Song Xilou had truly never seen such a shameless person—saying something like that without even a hint of a blush.
"Truly, the forest is vast and full of all kinds of birds." She practically ground these words out through clenched teeth, but the man's audacity was thick enough to shatter her worldview. He just grinned cheerfully, as if she had paid him a compliment.
Only after Nanny Wu saw that there was no movement from inside the room did she leave. Song Xilou immediately stood up, pointing at the window. "Whatever hole you crawled out of, crawl back out the same way."
"But what's your name, beauty?" He acted as if he hadn't heard her at all, still trying to edge closer. Quick as a flash, Song Xilou's pole blocked his path. "Get out."
The Fourteenth Prince, however, found her anger all the more intriguing. Unexpectedly, at that moment, a call came from beside the window. Song Xilou vaguely heard someone shouting "Fourteenth Master" and shot the man across from her a complicated look.
His attempt at flirtation having failed, the Fourteenth Prince wore a regretful expression. Under the beauty's watchful gaze, he obediently crawled back out through the window.
No sooner had he left the courtyard than his attendants surrounded him. Someone pointed at his face and exclaimed, "Fourteenth Master, what happened to your face?" There was a rather noticeable mark on his fair, tender skin.
Bruised, it was—anyone could tell at a glance he'd been struck.
The Fourteenth Prince pushed his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "Tsk, she really doesn't hold back."
"Who's got the nerve to lay a hand on our Fourteenth Master? I'm going in there to teach them a lesson." But before he could push open the door, his braid was yanked back. He turned around in confusion to see the Fourteenth Prince flick the braid across his forehead.
"I wanted it."
What came first was the Fourteenth Prince, not him.
Well, that made sense. With his cautious, suspicious nature, why would he come in person over a mere rumor?
Song Xilou stood by the window, gazing at the clusters of chrysanthemums outside, and smiled. Dongya had been with her for a year now—she'd become much more proper, but her chattering nature hadn't changed at all: "Miss, those people outside—so many of them—they don't look easy to mess with."
"Yes, not easy to mess with," she said. What could be harder to mess with than those yellow-belted nobles of the imperial city?
"But they're not good people either." Dongya's eyes darted around. "They've just got their eye on our flowers." And with that, she ran off—she was going to keep a close watch on those flowers.
Only after she left did Song Xilou dare to reveal what was in her palm. After a year, the little green bud in her palm had grown into a flower bud, ready to bloom but never quite opening.
The bud had fully formed half a year ago, and only then did Song Xilou realize it was a lotus flower growing in her palm—no wonder she always carried a faint scent of lotus seeds. But even now, a bud remained a bud.
"When are you going to bloom?" She stroked it affectionately. Before long, a few drops of milky white essence seeped out from the heart of the flower, and Song Xilou caught them in time.
Ever since the bud had formed, this milky white essence dripped out a few drops every day. At first, she hadn't known what to do with it. A few drops accidentally fell on the ground, and a few days later, she discovered that patch of grass was growing exceptionally well.
After several trials, she learned that this substance was highly beneficial to plants. The current emperor loved chrysanthemums, which was why Song Xilou had been trying to cultivate a new variety.
"Who would have thought—I didn't lure in the Fourth Prince, but I attracted a lecher instead."
Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the courtyard. Nanny Wu came in: "Miss, that Zhou boy has brought a group of people again." She was so anxious she could barely keep from hopping in place. With Dongliu gone, those people had started running wild.
Right now, the courtyard held only Miss, Dongya, and this old woman—how could they possibly stand against a dozen or so men?
"Nanny, don't worry. I'll go out with you to take a look." Song Xilou gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, put on her veil, and went out.
The man leading the group outside the door was a fellow surnamed Zhou named Zhou Sheng, the nephew of Mother Zhou, the original owner of this small courtyard. Song Xilou had bought the courtyard from Mother Zhou.
Mother Zhou was a gentle, kind-hearted woman. Seeing that Song Xilou and her party of four maidservants had come from afar, she initially said she wouldn't charge them. But Song Xilou still paid fifty taels of silver and obtained the deed.
At first, nothing happened. What was a small courtyard in Ping'an County worth so much money? Even with the silver in hand, Mother Zhou felt uneasy. But some people simply couldn't resist the temptation of money.
Song Xilou's flower cultivation had become famous throughout Jiangnan. Word spread that her flowers sold for a thousand taels a pot—who in all of Ping'an County hadn't heard of it?
Zhou Sheng was consumed by greed. He told everyone he met: "Our Zhou family courtyard has spiritual energy. How else would those flowers grow so well?"
Some people didn't believe him: "If your courtyard had spiritual energy, why didn't we ever see it before? Now that you see the Song family getting rich, you've got a bad case of red-eye envy."
But Zhou Sheng pretended not to hear. He looked at the courtyard before him, his eyes full of scheming. If the people inside moved out, they couldn't take all those flowers with them. And then… He lowered his gaze to hide the greed in his eyes, then raised his head with a gruff voice: "This courtyard is no longer for sale to you. Pack up and get out, now."
He had calculated that this household was all women—they couldn't do a thing to him. Besides—Zhou Sheng puffed out his chest and straightened his back—"Call your master out here."
Song Xilou had barely stepped out when he saw the two arrogant figures, Dongya biting her lips tightly, refusing to let them in.
"What Young Master Zhou says is quite a joke." Song Xilou stepped forward, placing himself between the two: "I had already come to an agreement with Mother Zhou back then, and the deed is still in my hands now."
"How can you claim this courtyard is yours?"
"Or could it be that the Zhou family intends to renege on the deal?" Song Xilou's words were light and airy, but they suddenly drained the confidence from Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng knew about the deed being sold for fifty taels. Had this been before, he would have laughed foolishly: "What fool doesn't treat money as money?"
Fifty taels of silver for a rundown courtyard?
But now, he simply pretended not to hear and continued his shamelessness: "The Zhou family will return your fifty taels of silver, but we're no longer selling this courtyard."
Behind him stood several hired thugs, there precisely to bolster his presence, glaring fiercely at the three before them with an air of refusing to back down.
Song Xilou lowered his head in thought for a moment, then conceded: "I agree to give you this courtyard."
"Truly?"
Zhou Sheng raised his head excitedly, only to see the woman before him add: "But not right now."
His brow furrowed as he tentatively spoke: "Name a time." He didn't dare push her too hard.
"Ten days."
"Come back in ten days."
Song Xilou smiled, and when she raised her head again, there was something different in her eyes.
The Fourteenth Prince's brows were still raised with excitement when he returned, and Yinzhen could tell from his expression that something good had happened.
Raising the teacup before him, he spoke casually: "Is there truly such a capable person?"
The Fourteenth Prince first took the tea handed over by the attendant behind him and took a good sip. Setting down the cup, his face still brimming with excitement: "Fourth Brother, you wouldn't believe it—the flowers inside grow even better than those in the Imperial Garden."
"They're all rare varieties; some I've never even seen in the Imperial Garden."
His face was full of enthusiasm, but he didn't realize that these two sentences had already sent his fourth brother's thoughts wandering, murmuring: "I didn't expect there really was one."
"Fourth Brother, what did you say?"
"Nothing." Setting down his teacup, Yinzhen said: "Come with me tomorrow to see Jiang Zhengqi."
"He agreed to put up the money?"
"He's an old fox who's cultivated himself for decades." Yinzhen chuckled, his face full of sarcasm, toying with the prayer beads on his wrist: "Do you think the money of these corrupt officials is so easy to pry out?"
Jiang Zhengqi, the Prefect of Jiangnan, had been an official for over twenty years. There was no storm he hadn't weathered, let alone the arrival of a newly enfeoffed Prince and a bare-headed Prince.
He had long since prepared a painted pleasure boat on the canal behind Yichun Garden, with fine wine, good food, and beautiful women—guaranteed to satisfy these lords from the capital.
"Prefect Jiang, how have you considered the matter of repairing the river embankment we discussed last time?" Yinzhen blocked his hand pouring the wine, his face dark and grim.
But Jiang Zhengqi had backers behind him, and he immediately began pleading poverty: "Fourth Master, you see, even the Crown Prince hasn't said anything about rebuilding the embankment."
"Besides, even if we were to contribute the money, with such a great river, we simply don't have the capability."
Yinzhen and the Fourteenth Prince found themselves momentarily at a loss with him. The entire table of officials had been bought off by him, all earnestly crying poverty.
This was precisely why Yinzhen had come to Jiangnan this time. The region had seen too many rainy, misty days lately, often raining for half a month straight. He said with a stern face: "Not long ago, the embankment in the outer county was breached once. You should count yourself lucky that the rain was light at the time and nothing happened."
Jiang Zhengqi laughed and brushed it off: "Spring rains are naturally plentiful; it'll pass in a while. In all these years, nothing has ever happened."
Standing behind him was the Crown Prince, and since they both served the Crown Prince, Yinzhen couldn't press him too hard.
The Fourteenth Prince wasn't pleased with this state of affairs, dealing with a table full of officials. As a Prince of the Great Qing, he didn't feel these people following the Crown Prince showed him much respect either.
Finding an excuse, he slipped away.