Old Man Liu saw that Old Woman Liu was about to go chase Li Wu off, so he quickly stepped forward to stop her. "Wait, don't go now. Even if you go, you won't be able to drive him away."

Old Woman Liu grew agitated. "If I can't drive him away, am I supposed to let him just squat here? I've had enough; I absolutely must kick him out." With that, Old Woman Liu started towards the room where Li Wu was staying.

Old Man Liu immediately flared up. "I'm telling you, at your age, why are you still so impulsive? Can't you use your brain for a moment? I'm so blocked by him I can't even get a word out. What good will you do going over there?"

"You couldn't chase him away yourself, and you have the nerve to say that? I'm going to drive him out right now," Old Woman Liu remained unmoved.

"You... you have the audacity to lecture me! Who was it that insisted on making trouble at the Wang family's place? And ended up smashing things! Now that we can't drive the man out, you actually have the face to bring me up!" Old Man Liu roared with anger.

Old Woman Liu immediately felt a pang of guilt, but after a moment's thought, her aggressive stance returned. "Did I smash anything? Why are you shouting at me like that?"

"You're still quibbling! Song'er told me it was you who ordered him to throw the pebbles!" Old Man Liu pointed accusingly at Old Woman Liu.

"What? I ordered him? When did I ever order him? That was his own doing, wasn't it? And now he's pinning it on me!" Old Woman Liu was furious. "I'll go ask our son right now to clarify this!" Saying this, Old Woman Liu turned toward their son's room again.

Old Man Liu followed her to their son's room, only to find it empty.

"Where is Song'er?" Old Man Liu asked.

"How should I know? I'm constantly being ordered around by that Li Wu to do this and that all day," Old Woman Liu replied sourly.

"Hmph, that good-for-nothing must have gone gambling again," Old Man Liu grumbled, then turned and glared at Old Woman Liu. "It’s all your fault, you spendthrift woman! The money Qian'er earned as a concubine for that man, you gave it all to our son to manage, and look what happened? He gambled it all away! Last time, he couldn't even produce the money for Li Wu's medicine, and I had to swallow my pride and borrow some from him just to scrape enough together. Look at the good-for-nothing son you raised!"

Old Woman Liu looked aggrieved. "I asked the boy for that money, and he refused to give it to me. What could I do? Besides, how was I supposed to know he'd go gambling?"

"Hmph, when he gets back today, wait until I beat him to death!" Old Man Liu fumed.

Meanwhile, Liu Song was sitting in a gambling den in town, nervously watching the final dice roll. For some reason, his luck was terribly bad today; he'd been losing continuously, and he had already lost the twenty taels of silver he borrowed from the den. Liu Song was furious; now he didn't even have his principal left. Liu Song stood there stiffly, then suddenly remembered that his daughter was now a concubine to Master Shen in town, meaning he was, by extension, Master Shen's father-in-law. He had heard that Master Shen was incredibly wealthy, and it was only right for a son-in-law to honor his father-in-law. With a sudden resolution, Liu Song decided to borrow another fifty taels from the gambling den.

However, the people at the gambling den weren't fools; they wouldn't just lend money because Liu Song asked.

"Young man, it's not that I won't lend it to you, but I have to follow procedure. If I lend you this money, can you afford to pay it back? Otherwise, my boss will hold me accountable," the den's manager refused.

"Don't worry about that. My daughter is Master Shen's concubine now; I am Master Shen's father-in-law! He's so rich, how could he possibly neglect his own father-in-law?" Liu Song boasted proudly.

The manager scoffed internally. Your daughter is just some low-class concubine, yet you dare call yourself Master Shen's father-in-law? Truly ignorant. But since his daughter was Master Shen's concubine, she must have money. So, he said, "In that case, we can't afford to disrespect Master Shen. We'll lend you the money!"

Liu Song happily took the silver, thinking to himself how useful Master Shen's name was. In the future, whenever he was short of money, he could bring up Master Shen's name. He never thought he'd benefit from his daughter's position one day. Thinking this, Liu Song quickly rejoined the game. But perhaps today truly wasn't a good day for gambling; soon enough, the borrowed fifty taels were lost too. He wanted to borrow more silver, but the manager adamantly insisted that the previous debt had to be settled before any further loans could be considered. Unable to borrow more, Liu Song grumbled and headed home.

When Liu Song returned, he indeed received a thrashing from Old Man Liu.

A few days later, the men from the gambling den arrived to demand payment. When Old Master Liu saw that his son had borrowed seventy taels from the den, and now they were demanding one hundred and forty taels in return, he immediately fainted.

Old Woman Liu was also utterly lost. Seeing Old Man Liu collapse, she was even more at a loss, and her son, Liu Song, had disappeared somewhere. She burst into loud wailing and lamenting.

Li Wu saw that Liu Song had dared to take out a loan shark debt from the gambling den and figured the family would be in trouble without him needing to intervene. Humming a tune, he left the Liu household. Old Woman Liu, who had initially been desperate for him to leave, now had no energy left to care whether he was gone or not.

At this point, Liu Song clearly understood that only his daughter could help him pay back the debt to the gambling den. Thus, for the past two days, he had been trying to see his daughter. When he told the gatekeeper at the Shen residence his purpose, the gatekeeper bluntly replied that no concubine was allowed to meet family members without the Master's explicit approval. The gatekeeper implied that if this person offered a little silver or something, he would certainly help pass the message along.

Unfortunately, Liu Song failed to grasp the subtle meaning. Not only did he miss the hint, but he also started cursing loudly, which infuriated the gatekeeper, who immediately called for men to drive him away without relaying any message.

However, even though the gatekeeper didn't report it, Master Shen still found out about the matter. The reason was that the owner of the gambling den had business dealings with Master Shen, and they were quite friendly. One day, the owner brought up the matter while joking with Master Shen: "When did you get yourself a father-in-law?"

Master Shen was puzzled. After learning the whole story, he was filled with rage. Someone dared to use his father-in-law's title to swindle and ruin his reputation—they clearly didn't value their life. Master Shen immediately told the gambling den owner that he knew nothing of this, had no such father-in-law, and that the den should proceed as they saw fit.

Naturally, after returning home, Master Shen stormed over to Liu Qian'er's quarters and let loose a torrent of anger. Furthermore, he did not visit Liu Qian'er for a long time afterward.

Liu Qian'er was completely bewildered, having no idea how her father had managed to anger Master Shen. Seeing Master Shen so furious, she became consumed with worry about her future days in the Shen manor. She had originally planned to ask Master Shen for permission to visit her mother before the New Year, but now she couldn't even get to see his face, let alone discuss anything else.

With Master Shen's word delivered, the gambling den understood immediately. When they went to the Liu house to collect the debt next time, they showed no restraint.

Old Man Liu knew that if the silver wasn't repaid, their lives would be perpetually unsettled, but the amount was too large; even if they borrowed from others, they couldn't gather that much silver. He became so anxious that foam started collecting at the corners of his mouth.

Each time the men from the gambling den came to the Liu house and found no money, they became enraged, smashing the family's belongings into disarray and severely beating Liu Song, threatening to chop off his hands if the debt wasn't paid soon. Old Man Liu, having no other choice, thought about selling land. They owned five mu of paddy field and twelve mu of dry land, which, when sold together, brought in ninety-four taels of silver, leaving a shortfall of forty-six taels. Having no alternative, he forced Old Woman Liu to take the jade bangle, passed down through the Liu family generations, to the pawnshop. Old Woman Liu wept over the bangle for a long time. This was a fine piece, a treasure passed down to each generation's daughter-in-law, something she had kept for herself—she hadn't even given it up when Wang Shi first married into the family. Now she had to pawn it with her own hands; how could Old Woman Liu not be heartbroken?

However, Old Woman Liu knew this wasn't a time for grief. For her son's sake, she had to bear the pain and pawn the bangle. The bangle fetched fifty taels of silver. Seeing this sum, Old Woman Liu's sorrow deepened. If it could fetch fifty taels at the pawnshop, the bangle was surely worth much more than that, probably significantly higher. Thinking about how such a fine treasure was being pawned away, her tears welled up again.

Combining the proceeds, they managed to gather just over one hundred and forty taels of silver, barely enough to settle Liu Song's debt to the gambling den. The men from the den were a bit surprised when the Liu family paid up; they hadn't realized the Liu household had such underlying assets. In truth, if the Liu family hadn't had some means back then, the Wang family wouldn't have agreed to marry their daughter, Wang Guifang, to him. Unfortunately, all of that foundation had been squandered by Liu Song.

After sending off the men from the gambling den, the family looked at their dilapidated home, their hearts heavy with a complex mix of emotions. A decent home had been reduced to this. Old Woman Liu couldn't stop herself from breaking down and sobbing, while Old Man Liu took a heavy stick and began relentlessly beating his son. Perhaps due to excessive anger, he momentarily lost control of his strength and broke Liu Song's leg.

Now, both Old Man Liu and Old Woman Liu were deeply worried and quickly called for a physician. When the doctor examined the leg, he shook his head and sighed repeatedly, saying the leg would never fully recover its original state. Even if it healed, he wouldn't be able to stand or walk for long periods, and might even end up slightly lame.

Upon hearing the doctor’s prognosis, Old Woman Liu fainted from the shock. When she awoke, she was inconsolable and began verbally attacking Old Man Liu again. Old Man Liu was filled with regret; he had never intended to accidentally break his son's leg so severely. Thus, when Old Woman Liu cursed him, he offered no retort.

When Liu Song learned that his leg would never fully heal, his temperament changed drastically. Every day he either threw things or cursed incessantly. Coupled with the family's fallen circumstances, he wasted countless meals in his fits of rage.

Over at the Wang family's side, Wang Guifang heard the news and sighed with deep concern. The Old Matriarch, however, upon hearing the news, felt an immense sense of satisfaction; even eating pickled vegetables tasted delicious to her.