Chapter 234: Foolish People Are More Detestable Than Evil Ones

5:00 PM.

Nine Gates Patrol Yamen.

With the end of the shift approaching, Ding Suian did not slip away early as he usually did.

Last night was awkward.

Going back today would likely mean facing a similar situation.

“Boss, the Prince of Shuochuan, Young Master Li, and the Heir Apparent of Prince Huanyang are here.”

Chest Hair entered the office to report.

“Oh? Please show them in.”

Ever since Ding Suian took over the Chen Duan treason case, Chen Yi had basically not sought him out, seemingly to avoid suspicion, or perhaps because he did not want to put pressure on him.

As for the ‘Heir Apparent of Prince Huanyang’, it was Gao Gan, the third son of Prince Huanyang, Gao Shizhen.

During the Southern Expedition, both the eldest and second sons of Gao Shizhen died in the chaos of war, so the originally unremarkable illegitimate son, Gao Gan, naturally became the first-in-line heir to the Prince Huanyang line.

A few days ago, Princess Xingguo submitted a petition to Your Majesty on behalf of the Gao family, and Gao Gan was granted the title of Heir Apparent.

“Hahaha~”

Chen Yi laughed heartily as he entered, “Yuanxi, are you busy tonight?”

“Whether I am busy tonight depends on how Third Brother arranges it.”

Ding Suian rose from behind his desk, and Chen Yi was startled, “What do you mean?”

“If Third Brother has come for official business, then I am busy tonight; if Third Brother is inviting me to Zhangtai Willow for drinks, then I am free tonight.”

“Hahaha, you sly dog~”

Chen Yi laughed and grabbed Ding Suian’s arm, “There will be drinks tonight, but we are not going to Zhangtai Willow.”

“Why, did Central Heaven open a new brothel?”

“You, hahaha, it’s not a brothel. Tonight, I am taking you to meet a good brother.”

As he spoke, he pulled Ding Suian outside.

Li Meimei chimed in at the right moment, “Old Six, tonight we are going to the Prince Yinyang Residence to introduce you to Jiang Wusheng.”

“Jiang Wusheng?”

“Yes, the Heir Apparent of Prince Yinyang, given name Jing, courtesy name Wusheng. He joined the army at sixteen. He is upright, respects rituals, and hates evil. You and he will surely get along.”

Li Meimei seemed to have a good relationship with this Heir Apparent of Prince Huanyang. As they walked out of the Patrol Inspection Office, he kept saying, “He lived in Central Heaven for three or four years in his early years, and we often hung out together.”

“Oh~”

Ding Suian went to get Mythical Beast, and seeing that neither Lin Dafu nor Li Baicheng were among the six, he couldn’t help but ask, “Where are Lord Lin and Second Brother Li?”

Chen Yi, walking in front, said without thinking, “Big Brother and Second Brother don’t know Wusheng, so we didn’t notify them of tonight’s banquet.”

They didn’t know Jiang Jing, but Ding Suian didn’t know Jiang Jing either.

The doubt flashed through his mind, and Ding Suian turned to look at Li Meimei and Gao Gan, vaguely understanding.

Tonight was a gathering of childhood friends, and the reason they called him along was likely because he now held the title of ‘Duke of Chu County’. To put it bluntly, in Chen Yi’s heart, personal feelings aside, Ding Suian now had the qualifications to enter their circle of nobility.

And Lin Dafu and Li Baicheng did not.

Chen Yi’s natural choice came entirely from his subconscious.

Ding Suian gave a self-deprecating smile, not dwelling on the inherent arrogance of these royal aristocrats—an arrogance they themselves might not even be aware of.

“Meimei, let me ask you something.”

“Hey.”

“Why are you sighing for no reason?”

“The Duke of Chu County won’t even call me Fifth Brother!”

“So dramatic! Fifth Brother, let me ask you something.”

“Hehe, go ahead.”

“Ahem, I have a friend. He, ahem, the women in my friend’s back household are having some disagreements. If you were my friend, how would you handle it?”

Ding Suian remained calm, but Li Meimei said, “Don’t ask me about this. My father is strict. Nowadays, aside from your sister-in-law, even the cats and dogs in my house are male.”

Oh, right, this guy is strictly controlled by his father.

“Fourth Brother, if you were my friend, what would you do?”

Ding Suian turned to ask Gao Gan, who pondered seriously for a moment before saying, “Why are the women fighting? Whoever dares to disobey, just cut off their allowance. If they still disobey, send them to a manor outside the city and lock them up for a month.”

“…”

Cut off their allowance?

Can I cut off Lin Hansu’s allowance, or can I cut off Zhao Ning’s allowance?

The money in their families could crush me to death.

This suggestion was simply not feasible.

“Third Brother, in your opinion…”

Ding Suian placed his last hope on Chen Yi, but the latter didn’t even think about it and said directly, “Women in the back household are insolent if you get too close, and resentful if you keep them at a distance. Why should a man interfere in such matters? It should be handled by the principal wife. Punish where punishment is due, and banish where banishment is due.”

Well, what Chen Yi said was the reality of most noble households at present.

But for Ding Suian, it was equally useless.

The reason he was so troubled was precisely because there was no mistress in his back household, or rather, the mistress of his back household couldn’t be seen in public yet, and couldn’t even be openly jealous.

Every family has its own difficult problems.

5:30 PM.

The four arrived at the Prince Yinyang Residence in Yongxing Ward.

The Heir Apparent of Prince Yinyang, Jiang Jing, had a figure as straight as a pine. His dark-colored casual clothes made his complexion appear even darker, and his whole being radiated the capable aura unique to a military general.

“Greetings, Prince of Shuochuan!”

Seeing Chen Yi and the others approaching, he cupped his hands in a salute, his face remaining cold and hard.

“Hahaha, Brother Wusheng~”

Chen Yi laughed and returned the salute. Their eyes met, and the corners of Jiang Jing’s mouth twitched slightly. This seemed to be the most vivid and intimate smile he could muster.

“Virtuous Brother, Third Young Master.”

After greeting Chen Yi, Jiang Jing turned to salute Li Meimei and Gao Gan, completely by the book.

“Brother Wusheng~”

Both replied in unison.

Then, Chen Yi turned slightly, raised his arm to gesture towards Ding Suian, “Wusheng, this is the rising star of recent years, the Duke of Chu County, Ding Yuanxi, given name Suian. He is younger than you, so you can call him Virtuous Brother.”

“Yuanxi, this is the Heir Apparent of Prince Huanyang, Jiang Wusheng.”

Meeting for the first time, and knowing he was a good brother of Chen Yi, and that Ding Suian was younger than him, he took the initiative to cup his hands and say, “Hehe, this younger brother greets Brother Jiang.”

“Greetings.”

Jiang Jing returned the salute formally, but the gaze he cast afterward was sharp as a hawk, scanning Ding Suian from head to toe.

Ding Suian thought there was something inappropriate about his attire and looked down to check.

Just then, he heard Jiang Jing say, “I have long admired the Duke of Chu County’s name.”

“You flatter me.”

“A few days ago, a woman from the Chu County Dukes Residence committed violence and injured someone. I wonder if that woman has been punished since returning to the residence?”

“…”

“…”

The space in front of the residence went quiet instantly. The smiles on Li Meimei and Chen Yi’s faces stiffened.

Chen Yi had heard about this matter, but he thought it was just a small affair. He didn’t expect Jiang Jing to confront him directly.

Chen Yi also knew that Ding Suian didn’t have a temperament that was easy to deal with, so he quickly smoothed things over, “Wusheng, at that time, the woman in Yuanxi’s residence didn’t know about the relationship between the Yu Clan and you. We are all family. I will apologize for Yuanxi later and drink three penalty cups.”

Jiang Jing interrupted his eye contact with Ding Suian, turned to look at Chen Yi, and said seriously, “Prince, I am not standing up for my cousin. The woman from the Chu County Dukes Residence acted with violence and arrogance. If the person she bullied that day had been a commoner woman, would this matter just be let go?”

He locked his gaze back onto Ding Suian, “The Duke of Chu County has achieved success at a young age. If you cannot even control your own back household and condone your maid/concubine committing violence, causing trouble later is a small matter, but implicating the reputation of the Great Wu nobility is a big matter! My Jiang family father and son guard the borders; is it for these kinds of evil servants to bully others with their power? I ask the Duke of Chu County to severely punish your servant upon returning to the residence.”

“Brother Wusheng, rest assured. Yuanxi will strictly discipline them upon returning. Let’s go in first.”

Li Meimei frantically pulled on Ding Suian’s sleeve while rushing to answer before him.

Who the hell wants to go into the residence now!

But Li Meimei’s attempt to smooth things over and Chen Yi’s frantic eye signals could not stop Ding Suian from speaking.

He stood at the foot of the steps, smiled at Jiang Jing who was standing high above him, and said, “First, the person who hit your cousin is not some servant or maid; she is my, Ding Suian’s, wife. Second, stop talking about guarding the borders. In the Southern Expedition, punishing traitors, and serving in the Central Heaven, I have shed no less blood for Great Wu than you. Third, in this matter, you…”

“Yuanxi, stop talking!”

Seeing that the atmosphere was about to collapse, Chen Yi quickly tried to dissuade him. Ding Suian took a look at him, then continued to say to Jiang Jing, “Third, you only listened to one side of the story. You neither went to the Princesss Residence to hear what the bystanders said, nor did you ask Jiang Yuan or her brother about the cause and effect, yet you jumped out to ‘uphold justice’ based solely on one-sided words.”

Speaking to this point, Ding Suian shook his head and sighed, “The sages said, foolish people are more detestable than evil ones. Brother Wusheng is not evil, but he is a bit foolish.”

“!”

The cold-faced Jiang Jing finally changed his expression.

Chen Yi knew this was a bit troublesome. After a thousand conflicts flashed through his mind, he made his choice.

“How bold! Ding Suian, how dare you speak wildly to the Heir Apparent of Prince Huanyang! Apologize now!”

While scolding, he looked at Ding Suian with an exceptionally sincere gaze, as if expecting—hoping—that Ding Suian could understand his predicament.

Jiang Jing was not only his childhood friend but, more importantly, the Heir Apparent of Prince Huanyang, and Prince Huanyang was the Senior Brother of his Paternal Aunt. In the end, the Prince Huanyang faction was a group Chen Yi had to win over.

Comparing the two, Ding Suian became the person who’should’ or ‘could’ be slightly wronged.

Ding Suian was indeed surprised for a moment. He turned his head and met Chen Yi’s eyes for two breaths, then suddenly laughed heartily, cupped his hands slightly, “Prince, do as you please. I suddenly remembered that my wife hasn’t been feeling well these past few days, and I need to go home to accompany her. Let us… part ways here.”

With that, he turned and left with long strides.

“You…”

Chen Yi only managed to call out the word ‘You’, but the latter had already left with long strides.

Jiang Jing’s face was livid, only saying, “A new noble of Central Heaven, arrogant to this point, is not a blessing for our Great Wu!”

Chen Yi turned back, his heart feeling dazed, and forced a smile, “It’s fine, let’s go into the residence for drinks.”

“Prince, please.”

“Brother Wusheng, please.”

“Brother Wusheng, Yuanxi is not a bad person. There must be some misunderstanding…”

Unexpectedly, Gao Gan remained in place, mumbled this sentence, cupped his hands to the two people on the steps, and turned his body towards the direction where Ding Suian had left, “I’ll go catch up and ask what happened.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Meimei also smiled apologetically and cupped his hands, “Third Young Master Gao is not good with words; I’m afraid he won’t be able to ask clearly. I’ll go with him.”

“…”

Chen Yi stood on the high steps, looking at the two backs hurriedly leaving in the twilight to chase after Ding Suian, and a sense of untimely melancholy surfaced in his heart.

It seemed that something very important had been lost.