“…This, if he doesn’t move out, does he have money to re-rent the place?” The man in brocade robes, speaking with a Songxiu accent, was intimidated by Xie Bufeng’s aura and began to stutter involuntarily.
After speaking, the man finally realized that the young man before him was only about sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed ordinarily and leading an inferior horse just like Wen Qingci. Why should he be afraid of him?
He looked Xie Bufeng up and down, then laughed contemptuously: “What? You want to pay for him?”
Wen Qingci recognized the men following the leader-they were all well-known local bullies in Songxiu Prefecture.
The young man’s wounds had not yet healed, and fearing he might provoke these men, Wen Qingci quickly stepped forward to silently shield Xie Bufeng behind him, and said in a low voice: “Young Master Su, this matter doesn’t concern you. I’ll handle it.”
After a pause, he turned to the leading man and said: “Mr. Ji, please give me a few more days… I have no plans to leave this place for now.”
This clinic was already the most remote and smallest in Songxiu Prefecture.
Moving elsewhere wouldn’t save much money, and moreover, Wen Qingci didn’t want to be impersonated…
“Hahaha, Ji Qirong, do you believe he can get the money in two more days?” A bearded man not far away immediately laughed.
Wen Qingci pressed his lips tightly together.
He quickly calculated in his mind… if he collected all the debts from the neighbors in the next two days and sold some medicinal herbs, could he gather enough for a year’s rent?
But would Ji Qirong be willing to renew the lease year by year?
The usual smile disappeared from Wen Qingci’s face, and Ji Qirong, who had known him for many years, immediately understood-he was almost certainly unable to come up with that much money.
“Qingci, do you remember what I said when you first rented the clinic from me? Songxiu Prefecture is so big, with clinics everywhere. Without real skill, one can’t survive. Now five years have passed, have you made any money?” Ji Qirong pretended to be concerned for Wen Qingci, “If I remember correctly, your home is near Songxiu Prefecture… a place called Shanyu Jian, right? Your family members are herb gatherers, aren’t they?”
Hearing this, the men behind him immediately burst into laughter.
Wen Qingci remained silent, his lips pressed together.
Five years ago when renting the clinic to him, Ji Qirong had acted properly, his tone quite sincere.
It wasn’t until later that Wen Qingci learned the man had spoken those words with an attitude of watching a show.
On the surface, Wen Qingci appeared gentle as jade, his behavior and speech extremely elegant, as if he never got angry.
Ji Qirong thought that today, as usual, Wen Qingci wouldn’t contradict him.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Wen Qingci lowered his eyes and smiled gently: “So Mr. Ji initially transferred the clinic to me because he lacked real skill and couldn’t sustain it?”
His tone was still as gentle as before, but his words were full of mockery.
Wen Qingci didn’t see that Xie Bufeng, standing behind him, suddenly smiled slightly.
“You-”
Ji Qirong immediately widened his eyes.
He bit his lip and, stroking his beard, forced out a sentence: “I’m just being considerate for your sake. Look at your age-isn’t it about time? Rather than wasting time here earning nothing, wouldn’t it be better to go back early, inherit the family business, and continue the family line?”
Upon hearing the words “inherit the family business,” the others couldn’t help but laugh again.
After speaking, Ji Qirong also stepped forward and lightly patted Wen Qingci’s shoulder.
However, at this moment, Xie Bufeng, who had been silent, suddenly stood beside Wen Qingci. His expression was displeased, as if provoked by Ji Qirong’s words.
The young man gave a cold laugh and forcefully knocked Ji Qirong’s hand off Wen Qingci’s shoulder.
“-Ah!”
Ji Qirong hadn’t expected Xie Bufeng’s strength to be so great.
His forearm instantly felt as if it had been struck by a stone.
“You… what do you mean by this!” Ji Qirong wanted to intimidate Xie Bufeng but was also fearful of the young man’s strength, so he could only retreat again.
The men who came with him also realized: this young man beside Wen Qingci was definitely a martial arts practitioner.
Remembering the rumors about the “divine physician” in the jianghu, the men hesitated for a moment and abandoned Ji Qirong.
Xie Bufeng pressed forward step by step, and before Wen Qingci could react, he looked into Ji Qirong’s eyes and said coldly with a smile: “Is one thousand taels of silver enough?”
“One, one thousand taels?” Ji Qirong and the others thought Xie Bufeng must be joking.
Seeing him standing there speechless, Xie Bufeng narrowed his eyes and said with a smile: “I certainly have the money, and will send it to your residence tomorrow. It’s just… a question of whether you’ll live to spend it.”
Money was something Xie Bufeng had plenty of.
However, the money he had was all official silver.
Ordinary people never had the opportunity to see official silver and wouldn’t recognize what it looked like.
If these silver pieces entered circulation, there would naturally be knowledgeable people who would recognize them.
Xie Bufeng hadn’t given the official silver to Wen Qingci earlier because he was worried it might bring him imprisonment.
But these people were different.
Ji Qirong and his associates were bullies who preyed on the weak and feared the strong. Seeing that Xie Bufeng had been following Wen Qingci all day, they hurriedly left the alley after a few threatening words.
After they left, only Wen Qingci and Xie Bufeng remained in the small alley.
Dressed in a moon-white robe, Wen Qingci sighed softly and walked in front of Xie Bufeng.
He looked worried, seemingly deep in thought.
Just when Xie Bufeng thought Wen Qingci was concerned about not being able to produce the money tomorrow and angering Ji Qirong and his men, bringing greater disaster, he saw him apologetically say in a soft voice: “I’m truly sorry for dragging Young Master Su into this mess. Thank you for helping me drive them away today. Tomorrow… please don’t come to the clinic for a day. After I deal with them, you can come back the day after.”
…Was Wen Qingci afraid of involving him?
Xie Bufeng’s heart suddenly trembled.
An indescribable emotion surged in his heart in that moment.
After hesitating for a moment, Xie Bufeng slowly nodded: “All right.”
He didn’t want to tell Wen Qingci his plans just yet.
Seeing this, Wen Qingci finally breathed a temporary sigh of relief.
From leaving the alley to returning the carriage, Wen Qingci remained silent, and the atmosphere became somewhat heavy.
Xie Bufeng stayed by his side the entire time, also silent.
The next day, as promised, Xie Bufeng didn’t come to the clinic.
But contrary to expectations, Wen Qingci didn’t encounter Ji Qirong and his men.
Until nightfall, they never appeared outside the courtyard.
Everything was the same as usual.
The only unusual occurrence was… around the Hour of the Dog, when suddenly footsteps were heard outside the alley.
Wen Qingci, who had been on edge all day, hesitated before going out to look. The next moment, he saw a squad of imperial guards hurriedly disappearing at the end of the long street beyond the small alley.
“Mrs. Chang, do you know what’s happening?” Wen Qingci couldn’t help asking a neighbor who had arrived early.
The woman glanced at the long street and said with a mysterious smile to Wen Qingci: “I heard that Ji Qirong has run into trouble.”
“Ji Qirong?”
Wen Qingci’s clinic had once belonged to Ji Qirong, and all the neighbors had been cheated by him in earlier years.
Thinking of the past, Mrs. Chang couldn’t help but gloat: “Yes, it seems he spent some kind of illegal money… and was discovered by the officials.”
Ji Qirong was a gambling addict who had already squandered most of his family fortune.
Somehow today, he suddenly had money again.
It was said that he appeared at a gambling house with a thousand taels of silver.
Before he could enjoy himself for even the time it takes to burn an incense stick, he was surrounded by imperial guards who came from nowhere and taken away.
“I see… thank you, Mrs. Chang.” Wen Qingci nodded slowly.
“You’re welcome!”
Wen Qingci didn’t know how he returned to the clinic that night, or how he fell asleep.
Even when his father discussed medical principles with him before bed, he was distracted.
Until he fell asleep, Wen Qingci was troubled by one thing-
The timing was too coincidental.
Young Master Su had said yesterday that he would send silver to Ji Qirong’s residence, and today Mrs. Chang said that Ji Qirong was caught spending illegal money by officials.
…Could he have been implicated in this matter?
*
Songxiu Prefecture Magistrate’s Office.
Ji Qirong was bound tightly, kneeling on the ground: “Who, who are you? Why have you brought me here?”
As he spoke, his voice had begun to tremble involuntarily.
The soldiers guarding around him were all silent, like statues.
The atmosphere in the room instantly became extremely tense.
After quite a while, the Songxiu Prefect finally hurried in.
Seeing the person kneeling on the ground, he couldn’t help but say through gritted teeth: “Do you know that His Majesty is currently on a southern tour in Songxiu? The city is heavily guarded by troops from Yongdu, yet you dare to spend official silver at this time?!”
If this matter escalated, his own official hat would be difficult to keep.
“…What?” Ji Qirong was stunned, hastily explaining, “Your Honor, please be clear-sighted! How could I have official silver? This must be a false accusation!”
As he spoke, he struggled to move, wanting to kneel and beg for mercy.
“False accusation?” The Songxiu Prefect was almost laughing from anger, “The Minister of the Secretariat personally identified it, could it be fake?”
Hearing these words, Ji Qirong was completely stunned.
The current Minister of the Secretariat was from Songxiu Prefecture.
More than ten years ago, he had topped the imperial examination and entered the capital as an official.
The chief examiner of the imperial examination that year was the current Prime Minister.
Following the tradition of Wei Dynasty, he had become a “disciple of the Prime Minister,” with a promising future.
Ji Qirong tried hard to think-the Minister of the Secretariat certainly wouldn’t misidentify official silver, which meant the money he spent truly had issues.
He was stunned for a moment, then immediately shouted: “I understand now, I understand, Your Honor! Someone must be framing me. The silver I spent today was all given by a young man from outside the area. He must have stolen official silver and framed me. Oh, and… there’s a clinic in southern Songxiu Prefecture, the physician surnamed Wen there is also his accomplice!”
“Your Honor, you’ve arrested the wrong person! Hurry to the south of the city, or that Wen Qingci might escape in the chaos! I remember what they look like. I, I can draw, I can draw them for Your Honor!”
As he spoke, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside the room.
“Oh?” The newcomer’s voice was full of contemptuous amusement, “You say someone stole official silver?”
The next moment, everyone in the room fell to their knees with a “thud.”
“Greetings to the Crown Prince, Your Highness, long live, long live-”
The Crown Prince? How did this matter alarm the royal family?
Cold sweat immediately broke out on Ji Qirong’s forehead.
“Everyone withdraw.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Before he could react, only the Crown Prince remained in the room.
Ji Qirong froze in place, not daring to move, not even having the courage to look up at the visitor.
He only knew that the other person slowly sat down at the table and took a sip from a teacup.
After a moment of silence, the visitor suddenly said in an amused voice: “It seems Mr. Ji truly wasn’t destined to spend this money.”
That voice… sounded somewhat familiar.
Ji Qirong was stunned and raised his head with extreme stiffness.
The next moment, a familiar face appeared before his eyes.
“-It’s you?!” He couldn’t be mistaken; just a few hours ago, it was this very young man who had delivered the silver to his residence!
Ji Qirong’s mind instantly went blank.
Xie Bufeng smiled, slowly rose, and walked toward Ji Qirong. Finally, standing beside him, he bent down and asked: “Did you enjoy spending the silver that this prince personally delivered to you?”
##
Ahahaha that’s a satisfying way to reveal himself as the crown prince