Chapter 471 - 181: The Great Swindler
Chapter 471: Chapter 181: The Great Swindler
The day before Zhu Tongzhi’s birthday, the prefecture academy let out for a holiday, and all the students whose homes were in the Prefecture headed home.
Zhao Jing and De’an stood at the academy gate. When they didn’t see the servant woman who was supposed to pick them up with the oxcart, they thought their family had forgotten to send someone.
Just as they were about to take a ride back in Wang Jun’s carriage, they saw a one-armed man standing on the shafts of a cart under a nearby locust tree, waving at them.
"Young Master! Young Master Chen! I’m over here!"
This was none other than the man Chen Wanqing had brought back to her home in Qingshui County to make incense.
The man was around forty years old and had a military background. Although he had lost an arm, he still retained his martial arts skills.
He continued to make incense, but he was also extremely vigilant. Chen Wanqing entrusted him with a great deal of responsibility, putting him in charge of the other workers back in their old home.
He was nominally watching over them, but in reality, he was supervising them.
Her main concern was that one of the servants might be bribed to add something to the ground incense powder.
The man proved to be quite capable, handling his duties in a well-organized manner.
Chen Wanqing grew to trust and respect him, and eventually began to address him as Mr. Cao.
The two of them hurried over to the locust tree where Cao Xu was waiting. As they used a stool to climb into the carriage, De’an asked, "Mr. Cao, when did you all arrive in the Prefecture? Did my sister buy this carriage? How much did it cost? No wonder Jing and I couldn’t find you! We were only looking for an oxcart—who would’ve thought our family had bought a horse-drawn carriage?"
Cao Xu laughed heartily. "I didn’t see you two young masters either. All the students coming out were wearing identical uniforms; they all started to blur together."
When he finally spotted the two, he hadn’t dared to shout too loudly, worried it might be unseemly for his masters’ status.
As they spoke, Cao Xu turned the carriage around and headed into the city.
The roads were filled with carriages and bustling with people, so their progress was surprisingly slow.
Seeing Zhao Jing frown repeatedly, De’an couldn’t help but tease him. "Regretting that ten-day break now, aren’t you? Maybe you should stick to five-day breaks from now on. That way, the roads will be clear when you leave the academy, and you’ll get home much faster."
In reality, Jing was quite clever about it.
He was entitled to a five-day break for every five days of classes. At first, he would attend for five days and then take a five-day break. But later, finding the constant travel to be a hassle, he started attending for ten days straight and then taking a ten-day break. In effect, he combined two school-and-rest cycles to cut down on unnecessary travel time.
Unfortunately, even a clever person like him had his blind spots—namely, that if he left on the official holiday with everyone else, the roads would be so congested it would make him question his life choices.
And every time, Jing would get that same vexed expression, which De’an never tired of seeing.
The carriage crawled along, taking a long time to finally arrive home.
As they entered the courtyard, a whistling, cold wind carried down flurries of snow. Sure enough, it had started to snow.
"We’ve only had one snowfall since winter began, and it was so light. It stopped as soon as it covered the ground. I hope this one is heavier, or the crops will be short on water, and next year’s harvest will be smaller."
Mrs. Zhao was in a good mood because of the sudden snowfall. That, combined with her son’s return, led her to drink a cup of fruit wine at the dinner table.
The fruit wine was low in alcohol and not very intoxicating; though called wine, it was more like juice.
But Mrs. Zhao was in such high spirits that she soon looked a little tipsy, and she excused herself to go back to her room and rest.
Zhao Jing, Chen Wanqing, and De’an left Mrs. Zhao’s courtyard together. On the path, De’an asked, "Sister, you look worried. What’s wrong?"
Zhao Jing took her hand. "I was just about to ask the same thing. What’s bothering you, Sister?"
Chen Wanqing touched her face. "Is it that obvious?"
"Very obvious."
A gust of wind blew past, whipping the hood from Chen Wanqing’s head and making her cloak rustle loudly.
Zhao Jing handed the lantern to De’an, freeing one hand to pull her hood back up for her. "Tell De’an and me what’s bothering you," he said. "Maybe we can help you find a solution."
"I’m afraid you two won’t be able to help with this."
"Just tell us, Sister. We won’t know if we can help until you do."
By this time, they had reached the boys’ courtyard. Chen Wanqing gestured for them to come with her, and the three of them went directly to her drawing room.
The matter had started three days ago.
Three days ago, the escort agency they had previously hired brought over all the servants Chen Wanqing had left behind in Qingshui County.
Due to the large number of people, the cold weather, and the difficult road conditions, they had been delayed for a long time and felt very apologetic to their employer.
"But it’s a good thing we took the land route. If we had traveled by water, I fear none of us would have made it to the Prefecture."
Only after the dart master explained did Chen Wanqing understand what had happened.