Chapter 31: The original family has long since perished.

"Do you want to die? Who gave you the audacity to disturb me?"

The man's voice was coarse and booming, making the waiter tremble. "Manager, someone has come to smash up the place! That whole row of fine tea has been destroyed, and they're still at it. I simply couldn't stop them; you must come out and see!"

"What?"

As soon as the words fell, the door was pulled open from within. A burly, thick-necked man stepped out, bare-chested and wearing his robe loosely, struggling to fasten the buttons. "Which one of you has the guts of a bear and the courage of a leopard to come here and cause trouble? Don't you know who I have backing me?"

"I told them, but they seem completely unfazed. I fear they have quite a significant background!"

"I should like to see just how significant this 'background' is!"

The manager scoffed coldly and strode toward the front hall. Upon entering, he saw the entire counter area devastated, with countless shards of porcelain littering the floor. His heart bled at the sight.

"Which yellow-haired brat are you, daring to run wild in my shop? Are you tired of living?"

Shen Xianyue finally saw him and stood up leisurely. She observed the pot-bellied man before her, his face thick with rolls of fat; he looked less like the manager of a teahouse and more like a bandit chieftain who had seized a mountain. It was hard to imagine just how much he had embezzled over the years to become so bloated.

"You still know this is your shop? Why is it not open for business in broad daylight? Why do you pretend not to know when customers arrive?"

Faced with Shen Xianyue's immediate questioning, the man let out a boisterous laugh. "I am the manager. I do what I please. If I don't want to open, I don't open—what business is it of yours? A young lady like you should be at home doing embroidery instead of sticking her nose into a man's affairs!"

Yingxia straightened her posture and blocked the way in front of Shen Xianyue. "Mind your tone when speaking to our young lady!"

"Little girl, that's just how I talk. If you want tea, go elsewhere; if you want cosmetics, go to the next street. As for our shop, we do not serve you!"

Shen Xianyue stepped forward. "Your shop? As far as I know, this is not your shop. You are merely a hired manager. Who gave you the gall to act this way?"

The man placed one foot on a stool, looking every bit the thug. "The owners? The owners died out long ago. What does it matter to you? This shop is mine now, and you have no say in it!"

Shen Xianyue was incensed by his comment about the owners dying out, and her teeth ground together as she heard him shout, "If you're smart, you'll pay for the damages and leave quietly. Otherwise, don't blame me for taking this to the magistrate. It wouldn't look very good for a wealthy young lady like you!"

"How about this: these things total two thousand taels. Pay up and get out. I don't have time to play house with you."

The onlookers shook their heads and sighed. A perfectly good young lady, why on earth would she get mixed up in something like this? Now, it had blown up, and she had ruined her own reputation.

"You're asking for a king's ransom! Even if these things were brand new, they wouldn't be worth that much. You're just trying to extort us!" Yingxia had seen the tea while smashing the jars; some of it had been sitting for so long it had molded. To dare ask for two thousand taels for this—did he think they were fools?

"This is top-quality tea. I'll say it again: if you aren't willing to pay, I’m going to report this to the authorities. We shall see each other at the yamen."

"Pay? Of course, we will pay."

As soon as Shen Xianyue spoke, the crowd was stunned.

"Has this young lady lost her mind? She runs into someone's shop and smashes everything for no reason, and now she wants to pay for it?"

"How could this bit of tea be worth two thousand taels? A spendthrift, she truly is a spendthrift!"

The man was slightly disbelieving at Shen Xianyue's readiness, then he let out a sneering laugh. "Little girl, are you making a fool of me? With that much silver, don't tell me you can afford it yourself."

Looking at her clothes, which were not made of particularly luxurious fabric, and her jewelry, which was quite modest, the manager could not believe that such a person could produce two thousand taels of silver on the spot.

Shen Xianyue, ignoring the questioning gazes of the crowd, slowly took out a folded piece of paper and tapped it against the table. "Open it and see if the contents are enough!"

The manager scoffed. "You've smashed so much of my property, and you think you can brush me off with a piece of paper? I'm telling you, no way!"

Shen Xianyue was not angered. "Manager, you might as well open it and look. This one piece of paper is more than enough to pay for your shop!"

As the manager picked up the paper, he sneered dismissively, "I think you are..."

Before he could finish, his throat felt as if it had been gripped by an invisible hand the moment he saw what it was. He could make no sound. "This... how is this possible?"

The waiter, standing to the side, curious at the manager's strange reaction, leaned in. Once he saw it, he was shocked. "How can this be a property deed? Isn't this shop the property of General Shen?"

The manager, terrified that his aging eyes were deceiving him, leaned in closer. Once he confirmed that it was indeed the deed to the teahouse, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

"Tell me, where did this come from? This deed is fake, right?"

Yingxia replied, "Are you blind? Who would dare forge a property deed? That's a crime. This is the legitimate, clear deed to the teahouse."

Yingxia snatched it back and handed it to the manager of the shop next door. "Manager, you are literate. Take a look and see if this is the deed to the teahouse?"

The neighboring manager was also bewildered. Weren't they here to cause trouble? How did it suddenly become their own property?

He took it and examined it carefully from beginning to end, even rubbing the official seal to ensure its authenticity. Once confirmed, he quickly handed it back to Yingxia. "Young lady, keep this safe. This is a genuine property deed. This teahouse belongs to this young lady!"

The crowd was in an uproar.

"I thought it was some young lady acting high and mighty, but it turns out it’s her own business!"

"Exactly! I thought that manager had such an arrogant air because he had a great backer, but it turns out he was just a gatekeeper for someone else!"

The manager’s legs went weak with fear. Having been left unchecked for so many years, he had been flaunting his borrowed authority, never expecting the true owner to suddenly appear. Didn't that mean he had been defrauding his own master?

He struggled to keep his composure, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Might I ask how to address the young lady?"

Shen Xianyue parted her thin lips. "My surname is Shen."

A "boom" echoed in the man's mind, as if a thunderbolt had struck his head.

Of course. When the Shen family had been wiped out, only the young lady had been adopted by the Xiao family. That was why the old Marquis Xiao had been supporting them all these years, allowing them to live such comfortable lives. And yet, here he was, saying the masters were all dead right in front of Miss Shen.

Wasn't this just asking for death?

At this thought, the man fell to his knees with a thud, slamming his head against the ground in desperate, resounding bows.