Chapter 66: First Confrontation

Li Qingyao received the news and returned to the estate ahead of time. Qin Hao and Li Qingyao discussed their subsequent countermeasures.

Once they had chatted enough, Li Qingyao smiled and said, "Qin Hao, regarding the relocation of southerners to the north, Duke Yang's side has loosened his stance somewhat."

Qin Hao narrowed his eyes. "Is he unable to withstand the pressure anymore? It seems Uncle Zhao is quite formidable."

Li Qingyao looked at Qin Hao in surprise, her red lips parting slightly. "How did you know it was the Vice Director of the Secretariat Zhao who exerted his influence?"

Qin Hao smiled mysteriously. "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed."

Inwardly, however, he added, I could hardly say this was because I had prior experience.

Still, Uncle Zhao was truly awesome. All he had given Uncle Zhao were methods and concepts, yet when putting them into practice, countless unexpected issues arose.

Yet Uncle Zhao was able to handle every single one of them. He truly lived up to the reputation of a prime minister.

"Don't just pour tea for yourself. You've made my throat dry just talking—let me have a sip too." With that, Qin Hao casually took the teacup from Li Qingyao's hand and began to drink from it.

"That's the one I drank from!" Li Qingyao tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"What's wrong? I'm not disgusted by you." Qin Hao didn't care at all and finished it in one breath.

Hearing this, Li Qingyao grew furious. "I hope you choke on it."

This princess isn't disgusted by you, yet you're disgusted by me? Simply audacious.

"Your Highness, someone from the Zhang family is here," Xiaozhao reported, directly ignoring Qin Hao sitting side by side with the princess. She had already completely grown accustomed to Qin Hao's behavioral patterns.

Knowing it was time to handle serious business, both Qin Hao and Li Qingyao straightened up.

Li Qingyao regained her icy composure and said indifferently, "Let them in."

The first to enter was Zhang Zhihe of the Zhang family, accompanied by Zhang Yi. Originally, Zhang Yi did not want to come, but after all, he was one of the people directly involved.

When Zhang Zhihe saw Li Qingyao and was about to bow, he noticed Qin Hao sitting right beside her on the same bench. Doubt stirred in his heart.

Was Qin Hao's position in the Eldest Princess's heart really this high?

Not dwelling on it too much for now, he bowed to Li Qingyao first to show the aristocratic families' respect for the royal house.

"Please take a seat, Patriarch Zhang," Li Qingyao said.

Even as royalty, Li Qingyao had to treat the powerful aristocratic clans with courtesy.

Zhang Zhihe sat down, while Zhang Yi stood respectfully by his side.

"Your Highness, regarding the list of reparations, this old man has a few questions," Zhang Zhihe said.

Since he was here to negotiate the compensation, Zhang Zhihe went straight to the point without any beating around the bush.

Li Qingyao smiled slightly. "Patriarch Zhang, there is no need to rush. We can discuss it together once the Yang family arrives."

Zhang Zhihe humbly replied, "Your Highness, this old man is merely the Zhang family's representative in the capital; I cannot claim to be the head of the family."

Having said that, he fell silent.

As for the title of Patriarch Zhang, it wasn't entirely incorrect to call him that. After all, he represented the entire Zhang family as their spokesman in the capital and served as the family's deputy head.

Before long, the Earl of Kaiyang arrived.

"Greetings, Your Highness," the Earl of Kaiyang saluted.

"Please be seated, Lord Kaiyang," Li Qingyao said.

As soon as he sat down, the Earl of Kaiyang glanced coldly at Qin Hao before speaking again. "Your Highness, on behalf of the Yang family, I relinquish the sales rights to the renowned wine and forfeit all future profits as compensation for the famous wine damaged this time."

As soon as these words were spoken, a glint of suspicion flashed simultaneously in the eyes of both Qin Hao and Zhang Zhihe.

Zhang Zhihe's mind raced rapidly.

For the Yang family to give up the sales rights to the famous wine meant that the Yang family, who were originally insiders, were now stepping out of the game completely.

The Yang family could not possibly be unaware of just how massive the profits from this renowned wine were. All four major clans could afford to lose, and they certainly wouldn't give up this profit simply because they lost to the Eldest Princess in the imperial court.

Under such circumstances, didn't this imply there was some other grievance between the Yang family and the Eldest Princess?

No. For many years, there had been no direct grievances between the Yang family and the Eldest Princess.

Then...

It must be that there was bad blood between the Yang family and Qin Hao.

Ever since he arrived in the capital, he had heard about the discord between Qin Hao and the Qin estate. Moreover, the Earl of Kaiyang was Duke Yang's son-in-law—which, to put it bluntly, made him a member of the Yang family as well.

He had previously assumed that the feud between Qin Hao and the Qin family was merely a struggle for the title of heir between the eldest son of the primary wife and a secondary son. It now appeared there were many things hidden beneath the surface that he was unaware of.

So much so that the Yang family would rather forfeit a lucrative source of profit than compromise with Qin Hao.

That made things quite interesting.

Qin Hao's thoughts, however, were entirely different.

Duke Yang, representing the Yang family, was giving up the sales rights. Although this was the collective will of the Yang family, Duke Yang was their representative in the capital, and this decision also embodied Duke Yang's personal intent.

Doesn't that mean Duke Yang was indirectly trying to protect his daughter?

It seemed that on his path to destroying Yang Suxin, he might well have to face Duke Yang himself.

Li Qingyao said indifferently, "Since the Yang family is giving up these profits, all past grievances shall be written off."

This was something Li Qingyao and Qin Hao had discussed in advance. Since the Yang family had already abandoned the wine profits and washed their hands of the matter, how could they continue to extort them? Thus, they had no choice but to write the slate clean.

"Many thanks, Your Highness." The Earl of Kaiyang stood up and bowed. "Since the matter here is concluded, I shall take my leave."

With that, the Earl of Kaiyang stood up to depart.

"Xiaozhao, see the Earl of Kaiyang out," Li Qingyao instructed.

"This way, my lord," Xiaozhao said, leading the way.

The Earl of Kaiyang nodded and left.

Now, only the Zhang family representative remained.

Inwardly, Zhang Zhihe cursed Duke Yang. The Yang family had run off, leaving the Zhang family behind—and the Zhang family wasn't going to have an easy time of it either.

"Patriarch Zhang, since the Yang family has paid half of the losses by sacrificing their profits, the other half—totaling three hundred and seventy thousand silver taels—shall be paid by the Zhang family," Li Qingyao said with a smile as she looked at Zhang Zhihe.

Zhang Yi could not help blurting out, "There's no such thing as that much! It was clearly Zhao Guangnian who smashed the wine jars. Why should we pay for it?"

Zhang Zhihe stopped his grandson from speaking further and said, "Your Highness, you can ask Qin Hao right beside you."

"When our Zhang family ordered wine from Qin Hao back then, he said there were only fifty jars of famous wine. Where on earth did one hundred jars come from?"

"Furthermore, when the incident occurred that day, from what I observed, many of the smashed jars didn't even have official seals on them. They couldn't have been the two types of renowned wine sold on the market."

"Am I wrong?"

Qin Hao smiled. "When did that happen? I never said any such thing."

"Patriarch Zhang, you should know that renowned wine is a byproduct of the divine medicine alcohol; in reality, there is no upper limit to its quantity."

"The jars your grandson smashed were all filled with renowned wine."

Zhang Zhihe cast a disdainful glance at Qin Hao.

So young, yet so utterly shameless. Do you expect anyone to believe that every single jar was filled with famous wine?

Qin Hao feigned complete ignorance; his goal was simply to force Zhang Zhihe into paying.

Zhang Zhihe was not someone who could be easily manipulated. Throwing the problem right back at them, he smiled and said, "Your Highness, if the Zhang family refuses to pay and also refuses to give up the sales rights, what price must we pay?"

Inwardly, Qin Hao cursed Zhang Zhihe as an old fox.

True to being an old man who had turned into a spirit, this old fogey understood the situation as clearly as a mirror. Knowing full well he was about to be fleeced, he simply bypassed the payment question and asked how badly they would be squeezed if they refused—a textbook display of playing rogue.

A thought flashed through Qin Hao's mind, and as an idea struck him, he fell into deep contemplation.

As the saying goes, what is free is often the most expensive. How could he possibly let a piece of fat meat delivered right to Zhang Zhihe's doorstep slip away?

Li Qingyao, however, did not understand these tactical maneuvers; she had no idea what kind of compensation to demand other than silver taels.

Therefore, while calmly pondering, she subconsciously stole a glance at Qin Hao.

And it was precisely this single glance that was caught by Zhang Zhihe.