After a while, Lan Ling, led by Lan Haitang, swaggered to the front hall.
He is worthy of being the legendary cheater. He looks very dandy at first glance.
From head to toe, all kinds of accessories and pendants are all exquisite, and coupled with the tall and strong figure, he looks like a proper young man.
However, Lan Ling's face showed a look of overindulgence and depression. It looked like he had had too much fun at night.
Seeing a stranger in the hall, Lan Ling's eyes secretly fell on Hu Changan, and he gave Hu Changan a hard look from an angle that no one could see.
Apparently, this is the Hu Changan who dug out Manager Liu and stopped his own land encirclement?
This kid is really hateful. When he gets alone, you must put a sack on him and give him a good beating!
Why is he stretching his hands so long when it's other people's affairs?
Without the extra income from the farm, how can I pay off my gambling debts? How can I still live and drink outside?!
But facing Lan Yu, Lan Ling was still very well-behaved.
Seeing Lan Yu, Lan Ling quickly leaned over and said, "Uncle, I wonder what happened when you called me here?"
Lan Yu was still full of anger at first, but when she saw her nephew's well-behaved look, and then thought of how her brother had rushed into the enemy's camp for her alone on the battlefield, her heart softened.
Lan Yu cleared her throat and said: "Eldest nephew, I heard that you and Manager Liu are colluding to seize good people's land outside. Is this true?"
"The government is allocating you five hundred taels of silver every month. Logically speaking, it should be enough."
"If it's not enough, why don't you just ask my uncle for it instead of occupying other people's fields?"
Seeing his father like this, Lan Haitang sighed deeply.
Looking at this, Lan Yu probably wanted to raise the board high and put it down gently.
Lan Yu has never had the heart to say harsh words to her cousin who lost his father when he was young. Lan Haitang doesn't think Lan Yu can suddenly change his gender.
Sure enough, Lan Ling also understood Lan Yu's temper. Instead of panicking, he replied with a playful smile: "Uncle, as you know, there are many places to use money when socializing outside. I really don't have any money."
There’s a solution.”
"And this is Manager Liu's idea. It has nothing to do with me. I just..."
However, at this moment, the waiter interrupted Lan Ling's words with a report: "Master, Miss, it's not good, people from the gambling house have come to Lan Mansion!"
What!
Lan Yu suddenly stood up.
As a high-ranking official, to be visited by a gambling house was a huge loss of face.
As for Lan Ling, big beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead.
No, no, no, I just haven't paid off my gambling debt for three days, why are people from the gambling shop already coming to my door?
It's all that damn Hu Changan's fault!
After a while, the people from the gambling house were led to the lobby by the waiter.
As the head of the Lan family, Lan Haitang was the first to ask: "Everyone, I wonder how much debt Lan Ling owes outside?"
The people in the gambling house rolled their eyes and opened their mouths: "Miss Lan, the young master is a frequent visitor to our gambling house. He comes here basically every day. He has owed this debt for a long time."
"We really had no choice, so we came here to collect debts. After all, my gambling house can't do loss-making business, right?"
"From last year to now, Master Lan has owed us 10,000 taels of silver!"
What!
Lan Yu stood up suddenly, her eyes suddenly widened.
Ten thousand taels of silver?
This is Lan Mansion’s income for nearly two years!
Even Lan Haitang's beautiful eyes widened in surprise.
She knew that Lan Ling was gambling outside, but she never expected that Lan Ling's mess outside would be so big.
Ten thousand taels of silver! The Lan Mansion may not be able to come up with this silver even if it puts all its efforts into it!
Even though Lan Mansion is the home of a dignified prince, its income is actually not very high.
In addition to the output of the farm, there are only rewards from the royal family.
In addition, Lan Yu had to pay out of his own pocket from time to time to support retired veterans or military widows, and the Lan family's life was really tight.
It’s good to maintain daily expenses, but how can you afford such a huge expense?
When Lan Ling saw it, he became anxious. He knelt at Lan Yu's feet with runny nose and tears, and cried bitterly: "Uncle, I'm confused! I was just playing for a while at the beginning, but in the end I didn't know what happened.
I owe such a huge debt without realizing it!”
"I colluded with Manager Liu to rob people's fields in Lishui County, just to pay off debts!"
"If I can't repay the debt, my nephew will probably be dragged into the gambling shop to work as a laborer!"
"Uncle, you must save me! I swear I will never gamble again in the future!"
When Lan Yu saw her nephew's cowardly appearance, she felt very angry.
This Lan Ling is really too much!
A seventh-grade county official in the Ming Dynasty had a salary of only more than 40 taels of silver per year.
This Lan Ling doesn't do anything, but the government gives him five hundred taels of silver a month, which is equivalent to more than ten times the annual salary of an ordinary county magistrate!
Just like this, Lan Ling still owes a huge sum of money to others, which simply breaks Lan Yu's heart.
The dignified Duke Liang was also dejected when faced with household chores.
But looking at Lan Ling's pale face, Lan Yu's lips were trembling and she couldn't say a word for a long time.
If the fields that had been seized from the common people were returned now, Lan Ling would definitely be captured by the gambling house people.
But if he doesn't pay it back, how will Hu Changan explain it?
Lan Yu was in a dilemma.
After being stunned for a moment, Lan Yu finally gritted her teeth, looked at Hu Changan and said: "Master Hu, this Lan Ling is my nephew after all..."
Hu Changan looked at Lan Yu's troubled face and finally sighed.
It’s hard for an upright official to stop household chores!
Lan Yu will eventually be tricked by her nephew in the future.
However, at this moment, another announcement suddenly came from outside the door: "His Royal Highness has arrived!"
Before everyone in the hall had time to react, Zhu Biao walked into the main hall wearing casual clothes.
Lan Yu and Zhu Biao have always had a close relationship. When Zhu Biao comes to Lan Mansion, he doesn't need to go through layers of notifications, he can just enter directly.
Seeing the messy scene in the hall, Zhu Biao was slightly surprised.
With the explanations of Lan Yu and Hu Changan, Zhu Biao finally knew the whole story.
After hearing this, Zhu Biao also frowned and advised Lan Yu: "Uncle, you must not be confused!"
"My father is very fond of this reform of the armor system and cannot tolerate any mistakes!"
"I have advised you many times, nephew, that there is no bottom line in gambling. If you have one, there will be two. If you indulge him now, you will definitely make a big mistake in the future!"
"You, Lan Yu, can still help him a lot now, but what about in the future?"
Under Zhu Biao's persuasion, Lan Yu gradually came to her senses.
