Chapter 60 Backing Him Up

Baili Qingyun, loving nothing more than a good spectacle, sneered mockingly, "Her own mother is dead, and yet they even had the Sixth Young Miss stand vigil in her place, only to frame the Sixth Young Miss for murder right after."

"You members of the Lin family, is there any shameless act you are incapable of?"

"The world is full of wonders, but truly shameless, despicable, and malicious people like the Lin family are few and far between."

"Today has certainly broadened my horizons!"

With that, he cupped his hands toward Lin Aosong, "I am truly impressed, truly impressed!"

Amidst the jeers and sneers of the crowd, Lin Aosong felt even more humiliated, wishing a crack would open in the ground so he could crawl in and never come out again.

Catching sight of Lin Aodong being supported toward him, he rushed over, thrusting the scorching hot potato of a ledger into his brother's hands, and recounted the entire sequence of events from start to finish.

Lin Aodong was already feeling miserable due to being punished and losing face earlier today.

When he took the ledger and looked through it, he was so enraged he nearly fainted.

Pointing at Lin Pianran, he cursed furiously, "You unfilial wretch! Dragging up these old matters just to air them out—aren't you ashamed of yourself...?"

Lin Pianran said nonchalantly, "Ashamed? Why would I be? At least I'm not the one making a fool of myself!"

"As for Lord Lin calling these ancient history, that is even more absurd!"

"Not long ago, Lord Lin came to my antique shop and took a master's calligraphy and painting scroll. Only a few days have passed, yet my lord is so noble he forgets easily—surely you haven't forgotten, have you?"

"And as for my three thousand taels of silver for this month, it was handed over just a few days ago as well!"

Her words left the two Lin brothers looking ashen and completely speechless.

Baili Qingyun clicked his tongue twice and chuckled softly, "Could it be that the two Lords Lin are trying to welsh on a young girl's debts? That would be going a bit too far."

"So many of us are watching. If you aren't afraid of losing face, go right ahead and keep playing the fool. I guarantee that tomorrow, the shameful deeds of you two lords will spread throughout the entire camp and become household knowledge."

He then tugged at Shen Xuanzhi and asked, "Lord Shen, if the Sixth Young Miss were to take this case to court, how do you think it would be judged?"

Shen Xuanzhi stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "Not only would they have to return the money, but the relevant members of the Lin family would also face severe punishment."

"Who knows, Lord Lin might not even be able to save his backside this time, and his injuries would likely be compounded."

Baili Qingyun let out two hearty laughs and exaggeratedly chimed in, "The two Lords Lin, taking this to court will do you no good whatsoever. In my opinion, you'd better be sensible and honestly repay the debts you owe the Sixth Young Miss!"

"These items are recorded in such meticulous detail, and all bear the signatures of the Lin family members; you won't be able to deny them even if you wanted to!"

Lin Aosong couldn't help but retort, "Even if we wanted to return them, where on earth would we get so many things to return right now?"

"Those antique paintings and jade artifacts have already been given away as gifts, and as for those scholar's four treasures, some have already been used while others were given away."

Baili Qingyun looked at Lin Pianran and asked, "How does the Sixth Young Miss think this should be handled?"

"We can convert those into cash! I am a relatively magnanimous and reasonable person."

Hearing that everything was to be converted into cash, and imagining how much silver those items must be worth, the total sum was bound to be astronomical.

At this thought, both Lin brothers were completely at their wits' end.

Lin Chuxi swept her gaze across the crowd and spotted Prince Chang, who was watching the commotion.

She rushed over, knelt down, and pleaded bitterly, "Your Highness, you see how excessively Lin Pianran is treating our Lin family—you must uphold justice for us!"

"By pressing us like this, is she trying to drive us all to our deaths?"

Prince Chang looked indifferently at the young woman before him. Although she possessed delicate and refined features, she paled significantly in comparison to Lin Chuyan's peerless beauty.

She failed to arouse any interest in him.

Yet, considering she was the cousin of the woman he favored, he couldn't completely ignore her.

With a flick of his wrist, he drew out a thousand-tael banknote from his robe and handed it over, much like tossing alms to a beggar.

"Here, take this!"

Lin Chuxi had expected Prince Chang to look upon her with special favor just as he did Lin Chuyan, only to be met with a cold rejection.

Utterly embarrassed, she had no choice but to slink away awkwardly.

As she left, a deep, hidden resentment lingered in her eyes.

Although Zhao Yurou had been slapped thirty times, she was still barely able to speak. She slurred indistinctly, "Lin... Pianran, you... you stayed in the Lin family... for nine years, you... you can't possibly not pay a single tael of silver!"

"How... how could there be such a cheap deal?"

"Then let's calculate it at one hundred taels of silver a month. That comes to twelve hundred taels a year. For nine years and two months, that totals eleven thousand taels. Calculating it this way for you, you aren't getting the short end of the stick at all."

Zhao Yurou was extremely unreconciled. "Since you have so much silver, what's wrong with paying a bit more? I think it should be at least thirty thousand taels."

Lin Pianran replied, "I am not an unreasonable person. Charging me a normal upbringing fee is something I can understand, but your lion's share demands—isn't that going too far?"

Baili Qingyun spoke up once more, "The Sixth Young Miss is indeed magnanimous, granting them one hundred taels a month. In my view, thirty taels at most would be plenty, totaling just thirty-three hundred taels. Drop the fraction, and giving the Lin family three thousand taels is more than enough."

Huo Yucheng chimed in as well, "I think three thousand taels is still too much, but since the Sixth Young Miss is generous, she won't quibble with them."

The members of the Lin family were so enraged their eyes nearly split open, as if they wanted to bore holes into Lin Pianran with their glares.

Yet, faced with the mockery and suppression of these high-ranking and powerful figures, they ultimately had no choice but to agree to the sum of three thousand taels of silver.

Over the years, Lin Pianran had provided a total of fifty-one thousand six hundred taels of silver. Subtracting the three thousand taels, that left forty-eight thousand six hundred taels.

All the items the Lin family members had taken from the shops over the years, converted into hard currency, amounted to fifty-four thousand three hundred taels. Among this, the main household accounted for thirty-seven thousand taels, and the second household accounted for seventeen thousand three hundred taels.

The total amount to be returned to Lin Pianran came to one hundred and two thousand nine hundred taels.

The Lin family members had seized a total of seven shops from Lin Pianran's hands—the main household had taken five, and the second household had taken two—all of which had to be returned as soon as possible.

Lin Pianran added understandingly, "I know you cannot scrape together this much silver all at once. You can return the silver you have on hand first, and write me an IOU for the rest!"

"I am a kind person. Let's part on good terms; I won't force anyone!"

Huo Yucheng, Prince Qi, Baili Qingyun, Shen Xuanzhi, and Imperial Bodyguard Commander Liu Quan'an all served as witnesses.

Lin Aodong, Lin Aosong, and Zhao Yurou were all forced to hand over every single banknote they carried. Even Lin Chuxi was searched by Zhao Yurou, who dug out six hundred taels of silver, along with the one thousand-tael banknote given by Prince Chang, all of which were returned to Lin Pianran.