Before long, the young boy who had been dispatched to follow Lady Du returned, reporting in detail what he had seen to the Old Madame and the several men present.
Upon hearing that Lady Du’s family had been escorted to Bishui Villa by Huo Yuan, everyone in the room was taken aback.
Everyone in the capital knew about Huo Yuan’s ’Bishui Villa.’ It used to be the residence of Princess Bao Ling. After the Princess passed away, her spouse sold the house to Huo Yuan, who, upon acquisition, refurbished it into a magnificent palace akin to a fairyland in the human world. Huo Yuan had entertained guests there on a few occasions. According to those who had visited, the scenic beauty of Bishui villa outmatched even the Imperial Garden of the palace, and it was regarded as the most extravagant residence in the Great Jin Nation.
Up to this point, no one from the Duke An’s Mansion had received an invitation to be a guest at the Bishui Villa. Regardless, tales about the heavenly scenery had often reached their ears. Now, unexpectedly hearing that Lady Du’s family has been invited to the villa, they couldn’t help feeling a mix of shock and unease.
"Third Brother, didn’t you say that Huo Yuan hasn’t been in contact with the Mu Family for a while? What on earth is happening?"
With a heavy tone of blame, Du Yongzhi looked at his younger brother, the third master of the Du family, Du Yongchun, who sat beside him.
He had once tasked his third brother with investigating the current relationship between Huo Yuan and the Mu family. The message that his third brother brought back was that since the incident with Cai Wei, Huo Yuan hadn’t interacted with the Mu family at all. Based on this, they inferred that Huo Yuan must have distanced himself from the Mu family. With Mu Caiwei dead, what was there to gain from any further association with them?
Precisely because of this, they had dared to strike at the Mu family.
A sizable fabric emporium, a dessert shop in a prime location, and a large manor covering several hundreds of acres. These invaluable properties had, due to their actions, been seized by the government and were soon to become part of the Du’s family assets. Yet now, out of the blue, they were faced with this unexpected annoyance.
Hearing his oldest brother reproach him, Du Yongchun too, couldn’t help feeling remorseful. In his mind, considering that the girl from the Mu family had been fed to a tiger, Young Master Huo couldn’t possibly concern himself with a dead person anymore. Her family would be as good as forgotten. Hence, there was no need to investigate further. When his older brother had tasked him with the investigation, he had casually reported that he had investigated and that there had been no exchanges between the two families, thereby shirking off his responsibility. Who would have thought that Huo Yuan was still protecting them?
"Older Brother, I indeed investigated and there indeed was no contact between the two families!"
Despite knowing that he was at fault, Du Yongchun would never admit it. Escaping responsibility was his usual attitude. Even if the evidence was conclusive, he would never openly admit his mistake, let alone today when there was no evidence.
"Discussing this is useless now, what should we do next?"
Thinking about the reputed identity of Huo Yuan, Du Yongbang couldn’t help feeling waves of fear. Currently, his biggest hope was to minimize this situation as much as possible, turning a big problem into a small one, and preferably making it disappear. The strength of the Ci Yue Gang was too overwhelming. Even the Dark Guards dispatched by The Emperor hadn’t captured them, nor had they found any trace of their activities, forcing him to harbor fears, not to mention there was still Consort Huo.
The whole family was troubled. If they let off the Mu family just like that, they would inevitably have to return those two shops and the large manor to them. Those were assets worth tens of thousands of silver. The Duke An’s Mansion had been constantly losing money over the years. While the mansion looked thriving and prosperous, it was actually hollowed out, with only the Old Madame having some personal savings. The accounts in the storage had been in the red for years. The whole family was relying on their scheming against the Mu family, hoping to use their property to alleviate their own financial difficulties!