The morning mist at the hour of Mao had not yet dissipated, but Liu was already howling in the yard, holding her chest.
"What a sin! The General's Mansion is going to fall into ruin!" She sat by the well with disheveled hair, waving a patched handkerchief in her hand. "I can't even pay the servants their monthly wages. How can I still have the dignity to live in this world..."
Chuntao, passing by with a basin of water, was nearly overwhelmed by the wailing: "Miss, what's Liu up to now? You just humiliated her into handing over the keys yesterday, and now she's crying poor?"
Shen Weiwan was drawing her eyebrows in front of a bronze mirror. Upon hearing this, she curled the corners of her lips: "She thinks the slap in the face last time wasn't painful enough and wants to do it again." She put down her eyebrow pencil, stood up and adjusted her skirt, "Let's go and see what's going on."
In the main hall, Liu was crying to the old housekeeper: "Housekeeper, look at this account book. There are not even ten taels of silver in the treasury..." She deliberately flipped through the account book loudly, but glanced at the door.
"Oh? The treasury is out of money?" Shen Weiwan leaned against the door frame with her arms folded. "Didn't my aunt wear the red gold bracelet last night? I remember that bracelet was worth two hundred taels."
Liu's hand trembled, and the account book almost fell to the ground. She quickly tucked the bracelet back into her sleeve and said, "That's fake! I've told you so many times!"
"Fake?" Shen Weiwan pretended to be surprised, "But it looks more real to me than the real thing." She turned to the servants behind her and said, "What do you think, is my aunt's bracelet real or fake?"
Zhang Ma, Li Bo and more than a dozen other servants had already received Shen Weiwan's hint and immediately responded in a flurry of chatter:
"I think it's real! It was even glistening in the sunlight the other day!"
"Yes! I've seen it too. It's golden, just like gold!"
"Why would Madam Liu wear a fake bracelet? It must be real!"
Liu's face flushed red, and she trembled with anger: "You...you don't listen to the young lady's nonsense! This bracelet is fake!"
"Since it's fake," Shen Weiwan struck while the iron was hot, "then Auntie, please give it to me? I'll take it to the pawnshop and ask. If I can get a few taels of silver, it will be good for giving the servants their monthly allowance."
"No!" Liu covered the bracelet with her hand. "This is my dowry. I can't give it to you!"
"Dowry?" Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows. "Didn't my aunt say that the general's mansion has no money? Shouldn't your dowry be used as an emergency measure?"
Liu was speechless and could only put on a serious face: "I don't care! Anyway, this bracelet can't be moved!"
Seeing this, Shen Weiwan knew that forcing them wouldn't work, so she changed her strategy. She sighed and said to the servants, "Alas, since my aunt said there's no money in the treasury, I'm afraid we won't be able to pay our monthly allowance. Well, I know everyone's family is waiting for rice to be cooked, so why not..."
She paused deliberately, looking into Liu's eyes: "Why don't we go to my aunt's room and borrow some money?"
"Borrow money?" The servants were stunned at first, but then they reacted and immediately knelt down in cooperation:
"Madam, please be kind! My children are still waiting for the rice to be cooked!"
"Madam Liu, please lend me ten taels of silver first. I'll pay you back next month when I get my monthly salary!"
"Madam, my mother is sick and waiting for medicine..."
A huge group of people knelt in front of Liu, crying and wailing, which scared Liu so much that she almost fell off her chair.
"You...what are you doing?" Liu pointed at the servants, too angry to speak. "How can I lend you money?"
"Madam, please don't hide it!" Zhang Ma cried, "We all know that you have a lot of private money in your room!"
"Yes! I saw you having a box carried in the other day!"
"Madam, please have pity on us!"
Liu looked at the sea of people before her, each one reaching out for money, and suddenly her head was spinning. She wanted to get angry, but the servants were all elders in the mansion. If she offended them, who would listen to her in the future? She wanted to run, but the door was blocked tightly, and she couldn't get out.
"I...I really don't have any money!" Liu stamped her feet anxiously.
"Aunt," Shen Weiwan said slowly, "please stop pretending. The servants are all waiting for money to save their lives, so please lend them some first." She deliberately raised her voice, "Everyone, is it right?"
"Yes!" the servants shouted in unison.
Liu looked at Shen Weiwan's half-smile, and suddenly realized that all this was planned by Shen Weiwan! She was not here to borrow money, but to fleece her!
"Chen Weiwan!" Liu was so angry that she was shaking all over. "You...you did this on purpose!"
"What are you talking about, Auntie?" Chen Weiwan said innocently, "I just feel sorry for everyone and want to help them." She walked up to Liu and lowered her voice, "Auntie, if you don't come up with the money, these servants will go to the streets and shout that the general's mansion can't even pay the monthly salary."
Upon hearing this, Liu's face turned pale. If outsiders knew that the General's Mansion was broke, how could she hold her head high in front of the noble ladies of the capital? Besides, the General's Mansion couldn't afford to lose face!
"Good...good you, Shen Weiwan!" Liu gritted her teeth and squeezed out a few words, "You win!"
She turned and walked into the inner room, and after a while, she came out holding a heavy box.
"There are five hundred taels of silver in here," Liu put the box on the ground, "divide it among yourselves!"
When the servants saw this, they immediately surrounded it and opened the box. They saw that it was full of silver!
"Thank you, ma'am!"
"Madam is such a good person!"
"Madam has a kind heart!"
The servants were happily dividing the money. Liu was so heartbroken to see her own private money gone, but she dared not say anything.
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