In the arguing
crowd, Fu Feng, who was about to take action, paused and slowly retracted his hand on the long sword.
On the stage, Qiu Zhe opened his mouth, not knowing which sentence to refute her. After a while, he found his voice in horror and said, "You... why are you here too!"
"You are here, why can't I be here?" Qiu Che replied coldly, and then suddenly turned his wrist slightly.
Qiu Zhe in front of him turned pale in an instant and burst into a miserable scream.
Li Qingwu was startled.
When Qiu Che lightly let go of his hand, everyone saw that the wrist bones of Qiu Zhe's two hands had drooped in a twisted arc.
Qiu Che... directly broke Qiu Zhe's wrist?
Li Qingwu raised his eyes in surprise and met Qiu Che's calm gaze, as if the person who suddenly attacked just now was not her.
Qiuzhe was sweating profusely in pain, grimacing, and retreating while swearing hatefully: "Qiu Che! I am the prince's man now. If you dare to touch me, you are insulting His Royal Highness!"
Li Hengmao was staring at Qiu Che gloomily, as if responding to Qiuzhe, glancing at Qiuzhe's wrist, and said coldly: "Lord Qiu is so arrogant, why, do you also want to teach me a lesson?"
Qiuzhe immediately seemed to have found his backbone and became confident.
Even though his arm was twitching in pain, he still complained to the prince with a strong will: "That's right, Your Highness, Qiu Che is so bold, and she doesn't take you seriously anymore, you should teach her a lesson--" The
crowd watching around were suddenly confused.
Aren't these two people "brothers"?
Why do they look more like enemies than brothers?
Qiu Che took a step indifferently, as if he had just noticed that there was a prince next to him, and said slowly: "Your Highness, I should be the one asking you this."
"I heard that someone deliberately made trouble on the opening day, and thought that someone was particularly stupid. I didn't expect that it was you, Your Highness."
The prince's tone sank, and he was so angry that he was about to explode, but he still managed to control his emotions and sat there without moving: "... What do you mean?"
"Nothing," Qiu Che smiled slightly, "Just reminding you that you were wrong just now."
"Now that the new law has been promulgated, not only can Your Highness the Princess do business, but also civilian women... The same applies to brothel women," Qiu Che said lightly, "This is a law passed by His Majesty himself. Not only does Your Highness not know about it, but he even openly challenges the new law."
"If it is passed to His Majesty..."
Thinking of this possibility, the prince's face darkened again. He was no longer sitting in that leisurely posture, but his upper body was slightly leaning forward, his hands were clasped on the armrests of the chair, and his veins were
almost bulging.
It seems that if he had not been weak, he would have crushed the armrest with his bare hands, just like Qiu Che had broken Qiu Zhe's wrist.
The two sides confronted each other for a long time, and the prince slowly looked back, put away his cold and angry eyes, stood up and uttered one word: "Let's go."
Qiu Zhe looked at him anxiously and thought for a long time, but he came up with such a result, and was dumbfounded.
He said anxiously: "Your Highness, no, he is provoking you like this, even to the extent of threatening you, how can you still endure it..."
The prince glanced at him, making him stop talking.
He said coldly: "Stupid, shut up."
Qiu Zhe trembled, looked at Qiu Che, and then at the prince, thinking resentfully in his heart, one or two, just know how to take out their anger on themselves.
But even so, the prince said so, and he turned pale and didn't dare to say anything.
Whether the prince is willing to admit it or not, what Qiu Che said is really reasonable.
He can't let things get out of hand.
Li Qingwu and Qiu Che ignored the consequences. One openly contradicted his brother, and the other challenged the prince. They broke their brother's hand in public... They were both brainless lunatics.
Although the prince left the stage in a mess, he raised his head in his heart pretending to be calm, judging them from a high position.
When passing by Qiu Che, the prince whispered, "I will remember you. Wait and see."
Qiu Che smiled, saluted sideways, and looked straight ahead: "Farewell, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince--"
Li Qingwu also bowed and lowered his head to avoid the prince's gaze.
The prince snorted coldly, thinking that no matter how proud he was, he still had to salute him obediently.
Thinking of this, his ugly face finally looked better.
Several dandies were confused throughout the whole process. They didn't dare to speak since they saw Qiu Che jumping down from the second floor like a god falling from the sky. Seeing that she even challenged the prince, they took a deep breath in their hearts.
When they heard that she was the "Lord Qiu" who was very popular in the palace recently, they became even more silent, and admired Qiu Zhe's courage to confront her by relying on his brother's status.
But... didn't he always yell about his brother? Why did he look like he hated his "brother" so much when they met today?
Several people looked at each other.
When they followed the prince, they were still hesitant to grab the girl's collar and take her away, but Qiu Che glanced at them lightly, and they were frightened and let go.
Qiuzhe didn't dare to scold Qiuche, nor did he dare to vent his anger on the prince. He turned around and scolded them in a low voice: "A bunch of waste!"
Several dandies didn't tolerate him, and immediately retorted: "Who are you? What does it have to do with you whether we are useless or not?! Didn't you break both your hands?"
Someone laughed at him: "If you don't go to the doctor, I'm afraid these two hands will really be useless. You should take care of yourself more."
Qiuzhe was speechless. When he thought that he would live with broken hands from now on, he immediately ran away in a panic, cursing.
In the restaurant, after the group of people left, the waiters and maids came forward with great tact, picked up the kicked chairs one by one, and quietly cleaned up the scene. There
were many people in the restaurant, and so many things happened just now. But today is the opening day, and it is impossible to close it again at this time.
They are not convenient to talk in public.
Li Qingwu still has something to tell the shopkeeper and the waiter, so he didn't have time to say much to Qiuche, but just looked at her gratefully.
Then he pushed her shoulder and whispered, "You go up and sit for a while, we will go back and talk together later."
Qiu Che nodded and said okay, then she turned around and said a few words to Yaotai, then hurriedly crossed the crowd and found the young shopkeeper.
The two sides talked for a while, and the young shopkeeper raised his voice to apologize to the guests who had not left yet: "I'm sorry that so many things happened today, which affected the mood of all the guests. To make up for it, all the drinks and meals in Linglong Pavilion will be reduced by 70% today."
The crowd burst into cheers of joy, and the atmosphere gradually became lively again.
Li Qingwu then turned around again, found Fufeng, and asked him to settle the girl, and talk about the rest later.
Qiu Che quietly watched Li Qingwu's busy back for a while, and turned around to see Yaotai looking at her too.
She paused, in front of the crowd, it was inconvenient to say too much to her, so she nodded and passed by her.
Yaotai glanced at her back meaningfully, and then looked at Li Qingwu, thinking that it seemed that this couple still had a long way to go.
Back in the private room on the second floor, Yang and Qiu were whispering something. When they looked up and saw her, Wu Yiqi gave her a thumbs up: "Awesome, brother."
Yang Qiu raised his eyebrows slightly and explained: "We saw it just now."
Both of them were wearing masks. Seeing that Qiu Che had not come back for a long time, and the noise outside was getting louder and louder, they hit it off and wanted to go out to see what was going on.
As a result, as soon as they opened the door of the private room, they saw a figure jumping down from the corridor in front of them, with his clothes flying.
Wu Yiqi was so scared that he rushed forward immediately, just in time to see Qiu Che landing steadily in the middle of the lobby, and even heroically saving the beauty, blocking Qiu Zhe's figure rushing over.
He was dumbfounded: "No... no one told me that this kid knows martial arts?"
Yang Qiu was also shocked, but then quickly recovered and said calmly: "That's because you are careless."
He had discovered it a long time ago.
Back to the present, Wu Yiqi scratched his head: "If you have this talent, why don't you join the army or the Jinyiwei? You will definitely be promoted all the way."
Qiu Che lifted his robe and sat down leisurely, jokingly saying: "Am I not being promoted?"
Wu Yiqi thought about it and felt that he asked a stupid question.
Yang Qiu pondered for a long time, ate a few mouthfuls of food slowly, frowned, and didn't speak for a long time.
Qiu Che glanced at him: "You have something to say?"
Yang Qiu put down his chopsticks, and said gently: "Then I'll say it directly."
Qiu Che said that he was all ears.
"You are too impulsive," Yang Qiu said as soon as he opened his mouth. "The prince has not lost his power yet. No matter how you analyze it, it will not do you any good to have a conflict with him."
Even Wu Yiqi glared at him when he heard it: "No, why are you still saying this at this time? If he is not impulsive, his wife's reputation will be ruined--"
Qiu Che was accustomed to his tone. He calmly drank a sip of water, picked up the chopsticks to pick up the dishes, and said: "So you mean, I have to watch them being humiliated like this?"
Yang Qiu paused: "Not really, but I think there is a better solution. Report to the authorities and wait for them to deal with it, or stop them first, but don't conflict with them..."
Wu Yiqi muttered: "Can the government handle royal affairs?"
Yang Qiu said: "The emperor is guilty of the same crime as the common people. With so many people present, he can't make excuses."
Qiu Che smiled and took a bite of the almost cold dish. While chewing, he said: "That kind of lukewarm method has no deterrent effect."
"But it is the safest way." Yang Qiu said calmly.
Wu Yiqi seemed to be thinking: "Brother Yang is right. Now that you mention it, I also think that Brother Qiu is too impulsive."
"But I don't like to deal with it that way."
Qiu Che also calmly retorted, "This is the first time this kind of thing happens. If we can't teach them a lesson, there will be a second time."
"I will take revenge on the spot if I have a grudge. The only way I can hold back on revenge is to kill him directly." A cold light flashed in Qiu Che's eyes.
She lowered her eyes, not looking at the expressions of the two people, and ate the dishes slowly, saying: "I know you always think that I act impulsively, but Lord Yang - some things can't be solved by your gentle and tactful methods."
Wu Yiqi thought about it and scratched his head: "Well... okay, I think what you said makes sense."
"Can it be solved by your impulsive method?" Yang Qiu frowned, "You also know that if something like this happens for the first time, there will be a second time. This time you are here, you can help, what about next time?" Qiu Che paused with
his chopsticks.
"Next time your wife encounters something like this, will you still be able to rush over in time?" Yang Qiu asked, "No matter how much you hate this way of dealing with people, you must admit that this is how the world is."
This world requires women to follow the three obediences and four virtues, men to be superior to women, and the emperor to be in power.
"This is how the world is. You can save her for a while, but you can't save her forever."
Qiu Che was silent for a moment, remembering that before Li Qingwu officially started his business, Wang had also said something similar to her in private.
At that time, she worriedly advised Qiu Che to let Li Qingwu not show up in public: "You are a man now, so naturally you can do anything, but she is different."
"Mother knows that you have great ambitions, so she won't stop you... But you help her resist and teach her to resist, but you can't change the world, and in the end it will only hurt her."
Qiu Che was silent for a long time at that time, just like now, and said:
"In that case, then I will change this world."
Not long after, the revised law bill was passed.
It is clearly stipulated that women can also engage in business and own their own property. After marriage, it is up to their own will whether the property will be transferred to their husbands.
However, the new law has been promulgated not long ago, but there are as many as a thousand laws. Not to mention the poor people, even the crown prince of the current dynasty does not have the patience to read them all.
Therefore, these seemingly insignificant laws and regulations did not cause any waves among the people in a short period of time.
Of course, it is naturally impossible to change the world immediately with just one law.
But Qiu Che's reform has just begun.
Yang Qiu frowned slightly again, as if he felt that she did not listen to what he said at all.
But looking at her calm and firm eyes, Yang Qiu wondered if he was indeed too indecisive.
From childhood to adulthood, his father taught him that he needed to overcome hardness with softness in dealing with people, not to be impulsive in everything, and not to offend people if he could avoid offending them.
His father did what he taught his son. Even though he was feared by others for his achievements, he lived safely until now, and his eldest granddaughter is almost ten years old.
Yang Qiu always opposed his father in studying, but he always behaved very well in other aspects.
This is also the reason why he was good at dancing and won so many good reputations as soon as he entered the capital.
Qiu Che seemed to know what he was thinking, and suddenly said: "Why do you think you only got the third place?"
Yang Qiu came back to his senses and was stunned: "...Huh?"
Qiu Che smiled, pointed at Wu Yiqi, and then pointed at himself: "Among the three of you, me and him, I think you have the highest knowledge, and I am second."
Wu Yiqi was originally quiet, but he was dissatisfied when he heard it: "Hey, you two are arguing about your own things, what do you mean by pulling me down?"
The other two were too lazy to pay attention to him.
Wu Yiqi touched his nose and felt that this scene was a little familiar.
"I think you know it in your heart," Qiu Che continued on the other side, "Then what do you think, why didn't you get the top place? Why did His Majesty only use me after passing the imperial examination?"
Yang Qiu understood what she was going to say, and his eyebrows sank slightly.
As expected, Qiu Che said: "Let's put aside other reasons. The biggest reason is that your father, Prince Zhao, is feared by him."
"Your father didn't want to let you serve as an official in the court. Perhaps he was afraid of this scene. If you are still reused, your son will be a powerful civil official, and he will be a military officer who is more powerful than your master. Then Your Majesty will inevitably become suspicious of Prince Zhao again."
"He will doubt. With such huge power and fame, will he really not have any other thoughts?"
"If you are not prepared, it will be a fatal disaster."
Yang Qiu was silent.
"He was reluctant to give Wu Yiqi the title of No. 1 Scholar, because Prime Minister Wu had the final say in the government and he didn't trust Wu Yiqi."
"So he weighed the pros and cons for a long time and chose me, who had the least impressive family background among the three, to be the No. 1 Scholar."
Wu Yiqi pouted, leaned on the table, and said lazily, "What? It's my grandfather's fault, and I still missed the title of No. 1 Scholar."
Qiu Che glanced at him, "--Of course, it's also because I did well in the exam."
Wu Yiqi: "..."
Damn.
This is specifically for him, right?
"As you said, in this world, if you are gentle, tactful and compromising, you can certainly live safely."
"But this is not enough. There are always some people who need to be at the forefront and tear up the rotten rules in order to open up a brand new force in the court," Qiu Che said, "So what if you are good at networking? In the officialdom, what matters is not your knowledge or your connections, but your family background and official position, whether His Majesty trusts you, and whether your power is enough to have a say--"
She concluded gently but firmly: "When you encounter a powerful person, it is useless to reason with him."
"The same huge power is the greatest reason to persuade him to retreat."
"If what you said is true, you are now a popular person in front of the palace, but can you guarantee that you will always be a popular person in front of the palace? Can everything go smoothly?" Yang Qiu couldn't help but lower his voice and said, "You must always leave yourself a way out."
"In my case, losers should not have a way out."
Qiu Che smiled, "Of course I can't guarantee that I can always laugh to the end, but even if that day really comes, I just need to know that I have tried my best along the way."
"No matter what the outcome is, it's fate, I just have to have no regrets."
Yang Qiu fell into deep thought.
Qiu Che said this, put down his chopsticks, and said: "Okay, let's stop here today, I'll go back first."
She stood up to leave, paused again, reached out and patted Yang Qiu's shoulder, and said softly:
"I understand your kindness, but I don't agree with your point of view."
"I hope that one day, when the people you care about experience this kind of humiliation and danger, you will be able to keep your composure like today."
Qiu Che left, and Wu Yiqi sat there and dared not breathe.
Looking at Qiu Che's back and Yang Qiu's silent face, he thought: It's over.
The two brothers quarreled. If they are angry and refuse to come out together next time, who should he choose as he is caught in the middle?