Chapter 113 Insatiable Greed 2

Upon hearing this, Wei and Ma immediately objected.

This won't do! If things continue like this, they won't get anything today, and they might even have to go back with a stack of IOUs.

Wei forced a smile and said, "Look at what my niece-in-law is saying. There's no such thing as making money without losing money in business. We've worked hard all these years, so why bother calculating so carefully? Let's just forget about it."

Madam Ma chimed in, "Yes, yes, and besides, didn't my niece-in-law already divide these shops among us? We'll accept it whether we make a profit or a loss."

Several uncles pointed at them and launched into another tirade of abuse.

The fourth master retorted, "But you can't just give us this little bit of family property and send us away like this. Isn't that forcing us to starve to death? If my elder brother were here, he certainly wouldn't have given us so little."

"And a house! They can't just kick us out without even giving us a house. Three hundred taels of silver isn't even enough to buy a house!"

Madam Ma: "Yes, yes, at the very least we should have a place to live. We are not greedy. Each family should have a three-courtyard house in the city, plus three thousand taels of silver, and we will agree to divide the family."

Second Uncle: "You still want the house? Go out and ask around, which family divides its property and gives it to the younger brothers?"

Now that your sister-in-law is kind-hearted and Yunqi's wife is generous, they won't hold your past actions against you and are even willing to give you so much to rely on. If you're still not satisfied, you might as well take nothing and leave with nothing.

Just as the second and fourth masters were about to say something, Yu Qingci clapped her hands, and Granny Wang immediately went out and led in another group of people.

This time, several servants were holding down a dozen or so men and women dressed as servants. They all looked unfamiliar and were not servants from the mansion.

As soon as these people entered, they immediately knelt on the ground and cried out to the Second Master, Fourth Master, and others, "Master, Madam, please save us! We haven't done anything wrong!"

When Wei and Ma took a closer look, their eyes widened and they almost cried out. Wasn't this the servant they had bought from outside?

Yu Qingci said to the kneeling people, "Speak, who is your master, and why is he in my general's mansion?"

One of the middle-aged male servants hurriedly stepped forward, crawled a few steps, and kowtowed, saying, "I am not a thief. My whole family were bought by the Second Madam to guard the house on West Mansion Street. The indentures of my whole family are in the Second Madam's hands."

One of them took the lead, and the others followed suit, crawling forward a few steps to acknowledge their master.

"Fourth Madam, Fourth Master, Eldest Master, Second Master, please do me justice! I am a servant you bought to look after your house."

Yu Qingci picked up the stack of house deeds handed over by Granny Pei and presented them to her second uncle. The second uncle quickly glanced through them, closed his eyes, and forced himself to read them aloud:

"A three-courtyard house on Xifu Street, with the deed in the name of the Fourth Master;

A three-courtyard house on Yongsheng Street, with the deed in the name of the second master;

One of the property deeds for the two-courtyard house on Yangliu Street is in Lu Yunbo's name;

The deed for one of the three courtyard houses in Luoma Lane is in Lu Yunzhang's name;

There was a cosmetics shop on West Street, with the deed registered under the name of the Wei family.

A general store on East Street, the deed is in the name of the Ma family;

It is a two-courtyard manor in the eastern suburbs of the capital, with three hundred acres of fertile land. The house and land deeds are in the name of the fourth master.

A three-courtyard villa in Liushu Town, on the northern outskirts of the city, with 800 mu of fertile land; the house and land deeds are in the name of the second master.

...

After the second uncle finished reading the entire stack of papers in his hand, the expressions on the faces of the second and fourth branches of the family were incredibly interesting. They never expected that this niece-in-law had found out so much about their past!

Even Madam Ning and Lu Yun Chu were stunned. It turned out that the second and fourth branches of the family had hidden so much wealth!

Yu Qingci kindly asked, "Second Uncle, Fourth Uncle, Second Aunt, Fourth Aunt, did Second Uncle misread anything just now?" Yu Qingci hadn't been studying the account books for so long for nothing. She had long seen that the second and fourth branches of the family were taking advantage of their widowed sister-in-law's good temper to run around the mansion and take over most of the household affairs. She had been secretly sending people out to investigate ever since she decided to divide the family property.

Perhaps these people thought the eldest branch of the family was really useless, and that the private properties they had purchased outside were not well hidden, making it easy for her people to find out everything.

Yu Qingci: "If I hadn't had someone check beforehand, I wouldn't have known that my uncles and aunts had already bought so many houses and land properties outside."

I'm quite curious, where did you get the money to acquire these private properties?

The second master said irritably, "My niece-in-law is quite capable, but these were all given to us by my elder brother in previous years when he saw that we had no money and told us to take care of them."

Fourth Master: "Yes, it was given by my eldest brother. So what, niece-in-law, do you want to take it back?"

Before Yu Qingci could speak, the Third Aunt jumped up in anger: "So! So all these years you've secretly amassed so much wealth with your eldest brother's money, and you've been complaining about how pitiful you are all day long?"

I'm the only one who's truly pitiful in matters of the heart!

We were born to the same parents, but I was a girl and married off early, to a man who died young. I, a widow, struggled to raise my whole family, and when I returned to my parents' home, I had to live under their roof and be treated like dirt.

And you all, hiding under your eldest brother's wings, living the high life and accumulating such a huge fortune for your families, how could you do this to me?"

Just as everyone was feeling guilty, the Third Aunt suddenly jumped out and started complaining to them, causing them to glare at her.

The fourth master spoke first: "What business is it of yours, a nun who has been a nun for many years? Why are you interrupting? No matter what, our sons and grandsons will still bear the surname Lu. This is called keeping the good stuff in the family."

Madam Ma also said, "Don't just talk about us here. How much better are you, my dear aunt? Every year you've brought your family back to your parents' home to beg for money, and you stay for months at a time. Before you leave, your elder brother and sister-in-law even have to pay out of their own pockets to send you back safely."

What kind of married daughter would be so exploitative, taking advantage of her parents and subsidizing her husband's family? She practically wants to take all the good things from her parents' home and give them to yours! How dare you criticize us like that?

Seeing that the group was about to start arguing, Yu Jingsheng slammed his hand on the table:

"Shut up, all of you! Do you think we're just for show?"

Seeing the stern gazes from the head of the table, the crowd below finally quieted down.

Yu Qingci said, "Since Second Uncle and Fourth Uncle said that these assets were given to you by my father-in-law before his death, then they belong to you, and I will naturally not take them back. This way, you won't have to worry about not having a house to live in after you move out, and there will even be servants ready to serve you."

Since that's the case, then the servants in the courtyard who have their indentures in your own hands will all go with you. As for those whose indentures are with the eldest son's family, I won't make things difficult for them. You can go and ask these people yourselves. Those who are willing to go with you should immediately give you their indentures, and those who are unwilling can stay.

Are you satisfied?