Chapter 23: This Is The Money For The Marquis’s Promotion
“I, I didn’t mean that.” Madam Zhou was also panicking now. She was completely uncertain now about what Lin Feng was doing outside.
Chunhua Tower was originally the most famous brothel in the Capital. It was the place the Capital’s profligate sons liked to stay the most.
There, they threw away money like it was dirt. If one wasn’t someone with substantial wealth, they simply couldn’t enter that kind of place.
“Elder Brother is definitely inside. Marquis, why not send someone to take a look? After all, if Elder Brother really owes silver to Chunhua Tower and this matter gets out, I’m afraid it will affect the Marquis’s future prospects.”
Lin Ningkun said nothing, but his tense expression already showed that he was extremely angry at this moment.
Jiang Ruanxi looked at his clenched-fist face and lowered her gaze to hide the mockery in her eyes.
This was no longer just a matter of affecting future prospects. Lin Ningkun was someone who thought very highly of himself and kept himself clean. He would never go to that kind of place. Before, Lin Feng had only been fooling around on a small scale and wouldn’t do something like this, owing silver.
But now the matter had reached this point. If it continued to blow up, it went without saying that his official career would be affected.
Even just those idle gossips would be enough to make him lose face.
And the more respectable the person, the more they cared about those things.
Lin Ningkun’s face had become extremely grim. “Come, go to Chunhua Tower and check if this is really happening.”
After the servant left, Madam Zhou’s heart became uneasy. She sat restlessly, only hoping Lin Feng wouldn’t be so muddleheaded.
Seeing that these two wouldn’t stop until they got a result, Jiang Ruanxi directly had someone bring tea.
Half an hour later, Lin Ningkun’s trusted aide returned.
“Marquis, Elder Master did go to Chunhua Tower. He’s currently trapped there. They say if the Marquis Manor doesn’t bring money to redeem Elder Master, they will report this matter to the Capital Magistrate.”
Madam Zhou immediately retreated several steps, as if struck, looking like she might faint at any moment.
Lin Ningkun could no longer restrain his anger. He slapped the table with the back of his hand, causing the teapot and cups on the table to shatter directly on the ground, with tea stains splashing everywhere.
“Mother, before I left, didn’t I clearly instruct you to keep Elder Brother in check? Why won’t you listen to me?”
“I… I did keep him in check. Your Elder Brother clearly promised me he wouldn’t go, but who knew…”
“Is this your way of keeping him in check?”
Lin Ningkun wished he could crumple the paper in his hand and smash it right in her face.
“He’s in Chunhua Tower right now. Do you really know nothing at all?”
Madam Zhou looked thoroughly guilty. “I… I…”
For a long time, she couldn’t say a complete sentence.
“Mother, do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?”
Lin Ningkun’s sharp voice scared Madam Zhou into trembling too.
“I, I do know that after he went to the He Family, Elder Sister-in-law didn’t pay much attention to him, so he came back. But as for exactly where he went, I really don’t know.”
Heaven and earth as her witness, if Madam Zhou knew Lin Feng had gone to that kind of place, she definitely would have stopped him.
Lin Ningkun’s expression softened slightly. His own mother might be muddleheaded, but she wouldn’t be so outrageous.
“Marquis, getting angry here now is useless. You should think about how to resolve Elder Brother’s matter.”
Lin Ningkun knew saying more now was pointless, so he flicked his sleeve and walked out.
Madam Zhou’s tears kept flowing.
Her two sons, neither was worry-free. The eldest was good-for-nothing, and as a woman of the household, how could she manage him well?
The second son was good, but every time something happened, he always held her accountable. She really didn’t want to live anymore.
She cried harder and harder, thinking Jiang Ruanxi might comfort her a few words.
Who knew Jiang Ruanxi would say faintly, “Mother, if I were you, I wouldn’t cry right now.”
“Elder Brother owes ten thousand taels to Chunhua Tower. Now, even if the Marquis goes, without money, Elder Brother definitely can’t get out. If I were you, instead of crying and complaining here, I’d think about how to gather your dowry to fill this deficit.”
Madam Zhou instantly stopped crying. How had she forgotten about this?
But Lin Feng owed ten thousand taels. Even if she used her dowry, she couldn’t pay it off.
Suddenly, looking at Jiang Ruanxi in front of her, her eyes lit up.
She didn’t have it, but Jiang Ruanxi did!
With a face full of smiles, she looked at Jiang Ruanxi and said softly, “Ruanxi, you are a person of our Marquis Manor. Feng’er is also your Elder Brother. I don’t have that much silver on hand. You see…”
“Mother is right, but as I said before, I can only spend five thousand taels of silver from the accountant’s office. This is money for the Marquis’s promotion. If you want to use it to pay for Elder Brother, that’s fine. I’ll go get it right away.”
With that, Jiang Ruanxi turned and walked toward the door. After just one step, Madam Zhou called out to her, “Stop right there.”
“Mother, what’s wrong?” Jiang Ruanxi turned back with a puzzled look at her.
“This money can’t be given to Feng’er. This is money for the Marquis’s promotion.”
“Mother is right. I have an idea, but it might require Mother to be wronged a bit?”
Madam Zhou’s eyes lit up. “What idea?”
“Mother, tally up your dowry. It should be enough to make up these ten thousand taels of silver.”
“Don’t even think about it. This is my last silver for old age. I won’t take it all out. I can give at most one thousand taels. You cover the rest.”
Jiang Ruanxi gave a cold smile. In her previous life, when the Marquis Manor received the bill from Chunhua Tower, Madam Zhou had directly made her take money to redeem Lin Feng. She had foolishly used her own dowry subsidy to redeem him.
Reborn once, she would never be that foolish again.
Jiang Ruanxi showed a troubled expression on her face. “Mother, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s that I can’t help. You using my dowry to cover the Marquis’s matters has already been known by others. You saw Second Uncle getting angry just now. What if people find out that Elder Brother is spending my silver? If it gets out, how will others look at our Marquis Manor?”
After all, using her own dowry to fund Lin Ningkun’s future prospects was at least because they were husband and wife. Others might at most think he was living off a soft woman. But her relationship with Lin Feng was one layer removed. If this got out, the Lin Family’s reputation would really be done for.
Madam Zhou also understood this reason, and her face became extremely ugly.
“So this matter really isn’t that I don’t want to help, but that I truly can’t.”
Madam Zhou seemed struck. “Then… then what to do? He is at least your Elder Brother. You can’t really just stand by and let him die, right?”
Jiang Ruanxi felt that not kicking her when she was down was already pretty good, yet Madam Zhou still wanted her to pay. Truly wishful thinking.
“Mother, this isn’t standing by and letting him die. It’s that I love but am powerless to help.”
Jiang Ruanxi showed a helpless expression.
