Chapter 334 — Repaying a Debt

Huzi did not notice. He hugged the box brimming with silver drafts and counted them once more.

"Brother Chen, it's twenty thousand taels in drafts, not a cent short." Unable to contain his delight, he said happily to Chen Jia, "We can pay off our debts, and buy back the house we used to live in, and never fear meeting those moneylenders again..." Halfway through he saw Chen Jia's gloomy face, and faltered. His voice sank. "What is it, Brother Chen? Is something wrong with these drafts? They were brought by Steward Chen from the Young Marquis of the Duke of England's household. I looked them over carefully—not one is false, and Steward Chen said that hereafter, whatever we need, Brother Chen has only to go to him. We have finally come through the worst, and good days are in sight—what is there to be unhappy about?"

Chen Jia was already in a foul temper. Hearing this simple, naive, almost foolish talk from Huzi, he flared up at once. "Are you pig-brained? The man sends twenty thousand taels in drafts—that is to make a trade of it, goods delivered, silver paid. Telling me to go to Chen He for anything means we are to trouble the Duke of England's household as little as possible hereafter... What good days? What is a mere Assistant Commissioner of the Guard's Zhenfu Division? One word from him, that's all it is! Who knows when someone will set his eye on me and have me shifted out of my seat?"

Huzi was dumbfounded. "Then—then what shall we do? Send the twenty thousand taels back?"

"Twenty thousand taels! Not two thousand—even if they skim their cut and squeeze along the way, it would still take three to five years!"

He could not help muttering under his breath, "Even so, it still has to be paid back!"

Chen Jia paced the room in a fury. At the shouted "Enough!" his face turned exceedingly ugly.

Huzi could not help shrinking his shoulders.

Chen Jia felt a tightness and shortness in his chest. He simply pushed the window open.

Cold air poured in.

He could not help shivering, but his mind cleared considerably.

He had barely met the Heir's Lady of the Yingzhenguo Estate before he was promoted to Assistant Commissioner of the Zhenfu Division. Not only his colleagues—even Shi Chuan, the superior of his superior's superior—had summoned him and, with a pointed sneer, cursed him: "You little wretch, to be on such good terms with the Heir of the Yingzhenguo Estate and keep it from me! If the Heir had not spoken up for you himself this time, I would never have known!"

At the time, he had felt that the Lady's words carried no ordinary weight.

Once out of the Embroidered Uniform Guard office, it occurred to him that since the Lady had married into the Yingzhenguo Estate, what mattered most was surely bearing children and spreading its branches. He had walked every street and lane, and only at the Chen family's did he find those five ornaments signifying many sons and abundant blessings... In the blink of an eye he had come by a reward of twenty thousand taels of silver and cleared every debt he owed!

When all was said and done, his present standing, his turn of fortune, came entirely from having walked the right path and clung to the right thigh.

If he could win the Lady's favor—no, to win her favor he would have to be in her presence often, and with the difference between man and woman, the Duke might not care for it, and the Lady might not receive him... He must find a way to do things for the Lady... and do them so well that she felt no one but him could manage them, and that even if others could, none could do them as quickly as he...

He began pacing the room again.

The Heir's Lady of the Yingzhenguo Estate—what did she lack now?

This thread must never be broken!

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What did Dou Yan lack most?

She felt that what she lacked most just now was a maidservant who could satisfy her.

Suxin said, blushing, "Perhaps my matter should wait a couple of years. In any case, Steward Zhao will be following Chief Manager Zhong to inspect the properties under your name these days, so for the time being he has no time..."

"He is going to inspect the properties under my name—what conflict does that have with your marriage? Are all those merchants never to take wives?" Dou Xin said. "Do not let your thoughts run wild. As for your marriage, with Old Chen and Master Duan to help arrange it, all the two of you need do is set your minds at ease—one to be a bridegroom, the other a bride."

Suxin blushed and murmured something under her breath that Dou Chu did not catch clearly, yet to see Suxin so shy, like a young girl, gladdened her greatly—Suxin, after all, was very much looking forward to marrying Zhao Liangbi!

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Brothers and sisters, an addition to the August 30 update.

ps: I have to visit a patient in the hospital today, so I am asking for a leave of absence—only one chapter today; I will make it up tomorrow.

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Thank you, everyone!