Chapter 7: Does She Think I’m A Fool?!
The next day, early in the morning, while Jiang Ruanxi was eating breakfast, Madam Zhou came to Jiang Ruanxi’s Yun Lin Yuan and pretended to casually mention the reason for the silver.
Jiang Ruanxi put down the porcelain bowl and pretended to be anxious as she asked, “Mother, how much money is probably needed?”
“It’s actually not much.” Madam Zhou appeared hesitant to speak.
“Not much is how much?” Jiang Ruanxi played along with her acting.
Seeing this, Madam Zhou knew Jiang Ruanxi had taken the bait and slowly said, “Just twenty thousand taels of silver. If more is needed later, there might be additional requirements.”
Hearing this, Jiang Ruanxi cold smiled in her heart.
These people were truly greed without limits, demanding an exorbitant sum.
Twenty thousand taels was almost all the surplus from the Lin Family’s industries, yet she still thought it wasn’t much.
She still remembered that in her previous life, Madam Zhou had also come to ask her for silver, but for Lin Ningkun’s future prospects, she had sold much of her dowry as subsidy, yet at that time Madam Zhou hadn’t said it was just this much money.
Reborn once, she was no longer that stupid.
“Mother, you know the situation in the Marquis Manor now. So much money might not be available.”
The expression on Madam Zhou’s face immediately darkened. “How could it not be available?”
Madam Zhou thought she was unwilling to provide it.
Because in recent years, under Jiang Ruanxi’s management, life in the Marquis Manor had been more exquisite and extravagant than before, so how could they not be able to produce this amount of money.
“If Mother doesn’t believe it, the Marquis Manor’s account books are all here. Take them back and look yourself. Otherwise, I would be accused of deceiving you.”
Jiang Ruanxi stood up, took a stack of account books from the table beside her, and placed them in front of her.
“These are the Marquis Manor’s account books. Before I came to the Marquis Manor, it owed quite a bit of external debt. In recent years, the Marquis Manor’s business has improved somewhat, but the household expenses are considerable, resulting in an unbalanced state of income and expenditure. Much of it has been subsidized by my own dowry.
Even so, it still can’t balance income and expenditure, and now it still owes twenty thousand taels of external debt. I had originally planned to be frugal this year and clear these accounts.
But who would have thought the Marquis would bring back Xiao Ge’er. Although he hasn’t been adopted yet, his food, clothing, and expenses are already at the standard of a legitimate son of the Marquis Manor. The Marquis also said he wants to purchase a courtyard. The Marquis Manor was already practicing frugality, and now to take out twenty thousand taels of silver is indeed somewhat difficult.”
Madam Zhou had no intention of looking through the accounts, thinking it was an excuse from Jiang Ruanxi. After thinking, she said, “Since that’s the case, how about temporarily postponing the matter of purchasing the courtyard.”
Madam Zhou naturally wouldn’t be willing for her own grandson to suffer, so she could only wrong Jiang Xuerou.
Jiang Ruanxi thought for a few seconds. “Since Mother has said so, and it concerns the Marquis’s future prospects, I will shift it from elsewhere. But twenty thousand taels might be a bit difficult; at most, I can only provide five thousand taels.”
Five thousand taels was far from enough.
Madam Zhou’s brows furrowed slightly as she looked at Jiang Ruanxi’s gentle face, immediately having an idea. “Ruanxi, I remember that among your dowry, there are several shops east of the city, right?”
Jiang Ruanxi hadn’t expected Madam Zhou to target her shops. Her eyelids cooled, and she was just about to find an excuse to refuse, but before she could speak, Madam Zhou took her hand.
“Anyway, you have so much dowry. Why not sell a few shops? Then wouldn’t you have the money?”
“Old Madam, that won’t do. Those are Madam’s dowry.” Before Jiang Ruanxi could speak, Hong Ye, fearing Jiang Ruanxi would soften and agree, anxiously spoke up from the side.
Seeing someone interrupt and refuse her, and that person being a maidservant in the manor, Madam Zhou immediately let go of Jiang Ruanxi’s hand, her face turning cold as she glared viciously at Hong Ye. “You lowly servant, when the master is speaking, what right do you have to interject?”
Hong Ye realized she had been too hasty and overstepped, lowering her head and not daring to speak.
Seeing Hong Ye being scolded, Jiang Ruanxi’s eyes also cooled.
“Mother, she is my personal maidservant. It’s only natural for her to consider things for me. For Mother to so excitedly scold a maidservant like this, isn’t it somewhat unbecoming of an elder’s demeanor?”
Even when beating a dog, one looks at the master. To insult her people in her presence like in the past, they truly treated her as the soft persimmon she was before, to be pinched at will by the Marquis Manor.
Hong Ye was stunned, not expecting Jiang Ruanxi to stand up for her, looking at her with a face of disbelief.
Was this still the previous Jiang Ruanxi who obeyed everyone in the Marquis Manor without question?
It felt like she had been replaced by a different person.
Madam Zhou was taken aback, not expecting Jiang Ruanxi to say such words. She was quite displeased in her heart, but thinking of her objective, she could only forcibly suppress her inner dissatisfaction.
“I’m not anxious because of the Marquis’s matter? Let’s not worry about the maidservant for now and talk about the silver. I know these shops are your dowry, but now that you are married to the Marquis, you are also part of our Marquis Manor. Your dowry is naturally also the Marquis Manor’s possession.
And now that the Marquis is in difficulty, concerning his future prospects, as his wife, you can’t just stand by and watch, right?”
Jiang Ruanxi cold smiled in her heart.
Now they acknowledged her as Lin Ningkun’s wife, but which wife is abandoned by her husband in the back courtyard for five years after the wedding ceremony, without even a proper glance upon his return, showing no care for her at all? Now that they needed money, they remembered she was his wife. Damn him.
Did they think she was a fool!
Jiang Ruanxi remained silent without speaking.
Madam Zhou was somewhat puzzled. In the past, as long as she said a few nice words, Jiang Ruanxi would be very happy, and whatever she wanted, Jiang Ruanxi would agree.
Why was it so unusual this time?
She had spoken for so long without agreement, feeling a bit unhappy in her heart.
But thinking that perhaps it was because of the adoption of Lin Xiao that made her unhappy, her displeasure lessened somewhat, and she adjusted her tone to continue.
“You originally came from a merchant family. If the Marquis gets promoted, your status will rise accordingly. Moreover, you are only temporarily using your own dowry. Once the Marquis is promoted, there will be more avenues, and in the future, there will naturally be more silver money. We can return it to you then. What do you think?”
Without rebirth, the previous Jiang Ruanxi might have foolishly believed Madam Zhou’s deception.
But after rebirth, Jiang Ruanxi had clearly seen the true face of the Marquis Manor.
Not to mention whether Lin Ningkun could get promoted, with his arrogant and aloof personality, originally despising worldly copper stink and not skilled in business, with his current salary, he simply had no ability to repay.
Even if promoted, he would feel that mentioning money was an insult to his noble integrity. He would take her contributions for granted and would not repay at all.
On one hand, hating evil like enemies and treating copper stink as dirt, but on the other hand, silently permitting the spending of her silver.
In the end, he even felt that everyone was forcing him.
Over these many years, Jiang Ruanxi truly understood Lin Ningkun too well. He was a thorough hypocrite.
