Upon seeing Song Zhaoyang, the younger Mrs. Wen said angrily, "Sister - in - law, Mother asked you to come back and manage the household, not to sell off the servants! How dare you reach into my yard? You've gone too far!"
Due to her anger, her originally pale face flushed slightly.
Song Zhaoyang curtsied to the displeased Mrs. Wen, then smiled faintly and said, "Mother, before I came back, you promised me that you wouldn't interfere with anything I did. Are you regretting it now?"
"If you do regret it, I'll just move to the Marquis's Mansion."
Mrs. Wen scowled and said unhappily, "Even if I did promise you, you can't sell off the servants. What mistakes have they made that you start selling them off as soon as you come back? If this gets out, it'll make our Xue family seem heartless. And some of these servants are born into the family, with generations of their ancestors serving our Xue family. Isn't this like uprooting the foundation of our family?"
Song Zhaoyang twitched the corner of her mouth.
Selling off the servants was uprooting the foundation of the Xue family?
If the ancestors of the Xue family underground heard this, they'd probably come back to life out of anger.
Song Zhaoyang turned to take an old ledger from Magpie and handed it to Mrs. Wen. She said calmly, "Mother, this is the ledger you gave me on the second day I married into the Xue family. Do you need me to refresh your memory?"
When Mrs. Wen saw the old ledger in Song Zhaoyang's hand, her eyes flickered. She asked, "Eldest daughter - in - law, what do you mean?"
Seeing Mrs. Wen pretending to be stupid, a hint of sneer flashed in Song Zhaoyang's eyes. She continued, "It means nothing. I just want to tell Mother that when you handed over the management of the household to me back then, the family was already in financial difficulties. Over the years, I've been using my dowry to subsidize the family."
"I'm sure Mother must have learned from the stewards during these few days when you were in charge, since there was no money in the mansion and it was all under your watch."
Mrs. Wen's eyes turned cold.
The younger Mrs. Wen didn't expect Song Zhaoyang to bring this up as soon as she came back. She said discontentedly, "Sister - in - law, your words will hurt Mother's feelings. Mother trusted you enough to hand over such a large family business to you. How could you take advantage of Mother's trust and treat her so harshly? If this gets out, it'll be considered unfilial and disloyal!"
Hearing this, Song Zhaoyang raised her eyebrows and said, "Sister - in - law, do you mean that I should use my dowry to honor Mother and subsidize the family?"
"Exactly! Anyway, you had a grand wedding when you married into the Xue family. Using a bit of your dowry won't do you any harm."
Magpie, seeing the younger Mrs. Wen's matter - of - fact attitude, couldn't help but interject angrily, "Second Lady, then why don't you use your dowry to subsidize the family?"
The younger Mrs. Wen glared angrily at Magpie and said, "Sister - in - law, look at this maid of yours. She has no manners at all. I think it's her who should be sold off!"
"Second Lady, you..."
Before Magpie could finish, Nanny Xia scolded, "Magpie, shut up. Apologize to the Second Lady and wait outside!"
Magpie closed her mouth reluctantly. After curtsying and apologizing to the younger Mrs. Wen, she left.
Song Zhaoyang said calmly, "Sister - in - law, don't be angry. I think my maid has a point. If you think it's reasonable for me to use my dowry to subsidize the family, then you should use yours to honor Mother. It won't do you any harm either. As the daughters - in - law of the Xue family, we should be fair, right?"
Saying this, she looked at Nanny Xia.
Nanny Xia understood and took out a ledger from the pile, then respectfully handed it to the younger Mrs. Wen.
"Second Lady, this is the amount of silver our Lady has used to subsidize the family over the years. You always advocate fairness. If you can come up with this amount of silver, then we don't need to sell off the servants in the mansion."
The younger Mrs. Wen took the ledger from Nanny Xia suspiciously. When she saw the amount of silver recorded on it, she gasped and her eyes widened in shock.
She quickly threw the ledger back to Nanny Xia as if it were a hot potato and said hurriedly, "My maternal family, the Wen family, is a noble and upright family. My dowry wasn't that much."
Nanny Xia pretended to be suddenly enlightened. She shook the ledger in her hand and looked at Mrs. Wen sitting at the upper seat. She said, "Both the Old Lady and the Second Lady come from the noble and upright Wen family. Logically, the rules should be more strict, and you wouldn't do something like embezzle your daughter - in - law's dowry."
"Over the years, the Eldest Lady has been using her dowry to subsidize the family. Didn't the Old Lady know about this?"
"Did you really not know or were you just pretending not to know?"
Being questioned by Nanny Xia, Mrs. Wen's old face flushed with embarrassment. She stubbornly said, "It was the eldest daughter - in - law's filial piety to me. Should I have stopped her from being so filial?"
Nanny Xia nodded. "The Old Lady knows that our Lady was being filial to you, but it was only to you, not to support the entire Xue family."
"I used to serve the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager always said that it was the man's responsibility to support the family. According to what the Old Lady and the Second Lady said, this responsibility has fallen on our Marquis and our Lady. This is unreasonable!"
"Although our Lady is in charge of the household, the Xue family should spend according to how much money it has. There's no reason for our Lady to use her own dowry to subsidize. If this gets out, people will think that the Xue family treats its daughters - in - law harshly!"
Being retorted by Nanny Xia, Mrs. Wen's face turned green and white.
She really wanted to have Nanny Xia's mouth slapped, but Nanny Xia had the backing of the Empress Dowager. If she really did it, word would spread to the palace, and she'd be in trouble.
So she vented her anger on Song Zhaoyang.
She said coldly, "Eldest daughter - in - law, what do you mean then?"
Song Zhaoyang smiled faintly and said, "Mother, please calm down. Isn't your daughter - in - law trying to solve the problem?"
"Your daughter - in - law knows that the second younger brother is currently idle at home and has no money. It's impossible for our Marquis alone to support such a large family with his salary. We also have to support the people in the Marquis's Mansion!"
"So we can only cut down on expenses. First, we'll start by selling off the unnecessary servants in the mansion. I'll ask Nanny Xia to sell off the lazy and idle servants in the mansion. This way, we can save a large sum of money."
"Your daughter - in - law will lead by example, so most of the servants in my yard have already been sold off. Of course, Mother is used to the servants in your own yard, so the servants in your yard can stay for now."
Saying this, she looked at the younger Mrs. Wen with a half - smile.
"Sister - in - law, if you think I'm being too harsh, then from now on, the Second Branch will be responsible for all its own expenses, including the monthly allowances for everyone in the Second Branch. What do you think?"
The younger Mrs. Wen froze. After a while, she said reluctantly, "Sister - in - law, our Second Branch has no money. Usually, the expenses come from the common fund."
Song Zhaoyang stopped smiling and said calmly, "Then stop meddling!"
The younger Mrs. Wen gritted her teeth in hatred.
In the end, Song Zhaoyang emerged victorious.
After Song Zhaoyang left, the younger Mrs. Wen said indignantly, "Mother, are you just going to let Song Zhaoyang get away with this? It's too much!"
Mrs. Wen sneered. "She's too inexperienced to try to go against me! You go back first. I have my own way."
Nanny Xia quickly sorted out the list of servants to be sold and was about to report to Song Zhaoyang when Magpie rushed in with a serious expression.
"Lady, Granny Guo from the kitchen hit her head against a wall and committed suicide in the Shuntian Prefecture!"