Chapter 24

Chapter 24: More Than a Little Gain

Qi Shu Xian’s face burned. “Ridiculous!” Qi Shu Xian never expected that while Qi Shu Xian was thinking about how to teach Sheng Zhi Wan a lesson, Eldest Sister actually wanted to use Sheng Zhi Wan’s silver to subsidize the Duke estate. Qi Shu Xian did not believe the Duke Qi Manor had fallen that far.

Qi Shu Xian turned and walked out, saying, “Come with me to see Mother.” The old Steward hurried after Qi Shu Xian.

Wen Xi Courtyard.

Madam Cui listened as a maid reported that Qi Shu Xian had stayed at Wei Yang Courtyard last night. Qi Fei Yan sat to the side and kept letting out cold laughs.

Qi Fei Yan sneered, “It should’ve been like this long ago. Sheng Zhi Wan was spoiled rotten, so she dared to interfere even when a man wanted to take a concubine. Princess or not, once she married into our Duke Qi Manor, she became a person of Duke Qi Manor!”

Qi Fei Yan added, “Qi Shu Xian was her sky. Whatever the sky wanted to do, did she think she had the right to talk back?”

Madam Cui smiled and nodded. “Qi Shu Xian handled this well. He always valued feelings, and I was afraid he’d soften again and fail to keep the daughter-in-law in line. If that happened, outsiders would laugh at us.”

Concubine Ping smiled and flattered, “Madam was still kind-hearted. If it were another mother-in-law, who would care whether the daughter-in-law agreed?”

Madam Cui looked pleased, her lips just starting to curl, but then she could not stop coughing. For some reason, the tightness in her chest – the feeling that had finally eased these past few days – came back again.

Madam Cui was still taking medicine as usual. Could there be something wrong with the herbs? Or was it because Sheng Zhi Wan had not been pressing on her lately? But Sheng Zhi Wan’s casual pressing could not have done much.

Madam Cui decided she still had to invite Imperial Physician Song to take a look.

At that moment, Qi Shu Xian strode in. “Mother!”

Madam Cui jumped when she saw how serious Qi Shu Xian looked. Then Qi Shu Xian dismissed all the maidservants, and Madam Cui panicked even more. The tightness in Madam Cui’s chest grew heavier.

Madam Cui asked, “Did something happen?”

Qi Shu Xian tried to find the right words, but there was no way to make “the estate was out of money” sound good. Qi Shu Xian chose to be direct. “The Steward said there were only 200 taels left in the accounts. Did Mother know about this?”

Madam Cui froze, then relaxed inside. Madam Cui had thought something disastrous happened, but it was just money. With Sheng Zhi Wan’s rich dowry, the Duke Qi Manor could spend for decades and still not use it up. Why worry?

But Madam Cui could not tell Qi Shu Xian that. If Qi Shu Xian started noticing Sheng Zhi Wan’s good points, then the plan to set rules would fall apart.

So Madam Cui only smiled and teased, “You were a man. Why were you suddenly worrying about these things?”

Qi Shu Xian saw Madam Cui’s calm expression and felt his own heart loosen. Qi Shu Xian had overthought it. Duke Qi Manor was a noble house for three generations, with a foundation built over nearly a hundred years. No matter what, it could not have been reduced to 200 taels.

Qi Shu Xian explained, “Today, my comrades-in-arms heard I received a reward, so they wanted to treat me to wine. Mother also knows that they’re real men from the battlefield, without family backgrounds. I couldn’t let them pay.”

Qi Shu Xian continued, “I also wanted to buy some wine to bring back to the tents so the others could share the good luck, so I went to the account room to withdraw some silver. That’s when I heard what the Steward said.”

Qi Shu Xian said, “Since Mother has money here, please give me 1,000 taels first.” Then Qi Shu Xian added, “The Steward also said it’s time to pay the servants their monthly stipends. Mother must not forget.”

Madam Cui’s expression stiffened.

Qi Fei Yan cut in, “Where’s Sheng Zhi Wan? You needed silver and she wouldn’t give it to you?”

Qi Shu Xian froze. “My monthly salary goes into the common coffers. If I needed to use it now, why would I need to ask her?”

Qi Fei Yan snapped, “What’s hers is yours! If not for her, Mother wouldn’t have fainted from anger. She knew Mother was ill, yet she still didn’t handle the household affairs and didn’t even come to pay respects. You couldn’t find a daughter-in-law like her in the whole capital!”

Madam Cui let out a long sigh. “It’s all because of my body. I take medicine every day and drag down the whole Duke estate. Fine. Wait a moment. I’ll take out the dowry I saved for Second Sister and give it to you.”

Qi Shu Xian was startled. “Why did we have to use Second Sister’s dowry?” Then Qi Shu Xian reacted. “Mother meant… the common coffers truly had no money left?”

Madam Cui looked sorrowful. “The herbs I’ve taken for a long time were very expensive. The Duke Qi Manor’s income didn’t cover its expenses. That’s why after Zhi Wan married in, she covered some of it…”

Qi Shu Xian listened in a daze and suddenly remembered what Sheng Zhi Wan had said not long ago. That the Duke Qi family ate her food and used her things. Qi Shu Xian had not believed it.

Now it turned out it was true.

Now that Sheng Zhi Wan no longer managed the household, the estate really had only 200 taels left.

Madam Cui said, “Qi Shu Xian, since she’s already a wife, your daughter-in-law should naturally share honor and disgrace with our Duke Qi Manor. I never meant to use her subsidies, but now you’ve earned military merit. In the future, rewards or salary – wouldn’t it all be money you earn for her?”

Madam Cui continued, “A married couple shouldn’t be so distant. If you calculate everything clearly, your feelings would thin out. When your father first became an official, I took out all my dowry to help him get settled…”

Qi Shu Xian’s heart turned complicated.

Madam Cui could take out her own dowry to help Father, so what did it matter if Sheng Zhi Wan only covered some daily expenses and Madam Cui’s medicine? In the future, once Qi Shu Xian earned more merits, what Qi Shu Xian brought back for Sheng Zhi Wan would be far more than this little gain.