Zhou Chenyang instructed his servant to open the box, which contained a woman dressed in red.
The smile in his eyes deepened, and he said in a calm voice, "Lin Xiuyan, take off your clothes now, kneel down and beg me, and I might spare your life."
The woman in the box looked up, but it wasn't Lin Xiuyan; it was Hongxiu, Jiang Xinrou's maid.
Zhou Chenyang was somewhat surprised: "Hongxiu? How could it be you?"
Hongxiu's mouth was gagged and her body was tied with ropes, so she could only make "mmm" sounds.
Zhou Chenyang had someone pull the cloth out of Hongxiu's mouth and then untie the ropes binding her.
As soon as Hongxiu saw him, she burst into tears: "Lord, I feel so bad!"
Zhou Chenyang's plan failed, and he asked somewhat displeasedly, "Where is Lin Xiuyan?"
Hongxiu replied, "She knocked me unconscious, put me in a box, and ran away. I don't know where she went."
After she finished speaking, she pitifully moved closer to Zhou Chenyang, leaning against him delicately.
She gently nuzzled against him a few times before saying, "Lin Xiuyan is ungrateful and has wasted the city lord's good intentions."
“Hongxiu was willing to stay by the city lord’s side and let him do as he pleased.”
Zhou Chenyang and Hongxiu had slept together several times already, so it wasn't anything new for them.
He said with some disdain, "You're useless. I told you to tie up Lin Xiuyan, but you couldn't even manage to do it!"
He got up to leave, but Hongxiu hurriedly said, "City Lord, I have the Medicine Saint's medicine that can help your injuries heal quickly."
Zhou Chenyang was somewhat surprised, and there was a hint of surprise in his eyes as he looked at Hongxiu.
Just as he was about to say something, Liu Tianwen knocked on the door from the outside, his voice urgent: "City Lord, I have something urgent to report to you!"
Zhou Chenyang asked, "What is it?"
Liu Tianwen's eyes were full of worry: "When the steward was sorting through the lady's dowry just now, he found that the lady's dowry was all stones and tattered cotton!"
He knew that Zhou Chenyang was after the Lin family's money, and now that this had happened, he needed to report it immediately.
Zhou Chenyang was shocked: "What did you say?"
Liu Tianwen added, "The dowry items were all wrapped in red cloth and tied very securely."
"But when I opened it and took a look, I found that besides a few pieces of cheap cloth, there were only stones and tattered cotton wool inside."
Zhou Chenyang's face immediately fell. He no longer cared about Hongxiu and strode out.
When Hongxiu heard the news, her expression turned somewhat unpleasant.
She recalled how Lin Xiuyan had spoken to her earlier that day, and she knew that things might be worse than she had imagined.
Lin Xiuyan probably already knew they were going to cause trouble today and had made preparations long ago.
Zhou Chenyang was determined to get the Lin family's money, and if he didn't get it today, Jiang Xinrou's status would be in a very awkward position.
She remembered what Lin Xiuyan had told her: "Jiang Xinrou is unreliable; you have to think about yourself."
She didn't understand what Lin Xiuyan meant at the time, but she understood now.
When Zhou Chenyang arrived in the courtyard, his face turned extremely ugly when he saw that the dowry he had opened consisted entirely of worthless items.
He kicked the nearest load of dowry to the ground and shouted angrily, "Didn't you see clearly when you were carrying the dowry?"
The steward replied, "Madam said there will be no problem with these things, and told us to bring them over as we please."
Zhou Chenyang was furious and turned around to cause trouble for Jiang Xinrou.
Jiang Xinrou was initially unhappy because Zhou Chenyang didn't sleep in her room on his wedding night.
Upon seeing Zhou Chenyang enter, she immediately beamed and greeted him, "Brother Yang..."
Before she could finish speaking, Zhou Chenyang kicked her to the ground: "What about those dowries?"
Jiang Xinrou fell to the ground, feeling a bit uncomfortable in her stomach, but she couldn't care less at the moment. She asked, somewhat puzzled, "What happened to the dowry?"
Seeing that her bewildered expression seemed genuine, Zhou Chenyang said with a stern face, "Come out and see for yourself!"
Jiang Xinrou felt extremely wronged, and Zhou Chenyang's expression was really not good, so she didn't dare to act tough. She forced herself to stand up and followed him out.
When she saw that all the dowry had turned to stone, her face changed instantly.
She ran over and lifted several loads of dowry, only to find that they were full of stones and tattered cotton.
She said incredulously, "I had Hongxiu check it out yesterday. It was full of valuable things. How did it become like this?"
Lin Xiuyan's dowry had been packed up and stored in the warehouse long before the wedding.
After Lin Xiuyan and Zhou Chenyang broke off their engagement, the dowry became Jiang Xinrou's. Jiang Xinrou secretly went to see it twice, and everything inside was genuine.
Jiang Xinrou was still worried yesterday. Since it was inconvenient for her to go over, she asked Hongxiu to check again, and there was still no problem.
Now that Lin Yunzhi and Qu Shuangyue are dead, she feels that the Lin family mansion is all hers, so she no longer worries about her dowry.
So she didn't let anyone open her dowry to check it today, and that's when the problem arose.
Zhou Chenyang said coldly, "What exactly is going on?"
Jiang Xinrou took a deep breath and said, "This must be a scheme set up by that old bastard Lin Yunzhi!"
"Now that those two old bastards from the Lin family are dead, everything in the Lin mansion is mine."
"If Brother Yang is in a hurry, we'll go and move all the valuables from the Lin family mansion over now."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Chenyang knew that this matter had nothing to do with her, and his expression softened: "I was a little hasty just now, I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Jiang Xinrou sniffed lightly, looking aggrieved, but pretended to be magnanimous and said, "I'm fine."
Zhou Chenyang felt a little guilty seeing her like this. Since he wanted the Lin family mansion, he had no choice but to coax Jiang Xinrou a few times.
After coaxing them, he said, "To avoid any unforeseen problems, let's go to the Lin residence tonight and move the things over!"
Even after Lin Xiuyan became Hongxiu, he still felt uneasy.
After all, he had recently suffered several losses at Lin Xiuyan's hands.
Jiang Xinrou, needing to appear magnanimous and understanding, naturally cooperated and immediately nodded in agreement.
So, on their wedding night, Zhou Chenyang and Jiang Xinrou skipped the wedding night and went directly to the Lin residence.
It wouldn't sound good if this got out, so Zhou Chenyang only brought a dozen or so trusted men with him.
When the two arrived at the Lin residence, the gates were tightly closed.
Jiang Xinrou called out, waiting for the doorman she had bribed to open the door.
After waiting for a long time, no one came to open the door.
Even if Jiang Xinrou was stupid, she would realize at this moment that something was wrong.
So she called out several more times, but still no one paid any attention.
Zhou Chenyang's patience had run out, and he directly ordered, "Break down the door!"
Jiang Xinrou stopped him, saying, "Slamming the door is too loud; it won't sound good if word gets out."
Zhou Chenyang felt that her words made some sense, so he immediately ordered his guards to climb over the wall and enter the Lin residence.
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