Early in the morning, it rained.

The weather was getting colder and colder. After Yun Chu practiced martial arts, she actually broke out in a light sweat.

Just as she put away her short sword and entered the room, she saw the little one pouting unhappily. “Mother didn’t call me to practice martial arts. I’m angry.”

“Didn’t Mother say that once your body is well-nourished, then you can get up early to practice martial arts?” Yun Chu pinched his arm. “Only by gaining more flesh can you wield swords and blades, understand?”

“Hmph!”

The little one crossed his arms over his chest, his cheeks puffed out, deliberately ignoring Yun Chu.

Yun Chu tried to dress him, but he ran to Tingxue’s side, letting Tingxue help him get dressed. Picking up his book, he went out the door and ran by himself to the other side of the gate entrance.

“This little rascal…”

Yun Chu shook her head and sighed.

She wondered whether it was because she wanted so much to make it up to the child that she had reached a point close to spoiling him, which actually wasn’t a good thing?

Yu’er was the Prince Manor’s heir. Barring any accidents, he would in the future be the master of Prince Pingxi’s fief, Luochuan.

The lord of a territory did indeed have to work harder than ordinary people from a young age.

Wait until he’s five.

Yun Chu thought that once Yu’er turned five, she would let go and let the child grow.

The sky gradually brightened, and the rain gradually stopped.

Yun Chu woke Changsheng, and together with her young daughter, they had breakfast.

After finishing the meal, Changsheng, as usual, spread out her drawing paper by herself and earnestly began to paint.

Yun Chu also began her busy day.

She was dealing with trivial matters when, around the hour of chen, the women from the Yun Family’s branch lines all arrived.

First, they came to congratulate Yun Chu on being conferred the title of Fifth Grade Lady of Honor.

Second, they reported on the account books of the shops each of them managed.

Yun Chu had the maids serve tea and let everyone speak one by one.

“The two estates I’m responsible for had very good harvests this year.” Seventh Sister-in-law from the branch line flipped through the account book. “One estate earned thirteen hundred taels, the other was slightly less, earning eight hundred taels. I looked through the account book—the reduced income was mainly because in the seventh month, someone stole the plow oxen and tools, and some fields were trampled. We spent a lot of money buying oxen and making farm tools…”

Yun Chu nodded. This Seventh Sister-in-law had truly put in great effort examining the accounts. Even treating these two estates with not particularly high yields so seriously—she could be put to great use in the future.

Following that, the others also reported their accounts one after another.

“Mine here is a bit more complicated. Our Yun Family’s cloth shop and tea shop can be considered major industries. These past days I’ve barely slept, going through all the accounts once.” Fourth Aunt Yun said with a smile. “The cloth shop’s profit last month reached close to one thousand taels of silver. The tea shop is even more impressive—it earned three thousand two hundred in just one month.”

When she had looked at the account books, she had been shocked as well.

She hadn’t expected that just the cloth shop and tea shop alone, these two combined, could achieve an annual income of over fifty thousand taels of silver.

Adding in the other industries, the Yun Family had at least eighty thousand taels of silver in annual income.

Previously, when she was distant from these matters, she had secretly pondered daily just how much the Yun Family’s industries were worth. Now that the account books were in her own hands, her heart immediately became fervent.

She spoke. “Yesterday I heard someone say that the south produces a type of very soft fabric that we don’t have in the capital. I was thinking, should we arrange for people to go south and purchase in large quantities? Then the cloth shop could at least earn this much.”

She held up two fingers.

Seventh Sister-in-law Yun tentatively asked, “Two thousand taels?”

Fourth Aunt Yun shook her head. “If it were only two thousand taels, I wouldn’t bring it up. It’s twenty thousand taels! As long as we arrange for someone to make a trip to purchase goods, in one month’s time, we could earn twenty thousand taels. This is a guaranteed profit with no risk! Chu’er, quickly allocate some silver from the public accounts for me. I’ll make the cloth shop earn until the pots overflow!”

Yun Chu’s expression remained calm as she sipped her tea. “How much should I allocate?”

“Ten thousand taels will be enough.” Fourth Aunt Yun grinned widely. “When the time comes, principal with interest, I’ll return you thirty thousand taels.”

She had sent people to carefully inquire. That fabric was extremely rare. Goods worth one hundred taels of silver, once transported to the capital, could sell for at least five hundred taels.

In other words, she was asking Yun Chu for ten thousand taels of silver, which could ultimately become fifty thousand taels. She would return thirty thousand taels to the public accounts and could keep twenty thousand taels for herself.

Yun Chu placed her teacup on the table. “Fourth Aunt doesn’t think that the current Yun Family can easily produce ten thousand taels of silver, does she?”

Fourth Aunt Yun asked back, “Why not?”

Just the annual harvest alone was eighty thousand taels. Over so many years, she didn’t dare imagine just how much money was in the Yun Family’s public accounts.

She was only asking for ten thousand taels. Was that excessive?

Yun Chu shook her head. “In such a large clan, what are the daily expenses? Fourth Aunt can calculate that account in her own mind. Furthermore, the end of the year is approaching. The Yun Family’s annual ancestral worship ceremony will soon begin. Although the Yun Family has encountered trouble, we cannot treat our ancestors shabbily. Every year the ancestral worship expenses are over five thousand taels of silver. If we take the silver to give to Fourth Aunt, what about the ancestral worship?”

For prominent aristocratic families like theirs, ancestral worship was the most grand activity of the entire year. Even clan members from distant regions had to participate.

Five thousand taels of silver would be spent without even making a sound.

Fourth Aunt Yun found it hard to believe. “I don’t believe the Yun Family’s accounts only have this little silver left!”

“Clack.”

Yun Chu’s tea lid knocked against the teacup, making a sound.

Her expression directly turned cold. “Is Fourth Aunt implying that I’ve embezzled the Yun Family’s silver?”

Fourth Aunt Yun’s lips parted, but she said nothing.

In her view, Yun Chu—a daughter who had married, then divorced and returned—was simply not qualified to manage the Yun Family’s industries.

As someone of the elder generation, she actually had to bow her head and conduct herself before a niece. Just thinking about it made her unwilling.

“It seems Fourth Aunt doesn’t trust me and doesn’t submit to me. In that case—” Yun Chu spoke. “Let’s have someone else manage the tea shop and cloth shop.”

All the women in the hall were shocked.

They hadn’t expected Fourth Aunt and Yun Chu to actually fall out.

Nor had they expected that Yun Chu would turn hostile so readily, changing people at the drop of a hat.

Fourth Aunt Yun couldn’t hide her shock, which quickly transformed into anger.

She looked coldly at the other women sitting in the hall. Whoever dared to take on these two industries would be opposing her.

Her father-in-law was Old General Yun’s blood brother from the same mother. Therefore, their branch was considered the closest branch line to the main line.

Most importantly, with Yun Silin’s whereabouts unknown, among all the men of this generation in the entire Yun Family, only her husband Yun Siyuan remained.

As the only male elder, he naturally had a certain say in the Yun Family.

Her gaze swept over them, and the others all lowered their heads, either drinking tea or looking outside.

Yun Chu looked around at everyone. “Does anyone wish to volunteer?”

No one below spoke.

Fourth Aunt Yun smiled.

These two industries could only be taken over by her.

She wanted to let Yun Chu know that a junior could never ride on an elder’s head.

Just when she thought Yun Chu would bow her head, a woman stood up. “Eldest Miss, do you think I could give it a try?”

Yun Chu looked over. This woman was the mother of the divorced Cousin Yun Qin.

Yun Qin’s family branch was considered a very distant branch line. Yun Qin’s grandfather and her grandfather were cousins of concubine birth, and Yun Qin’s father was also of concubine birth. The relationship became more and more distant. Therefore, Yun Qin’s mother didn’t even dare call her Chu’er, but properly addressed her as Eldest Miss.