Chapter 307: Holding Back
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
In the front hall of Prince Qi’s Manor, the furious Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs, Fu Jun, was waiting for Xiao Jin’s arrival.
He had been busy with work in the government office, but to his surprise, someone came to his office suddenly and reported that something had happened. He immediately rushed home to find Little Madam Zhou covered in wounds and wailing about how Su Ying had brutally taken away his eldest son.
Fu Jun, who was born in a preeminent Duke’s Residence, had never encountered such a thing in his life. He decided to go out and demand an explanation, even if the other party was Prince Qi.
Fu Jun wanted to launch the preemptive strike by questioning Xiao Jin first and leaving him unable to defend himself. However, for some reason, when he met Xiao Jin’s eyes which were as dark as a bottomless abyss, all his anger was instantly stifled.
Xiao Jin sat down on a chair and looked at Fu Jun without any emotion. “Lord Fu.”
Fu Jun came back to his senses and immediately bowed. “Your Highness.”
“You have come all the way to my manor to look for me. Is there a problem?”
Fu Jun thought of the purpose of his visit today. “I heard from my wife that Princess Consort Qi kidnapped my eldest son. I’m here to ask what happened.”
Xiao Jin furrowed his brows. “Kidnapped?”
“Yes. My wife has no enmity with Princess Consort Qi. I wonder why Princess Consort Qi made things difficult for my wife and even hit her.”
“Her Highness even hit your wife?”
Fu Jun thought Xiao Jin didn’t know. “Yes.”
“That means she deserved it. Princess Consort Qi never hits people for no reason.”
“Er…” Fu Jun choked. “Your Highness, that’s going too far when you say that. It was obvious that Princess Consort Qi bullied her first. How could my wife be in the wrong? The people from Prince Qi’s Manor are too much of a bully!”
Xiao Jin tapped his long fingers on the table. “I remember that your eldest son is already eight years old, right?”
Fu Jun didn’t know why Xiao Jin suddenly asked this. “Yes.”
“When I saw him today, he was not even as tall as my son Ji. Lord Fu, you have ill-treated your eldest son.”
“What?” Fu Jun was stunned.
“His body is full of bruises, his face is sallow and his flesh is thin. He said that in the residence, he can only eat at the same table as the servants. What’s more, he can’t even stay in the servant’s room. If this isn’t ill-treatment, then what is it?”
A look of annoyance flashed across Fu Jun’s face. “Your Highness, don’t malign a good person. Zheng’er has always been weak and sickly since young. He can’t seem to absorb any nourishment no matter what he eats and he doesn’t like to eat…”
“He ate two big bowls at my place at noon.” Xiao Jin interrupted him with an indifferent voice.
“This… this is impossible…” That was not what Little Madam Zhou told him.
“If Lord Fu doesn’t believe me, let him stay in my manor for seven days. After seven days, you can judge whether what 1 said is true or not.”
“This won’t do. He is the heir of Duke Zhenguo’s Residence. How can we let him stay in Prince Qi’s Manor?”
“Then 1 can only submit a report on you to the Emperor.”
Fu Jun gritted his teeth. He didn’t believe that Fu Zheng had been maltreated. “Alright, seven days then. 1’11 come back to pick him up after seven days.” If there were no changes to Fu Zheng after seven days, he wanted to see what Xiao Jin had to say!
Fu Jun bade farewell and left. He had forgotten to seek an explanation for Little Madam Zhou.
Fu Zheng felt his entire body heat up until it was unbearable. He struggled to open his eyes and saw Su Ying sitting on a chair, munching on melon seeds.
“Your Highness…” Fu Zheng opened his mouth. Even his throat was burning with unbearable pain.
Su Ying threw away the melon seed shells and stood up. She reached out and touched his forehead. “Are you feeling terrible from the heat?”
Fu Zheng nodded and sat up. He had thought that his body would feel terrible, but after sitting up, he realized that his body seemed to feel much lighter.
“The heat will soon subside. Sit cross-legged. I’ll teach you a few methods to practice internal breathing. Learn well.”
Fu Zheng nodded obediently.
“Press your tongue against the roof of your mouth, then use your nose to breathe. See if your breath can be inhaled all the way down to the dantian at your abdomen.”
Fu Zheng followed Su Ying’s instructions and could indeed feel the air flowing through his body to his abdomen.
“Your body is weak, and your breath is too shallow. This method can boost your energy. After you inhale as much breath as you can, hold your breath for three seconds, then slowly exhale. When you exhale, tighten your dantian to the limit and then hold your breath for another three seconds. Repeat in this manner. Every morning after you wake up, exhale your breath for two hours to boost your energy.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Mm-hmm. Practice on your own first.”
After Su Ying finished speaking, she sat down by the side and began to circulate her energy.
Whenever Su Ying was engaged in close combat, she would deploy the ancient martial arts. Only when she utilized her energy in her moves would her strikes be more lethal.
For the next few days, Su Ying gave Fu Zheng very specific training from morning till night.
It was impossible to train a child with zero foundation into an expert in seven days, but what he learned during this period was enough to deal with ordinary people.
“Your Highness, I have finished reading all the account books sent over by the Su residence!”
Lin Zhuyu ran to Su Ying excitedly with the account books in her hands.
“Are there any problems?”
“The account books don’t seem to have any problems at first glance.”
“Hmm?”
“But 1 have discovered some problems.”
Su Ying raised an eyebrow. She was very concerned when there was any matter that concerned her own little treasury. “What problem?”
Lin Zhuyu spread out the account books that she had checked. “Let’s take one of the restaurants as an example. This restaurant is located on the main street of the capital. It has been open for more than ten years now, but strangely, this restaurant seems to be in the red every year. The best-case scenario was that it was able to break even. But it doesn’t lose much every year. It only loses a few dozen taels of silver.”
As she spoke, she turned to a page in the account book. “And this jewelry shop. It’s not far from the restaurant. It is also losing money year after year. In fact, its losses are even more than the restaurant’s. The reason 1 am bringing up these two places as examples is because this kind of situation is too rare.”
“Elaborate more,” Su Ying continued.
“1 have checked the property deeds and land deeds of these two places and have a rough understanding. Even if these two shops in this area are rented out, they can earn thousands of taels of silver every year. 1 don’t understand why they still continue to run the shops on their own under such circumstances when they are losing money year after year.”
Su Ying murmured a reply, but her face did not show any emotion.
“After 1 discovered this problem, 1 deliberately asked someone from Prince Qi’s Manor to go to the venues to check on the actual situation. The people who went to investigate came back and reported that the business of these two shops was very good. 1 could not understand why they did not earn money.”
“Go and get Aunt Zhao.”
After Aunt Zhao arrived, Su Ying asked her outright which of the dowry shops under the late Madam Jiang were the most profitable.
Aunt Zhao named a few places, which included the jewelry shop and restaurant that Lin Zhuyu had mentioned.
“Your Highness, is there a problem with the account books?” Aunt Zhao was a smart person. She understood immediately.
Su Ying showed Aunt Zhao Lin Zhuyu’s summary. “Ever since the shops landed in the hands of Little Madam Jiang, they’ve been losing money. Don’t you find it strange, Aunt Zhao?”
Aunt Zhao frowned. She knew all about Madam Jiang’s dowry shops. Every shop’s location was very good. Even if they didn’t run the shops themselves, they could still make a lot of money every year by renting them.
Su Ying narrowed her eyes slightly. “No wonder they returned the earlier items so readily. It turns out that they still have quite a lot in their hands..”