say he was punished to copy ’The Analects’ a hundred times, they all showed frightened expressions.

"Boss, your father is... terrifying!"

"Boss, you’ve got it rough."

"Punished to copy it a hundred times... even copying one section would be unbearable."

Chu Huan looked at Zhao Yao with great sympathy, "Boss, you’re so pitiful."

"My father is a devil." Zhao Yao couldn’t help but complain to his younger brothers.

After hearing this, Chu Huan and the others were very sympathetic and pitiful towards their boss and also agreed that their boss’s father indeed was a devil.

Compared to their boss’s father, their fathers were really merciful Bodhisattvas! They wouldn’t complain about their fathers being strict with them ever again.

Chu Huan and the others then spoke with Zhao Yao about fun places and interesting things in the capital. They roamed the streets every day and were quite familiar with what was happening in the capital.

Zhao Yao suddenly thought of the Pei Mansion and casually asked, "Have you guys been to the Pei Mansion?"

"Pei Mansion, which Pei Mansion?" Zhang He and the others didn’t remember for a moment.

Chu Huan remembered and his face suddenly changed.

"That haunted Pei Mansion?"

"Yeah, have you guys been there?"

Zhang He and the others shook their heads in unison, "No."

"It’s a haunted house; it’s haunted often. Who dares to go."

"Boss, you’ve been there?"

Zhao Yao said calmly, "I’ve been there."

"What?" Song Jicai and the others exclaimed in surprise.

"Boss, you really went there?"

"Boss, you’re not lying to us, are you?"

"Why would I lie to you? I did go there."

"Boss, did you see any ghosts?"

Zhang He and the others spoke with faces full of horror, "They say there are many ghosts there, and at midnight, you can hear ghostly wails."

"That place is eerie during the day, and even more ghostly at night."

"They say people who’ve been to the haunted house come back either crazy or fall ill and die mysteriously, or suddenly bleed to death." Song Jicai looked Zhao Yao up and down, amazed, "Boss, you’re still alive!"

"Boss, did you get sick after leaving?"

"No, nothing happened to me." Zhao Yao added, "I went during the day."

"Boss, was it really scary inside?"

"It was very dilapidated and eerie inside; timid people would indeed be scared." Zhao Yao asked, "Do you know any stories about the Pei Mansion?"

Chu Huan and the others shook their heads, "We only know it was the family home of Noble Consort Pei. In the previous dynasty, their entire family was executed, so the Pei Mansion became a haunted house."

"Haven’t heard any other stories?"

"No."

Chu Huan asked, "Boss, why do you say that?"

"I just think there must be more stories to the Pei Mansion." His second uncle had also been looking into it, but hadn’t found anything useful.

What secret was hidden in the Pei Mansion that Han Zhong from Shu had previously sent people to search the capital for?

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