Chapter 48 The Fear of Being Discovered
Suppressing his irritation, Sheng Huai'an said to Madam Jia, "Mother, I know you work hard managing the household, but my sister-in-law needs some money to support herself and Hao'er. Please leave two thousand taels of silver notes for her as her dowry."
Madam Jia looked displeased: "Isn't two thousand taels too much? Hao'er eats and lives in the public treasury, so she doesn't need to spend any money at all. I think leaving her one thousand, no, two hundred taels will be enough!"
"Mother!" Sheng Huai'an frowned, raising his voice, "Listen to me!"
"I……"
“Mother, I am not yet married! If this gets out, and considering the previous accusation that you embezzled Ye Mingzhu's dowry, your reputation will be completely ruined! At that time, what wealthy family would be willing to marry their daughter to me?”
Madam Jia muttered to herself, "As long as it doesn't get out, isn't that enough?"
Sheng Huai'an had a splitting headache and almost roared, "Mother!"
"Fine, fine, fine!" Seeing his determination, Jia reluctantly counted out two thousand taels of silver and threw them at Liu Rumei.
Liu Rumei stood there with tears in her eyes, not going to accept it.
The sight of the scattered silver notes made Jia's eyes twitch, and her face hardened as she was about to lose her temper again.
Sheng Huai'an looked at the magpie standing there dumbfounded and frowned, saying, "Why don't you pick up the silver notes and put them away for your master?"
Magpie glanced at Liu Rumei, and seeing that she didn't object, immediately said, "Yes, yes, yes, this servant will pick it up right away!"
Sheng Huai'an then looked at Madam Jia and earnestly said, "Mother, you must never do this again. If the family is short of money, just tell me and I will find a way. My sister-in-law has taken out so much money this time to help the family through the difficulties, so you must treat her well in the future."
"Okay, I understand," Jia replied casually.
She received a benefit, and even if it was just empty talk, she was still happy to save face.
Furthermore, she didn't want to offend Sheng Huai'an; she had something to discuss with him later.
After packing up the silver notes and jewelry they had seized, Madam Jia and her entourage prepared to leave. Before leaving, she asked Sheng Huai'an, "Aren't you leaving?"
Sheng Huai'an glanced at Liu Rumei secretly, then said with a headache, "...Let's go."
...
Rongshou Hall.
Gone was her previous worried expression; Jia Shi sat smiling at the head of the hall and proudly handed Sheng Huai'an a thousand taels of silver.
“Before, I didn’t have any money and couldn’t take care of you. Now that I have more money, I won’t forget you.”
Sheng Huai'an's mind flashed back to Liu Rumei's tearful eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he accepted the silver note: "Thank you, Mother."
"My son and I, there's no need for thanks." Madam Jia smiled broadly, patting the wooden box in her hand. "Your sister-in-law has quite a few good things. This pile of jewelry can be exchanged for a lot of money, enough for the family to use for quite some time!"
As she spoke, she began to count them.
Sheng Huai'an looked on with mixed feelings.
As she continued, Madam Jia opened a blue brocade pouch embroidered with cloud patterns and poured out a translucent jade pendant. The smile on her face suddenly faded.
As she ran her fingers over the jade pendant, she exclaimed, "This is a jade pendant that your maternal grandmother gave to your eldest brother, saying that he should give it to his beloved or his wife. I never expected that your sister-in-law would keep it so well; it shows how thoughtful she was."
Sheng Huai'an's eyes darkened, and he casually replied, "Yes, that's thoughtful."
The thought of Liu Rumei holding the jade pendant, reminiscing about her lover, and silently shedding tears filled him with a sense of unease.
Even jealousy.
To everyone's surprise, Madam Jia suddenly exclaimed "Eh!" and took out a similar jade pendant from the wooden box. She looked at him in astonishment and asked, "Isn't this the jade pendant your maternal grandmother gave you? How come it's also in your sister-in-law's jewelry box?"
What? Sheng Huai'an's eyelids twitched wildly.
When he finally saw the jade pendant in Jia's hand, his mind went blank, his heart pounded like a drum, and his ears rang.
His jade pendant and his elder brother's jade pendant were carved from the same piece of jade, and his name was engraved on them. When his maternal grandmother gave them to him, she also told him to give them to his future wife as a token of their love.
After his elder brother died, he and Liu Rumei kept vigil for him. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around late at night, he forcibly gave her his jade pendant.
He was careless today and actually forgot about the jade pendant!
Overwhelmed by the fear of being discovered, he spoke with difficulty, "I..."
"It must have been Liu who stole it!" Jia suddenly stood up, her voice fierce. "Last time Liu stole Ye Mingzhu's Hetian jade bracelet, I told you she was dishonest, but you didn't believe me. Surely I'm not accusing her this time? I have to teach her a lesson and show her what's what!"
"No!" Relieved, Sheng Huai'an quickly pulled back the furious Jia Shi. "Mother, this matter should not be publicized!"
"I won't make a fuss!" Jia said. "Can't I even discipline her at home without telling anyone about her shameful deeds?"
"You've already taken so many things from your sister-in-law, so let's forgive her for this."
"Can……"
“Harmony in the family brings prosperity in all things,” Sheng Huai’an advised. “If your sister-in-law does anything wrong, you can teach her slowly. I hope you can get along well, so I don’t have to worry about you and can concentrate on my studies.”
"Yes, yes, that makes sense. We absolutely cannot let it affect you." Madam Jia was immediately calmed down and finally stopped talking about going to find Liu Rumei.
But after thinking for a moment, she said, "Huai'an, I want to discuss something with you..."
"What is it?" Sheng Huai'an asked warily.
"It's nothing else, it's about your marriage," Madam Jia said. "Before, I disliked Ye Mingzhu and felt that marrying a merchant's daughter was a waste for you. But now I think about it, there are advantages to being a merchant's daughter. Not only is the dowry generous, but she's also easy to control. I'm considering finding you another marriage partner, someone with a large dowry and a good family background. What do you think?"
So that's what it was about.
Sheng Huai'an shook his head and said, "My marriage is not in a hurry, at least not now."
"How can we not be anxious?" Madam Jia was frantic. "Although we managed to squeeze ten thousand taels of silver out of your sister-in-law, how long can that amount of money last? It will be gone soon! We should marry a new bride as soon as possible, let her manage the household, and have her use her dowry money. Our lives will be much better then!"
"When the time comes, I'll play the bad guy and make things difficult for your wife a few times, and you'll play the good guy and 'force' me to hand over the management of the household to her. Won't she be devoted to you and work like a slave for the Sheng family?"
Sheng Huai'an also thought it was a good idea, but not now: "Having just separated from the Duke of Wei's mansion, I can't think of any good marriage prospects right now. It would be better to discuss marriage after I participate in the imperial examination next year and obtain my degree."
Madam Jia thought about it and laughed, "Yes, yes, yes, who knows, we might even be chosen as husbands by those who passed the imperial examinations! You're right, there's no need to rush!"
"Yes." Sheng Huai'an smiled. "I'll have to trouble Mother to help out for the next six months."
"Don't bother me," Madam Jia said lovingly. "You're my only son. I'll do anything for you! Sigh, if it weren't for all the bad luck in the family and the trouble with the shop, things wouldn't be this difficult."
"Something happened to the shops? What happened?" Sheng Huai'an asked, frowning.
He had heard Jia mention it before at Qinghui Garden, but the scene was too chaotic at the time, and he didn't have time to ask.
Once this was brought up, Jia immediately started complaining non-stop.
Sheng Huai'an was dizzy and confused. After finally extracting the important information from her bunch of nonsense, he felt more and more uneasy: "Mother, this is not an accident. Someone is targeting us!"
"Targeted?" Madam Jia was taken aback, then suddenly said angrily, "I knew it! Why are all the bad things happening to me? Turns out I've been set up! No doubt about it, it must be Ronghua. She's the one who's harming us behind the scenes!"
Sheng Huai'an pondered for a moment, then said with a stern face, "Please don't act rashly. Whether someone is behind this or not, I'll have someone investigate and we'll find out."
He also thought it was the Eastern Prefecture.
But compared to Princess Ronghua, he suspected someone else even more…
A bright and pretty face appeared in his mind.
The person who was once deeply in love with him is now cold and indifferent.
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