Chapter 564: Chapter 551: Mistake

“So I would advise Manager Zhuang to avoid going there recently, if you do, you might not be able to get rid of it.”

The more Cheng Ruize spoke, the thicker the bitter smile appeared on his face.

Zhuang Qingning listened and smiled even more broadly, “That’s quite interesting. Your cousin Yan is indeed an interesting girl.”

Women of this era are mostly educated at home to respect etiquette, adhere to women’s norms, and are usually introverted. It’s rare to find one who can live by her own rules.

From this, it can also be seen that Cheng Ruize’s cousin Yan is highly cherished in the family, which is why she’s allowed to act on her whims.

“She’s just being whimsical.” Cheng Ruize said, “It’s just that Manager Zhuang is patient and doesn’t get annoyed. I still need to have a long talk with my cousin when I get back.”

Is Zhuang Wencheng not impatient?

That’s to say, he probably doesn’t dislike her.

Zhuang Wencheng is mild and kind, and cousin Yan, according to Cheng Ruize, appears to be somewhat lively, suggesting a certain contrast. Now it just remains to be seen whether this water will be boiled by the charcoal fire.

If it can lead to a good match, it might be a good thing, right?

In refusing Zhuang Wencheng, there was no romantic feeling, so it was natural to reject him, which was good for both of them. But Zhuang Wencheng was so good that Zhuang Qingning was filled with unexpressable guilt.

Therefore, she was very eager for Zhuang Wencheng to find his happiness as early as possible.

Hence, at this time, Zhuang Qingning was somewhat hopeful about this matter.

Zhuang Qingning gave a light smile and began to discuss the matter of the mosquito repellent herbal medicine bags with Cheng Ruize.

It was settled last year that apart from the business in the county town, the rest of the mosquito repellent medicine bags were to be sold by the Cheng family. Now that spring is coming, the weather in the southern part, especially in Lingnan, will heat up quickly, so if they want to deliver the goods before the weather gets hot and mosquitoes proliferate, they should start preparing now.

Because of the large quantity of supply needed, and their wish to accommodate the villagers’ mugwort leaf selling, Cheng Ruize and Zhuang Qingning decided to send people to Enji Village to purchase mugwort leaves. The recipe for the repellent was to be provided by Zhuang Qingning regularly, and delivered to the county town.

After the discussion was finalized, seeing that it was getting late, Cheng Ruize and Fang Hou bid their farewells and hurriedly left in their carriage.

The carriage slowly made its way toward the county town, and it was sunset by the time they reached the town.

As Fang Hou slowed down the carriage when they were approaching Cheng’s pharmacy, he asked Cheng Ruize, “Young Master, you said earlier you haven’t been sleeping well these days and wanted Doctor Zhuang to prescribe some sedatives for you. Should I go get them now?”

“Hmm…” Cheng Ruize nodded, “It’s just as well that I want to talk to the manager of the pharmacy about the mosquito repellent herb bag…”

As Cheng Ruize was speaking, he lifted the curtain and saw Rong Shuangyan hop into the pharmacy. He immediately felt a headache coming on.

“I’d better go home first, then you can go collect the sedatives.”

The matter of the mosquito repellent herb bag should be discussed with the pharmacy’s shopkeeper.

This cousin is truly like a torrential flood, ferocious and tempestuous.

However, it seems that both families had intended to marry their cousin to their young master, but he had no intention of this. Now that his cousin is interested in someone else, it has relieved their young master of a headache.

Thinking about it made Fang Hou feel at ease. So he drove the carriage to the residence.

Meanwhile, Rong Shuangyan was presenting a food box to Zhuang Wencheng with a cheerful smile, “Brother Wencheng, look, I just bought some chestnut cakes, why don’t you try some?”

As she spoke, she picked up a chestnut cake and fed it to Zhuang Wencheng.

The young girl’s voice was soft, and her smiling face radiated sweetness. The tender yellow chestnut cake on her fair fingers was fragrant… It was a pleasing sight.

Zhuang Wencheng’s heart skipped a beat, and he hastily lowered his head and took a step back before reaching out to take the chestnut cake. “Thank you, Miss Rong.”

“Haven’t you said you can call me Yan? My parents call me that at home.” Rong Shuangyan saw Zhuang Wencheng avoiding her, but she wasn’t annoyed, her smile didn’t diminish a bit, she just pushed the food box towards Zhuang Wencheng a little, “Brother Wencheng, eat more.”

“I am not hungry right now…” Zhuang Wencheng said, “I haven’t finished my work yet.”

“No worries, Brother Wencheng, I’ll prepare the medicine while you eat the chestnut cake.” Rong Shuangyan took over Zhuang Wencheng’s mortar and pestle decisively and energetically began to pound the medicine.

Zhuang Wencheng, seeing this, felt compelled to halt his work, eat a couple of pieces of chestnut cake, and then hurriedly resumed his other tasks.

By the time he was almost finished with his work, Rong Shuangyan was still tirelessly pounding the medicine. She was biting her lip and pounding hard, and even tiny beads of sweat had begun to form on her forehead.

The young and fair face reddened from the sweat. Her youthful face then appeared like a ripe apple, looking extremely cute.

Zhuang Wencheng couldn’t help but smile.

—-

The capital city, the palace.

Chu Shengrui sat on his Dragon Throne with a dark face, while Chu Yunhe and the Empress were kneeling below him, one trembling with fear, the other crying bitterly.

“Your Majesty.”

After wiping away her tears, the Empress said with great effort, “I was wrong, it was my failure to educate…”

“Of course it’s the Empress’s fault!”

Chu Shengrui roared, “The quarrels between Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Liang originate from the partiality of the Empress. This has caused constant disputes between the Empress and the concubines. As the Empress, you can’t even handle minor matters within the family, bringing disgrace to the royal family!”

At this harsh admonishment, the Empress burst into tears.

Initially, she was merely making a token confession, but she never expected Chu Shengrui to truly believe she was at fault.

The conflict between Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Liang was understandable, and she could only blame Mrs. Wang for being unproductive and Mrs. Liang for being somewhat obstinate. All these things profoundly bothered the Empress who was being made the scapegoat.

But Chu Shengrui was holding her responsible, which she found deeply unfair.

Speaking of it, this was not the first or second time this happened.

Every time there was trouble among the Imperial concubines, if someone stirred up trouble, Chu Shengrui would hold her, the Empress, accountable, accusing her of poor guidance.

She can’t control people’s minds. It was those petty people who caused trouble and did evil, why should she take the blame?

The more the Empress thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, and her tears continued to fall overflowing.

“Your Majesty, this is my fault. Don’t blame the Empress.” Chu Yunhe kowtowed and stammered, “I will manage the harem properly when I get back, so don’t worry about it.”