The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 110 Routine
The gambling continued from afternoon until dusk.

Feng Chuan kept losing until he had lost a thousand taels of silver before he stopped.

It wasn't that he stopped on his own initiative, but rather that Gu Dashu felt he had enough and stopped betting.

Feng Chuan only had one hundred taels on him. He borrowed two hundred taels from the casino owner, leaving him with seven hundred taels. However, the casino owner, at Gu Jingzhe's urging, refused to lend him any more.

In Yanguan Town, this was the biggest gambling event the casino had ever held in all these years.

Even though Feng Chuan was a VIP customer, the casino owner dared not lend him money anymore.

Feng Chuan couldn't repay such a large sum of money, and Manager Feng probably wouldn't be able to come up with that much all at once either.

Feng Chuan was forced to write an IOU to Gu Dashu, promising to repay it in ten days. If he didn't repay it, the daily interest would be enough to keep him from paying it back.

"And what about the other two hands?" Gu Dashu pulled out a knife, brandished it a couple of times, and asked with a smile.

Feng Chuan, who was only wearing a pair of shorts to cover himself, trembled with fear. He realized that Gu Dashu was nothing like the poor little brother who had followed him around with a meek and obsequious attitude and flattered him just a few days ago.

Holding a knife, Gu Dashu looked like a vicious demon, and the way he looked at Feng Chuan was no different from looking at a chicken waiting to be slaughtered.

"It's the Great Heat, we're brothers," Feng Chuan said, trembling.

"What kind of brothers are we?" Gu Dashu quoted Feng Chuan as saying.

"Can I redeem it with silver?" Feng Chuan pleaded.

"How much ransom are you prepared to pay?" Gu Dashu asked Feng Chuan with amusement as he fiddled with the knife.

Feng Chuan was too frightened to speak.

He felt that crushing Gu Dashu was as easy as crushing an ant for him now.

He didn't know what number to say that would make Gu Dashu let him off the hook.

"Let me round it up to three hundred taels, plus the seven hundred taels you owe me, that makes a total of one thousand taels."

Gu Dashu smiled broadly, took out the contract he had already written in his pocket, and had Feng Chuan press his fingerprint on it with his right hand.

"Return it together in ten days. Otherwise, the hand with your fingerprint on it will belong to me." Gu Dashu said, stuffing the contract into his pocket.

After Gu Dashu swaggered away from the casino entrance, Feng Chuan collapsed to the ground, ignoring the pointing fingers of the crowd.

When he came to his senses and realized he owed a thousand taels of silver, he was so frightened that he trembled all over.

Today's bet broke the previous record; the largest debt he ever owed was five hundred taels.

To cover his 500-tael deficit, his uncle, who was a highly regarded manager at the Meng family's herbal medicine shop, stole the shop's money to help him cover the deficit. As a result, his uncle was expelled from the Meng family.

One thousand taels now!

He dared not think about the outcome.

My uncle's monthly allowance at the pastry shop was not low, plus his share of the profits, which amounted to nearly three hundred taels of silver a year. He could usually pay back thirty or forty taels of gambling debts, but a thousand taels was beyond his ability to pay.

If his uncle doesn't pay it back for him, he will lose his hand.

Feng Chuan didn't know how to bring it up with his uncle for a moment.

"This heat is really harsh," Feng Chuan muttered to himself.

Suddenly it occurred to him that this man named Dashu didn't even know where the other party lived, yet he still owed them a thousand taels of silver.

Gu Dashu sheathed his knife, forced himself to act like a thief, and, carrying the IOU and the silver he had won, made his way through a quiet alley to avoid the crowd and meet up with Gu Jingzhe.

"Oh my god, that scared me to death." Gu Dashu patted his chest.

Don't be fooled by his calm demeanor when he asked Feng Chuan to write an IOU; he was actually terrified inside.

I'll never do that kind of work again, threatening to chop off someone's hand! It makes my heart race! "Second Brother, you really have a talent for gambling. How about we go in and try our luck again?" Gu Jingzhe asked with a half-smile.

Gu Dashu leaned against the wall and said, "You're trying to trick me. I'll never dare to go into this casino again."

Feng Chuan's crazy behavior stimulated him.

He put himself in Feng Chuan's shoes; he would go crazy if he couldn't pay back the money and his hand was chopped off.

Too scary!

He discovered that his mother and third brother were completely shattering his worldview. How could they be so ruthless? They made a bet to cut off one of Feng Chuan's hands.

However, considering that Manager Feng had threatened his mother with a knife to his neck, Gu Dashu felt that it was already merciful of Tong Huaqiong and Gu Jingzhe not to immediately chop off Feng Chuan's hand.

"Second Brother, tell me, isn't gambling terrifying? You only have a chance of winning because you're up against Feng Chuan and with my brilliant strategies. If you were to encounter someone even more formidable, or if someone set a trap for you specifically to target Peach Blossom Dessert, Feng Chuan's fate would be your example," Gu Jingzhe said to Gu Dashu.

"Third brother, stop talking, it's too scary. From now on, I'll avoid the casino entrance whenever I come to town," Gu Dashu said.

If he really falls for the trap, his fate will be even worse than Feng Chuan's.

Feng Chuan had Manager Feng as his backer, but he didn't.

Tong Huaqiong would never offer him money to redeem him; she would chop off his hand first.

Gu Dashu handed the IOU to Gu Jingzhe. The two brothers first went to Rouge Lane and found that Tong Huaqiong had already returned home. In order to report the results of their battle to Tong Huaqiong in time, the two of them took Grandpa Xu's oxcart back to Qinghe Bay.

"You two are really something, you actually managed to outsmart Feng Chuan." Tong Huaqiong held the IOU and the silver, as if she had found Feng's Achilles' heel, and she couldn't stop smiling.

Surprisingly, those two scoundrels were quite useful, and things went more smoothly than she had expected.

Manager Feng, just wait until you leave Yanguan Town.

Unless you ignore Feng Chuan.

But Manager Feng couldn't possibly ignore Feng Chuan, especially since in this era, people's fear of having no one to break the pot and pick up the banner to continue the incense offerings after their death was stronger than death itself.

As Feng Chuan's adopted son, Feng Chuan would certainly be actively bailed out by his father.

Manager Feng could only afford to lose this thousand taels of silver if he sold the entire Su Shi Yuan restaurant!
If they can't afford to pay the compensation, they'll have to either chop off one of Feng Chuan's hands or accept Tong Huaqiong's conditions—leave Su Shi Yuan and leave Yan Guan Town.

Tong Huaqiong doesn't think she's ruthless.

Manager Feng wouldn't let her off the hook. What was supposed to be a normal business battle turned into a life-or-death struggle for survival, leaving her with no choice but to strike first.

“Although we have Feng Chuan’s IOU, you two can’t let your guard down. Keep a close eye on Feng Chuan to prevent him from doing something desperate,” Tong Huaqiong said.

The brothers Gu Dashu and Gu Jingzhe nodded repeatedly.

After successfully outsmarting Feng Chuan, Tong Huaqiong was in high spirits. Every day, she happily took Gu Taohua and Liu Yue'e to set up their stall in town and even took time to participate in the shop's renovation progress.

The staff at Su Shi Yuan were very annoyed to see Tong Huaqiong standing like a nail across the street, seemingly intent on stealing all the customers from Su Shi Yuan. They all sought out Manager Feng for advice.

Even the owners in Pingchuan County knew that a peach blossom dessert shop in Yanguan Town had stolen business from Su Shiyuan.

They also sent someone to ask Manager Feng for a plan to expel the peach blossom dessert.

Manager Feng was extremely annoyed. He was summoned and reprimanded by his boss. He originally wanted to use the Zheng family to get rid of Tong Huaqiong, but before he could come up with a plan, the casino owner came to collect a debt, saying that his adopted son, Feng Chuan, had borrowed two hundred taels of silver from him.

He could still afford to pay back two hundred taels, so he swallowed his anger and paid back two hundred taels of silver. Then he called Feng Chuan into his room and scolded him.

Feng Chuan had been keeping his debt of one thousand taels of silver a secret from Manager Feng. Because the debt was so large, he dared not tell Manager Feng. He planned to find an opportunity in the next few days to steal the contract and account books of the pastry shop to cover his own debt. When Manager Feng called him over, he thought he had been exposed, so he confessed to owing Manager Feng the entire debt of one thousand taels of silver.

When Manager Feng heard that Feng Chuan owed a thousand taels of silver, it was as if a thunderbolt had struck him, causing him to vomit blood on the spot.

(End of this chapter)