Wan Huqing touched the bleeding spot from the hairpin and hissed, complaining, "You're so cruel!" He found a handkerchief to cover the wound before replying, "No money!"
"You manage the chores for the Earl's Mansion, how could you be short of money?" Wan Xueying certainly didn't believe his explanation.
Wan Huqing explained, "It's true that I take care of the miscellaneous affairs for the Bo's Mansion, but don't forget, it's my eldest brother who is really in charge of the affairs and the money." If his eldest brother Wan Jiangyuan had not been frail, and his second brother Wan Hesu had not been so absorbed in martial arts that he didn't care about anything else, this job would not have fallen on him.
"So what do you say we should do?"
"You can only wait until I have money and then I will pay you back." Wan Huqing acted like a rogue.
Wan Xueying chuckled, "Then I'll wait until you pay back the money, and then I'll go to Northern Xinjiang again."
"You can't hurt me like this?" Wan Huqing was anxious. If he delayed Wan Xueying from leaving and his father found out the reason, he would beat him to death.
"I hurt you?" Wan Xueying said with a "tsk tsk" sound. "You better have some shame."
"Then you have to give me some time to gather the money."
"Okay, I can give you some time." Unexpectedly, Wan Xueying didn't press further, "But..."
Wan Huqing was still waiting for the next words, but Wan Xueying suddenly came to a corner of the study, gently put away the hairpin in her hand that she had not returned to Wan Huqing, and then used her hand to lift up a piece of blue brick along the gap.
"Don't move there!" Wan Huqing rushed over like a madman, but just as he got close, Wan Xueying kicked him away.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wan Xueying pulled out the wooden box from beneath the blue bricks. Inside, she found two land deeds and a stack of IOUs—some owed to Wan Huqing and some owed to him. She had found this item so precisely because she had just used her innate ability, Spiritual Power, to discover something hidden there.
Rather than filing a complaint, she felt that with this thing in hand, she wouldn't have to worry about Wan Huqing not paying her back.
"Give it back to me!" Wan Huqing climbed up from the ground and tried to snatch it back, clearly impulsive and simple-minded. Wan Xueying just made a kicking motion, and he backed off. He changed his tone and said, "Well...we can discuss it. It's just a mere two hundred taels. I'll definitely return it."
"Then you should pay it back! But... if you had paid back two hundred taels of silver before, I would have accepted it. Now you have to pay back at least one thousand taels!" You have to know that her monthly salary is only five taels. After deducting expenses, plus the fifty taels that the Bo's Mansion gave to the An family, which she had saved for a long time and gave to Wan Huqing in batches, she finally made up the two hundred taels.
"One thousand taels? Why don't you just go and rob?" Wan Huqing almost got angry.
Wan Xueying asked mischievously, "Am I not just robbing?"
"I don't have that much silver. I can only give you two hundred taels at most."
"Five hundred taels, not a tael less!" She lowered the price because the two land deeds combined were only worth five or six hundred taels. The stack of IOUs only proved Wan Huqing's gambling spree, and she had no use for it. More importantly, she knew Wan Huqing was truly broke, and he wouldn't give her more.
"Three hundred!" Wan Huqing gritted his teeth, "Three hundred taels at most!" He was really not well off at the moment, and three hundred taels was already his limit.
"Deal!" Without further ado, Wan Xueying tucked the title deed and the IOU into her arms, issuing an ultimatum. "You must receive the three hundred taels before I leave the mansion. Otherwise, not only will I not leave, I'll also hand the IOU over to my father."
"Okay, I'll try to send it to you tomorrow morning." He just wanted to get rid of this plague god as soon as possible, "But you can't tell father about this in advance." He was still very afraid that Wan Xueying would complain.
"Don't worry about that. I just want to get my money back as soon as possible." She didn't want to go through the trouble of meeting her father, with whom she had already severed ties. After a pause, she asked the last thing she wanted to know: "Where are the letters I wrote to my adoptive parents?"
"What do you want those letters for? They're just some long-winded nonsense. I threw them away or burned them long ago." This time, Wan Huqing wasn't lying. He'd initially been interested in peeking at the letters, but when he saw they were filled with trivial matters, mostly good news, he lost interest. When he received a letter from her, he simply threw it into the fire.
"Very good!" He really didn't take people's hard work seriously. Wan Xueying looked at him coldly. If a glare could kill, Wan Huqing morning would have been riddled with holes by now.
"Don't look at me like that?" Wan Huqing suddenly felt uneasy and his back went cold. "I will definitely send you three hundred taels tomorrow morning." He knew how to change the subject, and he also knew that Wan Xueying must care more about the money than those letters.
As expected, Wan Xueying withdrew her cold gaze and said, "You'd better keep your word!" She walked out of the study with anger. After a moment's thought, she turned back and smiled at him before leaving the study. "I was originally trying to save your life, but since you've been so deceitful, don't blame me when you die!" After throwing down these terrifying words, Wan Xueying felt a little better and left.
"Hey, explain yourself!" But how could Wan Xueying give him this opportunity? He chased to the door, but saw that the person had already gone far away. Thinking that the other party might be deliberately trying to confuse people, he angrily closed the door, walked to the corner, put the empty box back, and covered it with blue bricks.
Thinking that he had to pay back the money tomorrow morning, he reluctantly treated the wound on his neck and walked towards his elder brother Wan Jiangyuan's yard.
Wan Xueying didn't know that he was going to look for Wan Jiangyuan. When she passed by Wan Jiangyuan and Wan Hesu's yards on her way back to her own yard, she didn't even stop.
When she approached her courtyard gate, she spotted an uninvited guest. Before her master could say anything, the maidservant with the uninvited guest spoke first: "Why is the Second Miss wandering around this late at night instead of staying in her own courtyard? You're keeping our eldest Miss waiting. And," she added sarcastically, "the Second Miss should have a good stroll before leaving the Earl's Mansion, otherwise she won't have another chance."
Wan Xueying didn't argue with the other party to avoid losing her status. She kindly reminded Wan Qingling: "If you want to secure the position of Crown Princess, you'd better not bring a girl like this with you."
"Thank you for reminding me," Wan Qingling said with a smile, "I understand." She then said politely, "Qiulan doesn't know the rules, so I apologize to you on her behalf."
"Miss! She is just a wild girl from the countryside. You don't have to apologize on my behalf!" The girl named Qiulan was still a little angry.
"Qiulan!" After hearing her words, Wan Qingling, who was always gentle and charming in front of outsiders, rarely got angry, "You even turned a deaf ear to my words? Get down on your knees! You can only leave when Nanny Li comes." Nanny Li was the most capable person around Xu. Her words implied that she should wait for her to deal with it. The result can be imagined.
Qiulan knelt there feeling wronged and confused, and asked, "Miss, why do I have to wait for Nanny Li to come before I can leave?"
Wan Qingling smiled faintly, "When she comes, you will know naturally." She turned to look at Wan Xueying and said, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, sister."
"Sister, you have a good method!" Wan Xueying said with a meaningful smile, "It's so simple. Just use my hand to get rid of someone you don't like!" If she didn't have any intention, why didn't she bring her own personal maid, but brought a good-looking person who had just entered the mansion?
Although her place was remote, Chunmei was a curious person. She had once told her with envy that Xu had selected several young and beautiful maids for Wan Qingling as a dowry, but in reality, they were to be the prince's concubines in the future. This maid named Qiulan must have been one of them.
"My sister is really insightful. I have no choice but to accept it." Wan Qingling was not embarrassed by being exposed. Instead, she admitted it generously.
"That's right, sister. If she had no other choice, she wouldn't have asked me to take the blame." This person was too cunning. Wan Xueying always stayed as far away from her as possible, and this time was no exception. "If you have nothing else, sister, please take this girl back. I won't accompany you anymore." After saying this, she walked towards the courtyard.
"Sister, I'm here to see you off." Wan Qingling raised her voice and called out to Wan Xueying.
"See you off?" Wan Xueying stopped and said, "That's not necessary! Our relationship isn't that good yet." After saying that, she continued walking towards the yard.
Wan Qingling quickly caught up with her and forced a banknote into her hand, "This is a little gift from my sister."
"This is..." Wan Xueying picked up the banknote and glanced at it in the moonlight. Wow, he was as generous as her own father, with a total of two hundred taels.
"I've always felt like I owe you a lot, but there's nothing I can do." Wan Qingling then dragged her to a deserted spot far from the courtyard and began to explain. Of course, if Wan Xueying hadn't let her off, there would have been no way Wan Qingling would have been able to take her away.
"I'm different from you. I know who my adoptive parents are, and I also know who my biological parents are. When you came to the Earl's Mansion, I was less than ten years old. I had no other choice but to stay there stubbornly." Not only did he have to stay, but he also had to behave better to avoid being kicked out.
This is indeed the difference between Wan Qingling and Wan Xueying. Wan Qingling was bought from a human trafficker and swapped with the newborn Wan Xueying. Not only herself, but even the person who bought her doesn't know who her biological parents are.
Looking at such a beautiful face, Wan Xueying guessed that her background must be extraordinary. But no matter how hard she searched, nothing popped up in her mind like the text that had popped up when she saw Shen Yu.
However, just now when she was asking Wan Huqing for the debt, she unexpectedly discovered that Wan Huqing's health had been ruined due to excessive indulgence in alcohol and sex, and the words that he would die in exile earlier than her flashed through her mind.
Wait, if Wan Huqing also died on the way to exile, does that mean that the entire Dingyang Marquis family will be exiled soon for committing some crime?
Then she thought, so what? By then, she would have left the Bo Mansion and would have nothing to do with these people, so they wouldn't be able to harm her.
Wan Qingling then said, "If it weren't for the awkwardness of our identities, I would definitely become your best friend. But I'm sorry, I've hurt you a lot over the years, intentionally or unintentionally. Let's wait until we can both let go of our guard and be good sisters again."
"What?" Wan Xueying raised her eyebrows. "Are you showing off to me as a winner?" After saying that, she stuffed the banknote back to Wan Qingling.
Even if the two hundred taels her father gave her was too meager, it was what she deserved after all her sacrifices for the Bo Mansion. What was the point of accepting Wan Qingling's money now? Was it an acceptance of her apology, or was she truly planning to become her biological sister?
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