Chapter 320: Chapter 320: It’s Only 500 Taels, You Don’t Need to Repay Me
Shen Hua had a lot of items to purchase, and upon learning that she was going to the bank to withdraw a silver note, Yingwu hurriedly suggested.
"Madam, why not just charge it to your husband’s account instead of paying on your own?"
This was met with sarcastic mockery from Shen Hua.
"I’ve been so reckless, I nearly caused Marquis Cui’s daughter, who isn’t even a month old, to miscarry. I really have no nerve to spend his money."
girl: "It’s a great fortune nothing happened, otherwise my sin would have been enormous."
Yingwu fell silent.
Xiaoqi hurriedly lowered his head.
At the bank, Yan Mi carefully handed over her accumulated silver. Her speech was unhurried and her voice was gentle and pleasing.
"Shopkeeper, feel free to check the accounts. I was short of money at the time and could only repay a little each year. Today’s payment should pretty much settle the debt."
The shopkeeper took it and quickly manipulated his abacus, beginning to tally and verify the accounts.
"Back then, it was Heir Xie who drew a silver note to help you tide over, and you insisted on writing an IOU. At first he refused, but you had the silver deposited at the bank in his name. Counting it up, it’s been five or six years now."
Yan Mi had a moment of confusion. Memories flooded in, leaving a slight bitter taste in her mouth.
Back then, she desperately needed a large sum of silver.
Her father scolded her for being rebellious and unfilial when he found out, while her mother was even angrier with her words.
——All these years raising you have been for nothing; don’t forget you are eating the Yan Family’s food!
Even her grandmother refused to see her.
Without a doubt, the girl was in a dilemma.
She did have a monthly salary, but she could never save it for long. Especially after that incident, her mother even deducted most of it.
She tried to pawn her jewelry, but the Governor Mansion had already sent word — which pawnshop would dare to take it?
When she was out of options, Xie Xun appeared.
A young man dressed in fine attire and riding a spirited horse bowed down slightly to block her path and looked at her carefully.
"Lady of the Yan Family, who has wronged you?"
"Tell me, I might just take up your cause."
Yan Mi bit her lip.
She didn’t believe a word of it. Xie Xun would not stand up for her, with the enmity between their families out in the open.
But she had no choice but to resort to desperate remedies, even humbly asking with shame, "Can you lend me 500 taels?"
She thought Xie Xun would refuse without mercy.
Yet, unexpectedly, after a long pause, she heard an affirmative.
He said.
——Yan Mi, why are you crying?
——It’s just 500 taels; you don’t have to pay me back.
She didn’t want to owe him this favor.
She had to repay it.
Latter on, the war in the Northwest began, and Xie Xun was deployed.
She secretly went to see him off. Yet among the crowd, Xie Xun immediately spotted her, but the young man quickly looked away, mounted his horse, turned around, and left Shengjing City.
This was how Yan Mi kept hearing news about his triumphant returns from various expeditions.
Until the expedition to recover Shan City, when Wei Yingying dragged her into the crowd to see him off, Xie Xun suddenly approached her.
His tone was inexplicit.
——Lady of the Yan Family, I told you there is no need to repay me; my lending you the silver was not out of kindness. The debt the Yan Family owes the Xie Family, what your Mama owes to my aunt, and what you owe to me, you must remember for a lifetime.
Indeed, Yan Mi remembered, never daring to forget.
Although she had interacted with Xie Xun only a few times, with words that could be counted on one hand, she had quietly placed all her secret yearnings onto him.
Fully aware of the impossibility, yet she still indulged in it.
"Lady Yan."
Shen Hua, who had just entered the bank, called out in surprise.
Yan Mi turned around, her previously dim eyes lighting up slightly.
"Madam, it’s time to return to the residence; don’t forget the Governor’s wife’s instructions," the servant at her side reminded out of the blue.
As if Yan Mi couldn’t hear, she smiled at Shen Hua like a fish on the brink of death.
In fact, Shen Hua had not seen her for a long time; previously, during the spring hunt, she had been under strict watch by the Governor’s wife.
Now, upon seeing Yan Mi’s face, which is always a delight to the eye, her restless heart seems to be gently soothed by the spring rain. Yan Mi is always gentle like water, as if she carries a magical power that can calm people’s spirits.
Shen Hua motioned to Yingwu by tilting her chin upwards.
Yingwu was perplexed: ? Didn’t understand.
Xiaoqi, quick-witted, stepped forward and gave a hard push to the goose-yellow maid.
Yingwu suddenly realized: ...So that’s what it meant.
"What warnings?" Shen Hua walked over.
With a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, she looked at the servant who stumbled backward, almost falling to the ground: "Were you warning your Lady Yan not to associate with dubious characters? Or were you reminding yourself that a servant can become so presumptuous as to disrespect and attempt to rule over her master?"
"You—" The maid’s face turned shades of green and purple.
Xiaoqi rebuked: "Is there a problem? Our Madam just doesn’t like the look of you!"
"Someone like you, not only undeserving to serve your master, you don’t even deserve to taint Lady Yan’s sight within our quarters."
Yingwu was on high alert: Trouble! She felt she was about to fall out of favor.
The maid swallowed her anger and grabbed Yan Mi’s arm: "I beg you, Madam, please don’t make things difficult for your servant."
Yan Mi gently brushed it off: "Go ahead and lodge your complaint."
————
Banxian Inn.
The air was dense with the fragrant and robust scent of wine.
Shen Hua propped her chin, watching Yan Mi drink cup after cup of wine, as if it were just tea.
Even Shen Hua wouldn’t dare to behave so recklessly.
"Your maid really went back to the mansion to complain. Why don’t you care at all?"
Yan Mi said: "My grandmother has passed away."
She wasn’t afraid of Shen Hua mocking her and continued softly with her head lowered: "It is true she was good to me. It is also true that she felt guilt toward me."
The Governor’s wife could impose a penalty, but she would have to consider Dowager Yan.
Yan Mi’s grip on her cup tightened. She suddenly looked up, her calm gaze meeting Shen Hua’s: "I hold affection for Heir Xie."
Shen Hua: "...I know."
Only Wei Yingying, so lacking in perception, has called Yan Mi ’sister’ for so many years and is still unaware.
Yan Mi smiled bitterly.
In fact, she was quite despicable. Over the years, she always secretly hoped, at the very least, that Xie Xun would remember her.
This time, he returned triumphant once again.
"This war has gone on for many years. He has returned victorious, and when I saw him again, it was at a banquet in the Xuan Residence. You were there too. He called me ’Lady Yan.’"
All was propriety, all was meticulous.
And—everywhere was now strange to her.
She felt a sense of loss, but also could not hide her joy upon seeing him again.
She also belatedly realized that those 500 taels meant a lifeline for her, but for Xie Xun, it really was nothing significant.
Especially on the night of the spring hunt, when she saw Xie Xun again and subsequently had a dream.
In that dream, he was still as he had been all those years ago, surrounded by a misty fog.
He said.
—"The debt from the Yan Family, you actually took it to heart?"
He looked deeply into her, as if memorizing the grown appearance of the girl. And even unusually generous, he gave Yan Mi a smile.
—"Foolish, aren’t you? Move forward, and never look back again."
The fog thickened around her, and she could no longer find him.
That dream felt so real that it made her heart pound.
Upon waking, she finally realized that what Xie Xun had borrowed all those years ago wasn’t money; it was her life.
She drank a bit too hurriedly, and soon drunkenness swept over her. Her body weak as if boneless, she slumped onto the table.
Her smile was soft and beautiful, yet her tears rolled down from her eyes.
She mumbled to herself.
Shen Hua leaned in to listen.
"I have repaid him all the silver I owed, and from now on, we are even."