After Yu Pinyan entered the room, he didn't look at the Lin Clan and Yu Miaoqi. After greeting the matriarch, he bent down to pick up Yu Xiang and put her on his lap. Yu Xiang turned around to feed him a peanut, then continued to peel the shell.
"Don't eat it. If it's not peanuts, it's melon seeds. Be careful not to get heaty." Yu Pinyan snatched the plate of peanuts and had Mama Ma take it out. He ordered, "Pour a cup of kuding tea for Miss."
Mama Ma agreed in a low voice, but then she heard Yu Xiang call out, "Kuding tea is too bitter. Add two spoonfuls of sugar." Seeing her brother squint at her, Momo stammered, "No, no, no, add one spoonful. One spoonful is enough." Her brother's gaze was still full of disapproval. She struggled, "Half a spoonful, no less." As she spoke, she poked her brother's hard chest with her white fingertips.
Yu Pinyan finally couldn't hold it in anymore. His cold eyes instantly melted into a pool of soft water. He helplessly said, "Add half a spoonful of sugar." He gently rubbed his sister's lips with his thumb. No wonder it was so sweet and delicious. He didn't know when she would be able to eat it.
They really were a pair of quarrelsome lovers. It was fate that had been cultivated over a hundred years. The matriarch shook her head and laughed. Her mood immediately improved.
In the hall, the Lin Clan mother and daughter had their heads lowered. No one knew what they were thinking.
After a short while, Yu Siyu came in late, followed by Mama Ma, who was carrying tea.
"Greetings, Old Ancestor. Greetings, Mother. What did you call me here for today?" Yu Siyu's face was full of anticipation. She secretly guessed that they wanted to talk about her marriage.
"Sit down. Your mother has something to say. Let's all listen." The matriarch waved her hand and then looked at the Lin Clan.
The Lin Clan downed a cup of tea, then opened the chest and took out the account books. She slammed them on the table and said in an agitated tone, "Mother, take a good look at these account books. My dowry was actually more than a hundred thousand taels of silver, and five prosperous shops were also sold at a discount. If I hadn't recovered them in time, I'm afraid that in a few years, there would only be an empty shell left! I just want to know who's in charge of this house. How dare you play such dirty tricks! "As he spoke, he glared fiercely at Yu Xiang.
At this time, Yu Xiang was nestled in her brother's arms, sipping the tea that her brother fed her, as if she didn't hear her accusation.
On the other hand, Old Madam burst into laughter. Her voice was filled with suppressed anger. "Lin Clan, take a look at the back pages. The account books with problems are all from 21 years ago, when I was still in charge of the household."
This, this is admitting to embezzling the dowry? Or did the old lady admit it herself? The Lin Clan was dumbfounded. Of course, she clearly saw the year marked on the back pages, but she didn't even think about Old Madam. Old Madam's maternal family was the most famous Confucian family in the Great Han Dynasty. Since the founding of the Great Han Dynasty, there had never been a person with bad morals. The strictness of her family's upbringing was evident. Old Madam herself was the model of a virtuous lady. She couldn't tolerate sand in her eyes.
How could she do such a disgraceful thing? The Lin Clan firmly believed that Yu Xiang had falsified the account books and shifted the deficit to Old Madam, so that they would mistakenly believe it was Old Madam who did it and suffer this grievance.
She insisted on making a fuss because she wanted Old Madam to see Yu Xiang's true colors. However, she never expected Old Madam to admit it without a trace of hesitation. Why did she embezzle her dowry? Where could she spend it? It was simply inconceivable.
"Mother, even if you want to spoil your child, you shouldn't spoil her like this! You actually helped her take on such a big matter! "The Lin Clan cried out in exasperation.
"Shut up!" Old Madam raised her teacup and fiercely slammed it on the ground. The loud bang seemed to directly hit their hearts, and it shocked everyone into silence.
Yu Xiang buried her face in her brother's arms and tightly wrapped her arms around his thin and strong waist. Yu Pinyan thought she was afraid and quickly patted her back. He lowered his head and was about to say a few comforting words when he saw her secretly winking at him. Her small appearance revealed a wilted and mischievous look.
Yu Pinyan almost couldn't hold back his low laughter. He lovingly and pitifully pinched the tip of her nose and mouthed silently, "Naughty."
Yu Miaoqi hid behind the Lin Clan, feeling more and more nervous. When Yu Siyu saw that the Lin Clan wanted to make trouble for Yu Xiang, she was originally rejoicing in their misfortune. Who knew that the situation would suddenly take a turn for the worse? Old Madam actually personally admitted that she embezzled the Lin Clan's dowry. This shocking secret scared her half to death, and she couldn't help but feel distressed.
Old Madam saw that the Lin Clan's faces were deathly pale and couldn't say anything, so she continued, "Do you know why I embezzled your dowry? In the tenth year of Chengkang, Yan'er entered the palace to participate in the Crown Prince's study companion and needed a large amount of money to bribe him. In the fourteenth year of Chengkang, the second, third, fourth, and fifth branches came to our door to cause trouble. Yan'er and I were really weak, so we spent a large amount of money to bribe the clan elders. In the sixteenth year of Chengkang, the third branch set up a vicious scheme to frame Yan'er for murder and bribed him with another sum of money. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth year of Chengkang, Yan'er was poisoned three times and his life was in danger. Just the medical fees alone took away more than half of the family's wealth … After Junjie's death, the first branch was already in a precarious situation, and there were a bunch of jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards waiting to take over the Marquis Household. Under these circumstances, even the 120 sets of dowry I brought had already been used up, but you only touched a layer of skin. That year, I personally asked you if I could borrow some of your dowry, and you even nodded and agreed. What, now you're going back on your word? That's right, when Yan'er was on the verge of death several times, you burned yellow joss paper in your room. When Yan'er went to the battlefield, you were embroidering portraits. When Yan'er became a commander-in-chief, when he was tortured to kill people and lost his good fortune, all you wanted to do was to bring your daughter back. When Yan'er needed you, what were you doing? Do you still think of him as your son? Now that your life is better, you come here to denounce him. You don't even know whether you're worthy or not, and whether you have the face to open your mouth! Right now, when I see you, I feel disgusted. If Junjie knew in the underworld, he would definitely ask a ghost messenger to send you a letter of divorce. Do you believe it or not? Do you dare to kneel in front of Junjie's memorial tablet and ask him personally what he thinks? "
The more Lin Clan member listened, the paler her face became. By the time she reached the last few sentences, she was on the verge of collapsing. She said incoherently, "Mother, I, I was wrong. I don't remember anything. No, no, no, if I knew earlier … It's not like that, I thought … "
Her mind was in a mess. She realized that everything she said was inappropriate and wrong. Furthermore, her son was looking at her with an extremely cold gaze. She almost collapsed on the spot. It wasn't that she didn't care about her son, it was just that she woke up too late. There was already no turning back.
Yu Miaoqi wished that she could turn into a wisp of smoke and disappear. She originally thought that she could live a good life by relying on the Lin Clan in the future. Who knew that the Lin Clan was so unreliable that it was far beyond her imagination. It was to the point that they were loathed by everyone. Now that they were tied together with the Lin Clan, it was no wonder that they couldn't gain any advantage in front of Old Madam and Yu Pinyan.
Yu Siyu's expression was wooden. She didn't feel much about these things.
Yu Xiang was already furious. She slightly withdrew from her brother's embrace. She looked at the Lin Clan and sneered, "Mother, what did you think? Did you think that I embezzled all these things and framed the Old Ancestor? Why didn't you read all the account books before coming to make trouble for me? The Old Ancestor's dowry couldn't be redeemed. These years, the little surplus in the fu was used to redeem your dowry. Look carefully at this account book for the twenty-third year of Chengkang. The five prosperous shops and the one hundred thousand taels of silver have all been returned. You came here to make trouble for the Old Ancestor. It's really disdainful! "
She pulled out the account book with the words' twenty-third year of Chengkang 'on the back and fiercely smashed it on the Lin Clan's head.
The Lin Clan cried out in pain. Suppressing her shock, she replied, "Let's not talk about this first. Why do you take two hundred taels of silver from my shop in the west of the city every month? After four years, it should be close to ten thousand taels of silver, right? "
Yu Xiang shook her head and said word by word, "Mother, go ask Youngest Uncle where the two hundred taels of silver went. Youngest Uncle's family is having a hard time, so they come to the fu every month to ask for money. I have twenty taels of silver every month. I can't afford it, and I'm in charge of the central treasury. I can't embezzle, so I can only take two hundred taels of silver from your dowry. If Mother feels that it's wrong, you can go ask Youngest Uncle for it yourself. "
The Lin Clan was dumbfounded. Yu Miaoqi lowered her head even more, and the shock in her heart grew even more. She never expected that not only was the Lin Clan unreliable, her maternal uncle's family was even more unreliable. Every month, they came to her niece's house to ask for money. How shameless were they? Didn't they just say that their wealth was comparable to that of a country?
Yu Xiang continued to ridicule, "Mother didn't even finish reading the account book before pushing all the blame onto me. She immediately went to the Old Ancestor to reason with me. This is clearly trying to trample on my dignity! If one or two unpleasant words were to spread, I wouldn't be able to establish myself in the capital anymore. I find it strange. Older Brother and I are clearly your biological children. Why do you only care about Second Sister and treat us like we don't exist? Who exactly was the one who accompanied you for fourteen years? If you cared about your mother-daughter relationship and came to ask me in private, or patiently read the account book, how could today's farce have occurred? Mother's actions are truly chilling! "
She pretended to be sad as she wiped the corners of her eyes and burrowed into her older brother's embrace to seek comfort. Didn't the Lin Clan refuse to acknowledge her? She just had to use their mother-daughter relationship to disgust the Lin Clan.
Yu Pinyan tightly hugged his younger sister, and his lips quickly slid across her forehead. When he looked at the Lin Clan again, the trace of warmth in his eyes completely turned into a murderous aura. He said word by word, "I originally thought that we were a family, and that we should help each other in times of crisis. But it turns out that Mother didn't think that way. Since that's the case, let's open up all the account books and settle them clearly today, so that we won't be confused in the future. "
What did he mean by 'your' and 'mine'? Was he planning to draw a clear line between them? The Lin Clan didn't have enough time to regret. They could only clutch at their sleeves and feel so sad that they couldn't speak.
Yu Miaoqi suddenly knelt in front of the hall and kowtowed as she said, "Grandmother, please forgive Mother this time. Mother only did this because she was muddle-headed. In the future, Brother will also have a share of Mother's dowry. It's worth it to spend more for Brother … "
"You're right," Yu Xiang lowered her head to look at her, her eyes full of calculation and ridicule, "Brother also has a share of Mother's dowry. But look at how Mother is behaving. She doesn't care about Brother at all, and only treats you as the apple of her eye. You've just returned, and you're already causing such a ruckus. In a few years, won't you have all of Mother's dowry in your hands? That won't do! "
Yu Miaoqi didn't expect her to speak so bluntly. Halfway through kowtowing, she froze and simply couldn't find the words to refute.
The matriarch's eyebrows twitched, and she immediately said, "Xiang'er is right. In a few years, the Lin Clan won't be able to see Yan'er anymore! Lin Clan, if you really know your wrongs, then divide the dowry among the children in front of me. You can't favor only one. "Didn't you say that I pocketed your dowry? Fine, then I'll openly swallow it today. It's better than feeding it all to this ingrate Yu Miaoqi.
Yu Siyu, who was sitting on the stool and pretending to be a wooden puppet, instantly became spirited.
The Lin Clan looked at the stern-looking matriarch, then looked at their cold-looking son. They only felt that their hearts, livers, spleens, lungs, and kidneys were being crushed. The pain was unbearable. She wasn't willing to split it. If she didn't split it, she was afraid that today wouldn't be kind. Who told her to be so wrong this time?
Yu Miaoqi didn't show it on her face, but in reality, her heart was burning. She felt like she was about to vomit blood.