Xiao Zhu took a furtive look and said cautiously, "Master, the young master of the Duke's Mansion, the illegitimate son of the Shen family, and the second son of the Prime Minister's Mansion are all here. They said they want to see you... at the gambling house."
Jiang Sheng's face darkened as he refused directly: "If you don't want to go, just say that I had a brain injury and need to rest. I won't go to the gambling house for the time being."
He now has a knife hanging over his head and can't sleep or eat. He just wants his grandmother to make arrangements as soon as possible so that he can go to the battlefield as soon as possible after performing. He has no time to talk about this.
The nanny came over quickly and whispered, "Young Master, the old lady wants you to come over."
Jiang Sheng thought of the money owed by the three people, and turned his eyes to Xiao Zhu, and ordered: "Xiao Zhu, go and take the people to Grandmother's yard. Don't say anything else."
"Yes, Master."
"Mammy, let's go."
The nanny nodded and said as they walked, "The young master is much calmer than before. The old lady will definitely feel relieved when she knows this. It's better for her to avoid going to the gambling house in the future."
Jiang Sheng hummed, "I understand. I will definitely not go to the gambling house again. I'd rather spend more time with my grandmother."
"Well, he's almost coming of age, and the young master has grown up and become sensible."
Xiao Zhu led the three of them towards the backyard.
The man in blue was Chen Que, whose family was a royal merchant. He had always been of low status among these officials' sons and had to be very careful to please them.
Chen Que shook the folding fan in his hand and said with a half-smile: "Your name is Xiaozhu, right? Your young master really fell down and hit his head. If he had gone there, he would have come to pick us up himself."
"Now I'm letting you, a little servant, take over. It's really..."
"Why don't you say anything? Do you look down on me because I'm the son of a merchant? Even if I'm a merchant, I can't compare to you, a little servant."
The young master of the Duke's Mansion, Xue Huairen, frowned and glanced at Chen Que with some dissatisfaction. This man used to be very good at reading people's expressions, but today he was really talkative.
"Okay, Brother Shen, why bother talking to a little servant? We came here today to find Brother Jiang. If we don't go to the gambling house today, our hands will itch."
Wen Zhishu, the second son of the Prime Minister's Mansion, couldn't help but smile. "I wonder how little brother Jiang is doing. I heard he was in a coma for three days and just woke up yesterday."
Xue Huairen held his head high, his face full of indifference.
"What else can we do? He's always had a tough life. Now he's awake, so we can just take a gamble."
The other two looked at each other, their lips slightly raised, their eyes full of anticipation for a good show.
Xiao Zhu glanced at them out of the corner of her eye, pursed her lips and said nothing. It was obvious that these three had bad intentions, but why couldn't the young master see it and insisted on having them get close to him?
As they got closer to the old lady's yard, they heard the sounds of whipping and screaming. The three of them were startled and hurried into the yard.
When I looked up, I saw the old lady waving a whip in her hand and whipping the kneeling man hard on the back. The white clothes on the back were stained red with blood, which was very shocking to see.
The three of them suddenly felt nervous. Why would this damn servant bring them to the old lady's yard? If something goes wrong, they will definitely be the target of her anger.
Without thinking too much, he knelt down and saluted.
Seeing this, the old lady paused and looked up at them. Silence spread in the yard and the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
The three of them lowered their heads, not daring to look. Their legs were aching from kneeling, and then they heard the old lady say, "Get up, all of you. It's been a while since I've seen you three young men. Come here and let me take a look."
“……!!”
Xue Huairen hurried forward, lowered his head and asked softly: "Old Madam, I don't know why you hit Brother Jiang, but it was because you went to the gambling house. If that's the case, then don't gamble in the future."
The old lady had a sullen face and her eyes were full of anger.
"It's unbecoming for a legitimate son of a general to go to a gambling house so often. I even heard he lost tens of thousands of taels. How can I not be angry? I should teach him a lesson."
"The three of you just stand by and watch. No one is allowed to plead for mercy. Otherwise, don't blame me for being blind with my whip. It would be bad if I hurt the young ones."
As he spoke, the whip continued to whip him, and screams were heard in his ears. Jiang Sheng could not bear the beating anymore and knelt down to beg for mercy.
"Grandma, please spare my life. I didn't lose tens of thousands of taels. I only lost three thousand taels. The remaining seven thousand taels are, are..."
When the three heard this, their faces changed immediately. There were too many children in the family, and the monthly salary they received was not much, so they were stretched to make ends meet every month.
But Jiang Sheng is different. He is the only male descendant of the general's mansion who remains in the capital. He is extremely doted on by his family and they have more money than they can spend every month. That's why they are interested in him and are willing to have contact with him.
But if the princess knew that the money they used to gamble was borrowed from that fool Jiang Sheng, she would not let them off and would prepare to leave immediately.
How could Jiang Sheng not understand them? He stood up and ran over, holding Xue Huairen's legs tightly, crying, "Brother Xue, Brother Shen, Brother Wen, please save me."
"You guys borrowed that 7,000 taels, didn't you say you'd return it to me? If you don't, grandma will beat me to death, wuwu~~~"
The three of them froze, and when they met the old lady's unfriendly gaze, they couldn't help but shrink back, lowering their heads and stammering.
"Madam, we suddenly remembered something happened at home, so we wanted to say goodbye and come visit Brother Jiang another day."
As he was about to leave, Jiang Sheng hugged his legs tightly, wiping her snot and tears on his clothes. Seeing his expression as if he had eaten a dead fly, she sneered in her heart.
Haha, the stage is already set up. If you don’t pay back the money, you won’t be able to leave.
He cried out inconsolably, crying, "You are not allowed to leave. Grandmother said that if I lose ten thousand taels, I will be whipped a hundred times."
"But I only lost three thousand taels, so that's thirty lashes. The remaining seventy lashes should be yours. If I hadn't lent you the money, I wouldn't have been beaten."
"We are all good brothers, and we should share the difficulties together."
Xue Huairen's face changed again and again. Being whipped was out of the question, but if he didn't pay back the money, this man would be like a dog-skin plaster and he couldn't get rid of him. He gritted his teeth.
"Brother Jiang, we were wrong to borrow the money. How about this? If you want to let go, I will go home and raise the money to pay you back."
The other two echoed, "Right, right. If you want to let go, let us go back and raise the money. We'll pay you back then."
Jiang Sheng shook his head and held on tightly, saying stubbornly, "No, unless you are willing to keep the jade pendant and sign the IOU, otherwise my grandmother will beat me to death."
The old lady watched from the side, her eyes becoming even colder.
After one stick of incense
The three of them left behind their jade pendants, their eyes full of heartache. Those were their best jade pendants, and if they were pawned, they would be worth several thousand taels.
Jiang Sheng left, suppressing his anger. He looked at their backs and said sadly, "Grandma, I'm in pain. Can you come into the house? Please keep this."
The grandfather and grandson entered the house, and the person who was watching them in the dark dodged and soon disappeared.
Heading towards the palace!
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