"Not much, fifty taels will suffice."
Fifty taels?! That's practically taking her life!
Madam Shen exclaimed incredulously, "Your father's annual salary is only twenty taels!"
"You're going to spend more than two years' worth of his salary on this? What could possibly be so expensive?"
Shen Qiyin said, "If you're going to give something, give something expensive. Giving something cheap will only make people dislike you and think we look down on them. Why bother with something that won't please them?"
"But I don't have that much money on hand."
"But you have jewelry, why don't you just pawn some of it for money?"
Madam Shen looked troubled.
Say yes, she can't bear to.
If they don't agree, they fear they won't be able to win over Ren Dong, and Shen Cang will blame them afterward.
She was caught in a dilemma, but Shen Qiyin didn't urge her.
Just then, Ren Dong came running in happily, carrying a food box in one hand and a knife in the other: "Miss, Miss! Look what I brought back..."
As Ren Dong entered the house, her smile froze on her face the moment she saw Madam Shen.
Madam Shen's heart skipped a beat.
She gave an awkward smile and quickly stood up to greet him: "Oh, Ren Dong is back! Come sit down and rest."
"Xianglan, quickly pour Rendong a cup of tea so she can drink it and calm down."
Xianglan: "...Yes."
Honeysuckle was pressed into a chair, looking completely bewildered.
She looked blankly at Shen Qiyin, only to see the latter smile at her reassuringly, his eyes and brows like a spring breeze melting the snow.
She asked Ren Dong softly, "What good things did you bring back that make you so happy?"
Seeing that Shen Qiyin didn't shy away from Madam Shen's presence, and that the clothes and jewelry that her young mistress had bought for her had been brought out, Ren Dong remembered the conversation they had made to deal with unexpected situations. So she replied frankly, "My senior brother gave me a gift for becoming his disciple!"
"Miss, look, this is the knife!" Ren Dong drew her knife with a "whoosh" and showed it to her like a treasure: "My senior brother said that this knife is called 'Jing Hong' and that he specially went to ask Lord Xiao for it."
As Shen Qiyin listened to her animatedly speaking, a faint smile unconsciously appeared on her cheeks.
The blade is straight, possessing both the refined elegance of a sword and the domineering presence of a knife, truly befitting her honeysuckle.
"And this box of pastries!" Honeysuckle carefully placed the knife on her lap, then opened the lid of the food box. The aroma instantly filled the entire room, causing Madam Shen to unconsciously swallow a few times.
"These are all gifts from my senior brother..." Actually, they were gifts from Xiong Lu to Shen Qiyin as a token of gratitude.
He originally intended to spend money to buy something nice, but after Feng Liu reminded him, he thought that it wouldn't be appropriate for Shen Qiyin, an unmarried young woman, to accept gifts from a grown man like him, so he didn't dare to give them to her.
She only asked the old lady at Qiying Pavilion to make a few more of her signature snacks and asked Rendong to bring them back to her.
But now, having received Shen Qiyin's hint, Ren Dong's words turned out to be: "...Mine, all of these were given to me by my senior brother."
Upon hearing this, Madam Shen immediately exclaimed, "Oh my, I knew you were no ordinary girl back then, and now it seems my words have come true."
"I was just discussing with your young lady what to buy as a congratulatory gift for you."
When Ren Dong heard that there was a gift to receive, her eyes lit up immediately: "Thank you, Madam!"
“What you bestow upon us is naturally of the highest quality, certainly not like the junk that small families give to their servants, which the masters themselves would not even look at, and which would make them a laughing stock.”
"...That's natural, that's natural." Madam Shen's smile was more like a grimace.
Now, even if he doesn't want to, he has to spend these fifty taels.
Seeing his expression, Shen Qiyin spoke up at the right moment: "Alas, it's a pity that although you are nominally in charge of the household, you don't even have a key to the storeroom."
"Otherwise, how could they not even be able to come up with fifty taels of silver?"
“Who wouldn’t say so!” Madam Shen was filled with anger and grievance whenever the topic came up.
They put it nicely that she's in charge of managing the household, but she doesn't even have a penny to her name. How is she supposed to manage it?
The servants in this mansion are all very cunning. Seeing that she has the title but not the power, they don't take her seriously. In particular, she can't get any of the people that the old lady usually uses to do anything.
If she didn't handle things well, the old lady would turn around and say she was useless!
It's infuriating!
Thinking of this, Madam Shen moved her chair closer to Shen Qiyin with a solicitous expression and said in a low voice, "Yin'er, do you have a way to help your mother get the storeroom key?"
"No need for Mother to ask, your daughter has been planning this matter for you since early this morning."
"Really?!" Madam Shen was overjoyed.
“But…” Shen Qiyin hesitated, her expression troubled. “This storeroom key is no ordinary key; it is a true symbol of the power to manage the household affairs. I know that Grandmother won’t give it to you so easily.”
"Therefore, if you want to achieve your goal, you need to be willing to go all out, otherwise it will be very difficult to succeed."
Madam Shen hurriedly asked, "What should we do?"
"First, make a scene; second, cause trouble; third, set a trap."
"This..." Madam Shen was puzzled.
“If you are short of money, then go ask your grandmother for it. If she refuses, make a scene. Make a scene until everyone knows about it and let everyone know how hard it is for you.”
But Madam Shen looked troubled after hearing this: "Won't people laugh at us for this?"
"Is that even a question? People will definitely laugh at us!"
"...Then why did you make me do this?"
"Mother, don't forget, your goal is the key to the storeroom. Once you have the key, what else matters?" Shen Qiyin's eyes were as black as lacquer, shining with a terrifying intensity.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
