A cold wind swept through, carrying snowflakes that struck the Marquis of Changchun’s face.

Fury surged from his heart, shooting straight to his head.

These little thugs really were treating the Changchun Marquis Estate as a soft persimmon to squeeze!

Triangle-Eyes wasn’t intimidated by the Marquis of Changchun’s ugly expression: “Lord Marquis, we’re not being unreasonable here. Think about it—if your estate’s servants hadn’t chased after us to rob our money, could a little beggar have snatched away the money box? Absolutely not! Now the five thousand taels are gone and the little beggar can’t be found, so shouldn’t the Marquis Estate be responsible for this loss? After all, if there hadn’t been the Marquis Estate servants’ robbery, there wouldn’t have been the little beggar taking advantage of the chaos…”

Triangle-Eyes continued his rambling.

The spectators, upon hearing this, found it quite reasonable…

The Marquis of Changchun asked deliberately: “You mean you want the Marquis Estate to produce another five thousand taels in silver?”

Triangle-Eyes quickly waved his hands: “It’s not about the Marquis Estate producing another five thousand taels—you should rightfully produce it. Once the Marquis Estate compensates our losses, then this matter of your estate’s servants robbing people on the street can be put to rest. Wouldn’t you say so, Lord Marquis?”

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Marquis of Changchun’s face was covered in frost, momentarily speechless.

Dealing with a few small-time thugs naturally wasn’t difficult, but with so many people watching, some things were hard to say in order to shut these people up.

Triangle-Eyes’ eyes darted around, sweeping over the lead official. With a grin, he said: “Of course, we do bear some responsibility for not protecting the money box. And if it weren’t for these officers, not only would we have failed to protect the money box, we might have lost our lives too. How about this—the Marquis Estate produces these five thousand taels, and we’ll split it evenly with the officers, half and half.”

The officials who had been preparing to escort the Marquis Estate’s steward and servants back to the yamen all had their eyes light up.

Split five thousand taels evenly—that would be two thousand five hundred taels!

Two thousand five hundred taels—even divided up, it would equal several years of their salaries!

Leave? Of course they couldn’t leave now. Unless the Changchun Marquis Estate produced this sum of silver, no one could make them leave!

The Marquis of Changchun could clearly see the squad of officials seemingly rooted to the spot, their eyes gazing at him with particular fervor.

This fervor made the Marquis of Changchun’s liver tremble. His face iron-blue, he looked toward Triangle-Eyes.

Triangle-Eyes stood less than ten feet away from him, face wearing a mocking smile, eyes full of certainty.

A chill rose in the Marquis of Changchun’s heart as a possibility occurred to him: Could these little thugs have someone instructing them from behind?

Five thousand taels was no small sum for any household. Even if these thugs made a scene in public, he didn’t want to pay.

But this thug had drawn the Five Districts Military Commissioner’s men in with a single sentence.

Wealth moves people’s hearts—who would refuse such a large sum falling into their laps out of thin air?

The Marquis Estate’s people were still in these officials’ clutches. Once brought to the yamen, there were all sorts of ways to decide the case. Under these circumstances, could he refuse to pay this money?

The thug had forced him into a corner with one sentence—he didn’t believe these lowlifes had the brains for this.

Triangle-Eyes urged with a chuckle: “Lord Marquis, we’ve been waiting quite a while now. Why don’t you settle the money quickly? The brothers are still waiting to go to Qianjin Pavilion.”

The Marquis of Changchun looked toward the lead official.

The lead official looked at him with anticipation.

The Marquis of Changchun felt a stale breath stuck in his chest, unable to rise or descend, blocking his breath.

But despite the pain that made his heart bleed, he couldn’t possibly stand off on the main street.

The Marquis of Changchun slowly drew a breath and ordered his servants: “Go tell Madam to bring five thousand taels in silver notes.”

Triangle-Eyes was delighted, cupping his hands toward the Marquis of Changchun: “The Lord Marquis is truly righteous!”

The squad of officials was overjoyed.

The lead official couldn’t help but glance at the crowd.

In the crowd, the young woman in a blue cloak was like a pine tree standing in the wind and snow—composed and calm.

Originally, the lead official’s head ached at the sight of that pretty face, but at this moment he found it extremely pleasing.

Two thousand five hundred taels!

Madam Yang had been waiting anxiously in the main hall when news came to withdraw five thousand taels.

Madam Yang was dumbstruck on the spot.

This was five thousand taels, not fifty taels or five hundred taels. If they gave it away, there wouldn’t even be money left for New Year’s!

“Madam, the Lord Marquis is still waiting.”

Madam Yang came to her senses and, lips trembling, ordered her trusted old servant to fetch the money.

Outside the main gate, Triangle-Eyes kept craning his neck to look inside, not concealing the eager anticipation all over his face.

The Marquis of Changchun found the sight annoying and simply looked away.

He saw Xu Xi.

Xu Xi involuntarily stiffened all over, then saw the Marquis of Changchun indifferently look elsewhere.

The young man bit his lip hard, his heart completely cold.

After the Marquis of Changchun looked elsewhere, it was his turn to stiffen all over.

Who was that expressionless girl in the crowd?

Luo Sheng, seeing the Marquis of Changchun notice her, smiled slightly.

The corner of the Marquis of Changchun’s mouth twitched.

His eyes weren’t playing tricks—it was Miss Luo!

The heart that had been aching over the silver immediately tightened, an ominous premonition arising.

Why had this disaster come to join the commotion? Surely she wouldn’t cause more trouble?

No, he’d already paid the money—what more could she stir up?

Besides, what did this have to do with Miss Luo anyway!

Lost in these thoughts, the Marquis of Changchun didn’t even notice when his servant returned.

“Lord Marquis.” The servant called out.

The Marquis of Changchun came back to his senses and said coldly: “Give it to him!”

The servant handed over a small box.

The Marquis of Changchun looked at the money box, his heart aching again.

The same kind of money box—not long ago he’d given one to these scoundrels, and now he was handing over another. Sooner or later he’d kill these thugs!

Triangle-Eyes took the money box, pulled out the silver notes to count them, then handed a stack to the lead official: “Officer, please keep this safe.”

The lead official immediately stuffed the notes into his chest, his whole body tensing: “Let’s go!”

With so much silver, even though they were officials, they could be targeted—it was safer to hurry back to the yamen and divide the money.

Of course, they couldn’t keep all this money for themselves—paying respects to their superiors would take the lion’s share.

Triangle-Eyes and the other thugs were even faster, greasing their heels and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Seeing there was no more spectacle to watch, people sighed with lingering interest and prepared to disperse.

In such cold weather, they should head home to eat roasted sweet potatoes.

The Marquis of Changchun lifted his foot to walk inside with a cold expression.

At that moment, a voice rang out: “Lord Marquis, don’t rush off.”

The Marquis of Changchun’s foot paused. He turned around.

The people about to disperse immediately looked in the direction of the voice.

Look who they saw? It was actually Miss Luo!

Now they didn’t feel cold anymore, didn’t want roasted sweet potatoes—watching the spectacle was most important.

“Lord Marquis still remembers me, doesn’t he?” Luo Sheng asked with a smile playing at her lips.

The Marquis of Changchun forced down his impatience and asked: “Does Miss Luo have some business?”

Luo Sheng’s eyes flickered slightly. In the pure tone of someone watching a spectacle, she laughed: “I’ve been thinking about this, and some things don’t add up. Your estate’s steward sent people to recover the silver, but the Lord Marquis and Madam knew nothing about it?”

The Marquis of Changchun’s face darkened: “What is Miss Luo implying?”

Luo Sheng smiled. “It’s five thousand taels. If they’d recovered it, would the Marquis Estate’s steward dare to pocket it privately? If the Lord Marquis truly knew nothing, why not ask the Marquis’s wife? I think she definitely knew.”