The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 236 A big gamble
There were already about a dozen women sitting in the private room on the third floor. They all looked quite young, and their appearances varied, ranging from charming and alluring to aloof and delicate.

"We're late." Lou Niangzi pushed open the door and went in, with Shang Wan following behind her.

The conversation in the private room suddenly stopped, and the women all turned to look at them.

"I have successfully completed my mission and brought the person you requested." Lady Lou pulled Shang Wan to sit down in an empty seat.

Shang Wan felt a blur before her eyes, a fragrant breeze caressed her face, and the empty seat next to her was now occupied.

Immediately afterwards, all the proprietresses surrounded Shang Wan, showering her with concern and care.

Shang Wan suddenly felt as if she had fallen into a flower garden, surrounded by sweet and gentle voices.

The proprietresses' dresses were all scented. It was fine if one of them was alone, but when a dozen or so of them surrounded her, Shang Wan's nose suffered.

"Achoo!" She couldn't help but cover her nose and sneeze.

Lady Lou hurriedly said, "Stop crowding around, sit down and talk. If you scare people away, you'll all be crying."

Seeing that Shang Wan was indeed feeling unwell, the proprietresses awkwardly returned to their seats.

Shang Wan raised her hand and rubbed her nose, still feeling stuffy. Just as she was about to get up and open the window, Lou Niangzi stood up first and reached out to push the window on the side open a crack.

A cold wind blew in through the crack, and although it was cold, it also carried away some of the fragrance floating in the air.

Shang Wan was finally able to breathe again and gave Lou Niangzi a grateful look.

Lou Niangzi smiled and sat down again.

She brought up a topic, "Have you heard that Qionghua Restaurant went bankrupt?"

"When?"

"No customers come in, it should have gone out of business long ago."

"I wonder who has the ability to take over such a large restaurant."

"Why did it suddenly collapse?"

"Not suddenly, I have some news that I guarantee you'll be interested." The flower lady at the dessert shop winked playfully at everyone, giving them a knowing look that said, "I have a secret, but I won't tell you unless you beg me."

The group exchanged glances, and the two closest to her reached out and tickled her.

The young lady laughed so hard she nearly fell over, twisting her body to dodge while begging for mercy, "Good sister, spare me, I'll tell you, okay?"

"Little girl, I've got you figured out." The woman beside her, who looked to be around thirty, raised her hand to adjust the gold hairpin in her hair and glanced at Hua Niangzi with her alluring phoenix eyes.

If it were a man, he would have melted to the bone with just one look from her, a look that was both charming and coquettish.

Even though Hua Niangzi was female, her heart still beat faster than usual.

She blushed and straightened her slightly disheveled clothes before slowly saying, "Last night, a major incident occurred at Linglong Gambling House."

She paused, intending to pique the curiosity of the women by keeping them in suspense, but with two hands watching her intently, she had no choice but to abandon her playful thoughts and continue.

"Young Master Qiao gambled heavily with Young Master Qiao at the gambling den, losing 100,000 taels of silver in just two hours, almost pawning his underwear. It was only after the two masters of the Qiao family arrived that Young Master Qiao was able to be taken back. You didn't see the expression on the eldest master Qiao's face, tsk tsk, he looked like he wanted to eat Young Master Qiao alive."

Young Master Qiao is Qiao Yugui, and Master Qiao is his father, while Third Young Master Qiao is Qiao Yu'an.

The Qiao family had three branches. Old Madam Qiao passed away early, and Old Master Qiao only lasted three more years before also passing away.

After Old Master Qiao passed away, the third branch of the family separated and moved out to live independently. Now the whole family has settled in the prefectural city and comes back to visit during festivals.

The eldest and second wives' families hadn't separated. It wasn't that the second wife's family didn't want to, but rather that the eldest brother, Master Qiao, was preventing the second wife's family from moving out. The reason, of course, was that the second wife had married a good wife.

Qiao Er's wife, Yanlan, was the daughter of a high-ranking official of the fourth rank, who was the Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

Old Master Qiao and Imperial Censor Yan were classmates and friends, but Old Master Qiao failed the imperial examinations repeatedly, while Imperial Censor Yan passed on the first try and rose rapidly through the ranks, enjoying a relatively smooth official career.

After gaining power, Censor Yan did not forget her good friend, Old Master Qiao, and the two often corresponded.

Trouble has arisen in the court, and Censor Yan has been inadvertently drawn into it, her path ahead fraught with danger.

Yanlan was the only daughter in her family. In order to protect her daughter from being implicated, Imperial Censor Yan married her off to Dongning County and entrusted her to the care of an old friend.

At that time, Master Qiao was already married, and Master Qiao the Second was about the same age as Yanlan, so the two became husband and wife.

As a result, the Qiao family and the Yan family became in-laws.

After the incident, Censor Yan was reinstated to her original position. Since her daughter had become a member of the Qiao family, she became even more concerned about the Qiao family and also intended to help them.

Unfortunately, none of Old Master Qiao's three sons were any good; only the third son passed the county-level imperial examination, while the other two failed to even pass the county-level examination.

My son isn't good at studying, so he can only look after his grandson.

Qiao Yu'an was the most studious among their generation, and also Yan Lan's biological son. Imperial Censor Yan valued her grandson highly and often wrote letters to inquire about his well-being.

Once Qiao Yu'an passes the provincial examination and enters the capital, with Censor Yan by his side, his future path will not be difficult.

But Master Qiao was not willing to accept this; he felt that everything Master Qiao owned should belong to him.

If he hadn't already been married, Yanlan's husband would have been him, and the one who received Yan Yushi's favor and support would have been his own son.

If the second branch of the family separates and lives independently, how can they still benefit from the Yan family?
Therefore, he kept using filial piety and brotherly love to prevent the second branch of the family from being separated.

Master Qiao the Second was easily swayed; after Master Qiao the First appealed to his family ties a few times, he agreed not to separate the family.

Yanlan argued with him several times because of this. If it weren't for her two children, she would have packed her bags and gone back to her parents' home long ago.

Previously, when Qiao Yugui injured his leg, Qiao Yu'an asked Shang Wan for medicine for him. Afterwards, he acted as a middleman several times to help Qiao Yugui negotiate cooperation. Shang Wan thought the two had a good relationship.

But the truth was not what Shang Wan thought. Qiao Yu'an was extremely annoyed by his cousin Qiao Yugui. He was often punished because of this cousin and his relatives from the first branch of the family.

He endured it all because of Qiao Weiwei.

Although Qiao Yu'an can be a bit silly at times, he still cares a lot about his younger sister, Qiao Weiwei.

Qiao Yugui was not good to Qiao Yu'an, but he was very good to his cousin Qiao Weiwei. The two got along more like siblings.

Qiao Yu'an was initially on guard, sending people to keep an eye on her both openly and secretly, worried that Qiao Yugui would first coax his younger sister and then harm her when he couldn't see her.

But over the years, without noticing anything unusual, they unconsciously became complacent.

This lapse in vigilance led to trouble.

Shang Wan had reminded Qiao Yu'an, but Qiao Yu'an didn't pay attention at first. Later, when Madam Qiao mentioned Qiao Weiwei's strange behavior several times, Qiao Yu'an took it to heart and sent someone to investigate.

If you don’t check, you won’t know. If you check, you will be shocked.

That heartless Qiao Yugui actually tricked Qiao Weiwei into having an affair and getting engaged to the son of Qiao's second cousin.

Qiao Yu'an was so angry that she almost drew her knife and killed the wild man. It took Ah Le a lot of persuasion to calm her down.