Nie Bao walked over, first sweeping his eyes across everyone, his gaze lingering on Ye Zhuo's face for a moment before turning to Zhang Zi Qing: "Why don't you go in?"

  Zhangziqing smiled and said: "Miss Ye said that it's not too late to go in after the ceremony, let's wait. The latest free chapter of this book is available at..."

  Nie Bao Yi's gaze turned to Ye Zhuo, and he said lightly: "Yesterday, the young master told me that the matter had nothing to do with you, it was leaked from Master Gu. I was also wrong to suspect you that day. Today, I asked you to come see Master's jade carving, which is my way of apologizing to you. Since the young master has taken you in as a disciple, it's only a matter of time before you pay your respects and become his apprentice. You don't have to be restrained, feel free to go in and take a look if you want."

  "It's not necessary." Although Ye Zhuo knew it was a trap, she didn't need to jump into it. Even though she relied on her reaction ability honed from playing Pai Gow to avoid the collision and let the person who harmed her punish themselves by crashing into the jade carving, this matter had no significance for her leaving the house. Moreover, everyone present were people of the Nie family, and when the time came, they would all say the same thing, and even if someone else crashed into it, they could still blame it on her. Why bother to take on this trouble? Although she really wanted to see the master's work and learn some jade carving techniques.

  She raised her eyes to look at Nie Boyi, and the expression on her face was also faint: "Wait until I have the qualifications to go in that day, and come back with a clear conscience. There's no need to borrow the light of several young masters to observe now."

  Nie Bao Yi's face showed a hint of annoyance, but he quickly covered it up, pretending to be nonchalant, nodding and saying "Alright." After that, he turned around and instructed Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song. "Take the two junior brothers to participate in this courtyard with Little Junior Sister." As he spoke, he turned around and walked away, striding off to leave this place.

  Zhang Ziqing's eyes were clear and upright, while Zhao Song seemed uninterested in anything except jade carving, even when accompanying others, he rarely spoke. According to Ye Zhuo's experience of observing people, they had no intention of harming anyone. Moreover, Zhang Ziqing had just said that it was Nie Boyi's order for them to bring her to the Pu Institute to see the jade carvings. It was clear that Zhang Ziqing and Zhao Song were just pawns in Nie Boyi's hands, completely unaware of what was going on. When something went wrong, they would be the ones to take the blame. The Nie family could push all the responsibility onto these two, and as a third party, come out to mediate impartially, suppressing the matter.

  A cold glint flashed in Ye Zhuo's eyes. The aristocratic families, with their seemingly noble identities, were as black as crows under the sky. No matter which family it was, they all appeared to be sacred, but...

  She wouldn't let Nie Boyi leave, would she? However, instead of calling out to him, she turned to Zhang Ziqing and Zhao Song: "Zhang Gongzi, Zhao Gongzi. Since we're not looking at the jade carvings anymore, I'll head back first. This courtyard, after I become an apprentice, I will come to learn about jade carvings, it's not too late to see them then. Thank you both for inviting me today, I bid you farewell." After speaking, she followed Nie Boyi down the steps.

  Nie Bo Yi stopped in his tracks as soon as he heard this. Since everything was already set up today, how could Ye Zhuo just leave like that? The matter of dealing with Ye Zhuo had to be done before Nie Zhong Kun returned. Madame Nie was still angry with Ye Zhuo, but she also pitied her daughter and was willing to turn a blind eye. However, Nie Zhong Kun was a straightforward person who wouldn't tolerate any nonsense. Even if he loved Nie Wei Yue dearly, he would never allow them to do such things. Moreover, once Ye Zhuo became Nie Zhong Kun's disciple, their actions would be considered as infighting among fellow disciples, and the nature of the situation would be completely different. Even if Nie Zhong Kun and Madame Nie wanted to cover for them, it would still be very troublesome.

  However, he was cleverer than him and didn't want to be used as a gun by Nie Wei Yue. At that time, regardless of whether the plan succeeded or not, it would make Nie Zhong Kun blame him. Although he was a member of the Nie family, he was just a collateral branch younger generation. If this scapegoat couldn't be placed on Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song's bodies, then he would have to take the blame.

  Thinking so, he didn't stop her either, and Ye Zhuo left.

  Today's trap has been set up, with Nie Weiyue's temperament, she will definitely not let Ye Zhuo leave. As long as he doesn't make a sound, she will get impatient and take the initiative to come out.

  Ye Zhuo stepped down the stairs, seeing no movement behind her, she felt a bit puzzled. She furrowed her brow and pondered for a moment, then suddenly understood, and her steps became even bigger.

  "Big Brother Wu." Ye Zhuo was about to walk out when a voice came from the corridor next door. Before long, Nie Wei Yue emerged from the grove wearing a red dress. Seeing Ye Zhuo, she pretended to be stunned for a moment, then lowered her face and said to Nie Bo Yi: "Big Brother Wu, didn't you say you wanted to compete with her in jade carving again? Why did you let her go so soon?"

  Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song were taken aback, looking at Nie Bo Yi: "Try the Jade Carving?" Ye Zhuo also stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at Nie Bo Yi.

  "It's exactly that." Nie Weiyue raised her chin, walked to the front of the steps, and looked down at Ye Zhuo. "That one time we competed, my fifth brother felt something was very strange. It takes a pillar of incense to carve something, and even with my fifth brother's skills, it's not easy. You've only learned jade carving for less than a year, how could you complete it in such a short time? Moreover, my fifth brother remembers that you didn't start carving at first, but only began later. A pillar of incense is already difficult, let alone half a pillar. Therefore, we suspect that Master Gu colluded with you and gave you a ready-made jade pendant to compete with me. So today, my fifth brother wants to compete with you again."

  Ye Zhu's face sank: "Niece Nie, trouble comes from the mouth, I advise you not to speak rashly! What kind of person is Yu Fei? She is not only the emperor's concubine but also the Northern Sect's Gu Da Shi. With her identity and status, would she do such a thing? If this word gets out, aren't you afraid of bringing disaster to the Nie family?"

  "There are only a few of us here. I, Zhang Shidi and Zhao Shidi won't spread it out, nor will our servants. If you don't say anything, naturally no one will know." Nie Bao Yi interrupted, "This is not the point, the key is that I want to have another match with you. Originally wanted to wait for Master's return to have a match, but since you didn't give me face today, then let's first take down your arrogant momentum before saying anything."

  This was not what Ye Zhuang had imagined. She stared at Nie Bo Yi, wondering what they were up to when she heard the sound of Qiuyue's voice: "Miss, I'm back." Immediately afterwards, her figure emerged from the thicket.

  Ye Zhuo shifted his gaze to Qiuyue: "Did you bring the cloak?"

  "Here, put this on, be careful not to catch a chill." Autumn Moon noticed Nie Wei Yue was present, and Nie Bo Yi was also standing on the steps, everyone's faces looked unpleasant. Her heart skipped a beat, she hastily walked over to Ye Zhuo's side, while putting the cloak around Ye Zhuo's shoulders, she glanced at her face, seeing that she seemed fine, only then did she put her mind at ease, and nodded slightly in her direction.

  Ye Zhuo knew that Du Haoran's place should be fine, and he would definitely send Du Wang or Du Nian to secretly protect her, so she felt more at ease. She tied the belt of her cloak and said calmly to Nie Boye: "True gold is not afraid of fire refining. Since Master Nie is not convinced, then let's have another trial."

  "Very well, then. Let the young lady and Zhang Shidi and Zhao Shidi come together to bear witness." Nie Bao said as he led the way towards the back house.

  Ye Zhuo saw the eager expressions on Zhang Zi Qing and Zhao Song's faces, shook his head secretly, and followed Nie Bo Yi to the house.

  The houses behind do not have a main house and outhouses like the one in front, but are separate rooms, each separated by trees and flowers with a distance of about two zhangs between them. Even if you use a megaphone, you can't hear each other, ensuring that each room is not disturbed and conducive to everyone creating masterpieces of jade carving.

  Nie Bao Yi first took Ye Zhuo to the largest room in the middle, walked inside and opened a door, saying to Ye Zhuo: "In order to be fair, I'll let you choose the jade material first."

  Ye Chou walked over to take a look, and saw that in the house, which was at least ten zhang wide, rows of wooden racks were arranged, with various types of jade materials placed on top. The Nie family's business was indeed jade mining, and there were all sorts of fine jade materials on the racks. Some rare and precious jade materials that one would normally only hear about but never see were casually placed on the racks.

  "I'll give you dozens of options, and you pick one piece of jade material." Nie Bo Yi said.

  "It's all right, just this one." Ye Zhuo raised his hand and pointed to a piece of jade material on the shelf.

  Everyone was stunned. This is just a piece of ordinary gold silk jade, the worst one on this frame. Everyone couldn't understand why Ye Zhuo chose such a piece of jade material. Zhao Song was a person who was obsessed with jade carving, after hearing about Ye Zhuo's story, he always wanted to see her level of jade carving. Seeing her choose a piece of jade material without any special features, he couldn't help but speak out: "Miss Ye, there are many pieces of jade on this frame, it won't be too late to take a look before choosing."

  "It's not necessary, just leave it." Ye Zhuo didn't take the hint. She knew that this competition, the Drunken Master's intention was not in the wine, and maybe he wouldn't even let her carve. If so, why should she choose those top-quality jade materials, only to have the Nie family settle accounts with her over the jade materials later on?

  "Well, I'll take that one then." Nie Bo Yi saw Ye Zhuo being so decisive, he didn't pick and choose either. He casually pointed to a piece of jade material and then called out to the servants following behind him, "Each of you carry one piece, follow us."

  "Yes." The two young servants each came forward and carried one away.

  Nie Boyi led everyone out of the room and personally locked the door before heading towards a nearby room.

  "Yehu Niang, you can carve in this room, all the tools are complete. Today's jade material is relatively large, but it's not as good as the one that can be carved with a single stick of incense last time, let's take a single stick of incense as the standard." Nie Boyi said. Incense, as the name suggests, is a slow-burning incense that burns for exactly one hour.

  (Ka Wen, updated!) (Thank you for your support, it's my greatest motivation.)

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