Of course, You Chenghui only dared to think this to himself, he wouldn’t have the audacity to complain directly to Duke An’s face.
Ye Xinyan personally filing the complaint made it clear she intended to give You Chenghui a hard time and didn’t want the capital’s yamen to handle the matter perfunctorily.
Indeed, with Miss Ye’s notorious reputation, the sight of her delivering the complaint to the government office in the presence of many astonished onlookers surely meant that no official would dare treat the matter lightly.
Just as Ye Xinyan had anticipated, You Chenghui indeed didn’t dare treat it lightly.
Even though Prince Fu was undeniably the powerful party in this lawsuit, Miss Ye was not someone to be trifled with. She had seen the emperor, received the emperor’s edicts, been reprimanded by the emperor, and had come out unscathed—and she was a woman.
There weren’t many who met all these criteria, but there were not so few either. However, if you were to consider women only, then they were indeed rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
If he showed fear of Prince Fu’s influence and favored him, causing dissatisfaction in Miss Ye, who was known for her reckless nature, would she air her grievances for all to know? Just like in the first month of the lunar year, when she, disguised as a man, visited Miss Han of the Qi family’s Mansion, making the matter known to everyone, even reaching the heavens above.
He feared Prince Fu’s power, but the emperor wouldn’t fear his own son. If the person suing his son was a figure of authority, the emperor might be inclined to side with his child. But if it were a woman, the emperor might look down on his son for being incompetent and deal with the matter justly.
In the end, Prince Fu and Miss Ye would likely be safe, at worst being reprimanded again, while he, the head of the capital’s yamen, would definitely be the one to suffer.
But, what if he handled it impartially? These days, the Construction Industry of the capital was watching Guangsha Construction closely, which was involved in business with Duke An’s Mansion and His Highness Prince Yu. The Construction Industry was a significant sector in the capital, of course, it would attract attention, and the tools sold by those two shops were indeed Guangsha Construction’s goods.
The facts were clear, and the evidence was conclusive, Prince Fu had connived to steal Qi family’s chief manager and pilfer their tools.
The problem was, he didn’t have the courage to judge His Highness Prince Fu’s guilt! Even Prince Fu’s manager and the shopkeepers, he didn’t dare to detain and accuse!
Seeing You Chenghui’s expression growing increasingly troubled, the advisors felt deeply sympathetic.
The position of Intendant of the Capital Prefecture was already difficult to hold, with the frivolous young nobles troublesome enough, and now with the addition of Miss Ye from Duke’s Mansion—who was untouchable and yet, in her recent tirades, somehow always seemed to be in the right.
"Elder Dong, how about we copy this complaint into two versions and quietly send them to His Highness Prince Fu and Duke An to test their reactions?" one advisor proposed.
"Sigh," You Chenghui looked up and sighed, his worries unabated.
The advisor continued, "Prince Fu and Duke An both occupy high positions, especially Prince Fu, who I imagine would not want to attract criticism. Ideally, Prince Fu would take the initiative to communicate with Duke An’s Mansion for the sake of his reputation and privately resolve the matter. Then, Elder Dong wouldn’t have to be in such a difficult position."
You Chenghui shook his head and sighed, "How could I not understand what you mean? But Prince Fu blatantly replicated tools owned by Ye Xinyan to make a profit, and he must have considered what consequences he would face. Even if we deliver Miss Ye’s complaint to him, I fear it will be of little use."
The advisor tried to persuade him, "The incident has already occurred, Elder Dong must face it. Sending a message to the prince’s mansion in advance, even if it might not be very useful, would at least show we did our duty when the people from Prince Fu’s Mansion are summoned to the stand."
You Chenghui nodded, signifying his agreement. Even if it might not be very effective, it was still better than doing nothing at all.
You Chenghui wasn’t wrong—Prince Fu paid no heed to that troublesome woman from Duke An’s Mansion. Regardless of Ye Xinyan and Jinrong’s reactions, he pushed those heavyweight tools into the market, actually taking into account Wong Qiao’s intentions. He was keen to see who truly held the power within Prince Yu’s Mansion and the Qi family.
He intends to make significant use of Wong Qiao.
Wong Qiao was able to defect primarily due to Lady Zhao’s ignorance and greed; when Wong Qiao himself came to try out for the job, he was somewhat reluctant, not appearing to be an undercover spy.
Let alone whether Wong Qiao is an undercover agent sent by Jinrong, the fact that he always pines for Qi Younian and the people of the Qi family makes it impossible for Prince Fu to trust him completely.
If it weren’t for his uncertainty about Wong Qiao’s loyalty, he may have secretly produced more lathes, massively manufactured bolts and nuts, and many heavy pieces of machinery, and transported them to various places to sell—thereby consuming the batches of iron materials and iron mines that lay in his hands.
With Wong Qiao’s work efficiency, if he were in charge of these affairs, he would definitely consume those materials even more quickly.
Manufacturing and selling the equipment owned by Ye Xinyan, causing a complete fallout between Ye Xinyan and Wong Qiao, is a good opportunity. Perhaps after this, Wong Qiao will truly be of use to me.
When Prince Fu received the complaint sent by the capital’s yamen, he couldn’t help but smile and passed it on to Liu Yu, one of his advisors who was standing by.
Liu Yu only glanced at it and smiled as well; he hadn’t expected You Chenghui to pull such a move. This was an attempt to make His Highness Prince Fu and Ye Xinyan settle the matter privately.
He asked, "What does Seventh Master plan to reply to Lord You?"
Prince Fu, in a very good mood, said, "You Chenghui? No need to reply. Let Ye Xinyan make a fuss; let’s see what she can stir up."
"Going to court is a minor matter. We’ve been doing well in leaking words to Lady Zhao; it seems Wong Qiao wouldn’t dare to go against his mother’s will. With Wong Qiao retracting his statement, Ye Xinyan is sure to come out worse for wear. My only concern is that she might make a fuss in front of His Majesty. If such a trivial matter affects His Majesty’s view of you or even causes a grudge, it would not be worth the loss."
Upon hearing this, Prince Fu frowned, "Impossible, how could such a matter of business profit reach Imperial Father? Even if it’s Duke An, he probably wouldn’t have the nerve to complain about such a matter regarding his granddaughter making silver, to Imperial Father, right?"
Ye Xinyan’s current reaction was within his expectations. He had already discussed with his subordinates that openly copying the construction tools in Ye Xinyan’s possession, to rake in the huge profits that rightfully belonged to her, would definitely provoke Ye Xinyan’s retaliation.
This matter would only result in two outcomes, but neither was a big deal for him, Prince Fu.
First, if Ye Xinyan and Jinrong ignored this matter, then Wong Qiao’s identity would become highly suspicious. In the future, Wong Qiao could only handle peripheral and overt tasks.
After this matter, Wong Qiao could still be useful, leveraging his past influence in the Qi family, and taking advantage of Zhou Biyao’s convenience in working with the Qi family, they could continue to steal Ye Xinyan’s techniques and earn Silver Coin.
This is a reputation-damaging and thankless task, but Lady Zhao is a useful person. With the lure of Silver Coin and status, it’s hard not to get Wong Qiao to cooperate.
But this is unlikely. Given Ye Xinyan’s level of avarice, ignoring Wong Qiao’s theft of her family’s techniques and the financial loss this behavior causes her, what does that indicate? It indicates that Wong Qiao’s identity is questionable, and he is very likely a mole planted into Prince Fu’s power by Prince Yu.
Even if Wong Qiao were to remain under Prince Fu, he would have difficulty accessing important physical assets, and besides making silver for Prince Fu, he would be of no other use to Jinrong.
The other possibility is that Ye Xinyan sues the two shops merely for financial gain. That’s harder to say; after all, those items were also made by Wong Qiao’s hand, so who’s to say they definitely belong to Ye Xinyan?