Chapter 47 The gambling den comes to the door, wanting to chop off Lingyi's fat hands!
Lu Zhaoruo hurriedly replied, "Sister-in-law, I wouldn't dare!"
Under the corridor outside the ancestral hall, Dongrou held tightly to the struggling Abao.
Abao was trembling all over, his teeth grinding together.
With red eyes, Dongrou comforted him, "Abao, don't be impulsive, you can't go..."
They could kill Abao as easily as stepping on an insect; she couldn't let Abao go...
Shen Qingshu, his face grim, personally straightened the ancestral tablets one by one, then turned and glared fiercely at Shen Lingyi, saying, "Don't let this matter get out. A sister-in-law beating her brother's wife, how shameful..."
Even Shi Tou, standing to the side, couldn't bear to watch any longer.
He glanced at Lu Zhaoruo with pity.
Zhang asked Shen Lingyi with concern, "Yi'er, did she hurt you?"
Shen Lingyi suddenly cried out "Ouch!" and clutched her lower back with her fat hand: "She dared to dodge! She made me bump into the offering table..."
Before she could finish speaking, Zhang shouted sternly, "Lu! You'll be punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall for another night!"
As she was leaving, Shen Lingyi passed by Lu Zhaoruo, waving her left hand triumphantly and muttering, "Next time, I'll slap you with this hand again, hehe."
Sudden.
The doorman rushed in and fell to the ground.
Shen Qingshu coughed and scolded, "How dare you! This is an important place for ancestral halls, how can you be so reckless?"
"master!"
The gatekeeper, his hand trembling, pointed towards the gate of the mansion. "Zhou San, the head of the pawnshop gang, is with about ten thugs. They say...the young lady owes...gambling debts, and if they don't see the money today, they'll be banging gongs and shouting for payment in front of our mansion!"
Gambling debts from the pawn shop gang?
Are they coming to collect debts at our door?
Zhang's eyes rolled back, and she fell straight backward.
Grandma Zhou hurriedly helped her up, sitting her down on the ground, calling out, "Grandma, Grandma, wake up..."
"Smack!"
The slap that had missed her face earlier landed on Shen Lingyi's face now. He was so angry that his chest heaved and his face turned ashen: "How could I have given birth to such a wretched child! It's bad enough that you're a compulsive gambler, but today you actually let the gambler come knocking on our door? Are you trying to anger your father to death so that the Shen family mansion will be lost to the gambling den?"
After saying that, he hurriedly rushed to the outer courtyard.
Shen Lingyi's plump body trembled, she covered her face, and her thick lips trembled as she asked, "How... how did they come to our door?"
Zhang was woken up by having her philtrum pinched. She reached out and punched Shen Lingyi, crying out, "You gambled again? How can you be so incorrigible? Have you forgotten that you were divorced by your husband's family because of gambling? Do you still want to get married?"
After saying that, he dragged Shen Lingyi toward the front yard.
She didn't forget to turn back and scold Lu Zhaoruo: "What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and come over here, think of a solution?"
"Yes, Aunt."
Lu Zhaoruo covered the red marks on her face, her eyes lowered slightly, but a smile quietly appeared on her lips.
Dongrou immediately stepped forward with Abao in her arms, saying with heartache, "It's over. The eldest young lady has incurred gambling debts again. Does she expect the eldest mistress to pay them back? They are all so heartless. Aren't they afraid of divine retribution for treating the eldest mistress like this?"
Ah Bao's bright green eyes welled up with tears as he angrily declared, "Ah Bao is determined to bite them to death!"
Lu Zhaoruo slowly straightened her back, watching Zhang Shi and Shen Lingyi's departing figures. She reached out and tucked her stray hairs behind her ears, revealing her face, which, despite being stained with fingerprints, still exuded elegance.
"Don't worry, just watch..."
Her voice was soft and gentle on the surface, but inside it carried a chilling coldness like shattered jade.
"today……"
"I will not help you repay a single penny."
"And also my dowry, every penny I've earned over the past three years, and those two shops..."
"We want them all back!"
Dongrou didn't quite understand.
But seeing his wife's calm and collected expression, like someone watching a game of chess, the weight that had been hanging over his heart was lifted.
Ah Bao understood, and his wet eyes suddenly lit up.
The outer courtyard.
Shen Qingshu's fingers trembled as he gripped the mulberry paper IOU. When he saw the words "Borrower Shen Lingyi, I hereby borrow one hundred taels of pure silver from the bank, with a monthly interest rate of three times," his vision suddenly went black, and he coughed violently.
With trembling hands, he did some quick calculations and found that the loan had already ballooned to nine hundred taels of silver in just two months due to compound interest!
Upon seeing the bright red cinnabar signature, a metallic taste suddenly welled up in my throat…
"puff!"
Spray it on the IOU.
The IOU fell to the ground from his hand, and he almost fainted, but was caught by Shi Tou.
With a sinister smile, Zhou San picked up the blood-stained IOU. "Master Shen, your daughter was perfectly lucid when she signed it."
Zhang stumbled and rushed to Shen Qingshu's side: "Master..."
Before he could finish speaking, he caught sight of the ten bandits blocking the street behind him, each wielding a fire-and-water stick, and his face turned ashen.
Shen Lingyi huddled behind Zhang Shi, her plump body trembling.
On Wednesday, she stepped forward, swinging her abacus, the beads clicking loudly: "Miss Shen, shouldn't this debt be settled today?"
Shen Lingyi stammered, "Didn't we agree... a one-year grace period..."
Upon hearing her admit it, Shen Qingshu kicked her in her obese body.
"Bang!"
His two-hundred-pound body crashed heavily to the ground.
Just as Zhang was about to erupt and scold Shen Qingshu, Shen Qingshu roared, "She owes a full nine hundred taels of silver. Even if we sell our ancestral home, we still can't fill this hole!"
Nine hundred taels?
Upon hearing this, Zhang grabbed Shen Lingyi's arm and yelled, "You damned wretch!"
Lu Zhaoruo walked over gracefully.
Her gaze shifted slightly, meeting Zhao San's eyes briefly before looking away.
On Wednesday, he immediately understood, his abacus rattling as he raised his voice: "I was going to give you a year's grace period because you're the eldest daughter of the Shen family, but yesterday it was all over West Street that the eldest daughter of the Shen family was even stealing silk from her own shop, looking so destitute..."
He sneered and continued, "Our shopkeepers, numbering over a hundred, need to eat, and our boss is also waiting for rice to cook. Today's debt... we can't afford to lose even a single copper coin!"
On Wednesday, another burly man glared at Shen Lingyi and said, "Even if you dismembered and sold all your fat, you'd still make nine hundred taels of silver!"
Shen Lingyi collapsed to the ground, her face covered in snot and tears from crying.
She remembered when she first borrowed money to pay off gambling debts, in the private room of the pawn shop, Zhou San personally poured her honey syrup: "What kind of person are you, young lady? You're just borrowing a little money to tide you over..."
Back then, these people would fawn over her.
Zhang grabbed Shen Qingshu's sleeve: "My lord, you must think of a way, talk to them and ask for an extension?"
Shen Qingshu shook off her hand, forcing a smile: "Steward Zhou, could you please make an exception for a few days? My humble abode is just a small household, and I really can't come up with nine hundred taels at the moment..."
Wednesday grinned maliciously and drew his sword from his waist: "Don't even think about it!"
He held up two fingers: "Two paths. Today, either you get nine hundred taels, not a penny less, or..."
He deliberately dragged out his words and glanced sideways at Lu Zhaoruo.
Seeing Lu Zhaoruo twitch her left hand, Zhou San immediately understood: "Either cut off her left hand to pay off the debt!"
Dongrou smiled smugly.
He deserves it! He just hit his own wife with that hand, and now he's going to be chopped off!
Shen Qingshu took a breath, closed his eyes, and said in a cold voice, "Then... let's cut him down."
"Awoooooo... Father."
Shen Lingyi collapsed to the ground, howling like a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.
Zhang grabbed her daughter and yelled, "How dare you! I'm going to report you to the authorities! I'll have them arrest you filthy scum from the underground gambling dens and break your arms and legs!"
Zhou San laughed heartily: "It's good to report this to the authorities. Your daughter knew the gambling den was illegal, yet she still gambled there. After losing, she even dared to borrow money at exorbitant interest rates. Let's go to the county yamen and see whose crime is more serious."
"idiot!"
Shen Qingshu suddenly roared, his face contorted in anger.
He glared at Zhang: "Do you want the Shen family's century-old reputation to be ruined in an instant? Do you want the government to confiscate our property?"
Zhang stammered, "Then, what should we do..."
Shen Qingshu straightened his clothes and his voice returned to calm: "If you want to cut off an arm, then cut it off."
His gaze toward his daughter was icy. Anyway, she wouldn't die. Without her hand, she wouldn't have to pay off her debts, and she wouldn't have to gamble again in the future.
"Father, I don't want my hand to be cut off, sob sob..."
Shen Lingyi hugged Shen Qingshu's leg, crying and shaking her head.
On Wednesday, he brandished his knife twice, then laughed and said, "Master Shen is straightforward, but..."
"Cut off the left hand today, and if you still can't pay tomorrow, cut off the right hand. As for the day after tomorrow..."
The knife tip pointed at Shen Lingyi's feet, "It's time for these fat legs."
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