The atmosphere was a bit oppressive.
Lan Linxue was working on the abacus with great speed and precision, but Qin Kou'er had no idea what he was calculating.
finally,
"Alright, I'm done calculating!" Lan Linxue pushed the abacus away domineeringly and looked coldly at Qin Kou'er, saying, "In total, you owe me 108,000 taels of silver, plus Shi Mengjian's account book!"
Qin Kou'er really wanted to swing the abacus and smash it over his head. But on the surface, she just smiled faintly and brought the abacus to herself.
"Your Highness, the so-called settlement of accounts requires both parties to negotiate and reach a consensus before the account is valid. You, sir, just casually calculated and said I owe 100,000 taels of silver. Do you take me for a gold mine?"
Lan Linxue immediately gave Qin Kou'er a haughty look and pointed at her nose, saying, "You're such a stingy person! Ten thousand taels of silver, and you're still haggling with me! Fine, that's it! Today I'll make you obediently hand over the money!"
Qin Kou'er calmly picked up the abacus and gave it a shake. "Alright! Let's settle the accounts properly today, so you won't accuse me of bullying you again! Let's start from the beginning!"
As she spoke, Qin Kou'er flicked her hand, "From the moment you entered the city, I lost track of Shi Mengjian, almost killed the wrong person, and the brothers' travel expenses totaled 132 taels. And then..."
"Wait a minute!" Lan Linxue immediately reached out and pressed down Qin Kou'er's hand, which was about to fiddle with the abacus beads. She tilted her head and asked incredulously, "You killed the wrong person and are blaming me? According to you, I, the Crown Prince, was sleeping peacefully in my carriage when my good dream was disturbed, and I was also molested and frightened. How do you calculate this? Do you know how much it costs to scare me?"
"How much?" Qin Kou'er asked very seriously.
Lan Linxue rolled her eyes and thought for a moment, “Thirty thousand taels! At least thirty thousand taels! Usually when I’m frightened, I have to eat top-grade bird’s nest for a month, no! A hundred days of top-grade bird’s nest plus thirty-year-old Tianshan snow lotus, not to mention all the Taoist priests and monks who chant sutras for me every day! All that eating, drinking, sleeping, and other necessities, isn’t that money?!”
"Chanting sutras? To help you be reborn in a better realm?" Qin Kou'er said with a somewhat unpleasant expression.
"Calm your nerves!" Lan Linxue roared, her eyes wide with anger.
"Fine, fine!" Qin Kou'er waved her hand dismissively, as if to say, "You're cheating." "Thirty thousand taels, minus ten thousand taels, then minus 132 taels..."
"What is ten thousand taels?" Lan Linxue reached out and stopped Qin Kou'er again.
Qin Kou'er raised an eyebrow at Lan Linxue and said very seriously, "If you hadn't come to Yangzhou out of nowhere and made me lose Shi Mengjian, why would I have sent three hundred people out to look for him, only to find out in the end that he was in a brothel? Doesn't that cost you money?"
After saying that, Qin Kou'er ignored Lan Linxue's reaction and directly deducted 10,000 taels.
Lan Linxue was so angry that she uttered three words through gritted teeth, "Shameless!" but she did not stop Qin Kou'er from reducing the price by ten thousand taels of silver.
Qin Kou'er glanced at him sideways and smiled, then continued calculating: "In the Mandarin Duck Pavilion..."
"In the Mandarin Duck Pavilion, you first hit me with your head, then grabbed my arm with your hand, and it's all bruised," Lan Linxue said, quickly showing her forehead and then extending her wrist for Qin Kou'er to see. "The bruises haven't gone down yet! I'll give you a discount this time, I'll take 30,000 taels!"
Qin Kou'er snorted, "Fine! I'll give you 30,000 taels. I won't even bother with small scores. I covered for you to escape right under Hu Feifan's nose; that's worth at least 100,000 taels, right?..."
"One hundred thousand taels!" Lan Linxue jumped up immediately.
Qin Kou'er rolled her eyes in exasperation, "Too much?"
Lan Linxue wanted to shout that it was too much! Absolutely too much! Outrageously so! But he also felt that his life was so precious, and 100,000 taels seemed a bit too little. Torn between these thoughts, he could only glare angrily at Qin Kou'er, unable to utter a word.
Qin Kou'er gave a knowing sneer, then continued fiddling with the abacus, "I knew it! If a dignified crown prince isn't even worth 100,000 taels, then his life is incredibly cheap!"
Lan Linxue clutched her chest, fearing she might vomit blood and die on the spot.
"So, you now owe me 50,132 taels of silver. Plus, with the matter of Shi Mengjian, you still owe me a foot bath, right?"
"Bullshit!" Lan Linxue completely lost her temper. "Which ledger did I receive? How dare you make such wild guesses?"
Qin Kou'er looked up at him very formally, "Didn't I send you Shi Mengjian's head? Did you see it? Was it you who was burned in the fire? Now that I've completed the transaction, you have to admit it! Go wash your feet in a bit!"
"You're talking nonsense! You think you can just give me a human head to make up the numbers? Tell me, what would I need a dead human head for?" Lan Linxue was truly furious.
"I know what you do? Maybe you have some peculiar hobby!" Qin Kou'er said, giving Lan Linxue a disdainful look. "Anyway! You said you wanted people, so I gave you people! As for whether they were alive or dead, you didn't say so at the time, which just shows how stupid you were!"
Lan Linxue was so angry that her liver hurt. She put her hands on her hips and pointed at Qin Kou'er, "You burned down my house, arrested my people, and even carved such an ugly word on my chest. How do you expect to pay for that?"
Qin Kou'er slowly stood up, supporting herself on the stone platform with both hands. She faced Lan Linxue nose to nose and eye to eye, retorting without giving an inch: "You destroyed eighteen of my branches, burned down my headquarters, and even bit me twice. How do you plan to settle this?"
"I even saved your life, why don't you say that? Without me, you would be skewered into meat by Hu Feifan right now!" Lan Linxue's long hair cascaded down her shoulders, like an angry golden-winged roc, both alluring and vibrant.
Qin Kou'er swallowed hard and pointed at the clothes on the stone bench, "I even tore off some clothes for you to use as padding so you wouldn't get hemorrhoids! And I even made you tea, how are you going to pay for all of this?"
Upon hearing this, Lan Linxue rushed in front of Qin Kou'er and roared, "You've molested me several times! Why don't you say that?"
Qin Kou'er was not to be outdone, and roared angrily with her head held high: "I've rolled around in bed with you several times, haven't I? What, is my innocence worthless?"
Both men were panting heavily, hands on their hips, glaring at each other like bulls in a fight, neither willing to give an inch.
"I don't care! You owe me! Pay me back!" Lan Linxue reached out for the money.
Qin Kou'er reached out and slapped Lan Linxue's hand away. "You're the one who should pay back the money! My 100,000 taels of gold is still in that brothel! Let me tell you, Lan Linxue, if you don't pay back the debt today, I'll throw you into the latrine!"
"You dare?" With that, Lan Linxue grabbed Qin Kou'er's hair and slammed her to the ground. "I'll teach you to bully me! From childhood to adulthood, I've only ever bullied others! I've never been bullied!"
Qin Kou'er, of course, could not show weakness. She reached out and grabbed the wound on Lan Linxue's chest, twisting it forcefully.
"Ouch—you brat! It hurts so much! Let go!"
Lan Linxue yelled and grabbed Qin Kou'er's hair even harder.
"If you dare to be shameless, I dare to risk my life! If you don't pay back your debt, I'll kill you!" Qin Kou'er also grabbed Lan Linxue tightly and wouldn't let go.
The two of them were tearing at each other, backing away and rolling around.
finally--
Thump!
The two fell into the Jade Spirit Spring together, splashing up a huge spray of water.
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