The Dali Temple official shuddered and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, I am wrong. I acknowledge my guilt. I will return the silver immediately!"
How could Prince An let the Grand Court Minister get ahead of him? He immediately took out the silver note he had prepared and stepped forward: "I owe the national treasury 22,835 taels and 500 wen of silver. Now I pay you back 28,000 taels of silver!"
Since you're going to be the first to speak out, why not be more generous and leave a good impression on His Majesty?
What's more, you can't bleed alone, right?
If we have to go out, let’s go out together! Bleeding!
When the Dali Temple Minister heard this, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood. He took a deep breath and reluctantly took out the silver from his sleeve. Before he was born, the Shuntian Prefecture Tongzhi next to him said: "I owe..."
"I owe you eight thousand three hundred taels of silver. Return the money, eight thousand eight hundred taels." Another old uncle hurriedly took out the banknotes and stuffed them into Eunuch Zhang's hands with a fearless attitude. Thinking of the silver, his heart ached. He turned around and grabbed Prince An's hand and gritted his teeth: "I'll settle the score with you later!"
Prince An felt miserable and decided to hold on to the emperor's legs tightly and see what others could do to him!
The Shuntian Prefecture Tongzhi was afraid that someone else would get there first, so he hurriedly stuffed the banknote into Eunuch Zhang's hand, as if he was afraid the emperor would forget it, and shouted, "Your Majesty, I owe you three hundred taels of silver, and I will pay you back five hundred!"
After saying that, he also glanced at the old uncle and said, "You owe so much, but you only paid a few hundred in interest. I gave you two hundred out of three hundred!"
The Minister of the Dali Temple also followed suit and paid back the silver he owed.
Eunuch Zhang suddenly held a pile of banknotes in his hands.
Qin Wan had already made arrangements for this. Two accountants were waiting on the side, one collecting money and the other keeping accounts, everything was in an orderly manner.
Officials and nobles are no longer afraid of losing face. As long as they behave well in front of His Majesty, what does a little face matter?
Soon, all the debts were recovered.
Except for one person, of course.
The accountant is a member of the Qin family, so he naturally knows the grudge between his family and the Lu family.
He collected the accounts and handed them to Eunuch Zhang, then said aloud, "The total amount owed is 180,000 taels of silver, and 130,000 taels have been collected. Of this, the Marquis of Pingyang owes 100,000 taels of silver, which has not yet been repaid!"
Good job!
The Marquis of Pingyang owed 100,000 taels of silver alone, and the others owed 80,000 taels of silver. In total, they paid back 130,000 taels of silver, which was a full 50,000 taels of silver more!
The emperor laughed in anger: "Well, well, it seems that my officials are still quite rich."
All the civil and military officials were trembling with fear and dared not speak.
Xie Qing spoke up to break the deadlock: "Father, the time has come. Let's go back to the palace."
The emperor nodded. As an emperor and the ruler of the world, he could not leave the palace often. It was said that the women in the harem had a hard and miserable life, but in fact the emperor suffered even more.
However, seeing that the Great Zhou was becoming more prosperous day by day and the people were becoming richer day by day, he was willing to endure any hardship or fatigue.
As soon as the emperor left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The merchants were the happiest, thinking that this auction was worth it!
They saw His Majesty the Emperor! They saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! They even witnessed a lively event!
These people were sensible. As soon as the emperor left, they followed him to pay and pick up their auction items.
Prince An looked at Xie Qing and then at Qin Wan, pointed at them, shook his head and walked away. What a wicked couple! Hehe!
The Dali Temple Minister and others turned around and glared at Qin Wan and Xie Qing, then walked away angrily.
Qin Zhan waved his fist at them: "How dare you glare at others? It's only natural to pay back your debts! You don't pay back and you blame others?"
"Grandfather, okay, let's go home." Qin Wan was still angry at Xie Qing for being so reckless, so she ignored him and helped Qin Zhan walk out.
Xie Qing hurried to chase her, but was stopped by Qin Bai: "Your Highness, what should we do with the items being auctioned this time? If people knew that our auction house can sell items without paying for them, I'm afraid that someone would bid maliciously in the future, affecting our auction house's reputation."
Xie Qing was anxious to catch up with Qin Wan, but he couldn't just let this matter go. He could only patiently explain to Qin Bai, "Wan'er mentioned this before. We'll send the auction items directly to their house and ask for cash. If they don't pay, we won't leave and will just stand guard at the gate and have people watch us. Besides, we have the Qin family and His Majesty's support, so they won't dare not pay."
Qin Bai had personally arranged the auction, so he naturally knew how to handle various emergencies. He simply saw that his niece didn't want to pay attention to Xie Qing, so he naturally helped her to stop her. He pretended to be embarrassed and said, "Other people's prices are easy to negotiate, just a few hundred or a thousand taels. But Master Penghao's painting is worth thirty-nine thousand taels of silver."
Xie Qing smiled and said, "Uncle San is wrong. The painting was taken by Prince An."
He stretched out his hand, then folded back a finger and said, "Forty thousand taels of silver."
Qin Bai was really surprised this time, and didn't even notice Xie Qing's address: "Prince An? But the one who bid was..."
"It's Prince An." Xie Qing was certain that no one else would offer such a sum of money, but Prince An would definitely do it even if he had to sell everything he had. He reached out and patted Qin Bai's shoulder, saying earnestly, "Third Uncle, you are the True Man Penghao. Just tell Prince An that along with this painting, there's also a copy of the calligraphy, and he'll definitely be happy to pay the money."
Qin Bai was completely stunned on the spot. It wasn't until Xie Qing walked away that he regained his voice. Pointing at Xie Qing's back, he said to his servant, "He, he actually knew. How did he know?"
The servant hesitated and said, "Perhaps the eldest lady told His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? After all, they are now engaged. Your status is not shameful, right?"
Qin Bai didn't believe Qin Wan said this. She always respected him as her third uncle and would never do such a thing. "No, but I guess it was leaked by someone else. After all, many people know my identity. Okay, I'll write a notice, and you go to Prince An's Mansion to collect the debt in person."
"yes."
***
Xie Qing finally caught up with Qin Wan, but she had already arrived home.
In the past, he could go to Qin Wan's courtyard to talk with her, but today it was not possible. Qin Wan and Qin Xie met Xie Qing in the main hall of the front yard together, and Qin Zhan and Qin Sheng were also there.
This situation was perfectly normal for an engaged couple to meet. After all, Xie Qing had gone straight into Qin Wan's yard before, and the way they talked was not normal.
Xie Qing couldn't say anything and could only talk to Qin Zhan, but his eyes kept glancing at Qin Wan.
Qin Zhan couldn't bear it and his throat hurt from coughing.
Qin Sheng felt sorry for his father and said, "Father, let's go to the study."
Qin Zhan wanted to take Xie Qing with him, but was stopped by Qin Sheng. He whispered, "Okay."
Qin Xie also stood up with a smile: "The Crown Prince is going back to the palace to have dinner with His Majesty, right? Then I will go and tell the kitchen to cook for Wan'er."
Xie Qing was content to be able to talk to Qin Wan for a few words, so how could he expect to stay for dinner?
Xie Qing watched as everyone left, leaving only Qin Wan's two maids. Then she moved to the seat next to Qin Wan and tentatively pulled her hand: "Wanwan, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. Please forgive me, okay?"
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