Springtime Affairs in a Noble Family

After being spoken to like that by Duke Dingguo, Song Shulan could no longer speak, swallowing back all the remaining words. Instead, he thought that today's opportunity was rare, being able to drink with Duke Dingguo and Minister Qian, and he had to make the most of it.

After several rounds of drinks, the Duke of Dingguo still looked worried.

Qian Jin also had his own ulterior motives. While Song Shulan went to relieve himself, he pulled Dingguo Gongdao aside and said, "Alas, my son is so unlucky. I don't know what Song Shulan was thinking, actually looking for someone for a merchant, who isn't even his own brother-in-law!"

"That's right." Duke Dingguo was in a bad mood today, and hearing about these things only made him more upset.

"Lord Duke, why don't you speak to Song Shulan on my behalf and tell him to leave Cui Zeyu alone? He's just a merchant; he can be exiled easily. Why hurt everyone's feelings?" Qian Jin was afraid he wouldn't be able to clean up the mess himself, so he wanted the Duke of Dingguo to step in. After all, there weren't many people who could put Xie Yunting in his place, and the Duke of Dingguo was one of them.

The Duke of Dingguo readily agreed, "Sure, such a simple matter. I'll not only talk to Song Shulan about it, but I'll also teach that brat Xie Yunting a lesson later!"

With the Duke of Dingguo's words, Qian Jin felt much more at ease.

The next day, Qian went to the Rong Prince's Mansion to find his sister. When the two met, Wu Shi found out.

Wu led her people to the shop and met Cui Lingrong on the second floor.

"I know what you're going to ask. It's about your adopted brother, isn't it?" Madam Wu said first. "My second sister-in-law and Rongjia grew up together since childhood. Today I saw Qian Jin at the Prince's Mansion, and I think your adopted brother's matter is related to them."

Cui Lingrong frowned slightly, realizing with certainty.

"Sister Cui, let me call you that. It's not the first time we've met, so let's be more intimate," Madam Wu said with a light smile. "Your adopted brother is your moneybag. Rongjia's move was quite clever; by having the Qian family handle it, others won't immediately suspect her involvement. If you cripple your moneybag, you won't be able to do many things. Has Rongjia finally grown a brain?"

Cui Lingrong said no, "When Wang Shanxi's wife was around, she was the one who gave Rongjia Princess advice. Now that Chen De's wife has come, she seems to have more ideas. It should be her idea."

Knowing that Princess Rongjia was the mastermind, Cui Lingrong had a target.

She looked at Madam Wu, lowering her posture, and said, "Please, Your Highness, give me some guidance. My younger brother is someone I raised; to me, he is like a younger brother."

"You value him that much?" As for Cui Lingrong, who was just an adopted brother, Wu couldn't really empathize with his actions.

"Yes, I value it highly." Cui Lingrong's thin lips curled into a bitter smile. "I'm not afraid to tell you something that the Crown Princess might laugh at, but my mother was a second wife. She left after giving birth to me. Not long after, my father remarried. My older brothers and sisters weren't close to me, let alone the younger ones. The only good thing is that I was born as a legitimate daughter, which allowed me to marry into the Jiangyuan Marquis's household."

The Cui family was not originally from Bianjing, so ordinary people wouldn't know about this.

She revealed her past wounds in an attempt to gain Wu's sympathy and get Wu's help.

Wu was taken aback. The fact that Cui Lingrong said this meant that Cui Lingrong was showing her some goodwill. "No wonder Sister Cui values ​​her adopted brother so much. You're bound to be closer to the child you raised yourself."

After pausing to think for a moment, Wu continued, "The root of this matter lies with the Qian family. Qian Jin, who shares the same surname, is particularly fond of money. Over the years, he hasn't had a clean record. If you can find someone to investigate him, you can definitely make him stop pursuing this matter."

However, investigating a high-ranking official is beyond the capabilities of ordinary people, and even Song Shulan would find it difficult to do so.

Cui Lingrong had no choice but to go to Xie Yunting. Upon learning of this, Xie Yunting immediately went to investigate the Qian family's income.

When Cui Lingrong returned to the Jiangyuan Marquis's residence, she was exhausted and was even summoned by the old lady.

After the start of spring, the weather became pleasant, and at this time of year, Grandma Song would usually organize a spring outing.

In recent days, she sent people to Qiushuangzhai, but they did not see Cui Lingrong. After learning about Cui Zeyu's situation, she immediately sent people to wait for Cui Lingrong at the door.

Upon seeing Cui Lingrong, Old Madam Song immediately began to berate her, "Are you trying to disgrace our Marquis's mansion? Cui, you keep going to see the same man for some complete stranger, have you no shame at all?"

These words were too harsh, and Cui Lingrong's cheeks burned.

Before she could reply, Princess Rongjia entered. "Sister Cui, please don't blame the old lady for being angry. I've heard about what happened. I was just afraid you'd misunderstand, so I didn't dare to go to my second sister-in-law rashly."

It was she who delivered the message to the old lady, and it was also she who deliberately mentioned Xie Yunting. Now, she came here specifically to see the joke.

Cui Lingrong looked up at her. "Princess, is it necessary to involve others in our affairs?"

"What did you say?" Princess Rongjia pretended not to understand.

Cui Lingrong didn't say anything more. She knew she couldn't explain it clearly, so she simply didn't. She got up, bowed to the old lady, and then looked at Princess Rongjia. "Princess, you don't need to worry about Zeyu. But you are the one who needs help. The old lady has been sending you a lot of tonics lately. Don't let her down. Give the Marquis a child as soon as possible to prove that you are fertile."

She left as soon as she finished speaking.

Princess Rongjia hated it most when people mentioned having children, and her face turned as black as charcoal.

Old Mrs. Song didn't notice Princess Rongjia's expression; instead, she was angered by Cui Lingrong. "Look at her arrogant attitude! I haven't even said a word, and she's already left. Does she even respect me as her mother-in-law?"

She called over Xu's mother, "Go and tell Cui that if she doesn't even listen to me, tell her not to let the eldest mistress stay, and not to manage the household anymore. Give her all the keys to the photo album!"

Madam Xu also felt that the eldest mistress was a bit arrogant, so she thought it would be good to take this opportunity to put her down. Now that the old lady had spoken, she immediately went to Qiushuangzhai with a haughty air.

She had just arrived at Qiushuangzhai and explained her purpose, but the eldest mistress did not respond. She had to emphasize again, "Eldest mistress, the old lady said that you don't even listen to her, your elder. You might as well not be the eldest mistress. She wants you to hand over the account books and keys."

"I can hand it over if you want. Some time ago, I did some accounting for the Marquis. Over the years, I have subsidized the Marquis's mansion with a total of 6,700 taels of silver. The old lady gave me the remaining 70,000 taels of silver. I will hand over the account books and keys immediately."

Time and time again, did they really think she was just a good-tempered person?

Every time, it involves the people around her. Since they're not going to let her have an easy time, then the Jiangyuan Marquis's mansion can forget about having a decent life from now on.

"What are you saying? You took that money yourself, no one forced you!" Mrs. Xu said.

"Is that so?" Cui Lingrong sneered. "As soon as the cloth shop started to do well, the old lady inquired about its finances repeatedly, openly and subtly pleading poverty and talking about how the Marquis's mansion was doing. She even said that since the Marquis's mansion would eventually be my son's property anyway, my spending money to maintain the mansion's prestige was for my sake and my child's. Now, does the Marquis's mansion still care about me and my brother Xuan'er?"

Seeing that Xu Mama couldn't answer, she told Xu Mama to go and reply, "Go and tell the old lady that everyone around me is someone I value. Since the old lady thinks Zeyu is not important, from now on, I will deduct half of the Marquis's mansion's expenses every month to repay my 70,000 taels of silver. I will give her the account book whenever the repayment is completed."