Chapter 208: Delivering Potted Plants (Part 1)
Xiao Fenghao had blurted it out in his panic. This old man wants to use him to reconcile with their mother? Not a chance!
Upon seeing Xiao Yuanwei’s dumbstruck face, he suddenly had a rebellious streak. "Your Excellency, you won’t think that you resemble an ox, do you?"
His tone strangely tinged with pride, which amused his father. Xiao Yuanwei stroked his chin, not getting offended at all, even by Xiao Fenghao’s way of addressing him, which was still filled with distance.
"Little Ya indeed had said such a thing. I guess we are as strong as oxen." He nodded.
Xiao Fenghao’s eyelids twitched, and he immediately excused himself to run away.
For the past few days, the atmosphere had indeed become slightly awkward so Su Wan immediately blamed her brother.
"It’s because of you," she muttered. "They are treating me with more distance now, as if I have ulterior motives."
Xiao Yuanwei pursed his lips. This sister of his had gone from trying to help him into blaming him.
His eyes flashed with some cunning, and he said, "Keep going. If they became your sister-in-law, nieces, and nephews again, wouldn’t they naturally be close to you?"
Upon hearing that, Su Wan was excited again. "Imperial Brother, you are right!"
She glanced around and began to tell Xiao Yuanwei something she had observed lately.
"Your martial arts are so good, why don’t you teach Fenghao and Yuxi personally instead of sending people to teach them? You don’t know how much they like to learn it."
After she said that, she scratched the back of her head. "The eldest son is more difficult, just like you... I don’t know what he likes. Maybe some rare herbs..."
Xiao Yuanwei nodded. "I will bring some rare herbs next time."
Since starting with Zhou Anran herself wasn’t easy—it was as though there was an impenetrable wall standing in between them—he would try with his children.
In the past, he might have known about their preference, but so many years had passed and now they had grown up. He suddenly felt even more guilty when he thought that Zhou Anran was raising their kids by herself.
Thankfully, she also hadn’t married again, or he couldn’t have imagined it...
"How is the latest news about Yuyan?" Su Wan asked.
Unfortunately, the answer wasn’t positive. Xiao Yuanwei just shook his head. A deep frown marred his forehead, and he didn’t explain, but Su Wan immediately understood.
"Not even the subordinates you have sent found anything?" Su Wan bit her lip.
In order to search for a certain physician, Xiao Yuanwei had sent some manpower all over the country.
Now that he had recovered, he didn’t need to find that physician anymore, but the people he had sent still happened to stay there; he hadn’t withdrawn them. Now, this force has become useful.
Su Wan sighed. She had a feeling that if her imperial brother could find his second daughter, Zhou Anran definitely would appreciate him.
"Your youngest daughter is considered the easiest... if you want her to like you, I can tell you that she is a foodie..."
In another place, Xiao Qingya sneezed. Zhou Anran immediately pressed the palm of her hand on her youngest daughter’s forehead.
[Who is talking about me behind my back, huh?] She complained, and started accusing people. [System, is it you?!]
The System was speechless. [Host, how can you accuse people randomly like that. I was just chasing butterflies in the front yard.]
On the side, Xiao Fenghao and Xiao Yuxi were also getting ready for something.
"Be careful and take care of each other," she reminded them.
The two nodded obediently, and they immediately bid farewell to their mother, grandfather, and aunt.
They were going to join Zhou Yanchao to help him deliver the potted plants to a shop and a few noble houses in the Capital.
Zhou Wenzhi and Zhou Defeng had agreed on it because it would broaden their knowledge about the Capital’s streets and gain more acquaintances.
They might even be able to help them deliver more potted plants in the future.
When the two headed to the front yard, they found out that Xiao Yuanwei and Su Wan had gone, so they didn’t need to sneak around. They easily opened the gate to Zhou Defeng’s place.
"Uncle!" They greeted Zhou Yanchao, who was still busy sorting out some potted plants.
"Hao’er, Xi’er!" He beamed when he saw his nephew and nieces. "Can you bring these plants to the carriage?"
They nodded and started working on it.
"These plants were originally half-dead. We bought them from the hunters, but they suddenly began to spring to life again and are now growing more tenaciously." Zhou Yanchao shook his head in wonder.
"It must be because your family has taken care of them meticulously, Uncle," Xiao Yuxi muttered, grinning.
She took the potted plants carefully. Without a doubt, it must have been their youngest sister’s doing.
According to Zhou Yanchao, these plants were rare, so they must be expensive. The siblings carried them to the carriage with extreme care one by one.
After they were done, they went to deliver the potted plants with their uncle. Most of the plants were actually delivered to the Grand Tutor’s mansion.
Once they were done delivering the plants to a shop and some noble houses, they headed to the Grand Tutor’s mansion.
"Will that scoundrel be there, Second Brother?" Xiao Yuxi was a bit worried.
Xiao Fenghao’s fist hardened at the mention of Lan Yushen. "We will beat–"
She tugged on his sleeve. "Mother will be angry."
He pursed his lips, and then his eyes flashed cunningly. "How about we beat him up and ask for Father’s help? Which one is more powerful between him and the Grand Tutor?"
Xiao Yuxi wavered, but she quickly pulled herself together and shook her head, repeating her previous words. "Mother will be even more angry!"
Fortunately, they didn’t meet Lan Yushen as they transported the orchids to the Grand Tutor’s mansion, but they met someone else...
The servants didn’t even dare to help them because these orchids looked so expensive. If they accidentally break one, wouldn’t they be punished severely?
It was a fact known to everyone that the Old Madam of the house liked orchids so much. As such, it was the eldest son who had been ordering all of these orchids for his mother.
"You are all finally here." Lu Chengze’s voice was filled with calm and steadiness.
The Xiao siblings stood behind Zhou Yanchao.
"Mr. Lu," he greeted the man respectfully. "There are five orchids in total and three are rare varieties."
"Three? That’s quite a lot. Please bring them to the usual place." Lu Chengze told him. "I will be back to check on them."
With that, Lu Chengze left the place.
Zhou Yanchao turned to the Xiao sibling and smiled. "Let’s move the orchids and we can finally go back home."
The two of them nodded, and then helped him to transport the orchids toward the usual place that Lu Chengze was talking about. It was the first time that they had entered the Grand Tutor mansion.
The place was filled with a lot of plants everywhere, especially potted plants.
Currently, the place they were heading to was also quite a distance away from the front courtyard, and it took quite a bit of time just to transport one batch of orchids.
They didn’t dare to bring multiple potted plants at once for fear that something might happen.
For the second batch, there were only two orchids, so...
"Uncle, just stay here and take a rest," Xiao Yuxi told Zhou Yanchao.
They were currently in a relatively calm courtyard, which surprisingly, there wasn’t as much as potted plants as in the front courtyard.
This place seemed to be Lu Chengze’s courtyard.
"Can you two handle it?" Zhou Yanchao asked them with a smile.
They nodded. Xiao Fenghao immediately told him. "Leave it to us!"
With that, the siblings went back to their carriage to fetch the last batch of orchids while Zhou Yanchao waited.
They happened to hear some discussions from the servants around.
"Does Young Master Lan not come again? The Old Master must have been waiting for him at the study."
"Who knows? It’s a known fact to everyone that he dislikes studying!"
"But if he doesn’t come, will the Old Master get angry?"
The discussions continued, spoken in hushed whispers, but Xiao Fenghao and Xiao Yuxi could still hear them.
"Is this one of that guy’s punishment?" Xiao Yuxi raised her brows.
"Most likely. The Grand Tutor is teaching him manners," Xiao Fenghao muttered.
They both went to the carriage and picked up the two orchids. The orchids were already blooming beautifully, because Zhou Yanchao usually only sold such flowers to the noble families.
"Pick the smaller one for you," Xiao Fenghao told his sister.
Xiao Yuxi handed over the bigger pot for him.
However, just as they were about to turn around. They were stunned... because the pot Xiao Yuxi was carrying was suddenly hit by something.
It was one of the rare orchids.