Chapter 40: Even a small mosquito is still meat, and it targets the pitiful dowry
Upon learning that Liu Mingyue's dowry was only this much, the Marquis's wife showed contempt. When she married into the Dingbei Marquis's Mansion, it took her a stick of incense to look at the dowry list, and the total amount of the dowry, big and small, was at least nearly 30,000 taels.
But now that most of her dowry has been used up, and there are still those concubines in the mansion, she doesn't want to really use up all her dowry. The Marquis's wife doesn't want to spend so much effort and then benefit others in the end.
"No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat. Five hundred taels plus the salary and the revenue from the shop will be enough to support the mansion for another two or three years. The dowry is a little less, but when I think of that bitch eating and drinking for free, I can't swallow this breath."
The Marquis's wife shook her sleeves. Liu Mingyue was really hateful. She did nothing for the Marquis's Mansion, but spent the Marquis's money. Rather than being taken advantage of by her, it would be better to use her dowry to subsidize the family expenses.
Liu Mingyue brought Guihua and Huasheng to Fanlou for dinner. They each ordered a spicy pork elbow, chopped pepper fish head and braised beef in soy sauce. They enjoyed the meal very much.
When they returned to the courtyard, Liu Mingyue told Guihua and Huasheng to go downstairs and wash themselves without having to wait in the bathroom.
"What? Do we both smell bad?" Guihua said as she sniffed the corner of her clothes and only smelled the spicy aroma of braised beef and vegetables.
"After all, we used the money from the mansion to eat and gorge ourselves. It's not right to smell like food."
Liu Mingyue laughed. Of course she couldn't just drink the peanuts. They said that a "distinguished guest" would come to the courtyard later.
After the master and his two servants had finished bathing and were sorting out the embroidery threads in the house, a nanny outside came with a message saying that the Marquise had arrived. Liu Mingyue immediately got up and went outside to greet her.
Osmanthus and Peanut were a little confused as to why the Marquise, a rare guest, came to the yard.
"Madam, if you have any instructions, just ask your daughter-in-law to come over. How can I ask you to come in person?"
Liu Mingyue bowed respectfully to the Marquise, and as she followed suit, Guihua and Huasheng immediately understood why their master asked them to bathe and change clothes first.
In addition to the master they serve, there are other masters in the mansion. The prince or the marquise might come over, and they would have a strange smell on them, which would be somewhat rude.
Under normal circumstances, the Marquise would have made some sarcastic remarks to Liu Mingyue, asking how dare she expect her to go. But today, she seemed to have changed her nature. She smiled and called Liu Mingyue into the house, motioning her to sit down as well.
"I haven't come to see you since you got married, so I came to see you today when I had time. How have you been doing recently? Are you used to living in the mansion?"
The unprecedented concern of the Marquise made Guihua and Huasheng, who came forward to serve tea, feel a little uneasy. They wondered what was wrong with the Marquise? She was concerned about her master for no reason.
Before, the attitude of everyone in the Marquis' Mansion towards the master was as if this person did not exist. Why have they changed their attitude now?
"Thank you for your concern, madam. My daughter-in-law has gotten used to everything in the mansion, and the servants take good care of her. She is really well taught by everyone, and she is very prudent in her actions." Liu Mingyue replied with a smile.
It can't be said that what she said was all polite words. She really had nothing to get used to in the Marquis' Mansion. It was a place where she had lived for three years, so even if she didn't want to stay here for a long time, she had gotten used to it.
The Marquis's wife rolled her eyes at Liu Mingyue in her heart, laughing at her for not having seen the world.
"Just get used to it, and I'll be relieved. Since you married into the mansion, as the Crown Prince's consort, you should actually be involved in the housekeeping business, but I was busy before, so I didn't teach you anything."
The topic between the two suddenly turned to the matter of the housekeeper.
Guihua and the other man standing behind Liu Mingyue twitched their facial muscles, wondering what happened to the Marquise? The power of the housekeeper is not a dispensable fallen leaf, how could the Marquise remember her master?
"Mother, you are joking. I am still young, what can I understand? I haven't even touched the threshold of being a housekeeper. There are so many things going on in the mansion. Let alone asking me to take care of them, I can't understand them even if I just look at them."
Liu Mingyue still used the same trick, but the same trick always worked on the Marquis's wife.
She seemed to be modestly lowering her head, but in fact her peripheral vision was always watching the Marquis's wife. Of course, she also saw the Marquis's expression of "that's natural".
"Child, the housekeeper says it's neither difficult nor not difficult, but you really know too little." The marquis's wife sighed with seeming disappointment.
What is the power of the housekeeper? The power of the housekeeper of the Marquis's house is a hot potato, and it is a rotten one. The Marquis's wife came to visit late at night, just like Tong in her previous life, and she had her eyes on her dowry.
In her previous life, Liu Mingyue wanted to integrate into the Marquis' Mansion and placed her identity above that of the Crown Prince's Consort. She felt that she and the Marquis' Mansion were closely connected and it was natural for her to do something for them.
At that time, Liu Mingyue was extremely stupid and had no defense against the people in the Marquis' Mansion. Not only did she take out all the dowry that the Zhou Mansion had prepared for her, she also revealed everything about the several shops she ran.
She still remembered the look on the Marquis's wife's face at that time. Later, the Marquis's Mansion lived a very wealthy life relying on the revenue from her shops, and could hold their heads high in front of those nobles.
"Madam is right, so it is safest for Madam to handle the housekeeping. Madam comes from a big family and is kind-hearted. Thanks to Madam's good management of the household over the years, the Marquisate has been able to prosper."
Liu Mingyue's words were full of compliments, but these compliments made the Marquis' wife feel a little embarrassed.
However, her original purpose was to embarrass the Marquis's wife.
In this life, the people in the Marquis' Mansion wanted to take advantage of the situation to suck her blood and take away all her property, but she was not that stupid.
"You have only been married to the mansion for a short time, so it's no wonder that you don't know many things. The mansion is no longer as prosperous as it used to be. A lot of money was spent to treat the prince's leg. It is really not easy for the mansion to survive until now."
The Marquis's wife was saying that life in the Marquis's mansion was not easy, but in fact she was just crying poor to Liu Mingyue. In fact, the Marquis's wife was very good at understanding women's psychology, and she thought that she could make Liu Mingyue open up to her by bringing up Tan Zhuoyan.
The embarrassing thing is that in her previous life, Liu Mingyue was indeed persuaded by the Marquis's wife. She felt that as a wife, it was her duty to contribute to her husband, so she took out all her dowry in one go, and even worried that she had not given it out thoroughly enough.
"My daughter-in-law has also heard that the mansion has spent a lot of money on His Highness's legs. Madam has worked so hard to run the household." Liu Mingyue sat properly and continued with what the Marquis's wife said, neither answering the questions she raised nor asking random questions.
Madam Hou frowned and looked at Mother Duan beside her, wondering why Liu Mingyue didn't speak as she expected? But the play still had to be performed.
"I married the Marquis, and I am connected to this mansion. It is my duty to do this. It is not hard or not. I heard from the storehouse that you took out ten taels of silver to eat out. Ten taels of silver is not much, but the mansion should save every stitch and thread."
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