Chapter 91 "It feels so good to be standing on high."...
The waiter from the restaurant who had followed Xiao Lang home to get the money saw him suddenly go crazy, running around the courtyard and shouting.
"Don't try to renege on your debt even if you pretend to be crazy!"
A burly man stepped forward and grabbed Xiao Lang, while another burly man slapped him twice across the face, saying menacingly, "Are you awake now?"
The excruciating pain brought Xiao Lang back to his senses. He endured the burning pain in his cheek and hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean to renege on my promise. It's my older sister and niece who went missing. I was so worried!"
The waiter waved his hand impatiently, "It's none of our business if your family member is missing. Just pay your bill now, and we won't care where you go to look for them."
Even if Xiao Lang were stupid, he would realize that he had definitely been tricked today.
He pleaded with the burly man to let him go back to his room to get the money.
But when he pulled the money box from under the bed, opened it, and saw that there were only a few pieces of silver left inside, he screamed in agony.
"Aaaaaah, this is a robbery—!!!"
The waiter entered the room and saw him kneeling on the ground, holding an empty box and acting crazy. He rolled his eyes.
He skillfully pulled out an IOU that the restaurant usually prepared from his pocket, filled in the amount owed with a charcoal pencil he carried with him, and gestured for the two burly men to take it over for Xiao Lang to sign.
"Young Master Xiao, you must repay the debt within three days, or it will accrue interest."
The waiter looked around the house and began subconsciously estimating its price.
No matter how much Xiao Lang struggled, he couldn't resist. The burly man grabbed his finger like a chick and pressed his fingerprint onto the IOU.
He sat on the cold, hard floor tiles all night, barely making it to dawn. He immediately left as fast as he could and headed straight for Shuntian Prefecture.
"I want to report this to the authorities!"
...
"Scholar Xiao, are you saying that thieves broke into your house, kidnapped your sister and niece, and stole all your savings?"
The officer leading the investigation team to Xingzi Lane was none other than Lu Chong, the magistrate. He interrogated the suspect with an air of official business, while a scribe stood beside him taking notes.
Lü Chong asked, "How much silver did the thief steal from you?"
Xiao Lang hesitated for a moment before answering in a low voice, "About five hundred taels."
"Wow, I didn't know writing books could make so much money."
Lu Chong seemed to be just making a casual remark, leading the constables to search the courtyard for traces left by the "thief," while asking, "Did you also buy this house with the money you earned from writing books? I see that the property deed only has your name on it, and there's no information about your sister or niece registered in the household register. What, are you trying to evade taxes?"
Xiao Lang waved his hands repeatedly, saying he dared not, and explained vaguely, "The mother and daughter were kicked out by their husband's family. I only took them in temporarily. They will have to move out again after she gets married, so I haven't had time to register them with the household registration office. I hope you can understand..."
"I'm not trying to be mean, but if you had registered their identities earlier, wouldn't it have been much easier for us to find them?"
Lu Chong muttered a few words in displeasure, and Xiao Lang, not daring to offend him, followed behind, repeatedly agreeing.
The group arrived at the backyard. Lü Chong walked to Xiao Suzhen's room and bent down to pick up a chain on the ground between the door and the window. A broken padlock was hanging on it.
He turned to Xiao Lang and asked, "What's this for? Didn't you say this was your sister's room? Why is the door locked?"
Xiao Lang realized something was wrong. He had gotten home too late last night and was in a hurry to report to the authorities this morning, so he had forgotten to put the item away beforehand.
Facing Lü Chong's increasingly serious and scrutinizing gaze, Xiao Lang felt extremely guilty, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He stammered an explanation: "It was me. I was worried that my sister might run out and be in danger while I wasn't home, so I locked her in the room..."
Lu Chong sneered, "That's your sister. She's thirty years old, not three. How could a grown woman get lost?"
Xiao Lang was momentarily speechless, but quickly retorted confidently, "Now it's lost, isn't it?"
He pointed to the obvious hacking and smashing marks on the broken lock and said with certainty, "Someone must have broken the lock and kidnapped the mother and daughter!"
"You think it's a kidnapping? Did you receive a ransom note?"
Lu Chong received a tip from his good brother last night, and he came here today specifically to erase the traces for Shen Lingyue and the others.
Don't ask, the answer is that his wife, Guo Yun, is also a loyal reader of "The Story of Qi Lan". Last night, she heard about the ordeal of Xiao Suzhen and her daughter and was so angry that she cursed them for half the night.
Lu Chong stared intently at Xiao Lang, his eyes, which had interrogated countless criminals, shining brightly, as if all evil had nowhere to hide under the sunlight.
He said meaningfully, "Perhaps your sister didn't want to be locked in the room by you, so she ran away with her daughter?"
“How dare she?!” Xiao Lang blurted out.
After saying that, he realized he had lost his composure and quickly tried to make amends: "Sir, what I mean is, they are widows and orphans, and I am their only family member to rely on. Why do they have to run away and suffer?"
Lu Chong chuckled, "I'm not your sister, how would I know what she's thinking?"
He casually tossed the dark iron chain aside and waved to the constable, "Alright, let them handle their own family matters."
He then prepared to lead the team to wrap up work.
Xiao Lang panicked and quickly stopped Lü Chong, "Sir, if you insist that they left home on their own, then I... I will accuse them of theft!"
That's over five hundred taels of silver! It was his only savings after buying the house. What right does she have to take it away?
Xiao Suzhen, since you don't care about your own brother's life or death, then don't blame me for being ruthless!
Xiao Lang's eyes flashed with ruthlessness; he was determined to have Lü Chong file a case and issue an arrest warrant for the mother and daughter.
Do you have evidence to prove that it was definitely those two who did it?
Lu Chong pointed to a constable, "He just found a male footprint on the wall. We'll investigate in that direction. You can wait for news. Goodbye."
Finding the person was impossible, and issuing a warrant for their arrest was out of the question. Let Xiao Lang just assume that the silver was stolen by a "thief".
Anyway, there are plenty of unsolved cases in Shuntian Prefecture, so one more won't make a difference.
...
"Little girl, you're so smart!"
Inside a guest room at Meiying Pavilion, Shen Lingyue stroked the little girl's head and showered her with praise, "How did you know where Xiao Lang hid the money?"
“Once, my uncle was secretly counting banknotes in his room when I accidentally saw him. He was very angry and scolded me. Later, he bought me candy and told me not to tell anyone.”
The little girl stuffed her mouth with snacks, all of which were delicious things she had never eaten before. She ate one bite after another until she was as full as a little squirrel.
She let out a satisfied burp, a smug look on her face: "Later, my uncle changed the place to hide the silver. Actually, I knew all about it, hehe."
Yan Yi roughly counted the silver notes that Xiao Nan had stuffed into her arms; there were more than five hundred taels. She smoothed out the silver notes and handed them to Xiao Suzhen, saying gently, "Now you don't have to worry about making a living in the future."
Yesterday, while they were helping Xiao Suzhen tidy up the manuscripts in her study, no one noticed that Xiao Nan secretly slipped into Xiao Lang's room, found his money box, and stuffed all the large sums of silver notes inside into her clothes.
If they hadn't returned to the Marquis's residence and settled in Meiying Pavilion, where Dong Lanyi lived, and suggested that the mother and daughter be given new clothes, they wouldn't have noticed for a while.
Xiao Suzhen accepted the silver note with mixed feelings, frowning as she disapprovedly scolded her daughter: "How have I always taught you? Taking something without asking is stealing—"
Her face hardened, becoming somewhat serious. The little girl, frightened, hid behind Dong Lanyi, clutching tightly at her skirt, and protested defiantly:
“But Uncle’s money all comes from the books you write. He even bought such a big house, and we didn’t get a share… That’s not his money, it’s all Mother’s!”
"The little girl is right."
Shen Lingyue stood firmly on the little girl's side, "Sister Xiao, you've really been fooled by him to the point that you can't even think straight. If it weren't for your book becoming a hit, he would be selling his calligraphy on the street with those scholars who have failed the imperial examinations time and time again!"
Xiao Suzhen's eyes flashed, and after a long internal struggle, she finally reached out her hand to the little girl and said in a soft voice, "Mother apologizes to you. I'm sorry, Mother shouldn't have scolded you just now."
The little girl then rushed into Xiao Suzhen's arms, hugged her tightly, and whispered, "Mother, I feel like we've truly escaped now."
In the few memories she had of her young mind, it seemed that she and her mother were always running away.
Her grandmother used to dislike her. Although her father treated her well, he would occasionally hold her and sigh, saying that he wished she were a boy.
Later, her father died, and her mother took her and they escaped from that home. They came to the capital, but her uncle locked her mother up again.
These days are finally over, that's great.
...
Xiao Suzhen and Xiaonan settled down at Meiying Pavilion.
During the day, Xiao Suzhen and Dong Lanyi would discuss the plot together, while Azhi would take the little girl to play in the yard. Sometimes they would go to Tanghua Garden to pet the cats, and sometimes they would go to Shen Lingyue to walk the scarf together.
Xiao Nan had never experienced such carefree and joyful days. A Zhi finally had a well-behaved and adorable little sister, whom she could let act like an older sister and dress Xiao Nan up like a doll.
The bright spring sunshine seemed to echo throughout the Marquis's mansion with the silvery laughter of little girls, bringing a touch of life to this vast estate.
Inside Tanghua Garden, Meng Wanyin secretly remarked to Qi's mother, "A house only feels lively when there are children around."
Madam Qi smiled and said, "The two young masters and the young mistress are very much in love. It's just that their time together hasn't come yet. Perhaps the young mistress will soon be kept awake by the noise of the children all over the courtyard."
Meng Wanyin suddenly recalled Pei Jinghuai's childhood, how he was like a tireless little spinning top, always full of energy, and how every day when she opened her eyes, all she could hear was the Empress Dowager's voice.
She suddenly shivered and said with lingering fear, "I think things are pretty good now."
...
While the Marquis's residence enjoyed a peaceful and tranquil life, Xiao Lang was going crazy with worry.
After he reported the matter to the Shuntian Prefecture government, nothing came of it. He went to the government office several times to inquire about the progress, but the officials coldly brushed him off, telling him to keep waiting.
He can wait, but he can't wait to pay the restaurant's IOU.
Xiao Lang had no choice but to reluctantly find the precious gifts his readers had given him in the past, sell them at a discount, and piece together the money to pay off his debts.
Nowadays, apart from the house he owns, he's practically penniless.
To make matters worse, Mr. Du from Xuelangzhai came to his door again, asking when he could finish writing the last volume of "The Story of Qilan," as he was waiting for the book to be printed.
This is the most terrifying thing for Xiao Lang. Xiao Suzhen has disappeared without a trace. Where can he conjure up a happy ending for Boss Du?
With the deadline for submitting the manuscript fast approaching, if he couldn't finish it on time, he would have to pay Xuelangzhai a large sum of money, and then he really wouldn't even be able to keep his house.
Xiao Lang was so frustrated he was practically bald, but he finally decided to bite the bullet and write it himself.
After burning the midnight oil to finally finish writing, he took the manuscript to Boss Du, who casually flipped through a few pages and was greatly disappointed: "What kind of rubbish is this? Are you crazy?"
Xiao Lang stubbornly insisted, "You're the one who insisted I finish it as soon as possible, so this is the only ending I could come up with."
He then offered Mr. Du a promise: "Don't worry, as long as you spread the word that this is Xiaoxiang Gongzi's final work before he retires from writing, my readers will be overjoyed and will definitely buy up all of this book."
"Really?" Boss Du was skeptical.
“Of course, no problem, but…” Xiao Lang cleared his throat and lowered his voice, “You must keep this a secret. You absolutely cannot let the Langhuan Pavilion find out, otherwise I’m afraid they will try to steal it again.”
Mr. Du was so angry that he was blowing his beard. "You want to promote my final work, but you also want to keep it a secret. Tell me, what am I supposed to do?"
"...These are all your concerns. I'm just a writer; I don't know anything about this."
Xiao Lang slipped away quickly, and Boss Du pointed at his retreating figure while cursing.
Fine, this is the last time anyway, I'll never work with him again.
After submitting his manuscript, Xiao Lang felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders. That very night, he took the deposit that Boss Du had prepaid and went to Fenglelou to indulge himself.
What's the use of all that money he painstakingly saved? It was all taken away by that ungrateful mother and daughter.
As Xiao Lang drank, he cursed viciously: "If I had known, I shouldn't have gone to the Wang family to pick her up. I should have let Xiao Suzhen be locked up in the courtyard and keep giving birth until she died!"
He got completely drunk, went home and fell asleep immediately. The next day at noon, the front door was pounded on loudly.
Xiao Lang forced himself to get up and open the door, only to be met with a punch from Boss Du.
"You bastard, I trusted you so much, and you actually cheated on me with both families behind my back?!"
The punch landed on his nose, and two tubes of blood gushed out instantly.
Xiao Lang covered his face, completely bewildered. "What did I do?"
"Still playing innocent with me?" Boss Du panted heavily. "Langhuan Pavilion is releasing the latest volume of 'The Legend of Qilan' today!"
He pointed at Xiao Lang: "You're really something, aren't you? You deliberately wrote me a piece of crap ending, and then you turned around and hooked up with Langhuan Pavilion. You'll be cooperating with them from now on, right? You're a liar. Believe me, I'll make sure you can't stay in the capital anymore!"
Xiao Lang, however, seemed oblivious to his threat. He suddenly grabbed Boss Du's collar and kept asking, "Did you hear me right? It's Langhuan Pavilion, they're going to publish 'The Story of Qilan'?"
Alright, so that's where he was waiting!
Xiao Lang shoved Boss Du aside and rushed out.
When he ran from Xingzi Lane to Fengle Tower, a long queue had already formed in front of him, and there were dragon and lion dance teams promoting the event on both sides of the street. The scene was very grand and solemn.
While waiting in line, some people whispered to their companions, "Didn't Young Master Xiaoxiang always cooperate with Xuelangzhai? Why did he suddenly switch to Langhuan Pavilion?"
"Maybe Langhuan Pavilion is just rich and powerful, and they spent a lot of money to poach the young master. Haven't you heard? The owner behind Langhuan Pavilion is..."
"That's great! Does that mean we'll get color illustrations like those in 'Jade Hall Hairpin' in 'The Story of Qilan'?"
"Maybe there'll even be a chance to see Young Master Xiaoxiang and Scholar Jiang on the same stage! Now I don't have to choose between them anymore, I want them both!"
Xiao Lang stood in the crowd in a daze. Everyone around him was discussing the young master Xiao Xiang, but no one noticed the man whose face was covered in blood from his nose.
He wanted to shout at them that he was the true Young Master of Xiaoxiang, but the words were barely on his lips when he lost the courage to speak.
Until a gong sounded, Dong Lanyi accompanied Xiao Suzhen out and walked step by step onto the high platform that had been set up in advance.
Upon seeing the two appear, the readers were in an uproar and began to discuss it privately.
"Strange, why is it Lord Lan who has arrived? Why hasn't Young Master shown himself yet?"
Dong Lanyi cleared her throat and mustered her courage to speak loudly to the eagerly awaiting readers below the stage: "Dear readers who love 'The Story of Qilan,' I want to tell you today that you have been deceived! This Sister Xiao Suzhen beside me is the true author of 'The Story of Qilan,' while the Xiaoxiang Gentleman you all yearn for is nothing more than a thief who stole his own sister's talent!"
Dong Lanyi turned her head and looked at Xiao Suzhen encouragingly, "Sister Xiao, it's time to tell everyone the whole truth. All this love, praise, and applause should have belonged to you."
Xiao Suzhen took a deep breath, clenched her fist, stepped forward, and readily admitted, "That's right, I wrote 'The Story of Qilan.' The Young Master Xiaoxiang is my younger brother, Xiao Lang. He lied to me, saying that I am a woman and a widow, so no one would read the stories I wrote..."
When Xiao Suzhen revealed that Xiao Lang had chained her to a room to force her to finish her manuscript, forbidding her from leaving until she did, and refusing to open the door even when her daughter was crying anxiously outside.
The audience was utterly enraged.
"Scumbag!"
"brute!"
"Thief!"
How could you treat your own sister like this!
"Have you forgotten the ending of 'The Mirror'? Actually, I've wanted to say this for a long time. The young master Xiaoxiang is not as peaceful and gentle as he appears. One of my girlfriends was almost... Luckily, she woke up at the last moment and escaped in time, otherwise who knows what irreversible things would have happened."
"What? Actually, I also received love letters from him..."
Xiao Lang used the same sweet words to deceive many people. These girls thought they were the only one, but now that they are together, they realize that they are just fish in a pond. Based on their family background, appearance and temperament, they are picked and ranked by him.
Some people couldn't accept this fact and were so disgusted that they kept gagging.
Immediately, a stranger handed him a handkerchief, inquired about his well-being, and offered him a homemade plum candy.
They looked at Xiao Suzhen, who stood on the stage, her figure slender but her back straight, her eyes clear and firm.
Yes, only a sister who has truly experienced the hardships of womanhood could write so vividly and movingly about Qilan's feelings before running away from home and eloping.
They fell in love with the free-spirited Qilan girl first, and then, by extension, transferred their affections to the Xiaoxiang gentleman, mistakenly believing him to be the soulmate of all women.
It turns out that all of this was just a scam meticulously planned by the thief.
Unable to vent their anger at being deceived and betrayed, the ladies could only pull out their purses, wave them, and push to the front, shouting, "I want to buy books, twenty of them!"
"When I get back, I'll tell all the sisters who didn't come. I'll make sure every dog in the back alley knows that Young Master Xiaoxiang is a big liar!"
The wave of condemnation grew stronger, and Xiao Lang, hiding on the outermost edge of the crowd, belatedly felt a sense of fear.
He was glad he hadn't impulsively shown himself and tried to escape this dangerous place immediately.
However, the next second someone grabbed his collar and shouted into the crowd, "Young Master Xiaoxiang is here!"
Xiao Lang turned around in alarm and met Shen Lingyue's bright smile.
She laughed so freely as she gently pushed Xiao Lang into the angry crowd.
"Congratulations, prepare to face the wrath of your fans."
Xiao Lang desperately reached out his hand, and soon countless fists rained down on him. He could only desperately cover his head and curl up into a ball.
They grabbed whatever they could and smashed it; some even rolled up newly bought books and slammed them against him.
If it weren't for the timely arrival of the Five City Garrison to maintain order, giving Xiao Lang a chance to escape, he might have been beaten to death here today.
Dong Lanyi and Xiao Suzhen stood on the stage and watched the whole thing until Xiao Lang staggered away like a rat crossing the street.
She asked, "Sister Xiao, do you still feel sorry for him?"
Xiao Suzhen did not answer the question. She simply watched as the long queues began to form again below the stage, with everyone vying to buy books and express their love for her and Qilan. She then gently curled the corners of her lips.
"It feels so good to be standing on high ground."
...
The latest volume of "The Legend of Qilan" has achieved a staggering new sales record, even surpassing the combined sales of the previous volumes.
The hottest topic of discussion lately is that Xiaoxiang Gongzi is seeking fame and fortune by imprisoning his own sister to write for him and treating his niece like a lowly maid.
And those down-on-their-luck literati who had always been jealous of Xiaoxiang Gongzi's sudden wealth directly revealed several of the pen names he had used in the past.
Another matchmaker in the west of the city, while chatting with someone after drinking, "accidentally" revealed that Xiao Lang had asked her to arrange a marriage for his sister. She said that she didn't care about the other party's character or personality, and that as long as he could afford a high dowry, she would agree to marry even a fifty-year-old man.
"If it weren't for the fact that Miss Xiao could write books and earn money, she probably would have been sold off long ago!"
These words quickly spread, further fueling Xiao Lang's hatred.
Someone leaked his address in Xingzi Lane, and now he's afraid to go out every day because he'll be met with countless insults and people throwing rotten eggs at him.
Finally, night fell, but there was no food left at home. Xiao Lang was so hungry that he tried to sneak out to find something to eat, but as soon as he opened the door, a bucket of sewage was thrown at him.
Xiao Lang was completely unprepared, and a few drops even splashed into his mouth.
"Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!" He spat wildly, jumping up and down in a panic, shouting, "What crime have I committed? Why are you all harassing me like this?!"
From the carriage stopped ahead, a young girl leaned out and angrily cursed, "You liar! Don't you know how many girls you've deceived? If I were you, I'd just hang myself! How can you even face living in this world?"
She waited outside Xiao Lang's house for several days, finally able to vent her anger for her best friend who had almost lost her virginity.
Acting on behalf of Heaven!
When Xiao Lang returned to the courtyard, he took several showers to wash away the stench from his body.
The next morning, a group of officials knocked on the door.
"Xiao Lang, is it? There is an imperial decree: you have stolen books to gain fame, mistreated your own sister, and are unfilial and unjust. You have disgraced a scholar. You are hereby stripped of your Xiucai degree, barred from taking the imperial examinations for life, and immediately banished from the capital, never to return!"
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Author's Note: Here it comes! [heart emoji]
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