It could be said that from childhood to adulthood, she has rarely received such care.
The Marquis is very good; he will adopt them, nurture them, also let them choose whether to stay or leave once they have grown up. She also admires the Marquis, but her feelings for the Marquis and the Young Master are different.
Fu Qiulu was merely feeling a bit disappointed; she had no intention of trying to get close to the Young Master just to trade for intelligence.
Fu Chunsheng stood up and said, "Since none of you agree, then do not come to disturb me."
After saying that, he left in a huff.
Fu Qiulu stood up and watched his retreating figure, finally glancing at Xia Lei and Xi Ya, before sighing and saying, "What do we do now?"
Xia Lei said coldly, "Keep an eye on him, I'm going to report this to the Marquis."
It is not that people are wicked, but that they are foolish. Fu Chunsheng has had his head in the clouds since childhood, yet he lacks the ability to match his ambitions. If such a person remains here, he will only cause the Marquis and the Young Master to become mortal enemies.
At this moment, Fu Chunsheng had a dark expression on his face, feeling that none of his colleagues believed in him, even his younger sister did not have much faith in him.
The Young Master also distanced himself from him; was he destined to achieve nothing?
When he first presented the formula, he had thought that the Marquis's place was filled with talented people, that he wouldn't be able to make a name for himself without obtaining something useful.
As it turned out, he unexpectedly provoked the Marquis's fury.
Later, he felt that if all else failed, staying by the Young Master's side would be fine. After all, the Young Master was short-handed, even if the Young Master's family was not as powerful or wealthy as the Marquis's, he would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.
But now, the Young Master has Jiang Quan by his side, even that woman, Jiang Xueyan, is more heavily relied upon than he is.
At this point, he had no choice but to find a way.
However, before he could even think of a solution, news arrived from the Marquis of Huating's residence, forcing Fu Chunsheng to leave due to "illness."
On top of that, Fu Qiulu was dragged into it as well, but Xi Ya and Xia Lei were able to stay.
Fu Chunsheng glared at Xia Lei. "Was it you guys!"
Xia Lei looked at him and said, "Going back would be fine. Now that the Marquis's great cause is about to begin, you should go back and help him."
Ha, go back?" Fu Chunsheng gave a cold laugh. "Where would I have a place back there?
With his aptitude, even if he went back, he would only be arranged to work under those big shopkeepers; nothing regarding promotions, official ranks, or a prosperous future would have anything to do with him!
Xia Lei was somewhat impatient: "Then go and do what you are capable of. The Marquis has already issued the order; you can decide for yourself how to handle it."
Fu Chunsheng watched Xia Lei's retreating back with eyes full of resentment, then turned to look at Fu Qiulu beside him. "Are you really content to just go back like this?"
Fu Qiulu glanced at him and said with a sigh, "Do you intend to defy the Marquis's orders?"
She shared the same fate as Fu Chunsheng; if Fu Chunsheng hadn't been so overly driven by immediate results, how could she have been implicated?
Now that the Marquis had ordered Fu Chunsheng to leave due to his "illness," she would naturally have to follow, as she could not simply leave her brother behind to fend for himself.
Seeing her expression was calm, Fu Chunsheng slammed the door and walked out: "Of course you don't care, since you are highly valued by the Marquis."
Fu Qiulu felt a momentary sense of exhaustion; she had been pulling her brother along since they were children, even this mission was something she had volunteered for, wanting to bring him along.
She had originally thought that after this trip, even if her brother didn't receive significant responsibilities, he wouldn't fade into obscurity.
However, it was unexpected that Fu Chunsheng's ambition was insatiable.
He has been like this since he was a child; once something happens, he never thinks it is his own fault, always feeling that others have stolen something from him.
Fu Qiulu vaguely remembered that the Marquis would occasionally visit them. What did the Marquis say when he first saw Fu Chunsheng back then?
Grasping at the moon in the sky, or catching scales in the water.
At that time, the young ones did not know the meaning of those two phrases. Later, through a twist of fate, after Fu Qiulu learned those two phrases, she discovered the following: to exhaust oneself with all sorts of schemes, only to achieve nothing.
Fu Qiulu did not dare let Fu Chunsheng know at that time, instead comforted Fu Chunsheng, saying that the Marquis had taken a liking to him and believed he could travel far and wide to serve the Marquis with his life.
From then on, Fu Chunsheng was even more determined to make the Marquis see him in a new light.
If it hadn't been for his repeated pleas, the Marquis would not have agreed to let Fu Chunsheng come along on this mission.
He remembered that Dongzang had once said to her: "Don't regret this yourself."
Now.. she truly regretted it a little, she didn't know what Fu Chunsheng would do once he returned.
However, what he didn't expect was that Fu Chunsheng had no intention of returning at all.
He, constrained by Fu Chunsheng's orders, had no choice but to start feigning illness.
He had originally hoped that Zhu Ci would let him stay.
As a result, Fu Qiulu said with a face full of worry, "Young Master, my eldest brother is so ill, I am worried.."
Zhu Ci also felt something was strange. How could a healthy person suddenly fall ill? He couldn't see any sign of illness, the other physicians couldn't see anything either; they only saw that the man was becoming increasingly weak.
He comforted Fu Qiulu, saying, "Don't worry, Chunsheng is young; it will be no problem to recover slowly."
There are many difficult medical conditions that even future generations cannot cure. Right now, there are no effective methods, since he has never formally studied medicine, it is only natural that he cannot tell what is wrong.
Fu Qiulu knelt down with red eyes and said, "Young Master, I.. I want to take Big Brother back to our hometown. If Big Brother can pull through, we will return to serve you. If Big Brother.. it would also be a way to return to his roots."
Although Fu Chunsheng appeared to be in a semi-conscious state at this moment, he could actually hear everything clearly. For a brief moment, he hoped Zhu Ci would let him stay.
However, the Young Master he had placed his hopes in did not even hesitate before saying, "That is fine then. It just so happens that I have some land in Songjiang; I shall gift it to you all, so that you may have a place to settle down."
Fu Chunsheng's heart sank to the bottom of a valley in an instant.
No, he thought, closing his eyes.
He couldn't just go back like this.
Although he didn't appear to have made a mistake, being personally ordered by the Marquis to abort the mission and return meant he would never be given important responsibilities again.
He had to.. think of a way.
After Zhu Ci stepped out of Fu Chunsheng's room, he couldn't help but squint his eyes.
Strange, very strange.
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Leaving already? Then I won't see you off. *Cat quickly closes the door*. jpg
Next update at 12:00 PM~
Chapter 70
Why would Fu Chunsheng fall ill? And why was Fu Qiulu so anxious to take him away?
Would the doctors in Songjiang really be any better than those in Suzhou?
Even if there were better physicians, they wouldn't be able to afford them. In Suzhou, at least he was the Acting Prefect; given his status, the famous doctors in the city would have to show him some respect if he sent someone to request their services.
Fu Qiulu and Fu Chunsheng looked more like they were trying to make an escape.
Then.. what about Xi Ya and Xia Lei?
Zhu Ci observed them for two days and found that Xi Ya and Xia Lei continued with their usual activities, seemingly unaffected by anything.
It seemed there were only two possibilities. Either Fu Chunsheng was truly ill and their master had decided to withdraw him immediately upon realizing he was unfit, but since withdrawing only him would easily arouse suspicion, Fu Qiulu could only follow him.
Either Fu Chunsheng had some kind of problem and they were afraid he would cause delays, so he had to be transferred and could not stay.
For a moment, Zhu Ci also found it difficult to grasp what the mastermind behind this actually intended.
If one were to say it was to his disadvantage, these four people had done nothing.
If they were after intelligence, they hadn't made a move since stealing his Allicin recipe at the very beginning; this seemed more like the four of them acting on their own initiative.
Besides that, Xia Lei and Xi Ya were both very obscure, every time Zhu Ci went out to beat people up, as long as he brought Xia Lei along, Xia Lei would certainly follow him closely to protect him.
It was quite strange.. Even now, he still couldn't figure out whether the other party was a friend or an enemy; otherwise, he wouldn't have made zero progress in analyzing that person's identity.
Zhu Ci sat in the study contemplating for a long while before turning to Jiang Xueyan, who was reading in the outer hall, said, "Xueyan, have Jiang Quan send someone to follow them secretly and escort them all the way to Songjiang Prefecture. Make sure they aren't discovered. Also, make sure to record everyone they come into contact with along the way. Investigate whatever can be investigated, but if something can't be investigated, just leave it for now. Don't alert the enemy."
Jiang Xueyan immediately stood up and said, "Yes, Young Master."
Zhu Ci squinted as he looked out the window, feeling that it was time to train a group of spies.
However, training an intelligence system cannot be done in a day or two; the first thing that must be addressed is the message delivery system.
If information cannot be transmitted quickly, then the intelligence system is nothing more than a hollow shell.
Take it slow.
Zhu Ci casually wrote down an order to set aside a residence belonging to the Liu Family within the city, turning it into an orphanage.
Although it wasn't called an orphanage in this era, Zhu Ci stubbornly used that name anyway; it was nothing special, just felt more intimate.
In these chaotic times, there are too many orphans; if no one looks after them, they truly become like wild weeds.
Nowadays, there are many people in Suzhou keeping a close eye on the movements of the Prefectural Office; as soon as the news about establishing an orphanage broke, many families already knew about it.
In any case, Zhu Ci did not hide it.
However, this news was nothing compared to his news about the Liu Clan seizing commoners' lands and returning them to the rightful owners.
At first, everyone thought he wanted to win over the small and medium-sized wealthy merchants.
The four great clans were indeed powerful, but the small and medium-sized wealthy merchants could not be underestimated either. If they could win them all over, they would not only be able to stand against the Dongting Merchant Group, but would also have the confidence to challenge them.
In an instant, those small and medium-sized wealthy households unexpectedly received a massive amount of attention, some even had powerful clans proactively approaching them to win them over.
What no one expected was that Zhu Ci's land distribution actually only went to the commoners.
Those small to medium-sized wealthy households hadn't received any news at all!
On the other hand, some small and medium-sized wealthy households tentatively sent people to inquire, only to receive news from the newly appointed Zhaomo of the Prefectural Office that they needed to clarify their land holdings. They were told that only after confirming that their land holdings had indeed decreased and had been encroached upon by the Liu Clan could they be returned.
As soon as this news broke, many small and medium-sized wealthy households were filled with worry.
How could they dare to let the government truly investigate their landholdings? The Liu Clan was ruthless, they were no better off.
The Liu Clan oppresses them, so they oppress the commoners; the landholdings in their families could not withstand an audit.
On the other hand, there were those who wanted to offer gifts to the Zhaomo in charge of the audit, hoping to be able to falsify the accounts.
In the end, both the person and the gift were driven away by the Zhaomo.
What a joke—they wouldn't dare do such a thing even if they had eight times the courage they currently possess.
They were originally marginal figures in the Prefectural Office; some were there because they were too upright, some because they were poor, others because they had offended their superiors, so they clearly had no future.