It's All Zhang Yu's Fault

As Qin Xuehua and her two daughters were full of resentment over their declining quality of life, a series of messy and heavy footsteps, mixed with the flustered greetings of servants, came from the front yard.

"Fifth Young Master, you're back?"

"Fifth Young Master, what is this..."

Immediately after, a figure stumbled into the flower hall.

Upon seeing who it was, Qin Xuehua, Zhang Wanning, and Zhang Qingyue were all stunned, almost unable to believe their eyes.

Zhang Heng's hair was disheveled, his robes stained with soot and unknown grime, his eye sockets sunken, his eyes bloodshot, his lips cracked, and his face etched with extreme exhaustion and... despair.

After seeing him for just over a day, the Fifth Young Master of the Marquis Estate, who had been full of spirit yesterday and vowed to achieve great things.

Now he was as haggard as a disheveled middle-aged man drained of his vitality, a stark contrast to his usual bright and handsome image.

He kept muttering to himself, his voice hoarse: "It's over... everything is over... it can't be fixed... can't deliver the goods..."

Qin Xuehua's heart clenched instantly, her voice trembling:

"Heng'er, my Heng'er, what happened to you?

What's wrong?

Don't scare Mother."

Zhang Wanning and Zhang Qingyue also gathered around, their faces filled with shock and worry.

"Xiao Heng, say something! What happened?"

Zhang Wanning urged anxiously.

Under the repeated questioning of his mother and sister, Zhang Heng seemed to finally snap back to reality.

He looked up, at his family's concerned faces, his lips trembled a few times, and finally, as if breaking down, he said, "The alchemy room... Dingsheng Workshop's alchemy room... is completely... completely in chaos."

"The Earth Fire Formation is getting more and more out of control, the Alchemy Furnace Inscriptions are failing one after another, and this afternoon, three more main furnaces exploded.

Now, in the entire Alchemy Zone, less than 30% of the furnaces can stably produce pills, and the output... is less than 10% of normal."

"That's not all..."

Zhang Heng's voice was choked with sobs, "Those large orders we accepted before, especially the batches of high-level pills ordered by the palace and several princes' estates, are due for delivery in the next few days! But now... we can't refine them at all.

If we can't deliver on time, according to the contract, we'll have to pay compensation... three times the deposit.

The deposit for the palace order alone is fifty thousand taels! Three times that is one hundred and fifty thousand taels.

And there are several other families... added together, the liquidated damages alone could exceed... exceed two hundred thousand taels."

"Two hundred thousand taels?"

Qin Xuehua's vision went black, and she almost fainted.

They had just mortgaged their ancestral property for a debt of seven hundred and sixty thousand taels, and now they were facing compensation of two hundred thousand taels?

Even if the Marquis Estate had mountains of gold, it couldn't withstand such a blow.

Zhang Wanning let out a scream:

"Two hundred thousand taels?

How can it be so much?

Xiao Heng, what on earth did you do?

Dingsheng Workshop used to make a fortune every day, and there were never any problems like this.

How is it that in just two days since you took over, it... it's ruined?

And we might have to pay so much money?"

Although she felt sorry for her brother, hearing about the astronomical compensation, and thinking about her recently cut-off supply of spirit beast canvases and the decline in her living standards, a surge of anger mixed with fear welled up in her heart.

So she spoke some harsh words of blame:

"Didn't you say you would do better than Zhang Yu?

How did it turn out like this instead?

If I had known..."

"Shut up."

Zhang Qingyue, who had been silent, suddenly interrupted Zhang Wanning sharply.

Although she was also terrified, she looked at her brother's near- breakdown state and knew that blaming him now would be useless and only make him worse.

"Sister Xi, Xiao Heng has been neglecting his food and sleep, and is exhausted from worrying about Dingsheng Workshop."

Zhang Qingyue's tone was stern:

"Besides, this might not be entirely Xiao Heng's fault.

Perhaps... when Zhang Yu was here, the alchemy room itself had problems, but they were well hidden, and they only erupted after Xiao Heng took over?

The most important thing now is to find a way to solve the problem, not to blame our own family here."

Her words were both a defense of Zhang Heng and a way to find an acceptable reason for everyone, including herself.

It wasn't that Zhang Heng was incompetent; it was the mess Zhang Yu left behind that was too much to handle.

Upon hearing this, Qin Xuehua immediately clutched at the straw of hope, nodding repeatedly.

She held the dejected Zhang Heng tightly, her heart aching so much that tears fell:

"Yes, yes, Qingyue is right. It must be that bastard Zhang Yu who planted the seeds of disaster before.

We can only blame that black-hearted beast.

Mother believes you; you were just unlucky to inherit this mess."

She skillfully shifted all blame and responsibility onto Zhang Yu, who was not present.

Only by doing so could she continue to dote on her son with a clear conscience and maintain the illusion that "her son was the best."

In his mother's embrace and his sister's "understanding," Zhang Heng managed to catch his breath, but the despair in his eyes did not lessen.

He knew that no matter who was at fault, the current mess was real, and the enormous compensation was also real.

"But Mother... what should we do now?"

Zhang Heng's voice was hoarse. "The formation masters they hired are helpless regarding the Earth Fire Formation and the Alchemy Furnace. The orders... we're about to breach the contract."

Qin Xuehua also panicked. As a woman confined to the inner chambers, how could she understand these things?