"Lord Zheng must have forgotten that this whole thing was triggered by Lady Zheng's causing trouble for Princess Tianlin," Jing Xinche drawled. Watching Lord Zheng's complexion turn increasingly grim, Jing Xinche felt much better.
He continued, "Lord Zheng, don't you think you should give an explanation for Lady Zheng's act of causing trouble for Princess Tianlin?"
"I wonder what Your Lordship has in mind?" Lord Zheng had a bad premonition ever since Jing Xinche opened his mouth, and that feeling grew stronger as time went by.
"Nothing much. I just want you to compensate for the mental anguish. Qier has a noble status and was greatly frightened. I need to help the princess recuperate well," Jing Xinche said seriously.
Lord Zheng heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. Fortunately, it wasn't something too difficult. "Your humble subject understands. I'll send some tonics to the princess after I return home."
Tonics? There were plenty of them in his mansion. He could just pick some and send them over.
"Who said anything about sending things? I'm talking about giving money as compensation," Jing Xinche immediately protested when he heard Lord Zheng's words. Did he need Lord Zheng to send things? He had more than enough of them himself. What he wanted was money!
Jing Xinche showed Lord Zheng a number with his fingers. "Five hundred taels?" Lord Zheng was instantly flustered when he saw Jing Xinche's audacious demand. How could he possibly have that much money?
"No no no, Lord Zheng has misunderstood me. How could it be just five hundred taels of silver?" Jing Xinche said with a chuckle, shaking his head. Lord Zheng let out another sigh of relief upon hearing this. So it was just fifty taels. He could still afford that.
"It's five hundred taels of gold," Jing Xinche dropped a bombshell on Lord Zheng.
"Pfft—" Lord Zheng spat out a mouthful of blood when he heard Jing Xinche say five hundred taels of gold. Fortunately, Miss Zheng and the others behind him managed to catch him.
"Your Lordship, aren't you trying to kill this old official? I really don't have that much money," Lord Zheng said tremulously, supported by others. If he could easily come up with that much silver, his family would be in big trouble.
"That's your problem. What does it have to do with me?" Jing Xinche shrugged nonchalantly. "I've already said that while the death penalty can be waived, the living penalty is unavoidable. Do you think I'll just let you go without any consequences?" Dream on. There was no way such a good thing would happen.
After saying that, Jing Xinche went back into the house, not caring what happened to the four of them behind him.
Lord Zheng watched Jing Xinche's departing back and fainted completely. "My lord!"
"Dad!"
Lady Zheng and the others panicked and carried Lord Zheng out. They sat in the carriage on the way back, sobbing.
"What should we do? Where can we raise one thousand taels of gold?" Lady Zheng wailed in the carriage. Miss Zheng the Second was annoyed by her crying and slapped the small table.
"Cry, cry, cry. What's there to cry about? Instead of crying here, you'd better think of a way quickly," Miss Zheng the Second said irritably, looking at Lady Zheng. If it weren't for her insistence on causing trouble for Princess Tianlin, they wouldn't be in this mess today.
She wouldn't have lost face in front of Marquis Zhongning either. Miss Zheng the Second glared at Lady Zheng ferociously. She was really good-for-nothing and always messed things up. She couldn't even handle such a small matter properly.
Lady Zheng was frightened by Miss Zheng the Second's expression and sat quietly in the corner, not daring to say a word.
"Sister, don't talk to Mother like that. Mother did it for our sake when she went to find Princess Tianlin," Miss Zheng the First said. Although she also disliked Lady Zheng in her heart, she wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud.
Only her stupid sister would say such things without thinking.
"Tsk~ Am I wrong? Don't tell me you've never thought so in your heart? I know you too well. You're two-faced," Miss Zheng the Second said disdainfully, looking at Miss Zheng the First.
"Sister, you..." Miss Zheng the First bit her lip and didn't say anything else, as if she were a kind elder sister who doted on her younger sister and didn't care about her in others' eyes.
Miss Zheng the Second glanced at Miss Zheng the First and didn't say anything else either. Her elder sister liked to stab people in the back. She had to be more careful lest one day she got stabbed by this bitch without even knowing it.
Lady Zheng and her family returned to the Zheng Mansion dejectedly, while Jing Xinche and Yuan Yuhan felt much better after they went inside.
"You're back. How did you deal with Lord Zheng's family?" A Ru asked curiously, looking at Yuan Yuhan and the other.
"It's nothing serious. We just asked them to compensate with some money," Yuan Yuhan said nonchalantly.
"Hmm?" Mu Fengqie frowned as she looked at Jing Xinche. She didn't believe that the two of them would just let them off with just some money.
"Not much. You and the princess will each get five hundred taels."
Mu Fengqie nodded. It really wasn't much. Only one thousand taels of silver in total. But who knew that Yuan Yuhan would add another sentence.
"Gold."
"What?" A Ru stared at Yuan Yuhan in shock. Five hundred taels of gold? Five hundred taels for her and her elder sister each, which meant a total of one thousand taels of gold?
Mu Fengqie was also shocked. One thousand taels of silver was still acceptable, but one thousand taels of gold... The Zheng family must be wishing they were dead by now.
"Humph! Asking them for this much money is already being lenient," Yuan Yuhan said indignantly. Did they think they could just brush it off after hitting his A Ru? No way.
Mu Fengqie and A Ru twitched the corners of their mouths and didn't say a word because they didn't know what to say. But why did they feel so excited in their hearts?
"A Ru, apply this ointment once every hour. Your face will be fine by tomorrow morning," Mu Fengqie took out a bottle of ointment. This ointment was very effective and had minimal harm to the body, so she took it out for A Ru to use.
"Thank you, elder sister," A Ru said happily as she took the bottle of ointment. After all, who would want to have a wound on their face?
"If there's nothing else, we'll leave first. This is the palace, and it's not convenient for us to stay for too long," Jing Xinche said as he saw that the time was about right. Yuan Yuhan and the others didn't stop them.
A Ru couldn't leave tonight, so Yuan Yuhan had already sent someone to inform the emperor. A side palace had been prepared for them in the palace. They would leave after the imperial physician examined A Ru tomorrow.
"Qier, let's go for a stroll on the street," Jing Xinche said. At this hour, there should still be a lot of people on the street. After all, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival today, and many merchants would take this opportunity to make money.