After saying this, Yun Xi didn't linger and left her father's study directly.
It wasn't until she returned to her own courtyard that she covered her chest, rested her head on Yu Zhu's shoulder, and burst into tears.
"Yu Zhu, my heart aches so much!"
She hugged herself tightly, feeling bone-chilling cold all over. It seemed as if there was a crack in her chest.
Even though Yu Zhu had given her the special medicine and she had finally gotten what she wanted, the crack in her heart was still hard to mend.
It wasn't until Yu Zhu invited the doctor and Yun Xi took the sedative that she fell into a deep sleep.
Looking at his daughter's pale face, Yun Sheng gently stroked the still-damp tear tracks on her face. With self - reproach, he sighed,
"Xier, it's Dad who failed to protect you well and let down your mother's trust. However, things are not as simple as they seem on the surface... Dad just doesn't want you to be caught up in scheming and have a hard life in the future..."
"No matter whether you can understand Dad's good intentions in the end, Dad's only wish is for you to be happy."
However, Yun Xi could no longer hear Yun Sheng's earnest words.
The news that Mrs. Jiang had once been a courtesan seemed to grow wings and spread almost instantly throughout the streets and alleys of the capital.
When the old lady heard about this, she was so angry that she couldn't eat or sleep for several days. She gritted her teeth with hatred for Mrs. Jiang and the Jiang family.
But after all, Yun Qi was her only grandson and the apple of her eye. Since her son didn't want to divorce Mrs. Jiang, she didn't want to force him.
Therefore, in order to salvage a little bit of the Prime Minister's Mansion's dignity, she had someone announce to the public that Mrs. Jiang was just a concubine in the Prime Minister's Mansion and had never been promoted to the main mistress, so she couldn't be regarded as the in - charge mistress of the Prime Minister's Mansion.
As soon as the news came out, Mrs. Jiang became the laughingstock of everyone again.
The noble ladies who used to be on good terms with her and claim to be like sisters also all said that they were not familiar with Mrs. Jiang and quickly distanced themselves from her to avoid being laughed at.
On the other hand, the temple built under the auspices of the queen was finally completed and named "Guo'an Temple". A large number of monks moved in, set up incense burners and started the incense - offering ceremony. Yun Xi's mother, Su Yun, was engraved on the merit stele of Guo'an Temple, receiving the offerings of incense and being remembered through the ages.
Mrs. Jiang, whom the old lady had always protected, made a fool of herself, while Su Yun, whom she had disliked, received such an honor. The contrast made the old lady extremely frustrated.
To vent her anger, she took it out on Mrs. Jiang and punished her to kneel in the ancestral hall for more than half a month.
When Mrs. Jiang came out, she was so emaciated that she fell seriously ill and needed half a year of recuperation.
During this period, Yun Xi took over all the family affairs and all the shops.
However, as she delved deeper into it, she found that things were far more complicated than she had imagined.
It was relatively easy to deal with things inside the Prime Minister's Mansion. But in the process of taking over the shops, she encountered layers of obstruction, was harassed by evil servants, and even discovered many accounts with embezzlement.
She knew that after more than a decade of being in charge of the family, Mrs. Jiang had cultivated many minions and fattened up many greedy people. It wasn't something she could eliminate overnight.
Moreover, although Mrs. Jiang had lost the power to manage the family and seemed no longer formidable, a dead camel is still bigger than a horse. There were still many people secretly loyal to her.
As long as Mrs. Jiang continued to manipulate these people in the dark, Yun Xi would find it difficult to move forward.
Sooner or later, it would surely arouse the old lady's dissatisfaction and force her to hand over the power to manage the family!
Therefore, due to her lack of experience, Yun Xi would go to the shops whenever she had time to get a better understanding of the actual situation of the shops.
Firstly, she could check the business situation of the shops. Secondly, she could let the shopkeepers and clerks get familiar with her so that they could report any problems to her directly.
One day, Yun Xi deliberately chose a poorly - run shop. After leaving the women's academy, she headed straight for the shop.
Unexpectedly, she saw a long - unseen figure in her own shop - Qi Rong.
Before she even entered the door, Yun Xi could feel the solemn atmosphere inside.
This was an antique shop under her mother's name. It housed all kinds of porcelain and rare antiques. It was located in a prime location, and since it was the peak time for people to go out, the shop should have been very bustling. However, there wasn't a single customer inside.
Moreover, the door of the shop was half - closed. When she pushed the door open, she immediately saw several people kneeling on the ground.
Yun Xi frowned slightly. After sizing up their clothes, she was sure that they were the shop's clerks.
The leading shopkeeper was being held down, his face pressed against the ground, with fresh blood flowing from his nostrils.
"What's going on? You've scared all the customers away!"
Yun Xi's eyes turned cold as she looked at Qi Rong, who was calmly drinking tea in the middle chair, full of displeasure.
Since the last donation, she hadn't seen Qi Rong again. She thought she had finally gotten rid of this troublemaker, but unexpectedly, she ran into him in her own shop today.
Judging from his stance, it seemed that he had come specifically to pick a fight. It was likely that he wouldn't let things go easily!
When Qi Rong saw Yun Xi enter the door, a flicker of surprise flashed across his eyes.
Then, he raised his eyebrows, looked at her lazily with a sneer, and said,
"Does this king need to report to anyone about what he wants to do?"
"As for you, the eldest miss of the Prime Minister's Mansion, I've heard that you've given your step - mother quite a hard time this time. Truly, a tiger father has no dog son. You have the same good methods as your father!"
Hearing the sarcasm in Qi Rong's words, Yun Xi subconsciously bit her lip and glared at him unhappily.
"Of course you don't need to report to me about what you want to do, and I'm not interested in knowing. But this shop belongs to my mother. Since you're affecting the shop's business, I have the right to ask!"
Others might not know about the feud between her and Mrs. Jiang, and she didn't care what others thought of her. However, being mocked by Qi Rong made her inexplicably angry.
He clearly knew that Mrs. Jiang had plotted against her first, and she was just fighting fire with fire. What right did he have to accuse her of being scheming?
Ignoring the anger in her eyes, Qi Rong took a leisurely sip of tea and sneered,
"It's a pity that this shop has changed owners. It seems that you're still in the dark."
Saying this, Qi Rong took out a yellowed piece of paper from his sleeve and showed it to Yun Xi.
After seeing the content on it clearly, Yun Xi's fair face instantly turned pale. She looked at Qi Rong in shock and asked,
"This is clearly my mother's shop. How did you get the deed of this shop?"
The words on it were very clear in black and white, and there was even the seal of the Su family. It couldn't be fake.
But these deeds should have been locked in the box in the Prime Minister's Mansion. How did they end up in Qi Rong's hands?
Could it be Mrs. Jiang again?!
Yun Xi clenched her fists angrily, wondering how many more such situations there were.
After she had checked everything, how many of the shops left by her mother would be left?
Now, she had taken over this mess without any preparation. Even if she went to confront Mrs. Jiang afterwards, Mrs. Jiang would surely shirk all the blame.
She might even turn the tables on her!
Facing Yun Xi's questioning, Qi Rong glanced casually at the shopkeeper lying on the ground.
"If you want to know the reason, you can ask him! This deed was mortgaged by him in my gambling house."
Why was it the gambling house again? Yun Xi couldn't help but frown.
When she had set a trap for Jiang Da last time, she had found out that most of the money Jiang Da had embezzled from Mrs. Jiang over the years had been lost in the gambling house.
Moreover, several times he had used the identity of Mrs. Jiang's elder cousin to force the shopkeepers of various shops to lend him money.
Mrs. Jiang was extremely money - grubbing. According to her cunning personality, even if the Jiang family had something on her, she would have found a way to restrain Jiang Da. However, Mrs. Jiang didn't do so. Instead, she let Jiang Da do whatever he wanted.
No matter how she thought about it, it seemed very fishy.