Chapter 463 I can pay my way out of this!
For the first time, Liu Nanshi felt that Xiao Qingyuan wasn't entirely without merit; at least, he truly loved her and knew how to cherish her.
Moreover, if he has no concubines or maids after marriage, he is much better than other men in the capital!
She bit her lip. What was there to hesitate about? Marry him!
Anyway, this was the only path she could choose: marrying Xiao Qingyuan as the Crown Prince's wife. At least the children she bore would be descendants of the royal family, which was much better than being hastily married off by her parents.
"Xiao Qingyuan, then I'll wait for you to divorce your wife and come marry me!"
Xiao Qingyuan was overjoyed: "Nan Shi, you've agreed to marry me? That's wonderful!"
"Don't be too happy yet. My agreement to marry you comes with conditions!"
"Whatever your conditions, I'll agree to them all!"
"First, besides divorcing your wife, you must dismiss all the maids in your room. I will decide who will serve you in the future."
"Okay, no problem!"
"Secondly, no matter what happens in the future, you must unconditionally side with me, even if I argue with your mother, you must side with me!"
"You don't need to tell me, I can do it!"
"Third, the Prince's Mansion is ours, so we shouldn't let Qingxi go back there casually anymore. Now that she's married, she should live at her husband's house. It's not right for her to always run back to her parents' house."
"You're right, I'll listen to you!"
"Fourth, and most importantly, you must help me find the person who drugged me. I want to deal with him myself! I must avenge this!"
Xiao Qingyuan hesitated for a moment: "This..."
"What, you don't want to?"
"No, no, no, I'm willing. I'm willing to do anything for you. You wait here, I'll go and investigate this matter right away."
Xiao Qingyuan reluctantly let go of Liu Nanshi, coaxed her for a while, and then left.
——
Wenbo Mansion.
Yuan Zheng was beaten until his skin was torn and bleeding, and he was in excruciating pain.
He screamed and begged for mercy: "Gu Qianhan, I was wrong, I really know I was wrong, please stop hitting me! Even if you beat me to death, you'll still go to jail!"
Gu Qianhan held a thorn cane, her voice cold: "Threatening me? Then I'll hit you twenty more times!"
"No, no, no, stop hitting me! I wouldn't dare threaten you. I'm just reminding you that I'm just a worthless life. It's fine if you kill me, but it's not worth it if you get dragged into this!"
Hitting someone with a thorn branch isn't actually fatal, but it's incredibly painful. It penetrates deep into the flesh and bone, causing a continuous, agonizing pain that brought Yuan Zheng to the brink of collapse several times. He wished he could just faint.
But Gu Qianhan had perfect control over his strength, so he only beat him until he was covered in wounds, but never made him lose consciousness.
Seeing Gu Qianhan raise the thorn cane again, Yuan Zheng was terrified and hurriedly said, "I can pay my way out! I have money, lots of money, you know that!"
Gu Qianhan stepped on Yuan Zheng's hand, and with a thorny branch in hand, swept it across Yuan Zheng's face: "So how much silver are you planning to offer?"
"One hundred thousand taels!"
"You almost caused me to have a live sex act with Liu Nanshi in the palace. You think you can just pay 100,000 taels of silver to cover it up?"
"You didn't end up with Liu Nanshi, did you? Didn't Xiao Qingyuan take your place? Besides, you already beat me up and vented your anger!"
“I haven’t vented my anger yet. I want to fight again. Anyway, I don’t need the 100,000 taels. I’m not Xiao Qingyuan, living in poverty and destitution, so I don’t care about money.”
"That...that two hundred thousand taels!"
"Lie still, I'm going to keep hitting you. If you struggle, I might hit your face. We're brothers, I'm still thinking of you."
As Gu Qianhan spoke, she deftly lashed out with the thorny branch.
Yuan Zheng let out another scream, then suddenly increased the amount of silver: "Five hundred thousand taels! Gu Qianhan, I'll give you five hundred thousand taels! That's more than enough, stop hitting me!"
“I have suffered tremendous physical and mental damage, and 500,000 taels is not enough to make up for the trauma I have suffered.”
Yuan Zheng cursed Gu Qianhan a hundred times in his heart. How could Gu Qianhan look like he had been hurt in the slightest? He was perfectly fine!
He's just asking for an exorbitant amount of money; he's trying to swindle a huge sum from him!
However, Yuan Zheng had no choice but to accept this loss. He asked, filled with grief and indignation, "Can you just give me a straight answer? Stop making me guess. Just tell me, how much do you want?"
Gu Qianhan said indifferently, "Since you're so cooperative, I'm not one to be difficult to talk to. Just give me one million taels first!"
"What?!"
Yuan Zheng's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets: "One million taels? Gu Qianhan, are you trying to empty my entire fortune?! Do you know how long it would take to earn one million taels? It would take starting from my great-grandfather's generation!"
Gu Qianhan sneered: "You might be able to fool a fool like Xiao Qingyuan with those words, but you're too brainless to fool me!"
“Your maternal grandfather was the richest man in Jiangnan, with countless properties. When your mother married into the family, she had a truly magnificent dowry, bringing enough gold and silver jewelry for you to squander for several lifetimes. The dowry included countless shops and estates, and even Qingyun Tower was part of your mother's dowry. Do you think I haven't investigated?”
"One million taels is an astronomical figure for others, but for you, it's just a drop in the ocean!"
Yuan Zheng nearly vomited blood upon hearing this: "What do you mean, a drop in the ocean? That's a million taels, not ten thousand! I simply don't have that much silver. Five hundred thousand taels is already my limit, and it's impossible for it all to be in cash!"
Gu Qianhan said calmly, "It doesn't have to be all cash. You can use other things to pay. In short, I want one million taels. If it's ten thousand taels less, I'll give you a beating. If you can take a beating, then you won't have to spend any money. Choose!"
As he spoke, he raised the brambles again.
"Wait a moment!"
Fearing he would hit him again, Yuan Zheng hurriedly said, "I can try to gather some money!"
Gu Qianhan nodded: "You're smart to pay up. Give me 500,000 taels first! I'll give you seven days to raise the remaining 500,000 taels. If you can't raise it, I have plenty of brambles!"
"Where would I get so much cash? I'll give you two hundred thousand taels first, and you can use your shops and estates to pay the rest!"
"Let me see the land deed first. I don't want it if the location is too bad."
Yuan Zheng was furious; he'd really provoked her!
If I had known this would happen, I would never have drugged him and offended him!
But he clearly drugged her without anyone noticing, so how did Gu Qianhan find out that it was him?
While Yuan Zheng was puzzled, he ordered someone to fetch the silver and land deeds.
Soon, 500,000 taels were given out.
Yuan Zheng felt a pang of regret, but he comforted himself that money could be earned back, and he had inherited his maternal grandfather's business acumen and was very good at making money.
He can earn back 500,000 taels in no time.
Consider this a loss to avert disaster.
Gu Qianhan was fairly satisfied. He put the silver notes and land deeds into his pocket and was about to leave when he bumped into Xiao Qingyuan, who was stepping into the house.
Yuan Zheng's pupils contracted, and he hurriedly crawled under the bed.
One villain hasn't even left yet, and now another one is coming. He's doomed this time!
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