Cute Wife Gourmet

Chapter 34 Make mistakes
Ye Jiayao helped prepare the dishes and then left. She didn’t dare to stay here for long. If Jin Rong knew that she was not dead and came looking for her, she would definitely kill her.

Coming out of the alley at the back door, a group of people surrounding a sedan chair passed in front of them, and they almost collided. Ye Jiayao hurriedly retreated to the wall.

Damn, the official travels in such a grand style.

After the team passed, the street became bustling again. Ye Jiayao blended into the crowd and quickly disappeared.

The sedan stopped in front of the gate of Wei's mansion, and the guard stepped forward: "Sir, we have arrived at Wei's mansion."

Xia Chunyu lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and got out. He looked up at the gold-plated plaque with a black background hanging on the gate. The two large characters "Wei Mansion" sparkled in the sunlight.

He was originally going to return to the capital after dealing with things here, but he felt it necessary to come to the Wei Mansion.

Li Tie, who was beside the second in command Sheng Wu, confessed that Yaoyao was kidnapped to the mountain because someone paid three thousand taels of silver to ask Heifenggang to do this business. It was not difficult to guess who this person was. Who could benefit from this shameful transaction? If the Wei family could not find out, they would go back to Yangzhou to investigate. Yaoyao was no longer here, and this was the only thing he could do for her.

When Prefect Wei heard the news, he was quite surprised, but he did not dare to be careless and hurried out to greet him.

"I didn't know that Lord Yun Huishi was coming. I'm sorry for failing to welcome you. I hope you'll forgive me." Prefect Wei's attitude was warm and a little humble. Although the prefect and Lord Yun Huishi were both fourth-rank officials, one was a Beijing official, belonging to the Luan Yiwei, serving the emperor, and the other was an official from outside the capital, in charge of local government affairs. The difference in status was self-evident. Moreover, Lord Yun Huishi was the son of Marquis Jing'an, and his status was more noble than others. Naturally, he did not dare to be arrogant.

Xia Chunyu smiled faintly: "I passed by here and came to visit. Sorry to bother you."

"Why are you disturbing me? It is an honor for our humble home to have Envoy Yunhui visit us. I couldn't ask for more." Prefect Wei laughed.

The two of them exchanged pleasantries and walked inside.

After asking Xia Chunyu to take a seat, Prefect Wei quietly ordered the servants to prepare wine and food: "Please let the eldest young lady decide what wine and food to prepare. Envoy Yunhui is from Jinling."

Xia Chunyu had excellent hearing, and he didn't miss a word of this. He was surprised that the eldest young lady was actually Yaoyao. Before coming, he expected that the Wei family would have two strategies to deal with the bride being kidnapped. One was to keep quiet and find someone to take the blame and go on with the wedding as usual; the other was to keep quiet and pretend that the Ye family had never sent the bride.

However, the second strategy is probably a bit difficult to implement. Under normal circumstances, the bride still has two days to travel to Jinan Prefecture, and she is in a hurry to get married. The wedding invitations must have been sent out long ago, and suddenly canceling the wedding would arouse suspicion. Therefore, the first strategy is more likely.

But he did not expect that the person who took the blame would also be a southerner, otherwise Governor Wei would not have let the eldest lady make the decision.

Prefect Wei instructed his servants and turned to ask, "Are you in Jinan on business, sir?"

Xia Chunyu thought: Of course it's a business trip. I've been in Black Wind Hill for half a year! But this matter is top secret. Even his family doesn't know he came to Shandong. Now that the mission is accomplished, there is no need to hide it. By the way, he tried to test the prefect Wei and said, "I came here for Black Wind Hill."

Prefect Wei's eyes flashed with a strange look, and he immediately said, "Prince Helian has shown great power and wiped out Black Wind Hill in one fell swoop, restoring peace to the land of Qi and Lu. His contribution to the country is admirable."

"Of course. Your Majesty is far away in Nanjing, but he is always worried about the rampant banditry in Lu. He has sent troops to encircle and suppress them several times but all failed. This time, Prince Helian personally took action and finally relieved Your Majesty's worries." Xia Chunyu mentioned the emperor with an extremely respectful expression.

"That's right, I wonder when Prince Helian will come to Jinan? I will definitely thank the prince on behalf of the people of Shandong." Prefect Wei smiled flatteringly. Prince Helian was an incredible Buddha. It would be a great honor to make friends with him, so he became more humble and called himself a subordinate.

Xia Chunyu smiled slightly and said, "The prince has already escorted the Black Wind Gang bandits back to the capital to report. I will convey your wishes to him."

Prefect Wei showed a look of regret, but then he thought that it would be good to have a good relationship with Yun Huishi, which was equivalent to establishing friendship with the Marquis of Jing'an Mansion. Not to mention the Marquis of Jing'an, Yun Huishi himself was a person worth making friends with. Although he was in Jinan, he knew that Yun Huishi was the best among the sons of the princes in the capital, and his future was limitless. Liu Jiang was about to go to Jinling to participate in the imperial examination. If he could pass it in one go, he planned to find a position for Liu Jiang in the capital. If Liu Jiang could make friends with Yun Huishi, it would be of great help.

He said, "Thank you so much, sir. I wonder how many days you can stay in Jinan? That way I can show my hospitality to you."

Xia Chunyu smiled and did not rush to answer Prefect Wei's question. Instead, he looked around and said, "I came in and saw that the mansion was full of joy. Is there a wedding?"

Prefect Wei smiled and said, "The eldest son just got married last month."

Xia Chunyu was surprised and said, "Really? I should have sent a gift earlier."

Prefect Wei laughed and said, "You are too polite, sir."

"Of course I should, but I don't have many things to show off when I'm away from home. I'll buy some when I return to Beijing." Xia Chunyu said with a smile, and then asked, "I wonder which family's daughter he married?"

"She is the daughter of Lord Ye, the Tongzhi of Yangzhou, who is my old friend. We are betrothed to each other."

Xia Chunyu said calmly: "But is it the eldest daughter of the Ye family?"

Prefect Wei was secretly shocked: "How did you know that, sir?"

Xia Chunyu smiled calmly: "To be honest, I came here today to verify something on someone's behalf."

Prefect Wei was in a state of panic, and had a bad feeling. "I don't know what it is, sir, please tell me?"

Xia Chunyu picked up the teacup and took a sip slowly, then said slowly, "This time when we broke through the Black Wind Hill, we met a woman who claimed to be the eldest daughter of the Ye family and the daughter-in-law of the Wei family."

Prefect Wei's head buzzed and his scalp went numb. He had been upset about this matter for a long time. It was only on the wedding night that he found out that the one marrying in was not the eldest daughter of the Ye family, but the second daughter of the Ye family. The legitimate daughter-in-law of the Wei family was kidnapped by bandits from Heifenggang on the way to the bride. If this matter got out, the Wei family would lose all face. It happened that the second daughter of the Ye family came along and married in place of her sister, which resolved the crisis for the two families. It was not her fault.

I thought this matter could be concealed, but who knew that Black Wind Gang was taken down so quickly, and Envoy Yun also met Miss Ye, and now he came to verify it.

But things have been set in stone and cannot be changed, so even if it is wrong, it has to remain wrong.

Prefect Wei gritted his teeth and said with a wry smile, "You are joking, my lord. Miss Ye married my son last month. Could it be that we have mistaken her for someone else? That female bandit must have found an excuse to get away with it."

"Really?" Xia Chunyu raised the corner of his mouth with an imperceptible sneer.

Prefect Wei nodded with absolute certainty: "That is absolutely impossible."

Xia Chunyu smiled and said, "It's good if it's not true. I don't really believe it. If it's really the Wei family's daughter-in-law who has not yet married into the family who was kidnapped, how can Your Excellency remain indifferent?"

Prefect Wei was sweating profusely, and he nodded repeatedly, saying righteously, "That's right, if this is true, how can I let it go?"

"This woman is so despicable that she actually made up such a lie to destroy the reputation of our Wei family. Please hand this woman over to me. I will investigate thoroughly."

Prefect Wei thought that he should get the person to the Wei family first and not let her talk nonsense outside.

Xia Chunyu was furious. He had long guessed that the Wei family would not admit it, but he did not expect their attitude to be so resolute. Not to mention that Yaoyao was gone now, even if he was still alive, he would never hand her over to you to destroy the body? In your eyes, reputation is more important than life, but what fault did Yaoyao have?
"I'm sorry I can't agree to your request, sir." Xia Chunyu said, suppressing his anger.

Prefect Wei was startled, and was unable to guess what Envoy Yun was thinking.

"Sir, this matter concerns the reputation of the Wei family..."

Xia Chunyu raised his hand and said, "Your Excellency is worrying too much. The woman has actually died in the chaos of the battle. I came here to ask for the sake of caution."

Prefect Wei secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Although he felt a little regretful, after all, he had held the child in his arms when he was still a baby. But compared to the current predicament, he had to sigh that this was the best. A woman who had been in a bandit's den, whose chastity had been lost, how could she survive in the world? She could only blame herself for her bad luck.

The servant came and told me that lunch was ready.

"I have prepared a small amount of wine as a token of my respect. Please take your seat, sir..." Prefect Wei said politely.

Xia Chunyu clasped his fists and said, "Your Excellency is too polite, but I have important matters to attend to and cannot stay for long. Now that the matter has been clarified, I will take my leave."

He disdains to eat with such a hypocritical person. It will cause indigestion, nausea and vomiting.

"If you want to leave, there is no need to leave right now..." Prefect Wei tried to persuade him to stay.

"See you later." Xia Chunyu said goodbye in a hurry. There was no need to stay. There were many ways to find out who the so-called Miss Ye in the Wei Mansion was. Once he had thoroughly investigated, he would seek justice for Yaoyao.

After seeing Xia Chunyu off, Prefect Wei ordered someone to call his eldest son Wei Liujiang to the study.

"Just now, Envoy Yun Hui came to visit and mentioned the eldest daughter of the Ye family. He claimed that he had seen her in Black Wind Hill." said Prefect Wei.

Wei Liujiang was shocked: "Dad, what should I do?"

Prefect Wei had a sullen expression on his face. He raised his hand and said, "Don't panic. I believe that the Ye family and our Wei family are on the same page in this matter. Besides, Ye Jinxuan has died a violent death and there is no evidence. As long as our two families are united in their statements, there will be no more trouble. But... Jinrong, you have to give careful instructions and don't let anything slip."

Wei Liujiang wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, "Don't worry, son. Rongrong has always been very careful."

Prefect Wei pondered and said, "It's fine in Jinan Prefecture, but the key is that you have to be careful when you get to Nanjing."

Wei Liujiang said: "It means that Jinxuan's maternal family is in trouble."

"Let your father-in-law worry about this matter himself." Prefect Wei was also annoyed. No one wanted such a thing to happen, but since it happened, they could only cover it up and make the best of it.

(End of this chapter)