Chapter 164

Chapter 164

A trickle of cold sweat snaked down his temples. "I wouldn't dare, sir. This humble one truly doesn't know what the Marquis is referring to..."

Li Mu tapped Xue Wang’s forehead with his horsewhip. "Someone saw you detain the carriage and horses with their own eyes. Now you're telling me this person doesn't exist? Let me make this clear: if anything happens to him, this matter isn't over."

Upon hearing this, Xue Wang cursed inwardly. *Damn it, how did Wang's Vegetable Shop get entangled with the Marquis of Wuping again?*

If Xue Wang was a scoundrel capable of any evil, then Li Mu was a madman who acknowledged neither kin nor reason—a man who killed without batting an eye. On top of that, he held a third-grade marquis rank. Even if he accidentally beat Xue Wang to death or crippled him, he wouldn’t face severe punishment.

Not daring to argue further, Xue Wang quickly ordered his men to bring over the Chen family’s carriage and servant.

When Ershun was brought out, the blood on his face had already congealed. His face was bruised and swollen, and he kept pleading, "Have mercy, sir! I truly know nothing..."

They hadn't even unloaded the vegetables from the carriage yet, but that was the least of Li Mu’s concerns. Seeing Chen Ershun beaten to such a state, Li Mu wouldn’t let it slide.

"Why did you beat him?"

Xue Wang hemmed and hawed, unable to give a proper explanation. Li Mu raised his hand and delivered a resounding slap, sending Xue Wang tumbling to the ground.

"M-Marquis... my brother-in-law is Vice Prefect Zhao! Even if you have no regard for me, at least show some respect for him. Are you really going to fall out with us over some lowly servant?"

Li Mu kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backward. He had held back some of his strength; otherwise, the kick would have been fatal.

"Who deserves respect, and who are you? Even Vice Prefect Zhao wouldn't dare speak to me like that. What gives you the right?"

A coppery taste filled Xue Wang’s mouth. Bearing the pain, he knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. "Spare me, Marquis! I was wrong, I admit it!" He looked just as pitiful as Ershun had earlier.

Li Mu had no patience for further words. He helped Ershun onto the carriage, tied his own horse to the side, and drove the carriage back to the vegetable shop.

When the carriage stopped in front of the shop, Ershun limped out, his bloody face shocking Wang Ying. "Good heavens, what happened?"

Ershun sobbed, "They stopped our carriage, locked me up, and grilled me about where the vegetables came from. I said I didn’t know, so they took turns beating me..."

Wang Ying gasped. "Little Ma, Tian Ju, get Ershun to a doctor now!"

"Right away!" Tian Ju carried Ershun on his back to the nearby clinic.

Wang Ying knelt in gratitude. "Thank you, Marquis, for your timely assistance!"

Li Mu quickly helped him up. "Please, get up!"

*If not for the Marquis’s intervention today, it could have been a catastrophe. Not only would Ershun’s life have been at risk, but the secret of our experimental field might also have been exposed.*

A belated fear surged through Wang Ying, leaving his hands and feet icy and his strength drained.

Not wanting to talk outside, the three of them went inside, where Li Mu explained what had happened.

"The man who detained your servant is named Xue Wang. He’s Vice Prefect Zhao’s brother-in-law and a notorious troublemaker in the city. He probably had his eye on your business."

Lin Sui asked, "Will he cause trouble again in the future?"

"Don’t worry. I told him this shop is run by my relatives. He won’t dare bother you again."

Wang Ying expressed his gratitude once more. "I don’t know how to thank you."

Li Mu replied, "You’re Lin Sui’s sister-in-law, which makes you my relative too. From now on, we’re family—no need for such formalities."

Lin Sui’s cheeks turned pink. "Bring Qing Er over tomorrow. I’ve made some clothes for her to try on."

Li Mu nodded. "I should get going now. If anything comes up, just send someone to find me."

"We’re grateful for your trouble, Marquis."

After seeing the Marquis of Wuping off, Wang Ying slumped into a chair, only then realizing his back was soaked with cold sweat.

Selling vegetables in the city had gone smoothly last year, lulling him into complacency. He never expected someone had been eyeing his business all along. Thankfully, the Marquis of Wuping was there to help.

"Sui Er, mind the shop. I’m going to check on Ershun at the clinic."

"Alright." Lin Sui didn’t idle either. She unloaded the produce from the carriage and arranged them on the counter, to sell what they could to avoid waste.

When Wang Ying arrived at the clinic, the doctor was applying ointment to Ershun’s wounds, making him wince in pain.

"The external injuries aren’t serious. Apply this bruise medicine daily, and he’ll recover quickly. But the internal injuries need time to heal. I’ll write a prescription—take the medicine for a month and come back for a checkup."

Wang Ying paid for the medicine and escorted Ershun home. Given his injuries, he had to explain everything to Ershun’s wife. Moreover, Ershun had remained loyal throughout, never revealing the source of the vegetables, which deserved recognition.

Ershun and his wife lived in the front-facing room. His wife, now pregnant, rarely entered the kitchen and was sewing baby clothes indoors. Seeing her husband return covered in injuries, she rushed to his side in a panic.

Wang Ying quickly reassured her, "Don’t worry. He’s already been to the clinic. It’s nothing serious—just needs some rest to recover."

"How did this happen?"

Ershun said, "I’ll explain later. You should go attend to your work, sir."

"Rest well and recover. If anything feels off, let us know immediately. Don’t delay."

"Alright, don’t worry, sir."

Wang Ying left the room, the morning’s excitement about opening the shop completely gone. He felt listless and dispirited.

At noon, Chen Qingyan returned, unaware of the incident. Entering the bedroom, he found Wang Ying lying on the bed and asked in surprise, "You’re not at the shop?"

"Hmm..."

Seeing Wang Ying’s lethargic state, Chen Qingyan grew concerned and felt his forehead. "What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, it’s just... something happened this morning. It shook me up."

"What happened?"

Wang Ying recounted the beating Ershun endured, the seizure of the carriage and vegetables, and how the Marquis of Wuping had intervened. "Ershun was beaten badly, but he never once revealed where the vegetables came from..."

Chen Qingyan hugged him tightly, his heart aching. "It’s my fault. I should have gone to the shop with you today."

Wang Ying shook his head. "It wouldn’t have made a difference. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment act—Ershun said they’d been tailing Uncle Chen’s carriage since last year. They just hadn’t made a move until today."

"Should we report this to the authorities?"

Wang Ying held him back. "We can’t escalate this. That man is Vice Prefect Zhao’s brother-in-law. Reporting it won’t work in our favor, and if the experimental field gets dragged into it, things will become complicated."

Chen Qingyan frowned deeply. Though furious, he had to admit A Ying was right. He wasn’t yet powerful enough to confront such an opponent directly—doing so would only lead to mutual destruction.

Wang Ying sighed. "I’m worried about whether we should continue selling vegetables. If we stop, we’ll have no income, and feeding this large family will be a problem. But if we continue, they might cause trouble again."

Chen Qingyan felt even more guilty. All these years, he had done nothing but study, earning nothing and relying entirely on his husband to provide...

Wang Ying knew what he was thinking. Perhaps influenced by his past life, he never saw himself as a woman or a subordinate. Providing for the family was simply what he believed he should do.

*Aside from giving birth to a child, he was pretty much the same as a man, not to mention that in ancient times, women and men also went out to do business and support their families.*

"Don’t worry about it. We’ll close the shop for a couple of days and reopen when things settle down."

Chen Qingyan held his hand, his voice choking up, and said, "Give me two more years. Once I finish the Metropolitan Examination..."

"Yeah, you are the future pillar of our family. Don’t let these trivial matters weigh on your mind. Strive to rank among the top candidates in the Metropolitan Examination!"

*

Xue Wang suffered three broken ribs from a kick by the Marquis of Wuping and was taken to the town clinic for treatment.

That evening, his sister received the news at home and hurriedly dragged Vice Prefect Zhao to visit her brother overnight.

Returning to her family home and seeing her brother moaning in pain on the bed, Madame Zhao burst into tears, exclaiming, "This Marquis of Wuping is way out of line! My brother didn’t even provoke him. Why did he resort to such brutality?"

Old Lady Xue also tugged at Vice Prefect Zhao’s sleeve, saying, "Son-in-law, you’ve got to make this right for your brother-in-law! He was kicked so hard that three ribs broke—he’s lucky to be alive."

Vice Prefect Zhao comforted the elderly woman, saying, "Mother, don’t worry. I won’t let my brother suffer injustice. You all go back and rest first. I’ll talk with him here."

After the others left the room, Xue Wang tearfully complained to his brother-in-law, "He clearly knows you’re my brother-in-law but showed no respect at all. He slapped me and kicked me damn near to death... Oh, it hurts so much..."

Vice Prefect Zhao closed the door, his expression turning stern. "Cut the whining. What exactly did you do?"

"Nothing, nothing much. Last year, didn’t you mention wanting to find out where Wang's Vegetable Shop gets its fresh vegetables? Coincidentally, I came across their vegetable cart during my patrol this morning, so I had the cart, horses, and people detained."

"Fool! I only mentioned it in passing. How dare you detain their cart?"

"He’s just a small-time scholar. Are you afraid of him, brother-in-law?"

Vice Prefect Zhao was so angry he wanted to hit him. "Have you forgotten that their daughter just married into the Liu family? Liu Minzhi’s elder brother is a second-rank official in the court, the emperor’s favorite! If we provoke them, they could crush us like ants!"

Only then did Xue Wang grow frightened. "Then... what should we do?"

Vice Prefect Zhao paced back and forth in the room, hands behind his back, before stopping abruptly. "Wait, how did the Marquis of Wuping find out about this? What’s his relationship with the Chen family? Why did he step in to help?"

"I don’t know either... Oh, right! He said the vegetable shop belongs to his relatives and told me not to meddle with it anymore..."

Vice Prefect Zhao felt his heart drop. *Since when did the Chen family manage to gain the favor of someone as powerful as the Marquis of Wuping?*

"Why on earth did you provoke that loose cannon? The Liu family, being a family of scholars, at least values reason. But Li Mu is a madman who doesn’t even acknowledge his own father. If we offend him, even I might suffer alongside you!"

Xue Wang was thoroughly terrified. Having grown accustomed to throwing his weight around in the city thanks to his brother-in-law’s status, he never imagined he would offend someone even his brother-in-law couldn’t afford to cross.

"Brother-in-law, you have to save me!"

"Tomorrow, bring some money and come with me to the Chen family to apologize. If they don’t pursue the matter, there might still be a way to smooth this over."

"But my injuries haven’t healed yet..."

Vice Prefect Zhao snapped. "As long as you’re not dead, come with me. Don’t drag the whole family down with you!"