Chapter 144: Settlement of Accounts
Mrs. Su Er was unsure for a moment and hesitated whether to accept or not. Master Su Er glared at his wife fiercely. He had been scheming against the first and third wives all day long, trying to gain a little advantage. Now that he met a tough opponent, he felt scared.
"Grandma, your memory is not as good as it used to be, so I don't know if you still remember that you borrowed many items from my mother on behalf of my second aunt and haven't returned them yet. I happened to buy one of them at a pawnshop that day."
Su Qianqian opened the box, revealing a small brass incense burner with a hollow crane pattern. The workmanship was extremely exquisite. When Master Su saw the incense burner, his eyes darkened.
"I only vaguely remember this incense burner because my mother loved it very much. That day, my grandmother suddenly said that my second aunt had borrowed it for a while and would return it soon. However, until my mother passed away, she never saw this incense burner again.
Qianqian came across it by chance that day and found out that it had been pawned by someone. She quickly bought it as a souvenir. What's strange is that when she checked the person who pawned the item, she found out that he had pawned several items at once, and each of them was used by my parents before. It was really funny. ”
Su Qianqian took out several pawn tickets for archive. She had someone spend a lot of money to look them up. As for the incense burner, it was impossible for it to have been kept in the pawn shop for so many years. The original owner must have bought it when he saw it. Su Qianqian looked up the pawn shop based on her memory.
"Second Aunt, look at this gift. What's funny is that I recently pawned something like this."
Su Qianqian took out another hairpin so that everyone could see it clearly. Master Su pursed his lips and clenched his fingers so tightly that his fingertips turned white.
"This was clearly something my mother kept for Qianqian as a dowry. She once said that she wore it on her head when she got married. She put it away after that one time and was reluctant to use it again. She only took it out occasionally to wipe it. Why did it end up in a pawn shop?
When Qianqian got married, I asked about it. Didn’t grandmother say that she didn’t know where it was? You were in charge of keeping my mother’s dowry list, so why did so much of it get lost? ”
Su Xinxin stood up with red eyes and questioned Old Madam Su in a cold voice.
Madam Su was a little flustered for a moment, then she slammed the table and said, "Today is your father's birthday. Is this how you honor your elders? There are countless similar objects in the world. How can you be sure that this is your mother's?
Your mother had been married to your father for only three years when your maternal grandfather was convicted and dismissed from office. The whole family returned to their hometown to live in seclusion in the countryside. It was our Su family who did not divorce her because we cared about her having given birth to you two sisters and having done her duty. What's wrong with using her dowry to supplement the family income? ”
Old Madam Su knew that if she checked the dowry list, the truth would be revealed, so she quickly laid the groundwork to avoid difficulty in making up for it later.
"Mother, did you really use Jiang's dowry to supplement the family income? You didn't keep a penny of your son's salary, and you managed to pay it all to the government, as well as the income from the land in the past. How could you use Jiang's dowry?"
Taifu Su did not expect that Old Madam Su would say such a thing. He thought that with his mother in charge in the backyard, even if Zhang was confused and could not discipline her children well, at least no one would say anything about the money. He had been a Taifu for so many years, and his salary was the highest among all officials in the court.
"Son, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are until you become a householder. This family needs food, clothing, summer vacation, ice in summer, charcoal in winter, favors, and gifts for festivals and celebrations. Which of these things doesn't cost money? You really make me sad when you ask me this question!"
Madam Su immediately resorted to her magic weapon: fake crying, which always worked for the extremely filial Su Taifu.
Sure enough, Su Qi frowned and comforted her: "Mother, that's not what I meant. I will arrange this matter and make up for Jiang's dowry."
"Grandma, don't be too sad. If it's to help with the household expenses, your granddaughter won't say anything. But the only people who are treated as such are my second aunt and my stepmother.
In late July, my stepmother pawned a sum of silver, a full three thousand taels. What did she use the silver for? Does the Taifu Mansion have to rely on pawning to make ends meet? And what is the purpose of pawning my mother's things? I wonder how much of my mother’s dowry is left? ”
Su Qianqian pressed on and took out the pawn ticket. This time, Old Madam Su hesitated and turned back to look at Zhang.
"Qianqian, why are you checking this? We'll talk about the purpose of the money later. There are so many guests here, not all of them are relatives. Don't let them laugh at you."
Zhang still smiled gracefully and tolerantly.
"My stepmother told me not to ask, and Qianqian didn't dare to disobey her, so she explained to my father. I heard that my third sister had a generous dowry, so Qianqian was very envious. After all, when Qianqian got married, she only had two manors that had no income and even lost money, and furniture that is now falling apart."
Su Qianqian walked to her seat and sat down: "It's still early now, we are all family, why not take a look at Third Sister's dowry, is there anything familiar to us?
There is also a lot of dowry left by my mother, which has been lost for no reason. Although my sisters and I have married, Runhe is my mother's biological son. The dowry should be counted and handed over to Runhe. ”
Except for the third branch, all the members of the Su family changed their expressions. They had all divided up Jiang's things to some extent. Second Madam Su knew that she could not escape. The authenticity of the pawn ticket would be revealed after checking it.
When Jiang got married, because she was an only daughter, Su Qianqian's grandmother added her own dowry and private property to her marriage, and the Su family's betrothal gifts were also brought back in full. It can be said that the wedding was a grand occasion.
But later, Jiang's father was dismissed from office and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion. Old Madam Su despised Jiang for not having given birth to a child and manipulated her everywhere. Jiang became increasingly haggard and sentimental. In order to live in peace, she was unwilling to fight for it.
It was obvious that Su Qianqian had bad intentions and was here to force the emperor to give an explanation.
Qin Hanzhang sat there in silence, without a word of dissuasion or support, but others could see: what my wife said is reasonable, you can do whatever you want.
"Qianqian is right. My mother passed away early. Qianqian and Runhe were both very young at that time. I got married in a period of mourning..."
Su Xinxin paused for a moment, her eyes slightly red. Zhu Min hurriedly reached out to comfort her, but Su Xinxin raised her hand and dodged without leaving a trace.
"Although my mother didn't care about money, she was always thinking about her children before she died. She had already divided the dowry and asked me to remember it so that I could give it to my children as a support and a thought.
I didn't expect it to end up in such an unclear situation. My mother would not be at peace even if she knew about it.
I hope grandma can take out the dowry list so we can check it and have an idea of what's going on. Don't wrongly accuse stepmother and second aunt, and don't let grandma worry about this trivial matter in the future. Runhe should also understand his mother's painstaking efforts. ”
Su Xinxin used Su Qianqian's words to break the last piece of window paper: if he doesn't admit it, it can be verified, and then the old lady won't have to worry about it.
Mrs. Su was a little panicked at this time.
The good shops and farms in the dowry brought in a lot of income every year, which she either used herself or gave to the second wife and Zhang. Occasionally, the two disappointing daughters would ask for money from her. She didn't know how much she had lost. If they were to investigate now, how would she fill the gap?
What’s more, a lot of it was taken away from Su Miaomiao’s dowry!
"What are you sisters doing? It's father's birthday. Are you here to cause trouble?"
Zhang finally couldn't help but speak.
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