When third master Lai saw that his mother was so angry that she was trembling, he wanted to send the mother and daughter pair out of the house but before he could say anything, Qi Zhen spoke up first.
" You seem to be misunderstanding us," he smiled at Old Madam Ding and then said politely, " We were just thinking of renovating Fourth Brother Lai's courtyard for the married couple. After all, how the Fourth brother lives now, there is no way he would be able to live after he got married.
That's why we thought of using the money to renovate that courtyard but since you don't want that then we will surely make use of that sum of money to buy a decent dowry for your daughter."
He paused and added, " As for the renovation money, I will use my own savings to renovate the courtyard."
Of course, he was lying and Old Madam Ding and the rest knew this as well, even Fourth Lai was looking at Qi Zhen and the rest of the Lai family with narrowed eyes. It would be wrong to say that, Old Madam Ding's words did not affect him. They did affect him, to the point that they stung his bones.
Old Madam Ding curled her lips and then nodded, " It seems that Master Qi is the wisest one among everyone else."
Qi Zhen did not say anything and simply smiled. How could he not understand what Old Madam Ding wanted? She not only wanted dowry, a grand wedding ceremony but she also wanted money and the renovation of the courtyard, now that he had spoken.
But for the sake of controlling Fourth Lai, he had to take a huge chunk out of his savings but when he thought about how he needed Fourth Lai to take care of Su Wan and the Lin family, he could only lower his head for now.
After the matter of dowry was settled, the two families discussed the matter with one another.
" My daughter-in-law is right," sneered Old Madam Lin who watched the Lai family getting humiliated. She did not care about this Lai family before but now that she had heard all about their sinister motives, Old Madam Lin wanted them to suffer even more.
It would be amazing if their family was ruined completely, only then they would know whom they offended.
The mother and daughter-in-law pair watched the show with relish and then returned home. But before leaving, Su Wan ordered Chi Jia to scatter the information about the Lai family demanding an extraordinarily high dowry from a widow and divorced woman.
She also asked him to spread the news that they were only willing to take out ten taels as betrothal gifts for the woman whose reputation was ruined by their family member.
Chi Jia nodded as he spread the information to every tea house's storyteller and soon enough the news of the Lai family's notorious actions was spread all over the Big Ocean city.
The fame of the Lai family got even bigger and they became the rats on the street for the time being, everyone talked about the Lai family as if they were despicable thugs.
Of course, this matter was known to Lord Yun, Pei Huai and Lu Nanyun as well. The one however who suffered the most was Pei Huai whose wife continued to make a fuss asking him to help the Lai family, it annoyed him so much that he left home and started to live in the office.
When his aide saw this he couldn't help but ask, " Master why don't you save the Lai family?" Your next read is at m v|l-e'-novelhall.net
" Save?" Pei Huai tittered while studying the document on his table. " I am afraid that the Lai family is going to end very soon."