That blue-robed man probably sensed Senior Manager Tong’s unusual reaction and turned around.

Yu Tang saw an extremely handsome yet imposing face.

Her breathing caught.

But she was quickly stung by the faint indifference in the blue-robed man’s eyes as he looked at her.

Yu Tang’s face burned hot, and she couldn’t help explaining, “I didn’t come to pawn a fake painting. It’s my father—he bought a painting from a friend…”

The blue-robed man didn’t believe her at all. Regarding her as if she were nothing, he slightly raised his distinctly lined chin and nodded to Senior Manager Tong, brushing past Yu Tang.

How could this be?!

Yu Tang screamed inwardly. Dazed for a long moment, she involuntarily followed after him, saying indignantly, “I really didn’t come to commit fraud…”

The blue-robed man looked back at her with a glance.

His dark eyes were clear and deep, cool and distant, like an autumn pond, cold to the bone.

Yu Tang’s heart turned cold.

All her further explanations were blocked in her throat.

She stood frozen in place.

Senior Manager Tong hurriedly chased after him, attentively seeing the blue-robed man out the door.

Only then did Yu Tang notice that outside the door, a blue-curtained carriage had stopped at some unknown time.

Senior Manager Tong personally fetched a footstool, about to serve the blue-robed man as he boarded the carriage, but was preempted by a lean man in dark short robes beside the carriage who lifted the curtain first. Senior Manager Tong wasn’t annoyed either. He bent at the waist and stepped back a few paces, watching the carriage drive away with clip-clop sounds. Only then did he straighten up, turn, and return to the pawnshop, saying with a smile, “Young madam, why did you come back? Is there something urgent?”

Yu Tang couldn’t help smiling sheepishly at Senior Manager Tong and said, “Who was that young master just now?”

Senior Manager Tong smiled warmly. Without directly answering her question, he bent at the waist, extended his hand to indicate they should talk inside, while saying with a smile, “Young madam, whatever you have to say, let’s talk inside.”

Yu Tang came back to her senses.

Although she had lived two lives, she had never seen anyone better-looking than that blue-robed man. Yet here she was, a young lady, actually chasing after someone to ask who he was… Fortunately, Senior Manager Tong was an honest person who didn’t mock her a few times, otherwise she could only crawl into a crack in the ground.

Yu Tang blushed with embarrassment and quickly handed the painting to Senior Manager Tong, sincerely asking for instruction, “Senior Manager, you said this painting is fake. Do you have any evidence?”

Senior Manager Tong was startled.

Junior Manager Tong, probably thinking she had come to cause trouble, quickly stepped forward several paces to block Senior Manager Tong behind him, saying, “Young madam, our pawnshop has been a century-old establishment in Lin’an Prefecture. As soon as you opened your mouth, you called us by our surname Tong, so presumably you’ve made inquiries. Our shop has never done any underhanded switching. If you don’t believe us, you can carefully inspect that painting. However you brought it in is however we’re returning it to you. Although ‘Fishing in Seclusion on Pine Creek’ is a famous painting, our pawnshop hasn’t exactly never seen good things. We wouldn’t do something to ruin our reputation for one painting of yours.”

Yu Tang’s face flushed bright red with shame. She quickly said, “No, no. I’m not suspecting you of switching things. It’s just that this painting was also sold to our family by someone else. I just want to know what’s wrong with this painting so I can go find that person later!”

Both senior and junior Manager Tong breathed a sigh of relief.

Junior Manager Tong spoke rapidly, “You shouldn’t have tried to get a bargain—our Pei family pawnshop has been open for so many years. For live pawns or dead pawns, we never force anyone. If he really lacked silver, why didn’t he bring it to pawn at our shop…”

“Is this how you speak to customers?” Senior Manager Tong rebuked Junior Manager Tong, interrupting his words. After thinking for a moment, he said, “To say this painting is fake isn’t entirely correct either.”

Yu Tang’s spirits lifted. “What do you mean by that?”

Senior Manager Tong said, “Young madam may not know this, but ancient paintings that can be passed down through generations are mostly painted on xuan paper. This xuan paper has two characteristics. One is that it absorbs ink extremely well—meaning the ink can penetrate through to the back of the paper. The other characteristic is that it’s made from several layers of paper pulp repeatedly sun-dried. Skilled mounting masters can usually peel xuan paper apart layer by layer. Why do we say your ancient painting is a reproduction rather than a fake? We just had our shop’s specialist in appraising ancient paintings look at it. Your painting was indeed created by Li Tang. But someone peeled off the top layer. Yours is the layer underneath, so you see—”

As he spoke, he opened the scroll and pointed it out to Yu Tang, “Here, and here, were clearly added later, lacking somewhat that sense of vast and ethereal spirit…”

It’s not because of the seal?

Yu Tang was somewhat confused.

Senior Manager Tong looked at Yu Tang’s tender young face and felt somewhat reluctant to be harsh. He said sympathetically, “If you’re short on funds and want to pawn this painting, it’s not impossible. It’s just that it can’t be pawned for much silver.”

Hearing this, Yu Tang pointed to the seal stamped with “Plum Grove” on the painting and said, “Is there no problem with this seal?”

Hearing this, Senior Manager Tong looked at her deeply.

Yu Tang inwardly groaned that this was bad.

Asking this way was clearly trying to cover up the truth—if she suspected there was a problem with the seal and knew this painting wasn’t right, yet still brought it to the pawnshop to pawn…

Looking at Senior Manager Tong’s face again, sure enough, it no longer had the warm spring-like friendliness from before.

She hastily said, “No. I just thought that since this painting was collected by Grand Secretary Zuo, it shouldn’t be wrong…”

But Senior Manager Tong no longer believed her. His face showed the peculiar politeness and distance characteristic of businessmen as he smiled and said, “Young madam is correct. This painting did ultimately fall into Grand Secretary Zuo’s hands, but your painting is indeed a reproduction. Please forgive us, but our pawnshop cannot accept it. If you have any other good items, please come patronize us again.”

Junior Manager Tong simply personally showed her out.

Yu Tang was so angry her head swam and she was dizzy. She didn’t know how she walked back. After returning, she drank two cups of rough-leaf tea in succession before catching her breath.

Good for you, Lu Xin!

Taking their family’s silver and wanting to run—how could there be such a good deal?!

Yu Tang called A’Tiao over, gave him over ten copper coins, and instructed him, “Go inquire about Scholar Lu’s whereabouts. Don’t let my father know.”

A’Tiao often secretly bought snacks for Yu Tang behind Yu Wen and Chen Shi’s backs. Thinking nothing of it, he cheerfully agreed and went out to inquire about Lu Xin.

In the afternoon, he came to report to Yu Tang with a worried expression, “Did Master Lu commit some offense? He’s pawned his house to someone else, saying he’s going to the capital to rely on relatives. But even if he has relatives in the capital, surely he can’t live at his relatives’ place for a lifetime?”

In her previous life, Lu Xin had never returned to Lin’an Prefecture.

Yu Tang sneered, “So has he left?”

“Everyone thought he’d left,” A’Tiao said cleverly, “but I made clear inquiries. He has a lover on Flower Alley. These past few days he’s been staying on Flower Alley, probably reluctant to part with that lover.”

Yu Tang’s mind spun rapidly for a long while. She sighed, clasped her hands together toward the west and bowed, then called A’Tiao over and whispered instructions in his ear for a long time.

Flower Alley was just behind Changxing Street—a winding alley. The east end led to Changxing Street, the west end to Government Office Street. Both sides were planted with camphor trees as thick as one could embrace. At night, red lanterns hung high, with warblers and swallows, and voices were tumultuous.

Because of the fire on Changxing Street, the shops had all burned down. The broken walls and ruins weren’t pleasant to look at, so someone had covered the entrance leading to Changxing Street with tarpaulin, leaving only the road leading to Government Office Street.

At the hour of the dog in the evening, just when Flower Alley was at its liveliest, a carriage stopped in front of Madam Chu’s courtyard. Seven or eight broad-shouldered, thick-waisted women came down with a whoosh, wielding wooden clubs as they charged into the courtyard.

Everyone was an old hand in the pleasure quarter. Seeing this display, they knew it was a legitimate wife coming to make trouble. Excitedly, they surrounded the scene in three layers inside and out, chattering and watching the spectacle.

There was a series of banging and crashing sounds from inside Madam Chu’s courtyard. A tall, burly woman grabbed Lu Xin by the collar and walked out of the courtyard. As she walked, she shouted loudly, “You can drink flower wine at the courtyard if you want, but how could you pawn the family house for some courtesan? Where are we mother and daughter supposed to live from now on? What will we eat? What will we drink?”

Lin’an City wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. Moreover, Lu Xin was someone who liked to meddle in affairs, sticking his foot into everything, so many people knew him. Seeing this scene, they couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

Someone said, “No wonder Scholar Lu runs to the courtyards every day. Turns out his wife at home is built like an ox. If I were him, I couldn’t stay home either.”

Others found it strange, “Didn’t they say that after Scholar Lu’s first wife died, he never remarried and has no children? Where did this woman come from?”

Someone speculated, “Probably also a lover, except one is in the courtyard and one is kept outside.”

Lu Xin was so angry his mouth went crooked. He didn’t know where this woman came from, making trouble right in front of him. He wanted to explain a few words, but his collar was choking his neck, and he couldn’t say a single word. Just like that, he was dragged by that woman all the way to the carriage, his mouth stuffed with a pile of rags, and driven out of Flower Alley.

This matter would probably be discussed by the people of Lin’an Prefecture for a lifetime.

Lu Xin ground his teeth in fury.

If he found out who was scheming against him, he absolutely wouldn’t let them off!

The carriage stopped at the entrance to Changxing Street.

Lu Xin was dragged down from the carriage.

Moonlight shone on Changxing Street’s broken beams and shattered tiles—shadowy and desolate. The sounds of music, laughter, and singing occasionally drifting from neighboring Flower Alley added a few touches of the bizarre, making his scalp tingle and his legs tremble.

“Wh-what are you trying to do?” Lu Xin said tremblingly.

Yu Tang, with her head wrapped, walked out from the shadows of a broken wall.

Lu Xin recognized her at a glance.

He jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on and accused, “How is it you? What are you trying to do? I’m going to find your father to judge this matter!”

Yu Tang said with a half-smile, “Why find my father to judge it? I’ll go with you to the government office to judge it!”

Lu Xin was stunned.

Yu Tang threw the painting at Lu Xin’s feet. “Didn’t you say this was ‘Fishing in Seclusion on Pine Creek’ by Li Tang of the previous dynasty? Manager Tong of the Pei family pawnshop happens to be distantly related to my family. I took it to Manager Tong to appraise it, and Manager Tong said this is a reproduction, worth at most three to five taels of silver. Either I go with you to the government office for a trip, or you return the silver you swindled from my father!”

Lu Xin stamped his feet. “You little slip of a girl, pulling the tiger’s skin to make a banner, still trying to use the Pei family to pressure me?! What kind of family background yours is, don’t I know? You say it’s a reproduction, so it’s a reproduction? I’d say you switched the beams for the pillars, took my painting but don’t want to give silver, and are falsely accusing me of selling your family a fake painting.”

That woman used force and pressed Lu Xin back down to the ground.

Yu Tang said disdainfully, “I also knew you wouldn’t admit it and didn’t expect you to. As soon as dawn comes, we’ll go to the government office. I’ve already asked Manager Tong to testify. What’s real can’t be fake, and what’s fake can’t be real. Just wait for your reputation to be ruined and to face a lawsuit!”