Chapter 129 Brothers reunited

Xiao Xia came out of the shop and was about to get on the ox cart to leave when he suddenly heard a shout from a distance, "Third brother, walk slowly! Third brother, wait a minute!"

The voice sounded so familiar. Xiao Xia turned around and looked into the distance. He saw a car speeding towards them. There was a fat man waving desperately at the window. Xiao Xia recognized him at a glance. It was his eldest brother Yang Zhao.

Xiao Xia rushed over to meet him. The carriage stopped, and Yang Zhao jumped off. He walked forward and hugged his brother tightly, laughing happily, "I knew I could find you here in the shop. Did I find you?"

"Did big brother go to the Imperial College to look for me?"

"I just went there. Your university is on holiday for two days, and your dormitory door was locked. I thought you might have come to Baocheng Counter to withdraw money. Maybe someone here knows where you are?"

"Brother is very smart. Shopkeeper Ma does know where I live!"

Xiao Xia then said to the shopkeeper Ma who was standing beside him, "This is my eldest brother!"

Shopkeeper Ma nodded and said to Yang Zhao with a smile, "Your brother is very courageous. He bought a house as soon as he arrived in Chang'an."

Yang Zhao was startled, "You bought a house?"

"What should I do? I need a place to stay in Chang'an! I don't want to stay in an inn."

Yang Zhao apologized, "Mother has had a prejudice against you for a long time. It will take time to slowly resolve it. Don't hate her too much."

Xiao Xia shook his head. "I don't hate her. She was under house arrest for five years because of me. I'm not her biological son. It's normal for her to hate me. I bought a house for myself to avoid conflicts. We don't see each other and we can be more at peace with each other."

Yang Zhao sighed and said, "You can move to my palace! I have prepared a room for you, and your sister-in-law welcomes you to come."

Xiao Xia was really touched and nodded, saying, "I will definitely go and live here when I have time. Big brother, go and see my house first. It's very close to here!"

"Then take my carriage!"

Yang Zhao smiled at the shopkeeper Ma, then pulled his brothers into the carriage, and the carriage turned around and drove towards the gate.

Shopkeeper Ma was a little confused. He just heard Brother Xiao Xia talking about his palace. Could it be that he had heard it wrong?
"How is father?" Xiao Xia asked.

"He's fine. This morning, Wang Chao, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, came to see him and said that a major case had occurred last night. The son of the prince's father-in-law, Yun Dingxing, was beheaded in the street. His father rushed to the Ministry of Justice to inquire about the case."

"Does the emperor know about this?" Xiao Xia asked again calmly.

"You probably don't know yet! It is said that Yun Shitai was killed for robbing a woman in the street, and the prince couldn't report it to the emperor. It is also said that he killed and injured more than 50 scoundrels last night. There is no clue at all, and it is impossible to report it to the emperor."

"Last night was Lantern Festival. It's normal for something like this to happen!"

Yang Zhao shook his head. "There have been cases of people beating up hooligans in the streets before, but this is the first time that the son of a powerful official has been killed. The key is not whether Yun Shitai should be killed, but that this incident challenges the order of the court. If Yun Shitai is killed today, what will happen if another powerful official is killed tomorrow? Everyone is in danger!"

"If you take good care of your own children, won't everything be alright?"

Yang Zhao smiled bitterly, "If the children of the rich and powerful don't mess around, they wouldn't be called children of the rich and powerful."

"Does my elder brother work in the court?"

"I am currently my father's staff member. My father is in charge of the Ministry of Justice, so I give him advice and handle some miscellaneous matters."

Soon, the carriage entered Qinrenfang and arrived in front of Xiao Xia's mansion.

Yang Zhao got off the carriage and asked in surprise, "Isn't this the Yuan family's house?"

"Brother has come to see you?"

"I came here last year. The alley inside is very unique, and the jujube trees are nice, too. This is a ten-acre house. Can you buy it, Third Brother?"

Xiao Xia laughed and said, "Brother, have you forgotten that I was conferred the title of Duke of Hailing County?"

Yang Zhao nodded. "If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten how much you paid for the house." "Nine thousand strings of cash!"

"No way!"

Yang Zhao's eyes widened. "Ten acres of house, only nine thousand strings of cash?"

"Originally it was 10,000 guan, but when Yuan Xiaoju heard that I was buying it, he gave me a discount of 1,000 guan."

"Ten thousand strings of cash is cheap! If it's in Taipingfang, a ten-acre mansion would cost at least thirty thousand strings of cash!"

"This is Qinrenfang, and the house is still a work in progress. Big brother, go in and take a look and you'll know."

Xiao Xia asked the Tian couple to open the door and walked into the house with his eldest brother.

Yang Zhao walked into the house and praised, "Not bad! Not bad! It's only nine thousand strings of cash. Third brother, you got a great bargain."

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I also bought a restaurant in Chongrenfang, three acres of land, and it only cost me four thousand strings of cash."

Yang Zhao stopped walking, blinked his eyes and said, "Four thousand strings of cash to buy a three-acre restaurant, it's not the Dou family's restaurant, right?"

"It's that restaurant, but I bought it from the Wei family. They couldn't sell it, so they gave it to me at a low price. Do you know about this, brother?"

"Of course I know. Dou Yan even came to me and asked me to help get rid of the stench, but I couldn't do it. But why did you buy that restaurant? It stinks, and there's no business. Also, where did you get so much money?"

Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Brother, you asked so many questions at once, how should I answer? The money was earned from the Xiao family in Jiangdu and Jinling. Didn't I help them seize the dock? I also sold the Heavenly King Pill to the Xiao family in Jinling."

Yang Zhao sighed, "Even if you have money, you can't just squander it! That restaurant really has no business. No one buys there. There must be a reason."

"Don't worry, big brother! I won't do business at a loss. Dou Deming came to me this morning and was willing to redeem the restaurant at a high price. We are still negotiating the price. It is said that it is their ancestral land."

"That's true. The Dou family regretted selling the restaurant. The Chongrenfang area was Dou Yi's military reward. They must redeem it. Do they know your true identity?"

Xiao Xia shook his head. "No one in Chang'an knows, except maybe Yuan Xiaoju. He invited me for tea, so he knows!"

Yang Zhao was stunned again, "Yuan Xiaoju invited you for tea? Do you know who Yuan Xiaoju is?"

"How could I not know, Yuan Shirong's father, the head of the Yuan family."

"He is also the father of the Crown Princess. The Yuan family is the Crown Prince's confidant. It's incredible that Yuan Xiaoju invited you for tea!"

Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "My last name is not Yang, so having a relationship with me won't affect the overall situation. Maybe in the future, the situation will turn around and the prince will be replaced by my father. Doesn't the Yuan family want to leave a way out for themselves?"

Yang Zhao nodded thoughtfully and said, "You are right. Perhaps the Yuan family really has this idea. They only sold this house to you for 9,000 guan. Do you know that selling a house depends on the person, especially a big house like this? For example, if I come to buy it, the Yuan family will not sell it. On the surface, it seems that anyone can buy it, but it is not the case. The Yuan family will definitely confirm who the buyer is and what his background is before deciding whether to sell it."

.........

After knowing where his brother lived, Yang Zhao had some work to do in the Ministry of Justice, so he had to rush there to help his father handle a case there.

"I have brought back your sword and armor. I will send someone to deliver them to you later. As for your lance, I will ask an expert to assemble it for you the day after tomorrow. It is very quick and can be done in one day."

Xiao Xia was overjoyed and quickly thanked him, "Thank you, brother. I'm sorry for your trouble!"

"It's just a small matter. There's no need to be so polite between brothers!"

Xiao Xia sent his brother to the carriage. He paused for a moment and said, "The murder of Yun Shitai will definitely not be solved. Father can use this case as a handle to remove the crown prince's cronies who were planted in the Ministry of Justice."

Yang Zhao's eyes lit up, and he nodded and smiled: "Your suggestion is very good, I will tell my father!"

(End of this chapter)

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