“You really paid it back?” Tang Boxin looked unconvinced.
“Really,” Tang Zhuojun replied briskly. “If you don’t believe me, ask Xiu’er. Yesterday I went to the pawnshop to exchange things for silver. I went out just now to repay the debt. Big brother, I was afraid it would affect Father and you, so I hurried to pay it back. I won’t borrow again in the future.”
“Which place did you borrow from?” He wouldn’t feel at ease without personally checking.
Tang Zhuojun didn’t evade the question and told him the location.
Tang Boxin paused, then said, “The reason you asked for twenty taels yesterday— was it because you didn’t have enough to repay the debt?”
“Yes,” Tang Zhuojun said. “But Father and big brother gave me the money, so I managed to gather enough.”
Thinking of his excessive reaction the day before, Tang Boxin felt a little awkward, clenching his teeth, unsure what to say.
Although he didn’t know what kind of shock his sister had suffered, he vaguely felt that she had been different since yesterday.
And he had almost strangled that change in its cradle.
“By the way, big brother, there’s something I need to tell you,” Tang Zhuojun said, recalling the lackey she’d run into and speaking anxiously.
“Go ahead,” Tang Boxin said in a low voice.
His sister didn’t seem angry with him. As long as she truly repented, he would definitely help her from now on.
Tang Zhuojun told him her suspicions about Prince Jin and said, “What I’m worried about now is that Prince Jin has ulterior motives and might mean harm to Father and you. I don’t understand the affairs outside, and Father is upright and selfless— he won’t think badly of people. Big brother, please be more careful.”
Tang Boxin said, “I thought of this yesterday as well. Since he wasn’t drugged, he shouldn’t have come out so late… You don’t need to worry. Just stay out of these matters in the future, and have less to do with that Ruan Anruo. She’s not a good person.”
“As long as big brother knows, I’m relieved. Anyway, following big brother is always right,” Tang Zhuojun said, shamelessly flattering him.
Thinking about how he had misunderstood his sister and rushed back to confront her, only for her not to be angry and even act closer to him than before, Tang Boxin was immediately filled with guilt.
“I’ll head back now. I only took the morning off,” he said, a bit awkward.
“Then have a meal before you go?”
“No need, I’ll leave now. You— get some rest.” With that, he almost fled.
“Big brother, wait. I want to tell you something— I’m going to the Ruan residence. Ruan Anruo bullied me like this, and I want to vent this anger!”
Tang Boxin stopped in his tracks. “Then I’ll go with you.”
His sister had finally woken up— now she was even willing to cut ties with Ruan Anruo.
That woman was full of schemes and up to no good. He had warned his sister many times, but she had never listened.
“No need. Why use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken?” Tang Zhuojun said with a sly smile. “Big brother, trust me. If I can’t handle it, then I’ll ask you for help.”
Her voice was soft, tinged with a hint of coquettishness. Her brows and eyes were lively and charming, no longer resembling the foolish and hateful person she used to be.
“Then I’ll wait for you at home,” Tang Boxin said. “I’ll leave after you’re done.”
“Alright, I’ll be quick,” Tang Zhuojun said. Knowing her elder brother was worried, she washed her hands, changed her clothes, and went to knock on the Ruan family’s door.
Tang Boxin paced back and forth inside the house, deeply worried that his sister might suffer a loss.
Tang Zhuojun didn’t keep him waiting long— she was back in less than a quarter of an hour.
“It’s settled?” Tang Boxin asked in disbelief.
“It’s settled,” Tang Zhuojun said with a smug smile, not bothering to keep him in suspense. “Ruan Anruo accepted many gifts from her cousin. I told her mother.”
That cousin was from Ruan Anruo’s maternal uncle’s family, but Madam Ruan looked down on her merchant relatives and was determined to have her daughter attach herself to someone powerful.