" What did you say? Can you repeat it? What did you just say?"
Zhu Cheng didn't even breathe her last and Xiang Bei was already knocking on her door. It wasn't that she was an empathetic woman anyway, she has always been cruel and to her—— the business that she owned was much more important than anything. And now that Xiao Bai, that magical golden goose was gone, Xiang Bei was even more tough and ruthless in her dealings. She didn't want the Zhu family to get out of her clutches, so she rushed to their house first thing after Zhu Cheng left her tavern and knocked on their door.
When Xiang Bei knocked on the Zhu family's door, they were having their lunch. At first second sister, Zhu thought that it was Zhu Cheng and was disheartened if her sister has been a bit late then she would have been able to eat an extra vegetable pancake but it seemed to her that she wasn't going to get that pancakes in her stomach. Thus, after she finished drinking the soup, that barely had any oil in it, second sister jutted her chin at her husband asking him to see who was knocking at the door.
Second brother in law was a petty man, ever since he gave birth to a son, he grew more and more arrogant. After all, he was the only mer in the village who could give birth to a son, so why should he open the door. But upon receiving a glare from his wife, he angrily stood up from the dining table, it was all because his wife was a good for nothing, if she could earn a few coins every day, then he wouldn't have to live with his head bowed in front of his brother in law.
Thinking that it was elder sister Zhu, he sullenly opened the door and was prepared to throw a taunt midway but then he noticed that it wasn't sister in law Cheng but a well-dressed lady standing outside the door. All the words that he had in his mouth were swallowed down as he squeaked, " Y...Yes, who.. who do you want to see?"
Xiang Bei smiled, her smile was friendly but something about her eyes told her second brother in law Zhu that she wasn't a woman he could bully, so he simply stood there waiting for her to speak. " Can we go inside first? I don't think that it would be pretty if I share the news with you at the threshold of your house."
She might not be able to match Yu Dong in the terms of ruthlessness, but Xiang Bei was not an easy-going woman either just because she wasn't able to suppress Yu Dong back then, it didn't mean that she wouldn't be able to intimidate anyone else. In second brother in law's case, her intimidation worked and the former brought her inside the house without asking another question.
When the Zhu family saw that it wasn't Zhu Cheng who came but someone they didn't know, they couldn't help but frown. One by one they stood up and walked towards Xiang Bei who was calmly sitting on the stool that Second brother-in-law has brought for her. When she saw that the rest of the Zhu family was also there, she smiled and clapped her hands . " ah excellent, it's good that you are here. I don't want this to be dragged out." Then slapping her thighs, with a loud thump, she stood up and looked at the members of the Zhu family one by one. " Is Zhu Cheng a member of your family?"
Listening to Xiang Bei ask about her elder sister, second sister Zhu had a bad intuition. She subconsciously wanted to refute but her eldest brother in law was faster than her as he spoke up, " That's right, she is my wife. What happened?"
When second sister Zhu saw that her stupid brother in law has answered Xiang Bei's already she wanted to smack that stupid idiot. Can't he understand such a simple thing? That rich woman came looking for Zhu Cheng here, there was no way she was here for any good reasons! They should have just refused and said that they didn't know Zhu Cheng.
Though it was true that Zhu Cheng was the one who earned the money for their family, second sister Zhu had no intention to be dragged down by her elder sister.
However, now it looked like they wouldn't be able to escape from this mess. All because of that stupid mer! She glared at her brother in law who didn't look at her and continued to stare at Xiang Bei who was nodding. " Excellent, Excellent... looks like we didn't come to the wrong place either." Then she turned to the mammies behind her and motioned to them. " Go and grab the children."
" No, wait ...who are you!"
" Grab the children? How ... Just because you are rich don't think that you can do whatever you want!"
" Hey! Hey! Hey! Where do you think that you are going?"
This time the entire Zhu family went on a high alert mode as they tried to stop the mammies. The mammies paused and looked at Xiang Bei who raised her hand and allowed them to take a break as she smiled and moved closer to the Zhu family and took out the copy of the document that had Zhu Cheng's thumbprint on it. " This is the document that your sister Zhu Cheng sighed," she tapped on the paper as she waved it in front of second sister Zhu. " I gave her two options, first was to pay me back my fifty silver taels and the other was to pay me anything that will be worth that money. But your sister had nothing to hand me, so in the end—— she suggested to let me take the kids in exchange for the money. Ten taels for one kid, don't call me cruel, I am charging them at the market price, so get the f*ck out of my way or get me my damn money."
