Chapter 272 Tactful

Words : 1459 Updated : Sep 29th, 2025

Not far from the painting stall was a tavern.On the second floor, the window was open. A man stood there staring at the painting stall. The Heir of Duke Chong walked over and said, "You’ve been standing by the window for half a day, could he be Zhao Xu, the son of the Right Minister of Nanliang?" "Probably not," the man replied. "Are you sure?" asked the Heir of Duke Chong. The man looked at the painting stall and said, "Zhao Xu is gentle and elegant, renowned in Nanliang, the foremost young master of the illustrious families there. He would never lower himself to sell paintings on the street like this." "Prime Minister Zhao is shrewd and cunning as a fox; Young Master Zhao is known as ’Little Prime Minister Zhao’ in our Nanliang. How could he fall to such a state?" said the man. The Heir of Duke Chong thought about himself. If he were to fall to Nanliang, he would never resort to selling paintings on the street either. "What is his purpose in coming to our Daqi Capital City?" asked the Heir of Duke Chong. "It’s unclear," the man replied. "The only certainty is that it isn’t anything urgent. Prime Minister Zhao would never let him take such a risk otherwise." The Heir of Duke Chong glanced a few more times and said, "I find him quite suspicious." "Get a couple of people to go and wreck that painting stall for me," ordered the Heir of Duke Chong. At the painting stall. Zhou Yan was grinding ink, preparing to paint. As soon as the ink was ready, several burly men approached. They looked fierce and intimidating. "Collecting protection fee!" one of the men boomed, his voice like a drum. Zhou Yan, "...." The guard, "...." Penniless, coming out to sell paintings to earn money. Yet, before making any money, they encounter a demand for protection fee. Even if they wanted to pay the protection fee, they had no money to pay. Zhao Xu said, "Can I use a painting to offset the protection fee?" The leader of the gangsters looked at the painting and said, "With such unsellable junk, you have the nerve to use it as a protection fee?!" "Take off the mask!" shouted the gangster. The guard couldn’t hold back. Zhou Yan gave him a look, signaling him not to act impulsively. He took off the mask on his face, revealing bruises on his face and the corner of his eye, clearly as if he’d been beaten up. Earlier that morning, Zhou Yan had entered the training ground and was thrown onto the competition stage by Prince NanAn. The result was obvious— He was bruised and battered. After the gangster saw it, Zhou Yan put his mask back on. The gangster continued to press for the protection fee, but Zhao Xu couldn’t pay, so they started to smash the stall. The servant came looking for the Jianghu doctor and, witnessing this scene, frowned slightly. Young Master Zhou’s martial skills weren’t weak; how could he let a few gangsters and ruffians smash his painting stall? He walked over and shouted, "Stop it!" Remarkably, the gangsters stopped. They turned around and looked at the servant, asking, "Yo! Who’s this fearless one wanting to meddle?" "Didn’t your master tell you to mind your own business when going out?" the gangster said. The servant smiled and said, "Our Marquis truly never advised me like that." "Marquis?" The gangster’s momentum instantly diminished. "From which mansion are you?" he asked. "Dongxiang Marquis Mansion." The gangsters, "...." Their momentum vanished, leaving only cowardice. "We were blind not to recognize you, offended you," the gangster apologized. "From now on, this street belongs to my Dongxiang Marquis Mansion!" the servant said coldly. "Now get lost!" "Yes, yes, we’ll leave immediately...." The gangsters quickly ran off. Zhou Yan looked at the aura of the servant, realizing it was not something a mere bandit servant would have. The servant glanced at Zhou Yan, hearing the Jianghu doctor shouting about selling medicine, and hurried to catch up. In the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion, inside the room. Mrs. Tang sat at the embroidery frame doing needlework. The double-sided embroidered crabapple screen was incomparably beautiful. Su Jin sat next to her, watching intently. Little Black circled around Xingxing. Su Jin asked, "Mother, why haven’t I seen Yangyang?" Little Black always ran after Young Master Su. As soon as she got back, she asked if she had sugar figurines. It’s been half a day without seeing him, which is unusual. Mrs. Tang smiled and said, "Yangyang caught a homing pigeon, clamoring that he’s made a contribution and wants to go out to play. Today, since your father has a day off, he took him out." Xingxing looked sympathetic. The young master least liked going out on the town with the Marquis. Every time he went out happily, he always came back disappointed. There had never been an exception. In the words of the young master, when the Marquis took him out, it was like taking him out to walk a dog. "Keep close to me, if you run wild, I’ll make soup out of you." ——Young Master Su training the dog. "Stay close to me. If you run off, you’ll be punished to stand on horseback stance when back." ——Marquis reprimanding Young Master Su So the phrase ’son of a dog’ always made Young Master Su’s hackles rise. On the street. Marquis Dongxiang took Su Yang out for a stroll. Su Yang looked unhappy. He’s grown enough to roam the streets himself and buy things. Why is there always a worry about him? Marquis Dongxiang looked at his son and said, "Help your father choose a gift." Young Master Su rolled his eyes. Sister got married. No one was there to help father choose gifts for mother, so they bossed him around. If mother didn’t like the gift, they would blame him. His father’s little schemes, how could he, as the son, not know? Poor him and his elder brother, waiting for their father to give them gifts, from the beginning of the year to the end, for nothing. Young Master Su had major grievances. Marquis Dongxiang walked towards the sugar figurine vendor. Young Master Su succumbed to the sugar figurines. Sucking on a sugar figurine, Young Master Su maturely said, "What gift should I help father choose?" "Things liked by kids about your age, choose more of them," the Marquis said. Young Master Su perked up. Was his father implicitly rewarding him? Young Master Su was overjoyed, nodding eagerly. "I forgot to mention, it’s for a girl," the Marquis added. Young Master Su, "...!!!" In the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion, at the pavilion. Xie Jingchen and others were chatting over tea. The servant brought the Jianghu doctor over and said, "Young Master, the Jianghu doctor is here." The Jianghu doctor’s face was ashen, and he trembled involuntarily. Su Chong looked over. The Jianghu doctor weakened at the knees and knelt down directly. Su Chong, "...." He hadn’t even said anything yet, and the doctor was already so frightened. The Jianghu doctor knew Su Chong was a bandit but never expected him to be the Young Master of the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion. The ferocity of the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion was known all over the Capital City. If he could have run, the Jianghu doctor would have already fled far away. Even though he hadn’t done anything excessive. "Stand up and speak," Su Chong said. The Jianghu doctor stood up and wiped his sweat, asking, "You summoned me, is there anything you need?" Su Chong looked at him. "Let me ask you, the eight types of pills I bought last time, what were they?" Su Chong asked. "...." "Don’t remember," the Jianghu doctor said. Su Chong, "...." Xie Jingchen, "...." Su Chong looked at Xie Jingchen. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, even the Jianghu doctor didn’t remember, let alone him. Xie Jingchen was stuck. Being punished to kneel overnight by Princess Nanzhang, exhausted and fainting, then receiving ten thousand taels of silver notes, in the end telling them he didn’t know what medicine they bought, would probably drive them mad. Xie Jingchen asked, "What pills do you usually sell?" The Jianghu doctor hurriedly said, "There are only twelve types of pills." "They are aphrodisiac pills, Ten-Complete Great Replenishing Pill, laxative pills, sleeping pills, abortion prevention medicine, abortion pills...." The Jianghu doctor rattled them off. Su Chong, comparing with the symptoms Xie Jingchen mentioned, eliminated them one by one. Finally, he twitched his lips and said, "So, it seems the third madam of the mansion either took abortion prevention medicine, abortion pills, or the Golden Spear Unyielding Pill." Cough cough! The Heir of Marquis Beining choked.

Chapter 272 Tactful

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