Chapter 12

Tiger Girl and Ah Chou seemed to have done this kind of wall-scaling thing many times; their agile figures were like those of gymnasts. A wall as tall as a person, Tiger Girl leaped over it lightly, landing silently and steadily.

"Ah Chou, throw the package down first..." Tiger Girl whispered, "Don't worry, it's not high at all, it's at least three feet lower than the wall in our backyard..."

Ah Chou was much more timid than Tiger Girl. She hesitated and fidgeted on the wall, saying, "Miss, I'm scared!" She didn't dare jump for a long time. But in the end, she couldn't resist the miss, so she gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, and jumped down.

Oh no, when the little girl jumped down, her left foot slipped, changing her posture. Now she wasn't going to land on her feet, but on her bottom. With her skinny frame, this fall would surely crack her lumbar vertebrae.

With a whoosh, Ah Chou felt herself land on something soft, and someone was breathing in front of her. When Ah Chou opened her eyes and saw the faint light, she was stunned.

"Xiao... Xiao... Xiao..." The little girl couldn't even finish a sentence, and in the end, she fainted. She wasn't injured; she was so shy that she fainted when she realized she was in a man's arms.

The one who caught Ah Chou was Xiao Letian. He looked awkwardly at the young girl, who was only thirteen or fourteen, sighing and shaking his head. He thought, "Is it my fate to clash with this girl? She faints every time she sees me?"

At this moment, Tiger Girl was covering her mouth. Her eyes were full of bright light, and it looked like she was about to cry out or burst into tears. The long-awaited Mr. Xiao had appeared before her as if by magic.

Tiger Girl didn't know what to do, but all the委屈 (grievances) she had endured for the past half month made her want to rush into Xiao Letian's arms and cry her heart out.

The fat shopkeeper and the helper, seeing no one on the street, quickly took the maid from the strategist and brought her in through the kitchen side door. Xiao Letian smiled mischievously at Tiger Girl, "Well done, Miss Fan, you've learned to climb walls. That's not what a good girl does, have you forgotten the Three Obediences and Four Virtues? I'll make you copy the 'Admonitions for Women' ten times..."

Xiao Letian meant it as a joke, but Tiger Girl's eyes immediately flared up, and she exuded a fierce aura.

"Who would have thought you'd be like this? I must have been blind to see you. Give me Ah Chou back, and from now on, we don't know each other..." Tiger Girl managed to hold back her tears, her eyes cold and hard.

Oh, she really lived up to her name, a little tigress. How could she turn so quickly? Xiao Letian was stunned. I ran all this way, and now I get blamed?

"This isn't the place to talk, let's go inside the shop..."

"No, I'm a young lady, what would it look like for me to go into your room? Is that written in the 'Admonitions for Women'? Does it follow the Three Obediences and Four Virtues?"

Wuchang understood immediately. It was his joke that caused the trouble. He never thought Tiger Girl's rebellious nature was so strong. Was this a sign of breaking free from the shackles of feudal etiquette? Xiao Letian quickly tried to calm her down, apologizing and finally managed to bring Tiger Girl into the side door.

But no one noticed that as Wuchang was coaxing Tiger Girl into the shop, a pair of sneaky eyes was watching from inside the courtyard.

In the private room of the distillery, Tiger Girl, with tears in her eyes, recounted the events of the past half month. Xiao Letian was almost furious. His previous understanding of feudal etiquette was based on books and films, but now he was seeing the real thing.

The root of the whole matter was the 110,000 taels of silver that were stolen. Mr. Fan, Tiger Girl's father, was the second boss of the Shanxi Fan family, and his older brother, Mr. Fan Ru, was the head of the family.

The Shanxi Fan family had a long and illustrious history, once being the leading family among the eight major merchants of Shanxi. During the Qing dynasty, Fan Yongdou, the ancestor of the Fan family, made significant contributions, raising supplies and food with great effort. As a result, during the Shunzhi era, the emperor personally met him in Beijing and granted him the status of an imperial merchant, even giving him exclusive rights to all the business outside Zhangjiakou.

Later generations of the Fan family were also very accomplished, engaging in salt trade and copper trade with Japan, and were famous merchants during the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong eras. However, in the 48th year of Qianlong, the Fan family fell into decline due to massive losses, and the Qing government revoked their status as imperial merchants and seized all their assets, leaving the Fan family in a state of decline.

However, over the course of a hundred years, the Fan family branched out, and many descendants hoped to restore the family's glory. From the early Daoguang era, this branch of the Fan family, with the support of many Shanxi merchants, began to expand their business and founded the Guangde Company.

Tiger Girl's father, Mr. Fan Lian, was the younger brother of the current head of the Fan family, Mr. Fan Ru. Mr. Fan Lian was a pure businessman who did not want to restore the family's status as imperial merchants, as he believed that working with the royal family was the most dangerous business, which could bring success for a while but not forever.

His older brother, Mr. Fan Ru, had different ideas. His goal was not only to become an imperial merchant but also to produce more scholars and officials through the imperial examinations.

These two different values led to a lifetime of arguments, but they never reached a resolution. Mr. Fan Ru, as the elder brother and head of the family, naturally had the final say, while Mr. Fan Lian was the backbone of the family's business, earning 70% of the family's wealth.

In the end, the two brothers fought for a lifetime without convincing each other. By the time they were in their sixties and seventies, their conflicts had become even more intense. In the spring, Mr. Fan Ru even forced Mr. Fan Lian's concubine, Tiger Girl's mother, to her death.

"My uncle... my uncle has been very ill since the New Year. The doctor said it was typhoid, and he might not survive, wailing..." Tiger Girl cried as she recounted the events of the beginning of the year. "At that time, my father was doing business outside, and the main house was run by my uncle and aunt. My mother begged them countless times, but they insisted it was against etiquette, saying that she had already returned home on the second day of the New Year and could not return again that month, unless..."

"Unless my uncle died..." Tiger Girl couldn't hold back her tears and sobbed on the table.

Poor girl, truly poor. Xiao Letian instinctively hugged Tiger Girl's shoulders, and the little girl didn't hesitate to bury her head in his chest, smearing his clothes with her tears and snot.

In Tiger Girl's intermittent sobs, Xiao Letian learned about the subsequent tragedy. Tiger Girl's mother, a concubine, was quite bold, and without the head of the family's permission, she took her daughter and their private savings and secretly returned to her family.

This was a major offense in the feudal dynasty. Even a main wife had to follow strict rules to return to her family, and no woman would dare to do so without the master's permission. This was a serious breach of etiquette, especially since Mr. Fan Ru was trying to regain his status as an imperial merchant, and this incident could give his competitors an excuse.

Mr. Fan Ru, with a group of servants, went to Tiger Girl's uncle's house to retrieve them. In his eyes, Tiger Girl's uncle was probably on the verge of death, or her mother wouldn't have been so bold. However, when the siblings met, Tiger Girl's uncle's condition improved, and he was almost fully recovered.

"Disobedient woman, you have already broken the family rules by escaping to your family, and now you have added the crime of deception. You are truly lawless..." Mr. Fan Ru ordered, and the servants, like wolves, took Tiger Girl's mother back.

It was early spring, and Tiger Girl's mother knelt in the cold courtyard for a whole day and night, freezing to unconsciousness. Even more shamefully, when Tiger Girl begged her uncle to call a doctor, Mr. Fan Ru refused.

"Deceived once, you want to deceive us again? Your family is good at faking illness. Ignore her, she will be fine in a few days..." Tiger Girl was almost out of breath from crying. "I... I secretly climbed the wall and used my own savings to hire a doctor. But... but I couldn't even get the doctor through the gate... In just a month and a half, my mother's typhoid turned into tuberculosis, and she coughed up blood all night, wailing..."

Xiao Letian's heart was cold as he listened. He never imagined that a feudal family could be so cruel. Wasn't this a disregard for human life? Xiao Letian tightly hugged Tiger Girl, who trembled like a frightened rabbit in his arms.

No wonder Tiger Girl was so outgoing, even rebellious. There was a reason for it. Poor girl, you must have felt so insecure.

"Alright, stop crying. The past is the past. Now let's talk about the current crisis. Why did you run away by climbing the wall?" Xiao Letian asked.

"It's all because of my despicable uncle. He killed my mother and now has his eyes on me. He... he wants me to marry a sixty-year-old man as a concubine..." Tiger Girl's face was red with anger.

When Xiao Letian heard Tiger Girl's story, he was almost out of breath with anger. How could there be such a shameless uncle in the world, giving away his own niece like a gift?

It turned out that Mr. Fan Ru, in his efforts to restore the family's status as imperial merchants, had somehow connected with the head of the Qingxi Mausoleum. When he learned that the old lecher, Lian Er, was looking for a sixth concubine, he thought of his rebellious niece.

When Mr. Fan Ru in Beijing learned that his brother had lost 110,000 taels of silver, he didn't get angry but instead saw it as an opportunity. He thought this was a good way to persuade his stubborn brother.

Mr. Fan Ru wrote a long letter to his brother. When Mr. Fan Lian saw this shameless letter from his own brother, he, who had only a minor cold, immediately fell ill, so angry that he was literally sick.

Not only Mr. Fan Ru and his daughter were angry, but now Xiao Letian was also furious. He paced around the room like a caged beast for a full fifteen minutes. Then he