Xu Rao felt a little relieved and sighed. He said to Chen Zhaoci, "The journey to Miaozhou will not be peaceful. Your father has assigned you twenty guards. Don't think it's too many. Take them all with you, as well as the people who serve you personally."

Chen Zhaoci said in surprise, "Twenty? That's a bit too many. I'm not an important person."

Xu Rao shook his head and said, "You're traveling from the capital to Miaozhou. Along the way, there have been several cases of murder and robbery, all caused by Chu Huaigui's account book. Chu Huaigui's death has solved everything, but many people were involved, especially those in the Ministry of Revenue. The money comes from the Ministry of Revenue. Without their help, could Chu Huaigui have embezzled money so openly?"

Thinking of the corruption cases he had seen before, Chen Zhaoci said quietly, "I have met the Chu family members, and they are not extravagant people. Do you think Chu Huaigui would save all the money he embezzled and not use it? I think Chu Huaigui is just a tool, responsible for digging up silver, but someone else is using the silver."

Xu Rao put his arm around Chen Zhaoci's shoulder and said with a smile, "My wife has quite a bit of political acumen, not bad, not bad. As an official's wife, one should have this level of thinking."

The couple had lived together for decades, but they didn't do such intimate things often, especially during the day. Chen Zhaoci felt a strange feeling rising from the bottom of her heart. Before she could savor it, she heard Bai Wei at the door shout loudly, "Third Madam, First Madam, Second Madam, Fourth Madam, Fifth Madam, and Sixth Madam have arrived."

Upon hearing this, Xu Rao quickly stood up and asked in surprise, "What's going on? Why is everyone here?"

Chen Zhaoci stood up, straightened his clothes, smoothed his hair at his temples, and said nonchalantly, "I guess he wants me to bring something to Xiao Jiu."

After entering the room, Ning saw Xu Rao and said with a smile, "Third brother is back. We were thinking that it would be dinner time soon, so we took this opportunity to deliver a few things to our Ninth Aunt. We'll have to ask Third Brother's wife to help us deliver them to Miaozhou."

Chen Zhaoci said with a smile, "Then I'll thank the aunts and uncles on behalf of my little Jiu. When our little Jiu comes back, I'll have her thank them again."

The people gave her purses, which Chen Zhaoci didn't open at the time. After the Ning sisters-in-law left, Chen Zhaoci checked them one by one. Ning's purse contained two hundred taels, while the others contained one hundred and fifty taels. In recent years, the sisters-in-law had been running shops given to them by the old lady, and Xu Di regularly helped them with promotions or adjusted sales strategies. The Ning sisters-in-law were quite well-off, so taking out one hundred or eighty taels of silver wasn't a big deal for them.

The sisters-in-law were quite satisfied with their current life. Despite the large number of noble families in the capital, not everyone had enough money to buy whatever they wanted. Many families were struggling financially due to poor management and were barely keeping a facade of prosperity by pawning some of the items left by their ancestors.

Ning was often out and about, so she naturally knew what was going on inside. That's why she went out of her way to curry favor with the third branch of the family, who had always been helping her.

Ning often chatted with other ladies over tea. Many of them laughed at the fact that the third branch of the Xu family, born out of wedlock, was favored and supported by the Marquis of Yongning. Some of Ning's friends secretly asked her to find ways to suppress the third branch, so that it wouldn't cause trouble after the heir inherited the Marquis of Yongning's mansion.

Ning outwardly smiled and agreed, but inwardly she sneered. She had finally figured things out. What did all that superficial pretense matter? It was nothing compared to inner comfort. Now, her sisters-in-law were all busy with their own affairs, having saved a considerable amount of money through their shops. Not only could they spend it freely, but they also had a strong backbone in front of their own family and could even stand up for themselves in front of their husbands. Wasn't this kind of life wonderful? Did the whole family have to be in chaos and become a laughingstock for everyone else?

Ning returned to her courtyard. The young master had already returned and brought back dinner, placing it on the table.

The prince asked her, "What have you been doing at this hour?"

Ning washed her hands, sat down at the dining table, and said, "I went to the third brother's place. His wife is going to Miaozhou in a couple of days. I went with a few others to deliver a purse to her, and asked her to take it to Ninth Girl."

When the prince heard that Chen Zhaoci was to be given a purse, he smiled enviously and said, "I think ever since Grandmother gave you a few shops, you've become quite powerful. Even I'm envious."

The Crown Prince is currently helping to manage some of the family's shops and land. These shops and land have their own managers, so it's not easy to save up some money on the side. Unlike the Ning family, who can get a lot of money from the shops every month. Most importantly, with Xu Di as their big weapon, how can the shops possibly lose money?

Ning said with some pride, "Of course, the money in the shop is our own private savings. Grandmother said beforehand that the money we earn is our own, and we can spend it however we want. You men can't interfere. Husband, if there's anything you want to buy but you're short on money, just come to me. I'll see if it's suitable and I can give you the money."

Upon hearing this, the prince couldn't help but laugh heartily and said, "Outside, many people envy our daughter-in-law, saying that she's very fortunate to have married into our family."

"That's natural. The marriages of Hua'er and the others haven't been settled yet. If our family has such a good reputation, why would we worry about good girls from good families not wanting to marry into our family? By the way, Your Highness, do you have any thoughts on Hua'er's marriage? Hua'er is already sixteen years old."

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