The Goal Is Not to Trick You, The Goal Is to Trick You Into Dying
Granny Zhao saying that there was no money caused everyone to become dazed, and Fen Dai was the first to react: “Nonsense! How could the Feng family have no money?”
Feng Yu Heng immediately laughed, “Father is not a corrupt official. Why must there be money?”
“Even then, it’s impossible that there isn’t even enough to make head ornaments for us! Was all the money in the treasury eaten by a wolf?” She said this while glaring at Chen Yu, “I heard that eldest sister sent plenty of things to grandmother a few days ago. We all survive on the monthly allowance provided by the Feng family. How come eldest sister has more money than everyone else?”
Chen Yu helplessly said: “The money and things that I had were all previously given by the Chen family. Using this opportunity, I gave them to grandmother, so I don’t have anything left.”
“Enough! Stop arguing!” The matriarch was already feeling uneasy, so she felt even worse from hearing the argue. But she was also confused: “How could there be no money in the treasury? Didn’t we just receive rent from the residences before the end of the year?”
Granny Zhao sighed and told the matriarch: “The treasury said that master has recently been spending money on Tian Xiang courtyard. Bit by bit, all of the money was taken away.”
“What?” The matriarch immediately became furious, “The purchasing of things for Tian Xiang courtyard was supposed to be taken care of by servants, so why had he personally gone to do it? Also, even if he wanted to buy things for it, it should not have used up all of the money. The rent collected from the residence should have been 400 thousand taels!” The matriarch had always been in control of the manor’s communal funds. Although her back illness had flared up for a while before the new year, she immediately regained control. She may be foolish with other matters, but she would never make mistakes when it came to money.
How could granny Zhao know what had happened. She could only reply to the matriarch, saying: “That’s what the treasury said.”
“Hmph!” The matriarch angrily snorted. Slamming her cane on the ground, she stood up: “I will personally go and ask.”
The matriarch would be personally visiting, so the others naturally needed to go too. The ground noisily went to the treasury. Upon arriving, the man in charge of the treasury expected the matriarch would come. He had already brought the account journal to the entrance to wait for them.
“The communal funds of the Feng family have always been managed by elder madam, so you said to inform you whenever someone wanted to take money from the communal funds; however, you said that there was no need to ask you about it when master wanted to use it.” The man spoke clearly: “Master began taking money five days ago. The first time, it was ten thousand taels. The second time, it was fifty thousand taels. The third time, it was 200 thousand taels. The fourth time was also 200 thousand taels. With the four times added together, not only did the rent from the end of the year get used up, even the money saved from before was used. Right now, there is a total of 120 taels remaining. No matter what, that is not enough for four sets of head ornaments.”
The matriarch held the journal in her hands, and her face had turned green with anger “460 thousand, a full 460 thousand! I really must go see what he bought for that sl… princess!” She originally wanted to call her a slut, but she was unable to do it because of Kang Yi’s identity. But everyone could see that it was possible that the title of noble lady that Kang Yi had requested had lost its usefulness. When it came to wealth, the matriarch would not even recognize her own family.
The group mightly walked over to Tian Xiang courtyard with her.
In Tian Xiang courtyard, maidservants and grannies were extremely busy. One maidservant carried things while saying: “Master truly treats this eldest princess well. No matter how I look at it, these things seem to be better than the things in Jin Yu courtyard, right?”
One granny replied to her: “But of course, they are better than the things in Jin Yu courtyard. Not to mention the things that were bought later on, but the things that master found in the storage room were all things that had been awarded by the palace over the years. Chen shi has never used them.”
“The things in the storage room were all brought here?” She suddenly heard an angry voice, and all the servants in the courtyard shook from the shock. Everyone turned to look and found the Feng matriarch angrily lead in the masters of each of the Feng family’s courtyards. The matriarch glared at the granny and fiercely asked: “What did you just say? The things in the storage room awarded by the Emperor were all brought here?”
The granny quickly replied: “Replying to elder madam, some were brought here.”
“Aside from the things awarded by the Emperor, what else was brought?”
“There’s just the things that master has purchased the past few days.” The granny pointed to the bedroom, “Us servant have done as master instructed and brought them all in.”
The matriarch did not say another word and walked into the room. Behind her, Han shi enviously said: “Master truly favors that eldest princess. This is spending the entire manor’s wealth to make a beautiful woman smile!”
These words were heard even more clearly by the matriarch. She lacked a place to vent the anger that she was holding in. Seeing a servant wiping a chair, she actually raised her foot and kicked her.
The servant did not have time to protect herself and fell to the ground with an “Ah” sound. Upon raising her head, she saw the matriarch then quickly kneeled.
But how could the matriarch’s heart be satisfied with just kicking once, especially after entering this room, especially after looking at the room of gold and jade. Her heart was bleeding.
This cost money! This was formerly gleaming silver in the Feng manor’s treasury! That silver was something that she was reluctant to use, and she was reluctant to use it for the children; however, she never thought that Feng Jin Yuan would use it all to fill Kang Yi’s room. How would this allow her to feel at ease?
The matriarch only felt all of the blood in her body rush up. She took a few deep breaths and raised her hand to smash things. Granny Zhao quickly went to stop her: “Elder madam, you must not! Every one of these things is worth a large amount of money!”
An shi also advised her, “That’s right. I heard that he personally purchased these things. It seems that husband has taken a fancy to these things. If they are smashed, I fear that husband will become angry.”
“Then did he think about whether or not I would be angry?” The matriarch saw that there was nothing that she could smash or break, so she had no place to vent. Her vision went dark, as she nearly fainted.
Fortunately, granny Zhao was at her side and helped support her, bringing her to sit in a chair. While rubbing her back, she turned her gaze towards Feng Yu Heng. The matriarch’s symptoms were similar to high blood pressure, but the medicine that the second young miss had given the previous year was already completely used up.
Granny Zhao looked to Feng Yu Heng for help, but Feng Yu Heng did not move at all. She looked as though she did not understand what her gaze meant. Granny Zhao then remembered the matriarch’s attitude towards the second young miss over the past few days, thus she did not ask.
At this time, Chen Yu pondered quickly and took the initiative to ask the servants of Tian Xiang courtyard: “Have you heard if father took the initiative to purchase these things, or did Princess Kang Yi make a request of father?”
The young maidservants looked at each other but all shook their heads to express that they did not know. It was a granny that thought a little then said: “There was a time when master bought something and brought it back. It seemed that he said that Kang Yi would definitely be happy to see it. It sounded as though he wanted to give the eldest princess a pleasant surprise.”
Chen Yu heard this and immediately said to the matriarch: “Thinking about it, it’s all father’s idea. It’s not eldest princess Kang Yi intending to ruin our manor.”
“Is eldest sister clearly speaking up for eldest princess?” Fen Dai rolled her eyes, “I wonder what benefits she promised you.”
Chen Yu frowned and said: “Fourth sister, you are already eleven this year. At this age, you should be sensible. Eldest princess did not promise me any benefits. Instead, she is going to be the head wife. Us sisters will see more glory. In the future, we will have a head wife that can improve our standings. Elder sister thought that you would have understood this logic last time!”
Last time, Fen Dai had understood, but understanding was just understanding. It did not mean that she would not feel grievances. Originally, she had planned for Han shi to happily use the child in her belly to ascend to that position. Unfortunately, the eldest princess of Qian Zhou suddenly appeared out of the blue, eradicating any possibility of her desires coming true. How could she feel reconciled.
“Hmph.” She looked blankly at Chen Yu, “Eldest sister truly has great foresight. When it comes time for your birthday this year, you will be of marriageable age. We are still many years away. Younger sister does not have that the ability to think that far ahead. I was just thinking about the head ornaments that grandmother promised that can no longer be made, and I was feeling unhappy.”
“That’s right!” Han shi also sighed, “A daughter of his own cannot compare with an outsider’s daughter. He did not buy any lanterns, and now even the money to be used to produce head ornaments has all been used. Elder madam, this eldest princess has not even entered the manor, yet the young misses have already suffered such grievances. Once she does enter the manor, how will we be forced to live!” She said this while caressing her own belly, “Other things are small matters, but this concubine’s belly is on the verge of swelling up. The cost of tonics for daily use is not low. With just that bit remaining in the manor’s treasury, it’s not even enough for daily expenses. What sort of tonics could be purchased?”
Fen Dai nodded and said: “That’s right. This is not for concubine mother to eat. It’s for the child in concubine mother’s belly to eat.”
The matriarch naturally understood this reasoning. For someone that was pregnant, taking tonics was important. No matter who else was given less, Han shi could not be given less. Thus she quickly said: “There is no need for you to worry about this. Even if I must spend some of my own money, I will not allow my grandson to run out of food.”
Feng Yu Heng looked at the matriarch then looked at the furniture in the room. In her heart, she could not help but laugh. Sure enough, Feng Jin Yuan really was quite good! She had merely arranged for some people to say a few words about eldest princess Kang Yi liking gold and jade furniture and liking antiques. She never thought that this father would set his heart on it so resolutely that he would actually empty the Feng manor’s treasury to increase his standing with a beauty.
“Sure enough, Tian Xiang courtyard lives up to its name.” She smiled and said, “Since there is no money in the treasury, let’s just not have the head ornaments made. As daughters, we must do what will make father happy.”
Hearing this, the matriarch’s mind was even more flustered. The fathers of other families did their best to make their children happy, but in this family, the children did their best to make their father happy. What sort of reasoning was this?
Fen Dai silently snorted, “Second sister really is generous.”
Feng Yu Heng looked at her and asked: “Otherwise, what else can be done? Father is also the leader of the family. What in this manor was not acquired through father’s hard work. Now that he will be bringing in a new first wife, father is spending the money that he earned. Is there anything wrong with that?”
Fen Dai was rendered speechless, and the matriarch had thought it through, but the more she thought, the angrier she became. Both family and career prospered, and it was all the result of Feng Jin Yuan’s work, but she had given birth to him! Why had she never seen him be filial to her as a son?
The matriarch’s anger surged forth once more, and she began panting. While kicking, she looked around to try and find something to vent her anger on and to express her feelings.
At this time, a young servant happened to walk in from the outside with a scroll in her hands.
The matriarch angrily asked: “What is that?”
The young servant replied: “It’s a painting that master just told this servant to bring back.”
Once this was said, the matriarch’s anger surged to its peak! Without saying another word, she immediately snatched the scroll and tore it to shreds without even looking at it.
Since the jade items were worth money and could not be smashed, she would rip apart a painting. Either way, she had to vent her anger.
However, after that painting was ripped, along with the shock on the servant’s face, housekeeper He Zhong led another elderly man over to the matriarch. She then heard He Zhong say: “Reporting to elder madam, master just bought a painting at Wonderful Treasure House and informed the shopkeeper to come and retrieve the money from the manor.”
TN: The characters for Tian Xiang in Tian Xiang courtyard is part of a phrase used to describe a beautiful lady.