Chapter 113 This excellent marriage is about to happen!
Yao Qingling looked coldly at Madam Ma: "The general died fighting for the country, and she actually said that the general was a servant, a dog?"
At this moment, Yao Qingling did not mention Lin Shiyuan, but only said the word "General".
Her father died on the battlefield, his body wrapped in a horse's hide. In Yao Qingqi's words, soldiers were treated so lightly, with no sense of awe towards them.
This offended Yao Qingling.
"Aunt, how did we come to own this Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion?"
Madam Ma was startled, her eyes darted around, she stammered a few times, then straightened her back and argued, "That Lin Shiyuan is no longer a general, he's a commoner!"
“Even if he was a commoner, he served the country and had military merits. Aunt, have you ever seen the people disrespect him when he was convicted?”
Ma pressed down on her lips, unable to speak.
Not to mention disrespecting him, even when they see him, they respectfully call him "General Lin"; the emperor dismissed him from his post, but in the hearts of the people, he will always be a general.
Yao Qingqi refused to admit her mistake, covering half her face and still stubbornly insisting, "So what? He's no longer the General of Zhennan, that's a fact! What the people think of him has nothing to do with me? I'm the daughter of the Marquis of Zhongyong, am I supposed to bow down to a commoner like him?"
Yao Qingling sneered.
Daughter of the Marquis of Zhongyong?
Yao Ying never went to the battlefield. He served as an official for decades, but was mediocre and accomplished nothing.
But he was lucky; he stumbled upon immense glory and swaggered around with his family.
Yao Qingling felt hatred at the thought.
She stared coldly at Yao Qingqi, her gaze like a knife scraping across her face, as if asking, "Want to get beaten up again?"
Yao Qingqi's pupils contracted slightly, and she instinctively shrank her neck, tilting her body to one side in a defensive posture to avoid being hit.
Qingling said, "Even if Lin Shiyuan is a commoner; even if he works at Hui Bafang, I have never treated him as a servant, much less a servant of the Yao family. Do you know why I can't?"
Yao Qingqi stared blankly, wondering why.
"Lin Shiyuan was once the emperor's general, he was the emperor's servant, how dare you think he was a servant of the Yao family? To sit on equal footing with the emperor, are you trying to bring disaster upon the Yao family?"
Ma gasped, “Qingqi absolutely did not mean that!”
At this moment, she didn't dare to care that Yao Qingling had hit her daughter; she just wanted Yao Qingling to pretend she hadn't heard anything.
Qingling looked at Yao Qingqi: "Even the Emperor has never said that Lin Shiyuan is his dog, how dare you... Yao Qingqi?"
Her gaze swept across Yao Qingqi's face, and she asked softly, "Do you still think that slap wasn't light?"
Yao Qingqi was stunned and shook her head in a panic, causing the hairpins in her hair to fall off.
Qingling then released her, coldly saying, "Watch your mouth, or you'll cause trouble for the Marquis's mansion!"
Ma couldn't find fault with Yao Qingling in this matter, but she also realized that Yao Qingling had taken the initiative.
She said, "Even if Qingqi said something wrong, why don't you ask why Qingqi is targeting Lin Shiyuan?"
"Hui Ba Fang is a property of the Marquis's mansion, and Qing Qi is a young lady of the Marquis's mansion. What's wrong with her going to her own family's shop to take some things? Lin Shiyuan is just a manager. How can he be so incompetent as to interfere with his master's business?"
"Qingling, Qingqi is your sister. You're family, yet you're speaking up for outsiders. Does that make sense?"
Yao Qingling gave a nonchalant smile: "Hui Bafang is the property of the Marquis's mansion, not Yao Qingqi's private property. The money earned by Hui Bafang must be deposited into the treasury. As the manager, Lin Shiyuan has the responsibility to help me manage the shop well, to ensure that every penny of income is clear and transparent, and to prevent anyone from taking it for free or stealing it."
She glanced at Ma.
Mr. Ma was provoked by the words "taking for free and stealing".
Having managed the Marquis's mansion for so many years, whatever her family needed, she could send over with a single word; festival gifts were sent to her family by the cartload. Even if the journey was long, she would have a security escort agency deliver the goods.
This was all to show her family that she had married into a noble family and how prestigious it was; it was also to make her family listen to her and to keep them under her control.
Over the years, no one has ever said anything about her.
"That's my maternal family, the place where I was born and raised. I married far away, and I married well, so they can rest assured. Besides, this is a time to show off the grandeur of our Marquis's mansion, so how can we skimp on festival gifts?"
"Just seeing the escort agency's carriages marching through the streets all the way to the city gate, such a grand procession, who would still say that the Marquis's mansion is a poor household?"
Even the Marquis of Loyalty and Valor, Yao Ying, couldn't find anything wrong with it, and the old lady also felt that she had made great contributions, so it was no big deal to give her some gifts.
At this moment, Ma felt that Yao Qingling was using those four words to strike at her, and her cheeks twitched slightly.
She opened her lips as if to say something, but Qingling glanced at her and didn't give her a chance to speak.
"...What did Lin Shiyuan do wrong? I was just stating the facts, how is that taking the side of an outsider?"
“I’m happy that Qingqi, as a member of the Yao family, brought the other young ladies to the shop to show their support. But this support should be paid for by those young ladies. If you give them money for free once, they will do it again and again. If this happens every time, they will think you are easy to bully and coax, and you will become a sucker.”
"You think you're important, but they treat you like a spoiled brat and a fool. If this reputation gets back to Princess Jinyang, I wonder what she'll think?"
Yao Qingling stared at Qingqi: "A woman who can't manage a household, who can only be deceived, and who only knows how to spend money, what use is the Princess's Mansion to you?"
Yao Qingqi was both angry and furious, but she couldn't argue with Yao Qingling or beat her in a fight, so she cried in anger.
Qingling, however, wouldn't let her off the hook and continued, "When the young ladies buy things, the shop will give them some silk flowers or other small trinkets as a bonus. This is a win-win situation for both the guests and the shopkeeper. Every item in the shop has a cost. If we just take things out without generating any income, wouldn't we be losing money?"
"Aunt, you've managed the Marquis's shop for many years and you're very experienced, is that what you mean?"
Ma: "..."
Goodness.
Yao Qingling was giving her a dressing-down, then giving Qingqi a dressing-down, and then turning around to give her a dressing-down again.
No matter how you look at it, it's all the fault of that mother and daughter today.
Summoning Yao Qingling to Dangui Courtyard was a completely wrong decision.
Madam Ma sighed, "Alright, Yao Qingling, are you here to lecture us? Who gave you the right to come to Dan Gui Courtyard to lecture us!"
Seeing Madam Ma's face turn red, Qingling knew when to stop and said nothing more.
She glanced around and suddenly asked Yao Qingqi with a puzzled look, "Did your cousin Peizhen go with you to the shop?"
Yao Qingqi was taken aback by her sudden question.
She nodded: "Yes, I went."
After Yao Qingling's divorce, she lost her position as the young mistress of the Duke's mansion. As a result, many noble families looked down on the Marquis's mansion even more, and they stopped sending invitations to banquets.
Bored at home, Ma Peizhen thought of inviting the young ladies out for a stroll. Since Hui Ba Fang was a popular place in the capital, they went together.
Yao Qingqi felt that it would be good for Ma Peizhen to get to know more young ladies, as they would introduce her to her brothers and sisters.
Isn't this the perfect marriage opportunity?
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