As Jiang Li stepped out of the front hall, she heard the system’s notification chime.
[Ding! The ingrate Yin Ranshuang has become entangled with the dandy Wei Zizhang. Host has been rewarded with two Disguise Pills.]
Jiang Li carefully read the system’s instructions. After taking a Disguise Pill, she could change her appearance into that of another person, or even a completely fabricated face, for four hours.
’This could be useful. It might come in handy someday.’
Jiang Li had just returned to Qinghe Courtyard when a servant came with a message: people from the gambling den were there to cause trouble.
Mrs. Fan sent a servant to ask Jiang Li to come.
’How amusing,’ Jiang Li thought. ’I bet Mrs. Fan is still after my savings, hoping I’ll cover Yin Chengzhou’s debt.’
But since the servant had come to summon her, Jiang Li decided she might as well go have a look. She could treat it as a chance to witness Yin Chengzhou’s misfortune firsthand.
’But as for her paying? Absolutely not.’
Jiang Li arrived at the front courtyard at a leisurely pace, just in time to see the men from the gambling den still arguing with Mr. Yin.
"I don’t give a damn about your Yin Family! All I know is that debts must be paid. Your son owes our den a thousand taels of silver, and now you’re going to pay it back. If you refuse, then we’ll stick to our original agreement and chop off one of his hands."
Mrs. Fan shielded Yin Chengzhou behind her, tears streaming down her anxious face. "Husband, you can’t let them! Chengzhou must have been momentarily confused and tricked by these people. You have to save him! We can’t let them cut off his hand. He still has his studies! How can he lose a hand?"
Mr. Yin, Yin Hongcai, was livid. "Confused?" he roared. "If you hadn’t constantly spoiled and coddled him, would our second son have ended up like this? The family scraped together money for him to return to the academy, and what does he do? He sneaks off to gamble! What’s the point of him studying at all? We might as well let these men chop his hand off!"
Even now, Yin Chengzhou refused to admit he was wrong. He stubbornly stuck his neck out. "It was just a bout of bad luck! Give me a little more time, and I can definitely turn things around and win back even more silver. It’s only a thousand taels, that’s nothing! I won way more than that when I started."
If he hadn’t gotten that initial taste of winning, thinking he could easily make tens of thousands of taels, he never would have borrowed a mere thousand from the den.
’Besides,’ he thought, ’a thousand taels isn’t that much. Even if I lost, it’s not like the family can’t afford to pay it back.’
Yin Hongcai was so furious he staggered. He lunged forward, raising his foot to kick Yin Chengzhou.
Mrs. Fan threw herself in front of her son, and Yin Hongcai’s kick landed squarely on her instead.
Mrs. Fan shrieked in pain, lost her footing, and collapsed to the ground.
Blinded by rage, Yin Hongcai aimed another kick at Yin Chengzhou. But this time, Yin Chengzhou dodged, and Yin Hongcai ended up face-planting on the ground himself.
It took all of Jiang Li’s willpower to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up into a smile.
She walked over and asked in a soft, delicate voice, "Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, what’s going on?"
The moment Mrs. Fan saw Jiang Li, she ignored her own pain and immediately started trying to borrow money. "Oh, Ali! Your mother knows you’re tight on cash and can’t just give us the money. But I know you have a dowry. Could you take out something worth a thousand taels and pawn it? As you can see, Chengzhou was tricked! If we don’t come up with a thousand taels, they’re going to cut off his hand! He’s a scholar! How can he lose his hand?"
Jiang Li feigned surprise, blinking as she looked at the men from the gambling den. "If my brother-in-law was truly tricked, then we shouldn’t pay this money. Why don’t we just report it to the authorities?"
Mrs. Fan grew frantic and slapped her thigh. "Report it to the authorities? Absolutely not! Chengzhou still has the imperial examinations to take! If this gets out, won’t it ruin his future prospects as an official?"
The mention of Yin Chengzhou’s career as an official almost made Jiang Li laugh out loud.
’In her past life, she was the one who had found a better academy for her brother-in-law, Yin Chengzhou. She had hired renowned tutors to guide him and pushed him to stay on the right path. That was the only reason he had managed to become Prime Minister.’
’Otherwise, with his devious nature, he never would have passed the examinations.’
Jiang Li pursed her lips, feigning a troubled expression. "But the family doesn’t have that much silver. Are we supposed to just swallow this loss in silence?"
Yin Hongcai scrambled up from the floor and cut off Mrs. Fan just as she was about to speak again.
"Shut up! Haven’t you caused enough embarrassment for one day?"
Even though Yin Hongcai was also coveting Jiang Li’s dowry, how could he demand it from his daughter-in-law in front of outsiders? To ask her to pawn her things... he couldn’t bear that kind of public humiliation!
Yin Hongcai turned to the men from the gambling den, his face cold. "Come back in three days. We will find a way to get the thousand taels."
The men from the den looked hesitant, so Yin Hongcai added, "What, you think the Yin Family is going to run away?"
The men considered this. It made sense. Yin Hongcai was an official at the Ministry of Justice; he wasn’t going anywhere.
The leader of the group smiled. "Fine. We’ll wait three more days. We trust that Mr. Yin will have the thousand taels ready for us. Once you do, we’ll return the IOU."
With that said, the men from the gambling den departed.
The moment they were gone, Yin Hongcai shot a furious glare at Yin Chengzhou. "You little brat, you must have a death wish, daring to go to a gambling den! If you don’t want to study, then get out and find work to pay off your own damn debt!"
Yin Chengzhou’s face was full of scorn. "It’s only a thousand taels. It’s not that much money, and it’s not like our family can’t afford it. Besides, my luck was just bad for a bit. Once it turns, I’ll win it all back."
Yin Hongcai’s expression turned utterly foul. He lunged to strike Yin Chengzhou, only to be blocked by Mrs. Fan again.
The three of them started pulling and shoving each other, the scene descending into chaos.
They only stopped when the Second Young Madam, Hu Huiniang, rushed in.
When Hu Huiniang heard that her husband was in gambling debt, tears immediately began to stream down her face.
"I’m at home taking care of our three children while my husband lies about returning to the academy, when he’s actually been deceiving me! The Hu Family may be of humble origins, but we are a respectable family. We can’t be swindled like this! If my husband goes to that gambling den again, I’ll take our three children and return to my family!"
At this threat, all three of them—Yin Hongcai, Mrs. Fan, and Yin Chengzhou—panicked.
Mrs. Fan quickly grabbed her second daughter-in-law’s hand and said coaxingly, "Huiniang, dear, your mother knows you’re a sensible girl. Our son was just momentarily confused. He’s still young, please give him one more chance. Your mother promises you, he’ll study hard from now on and make something of himself."
Yin Hongcai chimed in, "Huiniang, rest assured. If that brat dares to gamble again, I’ll break his legs myself."
Hu Huiniang sobbed, lamenting how difficult her life was in the Yin Family. Her dowry wasn’t as generous as Jiang Li’s, so even if she wanted to help her husband, she couldn’t.
Jiang Li watched in silence. ’Hu Huiniang is putting on a show of acting for the Yin Family’s sake,’ she thought, ’but in reality, she’s also after my dowry.’
’In her past life, Hu Huiniang had blamed Jiang Li for taking away her two sons, yet she had shamelessly enjoyed all the benefits Jiang Li brought to the family.’
’Hu Huiniang was just like the rest of the Yin Family—a complete ingrate. No wonder she raised three little ingrates herself.’