Xu Rourou was locked in the Wood Shed by Marquis Jing'an, with several serving women guarding the door.
Yinliu was also locked up, though not in the same place.
Zhong Youyan came to where Yinliu was being held and opened the door. Yinliu was crouched on the floor, crying, her body covered in injuries and her face swollen from being beaten.
Zhong Youyan sighed. "Stop crying."
Yinliu looked up at the sound of her voice, hurried forward, and knelt before Zhong Youyan. "Fourth Madam, you promised you'd give me money and my Servant Contracts and let me leave once it was done!"
That day, when Xu Rourou had told her to collect her reward from the Fourth Madam, she had only intended to take what she was owed.
But the Fourth Madam had given her far too much.
She had never seen so much money.
Unfortunately, she had barely held on to it before her younger brother snatched it away. He took the money to gamble, and rather than help her, her parents beat her and told her to get more money out of the Xie Residence so he could marry a wife someday!
The next day, men from the Gambling House chased her brother to the back gate of the Xie Residence. He shoved her into the fire pit, offering her to spend the night with his creditor to settle his debt!
Just when she had lost all hope, the Fourth Madam appeared, paid off her brother's debt, and saved her.
That day, the Fourth Madam comforted her, saying, "After all these years, that money should have repaid the debt you owed them for giving birth to you and raising you! As a woman, you deserve to live for yourself, too!"
And so she had switched sides and joined