Chapter 10

After Dark Fragrance spoke, she took a few steps closer to the person and, lowering her voice, added, “Steward Li was given fifty lashes by the Old Madam and has now been thrown out of the mansion.”

Wang Shi froze upon hearing this. She remained silent for a while, before murmuring, “What?”

Steward Li had been with the household for many years, managing the accounts office. How could he have been punished like this?

A chill settled in Wang Shi’s heart. Could it be…?

Before she could speak further, Dark Fragrance continued, “I had someone inquire about it. Today, Miss Yi Nan, who is by the Old Madam’s side, went to the accounts office to ask Steward Li for the jade ruyi. Not long after, Steward Li was taken to Dachen Zhai, where the Old Madam punished him.”

Finishing her sentence, Dark Fragrance noticed Wang Shi’s changing expression and added, “Also, today, the madam from the East Courtyard also went to Dachen Zhai.”

Jade Ruyi…

Wang Shi’s expression changed as she twisted her stiff neck to glance at the jade ruyi on the high desk. After spending so many years in the inner court, she was no fool. If today’s matter had nothing to do with Shen Wei, she would never believe it!

Thinking of this, she angrily shouted, “That wretched woman!”

Her words, filled with unmasked fury, caused Lu Bu Wei, who had just entered and drawn the curtains, to frown. He looked at Wang Shi, noticing that although she was dressed in fine clothes, her face appeared twisted from anger, which made him feel displeased.

Wang Shi, preoccupied with her rage, didn’t notice anyone entering the room.

Anxiang, however, heard the footsteps behind her and turned to see Lu Bu Wei. She immediately greeted him respectfully, “Second Master.”

Lu Bu Wei didn’t respond to her greeting, but instead asked, “What happened?”

Upon hearing his voice, Wang Shi snapped out of her thoughts. She was startled, but upon seeing Lu Bu Wei’s expression, she became somewhat displeased. In the end, Anxiang quietly explained the situation to him.

After hearing Anxiang’s account, Lu Bu Wei’s face turned dark. No wonder things in Baofu Zhai had seemed to change recently. He had originally thought it was Wang Shi taking things from his storage room, but who would have known…? He didn’t bother caring about the presence of others and scolded, “You foolish woman!”

Wang Shi, initially nervous, became dissatisfied upon hearing this. After all, she was Lu Bu Wei’s legitimate wife, and now she was being treated this way without any face!

Anxiang had already left, but Wang Shi remained seated, clutching her handkerchief. She faced Lu Bu Wei’s anger with a slightly lower voice, “I just wanted to celebrate your promotion and thought I’d prepare a good arrangement. It’s nothing more than a few trivial items; how was I to know the old lady would be this upset?”

She continued, “And as for the things from the Eastern Courtyard, all of them were rare and precious, yet the old lady never said a word about them.”

The more she thought about Shen Wei’s room, the more displeased she became. Her words became sharper, “I only took a few items, and now they’re making an example of me. The other one could take everything from our Lu family and not even a word would be said. After all, there’s a difference between the legitimate and the secondary branches. The old lady’s heart is clearly biased.”

Lu Bu Wei never expected Wang Shi would dare speak this way.

Seeing the venomous expression on her face, he clenched his fists even tighter behind his back. How could he have married such a foolish woman? He had initially seen her as the daughter of the Wang family. Though she was a secondary branch, she came from a respectable family. But the longer they were married, the more her true nature revealed itself.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself before speaking coldly, “Your elder sister is the wife of the Marquis of Changxing. When she married, the Shen family gave her a large portion of their wealth… What about you? When you married, how much did the Wang family give you?”

After finishing his words, Lu Bu Wei continued, “Do you know why I was promoted this time?”

Wang Shi froze at the question. She looked up at him and forgot to argue for a moment. “It’s because you’re capable, of course, what else?”

Lu Bu Wei shook his head.

This woman, aside from being able to scheme over household affairs, had no other abilities. He had only been in the Ministry of Revenue for a few years, and there were many more capable people than him. Yet, the emperor promoted him.

This was something anyone could have guessed, except for this foolish woman.

Without saying another word, he walked over to her side, sat down, poured a cup of tea from the teapot, and stared at her face. Then, he spoke slowly, “It’s because the emperor, in honor of your elder brother’s sacrifice for the country, promoted me. The emperor wants to show everyone that even though the Lu family lost your elder brother, we still remain honored and favored.”

“Now you’re here, all pleased with yourself, thinking that everyone will come and congratulate you, calling you ‘Madam the Minister,’ but if this were truly something to be happy about, why hasn’t the old lady shown any sign of it? Why don’t you see me happy at all?”

“You always say that the old lady favors your elder sister-in-law, but have you ever thought about what you’ve done for the old lady all these years? You were the first to enter the family, do you remember how the old lady treated you back then? All these years, all you’ve done is scheme here and there. Have you ever truly been kind to the old lady? Hearts are made of flesh, Wang Shi, now you can’t blame the old lady for treating you coldly.”

After saying these words, Lu Bu Wei didn’t wait for a response. He stood up and started walking toward the door.

Wang Shi saw him leaving and quickly reached out to grab his sleeve. She had never expected that his promotion was due to Lu Buwei’s sacrifice… Her face turned pale, and she felt a little scared. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Master, where are you going?”

Lu Bu Wei stopped when he heard her, closing his eyes before looking at her coldly. After a long while, he spoke in a detached voice, “Aren’t you coming to apologize to the old lady with me?”

If he could, he truly wanted to divorce this foolish woman.

—-

Taoran Studio.

Shen Wei leaned against a soft couch, holding a book. She listened to Mo Qi, who was speaking, “I heard that the second wife returned all those things to the steward’s office. As for the jade ruyi, the second wife originally wanted to return it to the old lady, but the old lady refused to accept it… The second wife had no choice but to take out three thousand taels of silver and send someone to buy a new jade ruyi to apologize to the old lady.”

Mo Qi couldn’t help but feel pleased as she spoke, a smile creeping into her voice, “You should have seen the second wife’s face when she left… She’ll probably always remember that three thousand taels of silver when she looks at the ruyi in the future.”

Shen Wei only smiled faintly at her.

She turned another page of the ledger and then softly spoke, “Since this matter is already in the past, there’s no need to mention it again. We don’t want it reaching others’ ears and causing more waves.”

Upon hearing this, Mo Qi immediately wiped the smile from her face and respectfully replied, “Yes, Madam.” However, she thought for a moment and then gently spoke, “Madam, how did you know that the little servant from the accounts office usually keeps records like this? If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have known that the Second Madam has recently taken so many things. No wonder Old Madam was so angry this time— the Second Madam truly went too far.”

Shen Wei paused her reading, her hand stopping for a moment before she spoke, “The last time I went to the accounts office, I noticed that he was quite clever. Moreover, Steward Li is getting older, and there are countless people beneath him trying to rise in rank. If they want to climb higher, they naturally need some skills.”

Mo Qi nodded in agreement. Indeed, that little servant did seem clever, and if he were to oversee the accounts office in the future, the Madam could rest assured.

Mo Qi glanced at Shen Wei, her mind still pondering how much the Madam had changed in recent days. In the past, the Madam was not one to involve herself in such calculations. Perhaps it was because there hadn’t been anything worth calculating… but now, everything was different.

With the Duke gone, there was no one in the inner courtyard who could protect the Madam anymore.

Perhaps, in a way, this was a good thing.

Mo Qi did not say more, but recalling the message from Wen Yuan Academy earlier, she softly spoke again, “Earlier, when you were napping, a message came from Wen Yuan Academy saying that the eldest young master seems to be ill.”

Shen Wei thought for a moment upon hearing this, then set the book aside and said, “I’ll go check on him.”