Film and Television: The Collector Who Rampages Across the Heavens

Su Li nodded, not caring. Dealing with the Fu family was just a matter of a word from him, and since this woman wasn't interested, he wouldn't take matters into his own hands.

Following Sun San Niang into the room, they found Zhao Pan'er leaning against the bed, looking guilty and flustered. When she saw Su Li, she could only manage a weak smile, clearly not in the mood to say anything more.

Su Li didn't stay long. After offering the woman a few words of comfort, she took her leave.

Back at his lodgings, he summoned Zhou She and asked without any politeness, "Have you prepared how to deal with Sun Sanniang?"

Zhou She wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurriedly explained, "Young master, the plan was to contact Fu Xingui and set a trap to get him addicted to gambling, so as to scheme against Sun Sanniang. But Sun Sanniang went to jail... so the plan was interrupted. We have to think of a new way."

"Get this done for me as soon as possible. I'm in a hurry and need to return to Tokyo soon."

Su Li wasn't in a hurry. The key issue was that after Zhao Pan'er encountered the annulment of her engagement, she would definitely go to Tokyo to ask Ouyang Xu about it. Sun San Niang would also go to the capital with her.

"Yes, yes... we'll definitely hurry."

After leaving the mansion, Zhou She returned to his residence and gathered his subordinates to discuss the matter. They decided to proceed according to the original plan, since they had already laid a solid foundation, and changing to another method would take even longer.

He was a gambler and naturally knew how to entice Fu Xingui. As long as he took Fu Xingui to the casino and won a couple of rounds, Fu Xingui would be unable to resist joining in.

As expected, Fu Xingui was quickly lured into gambling by a group of drinking buddies, spending his days and nights in casinos and neglecting his business.

He would win a small amount of money every time he returned home from the casino, and then he would gamble more and more, losing money one sum at a time.

Fu Xingui initially thought he was just having bad luck and could win it back by playing a few more rounds, but he ended up losing more and more until he lost a lot of money.

Driven to despair by his losses, he was urged by his friends to bet everything he had in one fell swoop.

Fu Xingui had no idea that this was all a trap set for him. When the dice were finally rolled, he collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted.

"No...impossible!"

The casino owner slammed a piece of paper on the table, laughing loudly, "This is the money you personally signed and sealed to pay off your debt. All your assets have been used to settle it, but you still owe me three hundred taels of gold. So… how do you plan to pay it back?"

Seeing the gloating expressions on everyone's faces, Fu Xingui suddenly realized what was going on and said angrily, "You tricked me and set a trap for me."

Clang!

The casino owner slammed the dagger into the wooden table and said coldly, "Don't talk nonsense without evidence. You have three days to produce three hundred taels of gold, or you'll know what the consequences will be."

Fu Xingui was thrown out of the casino in a daze and walked home in a daze, only to find that his once well-off home was now destitute.

Although only two or three days had passed, he was desperate and sold almost everything he could, and even mortgaged the house.

"What terrible things have I done?"

Fu Xingui desperately wanted to hang himself, but he was also the kind of person who clung to life and was afraid of death, so after thinking about it, he decided not to die.

In order to raise money, he went to Tao, who was his sister-in-law with whom he had an affair, to borrow money.

"Where would I get the money? Didn't I just lend you five taels of gold last time? That was all my savings... Why did you have to gamble? You've squandered the family fortune in just a few days. If it weren't for Zifang following me, he would probably be starving to death by now."

Tao was exasperated. Fu Xingui used to be quite good at business and made a lot of money, but now he was just annoying to look at.

"Lend me some more, lend me some more, I'm being harassed by debt collectors, I can't take it anymore," Fu Xingui pleaded, kneeling on the ground.

Out of consideration for their past good relationship, Tao sighed and asked, "How much money do you actually owe?"

"Three hundred taels...of gold," Fu Xingui said tremblingly.

Tao rolled her eyes, kicked him to the ground, and closed the door.

"Get out of here! The entire Fu family can't afford this money. You dog, how could you owe so much? Go to hell!"

Fu Xingui was like an ant on a hot pan. With the due date for the debt approaching, he scraped together money from all sides and borrowed from people, but in the end, the amount he could get was only two or three taels of gold.

Three days later, the casino owner found him, looked at the gold on the table, and laughed: "I wanted three hundred taels, not three taels."

"Tiger, please give me a little more time. I'm sure I can raise the money. Please!" Fu Xingui pleaded, clinging to the casino owner's leg.

Tiger patted his face and laughed, "Giving you some more time isn't impossible. Actually, there's another way you can pay off this debt."

"What method do you suggest?" Fu Xingui asked eagerly, his spirits lifting.

Tiger Tooth chuckled: "What was your ex-wife's name again? Oh right, Sun San Niang... If you can convince her to spend some time with me, you won't have to pay back the money."

"What?!" Fu Xingui exclaimed in shock, his face turning furious. "This is absolutely inhuman! You want me to sell my wife?!"

"You call me inhuman? Are you even human? You slept with your own sister-in-law and abandoned your wife. You're no better. I heard that when you married Sun Sanniang, the dowry was paid for by her with her own money."

Tiger's words made Fu Xingui feel guilty. He had been resentful because his family was too poor to afford the betrothal gifts. Moreover, Sun Sanniang was quite strong and shrewish. He couldn't beat her in a fight or out-argue her. Once he got involved with his sister-in-law Tao, he forgot all about Sun Sanniang.

"A life for a life, a debt for a debt—that's a matter of course. If you don't do it, hmph... I'll make you earn that money yourself." Tiger's face turned cold as he pulled out a dagger and pressed it against the man's face. "Tell me, are you going to do it or not?"

"Tiger, change your terms."

Snapped!

Fu Xingui was slapped across the face, and Huya reprimanded him without any politeness: "Don't push your luck. I'm going to see Sun Sanniang tonight, or you can sell yourself to pay me back."

Fu Xingui was at a loss as to what to do. After covering his face for a long time, he quietly went to Sun Sanniang's residence and looked at the figure under the lamplight.

"Brother Fu, are you looking for Third Sister?"

A voice suddenly came from behind him, and Fu Xingui was startled. He turned around and saw Zhao Pan'er.

He nodded quickly and said with a dry smile, "Yes, I need to see Third Sister about something."

"Then come in..." Zhao Pan'er gestured.

"No, no, I won't go in. I'll trouble you, Madam Zhao, to ask Third Sister to come out. I need to speak with her."

He naturally couldn't let outsiders know what he was going to do, and Fu Xingui certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to go inside and tell them.

"Okay, wait a moment."

Not long after Zhao Pan'er went inside, Sun San Niang came out and asked in an unfriendly tone, "What do you want with me?"

Fu Xingui hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and knelt down with a thud in front of the woman, wailing and crying with snot and tears streaming down his face.

"Third Sister, only you in this world can save me. Please, save me!"

Sun San Niang was stunned and asked in confusion, "How can I save you? Get up and tell me..."

"I won't get up unless you agree," Fu Xingui said shamelessly.

"If you're not going to get up, then kneel here. I'm going back inside." Sun San Niang wasn't going to put up with him.

Having no other choice, Fu Xingui stood up and, under the other party's gaze, recounted the whole story.

"You mean... you want me to go with that Tiger guy?"

Sun Sanniang finished speaking, word by word, and then slapped Fu Xingui hard across the face, the force of which caused him to fall to the ground.

"Fu Xingui, you're such a good man, selling your wife to pay off debts. You've divorced me. Go find the Tao family."

Sun Sanniang was so angry she wanted to kill the man in front of her. He was a scoundrel, heartless and cruel.

"Third Sister, Third Sister... I had no choice. They specifically asked for you." Fu Xingui cried out. In fact, he was also very sad, but he would definitely choose himself over Sun Sanniang.

"Get out! Pay your own gambling debts!" ​​Sun Sanniang angrily turned around and was about to leave.

Seeing this, Fu Xingui had no choice but to use his trump card, gritting his teeth and saying, "If you don't help me, then I'll have to get Zifang to help me."

"What did you say?" Sun San Niang turned around, her eyes radiating coldness.

Fu Xingui took two steps back in fear and continued, "Tiger has no sons. If Zifang were to become his son, I wouldn't have to pay off my gambling debts."

He wouldn't have used this if he had no other choice, since he was adopted by his sister-in-law and his own son still had the surname Fu.

"Go to hell!"

Enraged, Sun Sanniang pinned Fu Xingui to the ground and beat him mercilessly, each punch landing squarely. The latter's screams caught Zhao Pan'er's attention.

After she came out, she used all her strength to separate the two: "Third Sister, what's going on here? Why are you fighting?"

"Let him speak," Sun San Niang said, turning around.

As Zhao Pan'er listened to Fu Xingui's explanation, her eyes showed obvious surprise and disgust. She said softly, "Brother Fu, haven't you thought it through? Those people have been scheming against you from the beginning. Their target is Third Sister. Once you agree to their conditions, will you still have a place in Qiantang?"

The Fu family's reputation will be ruined...

"But I have no other choice. How about you lend me three hundred taels of gold, Madam Zhao?" Fu Xingui looked over expectantly.

Zhao Pan'er frowned: "I don't have that much money either. Three hundred taels of gold, how many families in the entire Qiantang can afford that?"

"What should we do then?" Fu Xingui sat on the ground, wailing in despair.

Sun Sanniang said, "Why don't we report this to the authorities?"

"Reporting to the authorities is useless. Brother Fu personally wrote and signed the gambling debts he owed."

Zhao Pan'er felt a headache coming on. After thinking for a moment, she said, "I can scrape together about a hundred taels from here. What about you, Third Sister?"

"Forty or fifty taels, I suppose!" Sun Sanniang felt quite distressed; this was all her private savings.

"Brother Fu, how much can you lend me?" Zhao Pan'er asked Fu Xingui.

The latter said embarrassedly, "I've borrowed a lot of money from relatives and friends these days, but they won't lend me any more."

Zhao Pan'er had no choice but to say, "Yin Zhang can also produce fifty taels of gold, which makes a total of two hundred taels, leaving one hundred taels..."

She didn't know who to borrow from. The image of Su Li flashed through her mind. She already owed people a lot of favors, and borrowing more money would only make her owe even more.

"Brother Fu, you should go back first. Third Sister and I will discuss how to resolve your matter."

Fu Xingui looked at the two women expectantly and bowed, saying, "Then I'll leave it to Madam Zhao."

As soon as he left, Sun San Niang asked, "Pan'er, you're not really going to help him pay off his gambling debts, are you?"

"Then what do you suggest we do? He doesn't have any money either. We all heard what he said earlier; he's even considering giving Fu Zifang up for adoption to the casino owner," Zhao Pan'er said, pacing back and forth in thought.

"But that money was all saved up with great effort. Fu Xingui will never be able to pay it back in the future." Sun Sanniang was also anxious, but she remained calm and did not want Zhao Pan'er to go to such lengths for her.

She hesitated for a moment, but then made up her mind: at worst, she would go and die together with the casino boss, Tiger.

"I didn't say I'd pay it back right now; I was just considering whether there were other solutions." Zhao Pan'er smiled and said, "After thinking it over, I still can't think of any other way. How about we ask Young Master Su?"

Speaking of that young nobleman, Sun Sanniang felt a little embarrassed. The last time she came out of prison, the way he looked at her was quite different; it was the look of a man lusting after a woman.

This young nobleman from Tokyo was of noble birth and handsome, a world apart from Fu Xingui.

She's in the prime of her life, and sometimes she feels lonely at night, occasionally recalling that person's image...

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to go to him about our personal matters."

"Oh dear, they've already saved our lives, so it wouldn't hurt to be a little closer to them. Besides, we really have no other choice but to borrow money from this young master."

Zhao Pan'er was telling the truth. Otherwise, they could have chosen not to help, but Fu Xingui was clearly shameless and would find any way to pay off his debts. Could they really just stand by and watch Fu Zifang go with the casino boss?

Sun San Niang nodded heavily: "I'll go. This is my family's business. I can't keep bothering you. Even if I need to borrow money, I have to ask first."

Seeing her firm attitude, Zhao Pan'er nodded.

……

It was under these circumstances that Su Li received Sun San Niang at her home. The hall, with its carved beams and painted rafters, exuded a noble air while revealing a touch of understated elegance.

Sun Sanniang entered dressed in coarse linen clothes, feeling out of place. The silk dress she had worn last time had been washed and then returned to the Qiantang County Magistrate's house.

"Sit down. What kind of tea would you like?"

"Just some plain tea will do..." Sun San Niang nervously fidgeted with the hem of her clothes, completely losing her former brashness and boldness, and her voice became gentler.

Su Li handed her the tea and said, "You must have something to tell me. Hesitating like this isn't like you, Third Sister. Just say it."

Sun San Niang took a sip of tea and slowly recounted the story. She said, "I'm sure Fu Xin Gui was tricked by those people at the casino. Young Master Su, do you have a solution? If all else fails, lend me three hundred taels of gold. I can sign a contract and work like a slave to pay off the debt."

Of course, she had no idea that the elegant and refined young nobleman opposite her was the real culprit.

After pretending to ponder, Su Li said, "I understand the matter, but we can't draw conclusions based solely on what you, Third Sister, have said. We must investigate and examine it carefully."

Sun San Niang nodded repeatedly: "I guarantee, I'm telling the truth..."

"I certainly believe you, but this matter needs to be handled by the government, so we need solid evidence. Don't rush."

"Okay, I'll wait for your letter."

"Third Sister, you've come all this way to visit me, let me show you around the garden," Su Li invited.

After a slight hesitation, Sun San Niang agreed.

The garden of this mansion is exquisitely maintained, with flowers of all colors in full bloom, surrounded by trees, and winding paths. It appears quite tidy because it is maintained by maids and servants year-round.

"How's the view here?" Su Li asked with a smile as they walked side by side.

"Absolutely stunning..." Sun San Niang was a beautiful country woman, and she had never seen such a scene before.

The gap between the lives of ordinary people and the wealthy is quite large in modern times, let alone in ancient times when class distinctions were clear, commoners and nobles were two distinct groups.

"Beautiful words, but I think the flowers in the garden are beautiful, but they can't compare to you, Third Sister."

Su Li made her move, boldly launching an offensive to win his heart.

"Ah... what did you say?" Sun San Niang's beautiful face immediately turned red.