When Jiang said this, everyone was stunned. Shen Lijiao still did not give up, "You are slandering me! How could my father do such a thing!"
Chen Lijiao was furious and no longer cared about seniority or inferiority. She immediately refuted Jiang's words.
This was exactly what Jiang was waiting for. She slowly took out a receipt from the maid's hand and showed it to everyone.
"This is the receipt sent by Wangchunlou. Would you like to take a look? The Second Master's fingerprints are clearly on it. I'm afraid he can't deny it."
He glared at Jiang angrily, then turned and rushed out.
Jiang's move today was tantamount to rubbing her face on the ground. Seeing her mother leave, Shen Lijiao had no face to stay any longer, and ran after her mother with a blushing face.
There was no emotion on Jiang's face, as if she had expected today's farce.
After the people from the second house left, Old Madam Shen's face also looked unhappy.
"Even if the Second House did it, you shouldn't have taken it out in front of everyone. Where does that put the Second House's reputation?"
Jiang had long been accustomed to the old lady's partiality. She snorted inwardly, "I dare not. I wanted to settle this matter with the silver, but Jiao'er came here today to accuse me, saying that I spent the silver elsewhere. If I can't give an explanation today, I'm afraid this matter will not end well."
Old Madam Shen was troubled by what happened today. She knew that the second house was in the wrong, so she just said that she had a headache and waved her hand to let Jiang go.
He returned to her room, shaking with anger. She had ordered her servants to look for the second master, but he was not in the house and no one knew where he had gone.
Shen Lijiao cried as soon as she entered the room, "Mother! What should I do?"
He Shi had no time to think about these things. "Cry, cry, cry, all you do is cry!"
She scolded Shen Lijiao loudly.
Chen Lijiao felt even more aggrieved. "At first I said I didn't want to take this job, but my mother insisted that I take it. Now look what I want. I don't have any money. I'm just a girl in the boudoir. Where can I get the money?"
"Didn't I ask you to take this job to bring honor to you? Now you blame me!" He was very disappointed.
In the past, when there was no money in the government treasury, Jiang had to pay for the old lady's birthday out of her own pocket. Jiang had never complained about it. After all, being filial to her mother-in-law was her duty. However, this time the birthday banquet was organized by Chen Lijiao, and there was no reason to ask Jiang to pay for it again.
He was not as stupid as Jiang to use her own money to hold a birthday party for the old lady.
Besides, she doesn't have that much money.
Mrs. He calmed down and said, "Since we're hosting a banquet for the old lady, we should be paying from the public treasury. There's no cash in the treasury right now, but we do have some calligraphy and paintings. If you can't find any, you can pawn them and get some cash. After the birthday banquet, you can hand over the cards. Whether you can redeem them or not is up to the eldest wife."
After listening to her mother's words, Chen Lijiao felt that everything made sense. After thinking about it, she asked the servants to open the warehouse and selected some antique calligraphy and paintings to pawn.
When it comes to the affairs of the aristocratic families, the pawnshop is the most clear. As soon as Chen Lijiao asked someone to pawn the item, the owner of the pawnshop informed Jiang about it.
The owner of the pawnshop knew that this was not a glorious matter, and he told Jiang about it now to give Jiang face.
Jiang had already expected them to do this, so she just nodded and didn't intend to do anything about it.
When Chen Liyue heard about this, she called Bai Shan and gave him detailed instructions.
Within half a day, almost the entire Wangjing City knew that the second branch of the Shen family had pawned antiques for cash.
The second master was still intoxicated by the gentle pleasures of Wangchun Tower. He and his friends each held a young and beautiful prostitute in their arms. Who would want to go home and face that tigress when she was so gentle and beautiful?
After three rounds of drinks, someone at the table suddenly asked, "What happened at Mr. Shen's house?"
Shen Er was confused. How could he not know what was going on at home?
The man then told Shen Er every word of the rumors he had heard in the past two days, and Shen Er was furious after hearing it.
Shen Er was furious when he heard this. He didn't even bother to drink anymore. He got on the carriage and headed straight for the Shen Mansion.
The rumor clearly said that the second branch of the Shen family had pawned something, so Shen Er rushed directly into He's room.
"What good things have you done behind my back?"
He Shi had been unable to find Chen Er for the past two days and was filled with rage. Today, she finally came back and came in as soon as she came in, looking aggressive and demanding an explanation. He Shi could not stand such anger and started to fight with Chen Er.
"You asked me, I want to ask you something!"
"What are you asking me?! Why did you go pawn your things for no reason?! Now the whole city of Wangjing has heard about it! Where can I put my face?"
He Shi didn't know how this matter got out. She angrily pointed at Shen Er and cursed, "If you hadn't been wasting money on wine and women outside, how could the Shen family not even have the cash to hold a birthday banquet for the old lady! If you didn't ask someone to pawn the things in the storehouse, how would Jiao'er get the money to hold a banquet?"
Chen Er felt guilty after hearing this, but he was still angry. "Who told Jiao'er to go and host a banquet for the old lady? She's just looking for trouble! In the past, these things were handed over to the eldest wife and there were never any mistakes. If you insist on taking this job over, you should see if you have the ability to do it!"
When He heard that both the father and daughter were blaming her and that no one understood her painstaking efforts, she became anxious and angry, filled with grief and resentment, and without caring about anything else, she started fighting with Shen Er.
Chen Er had long been drained of his body by alcohol and sex, and he had not expected that He had such brute force. After this fight, He scratched his face with several bloody marks. He had not gone out for the past few days and hid in Aunt Xue's yard, avoiding He.
Chen Lijiao was too busy arranging the birthday banquet to pay any attention. Even if she knew about the conflict between her parents, she had no power to care. She didn't know this before she was the head of the household. She always looked at Jiang doing these things with ease. Now that she has taken on this job, she realized that she has to worry about everything, big or small, by herself. She was also short-sighted and didn't bother to delve into some things. She left everything that could be assigned to the servants to do.
Old Madam Shen fell ill due to anger after that day. Shen Wangqiu went to visit his mother when he returned home. Old Madam Shen's words and deeds were all blaming Jiang, blaming her for making the affairs of the second house public and even blaming her for not properly organizing her birthday party.
Chen Wangqiu knew that his mother was partial, so he didn't want to agree with her.
"The second wife took the initiative to propose to hold a birthday banquet for mother that day, and mother agreed. Why are you blaming the first wife now?" Chen Wangqiu was also full of injustice.
"Are you blaming me for being partial?" Old Madam Shen coughed angrily. "Even if this matter is handed over to the Second House, since it's a birthday banquet for me, then you, the First House, should also contribute some money, right?"
Chen Wangqiu's own monthly salary was handed over to the public treasury. Now that Old Lady Shen asked the eldest wife to pay, it was obvious that she wanted Jiang to pay out of her own pocket. Chen Wangqiu knew that Jiang had always been wronged at home, but she never cared because of her filial piety to her mother. Now that his mother actually asked Jiang to pay, Chen Wangqiu was extremely disappointed with his mother in an instant.
"Okay, since it's for mother's birthday, the eldest wife shouldn't pay for it alone. Why don't you call the second and third brothers over and let the three families agree on how much to contribute? The eldest wife will definitely not refuse."
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