Chen Ruolan was completely dumbfounded when she saw the pile of silver. She stood there speechless, frozen in place.
Liu Fengjiao was even more astonished. She couldn't believe what she was seeing and shook her head vigorously. "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible. How could she have so much silver?"
The onlookers were all taken aback, staring at Chen Qingqing in astonishment.
This girl was unassuming; though her clothes were shabby, she was genuinely wealthy, readily handing over fifty taels of silver.
At the same time, their gazes towards Chen Ruolan were filled with disdain, and with a "let's watch the show" mentality, they all started to jeer.
"Young lady, you should honor your bet and get out of here quickly!"
"That's right. Even though they're not dressed well, they're not short of money. You've misjudged them. Not everyone can be bullied by you."
"Hahaha, I've never seen such a delicate young lady crawl like a dog before. This is truly an eye-opener."
"Who says otherwise? This little girl must look really good when she gets up."
Chen Qingqing smiled and said, "Chen Ruolan, have you looked carefully? Do you think I can afford a bolt of cotton cloth?"
Chen Ruolan snapped out of her daze, refusing to believe that Chen Qingqing would have money. She knew the Chen family's affairs perfectly well; there was no way she could possibly have any.
Even if she cured Master Fan's itching disease, Master Fan didn't pay her any consultation fee, so how could she have such a large ingot of silver?
Chen Ruolan, as if she had discovered a new continent, grinned wickedly, "This silver is problematic, it's fake, it must be fake, this silver is just lead ingots being passed off as silver!"
"Waiter, you must check carefully. If you receive counterfeit silver, you couldn't afford to pay for it even if you lost your head."
Liu Fengjiao completely agreed with Chen Ruolan's opinion. Chen Qingqing couldn't possibly have any money. Just yesterday, she was playing mahjong with the lady of the Fan family's housekeeper and even specifically asked about the consultation fee. The Fan family hadn't given her any money at all.
She curled her lip in disdain. "Qing girl, if you don't have money, don't pretend to be something you're not. If you use fake money and someone reports you to the authorities, you'll go to jail."
She covered her mouth and chuckled, then changed the subject, "For the sake of the fact that you once called me Third Aunt, you should quickly kowtow to Ruolan and admit your mistake, and this matter will be over. I am also an old acquaintance of the cloth shop, and I will put in a good word for you."
Chen Ruolan raised her head arrogantly and squinted at Chen Qingqing, "If you know what's good for you, hurry up and kneel down and kowtow. Don't make a big fuss, or things will get complicated."
The waiter scratched his head, looking completely bewildered. "Madam Chen, what's going on? Do you know this young lady?"
Liu Fengjiao chuckled, "More than just knowing her, she's my mother-in-law's unfilial granddaughter who was kicked out of the house. My mother-in-law had arranged a good marriage for her, but this girl made a huge fuss and refused to marry him. No matter how much we pleaded with her, she wouldn't listen. She even went so far as to urge her parents to separate the family property, saying that she would live a good life if she left us. I think she's just delusional and wants to get rich."
Seeing that Liu Fengjiao's story was quite convincing, everyone began to criticize Chen Qingqing.
"At such a young age, he is not learning good manners and even dares to disobey his elders. This is truly outrageous."
"This girl is clearly rebellious, born of a rebellious nature, and married by her parents and a matchmaker."
"Arguing with elders about separating the family property is truly unfilial!"
...
Hearing everyone's slander against her sister, Chen Han clenched her fists in anger, glared at Liu Fengjiao with furious eyes, and shouted, "She's talking nonsense! They found my sister a butcher named Li from Qingshui Town who killed several wives. He's not a good family at all!"
As soon as Chen Han finished speaking, those who had been criticizing Chen Qingqing fell silent, and their gazes towards her turned to sympathy.
Seeing that more and more people were gathering to watch the spectacle, the shopkeeper hurriedly came out from behind the counter, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Chen Qingqing, and said, "Miss, may I verify the silver?"
Chen Qingqing pressed her hand against the silver, "If it's been verified and the silver is genuine, are we just going to let them frame me?"
"Don't worry, young lady. Our shop will never wrong an innocent person, nor will it let a bad person go unpunished. If this money is genuine, our shop will never allow these two people to set foot in our cloth shop again."
"Alright, let's test it then!" Chen Qingqing raised her hand that was pressing the silver.
The shopkeeper took the silver and went behind the counter.
The method for identifying silver is very simple: first, compare their weight.
Take out a fifty-tael silver ingot and compare its weight with this one; the real silver will definitely be the same size.
Another method is to use fire. Real silver turns silvery-white after being burned and cooled, while lead turns black after being burned due to oxidation.
"Make way, make way! I heard someone is using counterfeit money. Where is he? Come with me to see the official right now."
As soon as he finished speaking, a man in his forties walked in with several of his men.
Upon seeing the newcomer, Liu Fengjiao smiled charmingly and swayed forward, "Elder Wang, what brings you here?"
The man called Wang Qizhang was a low-level constable responsible for maintaining local order.
He looked around the cloth shop and asked with a serious expression, "I just passed by here and heard that someone was using counterfeit silver here. I came to see who had the audacity to do this. Don't they know that using counterfeit silver in the Great Ning Dynasty is punishable by death?"
Hearing the noise, the shopkeeper quickly poked his head out from behind the counter. "Elder Wang, no one is using counterfeit silver. It's a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding. This silver is genuine."
When Chen Ruolan heard that the silver was real, her haughty expression cracked inch by inch.
That brat, where did she get the money? How could it possibly be real?
She steadied herself and asked, "Mother, what should we do?"
Liu Fengjiao was also stunned and immediately lost her composure. "She stole it! She must have stolen this silver, Chief Wang. This girl's family is dirt poor. She couldn't possibly have taken out fifty taels of silver. She must have stolen it. Take her to the authorities immediately."
Chen Ruolan nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes, I can testify. Their family is so poor that they can't even afford porridge, so there's no way they could have any money."
Chen Qingqing rolled her eyes speechlessly. Were Chen Ruolan and her daughter mad dogs? Did they really think she was still the original owner of this body? They wouldn't refute her even if she was smeared.
She raised an eyebrow. "Chen Ruolan, Liu Fengjiao, you keep saying my silver is fake, and then you say I stole it. Do you have any evidence? If you don't have any evidence, you'd better not make things up, or I'll sue you for defamation."
Liu Fengjiao stiffened her neck and gritted her teeth, refusing to believe that Chen Qingqing would have fifty taels of silver. She snorted coldly.
“You say this silver is yours? Others may believe it, but I don’t. Do you think I don’t know what your family is like? Stop making excuses. I advise you to tell the truth. Otherwise, if Chief Wang investigates, he will definitely arrest you and send you to the authorities. I wonder how you will have the face to stay in Nanshan Village after that.”
Wang Qizhang asked coldly, "Madam Chen, is what you said true?"
Liu Fengjiao revealed a frivolous smile, "Elder, this girl and I are both from Nanshan Village. Her family is so poor that they can't even come up with five coins, let alone fifty taels of silver."
“What my mother said is true. We swear on our honor that her money came from illegitimate sources. The elders will investigate thoroughly,” Chen Ruolan chimed in gleefully.
Although Chen Han was afraid, seeing that they were accusing her sister, she loudly defended herself, "You're talking nonsense. This money was earned by my sister. It's the money she made from digging up ginseng in Wild Wolf Valley and selling it."
........
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