Chapter 240: Fourth Aunt Yun Asks for Money
It rained in the morning.
The weather was getting colder. After practicing martial arts, Yun Chu had broken into a light sweat.
Just as she sheathed her short sword and entered the room, she saw the little one pouting unhappily: "Mother didn’t call me for martial arts practice. I’m angry."
"Didn’t Mother tell you? You can start practicing martial arts early in the morning once your health improves." Yun Chu pinched his arm. "You need to gain more strength before you can wield swords and blades, understand?"
"Hmph!"
The little one crossed his arms, cheeks puffed out in anger, deliberately ignoring Yun Chu.
When Yun Chu tried to dress him, he ran over to Ting Xue instead, letting her help him into his clothes. Then, picking up his book, he went out and headed to the other side of the doorway by himself.
"This kid…"
Yun Chu shook her head and sighed.
She wondered if her desire to make up for lost time with her child had led her to a point of near-spoiling—which wasn’t actually a good thing.
Yu Ge’er was the heir of the prince’s mansion. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would one day become the master of Luochuan, the fiefdom of Prince Pingxi.
As the future ruler of a territory, he would indeed have to endure more hardships than ordinary people from a young age.
She decided to wait until he turned five.
Yun Chu thought that once Yu Ge’er was five, she would let go and allow him to grow independently.
The sky gradually brightened, and the rain slowly ceased.
Yun Chu woke Changsheng and had breakfast with her young daughter.
After the meal, as usual, Changsheng spread out her drawing paper and began painting earnestly.
Yun Chu, too, started her busy day.
While handling routine matters, around 7–9 a.m., the women from the Yun family’s collateral branches arrived.
Firstly, they came to congratulate Yun Chu on being conferred the title of Fifth Rank Consort.
Secondly, they reported the accounts of the shops under their respective management.
Yun Chu had the maids serve tea and asked everyone to speak one by one.
"The two farms I manage had a very good harvest this year," said the seventh sister-in-law from the collateral branch, flipping through the account book. "One farm brought in 1,300 taels, while the other yielded slightly less—800 taels. I checked the records, and the lower income was mainly due to stolen plow oxen and tools in July, along with some damaged fields. We had to spend a considerable amount to buy new oxen and farm tools…"
Yun Chu nodded. This seventh sister-in-law had indeed put in great effort to review the accounts. Even for two farms with modest yields, she had been so meticulous—she could be entrusted with greater responsibilities in the future.
Soon, the others also reported their accounts.
"Mine is a bit more complicated. Our Yun family’s cloth and tea shops are major enterprises. I’ve hardly slept these past few days, going through all the accounts," Fourth Aunt Yun said with a smile. "Last month, the cloth shop made a profit of nearly 1,000 taels, and the tea shop did even better—earning 3,200 taels in just one month."
When she reviewed the account books, she was astonished.
She hadn’t expected that the combined annual income from just the cloth and tea shops could exceed 50,000 taels.
Adding in the other businesses, the Yun family’s annual income amounted to at least 80,000 taels.
Previously, having been kept away from these matters, she had often privately speculated about the extent of the Yun family’s wealth. Now, with the account books in her hands, her heart burned with ambition.
She spoke up: "Yesterday, I heard that the south produces a very soft fabric that isn’t available here in the capital. I was thinking—should we send someone south to purchase it in bulk? If we do, the cloth shop could earn at least this much."
She held up two fingers.
Seventh Sister-in-law Yun ventured a guess: "Two thousand taels?"Aunt Yun shook her head: "If it were only two thousand taels, I wouldn't even mention it—it's twenty thousand taels! Just arrange for someone to make one trip for the goods, and within a month, we can earn twenty thousand taels. This is a surefire business deal! Yun Chu, quickly allocate some silver from the public account for me, and I'll make the cloth shop earn a fortune!"
Yun Chu calmly took a sip of tea: "How much?"
"Ten thousand taels will suffice." Aunt Yun grinned. "When the time comes, I'll return thirty thousand taels to you, principal and interest included."
She had carefully inquired about it—the fabric was extremely rare. A hundred taels' worth of goods, once transported to the capital, could sell for at least five hundred taels.
In other words, if she asked Yun Chu for ten thousand taels, it could eventually turn into fifty thousand taels. She would return thirty thousand taels to the public account and keep twenty thousand for herself.
Yun Chu set the teacup down on the table: "Does Aunt think the Yun family today can easily produce ten thousand taels of silver?"
Aunt Yun retorted, "Why not?"
The annual income alone was eighty thousand taels. Over so many years, she couldn't even imagine how much money was in the Yun family's public account.
Was it too much to ask for just ten thousand taels?
Yun Chu shook her head: "For such a large family, Aunt can calculate in her mind how much the daily expenses amount to. Moreover, the year-end is approaching, and the Yun family's annual ancestral worship ceremony is about to begin. Although the Yun family has faced difficulties, we cannot shortchange our ancestors. The annual cost of the ceremony exceeds five thousand taels. If I allocate silver to Aunt, what will we do for the ancestral worship?"
For a prominent family like theirs, ancestral worship was the grandest event of the year, with clan members from distant regions also participating.
Five thousand taels would be spent without even making a sound.
Aunt Yun was incredulous: "I don't believe the Yun family's account has only that little silver left!"
Clink.
Yun Chu's teacup lid struck the cup, making a sharp sound.
Her expression turned cold: "Does Aunt mean to imply that I have embezzled the Yun family's silver?"
Aunt Yun's lips parted, but she said nothing.
In her view, Yun Chu, a daughter who had married and then returned after a divorce, was entirely unqualified to manage the Yun family's businesses.
As an elder, having to lower her head before a niece was something she simply could not accept.
"It seems Aunt neither trusts nor respects me. In that case—" Yun Chu declared, "let someone else take over the tea plantation and cloth shop."
The women in the hall were all startled.
They hadn't expected Aunt Yun and Yun Chu to fall out so severely.
Nor had they anticipated Yun Chu turning hostile so abruptly and replacing someone without hesitation.
Aunt Yun could not hide her shock, which soon turned to anger.
She cast a cold glance at the other women seated in the hall—anyone who dared take over these two businesses would be opposing her.
Her father-in-law was Old General Yun's full-blooded brother, making their branch the closest collateral line to the main family.
Most importantly, with Yun Silin missing, the only male of this generation left in the entire Yun family was her husband, Yun Siyuan.
As the sole male elder, he naturally held some authority in the Yun family.
Her gaze swept across the room, and the others lowered their heads, some sipping tea, others looking outside.
Yun Chu surveyed the crowd: "Is anyone willing to step forward?"
No one spoke from below.
Aunt Yun smiled.
These two businesses could only be handled by her.She wanted Yun Chu to understand that a junior could never ride roughshod over their elders.
Just as she thought Yun Chu would lower her head, a woman stood up: "Young Miss, do you think I might give it a try?"
Yun Chu looked over and recognized her as the mother of Yun Qin, the cousin who had previously separated from her husband.
Yun Qin's branch of the family was considered a very distant collateral line. Yun Qin's grandfather and her own grandfather were cousins born of concubines, and with Yun Qin's father also being born of a concubine, the familial ties grew increasingly distant. For this reason, Yun Qin's mother dared not address her as "Chu'er" and instead properly called her "Young Miss."
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