Chapter 318: Jewelry
The old lady yelled and cursed, "She's not a famous artist. It's just an ordinary painting. Why should she pay so much for it?"
Seeing that she still maintained the look of a stingy old woman at this time, Old Master Liu was completely disappointed.
He would never have thought that simply bringing Hu Xiner back home would stir up the turmoil that had been lurking in the Liu Mansion for many years.
After all these twists and turns broke out, he was shocked to find that the dignified and reserved lady in his memory had turned into what she is now.
When people get old, the family is in turmoil. Old Master Liu's eyes are full of vicissitudes of life, and at this moment the old lady is still chattering about the issue of apology.
Liu Zhi also grumbled softly, "Dad, you're being too partial. It's just a broken painting, isn't it? Qingyi and I were splashed with water, why don't you come and show some sympathy to us?"
Liu Qingyi said angrily, "Only a fool would accept the idea of paying so much for no reason."
"You don't have to pay," Old Master Liu said directly, "Since what I say is useless, then your eldest son should leave the Liu family and start your own business!"
Liu Qingyi was struck by lightning: "Grandfather, you actually abandoned us for those people?"
When Liu Zhi heard that they were to start their own business, his expression immediately changed. He quickly whispered to the old lady, "Mom, a hundred gold coins isn't a lot of money. Why don't you just pay it back first?"
The old lady's heart was bleeding. This money was different from Liu Yanchao's medical expenses. It couldn't be paid from the treasury of the mansion, so she could only pay from her own private money!
But her private savings were also something she had painstakingly planned out for so many years.
She wanted to say something else, but Old Master Liu turned around and said, "Whether to compensate or not, it's up to you!"
The old lady could only swallow this loss in silence.
However, the hatred between her and Hu Xiner was completely formed!
On the other side, Yun Qiu brought clothes from Lanxin Garden and gave them to Hu Xiner to change into.
Hu Xin'er asked curiously, "When did we bring this cloud-water satin dress?"
The Yunshui satin was sent by the eldest princess. As the name suggests, when you wear this satin, you will feel as graceful and elegant as flowing clouds when walking, and as sparkling as the lake water reflected by the sunset glow.
This kind of fabric is very rare and eye-catching when worn. Although Hu Xiner likes it, she can only wear it on very special occasions.
But later, Mu Qing was appreciated by the emperor, and the palace gave her a lot of fabrics that were more solemn than Yunshui satin, so she kept this dress at the bottom of the box.
Yun Qiu raised her chin. "I thought the young lady would like this dress, so I brought it with me. Even the people in the main house are jealous of Tian Shuibi's horse-faced skirt. We want to make her jealous!"
Hu Xiner laughed: "I didn't expect that a girl like you who is usually honest and dutiful would have such thoughts."
Yun Qiu said with some guilt, "I feel sorry for you. Young Madam is such a good person, yet they treat you like this!"
Hu Xin'er tied the belt of her coat and said, "Forget it. Less trouble is worse than more."
Her mission in coming to the Liu family was not to engage in palace fighting, and her performance in front of the second old lady and others was just to consolidate her position and to find out the situation in the Liu Mansion.
Chen smiled with some satisfaction and said, "This girl under you is quite clever. What she said does make some sense. The people in the first house are the ones who bully the weak and fear the strong. If you show off in front of them, they won't dare to do anything to you!"
"Then I'll listen to my aunt." Hu Xiner said with a smile.
Ever since she took out the thousand-year-old ginseng to save her son, Chen had grown fond of her. She couldn't help but advise, "If you don't mind me being annoying, I'll give you a piece of advice. The Liu family is full of trouble. You'd better go back to the Lu family as soon as possible. Although the old man and his family love you, they are old after all... Alas."
She sighed, saying nothing.
Hu Xin'er nodded: "Yes! I will remember what my aunt said."
Chen couldn't help but tap her forehead: "You little girl, you are much cuter than my son!"
At this time, the servant came in again to report: "Madam, Old Master Liu said that the eldest wife should compensate the young lady with a hundred sheets of gold foil paper, ten wolf-hair brushes, and an agarwood inkstone. This has to come from the eldest wife's private collection!"
Chen was slightly surprised: "The old lady actually agreed?"
After receiving a positive answer, she and Hu Xiner couldn't help but look at each other and smiled.
Hu Xiner took the opportunity to ask, "Aunt, these things are actually not expensive, why is the old lady so stingy?"
She could see that the old lady was stingy not because her reputation was damaged, but more because she was really poor.
But this was strange. As far as she knew, the old lady had brought a lot of dowry when she got married. Why would she find it so difficult to take a mere thousand taels of silver?
Speaking of this topic, Chen couldn't help but look around, and then sent the servants away.
She pulled Hu Xin'er to sit at the tea table and said, "There's nothing wrong with saying this. When the eldest old lady first married into our family, she was very talented in literature. Later, when she was trying to manage her shop and land, she encountered many setbacks. She has been working hard on these things for many years, but has not achieved any results."
Hu Xiner understood immediately. In other words, the old lady was a talented woman who was only good at poetry and books, and had no idea about accounting.
In fact, if we only come here and let the servants take care of the shop, we probably won’t lose so much money.
But the old lady was stubborn and always wanted to invest to make money. As a result, she lost more and more, even her dowry.
Seeing that she understood, Chen Shi didn't say much, but just sighed, "The eldest wife is the most stingy nowadays. Although I promised to give you those things verbally, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to get them."
Hu Xin'er thought about it and gave a sly smile: "Then we'll go and get it ourselves!"
"This... is probably a bit disrespectful to the elders." Although Chen also disliked the eldest wife, she still had the rules brought by her family in her bones.
Hu Xin'er smiled and said, "It's okay, I'm not afraid of them."
The promised apology was delayed, so the old lady sent people to urge it three times a day, while she herself stayed in Lanxin Garden leisurely reading picture books.
There was gloomy fog over the upper room.
Finally, when the old lady was woken up from another nap, she could no longer bear it.
But she didn't have that much money, so she had to make up her mind and take off the emerald hairpin on her head.
"Go and pawn this hairpin!" she said through gritted teeth.
In Lanxin Garden, Hu Xin'er blew away the tea foam in the bowl and said, "Oh? Did the eldest wife send something over?"
Yun Qiu couldn't help but laugh. "It's said that the old lady pawned her jewelry! But...they only sent 50 sheets of gold foil."
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