Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 234 Borrowing a Knife to Kill Someone (4)

"Our young lady is asking you a question. Are you mute or something?" Baihe angrily asked the young man in front of her. It was infuriating enough that he did not explain himself to the crowd, but he even ignored the young lady’s question as if it was of no importance.

"Why?" Feng Xuxu continued to ask.

The boy turned his head away, pressing his lips together firmly, his face full of stubbornness.

"I have the ability to avenge you, but on the condition that you must work for me for three years before you can leave. If you are willing, then follow me. If not, there is the road ahead of you, and you are free to continue walking," Feng Xuxu said, seeing a chilling cold light in the boy’s eyes, knowing she had a fifty percent chance of success in her venture.

Feng Xuxu stepped aside, watching the injured boy intently without taking her eyes away.

After struggling with himself, the boy eventually decided to follow Feng Xuxu back to Xuanyuan Mansion.

"Miss, this is..." Yingsu saw that her young lady had returned with an injured man following her and asked in confusion.

"Take care of him and nurse his wounds. When he’s recovered, come find me."

Seeing that the young lady’s complexion wasn’t very good, Yingsu turned to Baihe with a silent raised eyebrow, and Baihe could only shrug her shoulders and shake her head at Yingsu.

Having no choice, Yingsu took the injured boy to a side building to settle him in and called for the mansion’s physician to treat his wounds.

"Lenglei, go find the Castle Lord. There’s something I need to discuss. I’ll be waiting in the study," Feng Xuxu instructed.

"Yes, Miss." Lenglei turned and left, heading straight for the front courtyard.

Jueqing had just entered the courtyard when he heard his cousin was looking for him. He didn’t even stop to wash his face before hurrying to the Peony Garden.

"Cousin, you were looking for me?" Jueqing closed the door of the study and casually took a seat.

"Cousin, now that the earth is warming, we can’t rely solely on these few shops in Capital City," Feng Xuxu put down the writing brush in her hand, raising her gaze to speak to her cousin.

"Hmm, these few shops are indeed just a drop in the bucket. Cousin, do you have any good ideas?"

"Yes, we currently have a few estates that are quite far from Capital City. I am planning to grow new fruits on these estates. Before the fruits are ripe, we can brew liquor. Two birds with one stone, what do you think, cousin?"

Jueqing couldn’t help nodding as he had tasted that fruit wine before. It was fragrant, sweet, and refreshing; light but not thin, sweet but not cloying, strong but not harsh, aromatic but not overly flamboyant. Indeed, it was a fine wine.

"Cousin, I think it’s a good plan, your fruit wine is really delicious. It’s just a pity that apart from a few fixed restaurants, it’s not available elsewhere."

"Cousin, this time I want to brew several kinds of liquor, not just fruit wine. Before the fruits are ripe, we could use this opportunity to brew peach blossom wine, and when the peach blossoms fade, the fruit wine can take over," Feng Xuxu said. The timing was perfect, neither wasting time nor the chance to make Silver, the best of both worlds.

"Alright, cousin, I’ll listen to you on this matter," Jueqing agreed.

"Then I’ll pack tonight and head to the estate tomorrow. While I’m away, find a few shops in Capital City to buy, the larger the better," Feng Xuxu took an exquisitely crafted box from the table and handed it to her cousin.

"What is this?" Jueqing opened the box to find a stack of silver notes inside, then looked up at Feng Xuxu in surprise.

"Cousin, this is five hundred thousand Silver. Take it to buy the shops. If it’s not enough, I’ll have more sent over," she said.

"Cousin, you should take the Silver back. Although our family’s profits are small, I have other assets that are more than enough to sustain us." Jueqing’s eyes shone with approval, but he still refused to accept his cousin’s Silver.

"Cousin, I’m also a part of the family. How could I stand by idly? I know how much Silver we have in the family better than you do. How can you still account everything so clearly with me?" Feng Xuxu looked displeased, pouting at Jueqing.

"But..."

"There are no buts. If you still recognize me as your cousin, then do as I say," Feng Xuxu insisted firmly.

"Alright, I’ll take it," Jueqing closed the box, giving his cousin a shallow smile.

"Cousin, I met Duanmu Yiyun on the road today, and he told me that the poison in Zongzheng Tinglan’s body was placed there by the Xiahou family, supposedly with the Emperor’s approval," Feng Xuxu revealed.

Jueqing looked at Feng Xuxu in shock, wondering how such a highly-secret matter could have leaked out.

"Cousin, what do you think? How much of this could be true?"

"I am also puzzled about how Duanmu Yiyun came to know of this confidential matter. Could it be that someone is manipulating things behind the scenes?" After Feng Xuxu finished speaking, they exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes.

"Who could it be, Duanmu Yuanji?" Jueqing also found it hard to understand.

"We can’t be sure yet!" Feng Xuxu also shook her head, pondering. To tell her such secretive information, was it to pit her against the Xiahou family for their own gain?

It couldn’t be that simple. She had recently formed an alliance with the Zongzheng family, and it was likely that Duanmu Yuanji and Duanmu Yiyun knew about it. Thus, they revealed that Zongzheng Tinglan’s poisoning was at the hands of the Xiahou family and even had the Emperor’s consent. If the Emperor learned that Zongzheng Zehang already knew of this, he would surely act first to eradicate the Zongzheng Hidden Clan. Given the Emperor’s suspicious nature, he would spare no effort to eliminate the Xuanyuan Hidden Clan as well.

Upon realizing this, Feng Xuxu involuntarily inhaled sharply, and Jueqing’s complexion turned deathly pale as well.

"I didn’t expect Duanmu Yuanji to be so ruthless, using the Emperor to try to eliminate our two Hidden Clans."

"If Duanmu can use someone else’s hand to kill, why can’t we?" Feng Xuxu raised her eyebrow and curved her lips into a sarcastic smile, a dangerous cold light flickering in her eyes.