With the deed in hand, Tian Jing asked, "Will you be paying in foreign currency or gold?"
"You're willing to accept gold?"
"Yes, but the gold price is falling. If I accept it, it'll be twenty yuan per gram."
Tian Jing knew that foreign currency was rare in the country at this time, and its price on the black market was even higher. These two old fellows would definitely not give her any. So, she straightforwardly asked for gold.
Old Master Xiao disagreed, "The international gold price is still four hundred and sixty US dollars per ounce, at least twenty-seven per gram."
Tian Jing disagreed even more, "Then keep your gold. Give me renminbi. Are you ready? If not, go back and prepare."
Second Master Xiao nudged his elder brother. "Jingjing, how about twenty-five yuan per gram?"
Tian Jing shook her head. "I only have a price of twenty-one yuan here. You've come from so far away; you can't possibly be carrying large amounts of paper money."
"Foreign currency can bring you all sorts of convenience. I consider myself to be solving your problems. Otherwise, you can go to the bank and exchange it yourselves."
Without renminbi, they were at her mercy.
In the end, Old Master Xiao only agreed to provide fifty-six gold bars, each weighing fifty grams.
When they returned, including Xiao Wei and Qiao En's servant, there were nine people in total. They had finally managed to apply to take five thousand grams of gold out of the country, and had paid quite a bit in taxes.
His heart was bleeding. Who had told him that spending money in China was very economical?
Tian Jing calculated, it was equivalent to a little over twenty-one yuan per gram, and only then did she agree.
If she didn't agree, she worried that after failing to find anything, these two old fellows would spit blood and die.
She would feel "guilty."
Although she hadn't inspected the forty-eight iron boxes from last night, she knew that at least twenty of them contained gold and silver, judging by how her planted and cultivated kudzu roots were almost pulled out of the ground.
Taking payment for helping others, she had helped them resolve their crisis first, and then taken their money. Well, she was truly "kind."
However, Tian Jing insisted on leaving the gold with her first. She didn't want to show off with a large amount of gold.
Coincidentally, Old Master Xiao and Second Master Xiao also had no intention of letting others know they were carrying gold.
Thus, Tian Jing, Old Master Xiao, and Second Master Xiao, the three of them, walked to the housing authority to handle the transfer. The distance was only a little over a thousand meters.
Li Zhengguo stayed behind to guard the house.
After returning from the housing authority, Tian Jing found Qiao En waiting for her.
Tian Jing frowned. "Why are you waiting for me? Go talk to Weiwei Xiao if you have something to say."
Qiao En shrugged. "Weiwei's child is not mine. I have something to tell you alone."
Tian Jing waved her hand. "I'm not Weiwei Xiao's mother. Her affairs are her own to decide. I don't want to hear anything about her."
"You'll regret this."
Qiao En uttered a harsh word and was about to leave when Li Zhengguo grabbed him. "Let's have a private chat."
"Let go, let go."
Amidst Qiao En's refusal, he was dragged away by Li Zhengguo.
Old Master Xiao scrutinized Tian Jing. "Uncle reminds you, sometimes a woman's rejection, in a man's eyes, is called playing hard to get."
Tian Jing impatiently dismissed him. "Thank you for your reminder. Leave my gold, and you can be on your way."
"Heh heh." Old Master Xiao chuckled, shaking his head. "There's a saying in China: like mother, like daughter. Your reputation... uh..."
His words were cut off as his neck was gripped.
Tian Jing's face was icy. "There's also a saying in China: disaster comes from the mouth. You've secured the courtyard and now you have the mood to tease your nominal grand-niece, is that it?"
"Xiao Lirong, I can help you dig out your eyeballs, and I can also help you wash your brain. Which one do you choose?"
"Jingjing, you've misunderstood."
Xiao Xueqi hurriedly came forward to mediate. "My grand-uncle's mouth has always been quite vulgar. I apologize to you on his behalf."
"Heh heh, I've misunderstood?" Tian Jing snorted coldly. "Xiao Xueqi, I'm aware of how my appearance is perceived."
"At the housing authority, we only wrote down the amount, and there was no cash transaction. Many people looked at me strangely."
"Your own father, instead of explaining, affectionately called you Jingjing, and even took the opportunity to get close to your back. You understand your father, right?"
"You explain to me, what's his motive? To protect me?"
Seeing his father's eyes roll back in his sockets in Tian Jing's grasp, Xiao Xueqi quickly bowed and apologized. "Jingjing, I'm sorry. Please spare him this once. He's not worth you taking action, right?"
Tian Jing fiercely threw him out of the reception room. "Don't let me see him again. He's filthy."
Second Master Xiao rubbed his neck and moved closer to his eldest son. Fortunately, he hadn't provoked this demoness.
Tian Jing glared at him. "You're no good either, a pair of scoundrels."
Once they can't dig anything out, will you still have the mood to eat fried bean curd with your eyes?
Filth worse than beasts.
Xiao Xueping, who was counting the gold bars, quickly pushed his father away. "Don't interrupt my counting."
They both knew that their grand-uncle's outwardly pious appearance was a façade. But bullying a junior was one thing, bullying Jingjing, this female demon, could possibly end well?
Tian Jing glanced at these members of the Xiao family. They were all rotten from the top down.
After counting the gold bars, Tian Jing threw the property deed to Second Master Xiao. "Get out quickly, don't make me escort you out myself."
Second Master Xiao fumbled for the deed and beckoned to his eldest son. "Let's go, let's go."
One servant picked up the still limp Mama Xu, while another servant and Xiao Xueqi helped Old Master Xiao, following behind Second Master Xiao, they hastily departed.
...
Li Zhengguo, pulling Qiao En, whose face had become rounder, came over. "Wife, he really has something to say."
"Speak."
Qiao En had endured a session of fist therapy and no longer dared to think of private conversations.
"Weiwei Xiao's child should be my servant's."
"Evidence." Tian Jing felt like killing someone in frustration.
"My servant was hired by Weiwei Xiao from outside to save face. Facing Weiwei Xiao's old face, I really couldn't bring myself to do it, but I didn't want Weiwei Xiao to know, so that servant volunteered to help me."
Bang.
Qiao En was kicked flying by Tian Jing.
Lying on the ground, in so much pain that he almost couldn't breathe, just as Qiao En thought he was dying, he was once again grabbed by the neck and lifted.
"Wife."
Li Zhengguo held his wife's arm. "It's not worth it. Now, what we need to ask is the whereabouts of that servant."
Bang.
Qiao En was thrown to the ground again, but he felt that no amount of pain could compare to the terror of almost meeting his maker.
Li Zhengguo squatted in front of him. "Qiao En, where is your servant?"
"He's gone. He disappeared last night."
Tian Jing pushed her husband aside. "Since we can't get any useful information, let me kick him out."
"No, no, I have one more piece of information, and this information is definitely important."
"Say it."
"That servant is of yellow ethnicity. He was disguised. I saw it; the skin behind his ear wasn't completely covered."
"He ate with chopsticks very skillfully. I suspect he's from your country."
Tian Jing looked at her husband.
Li Zhengguo gently shook his head, then comforted Qiao En, "Alright, you can go now. From now on, don't bother us again, including Weiwei Xiao."
"Thank you." Qiao En quickly scrambled up and stumbled out of the second gate.
Tian Jing took a deep breath, slowly calming her emotions. "Where is Xiao Wei?"
"After you left, she went out to look for Qiao En. They returned together. Upon returning, she went straight to the bedroom and hasn't come out since. Qiao En has been waiting for you to come back."
"What's wrong with you? Your temper is so explosive?"
Tian Jing sighed. "Isn't it all because of this appearance of mine? ... I finally understand what Old Mrs. Chen felt, and why Chen Yaoming hates his mother."
Li Zhengguo wanted to tear Xiao Lirong apart. He tenderly held his wife's hand. "It's all my fault for not going out with you."
Tian Jing said with a playful reproach. "If you had accompanied me, who would look after the old and young at home?"
"Forget it. Hurry up and buy the courtyard you've set your heart on. We'll go home. I miss home."
"Okay, I'll go this afternoon."