"No problem. I know how to give orders." Harper was overjoyed, but when Rufus received his summons to River City, he felt a shiver down his spine.
"Mister Rufus, are you all right?"
Rufus rubbed his hands and said, "The cold air has got to my bones nowadays. Make the stove burn hotter. Don't slow down. Prince Matthew has summoned me to River City urgently. Something momentous must have happened."
"Yes, Mister Rufus."
But to Rufus' amazement, he was called in urgently to see Matthew, not for military business, nor for a matter of life and death. It was just because his wife wanted to open a shop in River City that he was summoned in such a hurry.
The main point was, as soon as he arrived, he was informed that Matthew had taken a well-run tea house in the best location from him, and offered it to his wife like a trinket for her amusement! Money shouldn't be wasted like that!
"Your Highness, what has got into you? Have you been drugged?" Rufus gritted his teeth. That tea house had been a perfect place to inquire for information, as many people came and went through there. But Matthew offered to his wife without regard for anything. 'Even if you wanted to give your wife a tea house, we could choose somewhere else. Why insist on taking this one?' Rufus thought.
"What's wrong? Do you think I look like I was drugged? Take out the title deed," said Matthew with unconcern
"No way!" Rufus howled. Then he sat down and crossed his legs, with a sulky and defiant look at Harper.
While playing with a silver needle in her hand, Harper gave a cold glance at Rufus. "Mister Rufus, your thin blood and your swollen eyes are the omens of kidney deficiency. Do you want me to give you some acupuncture?"
"You're suffering from kidney deficiency, and your whole family suffers from it," Rufus said crossly. But a split second later, Matthew's murderous look overwhelmed him, making him tremble with cold. Realizing that Matthew was also a member of her family, he quickly said, "Your Highness, I didn't mean you."
"You are one of my family members, Matthew. It's obvious that he was talking about you, no matter how he denied it. Honey, I promise you that I will turn him into a duck dying of kidney deficiency if you say the word," Harper said, with a mischievous intention.
Hearing that, Rufus didn't know how to respond. He looked at Matthew furtively, and found that Matthew was not merely a bit irritated. In fact, the prince was ready to eat him alive. So without any further resistance, he took the title deed out and said, "Here you are. It's the deed that you want."
"Did Alexander actually hurt you, too? He's just a child less than ten years old."
"I heard that your elder brother tried to strangle you when you were six years old, and he was only eight at that time. I don't care about any of the small trouble they stirred up and wouldn't have taken action if I hadn't felt threatened by them," Harper said in a relaxed and unconcerned tone.
Rufus blanched. As the second son of the Xiao Clan's head, he had a high position in his mansion, but there was deep enmity between him and his family. That was why he stood by Matthew. Nonetheless, the Chu Clan was not a patch on the Xiao Clan.
"I know. The Xiao Clan is more complicated than the Chu Clan, but at least not everybody in your clan wants to kill you, right? What's more, you are on Matthew's side now. Those of your clan do not object to you for that?" Harper asked.
"Why would they object?"
"Because the Xiao Clan betrayed Matthew when his mother died."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Forensic Imperial Concubine