Chapter 191 : Wicked Trick (10)

After the incident, Han Jianming had never come forward. He just waited for Han Jianye to come over to him. After Yuxi’s reminder last time, Han Jianming realised that he had been too overprotective of his didi, so he let Han Jianye sort out many things independently. Even if things had been messed up by Han Jianye himself, he still would not step in.

Hearing that Han Jianye had gone back to his courtyard, Han Jianming instructed his attendant, “If the Second Master comes over, have him wait for me in the study.” After saying this, Han Jianming went back to Songxiang Courtyard.

When Han Jianming arrived at Songxiang Courtyard, Ye Shi was playing with the child in her arms. The child did not have a name until now, but only a nickname, Qiqi. It wasn’t that Han Jianming didn’t care about his eldest daughter, but the child was still too young, and he was going to wait until she was one year old before giving her a name.

When Ye Shi saw Han Jianming coming, she smiled, “Master is back.” Then waving the hand of the child in her arms, she said with a smile, “Qiqi, look, it’s your Father.”

As Han Jianming looked at his daughter, his expression softened a lot. However, he had come to see Ye Shi for something, not specifically to see the child. He gestured for Old Woman Hua to carry the child out, then looked at Ye Shi and asked, “During this time, have you not noticed anything unusual about Qiu Yanfu?” As the manager of the household, she should have known everything about the affairs of the residence. Of course, if it was his mother, there might still be omissions. But since it was Ye Shi, there was absolutely no question of negligence. Han Jianming’s question was the same as asking why she had stood by knowing that Qiu Yanfu was plotting against Han Jianye.

Ye Shi also frankly said, “At that time, I did think there was something wrong with Qiu Yanfu, but when I found out that her maid Xiaotong was one of Si Mei’s people, I didn’t investigate any further. Si Mei and Qiu Yanfu don’t get along, and since she had put someone by Qiu Yanfu’s side, what Qiu Yanfu wanted to do, Si Mei should have known.” This statement meant that Yuxi had known that Qiu Yanfu wanted to set up Han Jianye, but she did not stop it herself.

Looking at Han Jianming’s expressionless face, Ye Shi toughened her scalp to explain, “Master, at that time, there were too many things going on in the residence. I had to take care of the household and the child while also helping Mother arrange for Second Brother’s marriage. I was truly distracted. So when I saw that Si Mei had someone by Qiu Yanfu’s side, I left it at that. If I had known that such a thing would happen, I would have stopped it then.” Although she didn’t say it directly, her meaning was clear that the primary responsibility lay with Yuxi, and she was only responsible for negligence.

Ever since this incident happened, Han Jianming has been suspicious of Ye Shi. To confirm his doubts, he had Ah Zhao and several others interrogated. The result was obvious, Ye Shi did know something was wrong with Qiuy Yanfu, but she just abstained from acting. Han Jianming thought that Ye Shi’s inaction was intentional, and her purpose was to make Lu Xiu have a difficult life here. If this were the case, he would have to change his attitude towards Ye Shi. After all, Ye Shi would be the mistress of the Han family. If she was so short-sighted and narrow-minded, he had to prepare in advance. Han Jianming calmly inquired, “Are you sure Yuxi has her people around Qiu Yanfu?” If this matter was allowed by Yuxi, he must talk to her and see what that girl was thinking.

He believed both Ye Shi and Yuxi had a different stance in this matter. If Ye Shi just left this matter alone, Han Jianming would think she had bad intentions. Whereas if Yuxi let this happen, Han Jianming felt that she had ulterior motives. It was because he believed that Yuxi would never harm Han Jianye.

Ye Shi nodded and said, “Xiaotong was specially placed in Shuixiang Courtyard by Si Mei. Apart from Xiaotong, there are other two maids. But Xiaotong is the one who takes care of Qiu Yanfu personally and is also more trusted by her.” In fact, Qiu Yanfu trusted the two maids she had brought from Hebei the most, but having two maids was not enough. Hence she had to use the people assigned to her by the State Residence. Xiaotong was more honest in her work, and Qiu Yanfu had been observing her for half a year before she found her to be useful and brought her around.

Yuxi had long ago instructed Xiaotong that she did not need to deliver messages unless it was a significant matter. So it was not until this incident that Xiaotong was finally exposed.

When Han Jianming heard this, he nodded his head a little. He asked Ye Shi some more things before leaving Songxiang Courtyard.

Looking at Han Jianming’s back, Ye Shi let out a soft sigh. It was the first time she had lied to him. It was good that there was Yuxi in front of her to cover the pit, or else she could not settle this matter.

Before he could enter the study, his attendant Han Hao came out and informed him, “Master Shizi, the Second Master has come and is currently waiting for you inside.”

Han Jianming nodded for a moment and said towards Han Hao, “Go and invite the Fourth Miss over. Tell her I have something to seek her for, so she must come over.”

Han Hao responded, “I’ll be on my way.”

As he went into the study and noticed the lowered head of his didi, Han Jianming gently shook his head. When he was a child, he was so busy with his studies and making friends to broaden his contacts that he didn’t have much time to focus on his didi. When he wanted to pay attention to him, he found that his mother had developed Jianye into such a temperament. “It’s just a woman who has climbed into your bed, and you’re already looking like this. Just look at yourself.”

Han Jianye thought Han Jianming would scold him, but he didn’t expect Han Jianming to take the matter like it was just the clouds were pale, and a light breeze was blowing. “Dage, I just, Qiu Yanfu’s innocence was ruined by me after all……”

Han Jianming laughed. “According to you, in case you accidentally slept with any innocent brothel prostitute, you’ll have to nab her home too?” In Han Jianming’s mind, a woman from the brothel was slightly better than Qiu Yanfu. At least sleeping with a woman from there would only cost you money, but Qiu Yanfu was just trying to catch a man by sleeping with him.

Han Jianye shook his head and said, “Dage, where are you thinking? Qiu Yanfu is San Shen’s niece. If I don’t take her as a concubine, it won’t be good if this matter spreads out.”

Han Jianming’s fingers were on the desk, making tapping sounds. “I’m not saying you can’t take Qiu Yanfu as your concubine. I was just talking about your performance in handling this matter. Qiu Yanfu is a woman from a respectable family. Even if she calculated you, her innocence has been destroyed. If you let her commit suicide, it will be bad for your reputation and affect your career. Therefore, it is imperative to accept her as a concubine. But can’t you tell these truths to Mother properly? Once Mother listened to your explanation, would she still object? Or do you think Mother will ignore your future?”

Han Jianye lowered his head and dared not speak. “It’s because I mishandled these things.” He didn’t know what had happened at the time. When he saw Qiu Yanfu hanging herself and then looking at his mother’s indifferent attitude, they made his head boil. In retrospect, he was also too much of a jerk.

Han Jianming didn’t scold, let alone reprimand him. He just said, “Jianye, you’re 17 this year, and you’re about to start a family. You may also become a father next year. But with the way you are right now, can you shoulder the responsibility of being a husband and a father?”

Han Jianye answered confidently, “I can.”

Han Jianming smiled gently. “Er D, you can’t shoulder these two responsibilities right now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have handled the matter the way it is currently. Tell me, how will you explain this to the Lu family? What do you think will happen if you go there right now and tell them that you’re going to take San Shen’s niece as your concubine?”

Han Jianye’s heart sank at these words. “Dage, I can’t think of any other ideas. I just don’t want her to die or die because of me.”

Han Jianming’s fingers tapped on the desk again. “I’m your Dage. I’ll for sure forgive you even if you’ve done something wrong. But the Lu family is different. They are willing to marry their daughter to you because they think you can be good to Lu Xiu. But if they knew that you could even disobey your mother for the sake of a woman, especially a woman who had counted on you, what do you think they would think?” After saying this, Han Jianming stabbed another knife in Han Jianye’s heart, “Think, is there any difference between your behaviour and Second Master Ye?”

Han Jianye was dumbfounded. It was only after a while did he finally confess, “Dage, I didn’t have any thoughts about Qiu Yanfu at all. I didn’t want her to die because of me. Since I’ve ruined her innocence, I will take her as my concubine, and I didn’t think much about the rest.”

Just at this time, Han Hao raised his voice from outside and announced, “Master Shizi, Second Master, the Fourth Miss is here.”

Han Jianye looked up and asked Han Jianming, “Dage, why did you ask Si Mei to come over?” He had purposely not let anyone tell Yuxi when he came here.

Han Jianming lightly said, “I call Si Mei to let you know how foolish you are.” It was too hard for him to hold back, and Han Jianming finally scolded him. It was too hard to face such a foolish and unbearable didi.

As soon as Yuxi entered the study, she greeted the two men first. She handed the small heater in her hand to Han Jianye, who was beside her and untied the bluish-green, silver fox leather with patterned brocade cloak she was wearing and draped it on the back of the chair. After that, she took back the hand stove that she had placed in Han Jianye’s hand. Even if Han Jianming hadn’t sent someone to call her, she was already prepared to come over.

Han Jianming’s mouth held a smile at the corners, but he quickly suppressed it and asked expressionlessly, “I heard that Xiaotong, Qiu Yanfu’s personal maid, is one of your people?”

Yuxi nodded, “Yes! I arranged for them to go in when Father and Mother returned last year. Together with Xiaotong, I arranged for a total of four people to go in. But only Xiaotong is personally close to Qiu Yanfu.” There were only eight maids around Qiu Yanfu, but she had put four in there. Those who didn’t know would think that the two of them have a deep hatred for each other.

Han Jianye looked at Yuxi with some confusion in his eyes.

Han Jianming then directly asked, “Since this girl is one of your people, did she notice that Qiu Yanfu was trying to set up your Er Ge? Did she tell you?”

Yuxi replied very briskly, “I knew everything from the time Qiu Yanfu got her heart set on it to the time she carried the sour plum soup with aphrodisiacs to Er Ge’s courtyard.”

Hearing this, Han Jianye asked, as if he didn’t know Yuxi, “Yuxi, if you knew, why didn’t you tell me?” If Yuxi had told him, there would have been no incident last night. But Yuxi hadn’t told him a word.

Han Jianming gazed at Yuxi and questioned, “Tell us why you didn’t inform us about this.”

Before Yuxi spoke, Han Jianye looked at Yuxi with profound disappointment. “Si Mei, why didn’t you tell me such a big thing? Even if you don’t tell me, you can tell Mother. But how can you watch me helplessly…” Before he could speak out his following words, he swallowed them under his Dage’s cold eyes. It was not that he was timid, but his Dage’s eyes were just too scary.