GBP Chapter 258 Acting
Chapter 258 Acting
Li Zhi's parents were good at managing their lives. They thought their son was promising as he worked for the prince, so they simply packed up their things in their hometown and brought their whole family here.
When they got home, it was already dark and there was a truckload of things to move down, so the yard was quite lively and noisy.
A woman's voice rang out from the next yard: "Can't you let me sleep at this hour?"
Li Zhi reminded his family to keep their voices down and leave some things for later, so they should go back to the house and rest first.
There were five families living at the entrance of this alley, Li Zhi's family lived in the first, and Qiao Da's family lived in the second. In the morning, Li Zhi's mother got up and steamed buns with her daughter-in-law to deliver them to the neighbors. They hoped to get along well with their neighbors. The other three families were very welcoming, but Qiao's wife ignored them and didn't even open the door.
The next day, Li Zhi went to the palace. Ye Youlan asked him if his parents were okay. Also, were his brothers and sisters going to stay for a few days or stay permanently?
Li Zhi answered them one by one.
Ye Youlan asked him to find Qiao Luochuan to find a job for his younger brother and sister.
Qiao Luochuan has been worried about his eldest brother's family these days. He heard that Li Zhi's younger brother also worked as a bricklayer in his hometown. He came up with a good idea, which is to let his eldest brother and Li Zhi's younger brother Li Zhu open a bricklaying shop together.
"I'll open this brick and tile shop in my father-in-law's name, and he'll be in charge. Your brother and my eldest brother will work there, and I'll let the Construction Department take care of it. Do you agree?"
"Should I tell the prince about this?"
"Don't worry, I'll tell you. I'll open it in my father-in-law's name because I don't want my troublesome sister-in-law to cause trouble."
Qiao Luochuan briefly explained his family situation, and Li Zhi understood.
After listening to Qiao Luochuan's report, Ye Youlan offered a suggestion: "If we use your father-in-law's name, your sister-in-law will probably be even more dissatisfied. Why not let the palace fund the store and let your eldest brother run it, and take Li Zhu to do the work? Then you can give your eldest brother a little more salary."
"Thank you so much, Princess."
"If your sister-in-law goes too far, find someone to give her a beating and she'll behave herself. If it's inconvenient for you to come forward, then find Li Zhi. If a scholar is too respectable, it will only make you sullen. To deal with a rogue, you have to use rogue methods."
Qiao Luochuan suddenly understood.
Li Zhu's daughter-in-law Erni went to the embroidery workshop. Yunniang took her in because she saw that she had good embroidery skills, but the house was too small and there was no place to put the work table, so Erni took the work home to do, and her mother-in-law could sometimes help.
That day, Qiao Ling was on her way to the provincial capital when she ran into Lord Song. When she went out, she saw Erni coming back holding a basket.
Qiao Ling recognized it as the embroidery basket. She asked angrily, "Why did you take the embroidery basket home?"
Erni answered honestly, "There's not enough space in the embroidery workshop, so I'll take it home and do it."
Qiao Ling became even angrier: "Auntie actually asked you to do the work without me and mother. This is too much."
As he said this, he turned and went into the yard. Erni felt puzzled.
Mrs. Qiao was unhappy when she heard this, and she took Qiao Ling straight to the embroidery workshop.
The door to the embroidery room was very quiet. There were one or two customers looking at the embroidery. When Mrs. Qiao walked in, she shouted, "Mrs. Li Yun, come out!"
Aunt Li came over and saw Mrs. Qiao. She asked her impatiently what she was yelling about.
"Hmph, your family are vampires. You're still not satisfied after I gave you all the money my uncle earned. We just want to work in the embroidery workshop to earn some pocket money, but you won't let us. Instead, you let a country girl come in to work. What do you mean by that? If you don't give me an explanation, I won't leave today."
As she spoke, she was about to overturn the baskets that had been sorted.
Aunt Li was so angry that she pointed at Sister Qiao and said, "Don't make trouble here. This is the embroidery workshop of the palace, not Luochuan. We are all workers here. Are you going to die if you offend the palace?"
When she heard that it was from the palace, Mrs. Qiao immediately withdrew her hand, squeezed into the back yard, sat on the ground and cried, scolding Qiao Luochuan for being unscrupulous.
Empress Li Yun was resting in the back room. When she heard Mrs. Qiao's vulgar curses, she was so angry that she wanted to come out, but was stopped by her grandfather.
"Go back to the house and rest. Keep calm."
The other embroiderers lowered their heads to work, unaffected. Qiao Ling came over awkwardly to pull her mother away. She whispered, "Mom, if you keep making trouble, will I still marry Master Song?"
Mrs. Qiao immediately stood up, dusted herself off, and left in embarrassment.
After hearing about this, Qiao Luochuan was so angry that he was speechless. He thought of what the princess said, so he went to find Li Zhi. Li Zhi smiled and let him handle the matter.
So Li Zhi sent a few men to the Qiao family to take Mrs. Qiao to jail, accusing her of trespassing into a private residence and slandering the palace.
Mrs. Qiao was scared and begged the judge to let her go, saying that she would never do it again.
The bailiff took her through the torture chamber before sending her to the women's prison. She could be returned when her family paid the ransom.
"Sir, my family has no money."
“If you don’t have money, you go to jail.”
The next day, Song Wen brought Qiao Da to redeem the man and only released him after he paid twenty taels of silver. Mrs. Qiao was heartbroken, and the pain was worse than cutting her own flesh.
After thanking Lord Song, she looked at Qiao Da. Why didn't Qiao Luochuan come? Wasn't it just him who told her to go out?
Qiao Da wished there was a crack in the ground for him to crawl into: "Luo Chuan couldn't leave because of something, so he asked Mr. Song to come and help. Remember this from now on, don't cause trouble in the embroidery room again."
Mr. Song smiled and comforted Mrs. Qiao: "Ignorance is not a crime. Mrs. Qiao, remember that Luo Chuan and I are both begging for food at the hands of the prince, and we can't afford to offend anyone."
"I see. Sir Song, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."
In the evening, Qiao Da bought some wine and food to entertain Mr. Song. Mr. Song did not refuse. After three rounds of drinks, he and the three members of the Qiao family talked about his glorious years in the capital and his care for Qiao Luochuan.
Mrs. Qiao said angrily, "Luo Chuan is so heartless. After his parents passed away, wasn't it me and his eldest brother who took care of him? Now that he's grown up, he doesn't recognize us. Even his own brothers don't treat us as well as Mr. Song."
Qiao Da winked at his wife.
Mrs. Qiao saw her daughter's look and didn't pay attention to Qiao Da. She stood up, pulled Qiao Da and asked him to buy some more wine, then winked at her daughter.
Qiao Ling sat down in front of Song Wen, poured him some wine, and thanked him for rescuing her mother today. She said she was very scared today and her eyes were swollen from crying. She asked Mr. Song to look at her eyes.
Song Wen patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, if your uncle doesn't take care of you, I will."
Qiao Ling was very excited when she heard this, and she moved closer, almost touching Song Wen's arm.
Song Wen looked at Qiao Ling tenderly, then reached out and stroked her head: "Ling'er, you are such a good child."
Qiao Ling pouted and said, "Mr. Song, I'm not a child anymore. I'm over the age of 15 and I'm grown up." She straightened her body and her bulging breasts seemed to prove that she had grown up.
Song Wen's hand slid from her hair across her delicate cheek and landed on her lips. Qiao Ling's heart was pounding and her face became more rosy and attractive under the light.
The man rubbed her lips with his fingertips twice before withdrawing them. He stood up and said, "It's getting late. I have to go back."
Qiao Ling felt that this might be her last chance. She hugged Song Wen's waist from behind and said, "Sir, I like you."