Chapter 8 Does it matter if the old lady eats the pot?
As a housekeeper trained by Ye Qiongying, Ye Yuan does have some skills.
As soon as they received Ye Qiongying's order, they worked quickly with Wenping to collect all the things on Ye Qiongying's dowry list. They took away everything that could be taken away from the shops outside, and sold everything that could not be taken away for silver.
Fortunately, these shops were not good places at the beginning, and I didn't spend much money when I bought them. Later, I put some effort into managing them well, and now I can make a lot of money by selling them now.
Knowing that there is no room for maneuver in this matter, Ye Yuan is more capable of taking action than Wen Ping.
Not to mention the things on the list, even the things that could be scraped out of the Marquis's Mansion were exchanged for silver to fill the list of his master's dowry.
Ye Yuan did not feel guilty at all about doing this.
In the past few years, hasn’t the mansion spent enough money on the master? Just the decorations in the mansion are either on the master’s dowry list, bought with money from the shops, or simply moved back from the shops under the master’s name.
The little bit of money that is returned now is just a fraction.
As a steward, it was very convenient for him to do all these things. Lord Yin Xu didn't even hear any news about it and let Ye Yuan get the job done.
However, as everyone was busy packing up and running away, naturally no one took care of the accounts in the mansion.
The Marquis' Mansion today is no longer the empty shell it once was with few servants.
It was fine for a day or two, but now what has happened, the mistress of the house has become a hands-off manager and the housekeeper has stopped doing his job, so how can the business go on?
Not to mention anything else, the mansion's financial expenses are already stretched to the limit.
The last time the housekeeper came to see Ye Qiongying was about this matter. After a few days, not only was the problem not resolved, but the source was also cut off.
Without Ye Qiongying's subsidy, Yin Xu's salary was barely enough to pay the servants' monthly wages. How could it be enough to support the extravagant hobbies of a group of masters?
The mansion was suddenly in chaos.
When Ye Qiongying got married, she was welcomed into the main courtyard. Even Yin Xu's mother took the initiative to move to the West Garden and was given enough respect.
Ye Qiongying has always been an honest person. If others treat her well, she will definitely repay them many times over.
Later, even though she learned that the Marquis' Mansion had nothing, she was willing to take out her dowry to help.
However, after Leng Qianqian's incident, the people of the Yin family no longer had the "respect" they had at the beginning. Instead, they all persuaded her, the mistress, to be more generous and take the initiative to help the Marquis and Leng Qianqian get together, and not to be petty and make a fool of herself in front of outsiders.
Later, Ye Qiongying's reputation was ruined, and they played a role in it.
So, there is no respect at all, it's just an excuse to make her willingly be a workhorse and work hard for the Marquis' Mansion!
Yes, for an empty and dilapidated mansion, does it matter where you live? Anyone would be willing to do so if they could get a good living just for the sake of appearance.
As soon as Ye Qiongying’s subsidies stopped, Xiyuan became restless.
The weather got hot and there was no ice. These people who had enjoyed three years of wealth could not bear it.
Yin Man got married before the Marquis's Mansion was revived. Given the situation of the Marquis's Mansion at that time, the man she married was naturally not a nobleman, but just a decent minor scholar.
The other party got a minor official position in Beijing. His family conditions were not very good, but he was good-looking and was favored by Yin Man.
When the conditions in the Marquis' Mansion improved, Yin Man also became picky, and she only regretted that she had married too early, otherwise how could she have ended up marrying into that small family?
So she went to the Marquis' Mansion every few days, and planned to live in Xiyuan with her husband.
Although her husband didn't dare to do anything to her, he still had some pride of a scholar and couldn't do such a thing as staying at his wife's parents' house and eating and drinking for free. So he returned home soon, leaving Yin Man alone there.
It is not right for a married woman to always live in her parents' home for food and drink. But Yin Man has a lot of demands and makes trouble every few days.
In addition to her, there was another young woman sitting next to Old Madam Yin. She was the wife of the second branch of the Yin family and Yin Xu's cousin's wife, Wang.
The Yin family didn't have much wealth to begin with, but they had to live together for the sake of a false reputation.
They used to live in poverty together, but since the main wife became prosperous, the second wife also became wealthy.
Wang came here to file a complaint:
"Madam, the new clothes for this month have not been delivered yet. Is it... something happened to my cousin's wife? We are not in a hurry, but the master went out for social events and left them short, which is embarrassing for the Marquisate."
Compared to her own daughter Yin Man, Wang's words were more obscure, but her purpose was the same.
Where is the silver?
Why hasn’t this month’s been delivered yet?
Little did she know that Old Madam Yin herself was not happy either!
Ever since Ye Qiongying got married, Old Madam Yin had to have a bowl of the best bird's nest every day to nourish her body, but this month's share has not arrived yet.
If she were to ask for it on her own initiative, she would be too embarrassed to do so.
Now that her daughter and Wang came together, it gave her the opportunity to speak. Old Madam Yin said to the nanny next to her:
"Madam Chen, go call Madam Ye over. I want to ask her what's been holding her back, leaving her, a mistress, unable to even manage the expenses of the mansion!"
When Nanny Chen arrived at the main courtyard, Ye Qiongying and Wenping were eating hot pot in the yard.
The ingredients used are all fresh and of high quality, and the base of the soup is specially prepared by a chef invited from outside. As soon as Nanny Chen arrived, she was so tempted by the aroma that she even drooled.
Fortunately, thinking of her master's instructions, she quickly retracted her gaze from there, stepped forward and saluted:
"Madam, the old lady asked you to go to Xiyuan."
Wen Ping and the others paused and looked at Ye Qiongying.
Without a master to manage the mansion, it would definitely be a mess. Now that the old lady has called the master over, she must be going to scold him for this matter. What should I do?
Ye Qiongying herself was as steady as a rock. She took a piece of meat with chopsticks and ate it in big mouthfuls. Her movements were very cool. She no longer had to worry about her image as a mistress and restrain herself like she had in the past three years. After listening to Nanny Chen's words, she raised her eyes for a long while:
"Oh, I see. Okay, I'll come over after I finish eating."
Nanny Chen choked and quickly reminded:
"Madam, the old lady, the eldest lady, and the wife of the second room are all waiting for you."
What he meant was to urge Ye Qiongying to go quickly and not delay here.
Ye Qiongying had always respected the old lady, and even tolerated Yin Man, the eldest aunt who had no princess syndrome but was destined to be a princess. She was even more lenient to the second wife.
Nanny Chen thought that after hearing this, Ye Qiongying would definitely drop her chopsticks and rush to the West Garden, not daring to keep the three of them waiting for long.
Unexpectedly, Ye Qiongying slammed the chopsticks in her hand onto the table.
There was a crisp "pop" sound, which made Nanny Chen tremble all over.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet, and the only sound that could be heard was the gurgling sound from the pot.