"In my opinion," Lu Zhengfu sat cross-legged on the armchair and took a sip of tea, "Shou'er, you should expel that woman. She is also unwilling. The so-called 'forced melons are not sweet'. Well, there happens to be a reason."
Lu Jishou stood in front of him and said through gritted teeth, "I just said that woman is not a good thing! It turns out she is a female prisoner... Just let her go!"
"Let's not talk about this first... I heard that you borrowed a debt from a gambling house in Jiangdu County last time and haven't paid it back yet. I didn't know until someone came to pay for it yesterday. Those people were so angry that they even poured money on our door. What a shame." Lu Zhengfu said with a hint of resentment.
"This..." Lu Jishou's face suddenly turned ugly. He blushed and shouted loudly: "He... they dare? If they dare to pour dog blood on the Lu family, it is tantamount to stirring up trouble on Tai Sui's head... That's a living thing Impatient!"
"These gambling dens are covered by government officials, not to mention that they are the capital of Yangzhou Prefecture! They don't care about our little intimidation... we still have to do it!"
After Lu Zhengfu finished speaking, he suddenly knocked on the table and changed the subject: "I usually let you go and mess around no matter what. I thought you were an honest kid and couldn't make a big fuss. But you actually went gambling secretly and hid half of it from me?" It’s been a month! Now that you owe this one hundred taels of silver, how much face have you caused our Lu family to lose!"
He sighed, was silent for a while, and then said: "You'd better go to the accounting office as soon as possible to get the money and pay off all the debts."
However, Lu Jishou did not move, lowered his head and did not say a word.
"Go quickly?" Lu Zhengfu said.
"My son went to the accounting office and asked, but the steward said he couldn't move one hundred taels..."
Lu Zhengfu was puzzled: "Didn't you still have 140 taels of spare money left some time ago?"
"Because the betrothal gift for Zhuo Lengping cost ninety taels. Although Comrade Chen gave us thirty taels of silver, didn't my father pay him back another fifty taels? There would be no spare money..."
Mr. Lu's forehead suddenly wrinkled into the character "Chuan" and he was silent.
"Father, what do you think of Shou'er?" Lu Jishou slowly walked up to him and said with a smile.
"What?" Lu Zhengfu put his ear closer.
"Since it's hard to get the money out of other places, why not bring Zhuo Lengping to justice and ask for a reward from the government..."
Lu Zhengfu shook his head: "No. She, Zhuo Lengping, has been released by the government before. How can she be brought to justice? Even if she is really a prisoner, she has not committed anything major. How can she get so much reward?"
"This is not easy! Let's go to the trouble of asking the government to fabricate a crime that can be severely punished for her, so that it can be saved." Lu Jishou said slowly.
After hearing this, his father smiled happily and patted his head: "You don't do business, but you have a lot of clever ideas..."
The father and son immediately called the maid who was serving Zhuo Lengping and told her to "keep an eye on Gu Zhuo Lengping and not let him escape", otherwise she would be severely punished.
The maid hurriedly accepted the order, came out of the house, and walked down a winding corridor to Zhuo Lengping's bedroom. She pulled up her skirt, walked up the stairs, knocked on the door, and coughed: "Auntie, you...are you in the house?"
"come in."
The maid gently opened the door and saw Zhuo Lengping sitting on the edge of the bed, sewing clothes with a needle and thread in his hand.
"Auntie, have you ever washed yourself when you got up? Do you need something to eat? Just tell us if you have anything to do." The maid asked, standing hunched over.
Zhuo Lengping put the needle and thread aside and said softly: "Go and have a rest. I don't need to trouble you anymore."
"Cold screen!"
When the maid heard someone shouting from behind, she suddenly shivered and timidly raised her eyelids to look at her.
Zhuo Lengping was secretly wondering when he saw her look like this, then he saw Lu Jishou smiling, pushing the maid away and slowly approaching the bed.
"Leng Ping," Lu Jishou grabbed Zhuo Lengping's hands and looked at him affectionately: "Yesterday I made a fuss with you and hurt your heart... I hope you can forgive me..."
Zhuo Lengping swallowed, but before he could speak, he saw Lu Jishou standing up and yelling at the maid: "Lengping has been awake for a long time, and I haven't seen you carrying the basin to get food. How dare you treat me like this?" The young master’s bride? Go quickly!”
"Auntie said..."
"Auntie, auntie, you damn auntie!" Lu Jishou kicked the bed board hard with his foot: "I want to call you madam, do you hear me!"
"It's... Madam..." The maid said in a low voice without even daring to move.
"Go quickly if you know it, don't wait any longer!" Lu Jishou lowered his face and scolded, then immediately turned his head and looked at Zhuo Lengping with a smiling face.
"Madam, it was my fault in every possible way. I apologize to you." He patted Leng Ping's shoulder, "Our Lu family has plenty of money. As long as it can make you feel at ease, you can say whatever you want. Why be so reserved?" !”
Zhuo Lengping was extremely surprised to see that he was completely different from last night, as if he was a different person. She stared at him closely with those two watery eyes, trying to see something from him. But it's a bit overwhelming to expect these eyes to penetrate people's hearts.
She had no choice but to follow his wishes and persuaded him: "As long as my husband and I can get along harmoniously, there is no need to buy anything else. If my husband says this, I will feel at ease."
"Madam's words are really insightful and endearing!" After he said that, he hugged her happily, pressed his face against her, and rubbed Zhuo Lengping's cheek like a cat. He just frowned and didn't dare to speak.
"Master, the basin is here." The door creaked, and the maid walked in with a heavy copper basin in both hands and said.
Lu Jishou straightened his clothes, stood up and said, "Just put the basin on the shelf."
"Yes." The maid carefully placed the copper basin filled with water on the wooden frame beside the wall.
"Madam, get up and wash your face." Lu Jishou gently advised.
Zhuo Lengping stood up immediately, walked to the copper basin, washed his face with water, and wiped it with a handkerchief. While Lu Jishou asked the maid to take down the basin, he smiled and said to Leng Ping, "Madam, do you need to comb your hair? I see that your hair is also messy."
Zhuo Lengping nodded silently, and just as he was about to reach out for the comb, Lu Jishou took the comb over first, and then gently placed it in her palm: "No need to trouble Madam..."
Seeing him like this, Zhuo Lengping felt more and more strange in his heart, and began to think wildly. She moved the comb absentmindedly, and suddenly there was a loud banging sound from nowhere, which startled her. Her hand trembled and the comb fell to the ground.
"Why are you so clumsy, maid!"
Zhuo Lengping looked back and saw that the water in the basin was spilled all over the floor. The maid was kneeling in front of him, her body trembling.
