Chapter 47 Stabbed in the Back by Her Sister

Chapter 47: Backstabbed by Her Own Sister

"Two or three thousand taels of silver? Not a chance. Let's just call it four thousand taels, flat. Hand over four thousand, and I'll let you come in as a concubine. If you're unwilling, heh, you know what happens, right?"

Both of them went pale—this was the last thing they expected.

They'd figured that when Xi Qianyue caught them in the act, she'd either sweep it under the rug or fight for her husband's favor!

Little did they know, Xi Qianyue didn't play by anyone's rules.

"So, four thousand taels matters more to you than I do?"

Yang Xingxian asked, still not ready to let it go.

Xi Qianyue smiled. "Of course. Way more than you do."

There was a desk in the room, complete with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Xi Qianyue dashed off a few lines with effortless grace, then made the two of them sign it.

Yang Xingxian looked at it—it spelled out their affair, noted that Yang Xingxian had blown through ten thousand taels of Xi Qianyue's dowry, and that he had to pay back four thousand taels first.

He balked: "Can't we just handle this between us? Why do we have to sign anything?"

"Oh, I'm just worried you'll deny everything once you've got your clothes back on. If you don't own up to it right now, I'll have my people haul you to Jifu Hall and let your parents sort this out for me."

Yang Xingxian was shocked: "Are you insane? You've completely lost it! This is such a small thing—how can you drag my father into this?"

"So are you signing or not?"

Xi Jiaojiao ground out through clenched teeth: "Sis, aren't you scared I'll kill myself?"

"Why would I be scared of you dying? First of all, even if you did die, it'd be because you, a concubine's daughter, slept with your own sister's husband and died of shame. Everyone would understand why you did it and feel sorry for me;

Second, you fought so hard to crawl into your brother-in-law's bed—how could you possibly want to die now? You should hurry up and move in so you can properly 'fight for his affection' with me."

Xi Jiaojiao burst into loud, ugly sobs at Xi Qianyue's words. Why wasn't anything going the way she'd pictured?

"I don't have a lot of patience. If you don't sign within fifteen minutes, my maids here will haul you to Jifu Hall; within thirty minutes, you'll be the talk of every teahouse in town."

Xi Qianyue seemed to be in a fantastic mood, speaking in a soft, gentle voice the whole time.

"Aren't you scared of being humiliated? Everyone will mock us, but they'll mock you too!"

Xi Jiaojiao made one last desperate try.

Xi Qianyue said, taking her sweet time: "What do I have to be afraid of? I'm the victim here. I'll go to the authorities, get them to rule on this, and make the Marquis household cough up my ten thousand taels of dowry. Then I'll divorce this Young Master Yang! Oh, little sis, then you can be the official wife!"

Yang Xingxian's heart was pounding with fear. He looked at Xi Jiaojiao, and any romantic thoughts he had went right out the window—he silently cursed himself for being such an idiot as to mess with that shrew!

"Jiaojiao, let's just sign. Hurry up and pay the money back. Then I'll take you in as a concubine."

Yang Xingxian signed his name without hesitation.

Xi Jiaojiao couldn't even describe what she was feeling—why was she paying money for the privilege of being a concubine!

But Yang Xingxian kept pushing: "Come on, Jiaojiao. Don't you know your sister by now? She's scary as hell when she's pissed."

Xi Jiaojiao stared blankly at Xi Qianyue. Was this really her sister?

This wasn't the sister she knew!

Her sister had always been gentle and sweet, meek and mild, never one to start a fight. How could she do something this crazy?

She shouted: "You're not my sister! You're not Xi Qianyue! What kind of demon has possessed you..."

"That's right, your cowardly sister is dead—she died the second she was pushed into that pond by Young Master Yang's sister! You'd better behave and not mess with me, or I'll make your lives a living hell."

The fierce glare in Xi Qianyue's eyes scared Xi Jiaojiao half to death.

Yang Xingxian was scared too, stammering: "Didn't you say the thing with your sister was done? She and our cousin already knelt and apologized, even slapped themselves ten times each..."

Xi Jiaojiao was even more shocked—so Xi Qianyue had never been some gentle, obedient person after all?

Xi Qianyue couldn't be bothered to keep arguing: "Are you signing or not? If not..."

Yang Xingxian urgently nudged Xi Jiaojiao: "What's the matter with you? What are you still thinking about? Do you want us both to die?"

Xi Jiaojiao had no choice. In a daze, she signed her name.

Xi Qianyue folded the paper with satisfaction: "As for the silver, I want it in my hands before tonight. As for the rest, whenever you want to bring her into the house, that's your call. Don't bother asking me. Oh, and I'll give you a receipt once I get the money."

Xi Qianyue strolled out with her maids and servants, Xi Jiaojiao's wailing echoing behind her.

Lady Wu soon heard that Xi Qianyue had taken her people to Qingfeng Pavilion to catch them in the act. She was taken aback for a moment.

"The Xi family's upbringing, tsk tsk. That concubine-born girl seemed decent enough—she even gave me this jade Buddha—but look what she's gone and done. This whole thing, even though my son came out on top, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Lady Wu toyed with the jade Buddha Xi Jiaojiao had given her. It wasn't cheap—warm to the touch and excellent quality.

"Tell me, how should my son deal with this?" Lady Wu then smiled again, "That Xi woman has been insufferably arrogant lately, and now she's been stabbed in the back by her own sister. Just thinking about it makes me happy."

Nanny Wu smiled too: "Madam, setting everything else aside, the young master is fine. If... it really was catching them red-handed, then the young master will just end up with one more concubine."

Lady Wu laughed out loud, then shook her head with a sigh: "After all, my son did her wrong. She's only been in this house such a short time. I'm too soft-hearted—I almost feel sorry for her."

"It's all because the young mistress is too domineering... Even the eldest young lady and Miss Bi suffered a lot at her hands. Now, she's finally gotten a taste of her own medicine."

At the mention of Yang Luo and Bi Ru, Lady Wu's smile faded: "Exactly! In my opinion, those two girls shouldn't have knelt and apologized to her, let alone slapped themselves. Alas, I can't even show my face to my sister anymore."

The two chatted a while longer, in high spirits because of all this.

Xi Jiaojiao slunk home in disgrace, rattling off orders: "Quick, go get my mother."

Concubine Yu hurried over, and before she even got through the door, she heard Xi Jiaojiao wailing, so she rushed in as fast as she could.

"My child, why are you crying so hard? What happened to you?"

Xi Jiaojiao was bathing and sobbing at the same time. When she saw Concubine Yu come in, she didn't even try to cover herself.

"Oh my god, what happened to your body? How did you get all these bruises? Were you beaten, or..."

Concubine Yu had a terrible feeling. She could hardly believe her pampered daughter had ended up like this.