Chapter 130 Wicked Stepmother and Poor Child 23
"Sister, rest assured, I will do my best to share your burdens and manage the household affairs for Gu Lang!"
Zhou Jingxuan's voice was filled with impatience; as soon as she got the pair, she immediately took action.
First, she used her power as the steward to select seven or eight clever maids to serve her closely. Then, she persuaded Gu Hongjian to agree and move back to the Shuyu Pavilion where she had lived before.
Shuyuxuan is a thousand times better than Qiutangyuan; it is the best courtyard in terms of both size and location.
Her food, clothing, and daily necessities were all arranged according to what she considered the standards of a noble concubine, or even higher.
She felt that now that she had the power to manage the household, she was the true mistress of the Gu family and should hold her head high and let everyone in the mansion recognize this fact.
As for Shen Ci, she just smiled coldly at her antics and did not stop her. She had more important things to do.
The original owner's life tragedy largely stemmed from her bottomless self-sacrifice to the Gu family, which led to the gradual depletion of her enormous dowry, ultimately leaving her and her two children destitute.
The child born with a silver spoon in his mouth ended up starving to death, all because of Gu Hongjian, this bottomless pit.
She, Chen Ci, is no longer the foolish woman blinded by love. She can deceive people's feelings, but not their money.
The original owner was not an ordinary merchant's daughter, but the daughter of one of the top three richest merchants in Yizhou. She had no shortage of money and connections, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to support Gu Hongjian with just her dowry.
The amount of money poured into it is countless; it's like a mountain of gold and silver.
Now, it's time to completely remove the Gu family, this leech clinging to her!
Shen Ci acted swiftly and decisively, immediately ordering all the managers of her shops in the capital to come to the Gu residence to report back.
When more than a dozen stewards gathered in the flower hall, Shen Ci looked at the faces below and was deeply moved.
The original owner's business empire was so vast! It included silk shops, grain shops, restaurants, pawnshops, and carriage and horse shops, with chain stores all over the capital and even in other places!
Was the original owner of this body overworked? Managing so many businesses, raising two children, helping Gu Hongjian with social interactions, and paving the way for promotions—aside from being a little bit love-struck, she was practically an all-around warrior.
Nobody's perfect. Someone so outstanding can be forgiven.
Without wasting any words, Shen Ci gave the order directly after all the managers had introduced their respective areas of responsibility.
"From this day forward, all my properties are to be completely separated from the Gu family's public accounts and restored to my private property."
All shops will no longer need to go through the Gu family's gatekeepers to collect their profits. I will regularly send people to each shop to collect their account books and money. All managers will only need to be accountable to me.
Did you understand?
She paused, carefully observing the expressions on the faces of those below her.
"All accounts that were previously related to the Gu family should be clarified and reported again within three days."
If anyone outwardly complies but inwardly disagrees, or if the accounts are unclear, don't blame me for being ruthless! If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of others who will.
The group of people below looked at each other in bewilderment. This order didn't really affect them; it only meant that there had been changes within the Gu family.
They take people's money to do things for them, and since their master is only Shen Ci, there's nothing they wouldn't agree to. Naturally, they all indicated that they understood.
This move directly cut off the Gu family's most important source of income. Only after reviewing the accounts that had been compiled did Shen Ci truly realize that the original owner was simply a business genius!
Faced with such a bottomless pit, she managed to fill it while simultaneously expanding her business with the remaining dowry, and miraculously multiplied her initial investment countless times over in just a few years!
Such an intelligent woman was burdened by love. Of course, she couldn't control the property she left behind and her two young children, and they only benefited others.
The good days for the Gu family are coming to an end.
After obtaining the steward's token, Zhou Jingxuan felt she had great power and couldn't wait to establish herself in the mansion. At the same time, she also had the intention of suppressing Shen Ci and her son. As a new official, she made her first move by targeting the main courtyard.
So what if she occupies the position of the legal wife? Isn't she still the real mistress of the house?
Zhou Jingxuan proposed to remove several idle servants from the main courtyard, citing the need to save expenses and streamline staff. Shen Ci readily agreed upon hearing this.
She didn't even lift her eyelids, only instructing her servants to report back to her.
"Since Aunt Zhou is now in charge of the household, she can make her own decisions on these small matters. There's no need to ask me about everything."
She had said before that I shouldn't ask her anything.
She also sent away several servants who were always cunning and gossiping. It was a good opportunity to clean up the household under Zhou Jingxuan's guidance. The servants couldn't be blamed on her; it was all Zhou's idea.
Seeing that Shen Ci was so cooperative, Zhou Jingxuan couldn't help but feel even more smug. Shen Ci's body hadn't fully recovered yet, so even if she wanted to compete, she was powerless and could only give in to her.
This greatly boosted Zhou Jingxuan's confidence, and she continued her antics.
She instructed the kitchen, claiming that the lady had just recovered from a serious illness and needed to eat a light diet, and that the two young masters were also young and had weak stomachs, so they should also be treated regularly.
As a result, the main courtyard was reduced to two meals a day, each meal consisting of rice porridge so thin you could see your reflection in it, accompanied by a few strips of pickled vegetables with no oil in them, and even a little meat was a rare treat.
Those who didn't know the situation would think there was a famine in the manor.
Seeing the food that Dan Gui brought back in a huff, Shen Ci just chuckled.
"It seems that Aunt Zhou thought we would go hungry if we left the Gu family's kitchen."
Take all of these out and give them to the beggar on the street corner; it's a good deed.
Why should the mother and her two children be manipulated by Zhou Jingxuan's petty tricks?
Once the courtyard gates are closed, the various delicacies prepared by Tianxianglou are delivered on time every day, offering a wide variety and balanced nutrition.
The two children went from being pleasantly surprised at first to now taking it for granted. Their little faces have visibly become rounder and rosier. Zhou Jingxuan's petty tricks of cutting corners seem ridiculous and clumsy in the face of absolute wealth.
It seems that Zhou Jingxuan thought the food delivered by Tianxianglou that day was just an occasional meal, but she didn't expect that they were eating Tianxianglou's food every day.
Zhou Jingxuan waited for a long time, but no one from the main courtyard came to cause trouble. When one plan failed, she came up with another and started to cut the monthly wages of the servants in the main courtyard.
She thought that without money, how could these servants remain loyal to Shen Ci? The people around Shen Ci were starving, cold, and unpaid, and they would soon become estranged from Shen Ci. At that time, she wouldn't have to worry about killing her.
She's taken my spot; it'd be better to move out sooner rather than later.
Little did she know that Shen Ci had no shortage of money.
Upon learning of this, Shen Ci immediately summoned the remaining loyal and reliable servants in the courtyard and paid them double their monthly wages out of his own pocket, announcing this to everyone.
“Since you have been loyal to me, I will not treat you unfairly.”
From now on, your monthly wages will be paid by me, and will have nothing to do with the household accounts. Just focus on doing your jobs well.”
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