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  Chapter 12: The Cost

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  Zhu Yingtuo took advantage of the night to arrive at a street not far from the west city gate. In one of the alleys here, there was a small courtyard. He went up and knocked on the door. Without asking, it opened from inside. A man in black clothes came out and saw him immediately bowing his hands and calling "Third Master".

  Zhu Yifei didn't even bother to reason with him and just walked in, the man hastily locked the courtyard gate and followed him in.

  As soon as they entered the house, Zhu Yingtai took off her wind hat, and the man followed in, standing at the door with his hands hanging down.

  "Have you investigated clearly? Lao Wu has done it?"

  That guard hesitated for a long time, then plucked up the courage to stammer: "Fifth Master... Fifth Master went to the Blue Mansion once, and also went to... Hook Lane... bought two young boys..."

  Zhu Yingtai untied his cloak and threw it to one side, turned around and stared at the guard with a piercing gaze, as if to say that Lao Wu had risked danger to come to Beijing just for a romantic tryst.

  That guard immediately knelt down, "This little one is damned, this little one didn't find out, what the hell is Fifth Master doing?"

  Zhu Yingtuo sat in a chair, staring at him for half a day before saying that he had gone to the Blue Mansion? The Blue Duke's house?

  "Yes, disguised as a servant, he went in and came out within half an hour, then went to the brothel alley and bought those two..."

  "From the day he came over here and started talking from the beginning"

  That guard was sweating on his forehead and his body was slightly trembling. Zhu Yingtai shouted loudly, saying...

  "The...the..." The guard was startled and nervously said, "The little one followed Fifth Master to Beijing, but on the first day...he...he...lost his trail..."

  It's strange, Zhu Yingtai didn't get angry, but instead asked "Where did you lose it?"

  It was at Jingdong Wine House, where Fifth Master entered one of the elegant rooms. Xiao had been staring at it from below, but after more than an hour, he still hadn't come out. Xiao hurriedly went up to check and found that Fifth Master had already left...

  Zhu Yifei said coldly, "Jing Dong Wine House is the territory of Jin Yiwei. If you stare at people there, it's strange if you can stare."

  The guard's tense expression relaxed, but Zhu Yingtai's next sentence made him tense up again. Afterwards, he didn't find him immediately either.

  The guard hastily said: "Fifth Master has hidden... I'm afraid..."

  "What was found later?" Zhu Yingtuo asked impatiently.

  "Wu Ye disguised himself as a servant and swaggered into the Lan Mansion. My scattered eyes reported back to me, and I followed up. After leaving the Lan Mansion, Wu Ye bought two child slaves, but immediately gave one to an opera troupe, which then entered the Chu Mansion. The next day was supposed to be the day they would perform for the Chu family, but before they could even start, something happened inside, and the two child slaves and the opera troupe all slipped out and fled the city without anyone stopping them... I kept an eye on the Chu Mansion, and soon Xue E's whole family also left the city."

  Zhu Yifei listened to his nonsense, but instead of getting angry, he turned his head and fell into deep thought... Blue Mansion... Actor... Xue E? He muttered to himself, the more he thought about it, the darker his face became, and his eyebrows furrowed deeper.

  "After hesitating for half a day, he finally said 'There's still something I haven't told you'?"

  "He's gone... Fifth Master has always lived in Qingci Hutong and never easily comes out."

  Zhu Yifei furrowed his brow and continued to think, but suddenly became enraged after a while, muttering to himself: "He's been busy for so long, taking such great risks, all for the sake of Zhu Yixun?"

  The guard lowered his head and shrunk his neck, not daring to make a sound.

  "Has he never seen the third daughter of the Chu family?" Zhu Yuxu asked, and upon seeing the guard shrink back, added with a scowl after refocusing on him.

  "Not...haven't seen..."

  "Has San Guniang been staying in the mansion and hasn't come out?"

  "Been out, went to live in another house for a few days... After Xue E came, immediately went to live in another house."

  "Is that all?"

  "It's gone."

  Zhu Yingtuo didn't think this time and immediately said "If you dare to lose him again, then forget it"

  "It's small, it's gone." The guard said in a low voice, quickly turned around and went out the door, not even daring to open the door, directly climbing over the wall.

  "Outside the door came a soft cry: 'Third Master?'"

  Zhu Yingtai rode her horse into the temple

  A man with a humble appearance and wearing shabby clothes walked in.

  Zhu Yingtuo saw the person come in and immediately asked if something had happened to the Chu family again?

  That person hastily stood up with his hands hanging down, respectfully replied to Third Master, and there was no more trouble. As soon as you left, the old master called Second Master to discuss, I heard a word or two, meaning that they would drag on the matter of combining eight characters first, and Second Master went to investigate those things. On Second Master's side... it seems that because of Fourth Miss's affair, he is somewhat dissatisfied with Third Master you, but the old master's tone is still protective of you, as for Old Madam's side, she has been inquiring about Xue E's matter.

  "Has Xue E left?"

  "He stormed off, and with one angry outburst, he chased him away."

  "Is it really because of those two actors?"

  The servant bowed his head and replied, "It's true. I also found out that the servant who delivered the message to Master was bribed with 50 taels of silver by a maid from Third Miss's side."

  Zhu Yingtai suddenly burst out laughing "This little girl... is really clever." He furrowed his brow again "Did the third young lady meet with Master Wu after all?"

  The servant hesitated for a moment and said: "Third Miss is moving into the other courtyard, those two days... I was in the upper house, can't follow her..."

  "Those two people were found by Wu Ye, you know? They must have met."

  "...then it must have been when I saw him in another courtyard..."

  Zhu Yingtuo nodded and said, "Think carefully, if there's anything urgent, report back quickly."

  "Yes." The servant also turned and left.

  Inside the house, Zhu Yuxu was muttering to himself. "Is it really just for Zhu Yuchen? Is it really just a matter of giving in? What are these three people up to?" He lightly tapped on the table. "It would be great if the two of them could become sworn enemies because of her. Unfortunately... Old Five, you gave up too easily."

  ……

  The next day, Chu Lao Ye Zi and Chu Nan Cai followed the plan without revealing anything. Liu Mao Xi discussed what to do next, and then Chu Nan Cai took out Chu Ke Qi's eight characters and said that the two families should first combine their eight characters, which was also necessary. The side concubine hurriedly took out Zhu Yi Zhen's eight characters, and this settled the matter for now. Everything would have to wait until the combined eight characters were revealed before proceeding.

  Liu Maoxi and Ce Fei, Zhu Yizhen bid farewell.

  Zhu Yicheng still didn't realize that things had changed and cheerfully went to bid farewell to Chu Keqi.

  With the old master's consent, Zhu Yucheng did not dare to be presumptuous and was also afraid of leaving a bad impression on the people of Chu Mansion, so he went in a dignified manner, bid farewell in a dignified manner, and left with joy.

  As soon as they left, the people in the mansion immediately became busy.

  The old lady immediately found the old man and told him about the results of her investigation last night, concluding that Chegui's family was killed by mistake, which led to their resentment. The whole thing was not known in advance, but they were used by Chegui's family.

  She just said that the old man had nothing to say, after listening to the old lady's complaints for half a day, the old man only said one sentence "From now on, daughters' marriages are not allowed to be interfered with"

  The old lady was reluctant in her heart, but she didn't dare to disobey. For the time being, she could only endure it temporarily. As for the marriage between Sanpao and Xue E that she had hoped for, she naturally didn't dare mention it again.

  However, after a while, the old lady's prestige was greatly affected by this matter, and many lower-ranking people no longer showed respect. Sometimes when she spoke, her words were ignored as if they were just rumors, and there was nothing she could do about it. This is another story, let's just say that for now.

  On the second day, Zhu Yichan left and asked his mother and uncle to go first. He went to Qingci Hutong to find Zhu Yihuan and told him that everything was going smoothly, and the old man had already agreed to the marriage.

  Zhu Yuhuan let out a big sigh of relief, and immediately patted his shoulder to tell him to prepare well. Zhu Yuchen was also very happy and happily agreed to leave. On this side, Zhu Yuhuan tidied up, hired a horse-drawn carriage, and quietly left the city to return to Chengde.

  Chu Nancai immediately went to investigate the things that Zhu Yuetuo said, and upon investigation, both things were indeed true. Chu Nancai reported back to the old master, and both of them were so angry that they couldn't help but think of a way to sabotage the marriage by manipulating the eight characters (of the couple's birth dates).

  Zhu Yichen was not at all, still excitedly waiting at home.

  Chu Xue embroidered her wedding dress in a hurry.

  Zhu Yuhuan also didn't, sat in the carriage and left Beijing City, half a day's effort, just returned to his home in Chengde, had just arrived, when he heard the maid in the courtyard report that Third Master is looking for you.

  Zhu Yuhuan also sneaked out, perhaps he could deceive the king of the county, but he definitely couldn't deceive Zhu Yuhao. He didn't panic and changed into another set of clothes before coming to Zhu Yuhao's side.

  Zhu Yifei seemed to have just bathed, his hair still had some moisture, tied into a bun, with a white jade pin inserted, and smiled when he saw him come in, calling out "Yifei?"

  Zhu Yuhuan nodded straightforwardly and said, "Alright."

  "Have you gone to the front yard? Who came?" Zhu Yuxu smiled brightly.

  Zhu Yuhuan saw his smile and became vigilant in his heart. On the surface, he was still smiling and asked, "Who came?"

  "The Lan family's people, Lan Zixun's older brother, came to our mansion to propose a marriage for her. What an auspicious thing! The girl's family took the initiative to come and propose, and Lan Zixun is still the number one beauty of our Great Ming..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Zhu Yuhuan had already turned around and ran away in a panic. "Impossible!"

  Zhu Yuhuan's reaction was so big that Zhu Yuhao didn't expect it, and he was stunned for a moment. This time, he really didn't understand, and after a long while, he muttered to himself, "Who does he like?"

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