These words were no small matter. Everyone froze for a moment. Even the small pastry by Seventh Miss’s hand fell onto her skirt, staining the clean fabric with a long string of yellow. Zhongyuan panted heavily a few more times before saying, “If her own daughter hadn’t discovered it, the person would likely have stopped breathing.”

So she wasn’t dead yet?

Seventh Miss immediately composed herself again, though her expression still couldn’t hide her shock and fury.

Fifth Young Madam was truly too ruthless, using such tactics… If they had burst in a bit later and the person had actually died, what would they do? A living human life, dying in such a calculated scheme?

She forcefully set down her teacup on the table with a thud and said in a heavy voice, “Lixia, go to the alley and invite Accountant Zhuang in. Shangyuan, go to the second gate and inquire what Father is doing at Dream Splendor Pavilion. If he’s not busy, go in and report that I have a matter I wish to present to Father.”

Several maids immediately snapped back to their senses. Lixia took several deep breaths, her face immediately calming to reveal no ripples. Shangyuan imitated her appearance, putting on a composed expression, and left the room.

Seventh Miss also dispatched Duanwu. “Go to the small accounting office and ask the old stewardess to come out. Have her go to the Zhang household to see how the person is and whether a doctor has been called. Zhongyuan, you go restrain the maids and women in our courtyard—not one is permitted to leave Bright Virtue Hall. Anyone who leaves without reason to meddle will have three months’ wages withheld. Those whose behavior is excessive will be directly expelled.”

Her usual speech was always gentle and soft, carrying the unique tender cadence of the Jiangnan water towns. Rarely did she display such decisive severity as today. Everyone hastily obeyed her commands. Only Little Huangpu was frightened motionless, trembling finely. Seventh Miss glanced at her and said unquestionably, “You will attend me while I change clothes and fix my hair. Shortly I must go to Dream Splendor Pavilion—I cannot go out looking like this.”

By the time Seventh Miss had changed clothes and styled her hair in a more serious fashion, several senior maids had returned. Accountant Zhuang lived in an alley not far from Coal Alley at all. In just half a shichen, Lixia had brought her to Bright Virtue Hall. She now stood with lowered head in the corner of the room, also wearing a solemn expression. Shangyuan had also brought Duke Pingguo’s reply: the old man had just risen from his afternoon nap. Though very surprised by Seventh Miss’s request for an audience, he still sent someone to receive Seventh Miss and speak with her at Dream Splendor Pavilion.

Seventh Miss personally took keys from her waist, opened the dressing case at the bedside, and retrieved from its hidden layer the two account books the two female accountants had compiled. Holding them in her hands, with Accountant Zhuang and Lixia following behind, she put on her veil before leaving Bright Virtue Hall. She followed the two old stewardesses Duke Pingguo had sent to receive her out through the second gate, turned toward the eastern wing outer courtyard of Duke Pingguo’s residence, passed through a long corridor, walked several dozen more steps, and saw a large hall building of several sections. Two young servants about ten years old were already waiting at the entrance. Seventh Miss left Lixia and Accountant Zhuang temporarily outside while she alone entered the main hall.

The furnishings inside Dream Splendor Pavilion were unexpectedly quite simple. Led from the main hall into the third room on the east side, Seventh Miss felt this room was less like a second-rank duke’s quarters and more appropriately described as a country landlord’s study. Apart from one or two sparse curio shelves and a long side table, there were few other furnishings. Only the two large glass windows facing the sun gave some sense of a wealthy household’s atmosphere.

Before long, Duke Pingguo Xu Heng also entered the room, his expression still carrying a trace of surprise. “Has something happened inside the second gate—”

This old fox was still pretending ignorance.

Seventh Miss sneered inwardly but wore a solemn expression. “Xiaoqi presumes upon you, disturbing Father.”

She first paid her respects. After Duke Pingguo waved his hand saying it was no matter, she continued, “It concerns a Stewardess Zhang who used to work in the accounting office in the inner courtyard…”

In just a few sentences, she explained clearly the matter of Accountant Zhang’s wife hanging herself, then added, “Originally the gossip spreading through the household, Xiaoqi also felt was meaningless and not worth bothering with. Now that matters have escalated to this extent, I must disturb Father to clarify everything, lest the household servants think that just as Xiaoqi has taken over household management, she wants to stir up trouble.”

Without waiting for Duke Pingguo’s response, she walked a few steps herself, went out to lead Accountant Zhuang into the room, and said solemnly, “This is an accountant Xiaoqi specially requested from the Gao family salt merchants in Yangzhou. She’s excellent at household accounts and has managed family accounts for over twenty years. Since mid-July, she’s been reviewing accounts for Xiaoqi. Accountant Zhuang, please explain to Father several questionable items in these account books.”

Duke Pingguo’s expression was deep. He said nothing more, merely following Seventh Miss’s introduction in directing his gaze toward Accountant Zhuang.

Accountant Zhuang first bowed to Duke Pingguo, presented the two account books before him, then began the same introduction she had given Seventh Miss. “These two account books are ones we two servants selected from years of household accounts…”

She concealed nothing, repeating to Duke Pingguo word for word what she had explained to Seventh Miss.

Since she came from a professional background and spoke only the truth, naturally she was calm and composed, explaining everything clearly. Duke Pingguo was fine at first, but when he heard about using rice prices as comparison and discovering discrepancies in the accounts, his expression finally shifted slightly, revealing a contemplative look.

When Accountant Zhuang finished, Seventh Miss waved for her to leave. Without giving Duke Pingguo any time to react, she continued.

“There are many questionable items in these account books. Stewardess Zhang is also related to Little Luowen, a chamber maid close to Fifth Sister-in-law, and the two families interact quite frequently. Yet Fifth Sister-in-law transferred her out of the accounting office before the New Year. In such suspicious circumstances, when certain matters spread and are mentioned by those with ulterior motives, the innocent becomes guilty, those without suspicion become suspect.”

Seeing Duke Pingguo nod slightly, Seventh Miss continued, “However, Xiaoqi cannot fail to give everyone an explanation for this matter. These past days I’ve been privately investigating, wanting to know whether servants below deceived Fifth Sister-in-law and played tricks, or…”

She paused, then opened a new topic. “However, from the first day of August when I began examining accounts, Stewardess Wu Xun quickly discovered discrepancies. Though Xiaoqi strictly ordered her not to leak this outside, soon paper cannot wrap fire—rumors spread through the household.”

Duke Pingguo’s expression shifted again. He snorted coldly, “I didn’t expect Stewardess Wu Xun to be such a gossip!”

Accountants naturally must not gossip, otherwise wouldn’t the master’s financial privacy become problematic? With Seventh Miss’s explanation, everything seemed to become clear: Seventh Miss wanted to wait until she had solid evidence before handling this matter, but once Stewardess Wu Xun discovered the flaws, she immediately wagged her tongue, causing the situation to reach its current state.

“Since the household has gossip, matters became somewhat difficult. Xiaoqi thought that not investigating would be insufficient to satisfy everyone. Since rumors exist, whether true or not, there must be an explanation to give everyone an account. Otherwise, if the stewardesses below see such oversights being overlooked, they’ll also start playing tricks in the future—impossible to prevent. In the long run, the household will be difficult to manage.” Seventh Miss’s face was grave as water. “But for the sake of everyone’s dignity, and believing Fifth Sister-in-law wouldn’t do such things, Xiaoqi didn’t make a big fuss or investigate ostentatiously. Even now I’ve been investigating quietly. I didn’t expect Stewardess Zhang to be unable to restrain herself and make a scene herself. Now that the matter has blown up, it’s even harder to resolve—even Grandmother this morning instructed Xiaoqi that family members needn’t calculate so much, that matters that can pass should just pass. Now Xiaoqi has no face before Grandmother and can only confess to Father and inquire Father’s opinion.”

Her tone was stiff, clearly containing suppressed anger. Duke Pingguo didn’t mind. He knit his brows and pressed with another question, “Your grandmother truly said this?”

Seventh Miss met Duke Pingguo’s gaze frankly and nodded. “She truly said this. If Father doesn’t believe it, naturally you can confront Grandmother at any time.”

These words were entirely true, and the logical connections flowed perfectly. Duke Pingguo couldn’t help but follow her reasoning: the Fifth Branch and the Grand Madam had always been so close. Even at such a sensitive time, the Grand Madam disregarded the stain on Fifth Young Madam’s reputation, preferring to instruct Seventh Miss not to make a big issue of small matters…

Whether Fifth Young Madam was innocent or not—the answer seemed already quite obvious.

Since Fifth Young Madam wasn’t innocent, then Stewardess Zhang, Stewardess Lin Shan, and Stewardess Peng Hu were all birds of a feather, complicit in embezzling the household’s silver and grain.

Already guilty, at this time Stewardess Zhang was still so high-profile, clamoring that she’d been wronged, using hanging to prove her innocence. This was to slander with blood in her mouth, pushing Seventh Miss toward the unreasonable position, as if she had deliberately released news to smear the innocent Stewardess Zhang. Yet Seventh Miss hadn’t found solid evidence and couldn’t even establish her guilt.

Such a shameless move—only a hardened rogue like Accountant Zhang’s wife could pull it off. She’d clearly disgusted Yang Shi thoroughly, yet there was nowhere to complain. No wonder Yang Shi rarely showed such anger!

Even with Duke Pingguo’s deep scheming, he couldn’t help but rage, “Such an insolent slave—better if she’d actually hanged herself to death!”

Then he immediately realized: she deliberately hanged herself. How could she not be saved?

Seventh Miss didn’t need to pretend. Just thinking of Fifth Young Madam made her face fill with fury. “Thank you Father for your keen discernment in appreciating your daughter-in-law’s difficulties!”

The room fell silent again for a moment. Duke Pingguo took several deep breaths, expelling the stifled air from his chest. After calculating briefly, he looked toward Seventh Miss with considerable meaning. “Then what do you think should be done about this matter?”

A household mistress could be angry at such underhanded tactics, but couldn’t be controlled by them. Otherwise, in struggles with stewardesses, she would easily fall into disadvantage.

Seventh Miss pondered for a moment, glanced inquiringly at Duke Pingguo, knit her brows briefly, then relaxed them.

“Regarding this matter, in Xiaoqi’s view, we should stop pursuing it!” Seventh Miss said decisively. “Just send Stewardess Zhang’s entire family far away to the estate to work. Xiaoqi doesn’t want to pursue other matters further!”

“Oh?” Duke Pingguo immediately raised one eyebrow, looking at Seventh Miss with interest. “What’s the reasoning behind this?”

“If this matter is investigated further…” Seventh Miss bit her lower lip, somewhat hesitant. “What the result will be—Father surely has some idea in your heart.”

She didn’t state it explicitly, but how could Duke Pingguo not understand her meaning? He nodded.

“Family harmony brings prosperity in all things. For family to live together harmoniously is the best thing possible. Our family has mountains of gold and silver—speaking of money, we have plenty. The discrepancy in these account books is merely thirty thousand taels… These thirty thousand taels cannot buy harmony between brothers and sisters-in-law.” Seventh Miss even smiled. “Speaking frankly, just Xiaoqi’s dowry yields nearly twenty thousand taels annually in dividends. The Heir and Xiaoqi truly don’t care about this money.”

Her mention of her own dowry inevitably made one think of Fifth Young Madam’s dowry. With such a large difference in amounts, her hands were inevitably a bit tight. When managing the household, so many opportunities…

Even if Duke Pingguo hadn’t believed before, now he probably believed somewhat.

“Since that’s the case, let bygones be bygones. Simply burn the account books from the past few years, so no one can make an issue of it, no one can make an issue of it. Even if there’s some gossip about Fifth Sister-in-law for a time, after a few months without solid evidence, the gossip will naturally dissipate. It can be considered a small punishment and major warning for Fifth Sister-in-law. If she understands and feels ashamed in her heart, that would be the best outcome.”

Duke Pingguo’s eyes grew brighter and brighter as he looked at Seventh Miss, yet he only gave a faint “Mm.”

“The accounts may not be settled, but Stewardess Zhang’s shameless behavior cannot be ignored. Otherwise in future every stewardess will think that if they commit some error and hang themselves, the masters will have no recourse. The household rules would then exist in name only. Once the servants become chaotic, this household will become even more disorderly.” Seventh Miss’s tone turned cold. “Xiaoqi thinks we needn’t take a life—just give her a bowl of muting medicine and send her to an estate in the capital suburbs to work!”

Sending her to an estate in the capital suburbs was to let everyone see her fate. The bowl of muting medicine was to prevent her from gossiping about her masters. Seventh Miss’s punishment certainly couldn’t be called lenient, but ultimately she left some room, not immediately calling for violence.

Duke Pingguo nodded thoughtfully. He stood up, paced back and forth a few times, then said slowly, “Alas, if back then…”

The words didn’t leave his mouth before he took them back. “This disposition is very appropriate. Let’s do it this way! There’s one thing Yang Shi said very correctly—family harmony is something even millions of taels of silver cannot buy. That you can see this level shows why your mother can confidently entrust household affairs to you.”

His tone had already softened. “Since that’s the case, as a father I also cannot be petty—after all, you’re still a new daughter-in-law. Having you do certain things will inevitably offend people, making it less convenient to act freely in future. How about this—I’ll handle disposing of the Zhang family… You can handle the other matters.”

Duke Pingguo yielded to Seventh Miss the popular deed of burning account books while taking upon himself the thankless task of punishing Stewardess Zhang. This was indeed quite considerate of Seventh Miss. Seventh Miss immediately dropped to her knees, thanking Duke Pingguo. “Father’s consideration for the younger generation is our good fortune!”

“However, regarding Stewardess Lin Shan and Stewardess Peng Hu…” Duke Pingguo couldn’t help pondering.

Seventh Miss made a hesitant expression. Seeing Duke Pingguo smile and nod encouragingly at her, she said, “The rumors also stated clearly it was errors in kitchen procurement and storehouse accounts. If all three are dismissed, I fear it would be too humiliating for Fifth Sister-in-law’s dignity… Even regarding Stewardess Wu Xun, Xiaoqi plans to let it go for now.”

“Yang Shi’s thinking is reasonable.” Duke Pingguo raised both eyebrows, no longer hesitating. “This matter, if we say we’re letting it go, then it’s let go! In future when we have free hands, we can handle it at leisure. It won’t be too late.”

Seventh Miss rose to take her leave. “Delaying Father’s work, Xiaoqi is truly without place to hide in shame…”

Duke Pingguo shook his head. “You did very well! Very understanding of the bigger picture!”

He stared deeply at Seventh Miss again. “As mistress, in all matters, you must prioritize the greater good. You must remember these words in your heart.”

Seventh Miss smiled faintly but didn’t answer Duke Pingguo’s statement. She merely exchanged a few more courteous words with him before bowing and leaving the room, taking her two attendants back to Bright Virtue Hall.

The moment she entered, she instructed Shangyuan again. “Make a trip to the second gate and invite Stewardess Lin Shan and Stewardess Peng Hu to come speak with me!”