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Shen Tai glared at his sister before saying, “Mother, don’t listen to her. I only go out to socialize with my friends. Every time I go out, I’d always need to spend money. I can’t be a penny pincher lest I lose the face of Duke Ningguo Manor.”
“Your grandfather doesn’t allow us to attract the limelight outside.”
Shen Tai said impatiently, “Others are confused, are you confused too? If I don’t make any friends, how can I get things done in the future? His Majesty acts dumb and doesn’t give any assignments to our family, then should our family simply lie around like this? Only relying on this title to survive, the salary we get isn’t enough for the family to chew. It’s not like I haven’t noticed that the manor is cutting down on the expenses
”
Seeing the maid take out the silver, he took it and put it into his pockets. He also murmured a few words about how these two hundred taels were simply too little. Before Eldest Madam Shen could speak, he ran away.
Third Miss Shen looked at him angrily, then turned to Eldest Madam Shen. “Mother, you’re spoiling him!”
“Enough. Your brother was right. You, a little girl, don’t worry about the adults’ matters.” She knew her son best and was aware of what he was doing outside. All this work, didn’t he simply want to be the heir of Duke Ningguo Manor?
Upon hearing this, Third Miss Shen also got angry. She threw away the book in her hand and left.
Now that her pregnancy was getting further along, her body was getting heavier and heavier. But Yaoniang didn’t dare to learn to be lazy like before and started to increase her activity.
After eating her meals every day, she would take a stroll. First, this could help with digestion and second, this could strengthen her body
After the meal at Jingxin Residence, Duchess Ningguo went to take her afternoon nap. Consort Jin and Yaoniang wouldn’t leave until after dinner, so Second Madam Shen prepared a room for them to rest.
Yaoniang kept in mind that she hasn’t gotten enough exercise yet, so she took Yu Chan to the back garden.
Duke Ningguo Manor seemed to be desolate, but the garden was well maintained. Now that it was spring, the garden was beautiful with all its flowers blooming and butterflies fluttering everywhere.
Yaoniang was walking in the shade of the garden. With a gust of breeze blowing, a sweet scent filled her nose
She couldn’t help taking a deep breath. When she exhaled, she felt as light as a swallow. She and Yu Chan wandered about the paths, whispering from time to time when a young man appeared before them.
The young man walked in their direction, with something clutched in his hands, and mumbling under his breath. With an air of slovenliness, he resembled a vagabond.
Yaoniang looked up and was about to move to the side to give way when this person suddenly stopped in front of Yaoniang.
“Oh, I didn’t know that there was such a beautiful girl in this manor.” The young man wasn’t bad in appearance, but it was a pity that the look in his eyes was disgusting.
Yu Chan scolded, “Presumptuous! Where are you from?”
He didn’t answer her question. “This little face is quite fair. Let me touch it to see if it is indeed as tender and soft as it looks
” While his mouth was speaking these uncouth words, he moved his feet.
Yaoniang automatically wanted to dodge. Only then did the other party realize that Yaoniang had a big belly. He was about to say something but was stunned by Yu Chan with a chop to the neck.
Yaoniang was taken aback. “Yu Chan, why did you knock him out? Now, what are we going to do? He must be a master of one of these courtyards in the manor.”
This person was finely dressed. With a single glance, one could tell that he wasn’t a servant.
“Madam, don’t be afraid. It’s okay. This servant will throw him into the grass, and he won’t say anything about what happened when he wakes up.”
“But will this cause trouble for His Highness?” Yaoniang remembered how Jin Wang had said that the Shen Family was important to him.
“No.” Yu Chan dragged the man lying on the ground into the grass.
It was the first time that Yaoniang realized Yu Chan was so powerful.
After hiding this person away, the master and servant left in a hurry. Yaoniang went back to her room and thought to herself that if this matter blew up, she’d insist that she stayed here the entire time and didn’t go out.
Fortunately, this person didn’t show up even by the time they left Duke Ningguo Manor.


Shen Tai slept in the grass for almost half an hour before waking up.
After waking up, he found that his neck was in great pain. He shook his head after recalling what had happened.
He wasn’t an idiot. If he wasn’t wrong, that woman should be Jin Wang’s concubine. He didn’t expect that Jin Wang would be so lucky to have such a beauty by his side.
Naturally, Shen Tai didn’t dare to say anything about what had happened but simply left after letting out some curses.
Sure enough, he was unlucky. After spending some time in the gambling house, all his silver was lost. Just as he was about to leave, a person squeezed in beside him.
“Brother, Lady Luck doesn’t seem to favour you today. You want to borrow some money?”
It wasn’t the first time for Shen Tai to come to a gambling house and he was aware that there were people lending money. He didn’t lack food or drink while living in Duke Ningguo Manor, and there weren’t many occasions for him to spend money. It was only after he started gambling did he realize that his money was never enough, but he had yet to consider borrowing from others.
He wasn’t stupid. He understood how dangerous this money could be.
But his heart was still moved. He had spent all the money he planned to use to invite others for a drink on gambling then lost it all.
“You know who I am, yet you dare to lend money to me?”
“The eldest young master of Duke Ningguo Manor is well known by everyone. If I didn’t know who you were, how would I find you to pay back the debt?”
Shen Tai enjoyed people flattering him. He snorted but his mood lifted, “You have good vision. I won’t borrow too much. I’ll only borrow some to recover my losses first.”
This person didn’t speak any unnecessary words and immediately gave him five hundred taels worth of bills.
The problem was Shen Tai didn’t have good luck that evening. Actually, it wasn’t that bad. There was a short while where it was good, but it was a pity that he became greedy. Thinking of the money he had lost here in the past, he wanted to make a big profit. Unexpectedly, he ended up losing all his winnings as well as the total five thousand taels he had borrowed from the man.
This amount completely exceeded whatever savings Shen Tai had. Even if Eldest Madam Shen spoiled him, she wouldn’t give him five thousand taels at once.
Shen Tai’s face turned bleak but there wasn’t anything he could do. He could only wait to raise some money first before paying it back.
He cursed and walked outside, but the man grabbed him by his arm.
“Young Master Shen, my master wants to talk to you about something. Not only would you not need to pay back the five thousand taels, that thought of yours you’ve had for a long time could also be discussed.”
For some reason, Shen Tai thought of that matter of being the heir to Duke Ningguo Manor.