The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1215 - 1193: Counting Money

Chapter 1215: Chapter 1193: Counting Money

The Crown Prince arrived at Changqing Alley and recognized the Bai Family’s residence without needing the guards to point the way, for there stood two officials at the door.

The Crown Prince reined in his horse, dismounted, and raised his chin to look at them.

The two officials had clearly never seen the Crown Prince before; they gripped their swords tightly and watched him warily. Yet, seeing his commanding presence, they dared not act.

A guard hurriedly caught up from behind and took out a metal badge, saying, "This is His Highness the Crown Prince."

The two officials were startled and immediately knelt down to greet him.

The Crown Prince waved his hand and glanced at the wall, frowning, "Are there assassins too?"

The two officials, visibly anxious, replied, "We haven’t seen any so far, but Lord Xu said it is better to be safe than sorry, hence we are ordered to stand guard here."

The Crown Prince nodded and lifted his chin, "Knock on the door."

The officials were startled for a moment before realizing what was expected of them. They immediately turned around to knock on the door, which in reality they just pushed open.

Since they were guarding the entrance, the door to the Bai Family’s residence was left ajar. As they pushed it open, the servant inside cheerily poked his head out and asked, "Brothers, are you thirsty or hungry? Would you like some snacks...?"

The head poking out was greeted by the sight of the Crown Prince and his entourage of guards. The house servant immediately stood up straight, gave a glance to the stern-faced Crown Prince, and kept silent, not daring to say a word.

The Crown Prince gave him a fleeting glance, saw the door wide open, and walked straight in.

The two officials guarding the gate got along well with the Bai Family’s servants, mainly because, in addition to being paid by the government, the Bai Family also gave them a little extra for their troubles. So when they saw the Crown Prince enter, they quietly reminded the servant, "That is His Highness the Crown Prince..."

The servant was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he ran after him.

But the Crown Prince, with his long strides and swift pace, was heedless of being in someone else’s home. He felt since he had asked for the door to be knocked, the fact that the door was opened meant he was permitted to enter.

The Bai Family’s mansion was very regular in design; the first courtyard was the first, and the second courtyard was the second. The front yard had many servants. The Crown Prince swept them with a glance and headed towards the back courtyard.

The house guards resting or nursing injuries took one look at the Crown Prince. Seeing a servant of their own house chasing behind him, and noticing his eager yet non-intervening demeanor, they assumed he was a guest and continued to sit still without moving.

The Crown Prince thus came unobstructed to the back courtyard.

Manbao and the other two were greatly startled the previous night, and after taking their medicine, they slept straight through to late morning.

Unexpectedly, Old Madam Liu and Mr. Zhuang both did not wake them, and Zhou Wulang and the others were also especially careful to tread lightly.

Indeed, the Zhou Family had already closed their restaurant and moved back, as they had no choice. No one knew how many assassins the Prince of Yizhou had hidden in the capital; it was better to gather together to defend against the enemy.

Manbao and the others were woken up by hunger.

Due to being shocked and catching a chill, both Bai Shan and Manbao had a slight fever, while Bai Erlang, despite also being injured, only had nightmares and kicked about in his sleep, without developing a fever.

Manbao prepared medicine for herself and Bai Shan, and Bai Erlang eagerly volunteered to take the prescription and fetch the medicine from their own pharmacy.

After they had eaten and taken their medicine, the three of them sat in the courtyard, basking in the sun, dazing off and talking idly.

Zhou Wulang sat next to Manbao and handed her an account book, saying, "This is the reward money distributed yesterday, a total of four hundred and twenty gold coins. Our family should contribute two hundred and ten gold coins, but in reality, we only gave sixty, still owing one hundred and fifty."

Bai Shan, who was beside them, immediately said, "Brother Zhou Wu, it shouldn’t be you who pays this, don’t talk about owing anything."

"No, that won’t do," Zhou Wulang insisted, "Even the rent for the house was shared, monetary matters should be settled clearly, otherwise it’ll be awkward in the future."

Manbao nodded and slapped her chest confidently, "Don’t worry, I have the money."

Zhou Wulang nodded, "I know you have money."

Then he seriously looked at her.

Yesterday, when he heard that to save themselves, they had promised a large sum to righteous warriors who intervened on their behalf, Zhou Wulang took out all the money they had earned from running the restaurant for the past two-plus months.

It was just over four hundred gold pieces; it wasn’t a small sum for the Bai Family, but they didn’t actually have so much cash on hand.

After all, who keeps more than four thousand taels of silver at home for no reason?

In the end, it was Old Madam Liu and the silver shop who borrowed fifteen hundred taels of silver to make up the amount.

Bai Shan tugged at Manbao’s sleeve, whispering, "This matter is ultimately caused by my father, how can I let you spend money again? Renting the house is different, we need it to live and study here, but yesterday’s incident was about avenging my father."

Manbao replied, "Don’t I also want to avenge my parents? We filed the imperial complaint together, and it’s both of us whom the Prince of Yizhou wants dead."

"But if it weren’t for my father, your parents wouldn’t..."

"Can you really blame your father for that?" Manbao interrupted him, saying: "The one who did evil is the Prince of Yizhou, your father is also a victim, how can you blame him? How can you put all the pressure on yourself, Grandma Liu, and Auntie Zheng?"

She said, "The money should really come from the Prince of Yizhou, but can we ask him for it?"

Bai Shan hadn’t spoken when Bai Erlang shook his head first.

"So let’s just split it between the two of us. Sigh, once we’re healed, we still need to buy gifts for Feng Zongping and the rest. After all, they were also injured because of us."

Bai Erlang said, "Me too."

Bai Shan and Manbao gave him a displeased glance before saying, "You talk about dying together, yet here you are asking us for gifts over such a minor injury."

In the study, Old Madam Liu held back the sourness at the tip of her nose, looked up at the sky outside the window, and held back her tears.

Ms. Zheng steadied her by the arm.

Old Madam Liu turned her head and gave her a smile, then looked back at Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang was making tea, and perceiving her gaze, looked up and smiled at her, "Would the Old Madam like to sit down for some tea?"

Old Madam Liu smiled in agreement and sat down across from Mr. Zhuang.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard, the three young men had finished their argument. Manbao, feeling more spirited, got up to go inside and fetch the money.

She dragged the empty chest from beneath the bed, then took out the money from the system. She left behind some silver and took out most of the cash, piling it into the chest, followed by the gold pieces.

Feeling a bit dizzy, she couldn’t be bothered to count and just estimated it was about right. She closed up the three messy chests and went out to call Wulang and Liulang to carry them out.

Zhou Wulang was incredibly surprised, "Yesterday, we urgently needed money, I searched here and the chests under your bed were empty."

Then Manbao haughtily huffed, "That was a trick to deceive the eyes. If you could find it so easily, then what would be the point of hiding silver?"

"Alright then, whatever you say." Anyway, yesterday was too urgent, and he didn’t even have time to rummage through the cabinets. It seemed that most of the money was hidden in the cabinets, but could those cabinets even hold so much money?

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang carried out the money to count it.

So when the Crown Prince briskly walked into the back yard, what he saw was seven or eight people squatting on the ground counting money. Perhaps out of fatigue or due to their injuries, Bai Shan and Manbao were sitting directly on a cushion, specifically sorting and placing gold pieces to one side.