"Granny Wan, give her a good beating! A lowly concubine, yet she dares to fawn over the powerful and bully the weak!"

Madam Tu ordered Granny Wan to grab Guan Yingying by the hair and pull her to the ground.

"I don't know how your mother raised you, you have no manners at all, you're a piece of trash!"

Gu Chengyan hurriedly scrambled off the bed, grimacing, and pleaded, "Mother, please don't hit her! I will teach her manners."

"You're still protecting this kind of slut? Didn't you say she'd pay the fine of three thousand strings of cash? Where's the money?"

Guan Yingying argued, "Chengyan wouldn't let me leave the manor..."

"How dare you call your husband by his name?" Xie Xiangxiang pointed at Guan Yingying and said indifferently, "Granny Wei, beat this arrogant and ignorant wretch."

Granny Wei still felt the pain from the kick she received last time, and seeing Guan Yingying brought both old and new grudges to her mind, making her particularly ruthless.

Guan Yingying, still injured from her miscarriage, was terrified and cried out, "Mother-in-law, this lowly concubine..."

"How dare you call me 'mother-in-law'?" Xie Xiangxiang said coldly. "You're a lowly concubine; you have no right to call me 'mother-in-law'!"

Guan Yingying was slapped so hard by Granny Wei and Granny Wan that she saw stars and her ears were ringing.

This damned ancient times!

Madam Tu was furious. This guy was a jinx; ever since she got together with Yan'er, nothing had ever gone right for the family!

Gu Chengyan couldn't stop her, and became furious: "Xie Shi, stop! Mother, can't you put the important matters first?"

Madam Tu ordered them to stop, saying irritably, "What kind of behavior is it of you to waste your days in my humble room? Get well soon and think about how to consummate the marriage?"

Guan Yingying dared not resist any longer, closed her eyes, and endured it.

Xie Xiangxiang didn't say a word. She could tell that Gu Chengyan disliked her and protected Guan Yingying.

It's okay, you don't love me, and I don't love you either, but what's rightfully mine, I won't give up a single bit!

No sooner had Tu left than Yan Ke and Nian Ke quickly helped Guan Yingying to bed and cried as they cleaned her wounds.

As Guan Yingying watched them apply the medicine, her anger erupted like a volcano. She gritted her teeth and said to Gu Chengyan, "If you dare to consummate the marriage, I'll leave immediately!"

Gu Chengyan reassured her, "Don't worry, I definitely won't. Let's discuss it carefully. It will take at least a while for the injury to heal, so we have time to think about how to arrange things."

What do you want?

"I have a cousin who looks exactly like me..."

After beating Aunt Yue, Madam Tu felt much better. She just couldn't understand how Xie Xiangxiang, though a little dim-witted, could be any less capable than this seemingly wild dog-like Aunt Yue.

After coaxing Xie Xiangxiang to go back to the courtyard to rest, Madam Tu confidently called Zhang Qing over and said, "Let all the female soldiers come into the mansion. From now on, both male and female soldiers will be allowed to enter the mansion."

Sell ​​them one by one!

Hongying led the people into the mansion. Madam Tu rubbed the corner of her eye and said, "I know you are loyal. Don't swagger around the mansion, lest you frighten the masters."

"Yes." Hongying was puzzled by her sudden change in attitude and replied with a puzzled sound.

They led a hundred female soldiers and surrounded Qingpu Courtyard.

When Madam Lu and the servants and concubines in the mansion saw all this, they knew that they wouldn't be able to steal anything from Qingpu Courtyard anytime soon.

Ci'en Temple.

The old lady was listless, and her worries about the future of the Earl's mansion gave her a sense of despair and helplessness, as if the mansion was about to collapse.

She had only drunk a bowl of bitter soup when Madam Tu came in.

"What's all the commotion outside?"

“Yesterday a thief broke into Qingpu Courtyard. Zhang Qing and his men failed to catch him, so today he called in his third sister-in-law’s guards to watch over the house.”

The old lady was both saddened and furious; don't think she was confused.

"The third brother has only been gone for two days and he can't even hold back anymore? Keep an eye on Qingpu Courtyard. After the third brother and his wife's coffins are buried, then we'll go and take stock of the third brother's wife's belongings."

The body is barely cold, the murderer hasn't even been caught yet, and they're already trying to divide up the third son's property?

The old lady wanted Xie Zhaozhao's dowry to help support the household because the family was struggling financially, and she wanted to use Xie Zhaozhao's dowry to improve their appearance.

But she didn't want the third son and his wife to die!

The third son and his wife both went, and everything in Qingpu Courtyard belonged to the Earl's family. Everyone was eager to grab it, scooping it into their own bowls.

This place should probably close down!

“Mother, we must deal with the soldiers of my third brother’s wife’s household. I heard that they don’t do any work on the estate and practice martial arts every day. We could afford to support them when they were alive, but with the current situation of the Earl’s mansion, how can we afford to support them?”

The old lady had a headache just thinking about it; the Earl's mansion definitely couldn't afford to support so many servants.

According to the laws of the Great Han Dynasty, officials were granted land and salaries according to their rank, but if an official died, the court would reclaim the land.

In other words, all the fields that the Earl's family has been relying on, belonging to Gu Shaoyu, will be taken back.

How will the Earl's family live from now on? They can only rely on the small amount of land allocated by the title and Xie Zhaozhao's dowry.

Xie Zhaozhao's dowry was all private property, which could be inherited by the Earl's family for generations.

However, the dowry is meant to support the master, not the servants.

The old lady remained silent for a while, and Madam Tu tentatively said, "Mother, my idea is to sell them off in batches. Firstly, to reduce the burden on the manor, and secondly, to prevent them from banding together and causing harm to the Earl's manor."

The old lady frowned and asked, "Where are their indentures?"

"It must be in Qingpu Courtyard."

"Alright, go and invite a monk to perform a rite of passage for the third son at Qingpu Temple. Also, find those indentures while you're at it."

The old lady said it as a matter of course.

The third son was her son. Both he and his wife were dead and had no children, so it was only natural for the Earl's Mansion to take over everything.

The Tu family actively made arrangements, finding monks and arranging religious rites. If Bei Chen and his group still refused to let them into Qingpu Temple, they were prepared to report it to the authorities.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!