"Butler, please wait a moment. I'll say a few words and then go with you."
The butler frowned, thinking he couldn't run away anyway, and decided to give Liu Shiqi one last bit of face, so he nodded.
The servant stepped back.
Zhuang Yan struggled to stand up on his own, then suddenly kowtowed to Old Man Zhong, Mrs. Hao, and Jiang Cuihua…
"Thank you, Grandpa Zhong, Aunt Fu, and Aunt Cuihua, for saving me!"
"However, everyone, please don't trouble yourselves for me anymore!"
"You can't fight against those in power. I accept my fate!"
Their eyes reddened, wanting to say something, but truly having no solution.
Zhuang Yan then looked at Liu Shiqi and said softly,
"Young Lady Liu! Thank you for today!"
"If I ever get the chance, I will repay you for your kindness today!"
"If there's no chance in this lifetime, then in the next…"
He knew she had saved him with some strange purpose, but she had indeed tried her hardest to save him.
Liu Shiqi pursed her lips, looked into his eyes, and her heart sank.
This was the look of someone ready to die—she was all too familiar with it.
Suddenly, she thought of her past life, when she was around this age, struggling to survive in the jungle, and what her state of mind had been at her most desperate moments.
Back then, did she have the same look in her eyes…
If, at that time, someone had been able to lend her a hand…
[Hmph, so what if I die!]
[I'll give it one last try!]
[As the saying goes, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda!]
Liu Shiqi pursed her lips, saying nothing, and suddenly stepped aside, crossing her arms.
Then she allowed Zhuang Yan to be dragged away by the servant.
Just as the villagers thought she had given up, she suddenly spoke in a faint, eerie tone.
"Ah, Butler!"
The butler was clearly impatient. "Young Lady Liu, what else do you want?"
Liu Shiqi appeared calm and indifferent, clearly looking like she was enjoying the show.
She smiled. "Nothing much. I just wanted to ask, is Brother Zhuang's father still alive?"
Everyone…
The steward frowned at her. "How… how would you know that, Young Lady Liu?"
Liu Shiqi looked at him, not particularly concerned, and said, "Oh, I just met Eunuch Zhuang before leaving the capital!"
"He's now the chief eunuch by His Highness the Crown Prince's side."
"He even became sworn brothers with my father, Liu Changhong!"
In the capital, Liu Changhong sneezed loudly.
The steward was stunned.
Lord Liu actually became sworn brothers with a eunuch?
This…
Aren't they afraid of being cut off from descendants…
Then the butler was shocked again, never expecting Zhuang Yan's father to be serving by the Crown Prince's side?
Zhuang Laoda and the third brother were even more terrified, trembling uncontrollably.
The second brother of the Zhuang family was a ruthless man. When he returned last time and saw them neglecting Zhuang Yan, he almost broke Zhuang Laoda's leg…
"This… how… how is this possible? You… you're lying…" Zhuang Laoda's lips were split, but he still tried desperately to argue.
Liu Shiqi couldn't even be bothered to glance at him. She directly took out a banknote from her person, preparing to hand it to Zhuang Yan.
But she quickly withdrew it again.
"This was originally entrusted by Eunuch Zhuang to my father to deliver!"
"My father then assigned me to make the trip personally!"
"Otherwise, why would I, perfectly fine, come all the way here!"
The villagers still didn't know Liu Shiqi, but they all believed her words.
"I was wondering where this young lady came from!"
"Haven't seen her before!"
"Right, look at how fair she is—clearly a young lady from a wealthy family!"
Hearing the villagers' discussions, the butler also realized Liu Shiqi wasn't from around here, further convincing him that she was undoubtedly the young lady of the Liu residence.
Liu Shiqi waved the banknote back and forth.
"It was just supposed to be delivering a banknote—who would have thought we'd run into this kind of trouble!"
"Ah, what about the banknote then?"
"If Brother Zhuang has been sold, then giving him the banknote would be like giving it to the Pan family, wouldn't it?"
"Then I'd better not give it to Brother Zhuang for now!"
"I'll let Father contact Eunuch Zhuang first! We'll see what to do about the banknote!"
Everyone's eyes followed the banknote.
Someone couldn't help but exclaim, "That—that's a hundred taels!"
"Yes! A hundred taels!"
"I've seen one like it when I was an apprentice at the pawnshop!"
"So much money! I've never seen that much in my whole life!"
"It must be that Zhuang Yu is still alive!"
"This is living expenses sent for Zhuang Yan…"
Zhuang Laoda and Zhuang Lao San stared with wide eyes.
Mrs. Li shouted on behalf of Zhuang Laoda, "Give me the money!"
"We've always been the ones keeping it for Zhuang Yan!"
Liu Shiqi sneered, "You're really something—didn't you just sell Brother Zhuang?"
"He's not even part of your family anymore, and you still want the money!"
"You're truly money-crazy!"
Mrs. Li's face turned ugly, and she suddenly glared at Mrs. Huang. "It's all your fault, with your terrible ideas!"
"We've lost a hundred taels for nothing! That's a hundred taels!"
Enough for them to live comfortably for over a decade!
Mrs. Huang, who had been so arrogant earlier, was now just as terrified.
The thought of Zhuang Yu's deep, penetrating gaze made her tremble uncontrollably.
She still had weaknesses in Zhuang Yu's hands, so she didn't dare utter another word and simply hid at the very back.
Hearing that Zhuang Yu was still alive, Zhuang Laoda trembled in fear: Second Brother really is alive!
Zhuang Lao San was ruthless. He said to Zhuang Laoda, "Things have already come to this—we've offended Second Brother!"
"But we're blood brothers; he definitely won't do anything to us!"
Zhuang Laoda nodded reluctantly, still deeply worried inside.
They had completely believed Liu Shiqi's words.
Zhuang Lao San thought that the Pan family's steward probably wouldn't dare to buy Zhuang Yan anymore.
In truth, they didn't dare to sell Zhuang Yan again either.
But he wasn't going to return the ten taels of silver either.
After all, his second brother was now someone close to the Crown Prince. Who would dare to provoke him?
The Pan family steward could only swallow his grievances and accept his bad luck.
So, the Zhuang family would get both the ten taels from selling Zhuang Yan and the hundred taels from Second Brother for Zhuang Yan.
This was truly a huge profit.
The more Zhuang Lao San thought about it, the brighter his eyes gleamed.
Liu Shiqi ignored the ugly expressions on the Zhuang family's faces and instead looked casually at the Pan family's butler.
To resolve this matter, it would have to start with the butler giving up first.
She stopped speaking because she knew that too many words could lead to mistakes.
Her words could only intimidate people at this moment.
If the butler went back and made a few inquiries, he would easily find out that everything she said was false.
So, success or failure hinged on this one move.
As long as the butler didn't dare to buy Zhuang Yan and dealt with the indenture contract, Zhuang Yan would be saved.
Sure enough, invoking the names of the Crown Prince and the Chief Eunuch left the butler terrified.
He trembled all over.
He thought of the hundred-tael banknote in Liu Shiqi's hand and the white jade hairpin in her hair.
And her casual, almost dismissive expression—like a superior watching ants put on a good show.
The butler truly believed her.
Gritting his teeth, he looked directly at Zhuang Laoda.
"Give me back the money… we won't buy him."
Zhuang Laoda hesitated. He was genuinely afraid that Zhuang Yu would return for revenge, so he considered returning the money.
Zhuang Lao San was also afraid, but he decided to gamble everything.
Thinking about the hundred and ten taels of silver they would get,
they could at least take good care of Zhuang Yan in the future.
And host a three-day village feast.
The villagers had eaten their fill and wouldn't gossip carelessly.
Once Zhuang Lao San figured this out, he immediately stepped forward.
"Hahaha, you want your money back? Not a chance!"
"If you're not buying anymore, then get lost!"
"Otherwise, when my second brother returns, I'll have a good talk with him!"
"I'll tell him your Pan family forces sales and abuses power!"
Liu Shiqi was stunned. [Damn it, I've seen shameless people, but never anyone this shameless!]