Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

"Sweet, sweet, your smile is so sweet..."

With the imperial edict tucked in her bosom, Qing Shuang hummed an unknown tune that Chen Chang'an had taught her as she returned briskly to the Zhenyuan General's Mansion.

She stopped abruptly as soon as she stepped through the gate.

A tall, upright figure stood in the courtyard with his hands behind his back. Xiao Tao stood behind him with her head down, not daring to breathe. She glanced up at Qing Shuang, then quickly lowered her head again.

Xiao Ting slowly turned around, looked at Qing Shuang, his expression unchanged, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Qing Shuang immediately took out the imperial edict from her bosom and said, "Father, this is His Majesty's edict. His Majesty said I can freely enter and leave the house. You cannot punish me. If you do, it would be disobeying the imperial edict..."

Xiao Ting didn't even glance at the imperial edict, and asked calmly, "Who said you were to be punished?"

Qing Shuang was slightly taken aback, wondering if she had misheard, and asked uncertainly, "Ah, you're not going to punish me?"

Xiao Ting turned around, put his hands behind his back, and walked towards the door, saying, "Come with me."

Qing Shuang followed behind him, asking curiously, "Where are we going?"

"Go and demand an explanation."

Xiao Ting snorted coldly and said, "Wu Guojiu is the owner of Ruyi Tower. Even if his men smash my daughter's shop, as her father, I still have to go and ask him what's going on. Otherwise, people will think that the Xiao family is easy to bully."

Qing Shuang smiled awkwardly and said, "Father, they wanted to smash our shop, but they failed. Instead, I smashed their shop. Should we still go...?"

"So what?"

Xiao Ting said coldly, "They provoked the Xiao family first. They deserved it for smashing their shop. They sent thugs to provoke us, and they need to give us an explanation..."

Upon hearing this, Qing Shuang immediately straightened her back and nodded, saying, "Father is right!"

Not long after, at the residence of the emperor's brother-in-law.

Inside the main hall.

The Xiao family father and daughter sat in the seats of honor. Xiao Ting took a sip of tea, not even glancing at Wu Guojiu, and asked indifferently, "Uncle Wu, what are your plans to do about the Ruyi Tower matter?"

Opposite him stood a middle-aged man in his early forties.

The middle-aged man, dressed in fine clothes and exuding an air of nobility, smiled somewhat reluctantly.

He had already heard the account of what had happened from Manager Sun and knew he was in the wrong, so he could only force a smile and say, "General Xiao, please calm down. My men are ignorant and really didn't know about the connection between Qing Shuang Fang and the Xiao family. I have already reprimanded them, and I will definitely come to apologize in person another day..."

His sister is the current empress, and his nephew is the eldest prince, who is also the designated crown prince.

As the emperor's brother-in-law, his status should have been extremely prestigious, and few people in the entire capital dared to speak to him like that.

However, Da Ning valued military prowess over civil service, and military families held extremely high status. The Xiao family was the most prestigious of all military families. Faced with General Zhenyuan, and given that he was in the wrong, he had no choice but to back down.

Xiao Ting didn't reply, but just looked at him calmly.

Wu Guojiu's smile froze for a moment, then he sighed, beckoned to the steward, and said, "Go to the accounting office and fetch three thousand taels of silver notes..."

The steward ran out and quickly retrieved three thousand taels of silver notes.

Wu Guojiu took the silver note and handed it to Xiao Ting, saying, "General Xiao, this matter was Ruyi Tower's fault. This three thousand taels is my apology to your daughter. I will definitely discipline my subordinates strictly to ensure that such a thing will not happen again..."

Xiao Ting gave Qing Shuang a look, and Qing Shuang took the silver note from Wu Guojiu's hand.

Xiao Ting's expression softened slightly, and he said calmly, "For the sake of the Imperial Brother-in-law, let's let this matter drop. I hope there won't be a next time..."

Seeing that he had given him a way out, Wu Guojiu finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly nodded, saying, "Yes, yes, General Xiao is right..."

Xiao Ting waved his sleeve and said, "Farewell!"

Qing Shuang followed behind her father, head held high, and strode out of the Imperial Uncle's residence.

This was the first time in her life that she had smashed someone else's shop and the shop owner had to pay her compensation.

Watching the two figures disappear, Wu Guojiu let out a long sigh of relief, strode to the side hall, kicked the kneeling Wu Zhanggui to the ground, and roared, "Look what you've done!"

Manager Sun knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, saying, "It's all my fault for not investigating properly. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Wu Guojiu kicked him a few more times before he felt a little better.

He sat back down in his chair and took a big gulp of the ice-cold tea. Before he could finish his cup, another figure hurriedly walked in from outside.

The steward of the Imperial Uncle's residence approached him, saying in a panic, "Your Highness, news has just come from the palace that the daughter of General Zhenyuan has gone to the palace to complain to His Majesty. His Majesty was furious and summoned the First Prince to reprimand him, ordering him to restrain the Imperial Uncle's residence and suspend the Ruyi Tower for three months as punishment..."

Wu Guojiu, holding onto the chair, felt his vision go black.

It wasn't because Ruyilou was closed for three months, but because I was so angry with that little devil.

Her Qing Shuang Fang suffered no losses, but her Ru Yi Lou was vandalized, and she even went to the Emperor to complain?

Is there no law or justice left in this capital city?

Just because his subordinates were blind to the danger, he not only had to close the shop and lose money, but also caused the eldest prince to be reprimanded by His Majesty...

With nowhere to vent his anger, Wu Guojiu looked at Manager Sun again. Manager Sun trembled and immediately said, "Uncle Wu, I have something to say!"

Suppressing his anger, Wu Guojiu coldly said, "Speak!"

Manager Sun immediately said, "The owner of Qing Shuang Fang also has another person, who is the biological son of Vice Minister Chen of the Ministry of Personnel. Although he has been driven out of the Chen family, the blood ties cannot be severed. Their people smashed our shop, so they have to pay for it, right?"

Wu Guojiu's eyes flickered; he desperately needed an outlet for his anger.

Military families are all hot-tempered warriors; he can't afford to offend them, nor does he want to.

Although the Chen family had the Grand Tutor behind them, even the Grand Tutor had to be reasonable. After pondering for a moment, he waved his hand and said, "Let's go to the Chen family!"

After a while.

The Chen family.

When Chen Wenyuan heard Chen Fu's report, he rushed from his study to the front hall and saw the emperor's brother-in-law sitting in the main seat with a gloomy face.

Chen Wenyuan, unaware of what had happened, put on a polite smile and cupped his hands, saying, "Your Excellency the Imperial Brother-in-law has arrived. I have failed to greet you properly. Please forgive me..."

Wu Guojiu slammed his teacup heavily on the table, gritting his teeth as he said, "Lord Chen, your son has done a good deed!"

Chen Wenyuan was taken aback and asked, "Changxuan, what's wrong with him?"

Wu Guojiu sneered and said, "I'm talking about your eldest son, Chen Chang'an. Today, he led men to smash up my Ruyi Tower, causing me to lose at least several thousand taels of silver. What do you suggest we do about this?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wenyuan was taken aback at first, and then a strong anger welled up in his heart.

That unfilial son!

They were kicked out of their home, and yet they still caused him such a huge mess!