Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The next day, Meng Chang lost again; he added a thousand debts, which he borrowed from Wang Zhenfu, because the gambling house knew his identity and dared not force him to repay the debt, nor did he want to continue to borrow money. When he returned home, he was penniless, and had foreign debts plus interest, totaling more than 2,600 pennies.

The usual money is a few hundred coins, and more than two thousand coins is not a small amount even for a wealthy family. Meng Chang's duke title is not low, and his salary for nearly a year is only this amount.

Meng Chang cried, regretting endlessly in front of Mrs. Huarui: "I even lost Furong's jewelry and clothes, I am not human! When I get over this, I will definitely treat Furong well."

Mrs. Huarui had mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was so disappointed with a husband like this; but on the other hand, Meng Chang's feelings full of guilt were very sincere... Except for Meng Chang, no one had ever tried to treat her a little better before, and Mrs. Huarui's heart softened.

Meng Chang was at a loss, but Mrs. Huarui was still awake. She immediately asked, "Wang Zhenfu lent you money for a purpose. What does he ask for?"

Meng Chang said: "He asked me to come back and beg Furong, and asked you to intercede with him in front of Guo Du's inspection. As long as you keep your official position, you will return the IOU, so that I don't have to pay back the money."

"We can't meet this condition." Mrs. Huarui said with certainty, "General Guo is not the emperor of Shu, he won't play tricks on officials. Wang Zhenfu lost his position not only because he offended others, but he himself is a corrupt official."

Meng Chang said with a sad face, "Then how can I pay back the money?"

Mrs. Huarui pondered: "It is reasonable not to pay it back, even the money from the gambling house can be reneged on, no one dares to force you for some money."

"Alas..." Meng Chang said helplessly.

Mrs. Huarui clasped her hands together, and walked back and forth a few steps: "But we can't owe money to people like Wang Zhenfu. Alang has to stay away from him, otherwise there will be troubles. I'll go to Jingniang to borrow it. 2,600 guan is too much, so I can only ask for 1,000 guan, and pay back Wang Zhenfu's money first."

Meng Chang didn't say anything.

Mrs. Huarui glanced at him, with a sad expression on her face: "Ah Lang, I did this for your own good. Wang Zhenfu must not make friends... The most difficult thing in the world to ask is to borrow money, which is very embarrassing; if I borrow money for you, it is more uncomfortable than pawning jewelry and clothes. Can you listen to me?"

Meng Chang nodded vigorously and said, "I've made up my mind this time, never to gamble again."

Mrs. Huarui sighed, and pondered: "After I borrowed the money, I wouldn't give it to you. I just asked Wei Zhongnao to exchange the IOU. But...you won't ask Wang Zhenfu to borrow money again, right?"

"No!" Meng Chang gritted his teeth.

So Mrs. Huarui asked the eunuch Wei Zhong to meet Jingniang.

As expected, Jing Niang is still very nostalgic, and she will come soon. Mrs. Huarui tidied up, she only had old clothes left, and she didn't have any expensive jewelry on her body; she looked at her image in the mirror, she still looked like a noble lady, and felt that she lost her face. As a woman, she still has a sense of comparison and vanity, and this kind of shameful thing feels as uncomfortable in her heart as losing|lost.

The most difficult thing is to ask to borrow money. Wouldn't it be even more embarrassing if you were rejected? After all, one thousand is not a decimal.

"Staying at home, I don't even have the time to clean myself up." Mrs. Huarui greeted Jingniang when she saw her.

Jing Niang completely ignored her words, and said directly: "Madam came to me, there must be something, let's talk about the business first."

"I want to borrow a thousand coins, I don't know..." Mrs. Huarui bit her lower lip lightly.

"No problem." Jingniang said expressionlessly, "No need to borrow, I'll give you a thousand guan."

Mrs. Huarui sighed secretly, knowing that Jingniang was supporting her for the sake of supporting her when she was rich, and now she is overdrawing that little kindness. She whispered again: "I don't want General Guo to know, it's quite embarrassing, and I hope Jing Niang will keep it a secret for me."

"In this case, I can't withdraw money in the account room. I don't have enough money in private, so I have to go to Yuzhen Temple first." Jing Niang said, "I will send it to Madam tomorrow morning, okay?"

Mrs. Huarui nodded and said, "Okay, don't worry too much."

... Mrs. Huarui did not find Meng Chang early the next morning. When Wei Zhong went to pay back the money and came back, he told her that Meng Chang had borrowed another two thousand guan from Wang Zhenfu; a total of 3000 guan IOUs, no interest, repaid 1000 guan (given by Jing Niang), and the remaining 2000 guan debt.

Mrs. Huarui sat down on the chair all at once, and sat there speechless.

In the middle of the night, Meng Chang went home dejectedly again. Mrs. Huarui couldn't hide the anger and sadness on her face: "How did you become like this! What did you say yesterday? A Lang, you know that I lost all face because of the thousand pens to pull you out of the mud pit! When I saw Jingniang, I wished I could find a crack in the ground... You are lucky, you lost another two thousand pens! How can we live if you do this?"

Meng Chang was stunned, and said with a mournful face: "Staying in the house is really boring. I only wanted to play backgammon (similar to the rules of flying chess), and I didn't want to ask Wang Zhenfu to borrow money. Backgammon wins and loses very slowly, and the game is small. It's just killing time..."

"Isn't Ah Lang already penniless?" Madam Huarui frowned.

Meng Chang said: "Tui'er also hid some private money, I asked her to give it to me."

Mrs. Huarui felt her heart go cold after hearing this. It's not easy for a court lady to save some money.

Meng Chang sighed and said, "I'm familiar with that backgammon. I often play it in the palace, and I won a little money. But what is that enough for? It's not enough to find two ladies to accompany me for a drink, so I couldn't help but take the money to bet...it was gone all at once, so..."

Mrs. Huarui stood up, annoyed: "I can't help it! I don't care about you, now I have to renege on my debt!"

...Meng Chang slept all night and was bored again, so he ran out despite Mrs. Huarui's crying and persuading him. Now the officials and subordinate staff in the mansion don't seem to care about his freedom at all.

But he quickly ran back and begged Mrs. Huarui, "It's just a big official position. You can ask Jingniang to see if it's useful. Those officials know that Jingniang is someone close to Guo Shao, and they will probably give them favor."

"What? Wang Zhenfu won't lend you money?" Mrs. Huarui asked coldly, "That's fine. Anyway, if he lends you money, he will lose everything!"

Meng Chang said anxiously: "As long as five hundred guan, I can get back my money! I beg you, madam, Fu Rong!"

"I can't get back my money until I die!" Mrs. Huarui said angrily, and left the hall with a flick of her sleeves.

Meng Chang followed along all the way: "I've been watching for a few days, and there are probably rules to follow when betting big and small. Before, I got angry when I lost, and I only paid out when I gambled. Now I have figured out a way."

At this moment, Wei Zhong ran in and said, "Zuo Shaoqing and Jing Niang are here and want to see Madam."

Mrs. Huarui stopped and stroked her temple hair. Meng Chang also followed, and Mrs. Huarui warned in a low voice, "Don't ask to borrow money! It's enough for Alang to lose face if he loses his country. They are all the ones who conquered your country. If you lose, you have to show some dignity."

When I came to the hall, I saw a large bag of things on the table, and the raised part looked like property. Zuo You smiled and got up and bowed: "I pay my respects to Duke Qin and Mrs. Huarui."

Meng Chang bowed his hand in return, and Mrs. Huarui also knelt gently and made a blessing.

Several people sat down again. Jing Niang was very silent, Zuo You said indifferently: "There are about two thousand guns here..."

Mrs. Huarui said: "I dare not borrow money from you again."

"Ma'am, don't be impatient." Zuo You said calmly, "The money in our hands is so easy to get? Wang Zhenfu and the gambling house, don't try to make a penny away. Well, Madam will return the money to Wang Zhenfu first, so as not to be unreasonable... Then the people from Dali Temple will go to ransack the house and get back the principal with interest."

Mrs. Huarui was stunned, speechless. Meng Chang was also speechless.

Zuo You was very calm: "The IOU from the gambling shop will be sent back to Duke Qin's mansion. However, Duke Qin can't go out, and the guards at the mansion have changed today... so Duke Qin can quit gambling, right? This matter is settled, so I can report back to the lord. Ma'am, are you satisfied with Zuo's way of doing things?"

Madam Huarui said, "I'm really bothering General Guo."

Zuo You said: "No, my lord is just a word, and then wait for the result. This matter can still be done."

Meng Chang said dissatisfiedly at this moment: "I'm under house arrest again?"

"It was supposed to restrict Qin Guogong all the time, but the governor Wang violated the law and dereliction of duty, causing chaos." Zuo You said, "I am the young minister of Taichang Temple, so I can't directly manage the affairs here. It will take some time to coordinate."

After finishing speaking, he looked at Meng Chang's face, and said with a smile, "If Qin Guogong likes to gamble, the lord's second younger brother has the same hobby, someday let him come to Qin Guogong to discuss a game or two."

After Zuo You finished speaking, he was about to leave. Only then did Jingniang walk up to Mrs. Huarui, and said in a low voice: "Among the guards there is a general named Qin Bao, who belongs to the Guo family. If Madam wants to go out to find me, she can find him."

Madam Huarui hurriedly said, "Thank you, Jing Niang."

"No need." Jing Niang said in a blunt tone.

…After seeing off the guests, Mrs. Huarui felt relieved, but she was still upset and depressed, feeling that there were foul smelling things all around her. She was a little tired, and just about to go back to her room to be quiet for a while, when she heard the sound of "woo woo woo".

She heard that the palace maid was crying, and hurriedly walked over following the sound, opened the door and looked inside. The maid heard the muffled sound, and hurriedly covered her lower body with her clothes. Madam Huarui saw her bare legs under her clothes, she turned around and closed the door, and asked with a frown, "What happened, why are you crying?"

The maid held down the clothes on her lap, blushed and bowed her head in silence.

"Tell me, is someone bullying you?" Mrs. Huarui asked.

The maid shook her head vigorously, and finally whispered: "I'm sick..."

After hearing this, Madam Huarui immediately understood: "Did Ah Lang dye it for you?"

The maid choked with sobs and said, "It seems that I only serve Alang in bed."

Madam Huarui then bolted the door, walked over, and said kindly: "Let me see how it looks. It's okay, don't be afraid, I'll ask someone to get you some medicine."

!!