Chapter 56 The Creditor Arrives (Two Chapters Combined into One)
Mrs. Jin couldn't find Tao, and she was so angry that she had no place to vent, so she thought of Censor Jin.
To be honest, ever since Mrs. Jin moved in with her son, Censor Jin has been very good to them, especially to his nephew Jin. He is really good to them, even better than he treats Mrs. Tao's son.
But Mrs. Jin felt that it was far from enough.
She felt that Censor Jin had changed. After all, a man who became an official and had a career, especially a man as career-oriented as Censor Jin, would not have much intention to stay in the rear house. What's more, after more than ten years, Mrs. Jin was no longer the charming young wife she used to be. No matter how well she took care of herself, she could only retain her charm.
It was precisely because of these reasons that although the two lived under the same roof, they seldom applauded and cheered each other. Moreover, it was always Mrs. Jin who took the initiative, and Censor Jin was half-hearted. Also, because he was worried that Mrs. Jin might get pregnant, he had to be very cautious during the process. Therefore, every time it was over hastily and not to his satisfaction.
At first, Mrs. Jin didn't care, after all, she felt a little guilty.
But now it’s different, her son has given her confidence and courage.
People who are not loved are bitches. When Censor Jin talked about Mrs. Tao, his face was full of disdain, so Mrs. Tao was unloved, and she and Censor Jin were a perfect match.
Mrs. Jin was determined that even if Censor Jin could not give her the title of wife, she would make her the real mistress of the mansion.
As for the Tao family, just get as far away as you can.
Yes, as long as she drives Tao away, this house will belong to her, to the three of them.
As for Tao's son, Mrs. Jin didn't take him seriously at all. The child was several years younger than Jin's eldest nephew, and because he looked like his uncle who was a businessman, he was disliked by Jin Yushi since he was a child. Now that he had Jin's eldest nephew, a likable eldest son, Jin Yushi ignored that son even more.
Just at this time, the news about Xiao Yue gambling spread throughout the capital and also reached the ears of Mrs. Jin.
Mrs. Jin's eyes lit up.
Others may not understand, but what is there for a smart and intelligent woman in the harem like her to not understand?
Prince Consort Xiao had two sons. The deceased Xiao Zhen was said to be a rare talent, both civil and military. However, his concubine's son Xiao Yue was a good-for-nothing. They were both Prince Consort Xiao's sons, so why was there such a big difference between them?
There is only one reason, that is, Xiao Yue was deliberately spoiled by the eldest princess!
At this time, Princess Jiayi, who was lying in bed to take care of her pregnancy, never dreamed that she would become the guiding light for Mrs. Jin.
Mrs. Jin decided that as long as Mrs. Tao was driven out of the house, she, as the eldest aunt, would hold Mrs. Tao's son in the palm of her hand. If he didn't want to study, he wouldn't have to study. If he couldn't gamble, she would hire someone to teach him. She would also buy two beautiful maids to serve him. If she didn't raise him into a useless person even worse than Xiao Yue, Mrs. Jin felt that she, as the eldest aunt, would be failing in her duty.
Mrs. Jin had everything planned out, so she asked her maid Chunshui to make friends with the people in Tao's house.
It just so happened that Mrs. Tao was not at home, and she took a few of her confidants with her. Now there were only two maids around twelve or thirteen years old in Mrs. Tao's room.
Chunshui only needed a few words to make one of the maids obey her orders.
So that night, Mrs. Jin suddenly fell ill, and her nephew Jin asked someone to call a doctor, but the doctor didn't come, so a fortune teller was called instead.
Censor Jin was recovering from his injuries and was very unhappy when he heard that a fortune teller had come to visit. However, he changed his mind and realized that things had indeed been bad for him recently, and there was also the incident with the crows warning him. Censor Jin couldn't tell whether it was man-made or divine, so he suddenly thought it would be feasible to ask the fortune teller to take a look.
The fortune teller quickly came to the conclusion that both the wound on Jin Yushi's forehead and Jin Dasao's illness were caused by a curse.
Someone is practicing witchcraft in the mansion!
The art of exorcism is prohibited in this dynasty. You can believe in Taoism, practice Taoism, and perform rituals, but it is not allowed to use the art of exorcism to curse others.
Censor Jin became alert and immediately ordered a search of the mansion. Although Mrs. Tao was not in the mansion, her yard had to be searched as well.
Sure enough, the old woman found a doll in Tao's room with the birth dates of Censor Jin and Mrs. Jin written on it, and there were several needles stuck on the doll.
Censor Jin was furious and sent someone to find Tao and question her. However, before the person he sent out left the house, Tao came back.
Seeing the two puppets, Tao's expression was indifferent: "What do you want, my husband?"
Censor Jin angrily said, "You bitch, I'm going to divorce you!"
Mrs. Tao said sarcastically, "Divorce me? My husband is in the spotlight right now. If you divorce me, I won't be able to get over it. My husband is banging his head against the pillars in the Golden Palace, so I'll go bang my head against the stone lions in front of the Censorate. Anyway, I've already been divorced and I have no face to live anymore. Even if I die, I'll ruin your reputation."
"You were the first to use the art of witchcraft, so it's only right that I divorce you." Censor Jin roared.
Mrs. Tao: "In that case, let's report it to the authorities. I will send someone to report it right away. I have been practicing the art of warding off evil in the mansion, which is against the laws of Dayong. I should be imprisoned. Once I am imprisoned, my husband can divorce me openly."
After saying that, Tao really sent someone to go to the Beijing government office to report the matter, and Censor Jin quickly stopped the person.
Tao was still his wife. When Tao was arrested by the Beijing government for her evil deeds, he was the one who was embarrassed.
He has made many enemies in the court, and those people are waiting to find something to hold against him. Today, the Beijing government came to the mansion to arrest Tao, and tomorrow the memorial impeaching him for not managing his family well will be submitted to the emperor.
He had just shed blood in front of the emperor, and now he didn't dare to displease the emperor again.
After being married for many years, Mrs. Tao knew very well that what Censor Jin cared about most was his reputation.
Sure enough, Censor Jin fell silent.
He is still carrying things on his shoulders.
As long as the Liang Palace does not kill all the people, he will always have a knife hanging over his head.
If it were anyone else, it would be fine, but he was so deliberate and always managed to bring the other party down.
But that was Prince Liang's Mansion. If the emperor could destroy them in one fell swoop, there would be no such thing as crows covering the roof.
Therefore, Censor Jin is under great psychological pressure now.
After hearing what Tao said, he was even more hesitant to act rashly.
But this evil woman, Mrs. Tao, is too hateful.
"What exactly do you want?" asked Censor Jin.
Tao smiled and said, "Divorce."
Censor Jin shook his head: "Impossible. Divorce will also alert the imperial court. Then everyone will know that we are divorced and will still talk about it."
Mrs. Tao snorted coldly, "As long as I don't make a fuss, this matter won't get out. Then you can just tell others that I'm unwell and moving to the manor."
Censor Jin looked at Mrs. Tao with a fierce gaze. He felt that something was wrong with this matter, but he couldn't tell what it was.
He flicked his sleeves and turned away.
He said divorce in anger. Both divorce and divorce were big matters. He was the censor and could not afford to be criticized, so he had to think carefully about it.
Tao was too lazy to pay attention to him. She asked someone to clean up her messy yard and then had a good sleep.
Censor Jin couldn't sleep well because Sister-in-law Jin kept whispering in his ear. Sister-in-law Jin didn't want to miss such a good opportunity.
She had arranged everything, except for Censor Jin's decision.
"Let's get a divorce. The son is still yours. Oh, and you can't let her take the dowry away."
Censor Jin said nothing, but he could not resist Mrs. Jin's sweet words, and when it was almost dawn, he finally made up his mind.
We also have to thank Emperor Yongjia, who took pity on Censor Jin's injury and specially gave him ten days of vacation.
Otherwise, Censor Jin would have to go to court at this time.
So after Censor Jin had breakfast, he was coaxed by his elder sister-in-law Jin to go find Mrs. Tao.
Before leaving, Mrs. Jin waved her little fist and said, "Go ahead. My son and I will wait for you to come back!"
......
Censor Jin showed his authority as a judge in the imperial court, with his iron tongue and fierce intimidation. How could Tao, a merchant girl who only knew how to read account books, be no match for him? In the end, she could only agree to his conditions with tears in her eyes.
They could divorce, but Tao could only take with her a small farm that she had brought as a dowry as a place to live. The dowry in Tao's warehouse and the farm and shop that she had brought as a dowry had to be left to her son.
Mrs. Tao can take away the maids and servants she brought with her as a dowry. This is also what Mrs. Jin has repeatedly reminded her of. Those are all Mrs. Tao's people. Their indentures are all in the Tao family. They cannot be sold casually if they are left in the mansion, so they still have to be driven out together.
If the old doesn't go, the new won't come. Even if you have money, you're still afraid that you won't be able to buy good servants.
As for Tao's son, there is no need to ask. The son must stay in the mansion. He is the flesh and blood of the Jin family and cannot go with Tao.
Tao agreed reluctantly.
Censor Jin asked someone to invite someone from the Beijing government office. The person he invited was from the same department as Censor Jin. Although they didn't have much friendship, since they were from the same department, of course he had to give him some face. What's more, Censor Jin was not an ordinary person. He was the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Censorate. He would rather offend a villain than offend the Four Heavenly Kings.
So Tongke handled the matter quietly, and the two signed their names, and from then on they got married and had nothing to do with each other.
On that day, Tao handed over the account book, along with a whole box of house deeds and land deeds, packed her money, and left the Jin Mansion with her people.
Mrs. Jin was overjoyed. She had finally found her happy ending in this mansion.
Her first thing was to take inventory of Tao’s warehouse.
She had seen Tao taking things from the warehouse, and those good things almost dazzled her eyes.
The warehouse was filled to the brim with boxes and crates of all sizes. Mrs. Jin asked people to look for Tao's dowry book, but they couldn't find it. It was most likely that Tao had taken it away.
But it doesn't matter. When Tao left the house, she only brought two small bags, and the things she could take away were limited, so the good things were still in the warehouse.
Mrs. Jin asked people to open all the boxes and cages, and sure enough, all the good things were there. From now on, these were all hers!
But happy times are always short-lived.
Mrs. Jin went to the accounting office to see how much silver was in the account, but the accountant told her that there were only two hundred taels left.
Mrs. Jin didn't believe it: "How is it possible? There can't be only 200 taels of silver in the mansion!"
The accountant shook his head. "Normally, there isn't much silver in the account book. When we need silver, Madam always asks us to go to Wanjinhao to get it. If we don't spend it that day, we have to send it back to Wanjinhao the next morning. The ten thousand taels that Master asked us to withdraw a few days ago were taken from Wanjinhao and later sent back."
Mrs. Jin knew Wanjinhao, a famous business, but she didn't know that Wanjinhao could actually store money.
She went to ask Censor Jin, but Censor Jin never cared about these things and was completely clueless.
Mrs. Jin had no choice but to go and count the shops and farms first. At this moment, there was a sudden noise in the front yard.
After asking, I found out that it was someone who came to collect the debt.
The person who came to collect the debt was none other than the Wanjinhao people.
The people from Wanjinhao produced the IOUs that the Jin family had borrowed from Wanjinhao over the past few years, and they actually borrowed a total of 150,000 taels!
At the same time, there was a separate account book set up by Wanjinhao for the Jin family, which recorded every loan and receipt. The last amount was ten thousand taels a few days ago, but this amount was returned the next day.
Therefore, the IOU was withdrawn.
Every IOU has a seal specially used by the Jin Mansion. Every mansion has this kind of seal, and the seal must be checked when there is money transactions.
Mrs. Jin naturally didn't believe it. Even Censor Jin, who always disdained these things, was alarmed. Of course, he didn't believe it either. There was plenty of silver in the mansion, so why would they need to borrow money, let alone borrow 150,000 taels.
He immediately asked someone to bring out the seal of the mansion. After checking it, he was confused because it was exactly the same seal as the one on the IOUs of Wanjinhao.
The accountant, Mr. Li, also confirmed that Tao always asked him to go to Wanjinhao to withdraw money.
Mrs. Jin had only been in the capital for a few years and didn't know the details of Wanjinhao, but Censor Jin knew it.
The ancestor of Wanjinhao once donated a large sum of money to support Taizu's uprising.
Therefore, from the time Taizu came to power till now, Wanjinhao has been the imperial merchant. Not only that, the imperial relatives and nobles have secretly done business with Wanjinhao.
Censor Jin also wanted to use this as a breakthrough to impeach several nobles, but later found that the Wanjinhao was too complicated, and even Concubine Qiao's family was involved. So Censor Jin gave up and turned to attack the personal morality of those nobles.
Now that Wanjinhao came to collect the debt, Censor Jin knew that this matter was not simple.
He began to suspect that this was Tao's conspiracy.
He sent people to the small village to look for Tao, but found that Tao had not gone there at all, and no one knew where she had hidden.
He wanted to put the blame on Tao for everything. He and Tao had divorced each other, and all the money was borrowed by Tao and had nothing to do with him.
But the people from Wanjinhao sneered, "Divorce? You just divorced yesterday. The earliest of these IOUs is from ten years ago, and the latest one was borrowed a few days ago."
Seeing that he did not pay back the money, Wanjinhao threatened to sue him to the government. With these IOUs in hand and clear accounts, Wanjinhao was confident of winning.
Censor Jin is not a fool. As long as this matter is brought to the capital government, he will lose face. I don’t know how many people are waiting to laugh at him.
But it’s 150,000 taels, and there are only 200 taels in the account. Where can I get the money to pay off the debt?
He suddenly remembered Tao's private storehouse and the manors and shops that came as dowry.
Fortunately, he had the foresight to prevent Tao from taking these away.
So the good things that Mrs. Jin had been thinking about, along with the house deeds and land deeds that she had not had time to look at carefully, were in Wanjinhao's hands in the blink of an eye.
In the end, these were only worth 100,000 taels. Wanjinhao showed leniency and, considering that the Jin family was an old customer, allowed the 50,000 taels to be repaid in five years.
At this point, if Censor Jin and Mrs. Jin hadn't realized they had been tricked by Mrs. Tao, they would be fools.
But what does it matter if it is discovered? Tao has disappeared as if he has evaporated from the face of the earth and his whereabouts are unknown.
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