Mrs. Chen stood up and looked at Ms. Qian, her face full of pleading. "Sister-in-law, we're all family. Can't you give us a few more days? I'll go back to my parents' home tomorrow and borrow the silver to pay you back."
Ms. Qian snorted. "Now that's more like it!"
"The day after tomorrow, then. If you don't pay back the silver by then, just see if I don't tear your house down!"
Her eyes darted about, landing on the bowl of chicken in the center of the table. She reached out to grab it. "I'm taking this chicken. Consider it interest!"
Gu Fei was practically going crazy with her craving for chicken. She was already annoyed that Ms. Qian was wasting time and letting the soup get cold. When she saw Ms. Qian's wicked hands reaching for the bowl, Gu Fei couldn't take it anymore. She snatched up her chopsticks and smacked them against Ms. Qian's wrist. "Put it down!"
Crying out in pain, Ms. Qian immediately yanked her hand back.
She shot a vicious glare at Gu Fei and swung her hand to slap her. "You wretched girl, this is outrageous! How dare you strike an elder?"
Gu Sanlang, who was beside Gu Fei, shot forward and grabbed Ms. Qian's wrist. His expression was fierce. "Aunt, Little Fei is injured. If you want to hit someone, hit me instead."
Ms. Qian was furious. 'I can't even hit this wretched girl? And someone's protecting her?'
'And this Sanlang, looking so fierce... Does he want to eat me alive?'
She struggled to break free from Gu Sanlang's hand, but Gu Fei slammed her own hand on the table. "Enough! It's just one tael of silver, right? I'll pay you."
Gu Fei slowly bent down, pulled a piece of broken silver from her shoe, and placed it on the table.
Ms. Qian's eyes lit up. She immediately lunged forward and snatched the silver.
Everyone in the room stared at Gu Fei. Gu Qing asked, "Sister, that silver...?"
Gu Fei replied nonchalantly, "It's my monthly salary. I'd hidden it in my shoe."
'Wouldn't that be uncomfortable, hiding it in her shoe?'
Everyone had the same question, but no one dared to ask it out loud.
Clutching the silver, Ms. Qian's eyes gleamed as she looked Gu Fei up and down. "Little Fei, you must have raked in quite a bit of silver at the Marquis Mansion, right? If your monthly salary is one tael, after eight years, you must have saved dozens, maybe even a hundred taels, haven't you?"
Gu Fei said coolly, "My monthly salary only went up last year when I was promoted to a first-class maid. It wasn't this much before."
She stared at the chicken on the table. "Aunt, I'm hungry, so I won't keep you with idle chatter. You should hurry on home and eat as well."
How could Gu Zhang let his precious daughter go hungry? He said hurriedly, "Eat, quickly! Little Fei is injured; she can't afford to be hungry!" He picked up his chopsticks and aimed for a chicken leg, intending to give it to Gu Fei.
Just then, Ms. Qian, who had been lingering by the table, stretched out her hands again like a persistent ghost. "I'm taking this chicken. The meat is the interest—we agreed!"
'Who agreed to that?'
'It hasn't even been an hour between borrowing the money and paying it back, and you want a whole chicken for interest? Even a loan shark isn't as ruthless as you!'
Gu Fei was furious. 'No one is going to stop me from eating this chicken today!'
Without thinking, she focused her will and instantly stored the bowl of chicken in her space.
Ms. Qian's hands grabbed at empty air.
'Where's the chicken?'
Ms. Qian was dumbfounded.
The entire family was dumbfounded.
Little Cao was so stunned she craned her neck and bent over to look under the table.
"Th-the chicken... h-how did it just disappear?" Ms. Qian stammered.
She hadn't even blinked, yet the large bowl of chicken had vanished from right under her nose.
'She'd lived for more than half her life and had never encountered anything like this. C-could it be a ghost?'
Ms. Qian's face went deathly pale. She glanced around in terror, then bolted.
The moment Ms. Qian was out the door, Gu Fei took the chicken out of her space, placing it steadily back in the center of the table.
Li Chunhua cried out, "Ah! How did the chicken reappear?"
The family stared, dumbstruck, at the center of the table.
Gu Fei calmly picked up her bowl. "Mother, could you ladle me some chicken soup first?"