Chapter 33 Despicable

Ten thousand bolts of new cloth, a dye house in Songjiang, a thousand taels of gold...

Although the stock of new cloth is low, the Xie family is not unable to raise the necessary amount; it's just a bit of a hassle.

The Xie family could afford a dye house in Songjiang.

But how could he possibly come up with nearly ten thousand taels of silver?

Xie Xuchuan's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he was filled with displeasure.

"Ten thousand bolts of cotton cloth cost about two thousand five hundred taels of silver, and a dye shop costs at least four thousand taels of silver."

“Sister-in-law, you expect the Xie family to come up with 16,000 taels of silver as soon as you open your mouth. That price is not much better than a shop on Wanbao Street.”

Sixteen thousand taels of silver—I wonder if the entire Ye family could earn that much in five years of net profit.

Xie Xuchuan felt that he had been made a fool of by Ye Yunyi and was about to turn his back when he suddenly heard her say, "Xuchuan, it's not that your sister-in-law is deliberately making things difficult for you, it's just that you're acting unfairly."

Even if Xie Xuchuan wasn't behind the Ye family's actions, Ye Yunyi could only hold him responsible.

Although she and Shen Yanhuai had been married for many years and had a son, the Ye family was always inferior to the Shen family.

If the Ye family were to lose all their wealth overnight, her parents and younger brother would likely come to Suzhou Prefecture to seek refuge with her the very next day.

Over the years, Ye Yunyi has desperately tried to maintain her dignity in front of the Shen family, but she doesn't want all her efforts to be in vain now.

“Sister-in-law, I’m not kicking you when you’re down, but you shouldn’t have given them leverage. If the Xie family doesn’t show any remorse for what you’ve done, and word gets out, people will think that our Shen family’s daughters are worthless and can be bullied at will. How will our Yuanqiong talk about marriage in the future?”

Ye Yunyi looked at Xie Xuchuan and said earnestly, "Xuchuan, who told you to do something wrong? You have to accept your punishment and your fate."

"..."

After a few words, Xie Xuchuan nearly ground his teeth to powder.

His face turned ashen: "I can't afford a thousand taels of gold, but I can give five hundred taels as compensation to the Shen family."

"I'll talk to Yuanzhu myself about the remaining five hundred taels."

Ye Yunyi said, "You two will be husband and wife in the future, so no matter how much you give, it will all belong to Yuanzhu. But this money must be given through the Shen family's official channels so that outsiders won't gossip about me, her sister-in-law."

Actually, Ye Yunyi hadn't planned to ask for that much; she just needed to give Shen Yanhuai an explanation.

What difference is there between giving this silver to Yuanzhu and not taking it from Xie Xuchuan?

She didn't want to be aggressive, because if she pushed someone too far, she might lose everything.

"By the way, Yuanzhu is pruning trees in the back garden. You can talk to her about it."

After saying that, Ye Yunyi gracefully left, leaving Xie Xuchuan filled with resentment.

"Miss, are these peonies about to bloom?"

Luo looked up and said, "It'll be done soon, don't water it anymore, be careful of waterlogging and root rot..."

In the garden, Shen Yuanzhu was carefully pruning the flower branches with a small pair of pure silver scissors, while Ling'er chattered incessantly beside her. From a distance, the two of them looked very happy and harmonious.

Xie Xuchuan watched, feeling as if he had been punched hard in the chest, his heart filled with resentment and his mind was in turmoil.

While he was busy arranging their marriage and racking his brains to find a way, the other party was carefree and even quite happy.

He was burning hot, but Chen Yuanzhu...

Xie Xuchuan's eyes reddened, and for a moment he didn't know whether it was from anger, hatred, or grievance.

"Yuanzhu".

Xie Xuchuan walked up to Shen Yuanzhu in a few steps and knocked the silver scissors out of her hand.

"what you do?"

Ling'er pushed Xie Xuchuan away, while Shen Yuanzhu stood there staring blankly at the back of her hand that had been slapped red.

She was young, her skin was still delicate, and with Luo Shi and Ling'er by her side, she had never suffered or been tired.

Xie Xuchuan's blow caused her so much pain that her eyes turned red.

With a thud, the silver scissors fell to the ground, igniting Ling'er's anger.

Ling'er stepped forward and gave Xie Xuchuan a sudden shove, nearly knocking him over.

"Ling'er, go with Mama Luo to the small kitchen to prepare tea. I have something to say to Young Master Xie."

"Miss……"

Luo pulled Ling'er, who was stamping her feet, away.

Shen Yuanzhu calmly tugged at her sun hat and looked up at Xie Xuchuan.

"What's up?"

She was as beautiful as her name suggested, with a plump and lovely figure that was very endearing. Moreover, she was gentle and quiet by nature, and Xie Xuchuan was most fond of her elegant and refined charm, which was as subtle as the slow and melodious sound of a stringed instrument.

But today, he found it particularly difficult to tolerate the other person's lukewarm calm.

"What do you want to ask me? Do you know what the Shen family is using to pressure me?"

After telling Shen Yuanzhu Ye Yunyi's conditions, Xie Xuchuan roared, "Don't you have anything to say?"

What do I have to say?

Shen Yuanzhu was puzzled. She squatted down, picked up the small silver scissors from the ground, and went to prune the branches again.

"Don't you have any questions?"

"Ye Yunyi said she wants five hundred taels of gold to be added to the betrothal gifts. Do you have anything to say about that?"

Xie Xuchuan stepped forward, pulled out the silver scissors that he found very unpleasant, and casually tossed them into the pile of flower mud.

"Is this Ye Yunyi's idea or yours? The Xie family's betrothal gifts to you are already quite generous, ranking among the best in the entire Suzhou Prefecture."

"Why do you still want these five hundred taels of gold now?"

Xie Xuchuan was filled with resentment, but he didn't know where to direct his anger.

He was actually quite helpless and never wanted to blame Shen Yuanzhu, but whenever he looked at her, as if she didn't care at all about how their marriage would turn out, he couldn't help himself.

"If you're short of money, just tell me. Why let Ye Yunyi humiliate me?"

"Xie Xuchuan..."

Shen Yuanzhu lowered her head, carefully examining the faint red mark on the back of her hand. After a long while, she said, "It wasn't me who asked Ye Yunyi to humiliate you; it was you who went to her and begged her to humiliate you."

“You know perfectly well that the five hundred taels of gold were not something I asked you for, but you still want to use it to make me feel guilty and worried.”

"You want to pin the responsibility on me for the potential breakdown of our engagement due to my secret pregnancy with Jiang Wansu. You want me to be afraid, afraid of losing your protection, and to back down and accept that child as the eldest son of the Xie family."

Shen Yuanzhu looked at Xie Xuchuan, her voice filled with an overwhelming sorrow.

"Xie Xuchuan, you deceived me because I had no one to rely on, you deceived me because I regarded you as my only support and had no choice but to depend on you, you deceived me because my parents were gone and my elder brother and sister-in-law were unkind, it's really..."

"Too despicable."