Tianliangyuan

Chapter 167 Overstepped Limits

"Brother Yunze, may I accompany you to visit Miss Cheng Yuan?"

Qi Yunze was somewhat puzzled, then looked at Xie Zheng, thinking that Xie Zheng wanted to take Cheng Yuan into his life, which was why Xu Zhaozhao asked this question.

“You don’t need to see him. I want to meet this Cheng Yuan. I find her very interesting.”

Qi Yunze had no reason to refuse, since everyone in the capital knew that he had helped Cheng Yuan behind the scenes and that he had found her a place to stay in the capital.

However, Qi Yunze had no intention of taking care of her for the rest of her life.

She has hands and feet; as long as she's not lazy or greedy, she won't starve.

Xu Zhaozhao looked at the small courtyard in front of her. It was not bad; it was a small courtyard that an ordinary well-off family could afford to live in.

The main house has three rooms, two rooms each in the east and west wings, and two rooms in the back.

Now, a gatekeeper lives in this back room.

Cheng Yuan was throwing a tantrum in the house when she heard that Qi Yunze had arrived, and that a young woman had accompanied him. She immediately thought that the woman was likely Qi Yunze's confidante, and wondered if she had come to cause trouble for her.

Xu Zhaozhao was wearing a veil, so Cheng Yuan did not recognize her as the owner of the Hundred Fruit Garden.

"Brother Qi, are you still angry with me? I really didn't mean to. I didn't really want to buy those things. Someone deliberately set me up. Now that they've all been returned, please don't be angry with me anymore, okay?"

As Cheng Yuan tugged at Qi Yunze's sleeve and spoke, she noticed the woman move to the peach tree in the courtyard and pick up a leaf, seemingly intending to do something.

When she looked away, she saw Xie Zheng walking in, and her eyes lit up instantly.

"Saburo!"

Cheng Yuan lifted her skirt and ran towards him, but was stopped halfway by two maids who coldly reprimanded her, "How can you be so rude, young lady? Xie Sanlang is already engaged, please have some self-respect!"

Cheng Yuan was stunned, only then noticing that the two maids in front of her looked somewhat familiar: "Are you from the Marquis of Anxin's residence?"

Dingxiang snorted but didn't reply.

Xie Zheng quickly walked up to Xu Zhaozhao and asked, "What's wrong? Do you want to eat peaches?"

Xu Zhaozhao rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. Did she come all the way to Cheng Yuan's place just to eat a peach?

"Miss Cheng, won't you invite us in for a seat?"

In front of Xie Sanlang and Qi Yunze, Cheng Yuan couldn't really target Xu Zhaozhao anymore, after all, she was her nominal savior.

Cheng Yuan's old servant has now recovered from his injuries and is currently doing some needlework in the house. When he saw several distinguished guests coming to visit, he naturally did his best to please them.

Xu Zhaozhao entered the main room and noticed that there was a pot of brightly blooming peonies on each side of the room, which showed that when Qi Yunze arranged for her, he really did not intend to mistreat her.

Xu Zhaozhao walked to one of the pots, raised her hand to stroke the petals, and after a while said, "I wasn't in the manor before, but I heard that Miss Cheng had come to express her gratitude. However, none of the servants in my manor recognized you, so they didn't allow you to enter. I happened to run into Brother Yunze today, so I thought I'd come and visit you and see if Miss Cheng has encountered any difficulties?"

Cheng Yuan was displeased. She asked Qi Yunze for help; what business was it of hers?

"Fortunately, with Brother Yunze helping me, I can still get by."

Xu Zhaozhao nodded. At this moment, she had removed her veil, and her lightly made-up face exuded confidence and a peony-like nobility, which made Cheng Yuan even more disgusted with her.

Dingxiang knew what her mistress was thinking. She glanced at the courtyard, then at Cheng Yuan, who was dressed like a rich young lady, and thought that this woman must be crazy.

You fled to the capital, do you really think you're safe now?

Are they afraid of missing someone?

“Miss Cheng, my young lady is kind-hearted. When she rescued you and your servant outside the manor, she said that she would not accept your gift of gratitude out of respect for Xie Sanlang and Prince Qi. Today, she happened to hear that you have a place to stay, so she came to see you. If you need anything, just say the word. If our young lady can help, she will certainly not refuse.”

Cheng Yuan said unhappily, "I've already said no! I'm doing fine, I don't need your fake kindness anymore."

Upon hearing this, the old servant standing to the side was clearly getting anxious.

Speaking like that in front of the two gentlemen, wouldn't that make Cheng Yuan seem ungrateful?

"In that case, just pretend I didn't say anything. However, I still have to remind Miss Cheng that although you are a commoner with a good household registration, you are still just a commoner. If you do anything that exceeds the rules, you will be punished if it is discovered."

Cheng Yuan was stunned for a moment, clearly not quite understanding.

The old servant standing to the side changed his expression slightly and quickly bowed, saying, "Thank you for reminding me, young lady. Miss was just careless for a moment and will definitely pay attention in the future."

In Daxing, the color, fabric, and even the style of clothing are subject to strict regulations.

Common women typically wore blouses, skirts, and shawls, mostly in the natural colors of linen or ramie cloth, or easily dyed colors such as dark blue, dark red, or indigo.

The Cheng Yuan in front of us not only violated taboos in the fabric and color of her clothes, but also had pearls inlaid on her dress. Even daughters of low-ranking officials would not dare to wear such attire.

To put it more bluntly, Cheng Yuan's current attire is more like that of a noble lady from a noble family, which is a serious overreach.

After being reminded by the old servant, Cheng Yuan subconsciously glanced at her clothes. Before the incident in her family, she seemed to have always dressed like this.

Why can't it work now?

Xu Zhaozhao sighed and reminded her, "Go change now. You must have been very ostentatious these past few days while you were out shopping. Putting aside whether you overstepped your bounds or whether the authorities would come to arrest you, just look at you, all glittering with jewelry, living in a place like this. Are you afraid that no thieves will come knocking on your door?"

The old servant's face turned even paler, and his eyes showed obvious fear. He quickly knelt down and pulled Cheng Yuan into the boudoir.

Qi Yunze hadn't thought anything was wrong before because Cheng Yuan was living in the Marquis of Dingnan's mansion at the time, and was considered a guest of the mansion. Besides, who would come to the mansion to investigate this for no reason?

Now that Cheng Yuan has moved out, and she is indeed just an ordinary citizen, we have to pay attention to this issue.

Qi Yunze slapped his forehead: "Thanks to Zhaozhao for reminding me, I didn't even think of this."

Xu Junting sneered, "All you're thinking about is how to get all the young ladies dressed up in their finest clothes to catch your eye!"

Qi Yunze raised an eyebrow, then raised his fist: "If you talk nonsense again, I'll knock your teeth out with one punch!"

Xu Junting didn't speak, but instead looked at Xie Zheng beside him.

Xie Zheng said helplessly, "Yunze, he's my brother-in-law!"

Upon hearing this, Qi Yunze immediately slumped down again, simply because he couldn't beat Xie Zheng!