A Time-Traveling Mishap: I Became an Ancient Nobleman

Chapter 287 Feigning Pity

Qianmian was in a real headache. Once Zhou Huaide started acting like a rogue, no one except Madam Zhou could control him.

Fortunately, Zhou Hanzhang was quick-witted and had sent someone to invite Madam Zhou earlier.

Madam Zhou happened to be in the vicinity on business and happened to run into the people sent by Qianmian to look for her.

Just then, before the actress playing Fangniang could exchange more than a few words with Zhou Huaide, Madam Zhou arrived in a hurry.

When she saw Zhou Huaide blocking Fangniang's carriage, her face immediately darkened.

My first instinct was to grab his ear, but I held back because we were on the street.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her tone tinged with displeasure.

Zhou Huaide was already annoyed by Fangniang's constant presence around him, and now that his beloved wife had arrived, he seemed even more flustered. "Madam, what are you doing here?"

"What? Just because I'm not here, you think you can stop a young lady's carriage at will?" Madam Zhou frowned.

"What kind of girl is she? She's a madam!"

Upon hearing Zhou Huaide's words, Madam Zhou's face darkened even further.

“I don’t care who she is, you’ve stopped someone’s carriage in the street, I’m asking you what you’re trying to do?” Madam Zhou said sternly.

"me……"

Zhou Huaide was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to explain to Madam Zhou that he only wanted to come and see Zhou Hanzhang out of concern for him.

However, Madam Zhou did not want him to embarrass himself here.

"Come here right now."

Zhou Huaide could clearly sense that Madam Zhou was in a bad mood, and he didn't dare to offend her at this time. He quickly walked to her side, leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I'm just afraid that Zhang'er will suffer."

Madam Zhou, of course, understood his temperament. "We'll talk about it when we get back."

As she spoke, she smiled and walked towards Fangniang, saying apologetically, "I'm so sorry, my husband stopped your carriage. I don't know if it has delayed your business?"

Her maid, Mei Qing, immediately took out a silver note from her bosom and handed it to Fang Niang, saying, "This is a small token of my appreciation; please accept it."

It would be foolish not to take the money, especially since Qianmian's current identity is that of a greedy madam at Hongyanfang.

He quickly put away the silver notes and smiled at Madam Zhou, saying, "Everyone says Madam Zhou is generous, and seeing her today, I can confirm that her reputation is well-deserved."

Seeing that she had accepted the silver note, Madam Zhou's expression relaxed a bit. "I'm glad you don't mind. I have some things to attend to at home, so I'll head back now."

"Please go ahead, Madam Zhou." Qianmian was in a good mood, having been able to get Madam Zhou to resolve the troublesome Zhou Huaide.

As soon as he got back into the carriage, he took out the silver note and showed it to Zhou Hanzhang, saying, "Your mother is truly generous; it's just a pity."

Zhou Hanzhang took the silver note and asked curiously, "What's the pity?"

"It's a pity you were paired with that father of yours. You know what kind of reputation your father has in the capital, don't you?" Thousand Faces teased.

Zhou Hanzhang felt a little embarrassed when he recalled the rumors that others had spread about his father. "You should know that my father endured humiliation and hardship because of your own business of selling information."

Qianmian nodded. "Enduring humiliation is true, but we can't rule out that that's just his nature. If it weren't for Madam Zhou, I guess he..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but Zhou Hanzhang already understood what he meant.

Indeed, if it weren't for Madam Zhou constantly keeping Zhou Huaide in check, cleaning up his messes, and spending money on him without hesitation, Zhou Huaide would have already ruined his family over the years.

“What you’re saying is meaningless. After all, my parents’ relationship is still pretty good. Although my father might be in a completely different situation without my mother, who knows what would have happened if my mother hadn’t married him,” Zhou Hanzhang said with emotion.

When she was young, Madam Zhou was a famous beauty.

Before she even reached marriageable age, numerous matchmakers came to propose marriage, but the Li family rejected all of them.

In the end, she took a liking to a poor scholar and almost married him.

Originally, Madam Zhou and the poor scholar were about to get married, but Zhou Huaide, who was still a prince at the time, fell in love with Madam Zhou at first sight on the street and then began to pursue her passionately.

Finally, constrained by imperial power, the Li family had no choice but to marry Madam Zhou to Zhou Huaide.

This matter caused quite a stir at the time, and Zhou Huaide even threatened that if he couldn't marry Madam Zhou, he would give up being a prince.

As a result, Zhou Huaide was indeed removed from the royal family.

However, the two have been quite loving over the years of their marriage.

Zhou Huaide was unwilling to take a concubine, but Madam Zhou, thinking that she had not given him a son, forced him to take Fang as a concubine.

However, he still gave birth to a daughter in the end. From then on, Zhou Huaide claimed that he was destined to be childless and refused to go to Aunt Fang's place again, as well as other women.

At this point in time, Zhou Huaide could be considered a first-rate good man.

Speaking of which, the poor scholar who was initially engaged to Madam Zhou caused quite a scene when he broke off the engagement.

After receiving a large sum of money from the Li family, he settled down.

And before Madam Zhou was even married, he quickly remarried and got engaged to someone else.

After that, he used that money to marry many concubines.

He often used his status as a scholar to beat and scold his wives and concubines at the slightest provocation.

On one occasion, he even beat his pregnant wife so badly that she miscarried, which led to a lawsuit.

After going to court, he said that he had a lot of children and didn't need one more, and the same goes for his wife. He said that as long as he had money, he could marry anywhere. He was just venting his anger and never expected to hurt his wife. He was a heartless person.

So how can we clearly distinguish between good and bad in this world?

“What you say makes sense. That’s why the world’s connections are so wondrous. You might think it’s you at the time, but then it turns out to be someone else.” Qianmian couldn’t help but sigh as he listened.

Zhou Hanzhang ignored him and instead held up the one hundred tael silver note in his hand, asking, "This silver note is mine now?"

Qianmian snatched it back immediately, saying, "This was given to me by your mother, so of course it's mine. I just wanted you to take a look."

Zhou Hanzhang scoffed, "I've seen it all before."

"Yes, yes, who doesn't know that you, young prince, have money?" Qianmian said as he put away the silver notes. "You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, unlike us, who work ourselves to the bone for so little."

Zhou Hanzhang rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, stop being so sour. Who doesn't know that your Red Beauty Pavilion makes a fortune every day?"

“Sigh, you don’t understand our suffering. We at Red Beauty Brothel make our money from the flesh trade. Don’t be fooled by how much we take in; we spend a lot too,” Thousand Faces complained.

"Are you trying to play the poor card in front of me now?" Zhou Hanzhang teased.

"Oh dear, sister, I'm not just pretending to be poor, I'm really poor," Qianmian said, feigning a pitiful expression.