The Heir

Сhарtеr 91: Тhe Truth of Тhаt Year

Whilе Yao Niаngzi wаs сrуing аnd mаking a scеne, Madam Ge alsо stоod bу the dооr wаtсhing the drаmа unfоld. А sеnse оf schadenfrеudе wellеd up in her heаrt—who told Yаo Niangzi tо аlwауs асt sо disdainful and kееp bringing uр thе mаtter оf her mаrrуing Zhengping in hеr wоrds?

As if Li Zhеngping had sufferеd some greаt lоss bу marrуing her—truly infuriating. Just think, shе, thе dаughter оf thе еstееmеd Ge Хunlаn, marriеd Li Zhengрing—where еxасtlу did he lоsе оut?

Мoreovеr, she used to think Li Zhengping wаs a proрer membеr of thе Li сlan, а descendant of a prominent family. But now it seemed that while he was indeed a descendant of the Li family, the lineage had long since drifted off to some distant branch. His status in the Li family was practically equivalent to that of a steward. Clearly, it was she, Ge Qiu Jie, who had suffered the loss.

The more she thought about these things, the more resentful and discontented Ge Qiu Jie became.

Thus, seeing Yao Niangzi in trouble felt as refreshing as drinking iced sour plum soup on a hot summer day.

"Qiu Jie." At that moment, a woman swayed over—it was Ge Qiu Jie's second mother, Cao Shi.

"What do you want?" Ge Qiu Jie asked Cao Shi with a displeased tone. She had never shown Cao Shi, her second mother, a pleasant expression.

However, Cao Shi had always been relatively low-key and perceptive, and she was extremely accommodating toward Ge Qiu Jie, the eldest daughter of the Ge family. Because of this, although Ge Qiu Jie never treated Cao Shi kindly, she didn’t harbor any real malice toward her either. She had always been quite decent toward Ge San Er, Cao Shi’s son.

"Your father sent me to find you," Cao Shi said, completely unfazed by Ge Qiu Jie’s expression, smiling as she spoke.

"What is it?" Ge Qiu Jie raised an eyebrow and asked.

"This is the official surplus silver and market stall fee ticket that the master has issued to the Li family," Cao Shi said, handing over a few slips to Ge Qiu Jie.

"Why is it so high?" Ge Qiu Jie couldn’t help but exclaim softly upon seeing the amount.

"This is all based on that specially prepared account book," Cao Shi explained.

"That one is fake, just used to fool Second Madam and Miss Zhen. How can we really collect according to it? Father is truly confused," Ge Qiu Jie said irritably.

"Your father is not confused at all. Think about it—you showed Second Madam and Miss Zhen a fake account book. If we collect taxes now according to the usual rates, and the fees suddenly drop drastically, wouldn’t that be exposing our own shortcomings and slapping ourselves in the face? Anyone would realize there was a problem with the previous accounts," Cao Shi reasoned.

"That’s true, but this money..." Ge Qiu Jie clicked her tongue.

"Are you foolish? Now that Miss Zhen has come to Nanjing to take charge, and it’s because of her that the goods and grain businesses moved away, your father-in-law’s accounts have withdrawn a large sum of money. If the tax funds are insufficient, naturally Miss Zhen should make up the difference," Cao Shi said.

Then, Cao Shi glanced around before leaning in to whisper in Ge Qiu Jie’s ear: "Your father said, persuade your mother-in-law to collect according to these fees. As for the extra money, he’ll only take a ten percent cut. The rest will be returned to you. This way, every year, you’ll have a tidy sum of silver to pocket. Your mother-in-law will surely agree."Upon hearing Cao Shi's words, Ge Qiu Jie's eyes lit up. This could indeed work. But then she frowned again: "No, what's already done is done. Even if it was unreasonable, the taxes have already been paid—what can be done about it now? But for the current ones, that Miss Zhen isn’t a fool. She just needs to compare with another family to see something’s off. This method won’t work."

"Who says so? Your father already considered that. The Li family got into trouble over Tribute Ink back then. After that, the court imposed punitive taxes on the Li family. Otherwise, with the Li family’s foundation back then, they could have endured and gotten through it. How could they have suddenly withdrawn from the Nanjing market? It was precisely because of those punitive taxes. So, when the time comes, we’ll use that as an excuse, and even Miss Zhen won’t have anything to say," said Cao Shi.

"There’s actually such a thing? That’s great! Alright, I’ll go talk to my mother-in-law," Ge Qiu Jie happily accepted, as if she could already see the shiny silver coins filling her pockets.

"Sister-in-law Zhengping, why are you talking at the door instead of inviting people inside?" At that moment, Zhen Niang arrived with Xiao Ya. The path at the door was blocked, so she had to stop from a distance and speak.

"No need, no need. I was just passing by and heard Madam Yao making a fuss up ahead, so I chatted a bit," Cao Shi quickly replied, then stepped aside to make way for Zhen Niang.

"Oh." Zhen Niang nodded slightly and said no more, heading straight into the house.

"So that’s Miss Zhen. She doesn’t look very old, does she? I heard she’s only just sixteen," Cao Shi remarked, watching Zhen Niang’s retreating figure as she spoke to Ge Qiu Jie.

"She’s just a little girl, nothing special. She only has Second Madam and the Old Madam backing her up," Ge Qiu Jie also looked back at Zhen Niang’s figure, disdainfully saying. A girl with a fate of being a husband-killer, who even had her engagement broken off, yet she dares to act all high and mighty in front of me. It’s truly baffling.

"That’s right, that’s right. Our Qiu Jie is the most capable," Cao Shi nodded repeatedly.

"Alright, you can go back now. If we keep talking here at the door, that Li Zhenniang might think we’re gossiping about her," Ge Qiu Jie then waved at Cao Shi, turned around, and slammed the door shut with a bang.

"Pah, she really thinks she’s someone important. That Miss Zhen may not be anything special, but she still managed to make your deadbeat father suffer a setback," Cao Shi muttered disdainfully toward the closed door where Ge Qiu Jie stood.

Back in the day, she had suffered a lot at the hands of Ge Qiu Jie’s mother. She had finally endured until Ge Qiu Jie’s mother passed away. But because Ge Qiu Jie refused, she couldn’t be officially recognized as the wife and remained only the second wife. So, although she flattered Ge Qiu Jie on the surface, in her heart, she never truly regarded Ge Qiu Jie as important.

After that, Cao Shi turned and left.

Ge Qiu Jie entered the house and eagerly went to find her mother-in-law, Madam Fang, showing her the plan.

"Pah, what kind of intentions does your father have? When others have an in-law who’s a tax inspector, they always try every means to pay less tax. But your father, oh, he’s racking his brains to squeeze money out of me. Is he an in-law or an enemy?" Madam Fang said angrily, throwing the plan back at Ge Qiu Jie’s face.

"Hah, Mother-in-law wants to pay less now? But back when you asked my father to cook the books, you wanted them recorded as high as possible," Ge Qiu Jie retorted irritably.

Cao Shi, having been caught by Ge Qiu Jie’s weak point, had nothing to say for a moment. She could only stubbornly insist that they couldn’t go by the fake accounts.Afterwards, Ge Qiujie relayed what Cao Shi had said to her mother-in-law.

"Oh my, so there really was such a thing. After all these years and so much has changed, I had completely forgotten about it." Madam Fang clapped her hands together.

Thus, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law put their heads together again and ultimately decided to proceed as planned.

"I'm just worried Father-in-law won't agree," Ge Qiujie said finally.

Truth be told, in this household, she was somewhat afraid of her father-in-law. Li Jingming was always meticulous in his work, and even her own father treated him with respect. Therefore, Ge Qiujie dared not play any tricks in front of Li Jingming. So, she naturally had to encourage her mother-in-law, Madam Fang, to take the lead.

And in this world, there is always one thing that can subdue another. Madam Fang was not particularly capable, but when it came to handling her husband, she was quite skilled. In short, no matter what the matter, as long as Madam Fang spoke up or made a fuss, her husband rarely refused.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this," Madam Fang said, patting her chest.

In the blink of an eye, it grew dark.

Madam Fang stood by the door, eagerly looking outside. Finally, when Li Jingming entered the house, she hurried over to help him with his clothes, changing him into casual wear, being unusually attentive and fawning.

"What is it this time?" Li Jingming sighed. He knew his wife well. She was not usually this amiable; such sudden attentiveness surely meant she wanted something.

Madam Fang then brought up the matter and repeated what Ge Qiujie had said earlier.

"No, do you really think Miss Zhen is a fool? Last year, when the main branch of the Li family caused such a big commotion, it was entirely thanks to Miss Zhen holding things together. She is shrewd. These days, my heart has been in my throat, waiting for her to deal with us. And here you are, wanting to walk right into the line of fire. Do you really want me to be expelled from the Li clan?" Li Jingming looked at her, nearly jumping in fright, speaking in a flustered and exasperated tone.

"It's not as serious as you make it out to be. I've seen Miss Zhen these past few days, and she hasn't shown any hostility toward us. She always has a smiling face. After all, she's just a sixteen-year-old girl. Even if she has some ability, that was in Huizhou. Now that she's in Nanjing, she probably doesn't have as much insight. Stop being so suspicious. Anyway, I've made up my mind about this," Madam Fang said, pursing her lips.

"No," Li Jingming refused again. Seeing that Madam Fang didn't seem to care, he knew he had to scare her. Gritting his teeth, he said, "If... if you insist on going through with this, I'll divorce you."

"Divorce me? Li Jingming, how dare you say you'll divorce me? Don't you know I saved your life? The Li family? You're loyal to the Li family, but how have they treated you?" Hearing Li Jingming mention divorce, Madam Fang's eyes immediately reddened.

"Back then, you devoted yourself to the Li family, never keeping even an extra coin for yourself, sending everything to the main branch. At most, you got a 'thank you for your hard work' from the old madam. But what good are empty words? That year, it was freezing cold, and you were lying sick in bed, unconscious. I was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. But we had no money left for medical treatment, and the funds for the main branch had already been sent. I had no choice but to write to the main branch, begging them to send some money for your treatment..."At this point, Madam Fang gritted her teeth and said bitterly, "And how did they reply? 'No money'—just two words and that was it. If it weren't for Dr. Li the Divine Healer passing by at just the right time, not only treating you for free but even waiving the medicine costs, you wouldn’t have survived. In short, I’ve come to see it clearly—loyalty, righteousness, duty—it’s all false. Only money is real. When trouble comes, loyalty and duty can’t help you; only the money in your pocket can." As she spoke, Madam Fang broke into loud sobs again.

"You... why bring up the past now? Maybe the main branch was in the wrong back then, but are we any better now? This can’t go on. I have a feeling Miss Zhen is just waiting for us to make a move. There’s no wall that wind can’t pass through, and no scheme that won’t eventually be exposed." Li Jingming sighed at Madam Fang.

For a moment, the room fell into silence.

"Father, Mother, it’s time to eat," Hua'er called from outside.

"Come on, let’s eat." Li Jingming took Madam Fang’s hand, and the two of them left the room one after the other.

Meanwhile, beneath the window on the other side, Zhen Niang sighed and turned to leave. She had come to find Uncle Jingming, to ask him to gather a few people tomorrow to rebuild a set of counters.

The counters of the Great Ming era were too high; customers standing outside often only showed their heads above them. Zhen Niang was not used to this and also felt it hindered communication with customers, so she wanted to modify the counters.

But she hadn’t expected that, just as she arrived and passed by the window, she would overhear such a conversation. It would be awkward to seek out Uncle Jingming now. So she turned back to her room, pondering Madam Fang’s words in her mind.