Xiao Xian Lou? Several people felt surprised.
Most people did not know what the proprietress of Xiao Xian Lou was called, but Xiao Xian Lou was still considered a world-famous place.
Ultimately, it was because of the calligraphy by this Tanhua Lang before them, which had made Xiao Xian Lou famous in one stroke.
“Alright.” Sun Ping quickly agreed, took the letter and left.
The others all wanted to see what was written in the letter. Contact between men and women always easily made people think too much, but unfortunately it was not proper to privately read another person’s correspondence.
Especially Tie Miaoqing, whose expression held a few traces of peculiarity. The proprietress of Xiao Xian Lou had the calligraphy “The World is Good,” and she had it too.
Sun Ping, who had gone out the door, still could not resist looking at the letter’s contents, because it was too easy to see. It was just one sheet of paper, and Yu Qing had made no attempt to conceal it.
“Proprietress: It has been nearly three years since we parted in the capital. I wonder how you have been lately? Your younger brother has newly opened a shop at You Jiao Bu, named ‘Miao Qing Tang.’ I specially invite the proprietress to come and lend your presence. I hope you will do me the honour. Please convey my greetings to Brother Lin Chengdao.”
The entire letter was just these few short sentences. The signature was: “Still Remembering the World is Good.”
Nothing particularly special could be seen from it.
Sun Ping muttered inwardly. No wonder he dared to hand it over so casually.
The next day, the one person the entire Miao Qing Tang did not want to see appeared. Sun Ping, who was greeting guests at the door, froze.
Long Xingyun and Cui You appeared outside the door. The former was leisurely fanning himself with a folding fan.
Cui You smiled. “Shopkeeper Sun, what is this? You do not want to earn money, turning away customers?”
Sun Ping spoke in a deep voice. “What have you come here for? Want to cause trouble?”
Cui You chuckled. “That is not right. This is You Jiao Bu. Who would dare cause trouble under You Ya’s nose?”
Inside, Tie Miaoqing quickly came over to take a look. Her heart jumped, and she immediately turned back to go inside to inform Yu Qing.
Shortly after, she hurriedly returned and said to Sun Ping, who was dealing with the situation at the door, “Let them in.”
Only then did Sun Ping let them enter.
Long and Cui swaggered in. They saw Tie Miaoqing behind the counter. The two did observe the rules. Clearly they had done their research before coming. Cui You took out five hundred thousand taels of silver notes and handed them over.
Tie Miaoqing also conducted business as usual, taking the money and writing a receipt for them.
Long Xingyun, fanning his folding fan, observed Tie Miaoqing for a moment and could not help but snort. “Tie Miaoqing, have we met once or twice? You do not want to be a noble lady, yet you insist on being a counter for collecting money. Truly ridiculous.”
Tie Miaoqing said nothing. After giving the receipt, she extended her hand to invite the two to follow her inside.
Yu Qing, who had not been showing his face to greet guests, had now shown his face. Seeing the two arrive, he immediately smiled and cupped his hands in greeting. “Rare guests, honoured guests. Brother Long, long time no see.”
The result was a warm face pressed against a cold backside. Long Xingyun and the other merely glanced at him, then their gazes fell upon two customers.
Indeed, a middle-aged man and woman. Clearly they had come to buy immortal peaches, and were currently holding up the peaches, pointing and laughing while chatting about something.
Not to mention Long Xingyun and the others being puzzled, even Yu Qing himself found it strange. This morning there were actually still guests coming. This couple was already the second batch of guests.
Long Xingyun walked over fanning his fan, and asked lightly, “You two are also here to buy immortal peaches?”
The man and woman turned back and sized him up from head to toe. The man gave an “Mm.”
Long Xingyun continued, “Have you two not heard any rumours? Are you not afraid of causing trouble?”
The man retorted, “Aren’t you also here to buy things?”
The meaning was very simple. If you are not afraid, what have I to fear.
Long Xingyun snapped his fan shut. “Unfortunately, the master of Chi Lan Ge is precisely my mother.”
The man gave an “Oh,” seeming to understand the other’s meaning. “Are you threatening me?”
The fact that he could say this meant he had heard the relevant rumours.
Long Xingyun chuckled. “You overstate it. It is merely a friendly reminder.”
He did not have that much courage to openly admit he was threatening customers conducting normal business at You Jiao Bu. No matter how great his grievance, he had to wait until they left You Jiao Bu to act. Otherwise, Qin Jue would not have been unable to do anything to Tie Miaoqing for so many years.
That man remained calm. “I have met your mother. She spoke quite normally. I did not expect her to have given birth to such an odd, yin-yang son.”
Cui You had wanted to help out, but upon hearing these words, he froze, and his arrogance instantly subsided.
Long Xingyun was also slightly stunned, and his tone became somewhat more polite. “May I ask where you come from?”
The woman at his side glanced at him, as if to say, where we come from is none of your business.
She turned back to the one-eyed person who was kneeling and serving the guests and said, “Buy one more to play with!”
Not only did she want to buy, but she wanted to buy one more to play with. They had money and were happy to do so. What was wrong with throwing away another five hundred thousand taels of silver to play with?
It clearly showed she could not be bothered with nonsense, directly slapping Long Xingyun in the face.
Long Xingyun was put in an awkward spot, his face shifting between dark and light. Yet he dared not say anything. Firstly, the other party clearly was not afraid of Chi Lan Ge. Secondly, this was You Jiao Bu, and he dared not act wantonly in public.
That couple said they would buy one more, and truly did buy one more right under Long Xingyun’s nose and left, leaving Long Xingyun completely helpless.
Yu Qing could not resist stroking his little beard. He roughly understood what was going on with the two batches of guests who could still come to his door today. Either they truly did not know the news, or they simply did not care and were not afraid of Chi Lan Ge and Ji Lu Shan.
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie had also appeared. After discovering Long Xingyun had come, the two immediately came over and stood guard behind Yu Qing to his left and right, their expressions clearly vigilant.
Once that couple disappeared, Long Xingyun immediately turned his head to Cui You and said, “Go investigate what background they have.”
“Yes.” Cui You also immediately left.
Turning back, Long Xingyun finally confronted Yu Qing. He sneered on the spot. “Tanhua Lang, I heard you have earned quite a bit of money.”
Yu Qing cupped his hands. “Small money, small money. If Brother Long is interested, we might as well become partners. I do not need to sell that batch of immortal peach trees. We can find a place to plant them. Brother Long just needs to provide the land…”
He wanted to turn hostility into friendship, and truly wanted to yield profit. However, Long Xingyun did not even have the patience to listen, interrupting in one breath. “Stop trying this with me. These useless tricks of yours might work to swindle and deceive others, but you actually dare to try them on me. I think you truly are tired of living.”
Yu Qing frowned. “Brother Long, there is actually no hatred between us. Why must you make things difficult for me?”
“No hatred?” Long Xingyun snapped his fan open with a swish and fanned it. “Was my eldest brother not killed by you?”
Yu Qing spread his hands. “Does Brother Long not know? Qin Jue was killed by Yun Xi. It has nothing to do with us. If you do not believe me, you can ask Qian Liu Shan. Brother Long, it is all a misunderstanding.”
Long Xingyun sneered. “Misunderstanding? Fine. If it is truly a misunderstanding, if you truly have the heart to resolve it, then hand over that woman, Tie Miaoqing. As long as you revoke her status at You Jiao Bu and send her out of You Jiao Bu, I will consider that you truly have the sincerity to resolve the misunderstanding.”
The moment these words were spoken, Tie Miaoqing, who was listening from behind the entrance wall, immediately felt her heart in her throat.
Yu Qing fell silent. Slowly, he looked left and right, observing the reactions of Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie. In the end, he still earnestly advised, “Brother Long, the misunderstanding between us, why must you make things difficult for a woman? It truly is not necessary. Let us still discuss the matter at hand.”
Long Xingyun’s face was immediately filled with anger. “You sleep with my eldest brother’s woman, tell me it is a misunderstanding, and fucking say you want to discuss the matter at hand. Do you take me for a fool?”
Yu Qing hurriedly waved his hands. “It is absolutely a misunderstanding. Between Tie Miaoqing and me, it is not what you think. Absolutely nothing happened of the sort you are imagining.”
Long Xingyun said angrily, “That woman was supposed to marry my eldest brother. Her father also personally promised it. Marriage is a great matter, decided by parents’ command. It is heaven’s principle and earth’s righteousness! Yet she was abducted by another man. If this woman is not brought back, never mind my eldest brother, where would the face of us brothers be put?”
This matter even left Yu Qing somewhat speechless. It was entirely a case of each side saying their own side was right. Tie Miaoqing also had her own reasons. It could not be sorted out clearly.
But he was clear about one point. Saying Tie Miaoqing was a femme fatale was truly not wrong. She really had brought them great trouble, and even invited a fatal disaster.
“My second brother and I fully supported eldest brother in opening Jian Yuan Zhai here, precisely to let eldest brother wash away his shame. What business is it of yours, A Shiheng? You do not go and be your official, but run to the cultivation world to meddle blindly? Do you dare say the banning of Jian Yuan Zhai was not your doing at Jian Yuan Shan? Do you dare say you did not secretly strike at my eldest brother at Jian Yuan Shan?
Why do this? Was it not for that slut? My eldest brother had just died at Xiao Yun Jian, and you immediately took over his woman afterwards. You say you did not harm my eldest brother at Xiao Yun Jian. Who would believe it? You actually still have the fucking face to talk cooperation with me. Do you truly take me for a fool, or what? If you truly have sincerity, hand over that woman first!”
Yu Qing very much wanted to tell him that the strike against Qin Jue at Jian Yuan Shan was because Qin Jue had first struck from the shadows and robbed his money.
However, there was no way to explain it. To explain it would be to personally admit that he had indeed plotted to kill his eldest brother.
Tie Miaoqing, hiding behind the wall, secretly bit her lip. Long Xingyun’s words confirmed for her what Sun Ping’s guess had been. It turned out the banning of Jian Yuan Zhai and Qin Jue’s death were truly A Shiheng helping her.
Why do this?
Did she even need to guess? The content on the calligraphy had already surfaced in her mind.
Nan Zhu suddenly spoke. “What if we do not hand her over?”
Long Xingyun cast a cold sidelong glance. “Then wait and see.”
Mu Aotie spat out two words from his mouth. “We won’t!”
Yu Qing’s lips moved. This time, he ultimately did not make a sound.
Long Xingyun stared at him for a while. In the end, he left with a cold smile, flicking his sleeves. Seeing the peaches brought by the one-eyed person, he waved his hand and sent them flying. “Buy medicine with them!”
After the person disappeared, Nan Zhu scoffed. “Truly rich. Five hundred thousand taels just to come over and throw a tantrum.”
Yu Qing turned back and gave him a cold look. Nan Zhu immediately put on an embarrassed face, touching his nose and saying nothing. He knew his words had made the conflict even harder to resolve.
The next day, on the street outside Miao Qing Tang, a group of several people walked over.
The two leading them were a woman in a white long skirt walking gracefully, her every movement quite refined and polite, and another woman in a yellow gauze outer garment, her steps brisk and lively. But both wore veiled bamboo hats, making it impossible to see their faces.
Behind the two, six people followed, observing their surroundings the entire way. Clearly they were guards.
As the group approached Miao Qing Tang, the woman in yellow pointed at Miao Qing Tang’s signboard. The woman in white clearly showed some aversion, wanting to walk on the other side. But the woman in yellow grabbed her wrist and dragged her toward it.
Sun Ping, guarding the door, saw guests arriving and immediately showed courtesy.
The woman in yellow looked up at the signboard and directly asked Sun Ping, “The characters on this signboard, they were not written by A Shiheng, were they?”