With a loud thud, Xiu’er dropped to her knees and repeatedly kowtowed. “Young Master, it’s all this servant’s fault, all my fault…”
Tang Mingfan said instead, “Go invite a physician to check on the young lady first. The consultation fee— the fee— you can put it on credit for now!”
As he said this, there was anger in his eyes, but even more worry.
“Hey, Xiu’er, get up,” Tang Zhuojun sighed. Aside from cleaning up the mess, what else could she do?
She slowly knelt down. “Everything before was because I was ignorant and made Father and Brother worry. It won’t happen again. What Xiu’er bought was fake medicine— someone fooled her with sugar powder— so I’m fine.”
She had just wasted five taels of silver, and it was even loan- shark money she had borrowed outside.
Tang Zhuojun felt that her former self was simply unforgivable.
Tang Mingfan earned three hundred taels of silver a year in salary; Tang Boxin earned fifty taels; plus firewood allowances and the like, all together adding up to a bit over four hundred taels.
Tang Mingfan now gave two hundred taels to the household. The remaining two hundred-plus taels should originally have been enough to live quite comfortably—but they had all been squandered by Tang Zhuojun.
Borrowing money from loan sharks wasn’t her first time, because Tang Boxin kept her under control and wouldn’t give her that much silver.
Filling in the holes she dug wasn’t a once-or-twice affair either. All in all, she truly deserved a beating.
Tang Zhuojun did a rough calculation— there were still over a hundred taels owed outside, and that was only the part that hadn’t yet come to light. Now all of it had become her burden.
Heaven above, earth below— what sin had she committed to transmigrate here just to take the blame for someone else?
Who in the capital didn’t know that the Tang family had a lovestruck old maid who couldn’t get married?
“You— oh, you!” Tang Mingfan was so angry his hands were shaking. “Boxin, bring out the family punishment!”
“Father, my mother— please think of my mother. Spare me this time!”
Although Tang Zhuojun looked down on how her former self dragged out her deceased mother every time she caused trouble, refusing to let her rest in peace even in death, with a beating imminent, she still chickened out.
Tang Mingfan indeed fell silent. Thinking of his late wife, and looking at his daughter’s face— which was almost identical to hers—tears streamed down his old face.
Tang Boxin sneered. He knew it would turn out like this!
He didn’t believe for a second that Tang Zhuojun would truly reform— dogs don’t stop eating shit.
Holding Linlin’s hand— the little boy had been expressionless ever since they returned and hadn’t spared Tang Zhuojun a single glance— he said, “Come on. Father will take you back to the room to read.”
Two handsome faces, one big and one small, passed coldly by Tang Zhuojun.
“Get up,” Tang Mingfan said weakly, utterly defeated. “When the day I close my eyes and go to find your mother comes, only then I won’t have to worry about you anymore. Leave now— I’m going back to the office.”
He stood up unsteadily, nearly falling.
Tang Zhuojun rose and supported him. “Father, take it slow. Rest a bit first. Go back you’ve eaten.”
Taking the opportunity, she felt Tang Mingfan’s pulse and almost wanted to cry.
A dignified second-rank official— yet his pulse was weak and forceless, his hands icy cold, his heart deficient and his breathing short. Clearly, poor nutrition had led to insufficient generation of qi and blood.
He was only a little over forty, yet his hair was already completely white.
This was clearly a capable and upright official who could have left his name shining for generations, yet he had been dragged down to this state by a useless daughter.
“As bamboo has its joints, as pine and cypress have their heart”—steadfast and pure. Her name and her brother’s name were Tang Mingfan’s own standards for himself. Linlin’s name carried the meaning of being born with a commanding presence. What a noble and proud heart this was.
And she— this lump of mud that couldn’t be shaped— had utterly ruined his good name and left no hope in sight.
Tang Mingfan collapsed back into the chair, his gaze filled with sorrow and despair.