Life doesn’t always go as planned. To get what we want, we often have to endure some hardships and swallow some bitterness along the way. As long as the result is worth it, it’s not a loss. If we give up on every obstacle, we’ll never achieve anything.
After consoling herself, Taohua put on a smile again and asked Qingtai, “Are there any more accounts to review?”
Qingtai replied, “Today is the autumn accounting day. You finished reviewing the ledgers yesterday. Now they should be sent to the Prime Minister for inspection.”
Taohua’s mouth twitched as she pressed her lips together, “Then you go deliver them.”
“You’re not going, my lady?” Qingtai was surprised.
“I have other matters to attend to. Reviewing accounts isn’t the same as calculating them. If I went, I’d just be standing there like a wooden post. You can go stand in for me,” Taohua said. “If the lord has any instructions, just relay them back to me.”
Qingtai nodded, taking the ledgers while wondering if her mistress had quarreled with the Prime Minister.
As she approached Linwu Courtyard, Zhanlu was coming out of the gate with a worried expression. Upon seeing her, his eyes immediately brightened, “Qingtai!”
“What’s wrong?” Surprised by his excitement, Qingtai raised an eyebrow as he ran over and eagerly took the ledgers from her arms.
“Where’s your mistress?” Zhanlu asked.
“Busy in Zhengchun Pavilion,” Qingtai gestured to the pile of ledgers with her chin. “She asked me to bring these for the Prime Minister’s review.”
Zhanlu’s face fell again, “Why didn’t she come herself?”
“I don’t know,” Qingtai shrugged. “She’s been acting strange since returning from outside.”
Zhanlu sighed deeply, looked at her for a moment, and said softly, “Can’t you persuade your mistress? It would be more sincere if she delivered the ledgers personally.”
It’s just delivering ledgers, why does it need sincerity? Qingtai was confused and shook her head, “I’ve never been able to persuade my mistress. If she doesn’t want to come, there’s nothing to be done. Why? Did the lord say he wanted to see her?”
“He didn’t say so.”
But he didn’t need to say it out loud. Having been by Shen Zaiye’s side for so many years, Zhanlu knew what the man inside was thinking. He had intended to go out but returned after riding around on horseback. Now he was silent in his room and had just asked about the household accounts. It was obvious what was on his mind.
“If he didn’t say it, don’t make assumptions,” Qingtai said. “Just take the ledgers in. I’ll wait here.”
Clutching the items in his hand, Zhanlu looked helplessly at the sky. Finally, taking a deep breath and with the resolve of a warrior heading to certain death, he opened the door to the study.
“My lord.”
Shen Zaiye, who had been lost in thought, looked up at him. His gaze fell on the items in Zhanlu’s hands, and his eyes instantly turned knife-sharp, “You moved quickly.”
“It wasn’t me who brought these!” Zhanlu hurriedly explained. “The lady had Qingtai deliver them!”
It had nothing to do with him!
Qingtai delivered them? Shen Zaiye’s heart sank slightly, but his face remained expressionless. He reached out to take the ledgers and flipped through them, “What is the lady doing?”
“Qingtai said the lady is busy.”
What could she be busy with? Snorting lightly, Shen Zaiye glanced at the accounts and said, “Why were last month’s expenses particularly high? Have she come to explain?”
Zhanlu agreed and was about to turn and leave when he heard his master say, “Never mind, I’ll go find her. You probably won’t be able to persuade her to come.”
Slightly startled, Zhanlu bowed his head and watched as his master picked up the ledgers and walked out, respectfully following behind him.
“My lord,” Qingtai, who was outside, curtsied when she saw him emerge. “Do you have any instructions? I can relay them to my mistress.”
“No need,” Shen Zaiye continued walking out. “I’ll go myself.”
Qingtai was surprised, “Is there a major issue with the accounts?”
“No.”
“…If there’s no major issue, I can relay minor matters. You don’t need to go back and forth like this,” Qingtai said earnestly.
Zhanlu quickly covered her mouth and pulled her aside, whispering, “Why haven’t you learned to be clever like the lady? The lord wants to see your mistress. What are you relaying?”
Stunned, Qingtai frowned and pulled his hand away, “If he wants to see her, he should just say so. Why use so many excuses?”
Looking at his master who had walked far ahead, Zhanlu said helplessly, “You don’t understand. Masters care about their dignity. Our lord is the Prime Minister, second only to one person and above ten thousand others. How can he easily lower his head to a woman?”
Pushing him away inexplicably, Qingtai snorted coldly, “If he cares so much about his dignity, then he shouldn’t expect my mistress to truly like him.”
If you’ve made a mistake, admit it. If you’re punished, accept it. But still maintaining airs, how can you expect the other person to feel any sincerity? Without sincerity, going there is pointless.
Jiang Taohua was busy in the courtyard, laboriously counting the number of floor tiles. She had just counted from the main house to the courtyard when she unexpectedly saw a pair of black embroidered boots.
Frowning slightly, Taohua cursed inwardly, then looked up with a sunny, warm smile, “My lord, why have you come?”
Shen Zaiye had prepared himself to see her cold face but didn’t expect her to be able to smile at him like this. However, her smile made him feel even more uncomfortable.
“…Did you do these accounts?” He stiffly asked a redundant question.
Taohua nodded, “Is there something wrong?”
“Last month’s expenses,” Shen Zaiye pressed his lips together. “They’re higher than usual. Why?”
Taking the ledger and looking at it, Taohua said, “Because the Imperial Guards broke into the mansion and smashed many things. Replacing them naturally incurred a large expense, so the expenditure is higher than usual.”
Shen Zaiye fell silent. He took the ledger back from her hand and continued to flip through it.
Taohua smiled and brought a chair for him to sit in the courtyard, while she stood beside him. Whenever he had a question, she carefully explained, looking every bit the perfect household mistress.
However, after scrutinizing half a year’s accounts, Shen Zaiye couldn’t find many faults. As he was about to reach the end, he finally looked up at the person beside him.
“Are you still angry?”
Pausing slightly, Taohua smiled, “Why would I be angry, my lord? Shouldn’t you be the angry one? I haven’t even thanked you for your magnanimity in not drowning me in a pig basket.”
She had intended to swallow her anger and speak nicely, but for some reason, the words came out with a different flavor when they left her mouth.
Shen Zaiye frowned, closed the ledger, and looked at her, “That comment of mine was just casual talk, but what you did was indeed out of line.”
“Then please punish me, my lord,” Taohua looked up at him and said. “After the punishment, we can consider this matter closed, and neither of us needs to mention it again.”
Punish her? Shen Zaiye stood up and slowly walked in front of her, his tall figure casting a shadow over her petite form.
“You’re asking for punishment. Doesn’t that mean you admit that what you did today deserves punishment?”
Rolling her eyes, Taohua scoffed, “You’re the one who thinks I did wrong, my lord. I never admitted it. But since you feel I’ve overstepped, then punish me. Just leave me half alive.”
The autumn wind stopped as it reached Zhengchun Pavilion, leaving the entire courtyard in a heavy atmosphere. Qingtai and Zhanlu hid in a corner, not daring to breathe loudly.
How did it turn into this situation again? Zhanlu anxiously pinched his thigh. His master had come to explain things properly, so how did it become more severe as they talked?
Qingtai was also a bit anxious, fearing that the Prime Minister might punish her mistress in anger.
However, although Shen Zaiye’s expression wasn’t pleasant, he didn’t seem truly angry. He just looked at her coolly and said in a low voice, “Just don’t do such things in the future.”
Such things? Taohua laughed coldly. She wanted to know where exactly she had gone wrong. Was it wrong to be pushed away by the crowd, or wrong to wait for them at the gate? Or was it wrong not to cut off Li Jin’s hand when he grabbed her?
A belly full of grievances churned endlessly. Jiang Taohua gritted her teeth and curtsied to Shen Zaiye, “I understand, my lord. If there’s nothing else, I’ll go check on Huairou. Her facial injuries have been improving lately.”
Shen Zaiye felt a bit at a loss, but his face remained tightly composed. He just nodded, then watched as the person in front of him left Zhengchun Pavilion without looking back.
He was alone again.
Sighing deeply, Shen Zaiye murmured, “Why are women so difficult to deal with?”
Qingtai watched, rolling her eyes, and pushed Zhanlu away to follow her mistress. Zhanlu rubbed his nose and walked helplessly to Shen Zaiye’s side, “My lord, did you come to anger the lady or to placate her?”
“…” Narrowing his eyes, Shen Zaiye turned to look at him, “Did I say something wrong just now?”
“This servant doesn’t know,” Zhanlu shook his head. “It just didn’t sound like you came to placate her, more like you came to interrogate her.”
How could two such intelligent people, capable of outmaneuvering anyone, be so clumsy in their interactions? If the lady was already angry, couldn’t the master say a few kind words? Why still dwell on today’s events?
But then again… the lady also didn’t explain anything, so it’s no wonder the master had his suspicions.
A rocky path in love indeed, Zhanlu sighed. If only they had known to seek a fortune and change their fate at the Matchmaking Temple.
In the days that followed, Jiang Taohua acted as if nothing had happened. She continued to pay her respects to Shen Zaiye, manage the affairs of the rear courtyard, and stay busy without pause. However, the time she spent in Shen Zaiye’s presence never exceeded half an hour.
Shen Zaiye didn’t say anything directly but kept finding ways to force her to face him. For instance, if Lu Zhilan disagreed with someone in the courtyard, he would summon her to answer for it. If the kitchen’s food tasted bad, he would also call her to account.
Lu Zhilan watched this, shaking her head with sympathy in her eyes, “This approach won’t lead to any good results.”
Judging from Jiang Taohua’s increasingly false and flattering attitude towards him, it was clear this man was terrible at pleasing women. He wanted to get closer but used the wrong methods, only pushing her further away.
“In your opinion, what should I do?” Shen Zaiye finally closed his eyes and asked.
Lu Zhilan smiled, “It’s simple. Just give her what she wants. That’s more straightforward and effective than anything else.”
(End of Chapter)