Feng Jingye's expression began to distort.
Bai Zheng cast an imperceptible glance at Feng Jingye, then slightly lowered her eyes. Her long eyelashes fell, just enough to half - cover her eyes.
"It's actually not that strange. The Third Prince has always been an ambitious man. Your Highness is his elder brother, so you must know him better.
However, if Your Highness were the Third Prince now, in order to seize the throne, he would even risk beheading and secretly raise troops. He's just waiting for a chance to fight Your Highness to the death if he can't ascend the throne legitimately.
Such a man, who is both ambitious and powerful, and now has the support of the Western Liang, do you think he'll be willing to give up the thing he's been longing for for years and obediently hand it over to you?"
Feng Jingye's eyebrows twitched violently.
He finally understood what Bai Zheng had wanted to talk to him about today. He also finally understood why she had been so nonchalant about his provocations and had never minded standing on the opposite side of him, the Crown Prince.
It turned out that he had unknowingly made such a huge oversight!
He had thought that among the princes, there was no one left who could compete with him for the throne. Who would have thought that Feng Jingxuan was still so greedy and was secretly raising troops.
Feng Jingye, who had once been glad that his third brother had married the princess of Western Liang, now for the first time felt terrified of his father's decision.
With Princess Yunxi, Feng Jingxuan would be like a tiger with wings! Given the princess's favored status in Western Liang, if he really launched a rebellion, the king of Western Liang would surely be willing to lend him troops so that his daughter could become the empress of the Great Zhou.
If that happened, wouldn't his position as the Crown Prince be in great danger?
But at this critical moment, instead of trying to win over the court officials, he was still sparing no effort to make enemies and targeting Feng Linyuan and his wife?
Thinking of this, Feng Jingye wished he could slap himself.
Filled with regret and hatred, his legs went weak, and he slumped back onto the sofa.
Bai Zheng no longer looked at him. Instead, she focused on the teapot in front of her, from which the boiling sound could already be heard.
She reached out and picked up a clean handkerchief, folded it into three layers, and covered it on the porcelain - white handle of the teapot. Then she gently lifted the teapot, aimed the spout at the small porcelain cup with a handle, and slowly poured the milk tea into it.
The fragrance of milk mixed with the aroma of tea wafted gently into Feng Jingye's nose and awakened his senses.
Feng Jingye watched as Bai Zheng finished pouring the tea, picked up a cup, and handed it to him. His eyes followed the ripples in the milk tea in the cup as they spread out in circles.
"Where are his troops stationed?"
Finally, he asked this question.
Bai Zheng's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. She stretched out a fair finger, picked up the cup in front of her, took a sip of the milk tea, then looked outside with a hint of regret and sighed, "My shop has been completely smashed today. It's really a pity."
The veins on Feng Jingye's forehead throbbed violently.
"My several secret guards were also badly beaten while protecting the iron gate. I'm afraid it will cost a large sum of money for their treatment and precious medicinal materials."
After saying that, a soft sigh escaped from her rosy lips, tugging at people's hearts.
But for Feng Jingye at this moment, his flesh hurt more than his heart.
He knew very well that after all the round - about talk, Bai Zheng had finally come back to the topic of asking him for compensation.
If he didn't take the bait, Bai Zheng would surely not reveal a single word about the location of Feng Jingxuan's troops.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but raise his hand and rub his eyebrows. "Tell me, how much silver did the Lady of Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion lose today?"
Hearing this, Bai Zheng neatly put down the cup. A mischievous glint flashed across the corner of her eyes, and then a look of embarrassment appeared on her face as she slowly said,
"Your Highness knows that I'm just running a small business. Now the shop has been smashed beyond recognition, and everything has to be repurchased. Counting the manpower, material resources, the wood for renovating the shop, the glass cabinets, and the desserts on display, all together, it will cost at least five thousand taels of silver.
As for my secret guards, their injuries are very hard to heal. All five of them were bleeding from their heads and unconscious. Although the Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion still has some rare medicinal materials that were collected when the Marquis was seriously ill, I originally planned to auction them at the Jizhen Tower.
Now that they've been seriously injured, I have to take out the medicinal materials. Plus the doctor's fee and the overtime pay for the other secret guards while they're recuperating... All in all, the loss today is at least eight thousand taels of silver."
"Eight thousand taels?!" Feng Jingye could hardly believe his ears. He suddenly looked up, stared intently at Bai Zheng, grabbed the table with his hands until his knuckles turned white, and gritted his teeth, "The Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion is a large and prosperous family with a hundred - year - long accumulation. Are you having a hard time making ends meet, or is the Marquis's Mansion about to fall apart? Do you, the Lady of the Marquis's Mansion, have to resort to blackmailing people?"
Bai Zheng seemed not to notice the sarcasm in Feng Jingye's words at all. She leaned back, casually curled her lips, but her tone still sounded full of embarrassment.
"Your Highness doesn't know. I used to think that the Marquis's Mansion was a large and wealthy family, and I never really understood how expensive life could be since I didn't manage the household.
It wasn't until I became the mistress of the Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion and had to help the Marquis support such a large family that I realized how strapped for cash the mansion had become because of the Marquis's illness.
When the old Marquis had an accident and the current Marquis fell seriously ill, there were plenty of people in Yongding City who were eager to take advantage of our misfortune.
The Marquis's Mansion was severely hit and never recovered.
Later, although the Marquis gradually got better, he didn't have the energy to manage the mansion, so we could only live off our savings. We not only have to support the servants, guards, and secret guards in the mansion but also the Changping Army.
Although the Changping Army was disbanded by His Majesty six years ago, they had served our Marquis's Mansion for many years. Our mansion is not heartless, and we can't ignore the pension of those veteran soldiers. Just this alone costs a large amount of money every month..."
"Alright, alright." Feng Jingye had no intention of listening any further.
It was not until today that he finally saw Bai Zheng clearly. He used to think that she was intelligent, brave, and articulate. Now he realized that when she acted like a rascal, she was exactly like the young Feng Linyuan!
With these two devils as a couple, Feng Jingye even began to worry about his father.
But for now, he had to solve his own problem first.
He took a deep breath, softened his gaze, and asked in a kind voice, "How about this? I'll send people from the Crown Prince's Mansion to repair the shop. I'll buy the wood and other materials for you. As for those injured secret guards, leave them all to me. I'll return five lively secret guards to you in half a month. As for the Lady of the Marquis's Mansion's losses, how about we calculate it again... say, two thousand taels. What do you think?"