Lianxin nervously knelt on the ground: "Your Ladyship, this matter is of utmost importance. I believe it must be reported to Lord! The Duke Mansion has deep reserves; while twenty thousand taels of patterned silver seems like an enormous debt to us, the Lord will surely be able to handle it! If he helps Your Ladyship pay this debt just once—just this once—it will be sufficient…"
"He will kill me!" Shen Yunxi's fear and despair erupted, "He already thinks I am foolish. If he learns that I've incurred such a massive debt, my days will become unbearable! He might even… He might even send those wretched concubines into the palace to compete for favor again! So… So this matter absolutely cannot reach his ears!"
"Then what does Your Ladyship plan to do?"
"I haven't decided yet…" Shen Yunxi lowered her head, her hands trembling, "Isn't the repayment date still a ways off? Let's drag it out for now, and figure out a solution later…"
