Chapter 15: Shot While Sitting

  By dusk, Hua Buqu had gone out to attend to some matters, and Gu San was having dinner in the Qingluo Courtyard of Hua Rong's. At this time, Hua Rong had already recovered from the snake venom and could sit up with much more spirit. After eating a few mouthfuls of clear porridge, she suddenly flipped over the bowl and dishes, gritted her teeth and said: "Mother, I was bitten by a snake in that little girl's house, why didn't you not only not punish her but also let her take over those profitable shops? What were you thinking?"

  "Do you think I don't want to discipline her?" Mrs. Gu knew that this daughter of hers was hot-headed and didn't blame her for being unreasonable, gesturing to the servants to clean up the mess on the floor. "Today's incident almost led to a big disaster because of her. Now your seventh sister has become very bold and has a big appetite, not only did she remove the spy I placed in her room, but also nearly caused trouble for the people in the kitchen. If we don't give her some sweet treats, today's incident will only get bigger and more out of hand."

  Mrs. Zhou handed her a cup of hot tea, "Recently, Seventh Miss has been getting more and more daring, using all sorts of despicable tactics. Who knows if today's snake bite on Eighth Miss is also one of her masterpieces? Although we can't figure out how she did it. Fortunately, the mistress was prepared in advance, does she think she can force the mistress to really hand over those profitable shops? Doesn't Seventh Miss underestimate the mistress too much?"

  After she finished speaking, she and Mr. Gu exchanged a sly smile.

  At this time, Yatou reported that Hua Zheyu was coming over. Gu Shi hastily instructed Hua Rufeng to pretend to be asleep. After Hua Zheyu came in and paid her respects, Gu Shi slightly raised her eyelids and said: "Since Shigong has spoken, these shops that the Empress Dowager awarded to your sister will now all be handed over to you. If you can manage these shops well and have some free time, I will also personally teach you how to manage the household chores in the mansion. In the future, when you go to Beiming, you won't be laughed at for being inexperienced and losing face for our Daze and Guo Gongfu."

  Hua Zhe Yu lowered her head and said with a humble expression: "Thank you, Mother, for your cultivation."

  "Gu nodded and then instructed Zhou's mother: 'Pass this on later, tomorrow morning have Zhao the manager personally take Seventh Miss to Wanyuan Rice Shop on Xinyang Street. Have Manager Zhong call over the other two shop managers and make sure they thoroughly explain all the accounts to Seventh Miss, without leaving out a single detail. From now on, let them all only listen to Seventh Miss's arrangements. Did you hear that clearly?'"

  "Understood, I will certainly follow milady's instructions and deal with Steward Zhao accordingly," replied Mother Zhou.

  Mr. Gu put on a truly powerful look, but Hua Yu didn't know the actual situation on the surface after all, so he temporarily pressed down his doubts in his heart and responded to the matter of checking the account tomorrow, waiting to see the shop before making plans.

  One night without words, the next morning, waiting for the flower to get up with the rain, Pinyin and Qin'er hurriedly served her to comb and wash, after everything was ready, they arrived at the front yard, where Zhao Guan Shi had already prepared a carriage and was waiting there.

  Zhao the steward was a man of about forty years old, with a dignified appearance and neat attire. His demeanor was that of a high-ranking servant from a wealthy family, capable of intimidating many people outside. With an expression neither arrogant nor humble, he led the way to the green oilcloth sedan chair, saying respectfully: "It will take about half an hour to reach the Wan Yuan rice shop. After meeting with the three owners and returning, it will probably take most of the day. Is Seventh Miss prepared?"

  Hua Zhe Yu said after getting on the horse-drawn carriage: "It doesn't matter, everything will go smoothly."

  Zhaoguan Shi responded and left, Shao Yao put down the curtain and looked at the flowers in the rain again. She was somewhat dissatisfied and said: "Miss is going to see several shopkeepers today. Not to mention Zhaoguan Shi's humble carriage, even Miss's simple dress can't suppress those few shopkeepers. Without the grandeur of a wealthy young lady, I'm afraid Miss will be looked down upon by those few shopkeepers."

  "Smiling at her in the rain, 'Everyone's Miss has an air about her that doesn't just come from clothes, but also this.'"

  She pointed at her own face, meaning that as long as she had the aura, she could accurately grasp the other person's weakness and wasn't afraid of them not lowering their head.

  Peony Medicine was wrong, staring at her face with a belly full of complaints. "Still talking about faces, Miss doesn't even have decent rouge and powder, her face is white but not rosy. Later when we arrive at the cosmetics shop, I'll definitely ask the carriage to stop and buy some high-quality rouge for her to apply and show off her good complexion."

  Hua Zhe Yu smiled and shook her head. This girl was too straightforward, but it wasn't easy to blame her either, after all she had good intentions.

  The horse carriage moved forward, and before long, they arrived at the bustling city streets, where crowds of people and various vendors' calls filled every corner. Hua Yu couldn't help but want to lift up a corner of the curtain to take a peek outside, but Xiang Yu beat her to it, her eyes fixed intently on the shops outside until she saw a cosmetics store, at which point she called out for the carriage to stop, "Miss, wait for me for a moment, I'll be right back."

  She got off the carriage before the flowers had finished speaking in the rain.

  As the rain poured down, she saw her enter the shop, waiting to rest her eyes, when suddenly a fierce fighting sound and cries for help came from outside. Unable to bear the curiosity in her heart, she lifted the curtain of the carriage and peeked out, only to see that on the second floor of a large wine house across the street, tables and chairs were constantly flying out, the wooden window was kicked to pieces by someone, and a stout figure wearing gorgeous clothes rolled out.

  Right behind a black-robed masked man flew to the side of the rolling figure, with a flash of snow light in his hand, and was about to stab into the fat man's chest. Suddenly, three or four people who looked like house slaves rushed out from behind and attacked the black-robed man. The black-robed man retreated, kicked sideways, swung his knife, and twisted his neck. Amidst the cracking sounds, someone's neck bone was broken!

  The man in black moved swiftly like a peak, with a fierce killing intent, and pounced on the fat man again. The housekeeper used his body to block him once more.

  The fatty waved his hands wildly, rolling and crawling around, with a big handful of tears and snot, shouting for help in all directions, "Save me... save me..."

  Suddenly, a loud cry, shouting, terror, almost tore down the second floor across!

  "Oh no! Someone is going to kill Taifu's grandson Chen Dagongzi, quickly report to the officials and save him..."

  It was unclear who finally let out a complete sentence, but suddenly there was chaos on the street and pedestrians scrambled to get away.

  Even though they were a distance away, the flower-like rain seemed to be able to sense the murderous aura's eruption, and she shrank her body in an attempt to get the carriage to leave quickly. However, she suddenly felt the air rapidly surging, and before she could even react, she felt an extremely powerful force smashing through the carriage wall. A huge object rolled in along with it, and due to the immense force, the carriage instantly flipped over!

  Hua Zhe reacted quickly and grabbed the broken car wall with one hand, pulling her feet back to kick against the opposite wall of the carriage, narrowly avoiding falling onto that massive object.

  However, her evasion did not stop the killing intent from continuing. The black-robed figure flew in through the broken hole, and with a fierce kick of both legs, landed on the giant's waist. The giant's body arched violently, letting out a miserable cry like a slaughtered pig, echoing throughout the sky.

  What you fear most will come upon you.

  The rain was pouring down, and she had not expected that the opportunity to kill would suddenly appear before her eyes.

  She embroidered the sole of her shoe and wanted to rush out to escape from the murder scene. Unfortunately, the nearly suffocated object was suddenly energized like a stimulant, and in an instant, it grasped her waistband with one hand, and with its left palm, it pulled down the mask of the mysterious man in black.