"Oh, isn't this the big creditor of our Yongding Marquis Mansion?" Jiang Qingmo walked over, fanning himself with a round ball. The butterfly wings embroidered on the silk brushed Jiang Baichuan's nose. "I heard that my second cousin even pawned the ancestral chamber pot?"
Jiang Bochuan rushed to Jiang Songyi with red eyes and said, "My dear sister, lend me five thousand taels to make a comeback! When I win back the treasure pavilion, I will make you ten sets of gold headgear!"
"Second brother, are you confused?" Jiang Songyi took a step back. "Last month, you lost the dowry money that mother gave you, and it was I who filled the hole with my own pocket money." She suddenly picked up the rouge on Jiang Baichuan's collar. "This jasmine powder looks like the top brand from Zuixianlou."
Jiang Yuyao suddenly interrupted: "Sister Qingmo, please say less. Second brother is feeling very miserable." She took out a handkerchief to wipe Jiang Baichuan's sweat, but Jiang Qingmo slapped it away with her round fan.
"Sister Yuyao, if you're so distressed, why don't you take out your secret money?" Jiang Qingmo glanced at a dime of silver on her sleeve. "I heard that your third cousin gave you a pair of jade bracelets the other day. They're enough to bet on three big bets."
The crowd began to point and talk. Jiang Baichuan suddenly grabbed Jiang Yuyao's wrist and asked, "Where's the thousand taels I borrowed from you last time?"
"Well, that's to buy a birthday gift for my third brother." Jiang Yuyao hadn't finished her words when the banknotes in her sleeve were ripped out. She watched helplessly as Jiang Baichuan rushed back to the casino, his nails digging into his palms until blood oozes out.
The window lattice of the private room on the second floor was suddenly pushed open, and Sheng Fengmo leaned against the carved railing and chuckled: "Second Young Master Jiang is pawning his own sister's dowry?" Around his wrist was a string of blood amber beads, which were exactly what Jiang Yuyao pawned at Shengfeng Pawnshop yesterday.
Jiang Songyi looked up and saw the corner of Gu Zheyuan's python-patterned robe flash behind the curtain. She suddenly pulled Jiang Qingmo towards the carriage and said, "Cousin, didn't you say you had a headache? Let's go back home."
"Leaving now?" Jiang Qingmo kept looking back, "Are you not going to watch your second cousin lose all his pants?"
As the carriage passed the corner, a shrill scream erupted from the casino. Jiang Songyi lifted the curtain and saw Jiang Bochuan being thrown out the door. The deed to the Zhenxiu Pavilion fell at her feet. Sheng Fengmo's voice drifted in on the wind: "Miss Jiang, I'll return the lost property to you."
That night, the ancestral hall of the Yongding Marquisate was brightly lit. Jiang Baichuan knelt before the ancestral tablets, listening to his father smash the third teacup. "Unfilial son! How dare you steal the deed to your mother's land!" The paperweight flew past his ear, denting the blue bricks.
"Father, please calm down." Jiang Songyi came in, holding the account book. "My daughter has redeemed my second brother's lost property at the original price." She flipped through the yellowed pages. "It's just the interest."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
