I Will Be Back Within Three Days

"General!" Chloe Zhu put down her tea and threw herself tearfully at his feet. "General, please, I'm begging you! My father died long ago, my brother is missing, and my mother is sick with grief, always needing expensive medicine. If you kick me out of the manor, my mother won't survive!"

Evan Xiao coldly pulled his foot away and tossed her a single word: "Out."

Chloe secretly ground her teeth.

Alright, I knew he'd be like this!

Compassion? He wouldn't know it if it hit him in the face!

She put on a wounded expression, wiped her tears with her sleeve, and stood up, heartbroken. "General, I understand. I'll leave right away."

Then, hunched over, she dragged her heavy steps and walked away, one slow step at a time.

Ruby watched, her eyes full of delight.

The General really kicked her out!

If that's the case, does that mean I don't have to pay her the two hundred taels of silver?

"Ruby, give her the two hundred silver taels she won." Evan Xiao's cold voice rang out, mercilessly crushing Ruby's last hope.

Ruby felt like she couldn't breathe, her chest tight with frustration. She managed a strained "Yes," her heart bleeding as she left to fetch the money.

Ruby, along with Evan Xiao's other maids, just like Chloe Zhu, all lived in the maid rooms of the Frostmoon Quarters.

She went back, grabbed her heavy stash of two hundred silver taels, hugged it to her chest, and with a heartbroken sigh, headed to Chloe Zhu's room.

Chloe Zhu was packing her bundle.

With a loud "thud!", Ruby angrily tossed the silver onto the floor. "Take it! Two hundred taels!"

Chloe glanced at her, seeing how twisted Ruby's face was from the pain of parting with her money. With a cheeky grin, Chloe picked up the bundle, dusted it off, and said, "Silver is precious, you know! Don't just throw it around! If you toss silver carelessly, the heavens might just strike you down!"

"Hmph! Get lost already!" Ruby sneered. "I can't wait to never see your face again! Take the silver—think of it as charity for a beggar!"

Chloe smoothed her eyebrows with her finger and lazily replied, "Who said you won't see me again? I'll be back within three days!"

"What?" Ruby was outraged by her shamelessness. "No way! I've worked in the General's Manor for five years and I've never seen anyone come back after being kicked out!"

Chloe chuckled, "Not only will I come back, but the General himself will invite me back!" She raised her eyebrows with confidence.

"Keep dreaming! Who do you think you are? The General himself, invite you back?" Ruby was even more furious.

"Want to bet again?" Chloe asked. "If I don't come back, you get my jade and your two hundred silver taels!"

Ruby was stunned. "What?"

Chloe patted her chest and repeated, "If I lose, the jade I bet yesterday and your two hundred silver taels are both yours. Deal?"

Ruby's heart raced. "And if you win?"

"If I win, you have to go to the General and ask him to give me your head maid position!" Chloe declared.

"That's it?" Ruby was so excited she could barely contain herself.

"That's it!"

"Deal!" Ruby said eagerly. "I know where you live, so don't even think about running away!"

"I, Lily Bai, never go back on my word!"

"No way! We need to write this down!" Ruby insisted, not trusting her.

"Sure!" Chloe replied with a bright smile.