After some inquiries, the answer was no.
The Protectorate's Mansion was a mere shell in name only, and Hao Ren's sinecure wasn't very lucrative either. Over the years, their luxurious lifestyle had been entirely dependent on Jiang Shu's generous dowry. In fact, what Xia Zhiyu saw wasn't even Jiang Shu's entire dowry.
Some of it was squandered by him to renovate the pavilions and towers of the Duke's Mansion and add new bridges and streams, and some was quietly transferred by him.
Over the years, Jiang Shu had complete faith in him, handed him the key to her private vault, and silently funded the Duke's Mansion, but never asked about his expenses, so that it seemed natural for him to spend her dowry.
Xia Zhiyu suddenly felt dizzy. "My cousin's house is short of even the small sums of silver needed for daily purchases."
How can we go on living without money?
Hao Ren frowned and said, "I remember that not long ago, when I handed over the management of my private treasury to you, there was still a balance of one thousand taels of silver in the account."
Jiang Shu's banknotes were all in his hands and were not stored in the warehouse.
Therefore, the one thousand taels of silver in the treasury were actually his.
Hao Ren explained, "If we save a little, this one thousand taels of silver will be enough to support the Duke's Mansion's daily expenses during this period."
Xia Zhiyu suddenly fell silent.
She had already squandered all the one thousand taels of silver!
She used the money to buy Jiang Songyi's precious Jade Dew Cream to apply on her face, thus achieving her current smooth and delicate face.
Although the price was extravagant, she considered the treasures piled high in the warehouse at the time, and a mere 1,000 taels of silver was nothing...
Seeing her silence, Hao Ren's heart sank suddenly, and he asked anxiously, "Where are the silver coins?"
Xia Zhiyu said with a hint of guilt: "It's all spent."
Hao Ren sobered up immediately and couldn't help but raise his voice and ask, "Spend it all? But it's only been a few days, and that's a thousand taels of silver!"
Although he wasn't responsible for household chores and didn't know how expensive daily expenses were, his salary as a Protector of the Country was only a mere six hundred taels! Even with the meager salary of his fifth-rank sinecure, it would be difficult to save up a thousand taels of silver in a year!
All the salary accumulated with the generous dowry from his wife Jiang Shu was squandered by Xia Zhiyu, this extravagant woman?
Hao Ren was furious. He overturned the table in anger and slapped Xia Zhiyu in the face. "Where did you use all that money?"
Xia Zhiyu's fair face instantly became red and swollen, tears welled up in his eyes, and he was filled with astonishment and disbelief.
She often saw Jiang Shu generously rewarding her servants with dozens of taels of silver, and she was lavish in her spending, thinking that a thousand taels was nothing to the Duke of Protectorate's Mansion.
Seeing Hao Ren about to attack, the maidservant beside him hurriedly stood in front of Xia Zhiyu and anxiously reminded him, "Duke, my concubine is pregnant!"
Hao Ren glanced at Xia Zhiyu's abdomen. After a slight hesitation, he turned his anger towards the others and kicked the maid in the abdomen, "Get out of here."
Xia Zhiyu looked at the man in front of her, who was frantic and in disarray, and had long lost his former gentle demeanor. She couldn't help but feel a chill in her heart. She said in a heavy tone, "I used the silver to treat my face."
"Cousin, I've waited patiently for you for so many years, and now, just to spend a night with you, I've spent a thousand taels of silver to remove the pockmarks on my face. Don't you think your face looks good now? A thousand taels of silver, isn't it worth it?"
"How dare you use that thousand taels of silver to reshape your appearance?"
Hao Ren was almost overwhelmed by anger. If he hadn't considered that Xia Zhiyu was pregnant, he really wanted to slap her twice more.
"Do you think you're such a beauty that the moon and flowers can't even compare? You're an old woman, and you still dare to care about beauty and skincare!"
In his heart, he actually felt that Xia Zhiyu was more beautiful and charming without the pockmarks, and he was happy to enjoy this change, but if it came at the cost of one thousand taels of silver, he would rather she still be ugly!
Hao Ren was furious, but he couldn't use force against Xia Zhiyu. He could only pour out all the humiliating words in his heart. Soon he scolded her so much that her face turned red and tears flowed like rain.
Xia Zhiyu looked at Hao Ren and felt that his mistake was extremely absurd.
She thought to herself that if she was pursuing wealth and status, it would be better to go to Jiang Shu than to be Hao Ren's concubine. After all, Jiang Shu was generous and much better than the miser Hao Ren!
Just then, the housekeeper came running over to report.
"My Lord, the people from the Yongding Marquis' Mansion are here again!"
Hao Ren roared impatiently, "They're here, but haven't they already looted the warehouse? What else do they want? Are they going to tear down the Duke's Mansion as well?"
"Duke, please go and take a look! The people from the Yongding Marquis's Mansion have actually uprooted the peach trees in the backyard and demolished the main courtyard as well!"
"The lotus pond that Madam dug herself two years ago has been filled in by them, and even the rockery has been smashed to pieces by Marquis Yongding's followers!"
"What?!"
Hao Ren never expected that Jiang Dinglian would dare to be so unscrupulous.
He didn't care about the wind, rain, and mud, rolled up his sleeves, and hurried to the front yard.
"The main courtyard was meticulously renovated and expanded after my aunt married into the family. All the surrounding buildings have been demolished. Coincidentally, the pond that was filled in over there was also dug with my aunt's money. The broken bricks and tiles will be used to fill it!"
Ling Ji was directing a group of servants to carry out destruction.
When Hao Ren arrived at the scene, the originally magnificent and elegant main courtyard had turned into a ruin and was in ruins.
He roared with tears in his eyes, "Stop! Stop it all! You, the Yongding Marquis' Mansion, are going too far!"
Ling Ji clutched the lengthy dowry list tightly and spoke to the Protector of the Country in a firm tone, "Your Excellency, this is simply to reclaim the legitimate rights and interests of our aunt from the Jiang family. Although the silver has been paid, the property remains. The Marquis's intention is clear; he hopes that the Duke's Mansion can be restored to the state it was in when our aunt first entered the family."
As soon as he finished speaking, he handed the list full of items to the servant waiting beside him, and read it aloud clearly while banging his hands hard on the table to show his determination.
Seeing he couldn't stop the people from the Yongding Marquis' Mansion, Hao Ren turned to the servants of the Huguogong Mansion and shouted, "What are you doing? Standing there for nothing. Are you being kept alive just to eat? Hurry up and stop them!"
But the servants of the Duke of Protectorate's Mansion were hesitant, exchanging hesitant glances with each other, and no one dared to step forward.
The guards sent by the Yongding Marquis' Mansion are all strong and skilled in martial arts. How can the servants of the Huguo Duke's Mansion be their opponents?
Furthermore, some of the servants were originally purchased by the Madam, and their indentures were still in her hands. Although they were called servants of the Duke's Mansion, they were actually part of Jiang Shu's dowry.
Ling Ji refuted sternly, "Your Excellency, the Duke, this is wrong. These servants are not employed by the Duke's Mansion, but are the property of our Aunt Jiang Shu. They will also accompany Aunt Jiang Shu back to the Yongding Marquis Mansion."
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