She also said she wasn’t asking for the courtyard for free; she was offering the family a grand gift in return. If things were handled correctly, the family could not only earn enough for another large courtyard, but they might even secure an entire inheritance.

Wanyue said that in about a month, a merchant from out of town would pass through their area on his way to the Prefecture to visit relatives. A heavy snowstorm would have just ended, and his carriage would flip into a ditch, pinning him and his driver underneath, unable to crawl out.

Even though it was still the first half of the night, the road they were on was in the middle of nowhere. In that kind of icy and snowy landscape, their cries for help would go completely unanswered.

In that kind of weather, anyone frozen for a whole night would surely be stiff by morning.

But as luck would have it, two drunkards heading home in the middle of the night happened upon the scene and casually saved them.

Later, it was said that out of gratitude, the merchant bought each of the two men a mansion in the Prefecture as thanks. He even went so far as to adopt one of them as his godson, writing a will that allowed him to inherit his entire fortune. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

It was a brilliant scheme on Chen Wanyue’s part, but the merchant wasn’t due to arrive for another month. Furthermore, she only knew it happened sometime before the new year; she couldn’t say exactly when.

The old madam was certainly tempted by this sum of silver, but she didn’t want to pass up this golden opportunity to extort the main branch of the family either. So, after discussing it with Chen Lin, she had eagerly trotted over.

It was at this exact moment that Chen Lian burst into the main house in a panic.

He grabbed the old madam’s arm and started pulling her toward the courtyard exit. "Look at you! It’s a good thing my uncle is disciplining my father. With Father’s temperament, if no one keeps him in line, the next thing you know he’ll sell us all off. If you were a reasonable grandmother, you’d be sending my uncle a basket of eggs. Even if you don’t, you should remember his kindness and treat my uncle better in the future. Why have you come here demanding money? Aren’t you just making us a laughingstock?"

As Chen Lian spoke, he wiped his face, looking utterly distressed. "I just went to the latrine, and when I came back, you were gone! Honestly, why do you keep doing such foolish things? If it weren’t for my uncle’s sake, they wouldn’t have agreed to change the IOU. If we had really been stuck with that high-interest loan, how many days would we have left to live?"

"My uncle saved our lives! You can’t repay his kindness with malice. What you’re doing is pushing me and Shou’an into an abyss from which we can never recover."

A circle of onlookers had gathered outside, and they all started commenting, "Who would have thought? Li’an isn’t old, but he’s a sensible one."

"That kid... he always seemed so quiet and listless. Who knew he could say something like that at a crucial moment? Is he really Mr. Chen’s son?"

"Old madam, you should go home. You’re just making a fool of yourself if you keep this up. Didn’t you hear your grandson? You’re repaying kindness with malice. If you still demand money from Chen Song after this, none of us will dare to help your family if something happens again."

"Help? How could we help? Her own son helps her and gets extorted for fifty taels of silver. If we helped, wouldn’t she try to extort us for everything we own? When this old madam dies, none of you should even carry her coffin. What if the coffin wobbles a bit and she accuses you of jostling her so she can extort you? Where would we go to plead our case then?"

The old madam feared neither heaven nor earth, but she was terrified of being left unattended after death.

That last comment hit the old madam right where it hurt. She was genuinely afraid that everyone would turn cold-hearted and there would truly be no one to bury her when she died. So, she allowed Chen Lian to pull her along and actually went home.

After the old madam left, the crowd turned their attention to Zhao Jing and Xiang’er in the Chen family’s courtyard. They started teasing Xu Suying and Chen Song, "Not even married yet, and you’ve already invited your son-in-law over? He’s an honored guest! You should at least prepare a couple of dishes to welcome him. I’m just sitting idle at home, so if you need someone to share a drink with him, just give me a shout."

"Bah! All you think about day and night is drinking. Jing is a scholar! His brain is for contemplating essays. What if you drink him silly? Get yourself home right now. If you dare come out and embarrass yourself again, I’ll call my mother to come give you a thrashing."

And with that, the crowd finally dispersed.

Closing the main gate and returning to the house, Xu Suying said to Chen Song, "Deal with the people from the old residence, and do it quickly. Just seeing them gives me a splitting headache."

Chen Wanqing took Xiang’er’s hand and led her back to her room as well. ’Young girls shouldn’t listen to such upsetting things. What if she has nightmares from hearing too much?’

The Zhao siblings spent the rest of the afternoon at the Chen family’s home. It wasn’t until the sun began to set that the two of them started their journey back.

Xu Suying tried to get them to stay for dinner, but Zhao Jing politely refused no matter what. He just said that his mother had instructed them to come home early, and he was afraid she would worry since they were already late.