Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 47
Chapter 47 - He Xu Was Inherently Addicted to Gambling
Mother He hurried to the front gates of the Xie manor.
However, she was intercepted by two footmen guarding the entrance. "Without Madam's permission, concubines of the inner courtyard are not permitted to leave the estate gates."
Mother He knew that the Xie manor possessed this rule, yet she never expected that she herself would end up bound by it.
When she was Mother He back then, because she served closely by my lord's side and won his deep trust, who across the entire household dared not show her respect?
At that time, she could go anywhere she pleased within the Xie manor, and no one dared stop her whenever she wanted to venture outside. Everyone respectfully addressed her as Mother He, and not a single soul dared pull a long face before her.
Yet now, transitioning from a servant to half a mistress, she possessed even less status to speak of than she did when she was a maidservant.
Previously, relying on my lord, she was like a fish in water within the manor.
Now, with my lord feeling various shades of impatience toward her, she could only rely upon herself. She needed to get some silver into her hands first so that those maidservants and matrons would willingly handle tasks for her.
Pondering this, Mother He made her way to Shengju Residence once more.
After Tingshuang went inside to report, she brought Mother He into the side hall.
Yun Chu put down the ledger in her hand and spoke, "What business does Auntie He have leaving the estate? As far as I know, you are a native of Jizhou, and your maternal family is also in Jizhou. If there is anything you need to purchase, the manor has footmen and matrons; you only need to give an order."
Mother He lowered her head and replied, "This concubine has stored a small amount of silver in a money shop and wishes to withdraw it. Entrusting this matter to others does not put my mind at ease."
"Financial matters truly cannot be handled carelessly," Yun Chu nodded. "However, for a woman to venture outside alone remains somewhat unsafe. I will assign a coachman to accompany you."
Mother He hastily expressed her gratitude.
The carriage rolled forward until it reached the bustling commercial district, coming to a halt before the entrance of the money shop. Mother He instructed the coachman to wait in place while she circled around the money shop and slipped into a nearby alley.
Deep within this alley stood a small courtyard that once belonged to her. When she first arrived in the capital trailing behind Xie Jingyu and was temporarily unable to enter the Xie manor, she and her three children had lived here for several years. When He Xu was cast out of the Xie manor, he must have come straight to this place.
She walked up to the courtyard gates and pulled out a key to unlock them, but no matter how she tried, the lock wouldn't turn.
An elderly woman living in the adjacent courtyard gate, who had once been familiar with her, called out, "Mother He, I haven't seen you in many years! After this courtyard of yours was sold, I thought I would never see you again."
Mother He was startled. "I never sold this courtyard."
"Half a year ago, that older brother of yours brought people from the housing agency and sold the house for a mere twelve hundred taels of silver," the old woman shook her head. "I actually wanted to give you a heads-up in advance back then, but I didn't know where you were living. Just half a month ago, I still ran into your brother on the street fraternizing with a bunch of gamblers. Mother He, you really ought to be careful."
Mother He's heart sank heavily.
This courtyard had actually been sold off at a dirt-cheap price by her good-for-nothing brother!
When they originally purchased it, it cost eighteen hundred taels of silver. Given how expensive property prices in the capital were nowadays, it could easily fetch around three thousand taels; yet he dared to sell it for just twelve hundred.
Back when they were in Jizhou, he gambled every single day, and she had spent a tremendous amount of effort to make him reform. He had promised her that once they reached the capital, he would never step foot inside a gambling den again. She had always believed he kept his word, never imagining he would secretly sell off the courtyard behind her back.
She still had two thousand taels of silver resting in his hands; without needing to guess, that was undoubtedly gone as well.
Forcing a smile, Mother He exchanged a few casual, idle remarks with the old woman before striding directly toward the capital's gambling dens.
The moment she reached the entrance, she spotted a man being beaten with fists and kicks, clutching his head and screaming frantically for mercy.
"See that? This is what happens to those who owe our gambling den silver and refuse to pay!" A burly brute hauled the beaten man up from the ground and delivered a ferocious punch. "This is just a bit of interest! If you don't return the money within three days, we'll directly chop off your fingers!"
The onlookers gathered at the side retreated in terror.
Mother He shrieked in shock and rushed forward. "Let him go!"
The burly brute stared coldly at Mother He. "Who are you to him? Clear his debt, and we'll let him go!"
As if seeing a straw to grasp in a drowning sea, He Xu yelled at the top of his lungs, "I owe them two taels of silver—twenty taels with principal and interest included! Hurry up and pay it off for me!"
Mother He drew in a sharp breath of cold air.
Borrowing two taels and repaying twenty—if this wasn't daylight robbery, what was?
Never mind twenty taels; she didn't even have twenty copper coins on her person.
"Don't you have jewelry on you? Hurry up and take them out, or I'm going to be beaten to death!"
The moment He Xu's voice fell, the fists of several burly thugs descended once again, and in no time at all, his face swelled up like a steamed bun.
No matter what, he was still her biological brother. Mother He lacked the callous heart to stand idly by and watch her own brother get beaten in a group assault, so she hurriedly said, "Alright, alright! I'll pay back the debt for him."
She stripped off the two jade bracelets on her wrists, the hairpin from her hair, and a ring as well, handing them all over.
The burly man took the items, weighed them in his hand, and grunted, "You're somewhat sensible. Consider the debt cleared—now get lost!"
He Xu scrambled up from the ground in an ungraceful scramble, grabbed Mother He, and dragged her away.
"The condition under which I brought you to the capital was that you would never touch gambling again! Yet now you've lost everything—how can you possibly look me in the eye?" Mother He felt like she could strangle him to death. "Get lost back to Jizhou right now and stop causing trouble for me here!"
He Xu sneered. "Now that you've become a concubine of the Xie family, you're looking down on your own biological brother, is that it? Hurry up—give me money, I need to win back my losses."
Mother He went black in her vision and nearly fainted away.
Her courtyard was sold, two thousand taels of silver were gone, and all the jewelry on her body was completely stripped away. Her last remaining cards had been completely squandered to the ground, yet she hadn't even uttered a word of complaint, while this scoundrel actually turned things around to shift the blame onto her!
"I only have these few copper coins left—take them, take them all!" Mother He hurled the copper coins onto the ground. "I'll just pretend I never had a brother like you!"
She spun on her heel and walked away.
She originally expected He Xu to chase after her, but turning her head, she instead saw her brother squatting on the ground, picking up the copper coins one by one before heading right back toward the gambling den.
Mother He was disappointed to the absolute extreme; she never should have brought He Xu to the capital in the first place.
Now she was barely able to keep herself afloat and could no longer manage He Xu; if he was beaten to death by the men at the gambling den, it would only serve him right.
After Mother He departed, a footman emerged from the street corner and approached He Xu. "Steward He, you won't get two plays out of just these few copper coins. Why not borrow a bit more to turn your luck around?"
He Xu sighed. "Those money shops demand houses or jewelry as collateral before they're willing to lend."
"I know a place where you can pledge your fingers or your arms. A single finger can borrow ten taels of silver," the footman tempted him step by step. "Steward He is quite skilled at gambling; it's just that your luck has been a bit off. I believe if you try a few more times, you'll definitely win back those several thousand taels you lost earlier..."
He Xu was indeed tempted, and he followed the footman into a nearby alley...
Tingfeng reported the events in meticulous detail to Yun Chu.
Yun Chu was lighting incense at that moment. Flicking away a bit of ash from the incense, her voice remained serene and detached, "Fingers and arms are worth how much? Tell someone to inform him that if he uses a man's most important asset as collateral, he can borrow two hundred taels."
Tingfeng stood frozen in place.
Tingshuang gave her a push. "What are you waiting for, hurry and go."
Yun Chu closed the incense burner, and the crisp, light fragrance of pine wood spread throughout the room.
In her previous life, Tingfeng and Tingsheng suffered brutal violation at the hands of He Xu. Since that was the case, she would first eliminate that wretched thing between his legs, ensuring He Xu never had the chance to ruin any young woman in this lifetime.