Chapter 1682 - 1511: Female 15
Chapter 1682: Chapter 1511: Female 15
The relationship between Fang Jingyao and Liu Xi has lasted for so many years. Although she was angry with Fang Miaozhen for causing trouble and took it out a bit on Liu Xi, Fang Jingyao never truly intended to neglect Liu Xi all the time.
Her recent cold treatment was partly intentional, but the main reason was that she had been preoccupied with resisting Qi Guanshuang’s attack, leaving her no time to attend to the inner quarters.
Who would have known that the servants in this household would be so opportunistic, daring to humiliate the main husband, which shows that they never respected Liu Xi as the main husband from the bottom of their hearts.
This made Fang Jingyao extremely angry. If not for the fact that her steward had been too busy following her around all this time to manage the servants, she would have suspected that the steward had also bullied her main husband.
Although she didn’t suspect the steward of bullying the main husband now, Fang Jingyao still redirected some of her anger towards the steward and coldly snorted, "You’re really getting better at managing people now, even letting a mere servant dare to bully the master!"
After saying this, Fang Jingyao waved her hand and turned to walk directly towards Liu Xi’s courtyard. As for the steward, who wisely did not follow, she prepared to sort out the servants who had bullied the main husband.
However, the steward was not as naive as Fang Jingyao. She had seen enough of these matters in the inner quarters and understood that the main husband was not without means.
During this time, there must have been some short-sighted people who didn’t know their place and showed Liu Xi attitudes. But since Liu Xi had been in charge of the back courtyard for so many years, it was impossible for him not to have his own people. Being out of favor might make his days difficult, but definitely not this hard.
At least today, those two who appeared to be gossiping were, in fact, Liu Xi’s people trying to evoke sympathy by complaining to the family head.
Now those who provoked Liu Xi would surely face misfortune. With the family head’s words, their end would not be good. They brought it upon themselves, daring to bully the main husband when the situation was unclear. They deserved it.
When Fang Jingyao arrived at Liu Xi’s courtyard, all she saw was an extremely desolate yard. The once-busy and bustling servants were nowhere to be seen. The whole courtyard was quiet, almost silent.
Fang Jingyao’s face grew even gloomier. She lifted the main room’s curtain and went in. It was equally quiet inside, with no servants, only faint sobs coming from the bedroom area.
Fang Jingyao walked into the inner room, only to see a graceful figure lying sideways on the bed. The thin gauze of the bed canopy fell down, shadowing the person inside in a somewhat enchanting manner.
The figure’s shoulders were trembling slightly, and the sobbing sound came from inside. Fang Jingyao lifted the bed canopy, and sure enough, it was Liu Xi crying.
His shape had become much thinner, making Fang Jingyao feel a bit of heartache. To be honest, although Fang Miaozhen’s trouble made her angry, she was just upset at Fang Miaozhen’s lack of skill, getting reverse-trapped by others.
As for Fang Miaozhen’s despicable means, Fang Jingyao was not angry but even somewhat admired it. She actually disdained her eldest daughter Fang Miaqing and her grandmother’s integrity and straightforward business dealings.
Fang Jingyao’s rise was never about playing by the rules but taking the unconventional way, of which she was quite proud, believing her own strategies were superior. Otherwise, how could Fang Family have achieved the name Half City Fang today?
So despite being annoyed with Fang Miaozhen’s actions, Fang Jingyao also felt a certain comfort in seeing her daughter take after her mother. At that moment, seeing Liu Xi’s thin, restrained sobbing, Fang Jingyao softened.
Just as Fang Jingyao was about to console Liu Xi, Liu Xi also set up his posture.
He was just waiting for Fang Jingyao to speak so he could play the pity card, shedding tears to win back Fang Jingyao’s heart. Who knew that at this critical moment, there was suddenly a loud knocking at the door outside.
The sudden knocking startled both people in the room, interrupting Fang Jingyao’s attempted comfort and causing the poised-to-act Liu Xi to freeze.
Liu Xi secretly despised the person knocking, for daring to so rudely knock at his main husband’s door.
Fang Jingyao was also very annoyed, thinking the servants were getting out of hand, knocking so crudely on the main husband’s door. They clearly needed discipline.
Before Fang Jingyao could dwell on this, a near-shrieking voice from the steward came from outside, "Family Head, Family Head, come out quickly! There’s big trouble!"
Was it the steward knocking? Fang Jingyao’s anger dissipated instantly. She knew the steward would never dare to knock on the main husband’s door unless something very important had happened.
In her haste, Fang Jingyao completely put Liu Xi aside, rushing to open the door to see the steward’s panic-stricken face, which sent a chill down Fang Jingyao’s spine.
The steward anxiously and fearfully said to Fang Jingyao, "Family Head! It’s not good. Several shopkeepers and stewards have just come to report that many of our Fang Family’s businesses have been sealed.
Most importantly, the silver mine we privately discovered and started mining on West Mountain has somehow been found by the government. It has already been sealed, and they are coming to our estate to arrest people!"
The steward’s words threw Fang Jingyao into a dizzy spell, nearly causing her to faint. Any business running into trouble didn’t scare her, but why did it have to be the silver mine!
This silver mine had just been recently discovered by Fang Jingyao. Although its output was not substantial, at best producing two or three million taels of silver once fully mined, it wasn’t considered a large silver mine.
According to the current dynasty’s laws, any discovered gold, silver, or iron mines must be reported to the court, and private mining is strictly forbidden; at most, the discoverer can receive a reward.
But who wouldn’t be tempted by a silver mine, especially Fang Jingyao, who often took the unconventional path? She was tempted the moment she saw the silver mine.
Fang Jingyao originally planned to secretly extract all the silver, making an unexpected fortune without alerting anyone.
After all, with the Fang Family’s extensive business, laundering two or three million taels of silver was doable, even if it took some time.
To mine this silver mine, Fang Jingyao also bought many strong laborers to work at the mine. For security reasons, she planned to bury all these people in the mine after the mining was completed.
Fang Jingyao never expected this silver mine to be discovered by the government. She could only think, it’s over! The Fang Family is finished!
Of course, this silver mine issue was orchestrated by Qi Guanshuang. The silver mine wasn’t in the information Fang Miaqing provided, but it was information Fang Miaqing gave to Qi Guanshuang in a previous life.
At that time, the Fang Family had already fully mined this silver mine, which produced more silver than expected, up to five million taels of silver.