The Ministry of Revenue’s long-vacant Minister position in the Great Liang Dynasty was finally taken over by Lord Wen Fengshu.

This Lord Wen, just past forty, came from the old Shao Shang faction. Before taking this post, he had always been a member of Emperor Wu Yang Zao’s strategist circle, and a close friend and confidant of She Qingling. He was greatly valued by the Emperor, and his relations with every ministry in court had always been sweet and cordial. Oh, and this Lord Wen also had a nickname — the Oil Rat.

He was good with everyone, which was precisely what made him terrifying.

To be called “oily” alone was already unflattering, but adding “rat” to it revealed his character. Sure enough, within just a few days of taking over the Ministry of Revenue, he displayed his slippery brilliance in full — leaving all those officials who had once looked down on him, unable to stomach She Qingling’s blade-sharp directness, choking on a breath of stifled anger that could neither rise nor fall, yet unable to even hate him for it.

Now, all the officials across the Six Ministries, including the Ministry of Revenue, missed She Qingling more than words could say — but it was already too late.

As for the former Seal-Keeping Eunuch, the Hidden Chancellor, he was, at his leisure, packing his belongings within the palace, preparing to move out without the slightest trace of reluctance.

In the contest of officialdom, the most terrifying thing was someone who knew how to control the timing.

She Qingling had thoroughly seen through the matter of being an official. He had chosen the best possible moment to withdraw completely, offending no one in the process. Because of this, Emperor Wu Yang Zao, feeling guilty, bestowed upon him the former Prince Hui’s mansion to live in, and was preparing an edict to grant him the title of Prince of the Second Rank of Rui’an — an edict that would be issued the very day he left the palace.

She Qingling was no saint, but his contributions to the Great Liang Dynasty were something the Emperor and the old ministers all understood clearly in their hearts. And setting his achievements aside entirely, by blood he was also one of the Emperor’s few genuine relatives. If the Yang clan relatives, who had contributed nothing at all to Great Liang, could still receive a princedom of the second rank, why should he not be entitled to the same?

Moreover, granting him a princedom of the second rank was, for She Qingling, really not an especially generous bestowal. But anything higher? Given his physical condition, he would simply have to make do with some measure of injustice.

Such was reality. What the Emperor thought, what the elder officials thought of She Qingling — none of it concerned him. Chen Dasheng cared even less. The only one who cared was Qiqian’er.

She did not care about power — power had never had anything to do with her anyway. What she cared about was whether she still got to live comfortably in Qinwei Alley, since now she had to keep coming to Yandu to do hard labor.

With the disturbances in Yandu nearly settled, Qiqian’er brought the maids and servant boys she was used to from Qinwei Alley into Yandu.

She now stood outside Prince Hui’s mansion at a complete loss. In both her past life and this one, she had never seen such an enormous, prestigious gate, nor such a vast estate, and naturally had no experience managing so many people and affairs.

On an old street called Gourd Mouth, Prince Hui’s mansion stood right in the middle. Walking further ahead past two more large estates was the former She family residence.

From this alone one could see that back in the day, the She family’s population and grandeur had not been far behind Prince Hui’s mansion.

And as someone who had lived two lifetimes, once a widow, Qiqian’er, no matter how she calculated it, had never imagined that one day she would become the matriarch managing such an enormous estate — and not just this one mansion either. Following She Qingling’s wishes, the old She family residence further ahead was also to be managed by his daughter-in-law.

The first time Qiqian’er learned this, she thought: from now on, it’s all over — what was there left to do with the rest of her life? A single mansion alone had one or two hundred servants; now she had to manage two mansions. However was she supposed to handle that?

The so-called matriarch of a grand and prestigious household did not merely manage the affairs within the mansion. Beyond the buildings and the servants, she also had to oversee everything attached to the family name — farmland estates, storefronts, mountain forests, the various produce and trade from each estate, as well as social obligations and exchanges. A single mansion was like a small court unto itself; both knowledge and ability were indispensable. And it was precisely now, having arrived at this position, that everything she had learned and experienced always fell short.

In short, the shrewdness required to match such a grand household simply hadn’t grown in her yet.

And privately, Qiqian’er hadn’t wanted to come to the capital at all — but her godfather had no one else he could rely on, which was pitiable. The Zheng family, in their roundabout way, had sent someone to hint at their meaning, which was roughly this: you’re someone of low birth who got lucky enough to bear a son — what kind of experience of the world have you seen? How could you possibly manage such a vast estate? Better hurry and yield the position so a proper lady of the Zheng family can come lend a hand.

When people said such things, you really had no way to get angry. No matter how capable Qiqian’er was, what she had never seen, she had never seen; what she had never managed, she truly did not understand.

Not just her — all the mistresses of the households in Six Ministries Alley were young in age, and their experience did not extend this far. Even if they wanted to learn, there was no one around who could teach them all these circles and relationships.

Ask around all of Yandu — how many successful princess-consort-level household managers were there? Almost none. And a matriarch who could keep a rough handle on both household and outside affairs, who could recognize the faces of all the stewards and the matron-in-charge of every branch household and know what was what — such a person was already a remarkable figure.

Most of what’s said above concerns the newly ennobled households’ matriarchs, since they had all just recently become wealthy. The old established families, by contrast, certainly didn’t lack such talent — but the newly ennobled would never intermarry with the great old households of the former dynasty.

Oh, and naturally the Zheng family was scolded by the Emperor again — even that shameless old Empress Dowager felt embarrassed by it. Yet they simply kept pressing this thick skin of theirs against you, over and over, sticking close, and when you least expected it, they’d come show their face in front of you again; even when driven off, they’d persist without yielding, and you couldn’t very well strangle them either.

Qiqian’er felt weak with anxiety, but She Qingling had only one thing to say to his daughter-in-law about it: no matter! Qian’er, just go and tidy things up simply. If you don’t understand something, then you don’t — we’ll take it slow. Even if you turn the household into a farmer’s thatched hut, we, as family, won’t think less of it.

Once he’d said as much, Qiqian’er had to go whether she liked it or not.

Now Qiqian’er led one or two hundred old and new servants, standing somewhat dazedly at the gate of Prince Hui’s mansion, while the Jixiang household led a dozen or so old stewards from the She family’s old residence, eyes brimming with hot tears, hands trembling, personally scrubbing the seal strips off the vermillion lacquered gates of Prince Hui’s mansion while murmuring incantations under their breath.

The scent of candles and incense drifted out from the old residence, and the sound of monks and Taoist priests chanting sutras for deliverance of the dead slowly emanated from within the estate.

It felt less like a place people lived in and more like a grand, thriving temple.

On the night the former dynasty’s army was defeated, the old Prince Hui and his consort, unable to escape in time, had hanged themselves in the main hall along with several female relatives.

And these vengeful spirits all needed to be properly appeased and respectfully sent off on their way, since after all, the living were about to move into their home.

What Qiqian’er had to do today was watch as the servants removed the seal strips from every door of Prince Hui’s mansion. As for tomorrow, it would be taking inventory of the property — an enormous undertaking that would likely take at least two grueling months before the vast estate could be sorted out clearly.

Once the seal strips had finally been scrubbed clean, the Jixiang household and several old stewards rushed eagerly into the courtyard, arranging the various prepared sacrificial offerings before the mansion’s three front gates.

The masters had said that, starting today, seven sets of sacrifices needed to be offered continuously in order to bribe the door gods of this old mansion into becoming the door gods of the She family.

After several strings of firecrackers were set off, and the acrid smell had passed, Qiqian’er covered her nose and sighed: “It’s really huge!”

As big as a temple!

Standing to the side, the Jixiang household woman sniffled and, after a long while, choked out: “Madam, our family’s front gate back then wasn’t this big, nor this tall — but our household’s liveliness far exceeded this place. This is nothing compared to back then; coming and going, it’s just this handful of people now, ay…”

The woman wiped her nose with her sleeve, no longer keeping up the composed air of an old servant.

This Jixiang household woman was a hereditary servant of the She family; her mother had once been a steward in the old lady of the She family’s courtyard. This whole family’s childhood memories had lingered in grand and prestigious households — she had truly seen the world.

These past few days, these little old men and older matrons had all taken to weeping in front of Qiqian’er. At first, seeing them so distressed, Qiqian’er had comforted them a little; but now — let them cry if they wanted, she wasn’t going to comfort them anymore, she barely had the energy to spare.

After covering the old stone lions in front of Prince Hui’s mansion in red cloth and having them carried away, and bringing in newly made stone lions covered in red cloth to be set in their place, and after the monks and Taoists finished their chanting and rites, Qiqian’er accompanied them in kowtowing over a dozen times before finally being permitted to enter the gate.

Just as she was about to enter, Qiqian’er heard some onlooker who couldn’t resist stirring trouble mock from the side: “Heh! Well isn’t that eye-opening! Truly a rare sight through the ages — never have I seen a household where the man doesn’t come and it’s the woman who presides over the entrance ceremony. Has public morality really fallen this far, with no rules left at all?!”

Whether one wanted to listen or not, that was simply how it was.

She Qingling certainly wasn’t coming — the Taoist priest had calculated Chen Dasheng’s zodiac sign and found it clashed with this particular ritual, saying he carried a blood-inauspicious aura; if he came, the wandering ghosts wouldn’t dare leave today.

He would have to wait until every gate had finished its sacrificial offerings before entering the residence.

With only these three people in the family, Qiqian’er had to come whether she wanted to or not. After all the fuss was finally done, four matrons lifted up a spacious hardwood sedan chair, and Qiqian’er sat properly upon it, bowing left and right. When the timing seemed about right, she scattered a winnowing basket of coins to either side to “buy the road”…

The neighbors on the street had waited this whole time precisely for this moment. As she scattered the first basket of coins, people had already thrown several large baskets of celebratory money strung on red thread that had been prepared in advance… While the neighbors scrambled excitedly for the coins, Qiqian’er finally entered the future princely mansion through the main gate.

A woman entering the main residence through the main gate — this too was a first in all of Yandu.

No household anywhere had ever had its matriarch enter through the front gate first.

After entering the mansion and walking quite some distance further, the Jixiang household woman finally trotted alongside the sedan chair to console her: “Madam, don’t let that idle gossip upset you. Those idle busybodies are just jealous, green with envy, and stepping on you to say such things.”

Hearing this, Qiqian’er laughed lightly and said: “It’s fine, I didn’t even hear clearly what they said — our firecrackers were too loud…”

Hearing this, the Jixiang household woman was stunned for a moment before breaking into a genuinely sincere smile: “Exactly right, Madam is so magnanimous, why bother arguing with those petty people? Our household has such a great enterprise now, who has time to fuss over such trivial matters!”

________________________________________

There were far more worrying things than those few sharp but harmless remarks. Prince Hui’s mansion was overgrown with weeds everywhere; some of the less sturdy buildings, unoccupied for over two years, were already infested with generations of rats, and the roofs were even leaking… this was what truly deserved concern.

To describe Prince Hui’s mansion, one couldn’t use shallow terms like how many rooms it had, how many gardens, or how much land it covered. To describe it that way would mark you as a true country bumpkin — only bumpkins calculate how many fen make up a mu of land.

Put simply, the future Rui’an princely mansion was an estate cultivated and nurtured through the lifelong efforts of five successive generations of Prince Hui from the former dynasty.

For those past generations of Prince Hui to hold their princely position securely, they first needed one advantage others lacked: they had to be perceptive, understanding, harmless men with no ambition whatsoever.

Such honest men dared not contend for power in the court, and with no shortage of family wealth, aside from continuing the bloodline, they likely spent their entire lives pouring countless effort into cultivating this estate.

For example, spending five years’ worth of fief income to haul a piece of ornamental rockery from the south, placing it in a corner of the back garden; or spending ten years befriending a renowned calligrapher of the age, only then daring to ask him to write a plaque for his study.

They would invite the finest florists in the country to be kept in the household, and this florist would then spend twenty years cultivating an orchid garden, a peach blossom garden, a wintersweet studio for the prince… yet across the prince’s entire lifetime, these gardens amounted to little more than a few fleeting impressions.

More often than not, after more than a decade had passed and the garden had finally matured, that same wastrel prince, provoked by a single summer’s mosquito infestation, would turn around and have the enormous lotus pond filled in, then think up some new way to pass the time — repeating this cycle over and over was simply the fate of this estate.

As for whether today a painting was added, tomorrow a side table, or the day after a butterfly corridor was torn down and rebuilt into a covered walkway — these too were nothing more than matters of a moment’s whim.

And it was precisely these momentary whims, these sudden impulses, that made up the lifetimes of several generations of Prince Hui.

Prince Hui’s mansion was a fine place — even overgrown from inside out, in the eyes of this country girl Qiqian’er, it was still something unreachably grand.

Because of that windfall from the Plague God Temple, Qiqian’er had once considered herself quite wealthy. But as the wooden sedan made its rounds through Prince Hui’s mansion, and gate after gate was opened before her, she began to feel poor.

It wasn’t the shock of seeing mountains of gold and silver piled on the ground. Rather, just as the tour began, a steward brought over a household thief caught a few days earlier for questioning. The stolen goods were a pile of dark, blackened objects; Qiqian’er glanced at them and saw only a few crooked, mediocrely carved broken cups — she didn’t feel it worth speaking up about.

She genuinely had no idea what the thief could possibly want with such worthless junk.

The captured servant knelt there, face utterly despairing, as if the sky had fallen, collapsed like a heap of mud.

Seeing Qiqian’er say nothing, the Jixiang household woman coughed and said: “Madam, look at this!” She was so furious her hands were trembling: “This old princely mansion never had a single good thing in it before — this is them bullying us for not knowing the lay of the land!”

Qiqian’er studied the dark, uneven pile of carved objects in her hand once more, thinking she might ask what exactly this was — she couldn’t understand why this thief looked as though he were about to die over it.

But fearing she’d expose her ignorance, she held back, maintaining her composure, and said to the Jixiang household woman as if this were nothing unusual: “We’ve just moved in, this kind of thing is bound to happen sooner or later. They’re not our own people anyway — just get the items appraised and send him to the authorities. We’ve only just arrived, it’s not good to draw blood right away. It’s hard enough getting rid of one batch of trouble; we don’t need another one lingering around the garden — that just wouldn’t do.”

What she said was clever indeed. No sooner had she finished than the Jixiang household woman said with satisfaction: “Did you hear what Madam said? Hurry up and drag him away! Hmph! As if we don’t recognize rhinoceros horn — these aren’t even fashionable lotus cups anymore. In the former dynasty rhinoceros horn was worth something, worth several hundred strings of cash if sold off — but nowadays there are so many fallen households pawning things, we’ve got plenty of this junk lying around at home already!”

The old servant was dragged away screaming; rhinoceros horn was a precious item, worth several hundred strings of cash — enough, once it reached the authorities, to warrant exile of thirty thousand li.

Watching the servants looking so satisfied, Qiqian’er broke into a cold sweat, thinking: what nonsense was that woman spouting? Our family doesn’t have a single piece, let alone plenty! In two lifetimes, this was truly the first time she’d ever seen rhinoceros horn!

Wasn’t rhinoceros horn a medicine? She remembered it often appearing in remedies for shock in old prescriptions. How had it become a cup? Truly an eye-opening experience.

After that, the rare and precious things she’d never seen before only multiplied. Brush holders worth ten thousand strings of cash three dynasties ago, carved with worn squirrel-and-bamboo motifs, now looking utterly shabby; pear wood, red sandalwood, nanmu, camphor wood, poplar — carved into nothing but statues of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva — the household had two entire storerooms full of them.

No need to ask why there were so many — the Prince Hui before the previous one thought his son was a fool and wanted to swap out his descendants’ brains, so to speak, spending his whole life praying for cleverness and wit for them. After searching high and low and finding it too expensive to purchase such things, he took up carving himself. Being idle anyway, this Prince Hui became a master carver — carving only, never selling, purely for his own sake.

Going further in, Qiqian’er beheld an unprecedented spectacle. Centuries of accumulation across generations meant even chamber pots filled entire storerooms. Just one type of covered box alone had been made across five generations of Prince Hui — because whoever headed the household at any given time never wanted to use their elders’ hand-me-downs.

And so, generation after generation, they simply swapped out the boxes, until an entire storeroom was piled with every color and material of box — gold, silver, copper, iron, wood, lacquer… There were also storerooms for old clothing, for scholar’s stationery items, for folding screens, for lanterns… Restoring these items would take far more effort than simply acquiring new ones.

Prince Hui’s mansion was terribly dilapidated inside — aside from a few massive old trees with naturally sprawling root systems still alive, that orchid garden once famous throughout Yandu was now merely a legend; nowadays this garden could only be called a wild-grass garden, with weed stalks taller than a person.

And as long as this place wasn’t tidied up, her godfather couldn’t return home. Speaking of the gardens again — there was a place for keeping birds. Clearing out the garden itself was a minor matter, but white cranes cost eighty strings of cash each, and they needed twenty of them; small painted thrushes cost two strings each, and they needed ten; and the upside-down green-feathered phoenix bird that had been trendy in the capital last year — the household needed at least five of those, each costing five hundred strings… This kind of trivial, unpresentable expense could be tossed out endlessly without even understanding why one had to spend it.

Was there truly no one in the entire household who liked birds? And every type of bird needed its own dedicated bird-keeper, and these bird-keepers had families to support too — another endless stream of money.

Her godfather had given her fifty thousand strings up front, but seeing all this now, it clearly wasn’t nearly enough. The money itself was a small matter — but this kind of exhausting, labor-intensive work, Qiqian’er couldn’t rely on relatives like Zhang Wanru, or even Madam Li, to help with. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust or feel close to them — it was that a place like this had been given outright by the Emperor, so it was better not to hold human nature to too high a standard.

Everyone was roughly the same age, roughly the same rank — but what kind of life did your family live, versus theirs? When it came down to it, matters of money and wealth were far too delicate; better not to test human nature at all.

After being carried around for a good two hours, if not more, Qiqian’er finally finished touring Prince Hui’s mansion.

The first thing she did after the tour was dismiss all of Prince Hui’s mansion’s former servants entirely. Even with the combined servants of the Chen and She families being few, they could take it slowly — tidying up one courtyard at a time — rather than risk adding further losses to this estate. Whenever it came to matters of money, she trusted absolutely no one.

Although soldiers had guarded the place before, and no one had dared touch the registered large items, it had still been two years — who knew how many small items, like that rhinoceros horn cup, had already gone missing.

Just thinking about it now made her heart ache all over… several hundred strings of cash, not worth anything? A single mu of land wasn’t even worth several hundred coins!

Chen Dasheng, out on the street, finally got word that the ancestral rites had concluded, and only then dared set out. Once he was helped down from the carriage, limping, he was first made to drink a bowl of some red concoction at the entrance, then had a foolish old Taoist wave a peachwood sword around him from side to side before he was allowed to pass.

Jixiang was leading several servant boys, crouched on the ground scrubbing the floor with cloths. Seeing it was the Fourth Lord, he quickly scrambled up and came over with a beaming smile to greet him: “My lord, you’ve finally arrived. The Fourth Madam is over at Melody Court settling the accounts.”

“Melody” was not a building, but rather referred to a piece of calligraphy left in the world by a calligraphy sage from five hundred years ago, renowned for his cursive script — now surviving only as a single stone stele.

This stele was later purchased at great cost by the second-generation Prince Hui, installed in the front courtyard of Prince Hui’s mansion, and a pavilion called Melody Court was subsequently built around this stele.

Prince Hui himself knew nothing of calligraphy, but he couldn’t resist feeling he simply had to own such a thing — and so he did.

Hearing this, Chen Dasheng smiled, glanced around to check no one was near, and then said to the carriage behind him: “Everyone come down.”

Jixiang curiously craned his neck to look, and saw a young servant boy who looked like a wisp of cloud being helped down from the carriage by Little Seventh Lord’s hand?

Being sharp-witted, he recognized at a glance that this was actually a woman, but asked no further questions. Instead, he went ahead and had people carry over three bamboo sedan chairs to take everyone to Melody Court.

The group entered the residence and walked along the side covered walkway heading right. Along the way, they saw a stray cat lying atop the rockery in the front courtyard, watching them. Guan Si’er complained to Chen Dasheng: “His Majesty, honestly — saying this place is conveniently close to the old She residence, that’s fine and all, but couldn’t you have sent someone to tidy it up beforehand? Look how run-down this garden is!”

Chen Dasheng looked around and nodded in agreement: “You’re right about that…”

He felt guilty again for putting his wife through such hardship, and the further they walked, the more his heart pounded with alarm — this place really was enormous.

Jixiang, quite excited, trotted along the way and said: “My lord, this mansion is truly impressive. Back in the day, several generations of the Prince Hui family, over a hundred people, all lived here in comfort…”

Hearing this, Chen Dasheng drew another sharp breath — his own family, combined, didn’t even amount to a fraction of that number.

Pouring out the leftover tea behind the stone stele, Qiqian’er, unaware this was the Melody Stele, only felt it was cool beneath it, so she had people carry over a low table and bench, even temporarily setting up an accounting station.

Chen Dasheng arrived by bamboo sedan, and stepping down, he looked across a thin stream of flowing water at Qiqian’er and smiled: “Wife, however did you end up settling in such an out-of-the-way spot?”

Qiqian’er stood up and pointed at the little stream: “It’s cool here. Those old wells need to be cleared out before they can be used — this is running water, so I had them tidy it up a bit to stay here for now. At least it makes cooking convenient, doesn’t it?”

Chen Dasheng immediately praised her: “My wife really is clever.”

Ge Sansu, being helped down from the bamboo sedan by Guan Si’er, went weak in the knees, and after looking all around, her expression twisted even more severely.

Her family had dealt with scholars for generations; one look at this place and she knew exactly what it was, but she couldn’t expose it, dared not even hint at it — she could only think to herself in private complaint: this is the Melody Stele… this is the calligraphy sage’s own Melody Stele!

Qiqian’er didn’t recognize the Melody Stele, but she did recognize this as a young lady whose health seemed worrying, so she asked Guan Si’er: “Seventh Brother? Who is this young lady?”

Guan Si’er turned red with embarrassment, but Chen Dasheng answered readily: “This is our family’s future Seventh Sister-in-law.”

Guan Si’er let out an awkward, low cry: “Brother~!”

Chen Dasheng turned to glare at him: “What? You don’t want to marry her?”

If he didn’t intend to marry her, why was he clinging to her side every day, practically already serving her in person as though he were her mute attendant?

Could Guan Si’er possibly say he didn’t want to marry her? He carefully turned to glance at Ge Sansu, and seeing her lower her head and say nothing, he finally said with open sincerity: “Miss Ge, don’t listen to my elder brother’s random arrangements — I, I’m naturally willing, willing to. But if you’re not willing, we, we can’t take advantage of your difficult situation, right… right?”

Ge Sansu didn’t lift her head, but with the hand he was using to support her, she pinched a tiny bit of his flesh with her fingernail and twisted it.

She had just lost her entire family; what thoughts could she possibly have left in her heart? Put simply, she had no one to depend on. At her most desperate, Heaven had pointed this person her way and even saved her life — she had to pull herself together and make a life with him.

Guan Si’er drew a sharp breath, enduring the pain, and forced a smile at Qiqian’er: “She’s, she’s in mourning, sister-in-law, we can’t talk about this right now. Ow… don’t do that? Stop it! Ow, that hurts…”

Ge Sansu quickly let go, her body immediately swaying; Guan Si’er, as if he’d gotten what he wanted, caught and steadied her again.

Miss Ge? This surname sounded somewhat familiar.

Qiqian’er looked her over and finally said with a smile: “So, so you’ve come to take refuge with our family?”

Guan Si’er nodded repeatedly and even complained with full righteous indignation: “These old women in Yandu are impossible to deal with — the Wu family’s had quite a few people locked up these past few days, and there’s always some old lady going to the guard post threatening to bash her head in!”

Chen Dasheng scratched his face helplessly and bowed to his wife: “Wife, I’m sorry for the trouble. Miss Ge truly had nowhere else to go. It’s been rough on my end these past few days too — there’s someone burning paper money outside the wall every single day. I don’t mind for myself, I just worry it’s hard on Miss Ge…”

“My lord!” Ge Sansu looked up at Chen Dasheng and said: “This lowly one isn’t troubled! It’s just, just that I’m causing you trouble. You lords are all benevolent gentlemen, yet you’re being implicated like this because of me. If it truly can’t be helped, please just send me to the authorities — as long as it clears my family’s grievance, even staying in a prison cell would be something I’d gladly accept.”

Qiqian’er laughed, walked over, and took her hand: “Good girl, you’re the one saving my life here!”

With that, she half-supported, half-pulled Ge Sansu over to beneath the stele, first pressing her firmly into a seat, then unceremoniously piling two feet worth of account books in front of her: “These are the inventory records of items that were sealed away in this residence before. Starting today, let’s go through and check everything against these. Once they’ve tidied things up a bit more, we’ll have even more to keep us busy.”

And once she said “busy,” they truly got busy. As group after group of matrons came by carrying newly recorded account books, Qiqian’er scooped up several volumes, pulled Ge Sansu along, and the two of them got onto the bamboo sedan, whisked away in a flurry by the crowd?

Just like that, they left?

Left behind, Chen Dasheng and Guan Si’er exchanged a look. After a good while, Guan Si’er finally said, somewhat reluctantly: “Brother, did she just dump the two of us here?”

Chen Dasheng let out a breath from deep in his chest and said: “Yeah, and here you were hoping your sister-in-law would feed us dinner?”

Be grateful she’s not beating you.

Neither of the two men knew that, from this day forward, Huo Qiqian would truly work Ge Sansu to death as her personal accountant.

That woman, who used to eat nothing and only sit around lost in troubled thoughts, from the moment she entered this old residence, opened her eyes to account books and closed her eyes to account books. No one even needed to persuade her to work — as for the days that followed, her greatest daily hope became: when would they eat? When could she get some rest? When could she finally sleep her fill in one go?