Harem Daily Life

Chapter 1114 Side Story 3: Debt Collection

The princess's carriage arrived right at the Zhou family's gate. Upon seeing the distinguished guests, the Zhou family's gatekeeper immediately ran to inform the Zhou family patriarch, mistress, and son.

Hua Ruyan was completely baffled. The Fifth Princess had actually gone out of her way to send her back? It seemed incredibly strange.

The Zhou family warmly welcomed her, and Zhou Chen stood respectfully before the Fifth Princess, inviting her into the mansion.

He Yinuo did not refuse, but entered the room with a dark face and sat down in the seat of honor.

"I don't know, Fifth Princess, what brings you here today is..." As the matriarch of the Zhou family, Madam Zhou looked at the Fifth Princess with a smile on her face, and gave Hua Ruyan several winks, asking why this important person would come to her Zhou family's door.

Hua Ruyan was also completely confused and kept her mouth shut without saying a word.

He Yinuo was too lazy to beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "I'm here today to help Aunt Hua get her dowry back."

Upon hearing this, the Zhou family members reacted in various ways.

Zhou Chen seemed to feel that his authority as a husband had been damaged, and said unhappily, "I did borrow some of Ruyan's dowry for business purposes, but this is a matter between my husband and me. Isn't the Fifth Princess... meddling too much?"

The Zhou family members all nodded in agreement. Not only them, but even Hua Ruyan herself felt that the Fifth Princess was meddling too much.

He Yinuo wasn't annoyed. She looked at the faces of everyone in the Zhou family and said, "According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the right to dispose of and use a woman's dowry after marriage belongs to the woman herself. You said you borrowed her dowry for business operations, did you draw up an IOU?"

Zhou Chen was taken aback, then chuckled awkwardly, "My wife and I, do we need to sign an IOU to borrow a little money?"

He Yinuo smiled: "Is she your wife? If I heard correctly, your Zhou family's new betrothed is supposed to enter the family at the end of this month, right? You, as the head of the household, are swindling your concubine's dowry to do business without even signing an IOU. What are you up to?"

Zhou Chen's face turned pale and then purple from what she said: "I...I will pay it back."

He then looked at Hua Ruyan and said unhappily, "Family matters are our private affairs. Why are you gossiping about this to the princess? It's so embarrassing. What are you trying to do?"

Hua Ruyan was furious at what he said. She never expected that the Fifth Princess would stand up for her.

"How about... how about we forget it? Thank you for thinking of me, Fifth Princess. I'm so grateful to you for today." Hua Ruyan said, under pressure.

He Yinuo ignored her and said to Zhou Chen, "Words are not enough. You need a written agreement to borrow money. You say you will pay it back, and when you will pay it back, it all needs to be written down in black and white. If you can't pay it back then, the written agreement will be evidence in court, and you will have to use your assets to repay it."

She glanced at Hua Ruyan: "You know how to use my second brother's name to establish your authority outside, but you don't know how to use my second brother as your backer in the Zhou family? You're so stupid."

Hua Ruyan was scolded and dared not interrupt.

Madam Zhou smoothed things over, saying, "We're all family, so let's not be so formal. Our Zhou family and the Hua family have been friends for generations, and I've watched Ruyan grow up. Our business hasn't been doing well lately, and we're short on funds, which is why we borrowed her dowry. Please rest assured, Princess, we will definitely repay Ruyan every penny. Ruyan, don't worry, don't rush. If the Zhou family's business does well, you'll benefit too, won't you?"

Hua Ruyan glanced at Madam Zhou, then at the Fifth Princess, but didn't dare to reply.

He Yinuo chuckled lightly: "Since you think you can repay the loaned silver, why worry about drawing up another IOU? Since the Zhou family and the Hua family are old friends, you must also consider Aunt Hua as family. Is it really that difficult to draw up an IOU to put her at ease?"

She questioned the Zhou family: "You Zhou family talk a good game, but you don't handle things well at all. You've broken off engagements and taken concubines before, turning the principal wife into a concubine. It's only because Aunt Hua is weak and outwardly strong but inwardly weak that your Zhou family has been able to manipulate her like this. The Hua family is kind-hearted and has yielded time and time again to minimize the suffering their daughter has under you, but that's no excuse for your Zhou family to make things difficult for her. Stop wasting time and write down the IOU. Write down the amount and the repayment date clearly, and put your fingerprints on it. Otherwise, I'll sit in your Zhou family's front hall and not leave today. My husband is a brute; if he comes to confront me in anger, I won't be able to handle it."

Zhou Chen was furious. The Su family girl he had his eye on had been ruined, and now he was being harassed by the Fifth Duke for asking Hua Ruyan for a little money. He felt incredibly aggrieved.

Zhou's parents didn't want things to escalate, so they tried to persuade Zhou Chen. Helpless, Zhou Chen went to get paper and pen.

"I have borrowed 130,000 taels of silver from Hua Ruyan for working capital in the shop, and she promises to repay 10,000 taels of silver every year until the debt is fully repaid." Zhou Chen wrote this down and handed it to He Yinuo for review. He Yinuo looked at it and frowned.

"You want to pay it back in installments over thirteen years? Then you borrow someone else's money as principal to make money from money, and you don't pay any interest? Take it to make up the difference, and pay interest at four per thousand of the principal every year according to the Great Zhou lending rate."

Zhou Chen: "..."

Hua Ruyan thought for a moment and remained silent. Four per thousand a year—that meant her money was quite enough to earn her a living. She was naturally happy to have money coming in.

“We are husband and wife, husband and wife are one, paying interest is too formal, isn’t it?” Zhou Chen wanted to renege on his promise and was unwilling to pay interest.

He Yinuo smiled and said, "Then let's pay it back in one lump sum. She lent me this principal, and I'll give her five per thousand. Are you going to pay it back now?"

Zhou Chen: "..."

"Okay, four per thousand it is." Anyway, we can just trick them out of it and use it for the Zhou family's expenses. The money will come from the Zhou family anyway.

He Yinuo glanced at Hua Ruyan: "Tomorrow I will send a manager. You take this document, and the Zhou family will take the deeds to the government office to have it notarized. Until the Zhou family pays off your money, all those deeds will be registered in your name as collateral. They will be released from the collateral only after the money is paid off."

The Zhou family members looked grim. Zhou's mother said, "Princess, why go through all this trouble? Ruyan is a member of the Zhou family. Why are you treating us like thieves?"

He Yinuo raised an eyebrow: "According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, this is a normal loan and mortgage process. Madam Zhou, don't be so sensitive. You will be able to pay it back anyway, so what's there to worry about in adding a normal procedure?"

Mother Zhou: "..."

He Yinuo told Hua Ruyan to put the document away carefully: "This princess does things in a very methodical and law-abiding manner. If I don't care about something, fine, but if I do, it has to be clear and transparent. No one can fool me. If anyone dares to fool me and I find out, then they don't respect me as a princess and it's a great disrespect to me. My father, mother, uncle, maternal grandfather, elder brother, and husband are not to be trifled with. You'd better think twice."

The Zhou family was furious. They were being treated like thieves who had intended to keep Hua Ruyan's money from the very beginning.

Although they did have some ideas...

Hua Ruyan carefully put away the IOU and followed the Hua family to see the Fifth Princess off. Only after the princess's carriage had gone far away did she silently withdraw her gaze.

"Pah! Family matters have turned into this mess, it's shameful!" Zhou's mother spat, this was the first time she had cursed someone in front of Hua Ruyan.

Hua Ruyan remained silent, took a few steps toward the Zhou family, and then said, "I was foolish not to care in the past, but Mother and Husband shouldn't always think that I'm easy to bully. After all, my own sister is also the Princess Consort of Jin. When you bully me, you should have thought that I also have family behind me."

In the past, she disdained to use her own sister's name; she was both jealous and envious, a feeling she couldn't quite define. But seeing the Fifth Princess standing up for her today, she thought that, in the end, family is more sincere, and she had to admit that her husband beside her was indeed scheming against her.

She did so many stupid things for this bastard in the first half of her life; she really was too stupid.