Chapter 681 - 352: Worried About Yun Ying

Chapter 681: Chapter 352: Worried About Yun Ying

Juhua nodded. The flickering lamplight on the table cast a somber glow on the dark red, carved canopy bed and chests. If it weren’t for the pale pink bed curtains, the room’s color palette would feel too cold. In the dead of night, the watchdog let out a fierce bark, triggering a chain reaction of responses from dogs near and far. A lone wild goose cried out mournfully as it passed overhead, stirring a sense of wistfulness in the person sitting by the lamp.

Huai Zi suddenly asked, "What’s going on with Yun Ying and Doctor Qin? Are they fighting?"

Juhua was taken aback. "Why would you say that?" she asked, puzzled.

Gently massaging the sole of her foot, Huai Zi said, "I ran into Mr. Chen at the market today. He was asking me about Doctor Yun and Doctor Qin, and he kept pressing me about whether Doctor Yun was betrothed. ’This doesn’t look good,’ I thought. ’He’s clearly taken a fancy to her.’ But Doctor Qin is such an outstanding man—so much better than him, right? Besides, she and her senior brother get along great. Mr. Chen already has a son, so what’s he doing trying to butt in? In the end, I just told him I didn’t know, but that she and Doctor Qin seemed very close, leaving him to wonder if she was already spoken for."

Juhua’s eyes widened. She had been thinking that ’a fair maiden is a gentleman’s good match,’ so it was only natural for Chen Yu to admire Yun Ying. But to think he already had a son! And he was still pretending to be unmarried while pursuing her?

The absolute nerve!

And he was just a wealthy man from Xiatang Market. She couldn’t imagine what the men in the city were like!

’Then again, maybe I’m overreacting,’ she thought. ’For the wealthy families in this era, aren’t serving maids, concubines, and mistresses all commonplace? It was only because I was transported to this poor, rural village that I haven’t had a chance to witness it myself.’

She chuckled. "That’s just wishful thinking on his part. Why would Yun Ying ever fall for him?"

Huai Zi nodded. "She should marry Doctor Qin. Otherwise, with her being so visible and so artless, she’s bound to attract trouble. Xiatang Market isn’t what it used to be. It’s much more complicated now with all the people coming and going. Before, even though it was poor and the market was small, it was mostly just farmers. The worst that would happen was an argument or a fistfight. But now? Now we have usurers, gambling dens, and even brothels."

The words tumbled out before he noticed Juhua staring at him. Feeling the sudden quiet in the room, he looked up and saw the strange expression on her face.

He couldn’t help but laugh. "That look... are you worried about me? Don’t be. I won’t even bring up my own integrity. Your brother and I have seen how those places destroy people three or four times now—it leads to total ruin and death! I’d have to have a death wish to go somewhere like that. Not to mention, the usury is a killer. The people who lose all their money in the gambling dens or spend it all in the brothels end up borrowing from the loan sharks. All those businesses are in it together."

Juhua asked in a low voice, "Who runs them?"

Huai Zi curled his lip. "The people from our Xiatang Market aren’t that crooked; maybe they just haven’t learned how yet. All three businesses were started by people from Qinghui, and some of them are from the government office. If you owe money and don’t pay up, they’ll lock you right in the government office. I’m telling you, I suspect the Lord County Magistrate is the one behind it. It’s a much smarter way to make money than raising taxes—this way he avoids public anger, and people hand their money over willingly."

’No matter who’s running them, this sort of thing is inevitable,’ she thought. ’Unless the town goes back to being as poor as it was before—so poor you couldn’t squeeze a drop of oil from it, so poor that not even ghosts would come knocking.’

Huai Zi sensed her anxiety and spoke softly, "Don’t worry, your brother and I know better than to get mixed up in that. It’s no wonder you’re concerned, though. The people who end up in those places aren’t always bad. We’ve seen a few very honest men from the nearby villages get lured in. In fact, the more honest they are, the easier they are to fool. That’s why your brother specifically warned Laixi, your sister-in-law’s brother Yungen, and your cousin Laicai. He’s worried they’ll fall for a trick."

Juhua was lost in thought for a long moment before she spoke. "A sharp man like our cousin Laixi won’t be fooled. It’s Laicai and Yungen I’m worried about. They’re young and obsessed with the idea of getting rich and making a name for their families. They’re the ones who could easily be lured in."

Huai Zi nodded. "Your brother and I thought of that as well. We gave them a stern warning: if any of them has a moment of foolishness and sets foot in a gambling den or a brothel, we’ll break their legs when they get back. We’d rather support a cripple for life than have them gamble away the family fortune. Our families are all close kin; if one of them gets trapped, we’ll all be dragged down."

Juhua said, "No wonder Yunlan went back to her parents’ home yesterday. She must be worried, too. But the people who run those places... if they didn’t have their methods, how would they make a profit? They won’t just come out and tell you to gamble or go to a brothel. They’ll use some other excuse to trick you first before they show their true colors. So, just giving the younger ones a simple warning won’t be enough. You need to tell them to be wary of anything that seems too good to be true. And they shouldn’t talk to strangers. Honestly, it would be best if they avoided the market as much as possible for the next year or two. If they just stay home and focus on farming, it’ll be much harder for those people to get their hooks into them."