"Yes, young master! We can't give it to him!"

"If we give it to him, the master will beat the young master to death when he gets back!"

"We only have a little over two thousand taels of silver left. Our family urgently needs it. If we lose it all, we won't be able to come home!"

"..."

Tsk tsk, is this even human language?

We only have a little over two thousand taels left. We wish we could have that much left, but we didn't have the chance!

However, Jing Zhe still wouldn't listen.

"What's there to be afraid of? I could guess such a simple riddle with my eyes closed. Besides, if I could make ten thousand taels of silver from these two thousand taels, wouldn't my father praise me when I get home?"

"..."

That's so... silly and naive!

"Young master, you mustn't!"

Zhou Ziqiong also came over at this time.

As one of the organizers of the poetry festival and one of the award recipients, no one understands the difficulty of these riddles better than Zhou Ziqiong, because she created them all!

When her father and Manager Hu made the agreement, she disagreed because she was afraid that the situation with the man in the cotton coat would happen again. However, her father did not listen and eventually agreed.

Therefore, she had to set the questions herself, selecting many particularly difficult riddles. The man in the cotton coat had clearly cheated, choosing a few easy ones instead, which created the illusion for Jing Zhe that the riddles were very simple.

In reality, the remaining riddles are the most difficult!

Upon hearing this, Jing Zhe became interested and asked casually, "Miss Zhou, what makes you say that?"

"Young master, that man was a shill hired by Manager Hu. They just want to swindle money from the Zhou family!"

Having already broken off all pretense of civility, Zhou Ziqiong no longer cared about Manager Hu's feelings and pointed at him coldly.

With a "whoosh," everyone's eyes in the hall were drawn to Manager Hu, and then to Zhou Ziqiong.

They suddenly realized that the money they had paid today was really worth it, and it seemed like they were about to witness a good show!

Jing Zhe was taken aback by Zhou Ziqiong's words, then laughed and said, "Miss Zhou, do you really need to go to such lengths? You'd lie to me just to avoid paying those five thousand taels of silver?"

"..."

Zhou Ziqiong never expected that he, who seemed so smart before, would act so foolish tonight.

But to prevent him from being fooled, Zhou Ziqiong patiently said, "Young master, everything Ziqiong said is true! The person who just left was just a shill hired by Manager Hu. The riddles he guessed were the simplest ones, and the rest were all difficult. How could you possibly have guessed them all? In the end, you'll probably have wasted two thousand taels of silver. Wouldn't that be a pity?"

"..."

Jing Zhe's face gradually turned red, and then he said with dissatisfaction, "Miss Zhou, are you looking down on me? Do you think that person could guess it just as well as I can't? This Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering was jointly run by your Zhou Family Cloth Shop and Juxianlou, and now you suddenly jump out to criticize Manager Hu. Is this a bit fake? Do you really think I'm stupid?"

"Don't think I'm too clever for my own good just because I'm from out of town! Aren't you just afraid I'll guess all the riddles correctly and then you'll each have to give me five thousand taels of silver? Heh heh, but I do think Miss Zhou is quite beautiful. How about this: if I guess them all correctly, I won't ask for your five thousand taels of silver. In return, Miss Zhou can spend the day with me, okay?"

"..."

At this moment, Zhou Ziqiong's face had turned from red to white, and then back to red, filled with extreme anger.

I thought he was a devoted man, but it turns out he's no different from other men. He dared to flirt with me in front of his wife.

But... why doesn't his wife seem jealous?

Zhou Ziqiong was furious and even considered leaving to see how he was being deceived!

But then I remembered that he had helped me before, so why don't I help him this time to even things out and then we'll have nothing to do with each other again!

After calming herself down, she said, "If you don't believe me, sir, you can try to guess a few riddles first. If you can guess them, then you can pay the money later! If you can't guess them, then you absolutely cannot pay these two thousand!"

"Yes, my husband! Let's listen to Miss Zhou!"

"Young master, guess two first, and you can pay later!"

"..."

A group of people started trying to persuade him again, but Jing Zhe felt as if he had been greatly insulted and said with dissatisfaction, "What, do you all think that my nickname of being a riddle-solving expert is just for show? Well then, I'm going to try to solve it today!"

Then he looked at Manager Hu and said, "Manager Hu, you seem honest and kind, so let me ask you a question: Is what Miss Zhou said true? Was that person just now really a shill you hired?"

"Yes, Miss Zhou is right."

"..."

Even Zhou Ziqiong was stunned.

Manager Hu, how could you possibly agree so readily?

"Young master, that person was a shill we hired—why don't you just not pay the two thousand taels of silver, and let the riddle contest end here? You won't be able to guess it anyway, and I don't want to swindle another two thousand taels of silver from you, okay?"

"Heh! Dream on!"

Jing Zhe sneered, "So you've finally shown your true colors, haven't you? You were afraid I guessed right, so now you're openly trying to kick me out? Heh heh, I'm not leaving!"

With that, Jing Zhe pulled out two silver notes from his pocket and slammed them on the table in front of him: "Look carefully, two thousand taels of silver notes! I've booked all the riddles in this building today!"

"..."

It's true what they say, you can't reason with a suicidal person!

Everyone shook their heads and sighed. Zhou Ziqiong also sighed inwardly, thinking that she had done her best, but he was like a man possessed and she really couldn't persuade him!

The happiest person was none other than Manager Hu, who thought to himself that this silly boy was indeed not easily provoked. He had been fooled by his deliberate mix of truth and falsehood!

Meanwhile, the people in the private room upstairs were also quite excited. Prince Yu's eyes darted back and forth between Zhang Xiaoyu and Zhou Ziqiong, before he asked, "Did that waiter really leave?"

Master Qu chuckled and said, "Young Master, don't worry. How could Manager Hu really let him leave? He went out the front door and came back in through the back door of Juxianlou! He's hiding in the back right now, listening. As long as that silly boy loses all two thousand taels of silver, he'll come back in from outside and guess all the riddles! Then, Zhou Family Cloth Shop will still have to pay out five thousand taels of silver for nothing!"

The Crown Prince of Yu smiled and nodded, then said, "However, I think that given the Zhou family's current disheveled state, where they are preoccupied with nothing but the present and the future, five thousand taels of silver would be the death of them. They simply cannot come up with it!"

"Can't produce it?"

At this moment, Prefect Liu sneered: "As the magistrate of Ruzhou, I will naturally not allow such a double-dealing to happen. If the Zhou family cannot come up with the money, then they will have no choice but to hand over the Zhou family's cloth workshop!"

"Hahaha!"

The three men exchanged a glance and burst into laughter.

————