Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

Upon hearing the news, Madam Zhao rushed over from the backyard. Stepping into the main hall, she saw Wu Guojiu sitting in the main seat with a gloomy expression. Her heart skipped a beat, but she forced a smile and said, "Uncle Wu, what brings you here..."

After all, Lady Zhao was the daughter of the Grand Tutor, so Wu Guojiu nodded politely to her, then glanced at Chen Wenyuan and said, "Lord Chen, why don't you speak with Madam Chen?"

With a dark expression, Chen Wenyuan told her about Chen Chang'an leading men to smash up Ruyi Tower and Wu Guojiu coming to question him.

Zhao's lips twitched. This bastard has severed ties with his family, yet he still caused them such a huge disaster!

He should have been sent to jail back then, once and for all!

She looked at Wu Guojiu and said with a forced smile, "Your Excellency, is there some misunderstanding?"

"Misunderstand?"

Wu Guojiu glanced at her and snorted coldly, "Countless people witnessed Chen Chang'an leading men to smash up Ruyi Tower, and all the fragrant dew worth thousands of taels of silver in our tower was destroyed..."

He looked at Chen Wenyuan and Zhao Shi and asked, "He is the son of Minister Chen. It is only natural for a father to pay for his son's debts. Minister Chen, do you have any objections?"

Chen Wenyuan's face turned pale and then red. Although he had long since severed ties with that rebellious son, the blood ties between that son and the Chen family could not be broken. When Wu Guojiu came to his door, he had no idea how to refuse.

At this moment, Madam Zhao spoke up, "Uncle, Chen Chang'an has already been expelled from our family by my master and has nothing to do with our Chen family anymore. The trouble he caused should be dealt with by him personally, not by coming to our residence, right?"

Wu Guojiu's face darkened, and he asked, "Are you trying to shirk responsibility?"

He said coldly, "You say you can sever ties with him and then shirk responsibility? The whole capital knows he's your son. He smashed my shop, who else can I turn to if not you? If this is your attitude, Lord Chen, why don't we go to the Grand Tutor for a hearing and see what he thinks?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wenyuan's expression immediately changed.

If the Grand Tutor found out that he couldn't even control his own son, and that the Imperial Uncle had come to the Grand Tutor's residence to demand an explanation, his standing in the Grand Tutor's eyes would surely plummet.

The Grand Tutor was his greatest backer in the court, and he absolutely could not stand idly by and watch this happen.

Chen Wenyuan clenched his fists, remained silent for a long time, and then gritted his teeth and asked, "Your Excellency, how many do you want?"

Wu Guojiu stretched out a hand, spread his fingers, and said, "One price, five thousand taels."

Zhao's eyes widened, and she blurted out, "Five thousand taels! That's so expensive!"

Wu Guojiu said calmly, "Madam Chen, as you know, my Ruyilou's perfumes are bestsellers in the capital. A single bottle costs ten taels of silver. The spices used are transported all the way from the Western Regions, making them inherently expensive. This time, he smashed over a hundred bottles, and with the loss of the shipping containers and the losses from closing down, five thousand taels is not much..."

Chen Wenyuan felt as if his heart was bleeding. Five thousand taels of silver was more than he had earned in ten years.

This unfilial son had never caused trouble before, but the first time he did, he lost ten years' worth of salary!

Admittedly, as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, he had considerable illicit income and did not live off his salary alone.

But even five thousand taels is enough to cripple the Chen family.

After taking a deep breath, he finally closed his eyes and managed to squeeze out two words: "I'll give it to you!"

Zhao's heart was also bleeding, but she had no choice but to take a stack of silver notes from the accounting office and hand them to Wu Guojiu with both hands.

Wu Guojiu took the silver note, glanced at the amount, put it away, waved his sleeve, and said indifferently, "Lord Chen, I hope this won't happen again..."

After saying that, he turned and walked out with his entourage, never looking at the couple again.

Soon, only Chen Wenyuan and Zhao Shi remained in the main hall.

Snapped!

Chen Wenyuan slammed the teacup to the ground, feeling dizzy from anger at Chen Chang'an. He could only stand up by holding onto the table.

Wu Guojiu was someone even I dared not offend.

He actually dared to smash up someone else's shop!

How could Chen Wenyuan have given birth to such a son!

Zhao stood to the side, clutching her handkerchief tightly, her anger reaching its peak.

She was already dissatisfied with Chen Chang'an, and now, unable to contain her anger, she gritted her teeth and said, "Master, this matter cannot be left like this. We'll go to Qingshuang Workshop now and find that rebellious son. He should pay for this. His Qingshuang Workshop has earned so much silver; he can afford to pay. If he doesn't pay, we'll smash up his Qingshuang Workshop!"

Chen Wenyuan snapped out of his daze and asked, "What Qing Shuang Fang?"

Madam Zhao realized she had let something slip, but she couldn't care less at the moment. She said, "It's me who forgot to tell you, Master. The Qing Shuang Lu that's all the rage in the capital lately is being sold by that rebellious son..."

"What?"

Chen Wenyuan looked shocked; he had heard of this Qing Shuang Lu before.

It is said that the substance has the effect of refreshing the mind and is extremely rare in the capital. It was his subordinate official who gave him a bottle. He found it to be good after using it. He never expected that it was actually Chen Chang'an's product.

How did he manage to make that kind of thing?

He suddenly realized that if he hadn't been kicked out of the Chen family, wouldn't this lucrative business have belonged to the Chen family?

Before he could respond to Zhao, Chen Fu rushed in, saying in a panic, "Master and Madam, something terrible has happened! I've found out that Qing Shuang Fang is jointly owned by Chen Chang'an and Xiao Qing Shuang, the niece of General Zhenyuan..."

"What?!"

"What did you say?!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Wenyuan and Zhao's expressions changed drastically at the same time.

Chen Wenyuan was astonished. He couldn't understand when Chen Chang'an had met the daughter of General Zhenyuan.

Zhao was shocked and incredulous. She had known about Qing Shuang Fang for a long time. At that time, she thought that Chen Chang'an was just trying to ride on the fame of the most talented woman in the capital. She never expected that Qing Shuang in Qing Shuang Fang was really the same as Xiao Qing Shuang!

The Zhenyuan General's Mansion is an even more formidable entity than the Imperial Uncle's Mansion.

The Great Ning was surrounded by foreign enemies and relied entirely on its military families to hold it up. Therefore, the status of military officers was generally higher than that of civil officials.

The Zhenyuan General's Mansion is one of the most prominent among military families.

Even if the Chen family had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare to smash up the shop run by that little witch.

In other words, they're determined to suffer this loss of five thousand taels?

She already hated Chen Chang'an to the core, and was implicated by him, losing a huge sum of five thousand taels of silver.

Thinking of this, Zhao's anger surged again, but she had nowhere to vent it. Her face turned bright red, and finally she let out a muffled groan and fainted from anger...

Chen Wenyuan reacted quickly, immediately supporting her and pinching her philtrum, anxiously saying, "Madam, Madam, wake up..."

Seeing Chen Fu still standing there in a daze, he glared at him impatiently and said, "What are you still standing there for? Go and fetch a doctor!"