The Old Marquis felt a little guilty after hearing his wife’s tirade. Although the Xia family has a Marquis ancestry, his ancestors only focused on martial arts. The Xia men were invincible on the battlefield but not in the field of business. They only earn through their salary and rewards from the imperial court and have not accumulated much wealth. They only really began to prosper when You entered the family. On top of that, he’s always been away for long periods of time and You has been running the family matters ever since he married her. She built the successful legacy that they have now.
“Sure, sure,” the Old Marquis relented. “This is the last time.”
Seeing the Old Marquis’ perfunctory attitude, Xia You suddenly began to envy Jinxuan. Chunyu was firm and resolute in protecting his wife, he was even willing to sacrifice his life for her. Xia You has never enjoyed such treatment from her husband despite having spent half of her life with him.
The silver lining was at least he agreed with her. Usually, he would just get angry with her every time she complained about his brother.
She sighed, happy that her husband finally agreed with her but worried as to what Zhou was up to this time. Would her Jinxuan be able to manage her?
As soon as they finished touring the newly renovated house, Ye Jiayao headed to Xia You’s room to give her an update.
“The gall of her to even ask that!” Xia You was flabbergasted. She doesn’t even know where Zhou’s limits are at this point!
“I just said that the good stuff is all at Chunfeng’s place and that the storage room is empty. I told them that if they want to get some decorations, Big Brother can come with them to the antique shops to take a look,” Ye Jiayao relayed. She just made up all that stuff about the storage room being empty so she needed to update Xia You so they don’t get caught in the lie.
Xia You nodded. “I was already planning to do that. I was gonna do the same for you and Chunyu but you guys got married in a rush, I didn’t have the time to. Tomorrow, go to the storage warehouse and pick whatever you like.”
“There’s no need for that, Mother,” Ye Jiayao refused. “I am grateful for the offer but you have already prepared 36 sets of dowries for me. You have given me more than enough.”
She knew that if she gets something from the storage, it would spark another comment and malicious thoughts from Qiao.
Xia You wasn’t expecting Jinxuan to reject her offer. Yes, they gave her 36 sets of dowries, but those were only all for show. She didn’t even put the real good stuff in it.
Xia You finally realized that Jinxuan has the character and skills to run the mansion. She wasn’t greedy or petty, she’s smart and skilfull, and she excels greatly at problem-solving. The Madame believes that the family would prosper even more when Jinxuan takes over in the future.
Frankly, Xia You just wanted to hand her the reins right here, right now. She’s exhausted and she just wants to enjoy her leisure time.
However, Liu Li would still have to stay in the Marquis’ residence for three years before moving to the feudal land. If she hands the family over to Jinxuan now, there would be a lot of resistance from the princess. This meant that Xia You has to endure all this stress for three more years to keep the peace.
On the other side of the house, Zhou was getting updates from Chunwen.
“What is with the Second Daughter-in-law? She’s just a daughter of a government sub-prefect yet your First Aunt let her into the family? ” Zhou was very unsatisfied with Ye Jinxuan’s status.
Chunwen replied. “Second Cousin-in-law might be just the daughter of a government sub-prefect, but she is extremely favored by the Helian Prince’s mansion’s Old Ancestress. The Old Ancestress has acknowledged her as her granddaughter and she was given away by the Helian family on her wedding day.”
Zhou’s jaw dropped in shock.
“Mother, she was also bestowed the title of Mobile Imperial Chef by His Majesty and is currently managing the best restaurant in Jin Ling, Heavenly Residence. I heard that the business there is unusually good and they’re earning tons every day!”
“Wait, she’s a chef too?” Zhou is stunned once again.
“Yes! Her culinary skills are incomparable. A few days ago, a master chef of the Sichuan cuisine came to challenge her, but she ended up beating him! Not only that but she also taught him a nasty lesson in front of a lot of people. She’s the talk of the city these days.”
Zhou began to reassess Chunyu’s wife. She might have looked delicate and pretty, but it seemed as though she has a vicious side to her. Her close relationship with the Old Ancestress alone would be enough to be wary of.
“I also heard of another matter,” Chunwen added.
“What is it?”
“I heard that Second cousin-in-law has some bad blood with Princess Liu Li who is about to be married to Chunfeng. The Empress Dowager wanted to have Princess Liu Li marry Brother Chunyu but he wanted to marry Second Cousin-in-law.”
Zhou smiled at this news. Despite Chunyu’s wife’s connection and skills, she’s no match compared to Princess Liu Li who has the Empress Dowager on her side. She was excited to see how this stress plays on Xia You. “Then we better keep our eyes open so we don’t miss the show.”
“Mother, when are we moving over to our place?” Chunwen asked.
She replied “What’s the rush? We’ll take some stuff over here and keep the rest in storage. After that, we just have to find a random reason to say that the garden still requires some furnishing so we can drag this on for a few months.”
A huge family like theirs would have a huge food expense. If they stay in the main house, they wouldn’t have to worry about that.
Chunwen was puzzled. The house looked great, what else do they need to furnish? However, since that was what Mother ordered, he didn’t dare complain.
Zhou, being the sneaky cheapskate that she was, ordered the servants to bring only some clothes and necessities over to the mansion, leaving all their valuable stuff at the harbor. She had the housekeeper keep watch before shifting them quietly to the new house.
However, Ye Jiayao was one step ahead of her and has already sent someone to watch their moves.
Song Qi reported, “Second Young Mistress, you were right. Third Madam said that the Third Old Master is uncorrupted but in truth, he has already looted the people’s wealth. They have a total of 15 carts of extremely heavy chests that strained even the strong men that carried the. I am guessing that the chests contain either gold or silver. All of the chests are delivered to the new house secretly.”
Ye Jiayao sneered. She only sent someone to spy on them because she wanted to know just exactly how much wealth the Third Uncle’s family has. Now that she knows, she despised that family even more.
“Alright. Keep this matter between us for now,” Ye Jiayao said.
The men all gathered around one table and the women, along with the children, Chunguo and Chunsi, sat on another.
However, the two children, even though they were similar in age, couldn’t stand each other.
Xia You chatted about family matters with Zhou.
“I remember that Jinlian and Yulian are turning 16 this year! Are they betrothed to a family yet?” Xia You asked.
Zhou replied, “There are a few families who have approached us, but when the Old Master decided to return here, we declined. I couldn’t bear to have my daughters married off so far away. We’d only be able to see each other once every few years.”
Xia You nodded slightly. She was from Hang Zhou originally and although it wasn’t very far from Jin Ling, she has only ever returned home twice since she got married. Once when her father passed away and the other time when she went to visit her ill mother. It’s very inconvenient to be married far away.
“I would have to bother Older Sister-in-law to help us in looking for good marriage candidates. I have been away for so long, I’m now unfamiliar with the people,” Zhou continued.
Xia You barely managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes. I am not playing matchmaker for you, I don’t even know your daughters! She faked a smile and said, “I will take note.”
The servants came in to serve tea and food.
Zhou turned to Jinxuan and said, “I heard you are an excellent chef! When would you let Third Auntie try your dishes?”
Before Ye Jiayao could answer, Zhou added, “I heard that Heavenly Residence is Chunyu’s restaurant now. Why don’t we just go there tomorrow?”
Xia You answered, “It’s not appropriate for a lady to cook there what with all the other male cooks. Why don’t Jinxuan make you a few dishes to try some other day?”
“What’s the big deal?” Zhou insisted. “We can just book the whole place, we’re family.”
This woman was truly a test of Xia You’s patience. And who, pray tell, does Zhou expect to pay for that? Deliberately, she turned to Jinxuan and asked, “Jinxuan, how much does it cost to book the place?”
Ye Jiayao thought about it for a while before answering, “If it is just the VIP rooms on the third floor, the eight suites would cost at least 5000 taels. If it is the whole restaurant, that would be 16000 taels. We give a 30% discount for family. That’s all the discount we can give for us to break even because the prices of the ingredients are rising so much.”
Zhou clicked her tongue. “Oh my! That is daylight robbery!”
Did You not understand what she meant? Why would family members need to pay to eat there?
“Third Sister-in-law, booking the whole place is what people with so much money with no place to spend do. We should just eat at home,” Xia You said with an indulgent smile.
“That’s true,” Zhou replied angrily. “Very well. Chunyu’s wife should just cook two dishes for everyone here so we can experience the skills of the Mobile Imperial Chef.”
Ye Jiayao thought about the cooking competition tomorrow and couldn’t help but frown a little. Where would she find the time?
Lucky for her Xia You came to her rescue. “Jinxuan is busy these few days. Right now, Jin Ling is hosting a cooking competition and there are some chefs from the Heavenly Residence that are taking part. Jinxuan has to go over there to keep watch and she still has to prepare for Chunfeng’s wedding feast. We should postpone this talk when she has more free time.”
Suddenly, the two children sitting at the other end start to bicker.
“You are the petty one.”
“You are a hooligan.”
“What did you say? You are just the son of a concubine, how dare you call me names?”
