in spring

Chapter 217

Shao Yao gently caressed An's back, and then slowly persuaded her: "Everyone is gone, it's too late to get angry now. Besides, Miss Huo's cousin never promised her brother, and there is a younger brother at home, It is expected that this furniture will not reach the hands of the wife, but it has been for nothing for a few years, earning some money, and now seeing that the profit is dwindling, and returning it to the Huo family, even if there is a deficit, it will not be a loss to us. Why bother, madam angry?"

An's vented his anger just now, and his anger has calmed down a lot. Hearing Shaoyao's persuasion, after thinking about it carefully, he thinks it makes sense.I don't know if it's because the market conditions are bad or the shopkeepers are useless, those shops were fine in the first two years, but in the last year and a half, the profit on the account has dropped by more than half, and the business has gradually declined.She questioned the shopkeepers several times, but to no avail. Not long ago, she was worried that she would lose money in two years.Now that the shop has been returned, someone has to settle the accounts, and they just presume that the market is not good, so they get away, so as not to have to use her private money to make up for it.It's just that those few shops, if managed well, could earn a total of 3000 taels of silver a year, but now that they are gone, it is really distressing.

She slowly calmed down and sighed: "Although what you said is reasonable, I have done my best to my niece in the past few years. I am considerate in every aspect of my life and diet, and I almost treat her as my own daughter. Cheng Xiang asked her to do a trick, how can it make people feel better?!"

Shao Yao's face froze, and she quickly recovered her smile: "My wife doesn't have to think that way. To be honest, although Miss Biao is the eldest daughter of the family, she has an heir and uncle and aunt to take care of her. To put it bluntly, in the past few years, whenever the Huo family's stewards came to the mansion to ask for instructions, they always asked Aunt Qing. What does Miss Biao know? How many young ladies who have not left the cabinet will intervene in such mundane matters? What's more, when those shops fell into the hands of my wife back then, she never had the intention to shirk, and she didn't take the initiative to ask about the interest rate in the past few years. Maybe she already knew it in her heart, because she was grateful for her care. Well, these properties should be regarded as filial piety. If the Second Young Mistress and Mrs. Qi hadn't brought it up this time, the matter would not have caused trouble. When Miss Biao was leaving yesterday, she also defended his wife, and it didn't look like it He deliberately teased his wife, if Madam Qi hadn't exposed it, how could this matter have been leaked?"

"Really?" An Shi was dubious, but most of the anger in his heart had gone.That's right, Huo Yi has never mentioned the matter of the shop to anyone, and she didn't even say anything about deducting the interest from the shop in the past year. How can I be scolded by my mother-in-law and husband?It's unreasonable, she must find a way to teach the second daughter-in-law a lesson!
Seeing the change of expression on her face, Shao Yao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, looked up and saw Man Ru holding a cup of hot tea, and frowned: "It's almost time for dinner, why are you making tea again?"

"I'm just afraid that my wife's mouth will dry up." Manru smiled, put down the teacup, and got straight to the point, "I heard what my sister said just now. It's reasonable, but my sister is too inconsiderate of my wife. This incident has caused a lot of trouble. It's so big, the Huo family doesn't say a word, others will only say that his family is kind, and they don't ruin the relationship with their relatives for small profits; when the Hou family returns the shop, others will also say that the old lady and Lord Hou are good-natured and not greedy for money. But the reputation of the wife is bad! If Miss Biao wants to protect the wife, why don't you expressly give those shops to the mansion? Take it as a thank you to the old lady, Master Hou and wife for their love and care in the past few years. But she In front of the old lady, I never said that!"

Seeing that An's face was pulled down again, Shao Yao hurriedly said: "Your words are biased. Since Miss Biao is already married, how can she become the owner of the Huo family's property? Besides, the wife is the mistress of the Hou family. When someone praises the Marquis' Mansion, it's the same as complimenting his wife, how could his wife lose her reputation?!"

Manru smiled, and turned to An Shi: "Madam, think about it carefully, is the servant girl right? I heard that Mrs. Qi was scolding the wife at the time, and the second young lady also said that everyone in Beijing knows about it. Wait. After the government returned the things, people only praised the old lady and the Lord Hou, so how could they praise the wife? After all, Miss Biao didn't think carefully about this matter. If she had the heart, she should give the property to her before she got married. Ma'am, what's the problem? She's such a smart person, she should have thought that her wife would be laughed at by others! I think she may have a grudge in her heart and wants to make her wife look ugly! The rumors in Beijing, who Do you know if it has something to do with her? How do outsiders know about the private entrustment of the two families?" After a pause, he added: "If Miss Biao really had no complaints in her heart, she wouldn't deliberately pretend to be poor, making the wife think that She was poor, and she made up for it everywhere. Just her clothes for all seasons, the materials and workmanship are ten times better than those of the two ladies in the family! How much money is spent here!"

Shao Yao sneered, Huo Yi's new clothes for the four seasons were all spent on her own money, and the Hou Mansion didn't pay a penny!On the contrary, the old lady loves her granddaughter so much that she shows her body from time to time. The wife has never liked Miss Cousin. If the old lady didn't speak, she would even forget to make new clothes for Cousin!This Manru is talking nonsense, what idea is she trying to come up with this time? !

Unexpectedly, An Shi had another thought in her heart: if Huo Yi really wanted to get close to her, she wouldn't hide the amount of her family property.If she had known that the Huo family had such a rich family back then, she wouldn't have been procrastinating and refusing to propose marriage for her son!Huo Yi's dowry must be very generous, right?It's a pity, it's all cheaper than that Gu boy!

The more An Shi thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt, and she slapped the table hard: "Where is the person?! Didn't I call someone to ask questions?! Where did they go?!"

Shao Yao was startled, and heard Man Ru add fuel to the flames: "Madam should ask clearly, especially those who were serving in front of Miss Biao, I don't believe it, they didn't see any trace! People from the Hou Mansion help outsiders to hide the truth from their master, they really deserve to be punished!"

Shaoyao stared at Manru angrily, and Manru avoided her sight with flickering eyes. After a while, a daughter-in-law came in and said, "Master Hou sent someone to ask his wife, did you find out everything you said yesterday? Lord is waiting for witnesses to confront the Liang family."

Anshi waved her hand impatiently: "I have asked someone to ask! There will be news in two days, so you go down!" Shao Yao also lightly reprimanded: "Don't even check what time it is?! Hurry up and go down! "The daughter-in-law realized that the atmosphere in the room was not right, so she hurriedly retreated out.Shao Yao glanced at Manru, noticed that her face was pale, and her heart moved.

When Chunying heard her mother-in-law calling her, saying that the wife had invited her, she didn't know what happened, so she asked the old woman with an apologetic smile, but the latter couldn't explain clearly, so she had to hurriedly change into the maid's uniform, combed Good head, I followed the woman to the mansion, still thinking in my heart: I hope my mother will come back sooner, lest Hu Fei will be turned away when he comes.

Not long after entering the gate of the mansion, they met Yinhuan, and halfway there, they met Shi'er and another woman, who said they were going to the wife.Chunying had some bad premonitions in her heart. When walking behind the women, she quietly gave Shier a hand, and asked in a low voice, "Why do I hear something wrong? What's the matter? You want to send us a special trip?"

Shi'er frowned: "I can't tell... the third young master is not at home today, so I'm not sure..."

Chunying was worried, and kept thinking about what happened in the past few days. She felt that she was at home almost every day, and she didn't make any mistakes. What words?Or is it that the wife is actually just planning to officially announce the arrangement for herself and others?But that's too much!

Chunying thought wildly like this, and followed her mother-in-law all the way to the wife's main courtyard. As soon as she entered the door, her eyes widened - all the people standing in the courtyard were acquaintances!They are all the girls next to the cousin Huo Yi!What exactly happened here?
Shaoyao lifted the curtain and came out, glanced at everyone, sighed secretly in her heart, and then lingered on Chunying for two seconds, then said indifferently: "Among the people who served Miss Huo's Biao before, is there a big girl?" Chunying and Shi'er looked at each other, then stepped forward and said, "This servant is a second-class girl, and she does some chores in Miss Cousin's room." Shao Yao stared at her for a while before asking, "Is there a second person?" Standing up: "The slaves are also second-class. There is a first-class sister Nuanyu who is the maid in the old lady's house."

An's voice came from the room: "That's it, bring them in!" Shaoyao signaled Chunying and Shi'er to follow, and before entering the door, while no one was paying attention, she whispered: "Be careful when you answer, Man Rucai Chewing tongue!"

Chunying's heart shivered, she nodded to show she understood, Shi'er's eyes almost burst into flames.

Entering the house to meet An Shi, Chunying took a peek at her, and found that she was angry, and she became more vigilant in her heart.

An looked at Chunying and Shi'er a few times, and recognized that they were girls who were in the old lady's room last time, helping her son to refute the second wife, her face softened a little, and she said expressionlessly: "I have something to ask you ! When you served Miss Huo's Biao before, did you know that her family..." After a pause, I suddenly felt a little hard to say, what do you say about this kind of thing?Do you want to admit that you have plans for relatives' property? !

Chunying heard half of it, but stopped talking, and was a little puzzled.It seems that the matter has something to do with Huo Yi, but what is it, Madam has to finish talking anyway? !
Anshi gritted her teeth, glanced at Shaoyao, Shaoyao smiled back, glanced at the figure behind the curtain, sneered in her heart, and said: "Do you know what the housekeeper of Miss Biao's family usually comes to the house to talk about?" ? How much of Miss Biao’s daily expenses is paid by the Duke of the Hou family? How much is the old lady’s self? How much is the Huo family’s own expenses? "

An Shi was quite satisfied after hearing this, so she glared at Chunying and Shi'er: "Quickly answer!"

Chunying thought it was weird, hesitated for a while, and Shi'er spoke first: "When Manager Cai of the Huo family came, he was waiting outside, and ordered someone to send a letter of account book to Aunt Qing and Miss Biao. The letter said It's all about the big and small affairs of their Huo family's mansion, and the details are unknown because the servants and maidservants have never been there to serve them."

"I don't know?! Why didn't you come to serve me?!"

Chunying hurriedly said: "Madam Rong, when Miss Biao saw Director Cai, except for Aunt Qing, there were only two maids brought from Huo's family. We who did odd jobs were never allowed to come. Slaves We knew that they were discussing housework, and it was only because Miss Biao and Aunt Qing accidentally talked about it afterwards. As for the expenses of Miss Biao, it has always been enshrined by the Huo family, only the old lady and the young mistress..." Looking up at An Shi, "There is also your wife, who will send some things here from time to time."

An Shi hurriedly stood up: "Eldest young mistress?! What did she give?!"

Chunying replied cautiously: "Most of them are fresh fruits in season, or broken branches of seasonal flowers, sometimes it is a book or an embroidery, it doesn't matter..."

How could Anshi believe it?She suddenly remembered that when Li Jing and his wife split up, the husband actually gave 1 taels of silver as a settling allowance!There is also a large estate!She almost died of distress!When she went to have a housewarming wedding that day, she found that there were a lot of Nanyang style decorations in the house, which were very fashionable, but these were only owned by the people in the fleet!She clearly remembered that her own fleet didn't bring such things, how did Li Jing get it? !Could it be... She remembered that the Huo family had a fleet, and that Li Jing stayed in the south for several months!
She gritted her teeth, when Li Jing was at home, she kept restraining his family of three's expenses, but the two of them didn't seem to be short of money at all, God knows where they got the money from? !She would never believe that they did not collude with the Huo family!hateful!As a concubine, actually united with relatives to deceive his aunt? !
Chunying watched An's face turn black and then red, red and blue, and couldn't understand if he had said something wrong, and when he was struggling, a daughter-in-law came in and replied: "Madam, Master Hou is urging... "

"Got it, got it!" An replied impatiently, snorted twice, and then said, "Wait! I'll come back to ask questions!" Then he got up and walked out.When they reached the door, the curtain moved, and Manru quickly followed.

Chun Ying frowned and watched them leave, then turned around and asked Shao Yao: "Sister Shao Yao, what happened?!"

Shao Yao shook her head: "I don't know either. Manru seems to always talk about you when she talks today. I don't know what she is planning. You have to be more careful later. No matter what the wife says, follow her will. She scolds others. Don't talk back, it's over if you get through it anyway. I'll go over to wait on you, so that Manru won't take advantage of the loopholes, you can kneel here at ease, don't run around!" After saying that, he went out.

Chunying turned her head and looked at Shi'er at each other, both worried.

(End of this chapter)