I just want to be a princess, no, you want to be a queen

Chapter 224 Coral Value

Lu Mingyang retorted weakly: "You can't miss me, I'm quite likable."

"Don't interrupt!" Yang Nian'er glared at him.

"Okay, okay, I won't give it to you." Lu Mingyang agreed with a smile. She knew her sister's temper and waited for coaxing. She just didn't expect her sister to be so opinionated now.

Seeing that her second sister was quite obedient, Yang Nian'er wiped the tears from her face and said, "Lend me fifty taels of silver."

???

Lu Mingyang smiled and refused, "No, my elder sister would be unhappy if she knew."

"I'll return it to you in a few days." Yang Nian'er patted her second sister in embarrassment. Lu Mingyang grabbed her sister's hand and asked, "What's going on? You don't even have fifty taels of silver?"

"I gave it all to Brother Wei." Thinking of this, Yang Nian'er felt bad: "Tell me, how could I have been so stupid back then? For such a nice house, he said a hundred taels, and I actually believed him."

It was by chance that she happened to be chatting with the shopkeeper next door that she learned that a two-courtyard house in that area would cost at least two thousand taels, not to mention one with a shop front.

Although she was angry, she couldn't bear to leave the house so close to her second sister, so she had to save money to pay Wei Luo back.

Lu Mingyang asked: "Can you tell me what it is used for?"

"No!" Yang Nian'er shook her head. Seeing her second sister going to look for silver, she said, "Just fifty taels, no more."

"Okay!" Lu Mingyang found a bag of change and threw it into his sister's hand.

That night, she hugged her sister and talked until she fell asleep.

The next morning, Lu Mingyang pushed his gloomy sister into the carriage and coaxed her, "I'll see them off when they leave. Otherwise, will your parents be willing to go back alone?"

After getting on the carriage, Yang Nian'er emphasized again: "Don't give them any money!"

"No, no, no!"

Lu Mingyang nodded perfunctorily, and Yang Nian'er took direct action and took out a silver note worth two thousand taels from her arms.

"Second sister, why don't you keep your word?"

Lu Mingyang said in a guilty tone: "I'm using it myself. I don't plan to give it to my parents."

But how could Yang Nian'er believe this? "Second sister, if you give it to them once, they will ask for it a second time, a third time, countless times. You are courting disaster!"

"Besides, if you give them money, will they spend it? It's only been a short time since we last spent more than three hundred taels." Yang Nian'er didn't want to talk about her parents' ugly deeds, but now she blurted them all out and said bitterly, "You are aiding and abetting the evil."

Lu Mingyang had been in a daze these days and had not thought of this. He stuffed the banknote into his sister's arms with approval.

"Second sister is wrong, don't be angry. How about this, I have someone buy a hundred acres of land in Shangyang Village in the name of Chengyang Marquis Mansion and give it to Dad to farm, okay?"

Yang Nian'er suppressed a laugh: "One hundred acres, I'm exhausted!"

Lu Mingyang shook his sister's leg. "He can rent it out, but I won't let him rent it long-term. Just rent it year by year. That way he won't starve, and he won't have any spare money to cause trouble. What do you think?"

Yang Nian'er actually didn't want her parents to go hungry, so after thinking about it, she felt it was okay and nodded.

Getting his sister to agree was a real challenge. Lu Mingyang said, "Then let's go buy some winter clothes for Mom and Dad to take back. We can also buy a donkey cart. We can't let them walk back again."

Yang Nian'er was worried: "Second sister, what if they don't want to leave?"

"That can't happen." Lu Mingyang patted his chest and promised: "If they don't leave, I will have the guards of the palace directly surround your yard."

In fact, even if her sister didn't want her parents to leave, she would still send them back. Although Concubine Song was in the cold palace, Song Wei was outside, and there was also the emperor who was always watching Chu Mingzheng's mistakes, so she couldn't be careless.

Yang Nian'er laughed and teased, "Can you still mobilize the guards of the palace now?"

"You don't understand. This is called love." Lu Mingyang raised his chin proudly. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, the dagger more or less gave her the courage to approach him.

Yang Nian'er excitedly hugged her second sister and asked, "Do you want to go back?"

"Let's talk about it later!" She hasn't decided whether to have a baby or not.

The carriage slowly stopped in front of a cloth shop, and Lu Mingyang dragged his sister along to go shopping. The carriage was filled to the brim with clothes, cloth, accessories, and even provisions for the journey.

The carriage drove into the alley where Nianluo's beverage shop was located. The two sisters walked into the yard hand in hand and greeted each other loudly.

"Dad, Mom, my second sister bought some things for you. They're on the donkey cart in the backyard."

The sound entered the room, and Yang Pan'er ran out crying, "Third sister, I'm sorry. Your brother-in-law pawned the coral necklace you gave me."

"Who asked you to pawn it?" Yang Nian'er was anxious. She remembered that the coral necklace was put on her hand by Wei Luo when she found out that the money at the mansion didn't match.

He asked the coral string to monitor whether he made money well and to remember to pay him back.

"There are so many pawnshops on the street, where are you going to find one?" Lu Mingyang pulled his sister and went into the house to wait. As soon as he sat down, Zhang Fengshou's voice came in.

"Pan'er, you're right. I pawned this broken bracelet for 120..."

The voices stopped abruptly the moment they stepped through the door. Zhang Fengshou hurriedly hid a bag of silver behind him and said, "Second sister and third sister are here. You two sisters can chat. I'm going back to the house."

"Brother-in-law!" Lu Mingyang called out to him and asked, "Did you pawn the coral necklace?"

"What coral string? I don't know." Zhang Fengshou looked at Yang Pan'er. Yang Pan'er lowered her head and didn't dare to look at him. "Second sister, I lost it. Fengshou doesn't know."

In front of her husband, she didn't dare admit that she had informed on the matter.

Lu Mingyang said coldly, "Brother-in-law, that string of coral beads is produced in Yunzhao. In terms of quality, it's better than the tributes from the palace, and there's no demand for it. Last year, a noblewoman in the capital offered one thousand taels of gold for just one string of coral beads."

"Second sister is really good at bluffing." Zhang Fengshou's head was buzzing, but he pretended to be calm. How could a string of broken beads be worth one thousand taels of gold?

Lu Mingyang took off the jade bracelet in his hand and placed it on the table. He continued, "This jade bracelet of mine is worth at least one thousand taels. You can use it to pawn the coral beads. See if the pawnshop will give it to you."

Zhang Fengshou took the jade bracelet with some doubt. Lu Mingyang, worried that he might be so bold as to pawn his own bracelet, warned him, "This is a gift from the Queen Mother. If you lose it, you'll be thrown into prison."

After that, she threw ten taels of silver to Zhang Fengshou. The pawnshop's daily interest would never exceed ten taels.

Yang Nian'er watched her brother-in-law leave and said in shock, "Second sister, are you telling the truth?"

"I was just teasing him." Lu Mingyang interrupted with a smile and asked Yang Pan'er, "Sister, where's Dad?"

She just saw her mother happily going to the donkey cart to look at things.

Yang Pan'er said, "He went out with the attendants of Prince Wei that day."

Lu Mingyang and Yang Nian'er looked at each other and asked anxiously, "Where did you go?"

Yang Paner shook her head.

The two had no choice but to sit in the house and wait.