Chapter 15: Demand a Return of the Dowry

"Exactly!" The Second Madam had long been displeased with the Old Madam supplementing her maternal family.

The Old Madam frowned and said to Meng Qianqian, "Saving someone is urgent, you take out the money first."

Meng Qianqian sighed, "It's not that I, your granddaughter-in-law, am unwilling to contribute this silver, but I truly only have ten thousand taels left at hand."

The Zhao Old Madam exclaimed, "You... with so much dowry silver... only ten thousand taels left? How did your Lu Family spend it!"

Meng Qianqian sighed again, "I don't know either, in the past few years, I've only been managing the expenses, and how they were spent was decided by Grandmother."

Fortunately, the Old Madam didn't trust her, and all the stewards in the household were the Old Madam's own confidants; otherwise, she would have had a hard time explaining herself.

The Old Madam's expression turned rather awkward; she cleared her throat, "Let's not discuss this now, take out the ten thousand taels and let your aunt-in-law deal with the emergency."

Meng Qianqian smiled, "I can help the emergency, but let's make it clear first that this silver is a loan to the Zhao Family, with interest, and a written agreement."

Upon hearing this, the Old Madam became displeased, "Why make such arrangements between family? Could we default on your silver?"

The Zhao Old Madam said, "Indeed, Qianqian, making such distinctions appears aloof!"

Meng Qianqian ignored their agreement and turned to the Second Madam, "Aunt, what do you think?"

The Second Madam knew all too well about the Zhao Family's nature, "Write an IOU! Make a written agreement! Otherwise, don't lend the silver! Sister-in-law, don't you agree?"

Lu Mother nodded, "Even between brothers accounts should be clear, better write an IOU."

Meng Qianqian looked at the Old Madam, "Grandmother, you can keep the IOU, whenever it's repaid, I promise not to urge."

The Old Madam, though supporting her maternal family, was indeed worried that if this silver wasn't repaid, the Lu Family wouldn't be able to manage in the future.

Moreover, holding the IOU herself, in case, just in case her family couldn't repay... or repaid less, she had a say.

But the Zhao Old Madam knew how biased this sister-in-law was towards her family; having the IOU in her hands was no different from not signing anything.

The Zhao Old Madam also readily agreed.

The Old Madam looked suspiciously at Meng Qianqian, "Do you truly only have ten thousand taels left?"

Meng Qianqian took out a key from her pouch, "Grandmother, this is the key to the warehouse, if you don't believe it, you can check it yourself."

The Old Madam took the key, "To the warehouse!"

The Second Madam's eyes flickered, she held Lu Mother's arm, "Sister-in-law, let's go too!"

She wanted to keep an eye on things personally, and couldn't let the Old Madam and the Zhao Family pocket more than they deserved.

The group marched toward the warehouse.

Though the key was in Meng Qianqian's hands, there was always a skilled guard outside the warehouse, arranged by Lu Xingzhou, who knew whether Meng Qianqian had privately moved anything from the warehouse.

So when they checked and rechecked, confirming the silver in the boxes was genuinely only ten thousand taels, each one of them was dumbfounded.

"How was so much spent..."

The Second Madam secretly gritted her teeth.

The Old Madam's feelings were no less troubled.

Meng Qianqian observed their shock with satisfaction; the silver was nearly spent, surprised?

Actually, even in Capital City, ten thousand taels was no small amount; however, compared to the vast dowry Meng Qianqian brought years ago, the remainder seemed negligible.

Meng Qianqian and Lu Mother were always frugal, and so was the Old Madam, so it was clear who had squandered the silver.

Sadly, the individuals didn't think so.

The Old Madam believed the second house must have secretly taken quite a lot, while the Second Madam thought the Old Madam had supplemented her family too much.

Meng Qianqian appeared bewildered, "Grandmother, Aunt, your expressions don't look well, is something wrong? Should we call the stewards and check the accounts together?"

"No need!"

"No!"

The Old Madam and Second Madam spoke in unison.

Meng Qianqian saw through it without exposing them, then continued, "Actually, I've recently reviewed some account books and felt there were indeed substantial issues."

The Old Madam quickly lowered her face, "What can you understand about the accounts? Do you take the Lu Family in Capital City as you do small households in You State? Not to mention the expenses of each courtyard, your father-in-law serving outside is indispensable with personal exchanges, you, a merchant-born, naturally don't understand the ways of the officialdom!"

The Zhao Old Madam looked eagerly at the Old Madam, "Sister, still short of ten thousand taels... what to do?"

The Old Madam swept her gaze.

The Second Madam immediately stepped back, "I have none!"

Lu Mother said, "Nor do I."

Lu Mother truly had none; her dowry had been supplemented early on.

The Old Madam said to her sister-in-law, "I remember the Zhao Family has two shops on East Street, together they should be worth about ten thousand taels."

The Zhao Old Madam's expression changed, "Sister—"

The Old Madam waved her hand, "That's settled."

The Zhao Old Madam was originally thinking of taking it all from the Lu Family; she hadn't expected Meng Qianqian's dowry to have been squandered by the Lu Family to only the final ten thousand taels.

Actually, she was somewhat resentful of her sister-in-law, who had been eating and taking a lot from the Meng Family's girl these years, probably saved quite a bit, but still made the Zhao Family give up the two most valuable shops.

But she couldn't say it aloud, after all, those two shops were initially secretly purchased for her maternal family using the Meng family's girl's dowry silver.

Meng Qianqian wrote the IOU in front of everyone, letting the Zhao Old Madam and her grandson sign and seal it, then handed the IOU to the Old Madam.

The Second Madam complained, "Giving it all to the Zhao Family, what will we eat? The Northwest Wind?"

Meng Qianqian said helplessly, "There are still some gold and silver jewelry in the warehouse, if the household is truly struggling, pawn them to make ends meet, Grandmother doesn't need to return the key to me."

This was completely stepping down from managing the household.

But what could the Old Madam say?

Meng Qianqian was indeed "squeezed dry"!

Returning to Haitang Courtyard, Nanny Li was heartbroken.

"Miss, you lent the last ten thousand taels to the Zhao Family, and the IOU wasn't kept; what if the Zhao Family defaults and doesn't pay back?"

Meng Qianqian replied, "The Zhao Family certainly won't repay."

Those with power and influence, even without IOUs, no one dare defaults on your silver, while the powerless, no matter how many IOUs and evidence they hold, the opposing party will be fearlessly defiant, refusing to pay.

Unfortunately, Meng Qianqian was among the latter.

So from the very beginning, she never expected the Zhao Family to repay.

At midnight.

Meng Qianqian woke up from her sleep.

It wasn't any nightmare that woke her, rather a habit formed naturally; she opened her eyes when the hour came.

Lu Yuan was again sitting in his designated cherry wood official hat chair, warming non-smoking red radish charcoal, lazily flipping through her new script.

"This one is nothing like the previous ones, terribly bad!"

And so bad yet still reading?

Meng Qianqian glanced at the bedside table, on which lay a thick stack of silver notes and two property deeds.

Doing business with the Grand Governor was worthwhile; not only did she successfully transfer ten thousand taels of dowry, but she also made the Zhao Family cough up their two most valuable shops.

Meng Qianqian checked the authenticity of the deeds in his presence and counted the silver notes on the table.

"There are two thousand taels extra."

The Zhao Family took only ten thousand taels of silver from her.

The Grand Governor Lu flipped a page in the script, casually saying, "Baokai gave it to you."

Little one could already pay his own milk bill?

Meng Qianqian uttered an "oh," took out the two thousand taels of silver notes, "Please trouble the Grand Governor to pass this money to Lord Commander."

They worked hard to perform the show; she understood this bit of social nicety.

Originally she worried this lord would refuse, thinking she was seizing the opportunity to ingratiate and win over him and his subordinates.

She even prepared her argument, surprisingly, the Grand Governor merely responded with a faint "hmm."

Meng Qianqian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

This person was indeed rebellious, but associating with him wasn't stressful.

Meng Qianqian asked, "Zhaozhao?"

Lu Yuan, "In the basket."

Meng Qianqian, "No, it's not here."

Lu Yuan was startled, turned to look at the basket with only an empty swaddle.

"..."

Uh, where's the little gem?