One code equals another, Tantai Heqing simply said: "But I can lend it to you personally. Calculated at two cents interest, how much do you want to borrow?"
"Um, fifteen taels."
Tantai Heqing frowned. She thought Xu Jian wanted to borrow one thousand eight hundred taels, "I'll lend you twenty taels."
"Fifteen taels is enough."
"It's just twenty taels. I'm too lazy to remember these bits and pieces. You take the money yourself and write the IOU yourself. I'll collect it another day."
After saying this, Tantai Heqing left.
Xie Li looked at Tantai Heqing's retreating figure and murmured: "He does things neatly and resolutely."
The deputy shopkeeper came over and said with a smile: "Of course, without any skills, how could Tantai Mansion have such a huge family business today."
Xie Li asked doubtfully: "Why are you willing to abandon such a beautiful, virtuous and capable woman?"
The deputy shopkeeper sighed: "I heard that her fiancé fell in love with a famous lady, so he abandoned her."
Xie Li scolded angrily: "He is ruthless and unjust, worse than a pig or a dog!"
Seeing Xie Li's excitement, the deputy shopkeeper said in a low voice: "Big shopkeeper, Miss Tantai is very taboo about this matter. You must not mention even a word in front of her, otherwise she will fall out and you will suffer no good consequences."
Xie Li responded: "Don't worry, how could I expose someone's scars?"
After borrowing the money, Xie Li went to the restaurant after Xuan Dan Zhai closed at night, intending to redeem Huang Yu.
He had been thinking about it these past few days, mainly because he had no money and could not save his face. He had agreed with the restaurant owner that he would pay back the debt next time he came over, so he delayed for a few days.
As for Fu having food and drinks in the restaurant, there is no need to worry too much.
When I arrived at the restaurant, I went to the shopkeeper and explained my purpose, paid back the debt, and redeemed the jade pendant at the same time.
The shopkeeper said that the debt had been paid off and the jade pendant had been redeemed by his brother.
Xie Li frowned after hearing this. Although Xie Fu was naughty, he had the heart of an elder brother. He was most afraid that Xie Fu would do something sneaky for him.
Fu must have done something shady, or else he could use the money to redeem the jade pendant.
Xie Li's face sank, and he planned to ask him face to face: "Where is my brother?"
"Sir, your order will leave the next day."
Xie Li was confused: "Leaving the next day?"
Is it because you have this kind of virtue that you are afraid of losing face as an elder brother? What a fool. How can brothers pay attention to these things? They have stronger self-esteem and save face than me.
"Sir, I'm a little busy, so I won't entertain you. I'll call the waiter over. If you want anything, you can ask him."
I thanked him and nodded, and after a while the waiter came over.
Xie Li heard from the waiter that Mr. Xie came here every day and left a note for him, and hurriedly asked the waiter to take out the note.
I took a look at the thank you gift and asked me to go to Tantai Mansion to find him?
After leaving the restaurant, Xie Li was worried all the way. Where did Fu's money come from? He might have stolen it from Tantai Mansion, or maybe he stole some precious things and sold them into silver.
In his impression, Fu was not such a person, but since he went to Yangzhou Academy to study, his contact time with Fu has become shorter, and he has become more and more unfamiliar to him.
And if we haven’t seen each other in the past two years, people will change.
If Fu really committed any crime, then his brother would be guilty of a heinous crime.
The more I thought about the thank you gift, the more this was the only possibility.
No, I must go to Tantai Mansion immediately to find him and ask him clearly.
Xie Li was impatient and didn't want to waste a moment. He turned around and walked back in the direction of Tantai Mansion.
When we arrived at the gate of Tantai Mansion, it was late at night and the door was already closed. There was no way to express our thanks, so we had to give up and go back the way we came.
Xie Li didn't sleep all night and was worried all night. He hurriedly washed up early the next morning, went to Xuantanzhai and said hello to the deputy shopkeeper, saying that he had something urgent to do, and then came to Tantai Mansion again.
After staying at the door for a long time, I saw a servant coming out to clean the house. I thanked him and stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, is this Tantai Mansion?"
The servant was stunned for a moment, and pointed his hand towards the plaque: "Isn't it clearly written on it?"
Xie Li smiled: "Okay, I'm here to find Mr. Xie. Can brother please lead the way?"
The servant was shocked when he heard this: "Who are you looking for?"
"Thank you, Fu."
The servant asked again: "Who are you looking for?"
"Thank you, Fu."
The servant looked at the thank you gift with a strange expression: "You came at the wrong time."
The servant's strange behavior made Xie Li secretly worried. Could it be that Fu had committed something wrong and was caught?
The servant asked with a vigilant expression: "What is your relationship with him?"
"Oh, I am his relative."
The servant then said: "Come with me."
The servant entered the mansion with a thank you gift, suddenly stopped and turned around: "You are really here to thank Mr. Xie, please don't cheat me."
Xie Li said: "I really came to see Fu Xie." He secretly handed over a tael of silver and asked: "Brother, may I ask if Fu Xie has committed anything?"
The servant did not accept it and said in a deep voice: "What you have done is serious!"
I heard that Mr. Xie was kicked by the young lady last night. As for what happened, they didn't dare to ask at the moment.
In addition, Mr. Xie’s status in the mansion was strange, and Butler Kong kept it secret.
Xie Li thought about it and asked softly: "What have you committed?"
The servant said solemnly: "I have committed the biggest crime of Tantai Mansion." Naturally, the biggest crime of Tantai Mansion is to offend the young lady.
Hearing this, Xie Li almost didn't mention it.
…
In the flower hall of the inner house, Tantai Heqing was having breakfast, with a gloomy face, but he couldn't eat a bite.
Xia Er softly advised: "Miss, just calm down."
Tantai Heqing said coldly: "How do you want me to calm down? I just go to a brothel and it's really fun."
Xia'er responded: "Master Xie said he didn't have it."
"No! Then who wrote the words on his back, chest, buttocks, and thighs, Peony visited here, Begonia visited here, Narcissus visited here..."
The more Tantai Heqing talked, the angrier he became: "How can I not feed him enough to play with so many at once?"
Xia'er quickly covered Tantai Heqing's mouth and lowered her voice: "Miss, please keep your voice down. Don't make the family scandal public."
Tantai Heqing's chest rose and fell, adjusting his emotions.
Xia Er comforted him: "Miss, Mr. Xie said he was drunk last night and didn't know what happened. It must be these brothel ladies playing tricks on him."
Tantai Heqing asked back: "He was drunk and didn't know what to say, so how did he come back?"
Xia'er was stopped by one sentence. Yes, this is not inconsistent. Could Mr. Xie be lying?
Tantai Heqing saw that Xia'er also looked suspicious, and the anger that had just been suppressed immediately surged up: "Xia'er, bring the scissors."
"Miss, what are you doing with the scissors?"
"I can't swallow this breath. I will castrate him today to see what he will do with him in the future."
Xia Er quickly dissuaded her: "Miss, please calm down. If you cut it off, you will regret it."
If Xia'er refused to take it, Tantai Heqing would take it himself.
