Yun Chu no longer looked at Tingyu.

Her gaze fell on several children.

The eldest daughter, Xie Ping, was thirteen years old, graceful and elegant.

The eldest son, Xie Shi’an, was still kneeling in the ancestral hall.

The second son, Xie Shiwei, was eight years old. He hadn’t come to pay respects, probably still not awake.

The three oldest children were all born to He Shi.

The third son was Xie Shiyun.

The second daughter, Xie Xian, was born to Concubine Jiang and was currently only three years old.

Concubine Tao was pregnant, carrying the future fourth son in her belly…

Yun Chu glanced at everyone and said lightly, “I still have matters to handle. You may all go about your business.”

After marrying into the Xie family, she had taken over the household affairs, so the old madam and the ladies had specially exempted her from daily morning greetings.

The people paying respects had just left when the Xie household’s steward matrons arrived.

The matrons reported matters one by one.

Yun Chu blew on the tea foam.

The Xie family could be considered a family of farming scholars. After Xie Jingyu’s father passed the provincial examination, nearby villagers had registered their land under the Xie family name to avoid taxes, earning quite a bit of silver in the process.

When Xie Jingyu entered official service, her father-in-law had used this silver to purchase some farmland in the capital’s outskirts and bought several shops.

Those shops’ annual income was about five thousand taels of silver. More than half was taken by Xie Jingyu to cultivate connections in his official career. The remaining silver simply couldn’t support the lavish lifestyle of so many people in the Xie household.

In her previous life, she had always felt she owed the Xie family and wanted to do what she could.

So her dowry had been depleted bit by bit.

So much so that later, when trouble befell the Yun family, she wanted to use silver to make arrangements at the prison, but by then her dowry had less than a thousand taels remaining…

“Madam?”

Seeing her only drinking tea without speaking, the reporting matron felt somewhat uneasy.

Yun Chu gathered her thoughts and spoke lightly. “Where did we leave off just now?”

The matron hurriedly said, “Spring has arrived, and the flowers in the courtyard should be changed. Should we plant orchids or azaleas this year?”

Yun Chu smiled lightly.

The Xie family was of humble origins—the mud spots on their legs hadn’t even been washed clean yet, but they wanted to imitate those great clans of the capital by planting flowers each season and holding flower-viewing banquets.

Every spring they changed to orchids, every autumn to chrysanthemums. Quite a simple matter, but it required considerable silver to accomplish.

Over the past four or five years, she had depleted her own dowry to maintain the Xie family’s dignity.

But now…

She set down her teacup. “Changing these flowers back and forth amounts to the same thing anyway and is too troublesome. This year, change everything to fruit trees.”

The matron thought she had misheard. “Plant… plant fruit trees?”

Yun Chu considered for a moment. “Jujube trees are hardy and easy to raise. Let’s go with jujube trees.”

The matron was stunned.

The madams of the capital all loved flowers. Every spring, each household competed to hold flower-viewing banquets, and the Xie family was not to be outdone. This was an excellent opportunity to cultivate connections.

When Madam first mentioned fruit trees, she had thought it might be peach or pear trees, since peach and pear blossoms could at least be considered scenery.

But jujube flowers were small, not attractive, and hidden beneath the leaves. She had never heard of any household in the capital planting jujube trees.

Simply unheard of!

“Is there anything else?” Yun Chu’s voice was very light. “If there’s nothing else, you may all withdraw.”

The matrons had already heard that Madam had erupted in fury yesterday and punished the eldest young master. How would they dare say anything more? They lowered their heads and withdrew.

“Tingfeng, go ask Chen Bo to come here.” Yun Chu gave the order. “Tingshuang, Tingxue, you two organize my dowry. What’s missing, what’s lacking, what’s been used on the Xie family members—write down every single item clearly.”

Tingfeng hurried outside to fetch someone.

Tingshuang hesitated before speaking. “Madam, has something happened?”

Since yesterday, Madam had been somewhat off. Punishing the eldest young master was justified by circumstances, but then having Concubine Yu and the third young master move out was somewhat strange, and now actually taking inventory of her dowry… Something momentous must have occurred.

Yun Chu looked at Tingshuang.

Among the four dowry maids, Tingshuang was the smartest and most steady, but Tingshuang had died early in that great fire.

If Tingshuang hadn’t died, with Tingshuang’s perceptiveness, she might have discovered the wolf’s heart beneath Xie Shi’an’s refined exterior…

Yun Chu looked at her and said gently, “Nothing’s happened. Don’t overthink it. Go about your work.”

Tingshuang suppressed the worry in her eyes and headed toward the dowry storehouse together with Tingxue.

A quarter hour later, Tingfeng brought Chen Bo.

Chen Bo was also someone Yun Chu had brought into the Xie family. His name was Chen Defu, and he was nearly fifty years old. He specifically managed her dowry for her.

After she took over the Xie household affairs, she had also handed several of the Xie family’s shops to Chen Bo to manage together.

Her father-in-law was a scholar, not skilled in business. The Xie family’s several shops only brought in about a thousand taels of silver income per year.

Under Chen Bo’s management, the annual income became four to five thousand taels.

“Greetings to Madam.” Chen Defu entered. “Is there some urgent matter that Madam called this old servant over so hastily?”

Yun Chu spoke. “Does Chen Bo have a junior steward surnamed He under him?”

“There is one, named He Xu.” Chen Defu raised his head. “Is there some problem with this person?”

Yun Chu lowered her eyes.

In her previous life, only after trouble befell the Yun family did she learn that Steward He of the Xie household was actually He Shi’s older brother.

When she knelt at the door of Xie Jingyu’s study begging for a thread of hope for the Yun family, He Xu, relying on being Xie Shi’an’s maternal uncle, had repeatedly harassed and insulted her…

However, she was after all the legitimate wife of the Xie family, so He Xu only dared to harass her verbally.

Tingxue and Tingfeng were merely maids without any ability to resist, and were ravaged by He Xu… Later, when she died from a cup of poisoned wine, these two maids surely went with her too…

Seeing Yun Chu’s expression turn ugly, Chen Defu knew the matter was somewhat serious.

He clenched his fists. “Madam, just give your orders!”

“There’s no need to do anything special.” Yun Chu concealed the coldness in her voice. “Give him opportunities, let him climb upward. The higher he climbs, the worse his fall will be when the time comes.”

Chen Defu was a man of the business world and naturally understood what these words meant. He immediately acknowledged the order.

Yun Chu set down her teacup and stood up. “Chen Bo, take me to see the dowry shops.”

In her previous life, her dowry shops had been sold off one by one. The silver obtained was mostly spent on Xie Jingyu’s official career.

The seven or eight dowry estates in the capital’s outskirts—half were given to Xie Shi’an’s wife, the other half given as dowry to Xie Ping…

These were all carefully prepared for her by her mother as dowry, costing the Yun family most of their family fortune, but in the end, it all fell into the hands of the Xie family.

Only after experiencing the despair of the Yun family’s destruction did she realize how wonderful silver truly was.

Living again, she would not only protect her dowry but make it grow threefold, tenfold, even a hundredfold!