Chapter 154 The Loss of Dowry Was an Abyss!
“Yuru, you really didn’t spread the gossip, did you?” asked Qin Huaiyong. As he finished asking, his eyes became strangely deep at once.
“No! Father! I didn’t do that!” answered Qin Yuru. Unlike Madam Di who always reacted quickly, a hint of pride flashed in her eyes as she heard what Qin Huaiyong asked. She believed that her father wouldn’t punish her if she said nothing. By the way, she didn’t do that but it was those ladies who were curious and sent their servants to ask her servants about this gossip.
Qin Huaiyong said decisively, “Then it must be your servants who spread the gossip. Tell the steward! Flog each for 10 times and deprive of their half-year salary!”
“Father!” Qin Yuru screamed. She was stunned and she didn’t expect that Qin Huaiyong would punish all her servants. Now her people were punished and it must be very difficult for her to cultivate servants loyal to her in the future.
“If there is still someone who gossips, then we just sell him and kick him out. We don’t need any servant who always gossips!” said Qin Huaiyong who then stood up with a grim expression.
“General, Yuru knows nothing, and you…” Madam Di tried to intercede for Qin Yuru and also stood up.
“That’s enough. You have horsed around for a long time and now you’d better go back. Mother must be tired!” Qin Huaiyong didn’t let her finish and interrupted her. Then he bowed to Old Grandma who had kept silence all the time and left.
When he walked to the door, he seemed to think of something. He turned around and watched Shui Ruolan carefully. As his eyes became gentle and soft, he said, “Ruolan, take a good rest. I will ask my people to send you two old maidservants!”
“I sure appreciate, cousin!” said Shui Ruolan. She then stood up and bowed sideways to him.
Qin Huaiyong nodded and gave a glance at Qin Wanru, seeming that he wanted to say something. However, he said nothing in the end. He just moved his lips, then he turned around and strode away.
“Father…” Qin Yuru didn’t satisfy with this result and tried to follow him but Madam Di caught her. Feeling Madam Di’s palm was sweating, Qin Yuru gnashed her teeth and calmed down out of the blue.
“Mother, I want grandma!” Qin Yuru turned around and wiped her tears with her handkerchief. She also wanted to remind all people here that she was the granddaughter of Duke Yong’s Mansion!
She was unwilling to let Qin Wanru prevail. Since she knew that she was Qin Huaiyong’s only daughter, Qin Yuru gradually had a good opinion of herself, thinking that Qin Wanru, a b*stard who had no parents, was unable to be comparable with her.
When she found that Qin Wanru knew nothing and kept calling Madam Di “mother” affectionately, she felt that she was seeing a joke. The b*stard with humble origin was totally unworthy to have the same mother with her!
How could she not get mad when she was suppressed by this b*stard who she always despised now! Although she didn’t really want to go to Duke Yong’s Mansion, she just tried to remind them that she came from Duke Yong’s Mansion. Qin Wanru, this b*stard without parents could not be comparable with her.
“Yuru, don’t cry. If someone does sow discord between Wanru and you, he or she must be punished,” said Madam Di. She knew she put her foot in it spontaneously under the lead of Qin Wanru. She had also expected that the thing would go wrong since Qin Wanru said so after her words.
Then Qin Huaiyong punished Qin Yuru’s servants without hesitation. She was extremely irritated but she couldn’t show her emotion on her face!
Madam Di forced a smile and said to Shui Ruolan, “Sister, sorry to trouble you for the business in the mansion. I would tell Yuru’s servants to come and you must punish them and teach them the rules in this mansion clearly!”
Now it was Shui Ruolan who took charge of the business in this mansion. So it was reasonable to let her deal with this thing.
Madam Di didn’t get along well with Shui Ruolan. Thus, if Shui Ruolan asked people to punish Madam Di’s servants, these servants would hate Shui Ruolan and they would be much more loyal to Madam Di.
Qin Wanru sneered and thought, “How crafty Madam Di is! She could even come up with an idea in a flash. No wonder she has been in charge of the Qin’s Mansion for so many years. She is the boss of the inner court and even Old Grandma couldn’t suppress her!”
Finding out that Shui Ruolan tried to say something, Qin Wanru reached out and grabbed her sleeve, giving her a sign that she would do this.
“Madam, father gave this order so they should look for the steward of the outer court for punishment. We should also allow all servants in the mansion to watch the punishment. Then those who always gossip dare not do that anymore. If they still gossip, then it would not be the simple flogging and deprivation of salary waiting for them!”
Qin Wanru raised her head and said with a smile.
“If this punishment order is within the jurisdiction of the inner court, then it should be Shui Ruolan who asks people to punish them but it is Qin Huaiyong who wants them to be punished, which means that this order belongs to the business of the outer court whose steward is loyal to Qin Huaiyong.”
“If so, it would seem that it is Madam Di who sends her servants to receive punishment. People in this mansion would know that it isn’t Shui Ruolan who finds faults with Madam Di’s servants and wants to punish them because Shui Ruolan dislikes Madam Di. The two situations have totally different meanings.”
“It is about our inner court but why would it bother father’s servants but not Madam Shui?” asked Qin Yuru immediately as she seemed to realize the deep meaning of the order.
“But father said so and it isn’t mother who wants to punish them!” Qin Wanru said as her eyes flashed.
“What? How dare you say in this way?” Qin Yuru was irritated!
“I am telling you father’s meaning. Am I wrong?” Qin Wanru’s eyes became cold.
Qin Yuru got mad and her face turned red. When she tried to say something, Old Grandma interrupted her directly and said, “Do you finish? If you could finish, then you just leave here. I feel tired. If you still don’t have a clear conclusion, then you just go and find Huai’er. He has not gone far. You could send someone to stop him!”
She said very calmly. It was the first time that Old Grandma talked to them since Qin Wanru came here. What she said had shown her impatience and dissatisfaction very clear.
If Madam Di and her daughter wanted to badger with them, they dare not say anything because of Old Grandma’s words.
Madam Di took a deep breath and forced a smile. She said, “Mother, Yuru and I would leave soon. And how do you think of the matter that I told you before?”
Madam Di knew that if they continued, they would only irritate Old Grandma and she would really ask Qin Huaiyong to come here again. Now confronting the tough with toughness was an improper solution. Thus, Madam Di changed the topic immediately and reminded Old Grandma of the thing that Qin Huaiyong and she asked Old Grandma before.
“It depends on you!” answered Old Grandma. She closed her eyes feebly. She looked very pale as her face yellowed and then turned white.
It also seemed that Old Grandma had been in a bad mood as she sat there and said nothing just now.
“If you agree, that would be great. Then Yuru and I leave now.” Finding that her purpose was achieved, Madam Di now didn’t want to badger with Qin Wanru and Shui Ruolan.
Madam Di then bowed to Old Grandma and asked Qin Yuru to bowed to her even though she was unwilling. Then Madam Di left with Qin Yuru.
After they left, Shui Ruolan asked anxiously, “Mother, what did you just promise sister?”
Madam Di’s reaction was very strange. She even could stand the thing that Qin Yuru’s servants were to be punished. It seemed that her intention was not simple. Shui Ruolan was afraid that she would do harm to Old Grandma.
“She wants some new shops that our mansion just bought!” Old Grandma sneered and said, “And Huai’er also agreed with her!”
Qin Huaiyong came here with Madam Di was to ask about those new-bought shops. They said that these shops as dowry were very necessary when marrying into Duke Yong’s Mansion. In addition, Qin’s Mansion could not be looked down upon by them. They had a very long talk and then Qin Yuru came back in tears.
“How about her shops?” Qin Wanru asked immediately as she knew that this thing wouldn’t be simple.
“She just told me that because she has not been in the capital city for years, she asked people of Duke Yong’s Mansion to take care of her shops. However, she didn’t expect that the steward didn’t care about her shops because he thought Madam Di has not been in capital city all the time. Then the number of shops gradually decreased. And now, there is only loss but no profit at all!”
Old Grandma answered tiredly. Not only her body was exhausted, but also her heart.
She used to have no complaint but now she had. She felt gradually disappointed at what she saw. Madam Di endlessly asked her for something only because she came from Duke Yong’s Mansion.
An idea suddenly jumped to Qin Wanru’s mind. She asked, “Grandma, that steward didn’t return you those shops, did he?”
“Well, that steward almost returns me those shops but he has to adjust the accounts first. When I received those accounts, I would let Madam Di and your mother look over it and then I could seal it. After that, our mansion would manage those shops. However, now these shops have been losing money. So even though he returned me these shops, they are useless!”
Old Grandma answered.
“Why would let mother check it?” asked Qin Wanru confusedly. These accounts were Madam Di’s dowry and she could check them by herself but why would let Shui Ruolan get involved? It was so strange that Madam Di would become so generous.
“It is your father’s request. Because of the loss, our mansion even owed a lot of money to the Duke Yong’s Mansion. When those accounts are clear, we still have to return them the money which Duke Yong’s Mansion helped us!”
The more Old Grandma thought, the angrier she was. She also had dowry, quite a few at that time. She didn’t believe Madam Di’s words. If her shops lost money, then she just left them. Moreover, how could those shops still lose money with subsidy!
“If those shops do lose a lot of money, they could write to Madam Di and let her deal with this but why would they still invest the shops! Is Duke Yong’s Mansion really very wealthy? Are they truly willing to pay for her daughter who has married into another family when the family doesn’t know this thing?”
“Duke Yong’s Mansion must consider us as idiots!”
However, even though she knew something was wrong she had no evidence. Thus, she could only give Duke Yong’s Mansion the money.
People of the outer court spent mostly on new shops and some on presents which were prepared for some Qin Huaiyong’s friends in the capital city. Old Grandma had money in the account of the inner court so she wanted to use this money to pay. And now it was Shui Ruolan who took charge of the business of the inner court so Shui Ruolan had to check the accounts.
The matter was very complicated so Old Grandma thought Qin Wanru didn’t understand. At the same time, she was so angry that she couldn’t help speaking out!
“Grandma, may I help mother check the account? She couldn’t be too tired now!” Qin Wanru smiled and tried to get this work.
“I never expect that there would be such a matter. Well, it also saves me a lot of trouble. I know something is wrong with Madam Di’s dowry and try to throw out a minnow to catch a whale. But now, the minnow is in front of me and how could I refuse!”
“As for why Madam Di becomes so generous now, it must be that she considers this minnow as a useless minnow.”
Old Grandma thought Qin Wanru’s worry was reasonable so she nodded in agreement. She said, “Okay, then you need to give a hand to your mother!”
Old Grandma thought that her little granddaughter had become more and more clever and it would be better to confront with the cunning and crafty Madam Di with her help!
It was definitely not enough with a small minnow. Thus, she needed more. Qin Wanru raised her head and asked with a smile, “Grandma, do you have other accounts? We may check the first account at that time.”