Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Investigating Ji Nishang!
"How do you know the people from the Xiao Family, and who is that young lady?"
On the way to the restaurant, Qu Fulan thought of the expression in that young lady’s eyes and asked Douya.
The reason she knew the lady was from the Xiao Family was because of the emblem on the carriage.
Douya, however, shook his head, "I don’t know that young lady, but the maid beside her was the one with the arrogant attitude when we bought breakfast last time."
This answer did not satisfy Qu Fulan. After arriving at the restaurant, she asked Shi Yi to investigate who just crashed into their carriage.
If it were an ordinary accident, she would not pursue it further after apologies and compensation from the other party.
It was truly the way that young lady looked at her, as if she knew her.
And she didn’t know the other person; she didn’t like this feeling.
Logically, in the Xiao Family, aside from Mrs. Xiao and Miss Xiao, the others didn’t have much interaction with the original self, and so many years have passed, there shouldn’t be such shock when seeing her.
Shi Yi worked efficiently and quickly found out.
"It’s a new cousin from the Xiao Family, named Ji Nishang."
Qu Fulan’s pupils immediately contracted slightly.
Ji Nishang!
The cousin of the male lead in the book, the woman whom Prince Xiao eventually gives up the original for to marry.
Wasn’t she supposed to appear two years later, why is she here now?
Indeed, some plots have changed.
But since she has appeared, why does she look like she knows her, and seems so shocked?
Qu Fulan didn’t figure out the correct answer, and on the other side, Ji Nishang was also perplexed.
She really didn’t expect the person her cousin was looking for to be in the Pei Family.
What is Li Jirou doing in the Pei Family?
Could she also be a relative of the Pei Family? After the incident in the Li Family, did she depend on the Pei Family?
This thought was quickly denied by Ji Nishang.
If it were so, her cousin shouldn’t be unaware.
So Li Jirou is not a relative of the Pei Family, and her manner of going out today is more splendid than hers, could it be... she has become a concubine for the Pei Family?
That would explain her grand manner when going out.
However, Ji Nishang also vaguely felt something was off.
Before figuring things out, Ji Nishang did not want to raise alarm.
She decided to wait until she found out more.
*
After checking in at the restaurant, Qu Fulan went to the bookstore.
She heard Manager Wu talking about a strange incident he encountered recently.
"Manager Zhang from Furui Bookstore wanted to bribe me to work there, even allowing me to name my salary."
Qu Fulan was curious, "Why would he suddenly want to bribe you, and what did he say, how did you respond?"
Manager Wu, indignant, recounted the whole incident and finally said, "Naturally, I refused and even scolded him thoroughly, yet despite this, he still treated me politely, constantly trying to get close to me, it’s really strange."
Qu Fulan put down the teacup, indeed it was quite odd.
However, she could somewhat guess; now that the business of Ten Thousand Books Bookstore exceeded that of Furui Bookstore, Manager Zhang naturally couldn’t sit still.
But could poaching Manager Wu really help?
Unless ’Journey to the West’ was written by him, and he held the copyright, then it would be useful to poach him.
But it wasn’t written by Manager Wu, these people...
Qu Fulan’s hand suddenly paused, and an idea flashed in her mind.
Although she said ’Journey to the West’ was written by Master Wu and that’s the name signed in the book, others don’t know who he is, and coincidentally, Manager Wu shares the same surname, can write, and is now selling ’Journey to the West’, could they be mistaken?
Qu Fulan shared her guess with Manager Wu, who was drinking tea at that moment, and he spit it out directly.
Then hurriedly got up to bow several times towards the sky, apologizing to Master Wu.
An honorable scholar has their dignity and despises stealing others’ works, let alone those of a master-level figure. Although it was a misunderstanding, Manager Wu still felt like he had somehow offended the master and felt deeply ashamed.
"Should we declare immediately that I am not the author of this book?" Manager Wu asked, terrified.
Qu Fulan said, "No need to explain deliberately. Those with ulterior motives won’t listen no matter how much you say, they would think you are making excuses anyway."
Clearly, those who are overly eager for quick gains can easily be blinded.
Since it’s registered with the authorities, there’s no fear of impersonation, let the misunderstandings be.
Manager Wu sighed, wondering how such an absurd misunderstanding could arise. It’s really going to shorten his lifespan.
When Qu Fulan returned to Pei Mansion, she was called over by the old lady, who said she needed her help with something.
The situation was like this: the young ladies of Pei Mansion attended lessons every day, taught by a female teacher.
Now that Miss Cheng had arrived, she naturally had to join the study sessions.
The problem arose here. The female teacher was too aloof and proud to easily accept new students, unless someone overcame her challenges.
Her challenge wasn’t anything else but a game of chess.
Miss Cheng couldn’t solve her chess game, so she refused to teach her, unless someone could break that chess setup.
Originally, it was something the old lady could handle with a single word, but she didn’t like that female teacher and was worried about using rank to force the teacher to accept students as it would reflect poorly.
Hearing that Fulan knew how to play chess, she wanted her to give it a try, if she could succeed, all the better, if not, they could simply hire another teacher, and wouldn’t need that particular female teacher anymore.
Having lived at Pei Mansion for so long, Qu Fulan was naturally aware it wasn’t the first time knowing that the old lady didn’t like that female teacher, but she never knew the reason behind it.
Though Hai Xia had a keen sense of the news, there were things she didn’t know, and besides, she had no dealings with the female teacher in the past and had no intention to dig deep.
Now since she was going to meet her, it was better to know everything about her first.
Luckily, Hua Hao treated her as one of their own and shared everything with her.
This female teacher was already thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old now.
The female teacher’s father was once the mentor of the Heir Pei’s father. Later, when she fell on hard times, she left the secular world, becoming a layman; feeling sympathy for her plight, Marquis allowed her to work at Pei Mansion as a teacher.
This was why the old lady could tolerate her presence despite disliking her.
She was indeed very talented and suitable for the title of teacher.
But she was overly proud, preferring to teach only the Misses of the Pei Family, refusing to teach others.
Even Fang Yuan was taught reluctantly only because the Marquis insisted.
Now that Miss Cheng was here, she was completely ignored.
That’s how the current situation was created.
When Qu Fulan arrived at the classroom and met the female teacher, she appeared as a person untarnished by worldly matters after being around scriptures and modest lamps for so long, with a severe face truly befitting a strict teacher.
Qu Fulan first performed a salute, "Teacher."
The female teacher just nodded slightly as a response.
Fang Yuan saw Qu Fulan approaching and tightened her brows, it wasn’t really bias against Qu Fulan this time, it’s just that, how could it be her?
The teacher’s chess skills were superb, and their skills were taught by her, they couldn’t solve the teacher’s chess setup, could this Qu Fulan do it?