Lady Hou opened her eyes, her face slightly distorted.

She noticed something was different now; her sister-in-law seemed to be targeting her particularly today.

Shen Tangning wanted to laugh, but the doctor from the Ministry of Finance cautiously interjected, "Madam Hou, I have already counted the boxes you brought. There are a total of five thousand taels of silver, but the gold and silver utensils and such have not been counted yet."

Raising an eyebrow, I saw that the Lady Hou had only brought two boxes with her. One contained silver, and the other contained miscellaneous gold and silver jewelry and decorative items.

Lady Hou must have understood that if the donation was too small, it would inevitably give people something to talk about. However, the Hou family was short of money and could not come up with much cash, so they could only pool together the valuables in the mansion.

She slightly curled her red lips, feigning surprise in her tone: "I remember this vase belonged to the Lady of the Marquis's room. Didn't you used to like it very much?"

Chi's mother also looked over, her eyes revealing a hint of sympathy, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Lady Hou's face stiffened, and she pinched her palm to maintain her composure: "It's just a vase. We have plenty in the manor. The most important thing now is disaster relief, and my manor will naturally set an example."

They're really putting on a brave face.

Right now, I bet his heart is bleeding with pain.

A hint of mockery flashed in Shen Tangning's eyes. In the past, the Marquis's wife always found fault with her, but now that she was gone, the Marquis's mansion couldn't even cover its basic expenses.

If this continues, I'm afraid one day we'll have to sell our possessions to make a living.

Madam Chi sighed and said, "Sister-in-law, we're family after all. If the Marquis's mansion has any difficulties, you can tell me." She paused, then said sincerely, "It's not like I don't know how to lend money."

Upon hearing this, Shen Tangning almost burst out laughing.

If she was like this, one can only imagine how the Lady of the Marquis acted. She angrily flicked her sleeve and said coldly, "Sister-in-law, you're overthinking it. The Marquis's mansion is doing just fine! What, how much silver did your family donate to be so arrogant?"

Donations are just a token gesture to show one's goodwill, and she was certain they wouldn't donate too much. Just as she was about to take the opportunity to ridicule them, the doctor from the Ministry of Personnel spoke up with a smile: "Madam Chi donated 50,000 taels, and all these boxes on the ground belong to her family."

Lady Hou looked down, her face turning pale and ashen.

What?! They actually donated 50,000 taels!

At first, she thought the silver on the ground belonged to other families, but she never expected that it all belonged to the second wife's family!

She originally thought five thousand taels was already quite good, at least it wouldn't look too bad on the surface. But they donated fifty thousand taels. Compared to that, wouldn't it make her Marquis's mansion seem too stingy?

Whether it was psychological or not, Lady Hou always felt that the way the doctor in charge of the Ministry of Personnel looked at her was subtly contemptuous.

Her face flushed, and she couldn't stay any longer. She covered her forehead and collapsed into the old woman's arms.

The old woman understood and said worriedly, "Madam must have fallen ill again. It's cold outside, let's go back quickly."

Shen Tangning slowly curtsied and said, "Please take care, Madam Marquis."

Once inside the carriage, Lady Hou was still holding her forehead, her face extremely pale. Her nanny coughed and whispered a reminder, "Madam, they can't see you anymore."

Lady Hou gritted her teeth and glared at her: "This lady really has a headache!"

I don't know if it was from catching a cold or from being annoyed by those two singing in unison!

The old woman widened her eyes, somewhat at a loss: "Ah, then hurry back to the manor and fetch a doctor!"