I would Rather Feed Them to Dogs!

In his dream, Hua Jingzhi saw Sixth Sister once again. The girl timidly followed him, saying, "Fourth Brother, try not to drink too much when you go out."

"Fourth Brother, the dishes have cooled down. Let me reheat them for you."

"Fourth Brother, you can't eat almonds, so I prepared a plate of walnuts for you..."

He really wanted to have some walnuts, so he reached out to take them. However, the plate of walnuts fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. When he looked up at the girl in front of him, her gentle smile had disappeared.

She said, "Hua Jingzhi, I would rather feed them to dogs than giving them to you!"

...

The next day, Hua Qianqian still woke up early as usual. Her mood was not affected by Hua Jingzhi. Nowadays, she only wanted to earn more money to make her grandmother's life better.

The syrups and medicinal ointments were already prepared in batches, and the agreed-upon ten days with Xiao Yan were approaching. She thought it would be a good idea to tidy up the medicine shop first, and when she retrieved all her dowry, there would be enough money to keep the shop running.

So, Hua Qianqian greeted her grandmother and left the house with Qiutao.

The Miss and her maid quickly arrived at the market to the north of the city. The medicine shop was located on the west side of the market.

The shop was named "Renji Hall," a good name, and the storefront was not small. When Hua Qianqian and Qiutao entered, they found there wasn't a single customer, only a shop assistant dozing off on a chair.

Upon hearing their footsteps, the shop assistant opened his eyes impatiently and frowned, "We're out of medicine. Go somewhere else."

Hua Qianqian found the assistant unfamiliar; he wasn't someone who used to work at her shop. She knew for sure that the Xiao family had replaced her employees. Her face gradually turned cold.

She couldn't be bothered with this young assistant from the Xiao family and walked behind the counter to find that most of the medicine boxes were almost empty.

The assistant saw her actions and became anxious. He scolded, "What are you trying to do? Taking over the shop? Don't you know whom this shop belongs to?"

Seeing Hua Qianqian's gaze, the assistant crossed his arms and let out a cold snort, "Get lost, get lost! Don't you know this belongs to Yongning Earl's Mansion? Hmph, it's not something you commoners can mess with!"

Hua Qianqian didn't want to waste time arguing with the Xiao family's dog. She glanced at Qiutao, who promptly took out the shop's deed from her sleeve.

"Open your dog eyes wide and take a good look. Who does this shop belong to?"

The assistant was shocked when he saw the deed. His face twitched as he stammered, "The, the owner!?"

Qiutao coldly snorted, putting away the deed. Clearly, the shop belonged to Miss, but these lackeys of the Xiao family only acknowledged the people from Xiao Family. It was simply outrageous!

"Where did all the medicinal materials in the shop go? Tell the shopkeeper to come out and meet our Miss!" Qiutao demanded.

The assistant was too scared to speak and quickly went to the backyard to bring out a middle-aged man in a cloud-patterned robe.

Upon seeing Hua Qianqian, the man didn't appear as nervous as the assistant before. He just politely bowed and slyly assessed her with his narrow, cunning eyes before saying, "You must be the wife of the heir!"

Qiutao, unlike Hua Qianqian, didn't hold her temper well. Upon hearing the man's sarcastic tone, she retorted, "Our Miss hasn't been heir's wife for a long time. You should call her Miss Hua!"

"Miss Hua?" The man mockingly chuckled. "That's great! I've finally met Miss Hua today!"

Qiutao couldn't hold back her irritation, but Hua Qianqian calmly said, "Monthly payment is not a problem. Since you're helping me here, I won't treat you unfairly."

The man had heard that the Sixth Miss of the Hua Mansion was easy to deal with. He thought he could take advantage of the situation, but now he realized he might have been too hasty.

"Monthly payment is one thing, but you see, the business hasn't been doing well this year. We've been running at a loss. I had to dig into my own savings to keep the shop going." He beckoned the assistant to bring a ledger.

"This is the deficit for the past six months. I paid for it all myself. I've been waiting for you to come and settle it. Luckily, you've finally arrived today!"

Hua Qianqian glanced at the ledger and saw numerous records of debts. She asked, "What's all this?"

The man replied, "When people from the Hua family came to get medicine, they simply ran a tab. I didn't dare to ask for money. Even the people from Xiao Family, when they came and mentioned your name, I couldn't ask for payment."

Qiutao saw the large sum written in red ink on the ledger and became infuriated, exclaiming, "You've lost twelve hundred taels in half a year! Even the Earl's salary for half a year isn't this much!"

"It's not my fault!" The man argued, feigning innocence. "The shop's location isn't great, and there were hardly any customers. Anyone who did come was your acquaintances. What could I do? When I took over this shop, I was kind enough to fill in the financial gaps. Otherwise, this shop wouldn't have survived until today. Miss Hua, you're not planning to make me lose this money, right? I invested my entire savings. If you don't repay me, you'll be killing me!"

As the man spoke, he pretended to be on the verge of tears, but he was actually smirking inwardly. He knew this matter would be escalated, and this Young Miss would be scared into either repaying the money or giving up the shop!

The display attracted many passersby who stopped to watch the scene unfold.

"Miss, we know you are the Sixth Miss of the Hua Mansion, and your status is prestigious. However, you can't treat us like this! We're loyal to running the shop for you. Even if you don't pay us a monthly salary, you can't just take away the money we put into the shop!" some of the commoners commented angrily.