HLnovel Chapter 410
Chapter 410
"It's nothing, why are you here?" Li Zhiwei shook her head, not having expected Xu Heming to visit Jinhua Hall at this hour."I finished my work and happened to be passing by, so I dropped in to see you." Xu Heming lowered his head and coughed lightly. He would never admit that he had come specifically to see Li Zhiwei.
However, he had known about this shop for a long time. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Li Zhiwei doing business together with the Wen family sisters-in-law.
After all, the fact that Li Zhiwei had this idea showed that she genuinely wanted to settle down and live a good life with him in the capital.
He also didn't need her to spend the rest of her life confined to the inner courtyard, serving her husband and raising children.
He would be very busy himself, and if Li Zhiwei only knew about inner courtyard affairs, he worried she would be unhappy.
Besides, the goods in this shop were all for women's use, and their customers were exclusively female.
He had nothing to worry about.
As for the Empress also taking a share in the business, he could understand it as a subtle signal from these young ladies. They wanted to convey to everyone that the Empress had a stake in this shop, so anyone looking to cause trouble had better weigh their own status first.
It also meant that since the Empress had agreed, the Emperor naturally wouldn't object. Later on, it would prevent people from gossiping that Princess Consort An, General Wen's wife, and the others were engaging in such a lowly trade.
After all, in the traditional hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, their actions might be seen by many noble families as lowering their own status.
However, he didn't think that way; he only cared that Li Zhiwei was happy.
"Brother, why are you here?" After her initial shock, Wen Xiu also looked at Zhang Yanchu.
She wondered to herself, wasn't her brother usually very busy?
How did he have time to come find her at Jinhua Hall?
"Mhm, I was just passing by," Zhang Yanchu said, pretending to be calm.
However, not seeing the quirky and clever Cheng Qingli in Jinhua Hall left him feeling a tiny bit disappointed.
"By the way, who is that person outside the door?" Zhang Yanchu thought of how a man was loudly calling out his sister's name, a behavior he greatly disliked.
"He—" Wen Xiu really didn't want to talk about Zhang Yanchu.
After all, she felt that even mentioning him would dirty her mouth.
But since her brother asked, she couldn't well refuse to answer.
"General Wen, that is Zhang Yanchu, the former third-place scholar who lives next door to my house. He is here just to block Sister Wen," Li Zhiwei said straightforwardly.
"Why is he blocking you?" Zhang Yanchu was a rough man by nature, and with Li Zhiwei putting it this way, he wouldn't think in the direction that this man was lusting after his sister.
"He wants to be your brother-in-law," Xu Heming said bluntly.
"What does he think he is?" Zhang Yanchu said without a second thought.
"I'll go out and teach him a lesson!" Thinking this, Zhang Yanchu wanted to go out and beat up that annoying pest.
"Brother!" Wen Xiu hurriedly held Zhang Yanchu back. Are you kidding? Their Jinhua Hall hadn't even opened yet. If her brother beat someone up at the door, wouldn't that be smashing their own signboard?
"Have you taken a fancy to him?" Zhang Yanchu exuded a chilling aura. Their parents were gone, and he had always relied on his sister for survival. If she really liked such a piece of trash, he would die of frustration.
"No, brother, we haven't even opened for business yet. Even if you want to hit someone, you can't do it here," Wen Xiu sighed and said quickly.
"Sister Cheng said to take him to Qingyu Pavilion, she has a way to deal with him," Wen Xiu added hurriedly.
"She's just a girl, what could she possibly do?" Zhang Yanchu said without thinking.
"Brother, you don't need to worry about this, we have our ways." Hearing Zhang Yanchu's words, Wen Xiu became a little displeased.
"You have your ways, what ways could you possibly have?" The moment Zhang Yanchu thought of such a man lusting after his sister, he felt extremely furious.
"General Wen, you shouldn't say that. Isn't Zhang Yanchu pestering Sister Wen just because he wants to marry her? We plan to get them—" Li Zhiwei explained their plan in detail.
"I'll handle this, you all stay out of it. Where is Cheng Qingli?" After Zhang Yanchu finished speaking, he scanned the room but didn't see his sister.
Li Zhiwei and Wen Xiu exchanged a glance and shrank their necks, lacking the courage to tell Zhang Yanchu that Cheng Qingli had gone to abduct Xiahou Shuang.
"Alright, are you training troops here? My Princess Consort cannot withstand your intimidation," Xu Heming said unhappily to Zhang Yanchu upon seeing Li Zhiwei's reaction.
"Apologies," Zhang Yanchu said, withdrawing his oppressive aura, though the expression on his face remained cold.
"Miss Cheng has always had a mind of her own. Now we'll just send that person to Qingyu Pavilion, and that will be that," Xu Heming added.
However, he was actually quite curious whether Zhang Yanchu knew about Cheng Qingli's erratic and lively nature.
After Zhang Yanchu finished speaking, he went straight out the door, grabbed Zhang Yanchu, and dragged him towards Qingyu Pavilion.
"Hey, who are you! Let me go!" Zhang Yanchu was suddenly hoisted up into the air.
At this moment, he was extremely terrified.
After all, this man was taller than him and could lift him up with just one hand.
He still wasn't clear about what was going on.
After all, just moments ago, he had seen this man enter the room.
Since Zhang Yanchu returned to the capital, he had been very busy. Although Zhang Yanchu had blocked Wen Xiu several times, he had perfectly missed running into Zhang Yanchu.
Now, facing Zhang Yanchu's overwhelming dominance, he could do nothing but helplessly endure it.
"Shut up!" Zhang Yanchu neither wanted to explain anything to him nor listen to his endless blabbering.
Zhang Yanchu wanted to say more, but he was knocked out cold right then and there by Zhang Yanchu.
"Is he going to be okay like that?" Seeing this, Li Zhiwei gulped, wondering to herself: with Cheng Qingli being so lively and erratic in the future, would Zhang Yanchu end up beating his own wife?
After all, back in Lijia County, it wasn't uncommon to see men hitting their wives.
Li Zhiwei couldn't help but mentally light three sticks of incense in a silent prayer for Cheng Qingli.
A man like this was simply too terrifying.
Hearing this, Xu Heming was slightly stunned. Normally, he was much gentler in front of Li Zhiwei.
If he let Li Zhiwei see his ruthless side, would she be afraid of him too?
"Sister Li, don't worry. My brother just looks fierce, but he isn't actually like this on normal days," Wen Xiu explained.
"That's true, that Zhang Yanchu is not a good person." Hearing this, Li Zhiwei thought about it carefully. With that Zhang Yanchu lusting after his sister, it would be strange if Zhang Yanchu gave him a good look.
"Has he ever hit you?" Li Zhiwei asked curiously.
"No, my brother treats me very well." Wen Xiu shook her head. From childhood to adulthood, her brother had truly treated her wonderfully and had never let her suffer any grievances.
"Then I understand, it's the mindset of an old father." Li Zhiwei nodded. Thinking of Li Tianyou's attitude toward Xu Heming, she no longer felt there was any problem with this.
"Why are you asking so clearly about other men?" Xu Heming frowned, extremely dissatisfied that Li Zhiwei's attention was focused on Zhang Yanchu.
Could it be that, right in front of her, she couldn't see how handsome he was?
Or could it be that his prime had passed?