A few days later, Song Wenyue returned home. She happily went inside to pay her respects to Madam Song, but saw that Madam Song had a worried look on her face, so she had to suppress her joy.
"Mother, what's wrong?" she asked cautiously, her gaze fixed on Ran Niang.
Ran Niang told Song Wenyue about Wang Zhiyue's miscarriage and return home, and Song Wenyue immediately said unhappily, "How could you do this, sister-in-law! Her mother was also heartbroken by the miscarriage, and that was also her grandson!"
After scolding Wang Zhiyue, she comforted Lin Shi: "Mother, don't be sad. My eldest and second brothers are very capable and will definitely pass the exam this year. When my eldest brother's results come out, the Wang family will definitely send my sister-in-law back and beg for our forgiveness!"
Although Madam Lin didn't particularly like this daughter anymore, she had to admit that she was considerate and knew what to say to please her. Unlike Song Yaozhu, who hadn't said anything nice these past few days except for paying her respects.
Lin wanted her to go back to the Prince's Mansion, but after all, she was the one who invited her back. It's easy to invite a god, but hard to send him away!
"Alright, alright, did you have a good time on your trip?"
Song Wenyue, as if showing off her achievements, recounted several amusing anecdotes from the hunting grounds, emphasizing how highly the Imperial Concubine valued her. She then spoke of Liu Manli's secret rendezvous with a man, secretly pleased that the position of Princess Yong was undoubtedly hers!
"Your sister is here too, go talk to her!"
Song Wenyue was surprised, only then realizing that her mother had called Song San back under the pretext of taking care of her illness.
She had heard about Xie Liwei's impotence and couldn't wait to make fun of Song Yaozhu. So after Lin Shi finished speaking, she immediately took her leave.
After she left, Lin's room fell silent. Ran Niang, seemingly out of place, remarked, "Why doesn't Fourth Miss ask about your health?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Lin's eyes darkened, thinking to herself, "After all, he's not my biological son."
Although Song Yaozhu didn't talk much, she would always ask about her health whenever she came to visit. Ran Niang said that Song Yaozhu personally supervised the servants as they prepared her medicine.
"I'm currently ill, and Zhiyue isn't here. Yaozhu is helping to look after the household affairs. I wonder if she's tired. Take the snow swallows from my storeroom and send them to her so she can have some nourishment."
Ran Niang was taken aback. Even Lin Shi herself was reluctant to eat the snow swallow. She originally intended to save it as a gift for the two young masters.
But since the lady had spoken, she went to do it.
Song Yaozhu was in a side room of the Lin family's courtyard. When Song Wenyue entered, she saw her sitting by the window, abacus in hand. Sunlight fell on her, making half of her body bright and half dark, obscuring her face.
But her composed demeanor surprised Song Wenyue, after all, in her memory, Song Yaozhu was still a very timid country girl.
The abacus beads clattered together, and Song Wenyue snapped out of her reverie, saying affectionately, "Sister!"
Song Yaozhu didn't pay attention to her immediately. Instead, she finished calculating the accounts in her hand, wrote down the numbers, and then looked at her.
"You're back."
Seeing her skillful movements and the demeanor of a proper matriarch, Song Wenyue felt a surge of disgust.
"Sister, you're really good at calculating now." Her gaze fell on the ledger in Song Yaozhu's hand, and she was surprised to find that it was the Song family's ledger!
How could a married woman like her manage the Song family's affairs?
"What accounts are you looking at, sister?"
Seeing the darkness in her eyes, Song Yaozhu said, "It's about the household accounts. As you know, Mother is ill, and my sister-in-law has gone back to her parents' home. The household management of the eldest branch can't fall into the hands of the second branch, so I'm helping to look after the accounts for now. Once my sister-in-law returns, the household management will be returned to her."
Song Wenyue tugged at her handkerchief, feeling jealous inside, but said considerately, "Then let me help you look at it, sister!"
"Once you're married, you'll have endless account books to read, so why rush things?" This means he doesn't want her help anymore.
Song Wenyue couldn't very well ask her for it directly, so she could only secretly make a note of it and talk about it later.
She steered the conversation toward Xie Liwei, her tone troubled: "Sister, I heard gossip about the Prince even in the hunting grounds, and I imagine it's even worse in the capital. You must be very upset!"
Song Yaozhu silently mourned for Xie Liwei, and also for Xie Mingyue and Peng Si.
"How could that be! Because of this rumor, I've come to understand myself clearly. It's not my fault if I can't have children in the future!" Song Yaozhu laughed happily.
Song Wenyue was taken aback, trying to see a forced smile on her face, but she saw nothing.
Undeterred, she said, "Sister, you certainly didn't want this to happen. I now understand why you were with that pale-faced scholar last time..."
Before she could finish speaking, Song Yaozhu's cold gaze fell on her face, but then it was softened by a smile.
"Little sister, has what you mentioned last time been taken care of?"
Song Wenyue paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay, I'll go get the things right away."
Before long, she came back with a small wooden box filled with silver notes.
Song Yaozhu was overjoyed when she saw this.
"This is just a deposit; they will pay the remaining half after the deal is done."
Song Yaozhu counted it; it still amounted to 27,000 taels. These people are truly generous!
She took out Song Wenyue's commission and handed it to her, smiling, "We sisters should make money together. Sister, you've worked hard. Please tell those ladies for me that I'll definitely do my best to whisper in their ears!"
Song Wenyue watched as she took away so many silver notes, while the little she held in her hand was barely scraping by between the notes. Her heart bled. That was money she had painstakingly obtained through connections and persuasion!
"Sister, you must do your best to make it happen!" Song Wenyue reminded her worriedly.
"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll try my best." Song Yaozhu looked like she was after money.
Song Wenyue scoffed inwardly, "Even Xie Liwei can't do it, so how can you use your pillow talk!"
At this moment, Ran Niang brought Xue Yan over and saw that Song Wen Yue was also there, and her face showed a moment of embarrassment.
When Song Wenyue saw Xueyan, her eyes reddened, and she felt a pang of sadness. She left immediately. After she left, Song Yaozhu immediately instructed Caijin to find someone to withdraw the silver from the bank. It was better to withdraw it in installments by different people to avoid arousing suspicion.
Back in her room, Song Wenyue grew angrier the more she thought about it. How could Song Yaozhu be so lucky? Just because she was a princess, she had so many people giving her money and gifts!
"Miss, would you like to go and see the eldest young master?"
Song Wenyue then remembered her older brother, who had been abandoned by his wife. For both reason and duty, she had to go and see him.
"Let's go, I'll go see my brother." She even asked someone to bring the rabbit she had hunted, intending to show it off to her brother.
She never expected that Song Qingyuan wasn't in her courtyard, but instead had been locked up in the ancestral hall by Song Chengzhang.
Not only him, but Song Hanzhi was also imprisoned!
Song Wenyue suddenly became anxious, "Father, what mistakes did my eldest and second brothers make? If they did, can't we sit down as a family and talk it over?"
Song Qingyuan deserved to be punished for the outrageous things he did, but why should Song Hanzhi be punished?
Song Chengzhang had no words to express his suffering. Grand Tutor Song had just returned to his residence today, and Song Chengzhang had just paid his respects when Grand Tutor Song asked how the two boys had done on their exams.
What could he possibly say?
What a tragedy! He doesn't even dare let Grand Tutor Song know about this now!
“This has nothing to do with you, go back!” he said coldly.
Seeing her father's reaction, Song Wenyue had no choice but to leave. But she immediately went to complain to Grand Tutor Song.
Her two elder brothers loved her dearly, so how could she just stand by and watch them be punished for no reason?
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