Chapter 431: Chapter 431: The Wei Family Brothers in Desperation_1

“There’s no need, there’s nothing worth learning there. If you’re really curious, I will let Zhang Yi come over and explain it all to you.”, said Wei Jinyi.

“No need for that, I will go and see myself when I get the chance.”, Wei Ruo replied lightly.

Seeing that Wei Ruo was still determined to go once she gets the chance, Wei Jinyi’s eyes visibly darkened.

Wei Ruo could not help but chuckle in her heart; her elder brother was as obstinate as he was adorable when it came to her affairs.

Wei Ruo only dared to laugh briefly for fear that Wei Jinyi would take her seriously, she explained: “I was joking, I’m not planning to go right now, and I wouldn’t go in the future if there’s something important to do.”

“Hmm… It’s good if you don’t really intend to go.”

At this moment, the shop assistant at Qixia Pavilion finished packing Wei Jinyi’s rouges and powders, about a dozen large brocade boxes in total.

“Dear customer, the total is three hundred and fifty-six silver taels and seventy-four coins. Our shopkeeper has taken off the seventy-four coins for you, so you only need to pay three hundred and fifty-six silver taels. Would you like to take them now or should we deliver them to your residence?”

“Take them now,” Wei Jinyi answered, and then he took out a silver note to give to the waiter.

Wei Ruo glanced at it and saw that it said five hundred taels.

Good heavens, her elder brother was really wealthy; he casually whipped out a silver note worth five hundred taels.

After the shop assistant accepted the silver note, he gave Wei Jinyi change, then packed the brocade boxes in cloth bags, and hung them on the horses Wei Jinyi and Wei Ruo rode.

After coming out from Qixia Pavilion, Wei Jinyi accompanied Wei Ruo to a clothing store.

Most of the shops on this big street cater to princes and nobles. Just like the Qixia Pavilion, this Caiyun Room was the same.

Hence, the items sold inside were all of the highest quality, and prices were not cheap.

However, the best fabric available in the Caiyun Room was brocade; better fabrics can’t be bought by civilians and are all sent as tribute to the palace, where only the royalty and ministerial households could see.

Aside from selling fabric, the clothing store also sold readymade clothes, with the most fashionable styles available.

However, most of the readymade clothes in the shop were for display. If daughters from wealthy households liked a style, they would have a tailor measure their size at home and tailor the clothes for them.

Wei Ruo walked around the shop for a while, she did not plan to buy anything, she just wanted to see the styles.

Wei Jinyi spoke again: “Pack all of these.”

“No need for that,” Wei Ruo quickly stopped Wei Jinyi, “Elder brother, I still have a lot of fabric at home, I really don’t need any.”

There were plenty of rouges and powders from the Qixia Pavilion that Wei Ruo didn’t have, so she could study them one by one when she took them back. However, she had fabrics at home, and they were royal fabrics unavailable in the stores, no need to buy more.

Besides, fabrics are heavy and bulky, much harder to carry than rouges and powders. They only rode horses, which already carried a lot of rouges and powders, fabrics simply couldn’t fit.

Her status wasn’t suited for asking the shop assistant to deliver the fabric to the Loyal and Righteous Duke Residence.

There was just no need to buy the fabric.

Wei Jinyi looked into Wei Ruo’s eyes and finally gave up after seeing that she really didn’t want it.

After leaving the clothing store, Wei Ruo was a little hungry: “Could you treat me to a meal, elder brother?”

“Alright. Where would you like to eat, Ruo?”

“Let’s go to the most famous restaurant on White Tiger Street,” said Wei Ruo.

The most famous restaurant in the Capital City was not accessible to ordinary people; it was exclusively for the rich and powerful, and even those from prominent families require an advance reservation to dine.

While she couldn’t go to the most famous restaurant in Capital City, Wei Ruo could still go to the most famous one on White Tiger Street.

“Alright.” Wei Jinyi readily agreed.

Then, the two of them were on their way to the Tianyun Pavilion.

###

While Wei Ruo and Wei Jinyi were enjoying their leisurely stroll, Wei Yifeng and Wei Yipeng were panicking.

“What’s going on? She only left for a moment and then vanished, how can that be?” Wei Yipeng was so anxious that he was breaking out in sweat.

Wei Yifeng and Wei Yipeng had only intended to give Wei Qingruo a bit of a fright, they had no intention of seriously harming her.

The cockfighting arena was full of young rapscallions and lechers; a young woman as attractive as Wei Qingruo appearing alone here would most likely be mistaken as a courtesan from the brothel, ready to sell her beauty, and she might even face others’ lewdness.

However, Wei Yifeng and Wei Yipeng thought that, under the gaze of the crowd, these young rapscallions would, at most, tease her verbally; nothing serious would happen in such a short amount of time. They just needed to calculate the time properly and then go back to retrieve Wei Qingruo in order to prevent anything from going wrong.

But who would’ve expected, in just such a short time, they couldn’t find Wei Qingruo when they returned.

They searched the entire cockfighting arena, but she was nowhere to be found.

The two men were in a panic.

“She’s in the Capital City for the first time, unfamiliar with everything; in theory, she couldn’t have gone far.” Wei Yifeng had a serious look on his face, full of anxiety as well.

“Big Brother, this was your idea to scare Wei Qingruo and vent for Wanwan; now she’s missing, how are we going to explain this to Grandmother when we get back?” Wei Yipeng hurriedly tried to shift the blame onto Wei Yifeng.

“When I proposed the idea, you agreed; now that there’s trouble, don’t shift the blame to me. You’re also implicated in this; you won’t be able to avoid it if Grandmother asks about it!”

Immediately after, Wei Yifeng said: “Now is not the time to shift responsibility, but to think about how to find Wei Qingruo quickly and cover up this issue.”

“We’ve searched the vicinities, where else can we look?” Wei Yipeng was completely out of ideas.

“Even if we don’t know where to look, we still have to search! We must search for her even if we need to dig three feet into the ground of the entire Capital City!” Wei Yifeng declared.

Wei Qingwan, standing to the side, had not said a word; she only found out about Wei Yifeng and Wei Yipeng’s plan after the crowd had separated them from Wei Qingruo.

Initially, when she learned that the two men only intended to scare Wei Qingruo a bit, she felt somewhat disappointed.

To her surprise, Wei Qingruo ended up disappearing, which made her feel somewhat fortunate.

Disappearing in such a crowded and chaotic place raises the chances of something bad happening.

If something bad were to happen to Wei Qingruo, the Wei Family would likely choose to send her to a nunnery or have her commit suicide in order to protect their reputation.

Regardless of the case, there would be no chance for Wei Qingruo to turn things around in her lifetime.

Since Wei Yifeng and Wei Yipeng decided to do this on their own, it had nothing to do with her; she didn’t have to do anything.

###

Wei Yifeng and his group searched from morning to afternoon but did not receive any news about Wei Qingruo.

The longer the delay, the trickier it became; Wei Yifeng and Wei Yipeng did not dare to delay any further.

Having exhausted all options, the two had no choice but to return to the Loyal and Righteous Duke Residence with long faces.

Upon entering, they went straight to Shou’an Hall to confess their mistakes to the old Master and Madam.

As soon as they entered the door, they both knelt down before the old Master and Madam.

“Grandfather, Grandmother, your grandsons have made a mistake!”