After Miss Li and her maid left, Zhao Lie took the bank notes out from inside his tunic, his face beaming with excitement.
He could not help kissing the hundred-thousand-tael bank note over and over again, completely unable to tear himself away from it.
Zhao Lie deeply felt that, whether in the era before his transmigration or the one after, money was truly everyone's greatest love.
Money wasn't everything, but without it, you could do nothing at all.
After tucking the massive bank note back into his tunic, Zhao Lie patted his chest a few times, terrified that it might fall out.
Then, he walked into the room.
The entire scene between him, Miss Li, and her maid had been witnessed clearly by Zhu Lian through the window.
As soon as Zhao Lie stepped inside, Zhu Lian immediately said to him, "Lie'er, aren't you acting against your conscience by doing this? If your imperial father finds out and lays the blame, I'm afraid the two of us won't be able to bear the consequences!"
Zhao Lie smiled and said, "Mother, you don't need to worry. Your son is not going against His Majesty's decree. Since Miss Li has paid the money, she will still obediently follow your son to Yelang and remain the Princess of Yelang! As for what Mother calls acting against a clear conscience, there's even less need to worry—your son is simply robbing the rich to feed the poor! Mere hundreds of thousands of taels of silver are nothing more than a drop in the ocean to Li Gang! In this Great Chu, which official isn't corrupt? I can take this money with a clear and easy conscience!"
Hearing these words, Zhu Lian was inwardly startled: Could this still be her honest, simple Lie'er? She sensed that ever since Zhao Lie knelt in the snow for the entire previous night, his entire demeanor had grown razor-sharp and aggressive!
"But Li Gang is a high-ranking military official at court. Once they investigate this matter, won't the two of us be in deep trouble?" Having endured too many upheavals over the past twenty years, Zhu Lian was already a startled bird; the slightest rustle in the grass left her terrified and dreading impending disaster.
Zhao Lie smiled. "Mother, you can rest a hundred percent easy. The Li family wouldn't dare make a sound about this. Even if Li Gang didn't eat or drink and started earning money from the day he was born in his mother's womb, he still couldn't earn this much! Besides, the Li family thinks your son isn't good enough for Miss Li, so they want to pay to make the disaster go away and settle the matter! They're even afraid I might refuse their money!"
"This... Lie'er, since you've taken the Li family's money, why must you still have Miss Li accompany you to Yelang? That doesn't seem to make any sense!" Kind-hearted by nature, Zhu Lian always considered things from others' perspectives.
"Oh, as for what Mother mentioned, isn't it precisely to prevent His Majesty from pursuing the matter later that we temporarily require Miss Li to accompany your son on this trip to Yelang? That way, both you and I will save face, and the imperial Zhao clan won't be disgraced," Zhao Lie said with a smile.
Zhu Lian thought it over and felt that Zhao Lie's reasoning made sense. Yet she found herself understanding even less of this son she had raised for nineteen years.
Seeing that his mother had no further questions, Zhao Lie comforted her, saying, "Mother, you don't need to worry! Leave everything to your son!"
"Mm! Mother believes in you," Zhu Lian smiled. Seeing that her son was no longer the timid and cowardly man he used to be, her heart naturally swelled with joy.
On the third day, the heavy snow finally stopped, and the red sun shone brightly in the sky.
Miss Li and her maid Xiaoyu arrived punctually just as expected.
Beaming with joy, Zhao Lie welcomed the mistress and her maid into the living room.
Zhu Lian was likewise exceptionally warm, hurriedly carrying a brazier of burning charcoal into the living room to keep the two warm.
After expressing her thanks, Miss Li cast a glance around the room and sighed inwardly: A fallen phoenix is worse than a chicken. That was the stark reality of the mother and son before her.
After exchanging a few polite pleasantries with Zhao Lie, she immediately retrieved an agreement from her tunic, placed it before Zhao Lie, and said, "Ninth Prince, take a look at this agreement. If you have no objections, sign it, and I will give you the remaining two hundred thousand taels in bank notes. From then on, we will be even, and neither of us will owe the other anything!"
Zhao Lie took the agreement, but instead of answering Miss Li, he carefully read through the document in his hands.
The general meaning of the agreement was essentially the same as the verbal agreement the two had reached yesterday. However, there was one additional clause: Once Miss Li escorted the Ninth Prince to Yelang, she was to immediately return on her own, with all necessary expenses covered by the Ninth Prince.
Seeing this clause, Zhao Lie smiled inwardly: This little miss doesn't get to call the shots anymore.
When he finished reading the agreement, the maid Xiaoyu had already prepared the brush and inkstone. Though she had been chewed out unmercifully by Zhao Lie yesterday, today she was remarkably well-behaved, acutely aware that her true status was merely that of a humble, disposable servant.
"Ninth Prince, please," Xiaoyu said, placing the brush and inkstone on the table within easy reach of Zhao Lie's hand.
"Oh! No rush, no rush! Miss Li, the general direction of this agreement is fine, but this one clause must be changed: after Miss Li arrives in Yelang, she must stay for a full three months before she may return to the capital! The return travel expenses shall be borne by herself," Zhao Lie said with a smile, looking at Miss Li.
"You... Ninth Prince, you are playing dirty. You're setting a trap for me to jump into!" Miss Li forced down her rising anger, lowering her voice despite herself. She had never imagined that this formerly notorious, discarded prince could be so utterly difficult to deal with—every step was a hidden pitfall, every move calculated!
"Hahaha! Miss Li truly lives up to your reputation as being talented in both civil and martial arts, since you recognized that this prince set a trap. That being the case, Miss Li doesn't have to jump into it; you may simply return the way you came! That way, this prince can also report to my imperial father that the Li family broke off the engagement, and ask His Majesty to find this prince a more suitable match," Zhao Lie said magnanimously, without the slightest bit of concealment.
Hearing these words, Miss Li received a severe inward shock: Why was this brat so viciously setting her up? It seemed her Li family had taken a massive fall today—the kind of catastrophic stumble where one didn't even dare to speak a word about it.
"Oh! So that was the Ninth Prince's intention. You certainly thought it through thoroughly. However, this little woman cannot make the decision on this clause; I must report this to my father and let him decide!" Inwardly, Miss Li was cursing all eighteen generations of Zhao Lie's ancestors.
There were people who set traps for others, but never like this. With the way Zhao Lie played the game, she would not only lose her money, but she feared she would also have to sacrifice her purity before he would call it a quits.
"Very well! Miss Li can go right back and inform your father, and give me an answer as soon as possible. My patience is limited, and since my departure for Yelang is imminent, I have many other matters to prepare for. I will not waste excessive time on this wretched engagement, so please hurry back, Miss Li!" Without the slightest bit of politeness, Zhao Lie issued an order to expel his guests.
Just as Miss Li rose to leave, a familiar voice rang out: "This old man accepts the Ninth Prince's terms!"
"Father! You... why are you here?" Miss Li asked in astonishment.
"This servant greets Your Lordship," Xiaoyu also hurriedly bowed to Li Gang.
Li Gang simply said lightly, "No need for formalities."
Zhao Lie never expected to flush out a big fish like Li Gang. His original plan had been for the cunning, old fox Li Gang to stay behind the scenes, operating in the shadows and leaving the younger generation to bicker.
When Zhao Lie proposed his conditions yesterday, Li Gang had already suspected that the Ninth Prince was hiding his true depth. He had originally assumed that his daughter, accomplished in both literature and martial arts, would make short work of a discarded prince like Zhao Lie; under the combined pressure of threats and temptations, Zhao Lie would surely have no choice but to submit obediently.
Never had he imagined that in their very first round of confrontation, his beloved daughter would return in defeat!
Today, he had sent his daughter back with a massive sum of money while secretly following behind her.
Upon hearing Zhao Lie's words inside the room, Li Gang had also burned with inward fury, but he dared not throw a tantrum. Forced to paste a fake smile on his face, he revealed himself inside the room and accepted Zhao Lie's conditions.