“Do you know you were wrong?” Zhang Tiehua looked at him fixedly. Her brother’s recent behavior had become increasingly disappointing. After leaving their small town and encountering so many outstanding men, she couldn’t understand how she had been so blind for so many years, thinking he was the best man in the world.
“I was indeed wrong. Wrong about my poor background, wrong about being unlucky, wrong about having no money, wrong about not being able to find a good backer. Otherwise, our positions would be swapped right now.” Zhang Tieshan spoke his true thoughts. Having been in the capital for so long, he had realized that whoever had money and power was the master.
Take Zhang Tiehua for example. If they had stayed in the small town, she would have depended on him for survival. Would she dare to hit him like this? No. So why did she dare now? Because she had found the Fifth Prince as her backer.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Tiehua immediately ordered people to continue the beating. Angrily, she went to the table and poured several cups of water, gulping them down. Only then did she feel calmer.
During this time, she unintentionally looked up at Zhang Tieshan and saw hatred and malice in his eyes as he looked at her. Her heart sank to the bottom, and she felt a chill run through her body. When she looked again, she saw him kneeling there obediently, as if everything that had just happened was her imagination.
Her intuition told her to stay away from her brother from now on. People’s hearts could change, and she had no desire to test human nature.
She didn’t know how long they had been hitting him. If they continued, Zhang Tieshan felt he would be beaten to a pulp. He quickly begged for mercy, “I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have gone to the gambling house, and I especially shouldn’t have gambled. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Zhang Tiehua quickly waved her hand to stop them. In fact, she was also heartbroken. Although she was increasingly impatient with Zhang Tieshan, they had spent so many years together. Even if he hadn’t begged for mercy, she was about to tell them to stop. She couldn’t really beat him to a pulp, could she?
She sighed, stood up, and said helplessly, “This is the first and last time. If something like this happens again, I will absolutely not help you. The gambling house will come to collect the money in three days. You’d better think about how you’re going to solve the money issue.”
Zhang Tieshan was shocked to hear this. Enduring the pain, he raised his head and asked in a panic, “You won’t help me solve it? This little bit of money is like a drop in the bucket to you. Just pay it for me, and I won’t make this mistake again, will I?”
Zhang Tiehua was amused and angered. “You call fifty thousand taels of silver a drop in the bucket? You might not believe it, but I don’t even have two hundred taels of silver on me right now. How can I help you repay fifty thousand? Haven’t you thought about where I, a woman of the inner chambers, would get that kind of money?”
“You can ask the Fifth Prince for it!” Zhang Tieshan said matter-of-factly.
“You don’t care about my situation at all. The Fifth Prince has been in trouble recently, and I’m not even in his favor. How can I ask him for money? Wouldn’t that be adding fuel to the fire? Besides, fifty thousand taels of silver is a lot even for the Fifth Prince, not five or fifty taels. It cost a full thirty thousand taels to buy this mansion and set up businesses for you back then. He said he wouldn’t help you anymore. Have you forgotten?” Zhang Tiehua slumped onto a stool, feeling worried just thinking about it. It was she who had pleaded for a long time before the Fifth Prince agreed to do these things for him.
“Then what should I do? Even if I sell the mansion and the shops, I can only raise thirty thousand taels. What about the remaining twenty thousand taels? You have to think of a way for me. You can’t just watch them chop off my hands and feet, can you?” Only now did Zhang Tieshan start to panic. It turned out the Fifth Prince wasn’t omnipotent.
Zhang Tiehua looked at him with an expression of disappointment in his failure. It was too late to worry now.
“What can I do? You didn’t think about this when you were gambling, so what’s the use of thinking about it now? I’ve been out for so long, and I should go back. However, the Fifth Prince must not know about you gambling at the house, or I’ll be in serious trouble. If the Fifth Prince asks, just say someone blocked you, wanting to rob you, and they fled when they heard the Fifth Prince’s name. I happened to arrive with my people.” After saying that, she quickly led her trusted subordinates and hurried out.
Seeing this, Zhang Tieshan panicked and tried to grab her, but he fell to the ground the next moment, feeling powerless. He quickly used all his strength and said, “If you don’t help me, you won’t end up well either. You have plenty of secrets too.”
Zhang Tiehua’s expression turned grim when she heard this. She quickly turned around and glared at him, “Are you threatening me?”
“I don’t want to do this, but I don’t want to die. If I can’t live, you won’t live well either,” Zhang Tieshan looked at her unflinchingly.
Zhang Tiehua gave him a deep look and turned to leave the room. Once he was alone, the steward quickly came to untie him.
As soon as his hands were free, he pushed the steward away and called for his servant. He remembered that it was the steward who had gone to find Zhang Tiehua, not her intervening. Perhaps he would have already recouped his losses.
Watching his young master limp away with the help of his servant, the steward felt he needed to find another path. Following him would lead to no good. Sudan Novel Network.
Back at the Fifth Prince’s mansion, Zhang Tiehua quickly checked how much money she had. When she first entered the mansion, the Fifth Prince had pitied her for being penniless, while other beauties, concubines, and the Fifth Prince’s Consort had brought large dowries, sending her plenty of gold, jewelry, and silver notes.
Although she was materialistic, she had never seen so much money in her life. Therefore, she had hidden most of it. She lied to Zhang Tieshan that she didn’t even have two hundred taels of silver because she didn’t want him to take advantage of her.
Late at night, she occasionally thought about when she would secretly get rid of Zhang Tieshan, and then her past would be unknown. Of course, it was just a thought. After all, there was still some affection between them, and she didn’t want to go that far unless absolutely necessary.
This time, his threat and his hatred made Zhang Tiehua uncomfortable, and that thought resurfaced.
After going through all her possessions, she calculated that she had only about ten thousand taels. Thinking about how she had begged so hard to secure so much money for Zhang Tieshan, only for him to lose it all overnight and even incur debt, she felt furious.
What should she do with the remaining ten thousand taels? She decided to first gauge the Fifth Prince’s attitude. To her dismay, this time she couldn’t even enter the Fifth Prince’s study. She was directly told that he was unavailable.
She couldn’t even see the Fifth Prince, so what else could she talk about? Zhang Tiehua felt a pang of sadness. She thought she had finally started to live a better life, but her brother was still dragging her down. If she couldn’t come up with the money in three days, she believed Zhang Tieshan would definitely reveal their matters to the world. He had nothing to lose, but what about her? If the royal family’s reputation was tarnished, she might even lose her life.
Suddenly, she made up her mind. If one doesn’t look out for oneself, heaven and earth will destroy them. She scanned through all the people she knew in the capital, thinking about who would be most suitable to help her carry out her plan.