Chapter Thirty-Eight: Not a single item of my dowry can be missing!
Chen Qing's voice wasn't particularly loud, but it was like a cold wind carrying shards of ice, instantly sweeping across the courtyard in front of the warehouse, causing the servants and guards who were originally aggressive and ready to take action to freeze in place.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw Chen Qing, dressed in plain clothes and without makeup, walking towards them step by step. She had lost a lot of weight, and her features, which had been squeezed by fat, were now clearly visible. The coldness in her eyes and the unapproachable aura she exuded made some of the old servants feel as if they were seeing the noble and strong-willed former lady from years ago.
When Zhang saw Chen Qing, a flicker of panic crossed her eyes. She quickly regained her composure and shrieked, "Qing'er! You've come at the right time! Look at the people you've brought back! How dare they trespass into the storeroom and try to steal your dowry! Is there no manners at all?!"
She tried to preemptively pin the blame for "robbery".
Chen Qing didn't even glance at her, and walked straight to Li Yi and Pei Xuan. His gaze fell on the two of them, and his eyes grew even colder.
"Are you all alright?"
Li Yi quickly said, "Miss, we're fine for now, it's just them..."
Chen Qing raised his hand to stop him, turned around, and his gaze, as cold as a blade, slowly swept over the group of servants holding sticks, finally settling on Zhang Shi and the arrogant warehouse manager beside her.
"Rules?" Chen Qing's lips curled into a faint sneer. "In this Chen family, when did it become the place of a concubine and a servant to set the rules for me, the eldest daughter of the legitimate wife?"
Zhang hated it most when people mentioned her status as a concubine, and her face immediately turned ugly: "Chen Qing! You!"
"Shut up!" Chen Qing interrupted her without any politeness, his voice suddenly rising with an intimidating force. "My mother's dowry is clearly documented in black and white, registered with the government! I've returned to take stock of my own belongings. How can you trespass? How can you steal?"
She approached the warehouse manager step by step, and the manager, intimidated by her imposing presence, subconsciously took a step back.
"Was it you who injured Wang Zhong?" Chen Qing stared at him, his tone calm, yet chilling.
The steward swallowed hard, forcing a smile, and said, "Miss, I'm just following orders! Master and Madam have decreed that the storeroom is a restricted area, and no one is allowed to enter without a pass! Wang Zhong, he..."
"Madam?" Chen Qing raised an eyebrow, his gaze turning to Zhang Shi with mockery. "Aunt Zhang, when did you become the official wife? How come I didn't know? Or have you become so arrogant that you can dispose of my mother's belongings in place of my father and me?"
Zhang was speechless after being asked such a question, her face turning pale and then red.
Chen Qing stopped looking at her and turned to face the servants, her voice carrying clearly throughout the courtyard: "I, Chen Qing, am the rightful eldest daughter of the Chen family! In this storeroom are the dowry my mother left me! Today, it is only right and proper for me to take back what belongs to me!"
She paused, her gaze sharp as a hawk's: "Anyone who dares to obstruct us is committing treason and embezzling the family's property! You all know what the punishment should be according to the family rules!"
The servants exchanged hesitant glances. The young lady was right, and her guard, Li Yi, was clearly not someone to be trifled with, capable of taking on ten men single-handedly. Moreover, the young lady's current demeanor was completely different from her usual self.
Seeing that the deterrent effect had been achieved, Chen Qing stopped wasting words and directly ordered, "Li Yi, Pei Xuan, open the door! Wang Zhong, take the list and go in to check! I want to see who dares to touch you today!"
"Yes!" Li Yi and Pei Xuan immediately responded and stepped forward to push open the warehouse door.
"Rebellion! Rebellion!" Madam Zhang trembled with rage, screaming at the servants, "Are you all dead? Stop them! If the master blames us, I'll take the blame!"
Chen Qing finally fixed her gaze on Zhang Shi, her eyes icy cold, devoid of any warmth, as if she were looking at a clown. "Aunt Zhang," she said calmly, yet each word was like a knife, "I have no idea that a concubine like you has the power to manage the dowry of the legitimate daughter? Or have you already regarded this Chen family storeroom as your private property?"
"You...you're spouting nonsense!" Zhang was so angry that she trembled all over, her well-maintained face slightly distorted.
"Slanderous accusations?" Chen Qing sneered, no longer bothering with pointless arguments. His gaze shifted to Wang Zhong, who was clutching his forehead, the blood still wet on his forehead. His voice suddenly turned sharp, "Uncle Zhong is an elder of the Chen family, and a steward I trust! Now, while he was counting my birth mother's dowry, he was injured by a wicked servant! Li Yi!"
"Your subordinate is here!" Li Yi stepped forward, his figure as straight as a pine tree, his eyes like lightning, and a battlefield-like aura spread out, causing the servants holding sticks to take a half step back.
"Seize that vicious servant who injured someone!" Chen Qingyu pointed directly at the pale-faced warehouse manager hiding behind Zhang Shi. "I want to see who gave him the guts to touch my people!"
"Yes!" Li Yi responded and moved like a ghost. Everyone only saw a blur before his eyes, and he had already passed several servants and headed straight for the storeroom manager.
"Stop him! Stop him now!" Zhang shouted shrilly.
Several loyal servants, steeling themselves, swung their clubs forward. Li's eyes flashed coldly, and without even drawing his sword, several muffled thuds were heard. The servants were kicked away like broken sacks, lying on the ground howling in pain, unable to get up again.
In the blink of an eye, Li Yi had captured the pale-faced warehouse manager as easily as picking up a chick and slammed him heavily in front of Chen Qing.
"Miss, spare me! Miss, spare me! It was...it was Madam...it was Aunt Zhang who ordered it! I was just following orders!" The steward was so frightened that he wet himself and kowtowed repeatedly, instantly betraying Madam Zhang.
Zhang's face turned deathly pale instantly.
Chen Qing didn't even glance at the begging steward, his gaze piercing Zhang Shi like an ice pick: "Aunt Zhang, what do you have to say now?"
"You...you were tortured into confessing!" Zhang tried to defend herself, but her voice had lost its strength.
"Whether it was a forced confession or not, the truth will be revealed." Chen Qing ignored her and turned to the silent servants, her voice carrying clearly to every corner, "I, Chen Qing, am the eldest daughter of the Chen family. My late mother passed away, and her belongings and dowry are all clearly documented in black and white, and registered with the government! Today, it is only right and proper for me to reclaim what belongs to me!"
She paused, then her voice suddenly rose, carrying an undeniable air of authority and murderous intent: "You are servants of the Chen family, eating the food of the Chen family, yet you listen to the instigation of a concubine, obstructing the eldest daughter and injuring a loyal servant—this is disloyalty! Embezzling the master's property is injustice! What use are such disloyal and injusticeful people to the Chen family?!"
As these weighty accusations were hurled at them, the servants turned ashen-faced and broke out in a cold sweat. They then realized that the young lady before them, who had returned transformed, was no longer the obese legitimate daughter they could easily fool. Her ruthlessness and imposing presence far exceeded their expectations.
"Li Yi, Pei Xuan!" Chen Qing ordered sternly.
"exist!"
"Take my dowry list and go in to check it! Anyone who obstructs us," Chen Qing's gaze swept across the room, each word deliberate and chilling with murderous intent, "will be treated as an attempt to seize the master's property and arrested on the spot! If you dare to resist, kill them without mercy!"
The words "Kill without mercy" resounded like thunder in everyone's ears! Even Madam Zhang was so frightened that she staggered and was supported by her nanny. She looked at Chen Qing in disbelief. How dare this vile woman... how dare she issue such a ruthless order within the Chen residence!
Li Yi and Pei Xuan's eyes narrowed, and they replied in unison, "Yes, sir!" Their voices shook the roof tiles.
Li Yi drew his Qingfeng sword with a clang, its cold light reflecting off the snow, exuding a murderous aura. Pei Xuan also clenched his fist, standing resolutely at the warehouse door.
With the deterrent effect of Li Yi's swift and decisive actions, coupled with the strict order of "kill without mercy," not a single servant dared to take a step forward. Instead, they all retreated, clearing a path for them.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Wang Zhong straightened his back, took the heavy dowry list in his hand, and led his entourage into the warehouse with their heads held high.
Zhang watched helplessly as the warehouse door opened wide and Wang Zhong led his men inside. The thought that the treasures and valuables she had embezzled, sold, and even intended for Chen Jiao's dowry were about to be exposed overwhelmed her with anxiety and anger. She could no longer hold on, let out a scream, her eyes rolled back, and she truly fainted.
"Madam! Madam!" Her maids and servants were thrown into chaos.
Chen Qing watched the farce with a cold eye, a faint sneer playing on her lips. She had long anticipated that counting the dowry wouldn't go smoothly, and Zhang's reaction was exactly what she expected. Fainted? Perfect, saves her the trouble.
However, the commotion here was so great that it had already alerted the entire Chen family.
"Stop! All of you, stop!" A roar filled with shock and rage came from afar. Chen Zhenyan, surrounded by a group of stewards and guards, rushed over. His face was ashen as he looked at the unconscious Zhang Shi, the wide-open storeroom, Li Yi standing with his sword drawn, and Chen Qing with an icy expression. He trembled with rage.
"You unfilial daughter! What do you think you're doing?! Do you want to tear this family apart?!" Chen Zhenyan pointed at Chen Qing, his fingers trembling. He could hardly believe it when he received the news. His daughter had not only not become more restrained after returning, but had become even more outrageous, daring to lead people to break into the storeroom and even making Zhang Shi faint from anger!
Facing her enraged father, Chen Qing remained calm, merely curtsying slightly: "Father, it's good that you've come. I was taking stock of Mother's dowry. But for some reason, Aunt Zhang and the storeroom manager obstructed us in every way, even injuring Uncle Zhong. I had no choice but to order my men to defend myself and act according to family rules."
In just a few words, she characterized the matter as "retrieving one's own property," "being forced to defend oneself," and "acting in accordance with family rules," thus gaining complete justification.
"Checking the dowry? Is this how you check it? Bringing outsiders and committing violence with weapons! Do you even care about me as your father? Do you even care about this family?!" Chen Zhenyan was furious. He could not tolerate Chen Qing challenging his authority like this, especially in front of everyone.
“Father,” Chen Qing raised her eyes, her gaze clear and firm, with a hint of barely perceptible sorrow and determination, “My life was saved from the avalanche by Li Yi and the others. Without them, I would have been nothing but a skeleton long ago. They are not outsiders, but my benefactors, and the people I can rely on now.”
She abruptly changed the subject, her tone becoming sharp: "As for this family... Father, when you took the grain and the cart and abandoned your daughter in the avalanche, leaving her to fend for herself; when you returned to the manor and instead of seeking help for your daughter, you rushed to marry your younger sister into the Zhao family in her place; when your daughter wanted to reclaim even a trace of her mother's memory, but couldn't even enter the storeroom, and even the loyal servants were injured... Tell your daughter, is there still any place for me in this family? Is there still any warmth or affection left?"
This barrage of questions struck Chen Zhenyan's heart like a heavy hammer, and also struck the hearts of all the servants watching. Many lowered their heads, their faces filled with complex emotions. The young lady's words were absolutely true!
Chen Zhenyan was speechless, his face flushing red and then pale, his chest heaving with anger. He had never imagined that this daughter, whom he had always ignored and even despised, would dare to publicly expose his despicable thoughts!
"You...you..." He pointed at Chen Qing, too angry to speak a complete sentence.
Just then, Wang Zhong hurriedly walked out of the storeroom, his face solemn, holding an account book and several items of poor quality that clearly did not match the dowry list.
“Young Miss!” Wang Zhong’s voice was heavy with grief. “A preliminary inventory shows that at least one-third of the precious jewelry, antiques, jade artifacts, and land deeds in the dowry do not match the records! They have either been replaced with inferior items or are simply missing! In particular, several sets of headdresses left by the late Madam and some imperial gifts have all disappeared! The storeroom records are chaotic, and it is obvious that someone has tampered with them!”
These words caused an uproar in the room!
Embezzling the late lady's dowry is a huge scandal in any family! What's more, it involves imperial gifts, and if investigated, it's a crime punishable by death!
Chen Zhenyan's vision blurred; he almost followed in Zhang's footsteps. He only knew that Zhang might have used some resources, but he never expected that she would be so audacious as to use so much, even daring to touch imperial gifts!
Chen Qing took the account book and the inferior substitute, her eyes turning icy cold. She looked at Zhang Shi, whose face was deathly pale and who had just been brought back to life by having her philtrum pinched, and then at Chen Zhenyan, who was swaying precariously. Her voice was as if it came from the deepest abyss:
"Very well, very well indeed! My mother devoted herself to the Chen family without complaint, and yet her dowry has been squandered like this! Embezzling the legitimate daughter's dowry and stealing imperial gifts, Zhang, what crime have you committed?! Father, as the head of the family, how can you tolerate such lawlessness from your concubine?!"
She suddenly slammed the inferior jade bracelet in her hand to the ground, making a crisp cracking sound that seemed to strike everyone's heart.
“I will not let this matter rest! Either you make sure I receive all the missing dowry items right now, or,” Chen Qing’s gaze swept over Chen Zhenyan and Zhang Shi, “we will go to the government office and ask the upright official to judge this case of embezzling the eldest daughter’s dowry and desecrating the imperial gift!”
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