Dingbei Hou's doctor brother

Lang Si felt heavy-hearted. "I don't know how much he can negotiate. Excluding my own, it might be at least 10,000 taels."

Xiao Yan nodded silently, "Go to the Marquis' Mansion when you have time to get it. I'll go back and tell Wen Zhong to come."

Lang Si was suddenly stunned, moved and uneasy, with a very complicated mood.

"Ten thousand taels is not a small amount. If you lend me that much money, I..."

"You and I are brothers, let's talk about that." Xiao Yan patted his shoulder. "How can I stand by and watch you die in trouble? It's only ten thousand taels. I don't need this little money. I can pay it back slowly in the future. There's no rush. For now, help me interrogate these people and the two women."

Lang Siming was deeply moved and sighed, "Thank you very much."

Xiao Yan rode his horse to the Marquis's residence. He entered the front yard but saw no one. He was about to go to the backyard. When he passed the back building, he saw a servant passing by with a machete. He stopped the servant and asked, "Where is Steward Wen?"

The servant was frightened when he saw Xiao Yan's cold face. His eyes flickered, and he lowered his brows and hesitated without saying a word.

Xiao Yan's expression turned colder again. He stared at the servant as he slowly approached, "Why aren't you answering?"

The servant was a little frightened and took two steps back, lowering his head and not daring to look directly at her. "Butler Wen is here, in the back garden."

Xiao Yan glanced at the forest ahead and said, "Go and call him over."

The servant received the instructions tremblingly and left quickly. Xiao Yan was puzzled. When Wen Zhong came back, his clothes were covered in mud and there was a bamboo leaf stuck in his hair.

He asked with a smile, "What is it that the Marquis wants to call me for?"

Xiao Yan stared at the man as he walked over. Wen Zhong's heart tightened and he lowered his brows guiltily. Xiao Yan saw that he looked nervous and raised his hand to pick off the bamboo leaves from his hair, but he suddenly closed his eyes as if he was about to be punched.

This is quite interesting. Xiao Yan slowly plucked off the bamboo leaves and stepped back, saying, "Lang Si will come to your house to take away 10,000 taels. When the time comes, just give it to him."

Wen Zhong secretly breathed a sigh of relief and regained his smile, "Okay, I'll make a note of it."

Xiao Yan looked at him, "Uncle Wen... is there something wrong?"

"Ah?" Wen Zhong was startled, then immediately smiled and waved his hands, "No, why do you ask, Lord?"

Xiao Yan glanced towards the garden again. "You rarely do these kinds of rough work. How did you end up like this today? What's going on in the garden?"

"I..." Wen Zhong was momentarily speechless, then he said, "It's all about the flowers and plants. Some of them have died due to poor care, and we need to weed and plant new ones. I'm afraid they won't be careful enough and waste the Marquis's painstaking efforts in cultivating them, so I'm personally watching over them."

Xiao Yan was well-known for taking good care of his flowers and plants. When he heard they were withering, he didn't blame them. He just asked out of curiosity, "Why did they wither? Let me go and take a look."

Wen Zhong panicked, his face nearly turning pale with fear. He hurried over to stop him, saying with a smile, "My Lord, you should attend to your official duties first. I'll leave these little things in the back garden to this old servant. The flower is wilting, perhaps because you haven't watered it properly. I'll replace it with a new one when the time comes."

Xiao Yan half-believed and half-doubted, then put aside his doubts and said, "Let them take a closer look."

"Yes, Lord, don't worry." Wen Zhong said.

Xiao Yan turned around and prepared to leave, but before he took a few steps, he heard a woman's voice behind him. It was Su Xin.

He turned around and saw that Wen Zhong's heartbeat had not yet stabilized due to the shouting voice. Seeing Xiao Yan's cold brow and stern eyes, he immediately had a bad premonition.

Xiao Yan walked over slowly. Wen Zhong stepped forward and tried to stop him with the same words as before. However, this time, he did not listen and walked straight into the woods.

At this moment, Su Xin's voice was heard from a distance again, "Cut down all those over there!"

The sound was very clear. Wen Zhong frowned, closed his eyes, and slapped his forehead, thinking to himself, "It's over."

Xiao Yan's face immediately fell and he quickened his pace. As soon as he got around to the lotus pond, he saw that a patch of small green bamboo on the side had been chopped into pieces, and the bamboo around the pavilion on the other side had also been cut down.

He hurried to the flower garden, where piles of dug-up osmanthus flowers lay on the ground, many of them grown branches, with leaves and dirt scattered all over the ground.

He stared blankly at the devastation around him, his heart bleeding. This had been all he had spent his free time on for the past few years, and it was his spiritual support. Its value could not be measured in silver, and now it was destroyed...

Xiao Yan was furious. Wen Zhong happened to come over to explain. He glanced sideways and grabbed Wen Zhong's collar.

Wen Zhong was so frightened that his legs went limp. He said in panic, "My Lord, this is none of my business. We are also..."

Before he could finish his words, Xiao Yan shook him off and headed straight for the bamboo forest beside the lotus pond. The servant saw Xiao Yan's cold face from a distance and was so scared that he quickly dropped his machete and hid aside.

Seeing they were on strike, Su Xin put her hands on her hips and scolded them, "What are you doing? Come over here and chop bamboo! We'll finish chopping all the bamboo in this area tonight, and we'll chop down the bamboo in Chongcuixuan tomorrow. Do you hear me? Why don't you come over here quickly? Are you waiting for Madam to come and invite you personally?"

A group of servants stared at Xiao Yan as he walked behind Su Xin, trembling. Su Xin saw them huddled together without saying a word, and immediately became furious. Just as she was about to attack, she heard a low, cold voice behind her.

"You asked someone to cut down my flowers and plants?"

Su Xin shuddered suddenly when she heard the voice, and her back felt cold. Before she could turn around completely, she was slapped in the face. The slap was so strong that it made her nose bleed, and her face immediately became red and swollen.

The servants hiding behind were startled, but before they could calm down, they saw another slap coming. The servants' eyes widened and they dared not breathe.

Su Xin fell onto the bamboo on the ground, dizzy and unable to tell east from west. Xiao Yan looked down at him and ordered in a cold voice, "Come here, chop off one of this dog slave's hands and throw him out of the house."

Upon hearing this, Su Xin was so scared that she stood up immediately, stared at Xiao Yan timidly, and spoke to the servant behind her.

"I am the princess's man, how dare you."

Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes slightly, revealing the murderous aura that only appeared on the battlefield. He stared at Su Xin without wavering and roared at the servant.

"Are you all deaf? If you delay any further, I will sell the whole house."

The fat guy's heart was in his throat. He swallowed hard and was pulled by the thin guy behind him as he took a step forward. He also understood what he meant.

Wen Zhong timidly advised at the right time: "My Lord, even if Su Xin is wrong, she is still the princess's close friend. We can't... My Lord, why don't you... just..."

After hearing this, Su Xin seemed to gain some courage and began to argue.

"There are so many sweet-scented osmanthus and bamboos in the mansion, but none of the flowers our princess likes. Cutting down most of them is just the right way to plant something the princess likes. The marquis hasn't been back to the mansion lately. How could you be so indifferent to the lady?"

Wen Zhong and the servant were so upset when they heard this that they wanted to pick up a lump of mud and stuff it into that big mouth and let it chatter endlessly.

"It's been several days since the wedding. The Marquis left his bride alone in an empty room on their wedding night, and he went to Chongbeifang every day for that scumbag. His wife is almost sick with anger. Does the Marquis know this? Our princess has never suffered such humiliation since she was a child."

Wen Zhong almost had a cerebral hemorrhage. He braved the murderous gaze and went over to pull Su Xin away, trying to persuade her in a low voice.

"Miss Su Xin, please be careful with your words. You can't say such things carelessly. The Marquis is usually busy with military affairs and rarely spends time at home. This has been the case for many years."

Su Xin snorted and laughed, standing up for the princess.

"What do you mean by busy military affairs? Don't think we don't know. The Marquis has already had a sweetheart outside. It's just that he got married, and he can't wait to move out of the mansion. Isn't this too degrading to our princess?"