Chapter 319
Chapter 319
“I heard my son burned down your courtyard?” Zhu Jingchen asked Old Madam Zhou with a half-smile.
He had a bad first impression of this Old Madam Zhou.
He felt that this old lady looked rather mean and harsh at first glance.
No wonder she opened her mouth to ask Xiao San'er for silver as compensation.
“It's a fact that your son burned down my courtyard! Since he burned it, isn't it only natural for him to pay for it?” Old Lady Zhou said, rolling her eyes.
She thought to herself, since there was a sucker willing to pay, why shouldn't she take it?
Free silver is always welcome.
“What evidence do you have to prove that my son burned your courtyard?” Zhu Jingchen said unhurriedly.
“Your son was in my mansion, what other evidence do you need? Why did a fire break out in my house right after he arrived?” Old Madam Zhou said, with an attitude that this was exactly how it should be.
“Mother!” Zhou Changfeng wanted to persuade his mother to say less from the side.
But because Xu Hemin and this man were present, Zhou Changfeng could only feel anxious in his heart.
However, this man didn't look like someone to be trifled with, and his identity was unknown. His father hadn't returned yet, and he couldn't recognize all the powerful nobles in the capital at the moment.
“Shut up!” Old Madam Zhou didn't expect her own son to hold her back, and immediately felt displeased.
After all, if they got that money back, wouldn't it belong to them?
Zhu Jingchen nodded from the side and asked again, “Next time Lord Zhou comes to my house and I lose something, wouldn't he be the biggest suspect?” Zhu Jingchen stared at Old Madam Zhou, thinking that if she dared to say yes, he would say he lost the imperial seal tomorrow, and then see what the Zhou family would do.
The more he thought about it, the more Zhu Jingchen felt this idea was brilliant.
“Then you also have to have evidence to prove that it was taken by our Lord.” Old Madam Zhou was unwilling to accept this.
Looking at the double standards of Old Lady Zhou, Zhu Jingchen just smiled.
He already had a conclusion in his heart.
“Since you said my son burned your courtyard, how much do you think is appropriate for compensation?” At this moment, Zhu Jingchen was very willing to pay silver, anyway, all of this would be his tomorrow.
When the time comes, he would make the Zhou family spit it all out, with interest.
“Three thousand taels!” Old Madam Zhou thought for a moment, directly held up three fingers, and said.
“Alright, you help me give the silver to Old Madam Zhou in a moment, and I'll have someone return it to you later.” Zhu Jingchen said to Xu Hemin as a matter of course.
“Master, I didn't bring that much silver with me.” Xu Hemin's mouth twitched. He thought to himself, your son asked you to bring silver to redeem him, why are you completely useless at the critical moment?
The key was that he himself agreed to give them silver.
“Then shouldn't the Zhou family compensate you for losing your son?” Zhu Jingchen rolled his eyes, thinking that since Xu Qingshi was missing, shouldn't they ask the Zhou family for a sum of silver?
Otherwise, the Zhou family would get off too easy.
Especially since Qingshi and those guards had personally cleaned up that courtyard. Thinking about it, when had Qingshi ever suffered such a loss?
The more he thought about it, the more Zhu Jingchen felt he had to ask the Zhou family for a sum of silver to let Qingshi save up for marrying a wife in the future.
“Master, how much compensation do you think I should ask them for?” Xu Hemin rested his chin on his hand and asked seriously.
“Thirty thousand taels!” Zhu Jingchen thought about it, made a gesture of three, and said proudly.
Old Madam Zhou was originally happy in her heart that she could earn three thousand taels of silver for free today.
Then she wouldn't have to worry about silver to rebuild the Tingyun Courtyard. Who would have thought that these two people would actually want her family to compensate them thirty thousand taels of silver right to her face.
Thirty thousand taels, how dare you even think of that?
Why don't they just rob someone?
Or has the Prince An's Mansion fallen so low that they need to rely on extorting money from others?
No wonder they wanted to send Xu Qingshi to their Zhou family.
Thinking of this, Old Madam Zhou looked at the two of them angrily and scolded dissatisfiedly, “Can you be any more shameless? Thirty thousand taels of silver? Why don't you just rob someone?”
Xu Hemin looked at Zhu Jingchen, raised his eyebrows, and said, “She's scolding you!”
Xu Hemin looked at Zhu Jingchen as if watching a good show, thinking to himself that this old woman really had a lot of nerve to even scold the Emperor.
“She is clearly scolding you.” Zhu Jingchen rolled his eyes in his heart. He wasn't stupid. Xu Hemin clearly wanted to use him to stand up for himself.
What a joke. He was clearly the one who married their daughter, and now their anger should be vented on him. What did this have to do with him?
Thinking of this, Zhu Jingchen just sat aside to watch the show.
Zhu Hanyu, who was standing on the side, was very puzzled. This old woman was clearly scolding his Imperial Father and Prince An, so why were his Imperial Father and Uncle Prince An arguing here?
Besides, shouldn't his Imperial Father and Uncle Prince An be on the same side?
“Imperial Father, Uncle Prince An, she is clearly scolding both of you!” Zhu Hanyu said somewhat dissatisfied.
The two of them wanted to argue a few more words, but suddenly froze.
Right, the old woman was scolding them.
The two looked at each other and both saw anger in each other's eyes. Scolding them?
“Old Madam Zhou, is it? You say your courtyard was burned down by my son, show me the evidence. Later, I'll have the Minister of the Court of Judicature come and testify. If it was really my son who burned it, I'll have the Ministry of Revenue come over and help your Zhou family repair it properly. Not just that burned whatever courtyard it was called?” Zhu Jingchen talked for a long time, but couldn't remember the name of the courtyard for a moment. After all, he only saw a pile of ashes and didn't see the name.
He couldn't be blamed for not remembering.
“Master, it's the Tingyun Courtyard.” Eunuch Liu carefully reminded from the side.
“Oh, right, the Tingyun Courtyard. I'll have the Ministry of Revenue rebuild the Tingyun Courtyard, and also repair your Zhou family mansion.” Zhu Jingchen's national treasury was no longer empty now, so he spoke with a bit more confidence.
Old Madam Zhou had never seen the Emperor's face, and at this time, she didn't know that the person in front of her was the Emperor.
She only thought he was some wealthy man Xu Hemin had dragged over from somewhere to show off.
However, hearing him talk about the Court of Judicature on the left and the Ministry of Revenue on the right, she looked at Zhu Jingchen with great disdain.
Did he think his family ran the Court of Judicature and the Ministry of Revenue?
He could just invite them over whenever he wanted?
“You really don't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Do you think the Court of Judicature will come just because you tell them to? And the Ministry of Revenue?” Old Madam Zhou looked at Zhu Jingchen, thinking that this person's official position wasn't high, but his tone was quite arrogant.
He wasn't afraid of biting off more than he could chew.
At this time, Zhou Changfeng only dared to wait anxiously at the door for Zhou Zhonghe to return.
In the past, Zhou Changfeng had only seen the Emperor's face from a distance. At that time, it was far away, and he could only vaguely see the Emperor in a dragon robe, and didn't remember anything else.
Now that Zhu Jingchen was right in front of him, Zhou Changfeng didn't even think about the fact that Zhu Jingchen was the Emperor.
“Have someone invite Fang Deyou over in a moment, let this old lady see if I can order him around!” Zhu Jingchen felt that his authority had been challenged by this old lady.
Wasn't he just a lowly Fang Deyou?
Couldn't he summon him?