The innâs staff hurriedly rushed in to save the owner, but Ms. Zhang was incredibly strong, continuously struggling and fighting, and for a moment, the five workers couldnât hold her down.
The guests nearby sighed and said, "With that build, you say youâre poisoned? Are you poisoned or did you eat some Immortal Pill?"
"Peh, I am poisoned, it was Gu Jinli who harmed me!" Ms. Zhang spat at the guest, making them recoil in disgust.
Old Master Fu was so anxious upon seeing this, that he had no choice but to join the fray with the shopkeeper, and only with seven people did they manage to pin Ms. Zhang down.
It was simply unbelievable!
How did Ms. Zhangâs strength become so great?
After the experience with Gu Chengzhiâs incident, people had some understanding of madmen, and a guest asked Doctor Liu: "Doctor Liu, do madmen get stronger when they go mad?"
Doctor Liu frowned and nodded: "Hmm."
Upon hearing this, a guest immediately said, "Wow, you see, I told you Ms. Zhang is mad, and you still let their family stay at the inn, better throw them out quickly."
Other guests also chimed in, saying, "Yeah, throw them out quickly, we donât dare to stay in the same inn with madmen."
The shopkeeper quickly said, "Guests, donât worry, we will throw them out now."
Old Master Fu then helped up Young Master Fu, tenderly wiping the blood off his face: "My son, are you alright? Did that madwoman hurt you?"
"Iâm alright, but they canât stay any longer, we have to throw them out as soon as possible. The Old Gu Family are all mad, itâs too scary." Young Master Fu cursed his bad luck inside, never expecting Ms. Zhang to be so fierce, even leaving him scratched. His once handsome face was now marred, how could he attend the literary gathering like this?
"Donât worry, my son, Iâll throw them out now!" Old Master Fu was also enraged, how dare Ms. Zhang hit his only sonâhis only male heir born when he was forty. If anything happened to him, the Fu Family line would be cut off, and the estate would fall into the hands of the clan members!
Ms. Zhang, realizing everyone was treating her as a madwoman, quickly regained her composure, smiling at everyone: "Gentlemen, please donât misunderstand, Iâm not mad, I was really poisoned by Gu Jinli."
But seeing her ghastly smile, the onlookers shivered in unison, dear Lord, how terrifyingâshowing those yellow teeth and glaring at themâshe looked even more like a madwoman.
Old Master Fu hated Ms. Zhang to the core, wanting to slap her upon hearing this, but was stopped by Young Master Fu: "Father, donât hit her, her family is good at extorting people. If you hit her once, what if she extorts our family for thousands of taels? Let them pay for the accommodation and the damages in the room and just make them leave."
As for the medical fees for his injuries, he decided to be generous and let it go.
Old Master Fu: "Alright, for my sonâs sake, weâll let you off this time. Old Zhao, roughly calculate the damages they caused, no need to be too precise, just an estimate will do. Make them pay and get out."
Pay?!
Ms. Zhang was dumbfounded, while Gu Chengli started crying, exclaiming: "Our silver was all taken by bandits!"
"What? Brother Li, what did you say? Our silver got stolen? Are you serious?" Ms. Zhang, who cared most about the silver, was nearly going mad upon hearing this. If it werenât for the staff holding her down, she would have rushed to beat Gu Chengli: "Last night I said Iâd hide the silver, but your father and grandfather insisted on giving it to you to hide, and now look... Ah, my God, without the silver, how do we live?"
Ms. Zhang was wailing and lamenting, but the shopkeeper didnât believe Gu Chengliâs words, assuming they were just acting to avoid paying, so he started searching the room with two workers.
But after searching thoroughly through the rooms of Gu Chengli, Elder Gu, and Ms. Zhang, not a speck of silver was found, immediately worrying the shopkeeper, who wiped the sweat from his forehead and told Old Master Fu: "Master, there really is no silver."
"None?" Old Master Fu was shocked upon hearing this, could it be that a thief really did enter the inn?
The Old Gu Family had been very ostentatious after receiving a thousand silver notes from Third Young Master Gu and his wife, flaunting themselves all the way to the inn, likely catching the attention of thieves who sneaked in and stole the silver.
But this couldnât be admitted; doing so would ruin the innâs reputation.
While Old Master Fu was in a dilemma, Ms. Zhang started wailing: "We are not lying, our silver was really stolen, it was Gu Jinli who came with people to rob us, you should report to the authorities and arrest her. If you donât, you are her accomplices, and we will report you to the government office!"
Upon hearing this, Old Master Fuâs eyes turned cold, no longer courteous with Ms. Zhang, and he told the guests present: "Fellow guests, as you can see, Ms. Zhang is indeed a madwoman, first claiming she was poisoned by some Jinli, then when that failed to justify her false accusations, she claimed the silver was stolen. It seems she wonât be satisfied until she utterly ruins Gu Dashanâs family."
He continued: "Itâs our mistake for accepting them into Fu Inn for a mere thirty taels of accommodation fee. Now, we wonât even charge for that, weâll just throw them out and hope everyone bears witness. We arenât throwing them out on purpose, but because they are malicious and continuously slander, we just canât take it anymore."
Having been in business all his life, Old Master Fu was a crafty old hand at eloquence. As soon as he said this, he immediately won the sympathy of the guests present, who all said: "Old Master Fu, say no more, we all know the nature of the Old Gu Family well, just throw them out, otherwise theyâll surely extort your family for silver."
"Alright, alright, Iâll throw them out now." Said Old Master Fu, immediately instructing the staff: "Come on, throw out the Old Gu Family people."
But Ms. Zhang wouldnât comply, how could she survive without the silver?
She clung to the door and cried out, "We wonât leave, we had an incident in your inn, you must compensate us 1,080 taels, if you donât, weâre not leaving, weâll die right here in front of you!"
Upon hearing this, the guests sighed in exasperation: "See, theyâre immediately trying to extort Fu Inn. Huh, calling it robbery by bandits, I think theyâre just trying to extort money by falsely claiming the silver was stolen."
Old Master Fu was overjoyed at this, the Old Gu Familyâs behavior was self-destructive, their reputation so tarnished yet still daring to act ravenous, now no one believed a word they said.
Gu Chengli cried: "We arenât lying, the silver was really stolen by a few masked strongmen."
Ms. Zhang also shouted: "Exactly, the silver was stolen by the strongmen, Fu Inn must compensate us, if not, Iâll bang my head and die right here, turning this inn into a haunted house, letâs see who dares to come stay here then?"
The shopkeeper, hearing this, was so enraged he was trembling, damn it, never had he seen such unreasonable shrews! This mess was started by him, and if not properly resolved, he wouldnât keep his position as shopkeeper, his whole family might be sold off by the proprietor as well.