This was hard to ignore. Ning Yunzhao furrowed his brows.
Five thousand taels was indeed no small sum. When Mother was arranging an offering, using five thousand taels required Grandmother's permission.
This time, Yanyan really did play too much.
And these five thousand taels were used in betting.
Even if one of the sons in the family did something like this, Father would definitely punish them.
"Go home and raise the money. Say it's for my use," Ning Yunzhao instructed.
Ning Yunyan was crying something fierce. The other girls' eyes were filled with envy.
Having a brother was really nice.
Tenth n.o.ble Son Ning was very nice, as expected.
"She cheated me, otherwise I wouldn't have lost that much," Ning Yuyan sobbed.
"If other people cheat you, why should you fall for it?" Ning Yunzhao said. "Why aren't you thinking about why the one who was fooled was you? What you do is your choice, what you decide to do. How can you resent others?
Ning Yunyan was stunned. Big Brother was blaming her? She stifled her tears, then looked at Ning Yunzhao tearfully.
"Resenting others is s.h.i.+rking your own mistake. If you cannot admit you were wrong, you will continue to do wrong in the future," Ning Yunzhao said severely. "This time, I'll help you. Next time, your family will help you. But the next next time? In our lives, you can't just keep getting lucky. Sometimes a mistake can affect your whole life."
When he said this, he paused.
"And this time no one cheated you. Your loss is not unjust."
Her loss was not unjust?
Ning Yunyan looked at Ning Yunzhao, her tears once again pouring down like rain.
"Big Brother, why are you speaking for Jun Zhenzhen?" she sobbed. "If it weren't for here, I wouldn't be like this. If she didn't deliberately fight with me, I wouldn't have lost this much."
Jun Zhenzhen, this name again. Jun...
Ning Yunzhao thought about this surname. Was this that Miss Jun who had a marriage contract with him? Zhenzhen was her name?
Fight?
Ning Yunzhao thought about the girl's words he had heard from one of the rooms.
It seemed to be a targeted refute against Ning Yunzhao.
It indeed was an aggressive provocation.
It seemed to match with the description the girl's made about Miss Jun's behavior.
"How am I speaking for her? I am talking about the person playing pitch-pot. You being provoked to bet because of someone else's words has nothing to do with the person playing pitch-pot."
He didn't want to have his little sister scrutinize that young miss so. Firstly, girls were easily p.r.o.ne to flights of fantasy. Even if it was his sister, it was not good for her to think about it too much. Secondly, he knew that girls were very petty. When they saw that the other girl was better than them, that she was superior, they, as well as his little sister, would definitely be petty and envious.
He didn't want her to be disturbed when she was innocent.
Right now, it seemed that was impossible.
After he was done talking, Ning Yunyan was looking at him with wide eyes and all the other girls' who had been avoiding his eyes were now looking straight at him.
They seemed to be surprised.
"Big Brother, what are you saying? I don't really understand?" Ning Yunyan said, frowning. "What do you mean it has nothing to do with the person playing pitch-pot. The person playing pitch-pot is Jun Zhenzhen."
Ning Yunzhao realized that he hadn't understood what Ning Yunyan said.
His mind was blank.
He didn't say a word.
When the girls' commotion disappeared, the Jinyun Hall regained its silence. The musicians were signaled to begin playing again. Perhaps it was because of their state of heart, but the music seemed to be more frantic than before.
After the trouble that just occured, Miss Jun's pitch-pot game could not continue.
"I am truly regretful," the director said sincerely. "This is our lack of preparations."
Miss Jun smiled and thanked him.
"Stopping right here is just perfect," she said. "I haven't played in some time and am out of practice."
This was her out of practice? Then if she wasn't out of practice, what would happen?
This child really did not know what modesty was. She was still so egotistical? Was it deliberate or accidental?
What she said made everyone freeze.
The pitch-pot director smiled, but did not continue on that topic.
"Young Miss, please wait a moment in your room. After totalling your winnings, we will send the banknote to your room."
Because the round just now was so fast and furious, the sums were all jumbled. It required some time to add it up carefully.
Miss Jun thanked him again before following the attendant. The director forgot about looking for a next person to come on stage.
And there wouldn't be anyone who would come. With the genius of that young woman, no one would want to humiliate themselves. More importantly, today, there would be no more people betting.
Miss Jun returned to the old first section, nineteenth room. Fang Jinxiu and Jinchuan were waiting inside. When they saw her come in, Fang Jinxiu pulled a face and turned away, while Jinchuan greeted her happily.
"Young Lady is too amazing," she praised sincerely.
"It's just for recreation," she said humbly. "Being happy is too early."
At least wait for the banknote to truly be in their hands.
Jinchuan's lips curled into a smile. She hurried over to get tea.
"The tea is still hot. Moisten your lips," she suggested.
Miss Jun looked at the proffered teacup. Fang Jinxiu who was sitting at the table also snuck a glance out of the corner of her eyes.
Miss Jun smiled.
"Miss Lin did not come back?" she asked.
While holding the teacup, she lifted up the teapot.
She lifted the teapot, but did not pour in any tea. Rather, she walked over to a large flower vase in the corner.
The vase was filled with tender and fragrant winter jasmine.
Jinchuan did not understand, but still answered.
"No, not even her servant came back... " she said, then her eyes grew wide.
Fang Jinxiu who had been smiling but not smiling also stared.
Miss Jun the contents of the teacup into the winter jasmine vase, and then did the same to the teapot's.
"What's wrong with the tea?" Fang Jinxiu asked.
Miss Jun poured out every last drop of tea, then turned to give Fang Jinxiu a look. Then she pointed at the teacup tipped over on the table.
That was the teacup that Fang Jinxiu was about to drink when she hit it away.
"I saw to it that you never drank the tea. It must be bad, for me to make it fall," she said.
Fang Jinxiu looked at her and frowned.
"There's something strange about the tea?" she asked.
When Jinchuan heard the two's dialogue, her face immediately grew pale.
"Oh, that's right. Miss Lin's servant went to get tea, and Yinbao didn't come back with her," she said nervously.
Hearing this, Fang Jinxiu coughed lightly. She was the one who hda called Yinbao away.
"I didn't know that she drugged it either. I just thought you must be careful when eating and drinking with that kind of person."
She pulled a face.
She obviously drove away their servant girls to deliberately make Miss Jun fall on bad luck.
"Young Lady is very smart. She saw through it right away," Jinchuan said, trying to diverge off this topic.
Miss Jun smiled and paid no heed. She put the teacup and teapot on the table.
"There is a drug in this tea, but just drinking it won't cause a big problem," she said.
Jinchuan nodded in understanding.
"So Miss Lin drank it herself," she said. Then frowned. "What was she planning?"
"Did she want you to go crazy when you played?" Fang Jinxiu asked. Then she smiled. "Then we must thank her for letting you win so much money and angering Ning Yunyan. This is losing the rice to lure the chicken in an attempt to steal it, losing an army on top of giving away a bride, crus.h.i.+ng your own foot while trying to drop a rock on an enemy."
She laughed loudly. Then she pulled a face, when she saw Miss Jun's not smile.
"This time you were lucky. Don't think that you're omnipotent and can do what you please," Fang Jinxiu said coldly.
She shook her head.
"This is not good luck. This is the fairness of Heaven," Miss Jun said.
What fairness of heaven.
Fang Jinxiu scoffed and rolled her eyes at her.
"I'll be honest with you. I wanted to teach you a lesson so I chased those servants away," she said. "You now know that she had ill intent toward you, and what a bad person she is, so it's fine. Next time, be more discerning."
Miss Jun smiled.
"Thank you very much for you help," she said.
This was like stepping on Fang Jinxiu's foot. She jumped to her feet.
"What did I help with? Don't think that your love is reciprocated, I just didn't want the Fang Family to be implicated by you. If you were accused of a crime, the ones who would be out of luck in the end would be our Fang Family," she said.
"But isn't that just what you wished?" Miss Jun asked with a smile.
Chasing away her servant girl, making her angry enough to go with Lin Jin'er alone.
She knew it all.
Fang Jinxiu's face was bright red.
"That's right. So what, I wanted to do that. What are you going to do?"
She glared with a smirk.
"I'll hit you. Do you believe me?" Miss Jun said.