Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 182 A Mother and Daughter with a Bad Relationship

When Lu Jia got up, Qinghe brought news of the Du brothers coming to her house to demand someone's return. She ate her breakfast and nodded a few times before leaving.

Since Lu Jie had already intercepted the person, Lu Jia could no longer persuade the Du brothers to file a complaint with the yamen.

Even if the Lu family can only hand over a corpse in the end, the Du brothers can't do anything about it. In the end, the Jiang family will definitely use money and power to settle things.

It's good to have power!
After putting the bag down, she went to the main room.

Although it was infuriating that his treacherous father had ruined his plans, the loss was not as significant as gaining the power to manage the household affairs.

Gaining this power means she will be able to get close to the Jiang family and at the same time gain a thorough understanding of the Lu family's background.

Lu Jia arrived at the main courtyard a quarter of an hour early with Qinghe and Yinliu. Jiang's maid, Ningcui, immediately lifted the curtain for Lu Jia—it seemed that after Du Mama was beaten, these people had all learned their lesson.

Jiang sat at the head of the table, with a pile of plaques and account books on the table in front of him.

Surprisingly, Lu Ying was also sitting next to her.

"Sister is here!"

Before Lu Jia could even greet her, Lu Ying had already stood up, gracefully curtsied, and offered her her seat: "Have you had breakfast, sister?"

Lu Jia glanced at her and smiled, "Little sister, are you here to help Mother too?"

Lu Ying smiled slightly as well: "My mother always said that I'm about to get married and I still don't know anything. She was worried that people would laugh at me if I went out, so she asked my father for permission to let me learn skills from my sister."

Learn skills from Lu Jia?

Lu Jia found it amusing.

Can't anyone see that this mother and daughter can't afford to suffer this loss and insist on getting things fair?
But it doesn’t matter.

Lu Jia bowed to Madam Jiang and then sat down.

Su Zhixiao's wife came in from outside to report and ask for money. The reason was that the end of the year was approaching, and according to custom, all the doors and windows in the mansion needed to be repainted, and flowers and trees for the New Year needed to be added. In addition, each room needed to add some clothes and jewelry. The total amount had been calculated a few days ago, and the price quote had been obtained. Now the money needed to be collected to start the work.

Jiang remained calm, as if nothing had happened yesterday. After listening, she began to check the accounts that Jiang had handed over.

After glancing at it twice, she handed it to Lu Jia: "You have the authority to manage these expenses. Please take a look and see if they are appropriate?"

There were six lists in total. Lu Jia reviewed them three times. At first glance, the accounts seemed to have no flaws, but several totals were always wrong, and some of the purchased flowers and trees were not in season at all. There were also traces of duplicate listings on the door and window lists.

As Lu Jia flipped through the pages, she pondered. Having suffered a great loss yesterday, Jiang Shi wouldn't stoop to using these methods to trick her again. Most likely, it was to test her understanding, to see just how much she knew.

After suffering two setbacks, she became more cautious and wanted to know herself and her enemy.

He feigned ignorance and said, "I see no problem. I wonder what Mother and Sister think?"

Jiang glanced at her, then handed it to Lu Ying.

After reading it, Lu Ying immediately pointed it out. "Wutong Garden and Xiefeng Garden are the same courtyard, only Father renamed them last year. Why are they both listed? Doesn't that mean we have to pay twice?"
"And these pomegranate blossoms, how could they possibly be here at this time? It's a mistake." Madam Su should have her servants carefully check it before presenting it.

"This document, riddled with errors, is truly a laughing stock for my sister."

As Lu Ying finished speaking, she glanced at Lu Jia.

From the look she gave him, Lu Jia knew that she had seen through his act. Thinking about the girl's behavior over the past few days, he realized that she was clearly a clever and shrewd person. So he smiled at her.

In her past life, it was Jiang who orchestrated her forced marriage. I wonder what Lu Ying thinks of this marriage.

On the other side, Su Zhixiao's wife was smiling obsequiously, "It's my fault, I didn't even look at it properly before handing it over. Please forgive me, Madam, and please forgive me, Misses!"

After she left, someone from the storeroom came in to report something; this time it was also about procuring gifts for the Laba Festival.

Perhaps because there were too many things to do as the year drew to a close, or perhaps because Jiang thought there was plenty of time and no rush, this time she didn't let Lu Jia and the other woman interrupt, but instead gave the instructions directly:
"...Master has been promoted this year, so he can't be stingy with his spending. Especially for the Yan family, increase the budget by another 20% compared to previous years. Also, I remember there are a few top-quality ginseng roots in the storeroom. Wrap up two roots for Old Madam Yan. A while ago, some good-quality Shoushan stones were sent up from the west. Wrap them up and send them to Grand Secretary Yan as well."

The warehouse staff agreed, and then asked, "In previous years, the gifts given to our in-laws' mother were the same as those given to Madam Yan. Is it still the same this year?"

"If that's the case, I'm afraid we won't be able to find four of the best old ginseng roots in the warehouse."

“If we can’t divide it into two portions, we’ll give it to Old Madam Yan first,” Madam Jiang said without hesitation. “It doesn’t matter if we don’t send any or send less to my mother.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jia, who was listening in, glanced at Madam Jiang.

The ginseng was extremely rare, and he would rather give it to the old woman in the Yan family than give it to his own mother.

Jiang herself is already a first-rank lady of the court, so why does she need to be so respectful to the Yan family in every way?
Speaking of Madam Wei, on the night of the family banquet, Lu Jia witnessed firsthand that Madam Wei, as Madam Jiang's biological mother, had to act according to Madam Jiang's wishes in every way.

At the time, Lu Jia felt that Jiang's attitude towards her own mother was not the attitude a daughter should have towards her mother.

After Jiang's biological father died, he was raised by Wei through hard work. Moreover, it was said that each branch of the Jiang family was not easy to deal with. They took advantage of Wei for not having given birth to a son and ostracized Jiang and her mother in various ways.

Logically speaking, having endured so much hardship, Jiang should have shown even greater respect to her widowed mother who had raised her with such difficulty. However, Jiang did the opposite, showing no respect for Wei and seemingly able to manipulate her at any time. The key point is that Wei showed no intention of resisting at all and was always subservient to Jiang. Why was this?

"...The matter of supervising the flowers and trees will be handled by the eldest daughter. The matter of delivering gifts on Laba Festival will be handled by the second daughter." As Lu Jiasi finished speaking, Madam Jiang had already finished giving instructions and was picking up her tea. "Since this is the first time the two young ladies have been assisting with affairs, you all should give them more reminders to ensure there are no mistakes."

The servants all agreed. Lu Ying also prepared to rise and receive the order.

Lu Jia said, "How about I switch with my sister? She's been pampered since she was little and can't handle this kind of hardship. She should stay and oversee the flower and tree matters."

"I was born rough around the edges, so I'll take care of running errands and delivering gifts."

Madam Jiang frowned: "The gifts to each household are a matter of face for the Lu family. You don't even know the people there, how can you possibly handle it properly?"

"What's so difficult about that?" Lu Jia smiled and glanced at the servants. "Didn't Mother already instruct them to assist?"
“Even if they can’t do it, I can still ask Uncle Yang and Aunt Yang for help.”

With that, she reached out and quickly snatched the gift list, then walked out the door first.