Misunderstanding, All Misunderstandings

Everyone looked at the young man lying there like a dead dog, and couldn't help but shudder.

Seeing that the other party didn't speak, Tang Xiaoyu stood up.

He said coldly: "Heaven's way is fair; don't believe me, look up. When has heaven spared anyone? If you choose to live in the jianghu, you'll have to pay back eventually."

"Owing money and paying it back is only right; in the jianghu we value credibility. I borrowed five thousand taels from you, of course I can't get it for free. I admit to the normal interest, but if you want to rob my money, then be careful when walking at night."

Tang Xiaoyan came over and pulled on Tang Xiaoyu's arm, whispering: "Cousin, it's been five years since we borrowed those five thousand taels, and now they want seven thousand taels back. That's already very reasonable of them."

A black line appeared on Tang Xiaoyu's forehead. "Oh~, why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I did tell you that we're in the wrong here."

Tang Xiaoyu was very embarrassed now, extremely embarrassed.

Then he moved his facial muscles and a sunny smile appeared. He went forward to help the young man up, "Brother, it was all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding. I'm not a person, I deserve to die." As he spoke he slapped himself twice on the face.

Seeing that the young man wanted to speak but couldn't, Tang Xiaoyu hurriedly took out the silver bills.

"Brother, here's seven thousand two hundred taels. The extra two hundred taels are for me to treat you to drinks as an apology."

Then he took out another hundred taels, "And this hundred taels is for your medical expenses."

Looking at the silver bills in his hands, the young man burst into tears, but still couldn't speak.

Tang Xiaoyu looked over at the people from the Qingcheng Sect and asked, "What does he mean by this?"

Seeing their vice sect master get the money, the people from Qingcheng Sect also cried out in excitement, "It's been five whole years, five years since we got back our money!"

Tang Xiaoyu was completely confused, "What's going on here? Someone tell me what happened."

A small follower came forward and explained, "Five years ago, Sect Master Zhou came to borrow money from us. He asked straight out for five thousand taels. That was all the money we had in total."

"Our sect master asked if he could borrow less. But Sect Master Zhou insisted he needed that exact amount, and promised to pay it back in a month."

"Because of Sect Master Zhou's power, our sect master could only concede and gave him all the money we had."

"But when we came back to collect repayment after a month, Sect Master Zhou said to come back next month. And this went on for five whole years."

"Then just last night, Sect Master Zhou sent word that he was passing on his sect master position to you, said that you have money, and told us to come collect from you today."

Now Tang Xiaoyu understood everything clearly. That bastard Zhou had arranged this whole scam!

Besides feeling sympathy for these people, Tang Xiaoyu could only feel more sympathy.

"Brothers, I'm truly sorry! Because I didn't get a clear grasp of the situation earlier, it led to this misunderstanding now. "

"Please allow me to apologize."

The people from Qingcheng Sect repeatedly waved their hands to indicate no hard feelings.

When they left, the young man Tang Xiaoyu had beaten even gave him a big thumbs up.

The small follower explained, "Our sect leader is righteous and gracious."

Right after sending these people off, another group arrived. Tang Xiaoyu spent the whole day apologizing and handing out money, even politely sending each person to the main gate.

After seeing the last group of people off, Tang Xiaoyu looked at the silver he had left and directly burst into tears, "My precious money, why have you left me? My family fortunes are gone too!"

"Wah wah!"

Tang Xiaoyu sat at the front gate, looking at the two thousand plus taels he had left and the road stretching into the distance.

"Ai~ That bastard already drained my family fortunes dry. If not for keeping some privately as a backup plan, there's no way I could have repaid today's debts."

Tang Xiaoyan came over to comfort him, "Don't be angry, cousin. Our master did it for our sake too. Without us, he would have lived even more freely."

"Forget it, I'll just treat it as money to take care of you for that old bastard."

"Thank you, cousin."

"We're one family, what's there to thank about."

"But in the past I..."

Tang Xiaoyu hurriedly interrupted, "Let's live in the present, who cares about the past. What I value is who you are now."

Zhou Ruiqing brought the two servant girls Little Ling'er and Xiao Lan to Qingcheng City.

Little Ling'er wanted Peking duck, so Zhou Ruiqing naturally wouldn't refuse. After all, he had money in hand so his heart was steady.

He bought two Peking ducks for the girls, and also two candied haw skewers.

"Alright, you've eaten. Are you going with your master to shop, or going off on your own to play?"

Little Ling'er answered crisply, "Sect Master called us here to beg. If he finds out we didn't, there'll be another long lecture."

Xiao Lan chimed in, "When Sect Master starts his lecturing, it just goes on and on endlessly. Didn't you see how fierce he was yelling this morning?"

Recalling Tang Xiaoyu's furious yelling, Zhou Ruiqing's whole body shivered, "Then go beg by yourselves! I'll go run my errands first and come get you afterwards."

"Master, hurry and go! We know our way around here well."

"Then off your master goes."

The two girls discussed as they walked, "Xiao Lan, should we do the usual thing?"

"Let's do our usual thing! Go to where the big sects recruit people. We haven't gone there before and there are lots of out-of-towners."

"Alright!"

The two girls came to the west gate. Xiao Lan knelt on the ground, with a signboard in front of her that read: Our sect leader's four limbs were broken by someone, urgently needing two thousand taels to treat his injuries. We hope kind souls can help us out.

"Xiao Lan, hurry and cry."

"I know, stop nagging me."

Xiao Lan then sobbed at one side, while Little Ling'er shouted vigorously at the other.

"Kind sir, please take pity on us! We haven't eaten for days just to gather money for our sect leader's treatment!"

"Big brother, have mercy on us!"

"Beautiful lady, could you spare us some money? We're starving."

When they felt enough time had passed, the two girls packed up their stall and knocked off work.

Old Zhou went for tea at a teahouse after finishing his shopping, listening to music there.

Only when someone informed him that the carving job had finished did he leave the teahouse.

Carving work was delicate stuff, ten days to half a month was a conservative estimate. But the person Zhou Ruiqing found finished carving beautifully in just half a day.

After inspecting the carved statue, Zhou Ruiqing went to a small alley to grab a black feral dog.

Only then did he lazily make his way to meet up with the two girls.

When Zhou Ruiqing found them, they had also just packed up.

The three pretended not to know one another and left Qingcheng City together.

"How much did you get today?"

Xiao Lan said, "A little over three hundred taels."

Zhou Ruiqing said, "Give the small change to the Sect Leader. We'll split the rest."

Little Ling'er said, "Master, that doesn't seem right. The Sect Leader looks dumb but actually understands a lot. I'm afraid he'll catch on."

Xiao Lan echoed, "That's true. Master, you know how annoying the Sect Leader can get when he flies into a rage."

Zhou Ruiqing thought for a while, "If he takes one look and realizes you can earn so much money in one day, wouldn't he make you go out begging every day then!"

"Then let's give him less this time, I don't want to come out here every day either," said Little Ling'er.

"Fine!"

When the three returned to the sect, they saw Tang Xiaoyu sitting at the front gate gazing at the skies.

The three greeted him, "Sect Leader, we're back."

"Mm, go eat first! Xiao Lan, stay behind."

"Yes, Sect Leader."

After the other two had walked some distance away, Tang Xiaoyu spoke, "What were you up to today!"

"Just went begging."

"How much did you get?"

"Thirty-four taels."

"That much? Then don't go tomorrow, go again a few days later."

"Thank you, Sect Leader."

"Let's go eat."

When they sat down to eat, Tang Xiaoyu suddenly asked, "Little Ling'er, how much did you get today?"

Little Ling'er was a bit stunned and blurted out, "Over three hundred—"

Then she hurriedly changed her words, "Thirty-six taels."

Tang Xiaoyu calmly said, "That much? Then go a few days later."

"Yes, Sect Leader."

Xiao Lan thought inwardly, [We're done for, the cat's out of the bag now. Seeing the Sect Leader's current mood, this is the calm before the coming storm!]

"Right, after eating, we'll have a short meeting."

Everyone shuddered.