bayedsolid Chapter 801 [Mistress of the House 6]
Chapter 801 [Mistress of the House 6]
Mr. Li, the Suzhou weaving manufacturer, placed an extremely large order for brocade from the Ren family. However, the Ren family did not have much stock at the time. If they wanted to complete the order, they had to purchase raw materials from outside at a high price. In this way, the Ren family would not only fail to make a profit, but might even face serious losses.
Faced with such a difficult situation, Youyou decisively handed the purchasing task to Ren Xuetang, and told him to solve the supply problem as soon as possible. Although Ren Xuetang was born in a wealthy family, he was not proficient in business. However, in order to prevent his family from losing the opportunity to cooperate with Lord Li, he resolutely decided to buy the sufficient amount of raw silk needed by Lord Li even if it meant losing money.
When Ren Xuetang was looking for a suitable supplier, he first thought of Shopkeeper Lu. But to his surprise, when he went to Shopkeeper Lu to inquire about the raw silk inventory, he was told that Ren Rufeng had just bought a large amount of raw silk from him not long ago.
Ren Xuetang was full of doubts and immediately went to Ren Rufeng to confront him. Ren Rufeng knew that he had caused trouble this time, so in order to temporarily stabilize the situation and buy some time to deal with it, he lied and claimed that Youyou had specially asked him to buy this batch of raw silk.
Ren Xuetang naturally wouldn't easily believe this, because this matter was clearly told to him by Youyou herself, so how could she pass it on to Ren Rufeng? So, his face darkened and he asked seriously, "Rufeng, you still don't want to tell the truth? Do you really want me to call my little sister here and confront her face to face before you are willing to tell the truth?"
Hearing this, Ren Rufeng was shocked, knowing that he could no longer hide it. He quickly said with a smile: "Brother, please don't call me little sister! I said, I said it's okay! Actually... I just wanted to help share some of the pressure at home, so I took the initiative to buy those raw silks."
At this moment, Youyou happened to arrive at the scene. Seeing that the matter had been exposed, Ren Rufeng no longer concealed it and had to honestly explain everything he had done.
Youyou felt a headache coming on, and she secretly complained in her heart. This Ren Rufeng, he only knew how to stir up trouble and cause trouble all day long! She shook her head helplessly, took a deep breath, and decided to tell the truth to this ignorant guy in front of her.
Youyou stared at Ren Rufeng with a serious face and said slowly: "Second brother, do you know the background of Zhang Biao who is doing business with you? To tell you the truth, he is not a legitimate merchant from Guangzhou at all, but a pirate who is rampant in Southeast Asia and Japan!"
Hearing this, Ren Rufeng and Ren Xuetang beside him both changed their expressions and were frightened. They knew what this meant - the emperor had issued a strict order before that anyone who had any connection with the pirates would lose their heads!
Ren Rufeng panicked immediately, grabbed Youyou's sleeve, and begged in a tearful voice: "Little sister, you must save your brother this time, no matter what, I really don't want to die yet!"
Upon seeing this, Ren Xuetang glared at Ren Rufeng fiercely and scolded him angrily: "Humph! If you had known that this would end up like this, what were you doing in the first place? Why didn't you use your brain before doing anything!"
Faced with his elder brother's rebuke, Ren Rufeng was speechless for a moment, and he stammered for a long time without being able to utter a complete sentence.
At this time, Youyou waved his hand to interrupt the quarrel between the two. After thinking calmly for a moment, he said, "Okay, stop arguing. This matter is very serious. Let me think about how to deal with it. Second brother, from now on, you are not allowed to go anywhere during this period of time. Stay at home honestly. If you dare to step out of the house, even if the gods come, I am afraid they will not be able to save you!"
Ren Rufeng nodded repeatedly and said, "Thank you, little sister. I understand. I will be obedient."
Ren Xuetang looked at Youyou worriedly and asked, "Little sister, what are you going to do next?"
"Lord Li will definitely ask you something, big brother. When the time comes, just pretend you know nothing. We will insist that we know nothing. Especially second brother, you haven't even left the house in the past few days!" Youyou warned with a serious face.
Ren Xuetang nodded slightly, indicating his agreement: "Okay, now that things have come to this, it seems that this is the only way to proceed."
However, Youyou seemed to have another trick up her sleeve. She immediately added, "But, just pretending to be dumb may not be enough. We still have to act out the drama that needs to be performed. Come on, let's go to the family law! Second brother, I'm sorry, you have to stay in bed for a few more days."
Hearing this, Ren Rufeng's eyes widened immediately, and he asked in confusion, "What? What's going on?"
At this time, Qiu Ling, the maidservant beside Youyou, came over quickly with a thick long whip in her hand. Youyou took the whip and handed it to Ren Xuetang, saying softly, "Then I'll have to trouble you, big brother. Second brother is a guy who needs to be disciplined on weekdays. This time is a good opportunity to teach him a lesson. Don't worry, second brother, he will just suffer a little physical pain."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ren Xuetang swung the whip in his hand without hesitation and lashed at Ren Rufeng fiercely. For a moment, the only sound was the whistling of the whip, and each lash brought a gust of wind. In the blink of an eye, Ren Rufeng had been hit for a full thirty times. The buttocks that had been intact were now torn and bleeding, looking horrible.
Ren Rufeng finally couldn't stand the pain any more, and his pig-like howling echoed throughout the yard: "Brother, I seriously doubt that you hit me so hard on purpose! Ouch, it hurts so much! Sister, there's really no need to hit me so hard!"
"As for the self-torture tactic, the more realistic it is, the better!" Youyou explained seriously.
Ren Rufeng complained with a frown: "Oh, this hurts too much! I feel like my butt doesn't belong to me anymore!" As he spoke, he reached out and gently rubbed his butt with a painful expression on his face.
Seeing this, Youyou spread her hands helplessly and said, "You can't blame me. It wasn't me who hit you, but my brother." She blinked, as if trying to completely shirk all responsibility.
Ren Rufeng couldn't help but mutter in a low voice: "But it was clearly you who gave the order..." Although his voice was small, it still reached Youyou's ears clearly.
"What did you say?" Youyou pretended to be fierce.
"Nothing... nothing." Ren Rufeng was afraid of offending Youyou again.
The next day, the sun was shining brightly, and Ren Xuetang dressed neatly and went to the weaving house to pay a visit to Lord Li. As soon as they met, after a few pleasantries, Lord Li suddenly mentioned the fact that Ren Rufeng and Zhang Biao were very close.
Ren Xuetang was shocked, but pretended to be ignorant. He waved his hands and said, "Master Li, you are joking. My second brother doesn't have the courage to do business with pirates! Besides, he has been staying at home to recover from his injuries recently. He has never been out of the house. How could he have any contact with Zhang Biao?"
Lord Li frowned slightly and asked, "Your brother is recovering? Could it be that he is injured?"
Ren Xuetang sighed lightly and replied with difficulty: "Alas, this is really a family disgrace that should not be made public! Rufeng is really too fickle-minded. He even had feelings for the people around my younger sister. After being discovered by my younger sister, she called the family rules and gave him a severe lesson. From then on, he can only lie in bed and recuperate." After saying this, Ren Xuetang shook his head, looking as if he was disappointed in his child.
After hearing this, Lord Li nodded thoughtfully, expressing his understanding: "So that's how it is."