"I say it's time to pay the monthly wages of the servants in the manor!"

When Madam Sheng saw Chu pretending to be confused, she was furious, but she suppressed her anger and repeated herself.

"Oh! I understand! Mother-in-law, you don't need to come to me about these things anymore. Aunt Mu is the one in charge of managing the household affairs. You can just go directly to her!"

Chu said casually.

“Chu Shi, after thinking about it, I feel that since you are the mistress of the Zhenguo General’s Mansion, the management of the mansion should naturally be handed over to you. I saw that you were suffering during your pregnancy, so I let Rou’er temporarily take charge of the affairs of the mansion.”

"Now that you have finished giving birth and Wen Jin has woken up, the affairs of this manor should naturally be handed back to you!"

"Here you go, this is the key to the storeroom. From now on, you will be in charge of managing the household affairs!"

As she spoke, Madam Sheng took out a key from her sleeve and handed it to Madam Chu.

However, the Chu family did not go to receive it.

“Mother-in-law, I think we should forget about it! In other families, the person in charge of managing the household affairs controls the family's finances, but what about me? If I take this set of keys, I'll be facing the debts that the General's Mansion just incurred and the bottomless pit that your Sheng family can never fill.”

Chu raised her eyes slightly and stared coldly at Old Madam Sheng.

Mu Rou'er had a dowry, but her apparent identity was merely the daughter of a county magistrate in a remote and impoverished county. Consort Jin dared not add much to Mu Rou'er's dowry, lest Mu Rou'er spend extravagantly and expose her true identity.

Therefore, Sheng Lingtian must have borrowed money to raise 30,000 taels of silver in three days.

If she were to take over the management of the General's Mansion, she would definitely have to help Sheng Lingtian plug the financial holes...

She didn't want to do such a stupid thing again.

Even without that hole, the Chu family didn't want to spend another penny on the Sheng family.

This group of people are insatiable ingrates, not worth a single bit of her effort.

"You! You! You..."

Madam Sheng said "you" three times in a row, but she just couldn't think of a rebuttal.

Because what Chu said was correct, most of the money used to cover the deficit in Chu's dowry was borrowed by Sheng Lingtian.

Sheng Lingtian is now a high-ranking official of the first rank who controls military power, and countless officials want to befriend him.

So it's still possible to borrow some money.

But since it's borrowed, it has to be returned.

Even if he were a powerful minister, he wouldn't dare to openly embezzle and accept bribes.

They originally planned to deal with the dowry issue first.

Once things have calmed down, the management authority will be returned to the Chu family.

With the Chu family around, the Sheng family never had to worry about trivial matters like gold and silver. Everything they ate and used was the best. They lived a life of unparalleled comfort.

But ever since Madam Chu had a falling out with them and took back her dowry, the General's Mansion has been dirt poor.

In the past two days, all the money spent on food, clothing, and daily necessities in the mansion has come from Mu Rou'er's dowry.

Because she had to repay the dowry money to the Chu family last time, Mu Rou'er sold all her valuables, including shops and land deeds, as part of her dowry.

The rest are all inactive items; even if they were all sold, they wouldn't amount to more than ten thousand taels of silver, which wouldn't last long.

Moreover, Mu Rou'er is very stingy. The moment you mention using her dowry to support the people in the household, she becomes extremely unwilling and even refuses to take over the management of the household...

Madam Sheng is now filled with regret. Why did she give Mu Rou'er the power to manage the household affairs?

If Mu Rou'er hadn't been given the power to manage the household, there would never have been a dowry.

Madam Chu must be diligently managing the affairs of the manor now, how could she have such a distressing matter to deal with!

"Chu family, we're all family, why make things so tense?"

"What happened before was my fault for being senile. Don't worry, it won't happen again. Just focus on managing the affairs of this household."

After a moment of contemplation, Madam Sheng softened her stance.

Upon hearing this, Chu's lips curled into a mocking smile.

“Mother-in-law, the household is in too much debt, and I cannot rest easy. I will no longer concern myself with the General's Mansion, so you don't need to waste your breath!”

"You! How have you become so ungrateful? I've already spoken to you in such a humble manner, and you still refuse?"

"You are the matriarch of the household, and it is your duty to manage the household. If you don't, what kind of matriarch are you? I think you should just step down!"

When Madam Sheng saw that Chu was unyielding, she became furious and spoke even more sarcastically.

Chu's face darkened.

"Mother-in-law, I can give up my position as a concubine, but I don't know if your Sheng family dares to make me a mistress! Or divorce me!"

"you……"

Upon hearing this, Madam Sheng choked up.

Indeed, the Sheng family in the open dared not abandon the Chu family, nor would they dare to openly bully the Chu family.

Chu had previously been infatuated with her son. Even if the Sheng family made some underhanded moves against Chu, as long as Chu didn't pursue the matter, everything would be fine.

But once this matter gets out, not to mention anything else, the rumors and gossip in the capital that insult the Sheng family will be enough to make things very difficult for them...

After all, everyone knows that the Sheng family's success today is entirely due to the Chu family...

“Mother-in-law, is there anything else? If not, you can go back now! Don’t worry about the matter of managing the household, I will never take it over.”

Too lazy to deal with Old Madam Sheng anymore, Madam Chu issued an order to leave.

"snort!"

Knowing that things were hopeless, Old Madam Sheng stormed off in anger.

After Madam Sheng left, the room fell silent again.

Chu looked at Sheng Wenjin and sighed inwardly.

Wen Jin had been in a coma for over a year, but regained consciousness last night. Such a major incident at Dongyuan, yet not a single member of the Sheng family came to offer any concern or condolences.

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