Young Master Gao? Call me Little Grand Secretary!

As night fell, the dormitory was locked.

Gao Zhao was dragged into the furnace pavilion by Fan Tong. He first peeked out and looked around, then closed the door, looking all sneaky. Gao Zhao was about to grab the wooden stick in the corner to show him the power of Gao Dapao, the invincible spear and cannon!

"Brother Gongming, I have a favor to ask of you." Fan Tong stepped forward quickly and revealed his purpose in time, thus avoiding a severe beating.

Upon hearing this, Gao Zhao stopped his stealthy movements, looked at Fan Tong, and frowned, saying, "Little Fan, you know what kind of person I am. I would never do anything that violates morality!"

"I know, I know!" Fan Tong nodded repeatedly, looking somewhat troubled. "But right now, only you can help me with this."

Gao Zhao waved his hand and said, "Tell me what it is first? If it's within my power, I won't refuse!"

"You can definitely help me!" Fan Tong stepped forward, his face beaming. "I want to borrow money from you!"

Seeing Gao Zhao's surprised expression, he quickly added, "Don't worry, I'll return it to you soon."

"This isn't about the money!" Gao Zhao looked at him suspiciously, and asked in surprise, "The question is, are you short of money? How much do you need to borrow? What's it for?"

Fan Tong was caught off guard by Gao Zhao's question, his smile fading considerably, a hint of embarrassment and awkwardness flashing in his eyes. He took a half step forward, lowered his voice, and said helplessly and hesitantly, "Um... I need to redeem that Xiangnu girl from her servitude..."

"Ah! Are you crazy?!" Gao Zhao couldn't help but exclaim, looking at him with utter disdain. "If you're attracted to her beauty, you can go relax at a brothel. What kind of nonsense is this, forcibly converting a public vehicle into a private car? Is this morally right or in accordance with the rites of Zhou?"

"Keep your voice down!" Fan Tong hurriedly lunged forward, waving his hands repeatedly to signal Gao Zhao to be quiet. He pressed his ear against the door and listened for a long time before finally letting out a sigh of relief and lowering his voice to say, "I won't hide it from you, Brother Gongming. This is the agreement I reached with that Miss Xiangnu today..."

Fan Tong was conflicted, unsure whether he should tell Gao Zhao about it. After much hesitation, he finally said, "Xiang Nu promised me that she would take the blame for this, and the corresponding price would be that I would redeem her from her servitude and take her as my concubine."

"What!" Gao Zhao exclaimed in shock, his eyes widening as he exclaimed, "Xiao Fan, that person who went to the brothel to swindle money and women, it really was you! How could you do such a thing! Are you out of your mind?!"

"It wasn't me, I didn't do it, don't talk nonsense!" Fan Tong was sweating profusely, waving his hands repeatedly, and explained in a low voice, "Today's incident caused too much of a stir, and I was worried it would affect my reputation. That Xiangnu took the initiative to talk to me, so I agreed!"

Seeing that Gao Zhao was still skeptical, he further argued, "If I were really the one who cheated her out of money and sex, why didn't she report me? And why would I need to borrow money from you?"

"That's true!" Gao Zhao's expression softened slightly, but he still reprimanded, "However, what you did was inappropriate. We Confucian scholars should act with integrity and uprightness; how could we be so absurd!"

Fan Tong lowered his head, looking ashamed, but secretly he curled his lip. If he didn't already know Gao Yanei's background, he would really think you were a gentleman just by listening to you say that!

"Brother Gongming, it's too late to say all this now. Please lend me a hand, I would be eternally grateful!"

"Sigh! Never mind!" Gao Zhao sighed softly, and said helplessly, "Tell me, how much money do you want to borrow?"

"One hundred strings of cash is enough!" Fan Tong said excitedly. "That Miss Xiangnu said that three hundred strings of cash would be enough to redeem her, but I only have a little over two hundred strings of cash now..."

Gao Zhao looked at him in surprise, not expecting that this guy had so much money on him. But thinking that he himself had once carried 90,000 strings of cash, he felt relieved.

As expected of a wealthy and powerful family, they are indeed rich and powerful. If this had happened to be Qin Hui, then the Kaifeng Prefecture would have been left to investigate!

For Fan Tong, there was absolutely no need to risk damaging his reputation for such a small amount of money!

"Is one hundred strings of cash enough?" Gao Zhao pondered for a moment, then decided to help him out.

It wasn't because he had a particularly good relationship with Fan Tong, but because he had known Xiang Nu for a long time and they were quite close. If he didn't lend a hand at this time, he would inevitably be ridiculed by others, who would say that he was ungrateful after getting back together with her!

Furthermore, his financial assistance to Fan Tong can be seen as taking from Xiang Nu and using it for Xiang Nu!

"That's enough, three hundred strings of cash is enough to redeem her!" Fan Tong was overjoyed when he saw Gao Zhao pull out a stack of pawn tickets.

He had personally witnessed many people fail to borrow money from Gao Zhao and return empty-handed, while he himself had just asked and the other party had agreed. That's how popular he was!

Gao Zhao thought for a moment, then took out two hundred strings of cash and handed it to Fan Tong, saying calmly, "Take it, pay me back when you have the money!"

Fan Tong took it, glanced at it, paused for a moment, and then handed it back, saying, "This is too much; I don't need this much!"

Gao Zhao brushed his hand away and said sternly, "Three hundred strings of cash is just for ransom, but where will she live after you've redeemed her? She needs food, clothing, and allowance!"

Fan Tongyi choked. He really hadn't thought that far ahead. To settle someone down, he should at least rent a small courtyard for her to live in. As for the monthly expenses, silk and cotton clothes for spring and winter, and silk and satin clothes for summer and autumn, that's all the poor people can afford!

When you do the math, you realize you don't have enough money!

"Brother Gongming is absolutely right; it was my oversight!" Fan Tongyi clasped his hands in a fist and said, "In that case, it would be impolite of me to refuse!"

Gao Zhao patted him on the shoulder and said as they walked out, "In the future, you should restrain yourself and follow proper etiquette, and not incur these romantic entanglements again!"

"Uh..." Fan Tongyi choked, and quickly retorted, "I didn't, I didn't, don't talk nonsense..."

"Alright, alright!" Gao Zhao waved his hand and laughed, "After you redeem them, you must treat me to a cup of wedding wine!"

"Of course!" Fan Tong quickly replied, "Tomorrow is my day off. I'll go to the brokerage firm first to find a broker and a courtyard to redeem the person. Once everything is settled, I'll invite you for a drink, Gongming... By the way, Gongming, do you have time to accompany me to redeem the person?"

"No, no, no!" Gao Zhao waved his hands repeatedly, saying solemnly, "I never set foot in places of ill repute!"

Fan Tong didn't believe him, but he couldn't force the issue, so he could only laugh awkwardly and say, "I've never been there either. This was an unexpected disaster. I don't know which bastard is trying to harm me..."

"Hey... don't swear!" Gao Zhao quickly stopped him, his eyes darting around before he said seriously, "In my opinion, you're mistaken in your suspicion of Qin Hui. I do have someone I suspect."

"Who?" Fan Tong stopped abruptly and turned to ask.

Gao Zhao hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped himself. "Let's not talk about it! After all, I only have suspicions and no evidence. I don't want to make things up and cause you unnecessary trouble!"

Having been reminded by Gao Zhao during the day, Fan Tong also felt that Qin Hui was impossible. Now, hearing Gao Zhao say this, he could no longer contain himself and hurriedly said, "Brother Gongming, this isn't the first time I've been framed, and the other party's methods are getting more and more ruthless each time. You can't just stand by and watch me die!"

Gao Zhao looked troubled, but ultimately couldn't bear it and sighed, "You said before that Qin Hui had a grudge against you, so he would harm people, but you forgot that besides having a grudge against you, guilt can also lead someone to harm you!"

Fan Tong was stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered Gao Zhao's previous talk about victim blaming. His expression changed, and he asked, "You mean the head of the monastery?"

Gao Zhao gave him a cryptic look and walked straight ahead, leaving Fan Tongyi alone in the night wind, gritting his teeth!

Meanwhile, in the brothel, the madam pondered the matter and decided that Xiangnu's deception could not be easily dismissed, lest it lead to endless troubles.

She stood up and walked outside to find the person in charge of their area.