Zhang Yu met their smug gazes and nodded calmly.
"That's right. I really don't have that much money."
At his words, wild delight burst into Zhang Wanning's eyes, as if his guilt had been proven beyond doubt.
She eagerly shrieked:
"See? He admitted it himself. He doesn't have that much money.
"So where did he get all these things worth 760,000 taels?
"He must have embezzled public funds from the Marquis Estate."
Qin Xuehua let out a long breath, the usual authority returning to her face, along with a trace of disgust that said, "Just as I thought."
She looked at Zhang Yu as if he were a filthy heap that had finally been exposed.
Jiang Luohan, too, seemed to have a thousand-jin burden lifted from her shoulders.
She thought that as long as Zhang Yu's embezzlement was proven, she could cast off this astronomical debt.
Even Zhang Qingyue, who had always been indifferent, furrowed her brows slightly. A hint of barely perceptible contempt entered her gaze as she looked at Zhang Yu.
In her eyes, misappropriating a huge sum from the estate to curry favor with a woman was foolish and immoral, no matter the reason.
The crowd's murmurs swung back in the Marquis Estate's favor:
"He admits he has no money?"
"Then he must have taken it from the estate!"
"That settles it. He really did embezzle!"
"Miss Jiang's a victim too. She was deceived by an embezzler."
The Heir of Prince Jing pursed his lips, finding it a little dull. He had thought there might be some kind of twist.
Yet just as everyone thought Zhang Yu had "confessed and accepted his punishment," he changed tack, his tone still perfectly calm.
"I may not have money, but I can borrow some."
"Borrow?" Zhang Wanning scoffed as if she had heard the biggest joke of her life.
"Eldest Brother, do you take us for three-year-olds?
"Who would lend you 760,000 taels? Even a moneylender wouldn't lend a huge sum like that to a 'young master' of the Marquis Estate without sufficient collateral.
"Who do you think you are?"
Qin Xuehua snapped, "You wretch! Even now, you're still trying to make excuses?"
Zhang Yu looked at them as though they were a troop of monkeys leaping around. He spoke unhurriedly. "There are naturally ways to borrow money. As for who the creditor is, and where the IOUs are..."
He calmly took out several neatly folded sheets of paper stamped with bright red seals.
They were IOUs.
The amount was written clearly in black and white. "Zhang Yu" was unmistakably signed in the borrower's space, with a clear fingerprint beside it.
"T-That's impossible!" Zhang Wanning cried out. Her smug expression froze, replaced by stunned disbelief.
She couldn't understand how Zhang Yu could possibly have borrowed so much money.
Qin Xuehua, Zhang Qingyue, and Zhang Heng all looked utterly incredulous.
That was more than 700,000 taels of silver! Zhang Yu had actually managed to borrow it. How had he done it?
Anyone who could borrow over 700,000 taels of silver was quite something.
The Heir of Prince Jing nodded silently.
After his initial shock, Zhang Heng was the first to "come to his senses."
He knew they couldn't admit the debt. If they did, Jiang Luohan would be in trouble, and the Marquis Estate would get dragged into it too.
His face instantly shifted to an expression of deep anguish, and he cried, "Eldest Brother, so what if you borrowed the money?"
He took the moral high ground, his tone earnest.
"Once a gift is given, it's like water that's been spilled. Who would ever take it back?
"By acting this way, aren't you embarrassing Sister Luohan, bringing shame on our Marquis Estate, and making Uncle Jiang lose face?
"You... You're so inconsiderate of the bigger picture, so shameless."
Zhang Wanning immediately understood and joined in with a sharp voice.
"Exactly.
"Zhang Yu, are you even a man?
"You give someone a few things, then expect to take them back?
"Aren't you disgracing the Zhang Family?
"Our Marquis Estate has no place for a petty, despicable scion like you."
Qin Xuehua steadied herself as well. Her face stern, she put on a mother's air.
"Yu'er, the value of a gift lies in the sincerity behind it. Once given, it belongs to Luohan. Forcing her to return it now is improper. If word gets out, won't people laugh at the Zhang Family for going back on its word and having no grace?"
They tried to use vague notions of "reason," "face," and "family reputation" to pressure Zhang Yu and deny that he had every right to demand his property back.
Seeing the people from the Marquis Estate all speak up for her, Jiang Luohan felt somewhat reassured. Greed and wishful thinking took hold.
She bit her lip and tried to make her voice sound self-righteous, though it trembled slightly.
"Zhang Yu, when I accepted those gifts, I didn't know you had borrowed money to buy them.
"Now you want me to pay you back? That would mean making me repay your debt. That's unreasonable, by any measure.
"Your creditor should come to you for the money, not me.
"The things... I won't return them."
She decided to play the rogue.
She thought that with the power of the Marquis Estate and the Jiang Family behind her, no ordinary moneylender would dare come to her door demanding repayment.
The prisoners around them let out waves of contemptuous jeers.
"You had no trouble accepting the gifts, but you're quick to deny the debt!"
"You're about to run off with your brother-in-law, and you're still clinging to your ex-husband's things? Shameless!"
"The Marquis Estate and the Jiang Family are using their power to bully people!"
Faced with the accusations, Jiang Luohan's cheeks burned with humiliation.
But when she thought of the astronomical sum of 768,500 taels, she clenched her teeth and held her ground.
She couldn't pay it back, so all she could do was tough it out.
Watching their performance, Zhang Yu showed no anger—only a trace of icy mockery, as if he were looking at a troupe of pathetic actors.
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