Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!
Chapter 405 Death_1

Chapter 405: Chapter 405 Death_1

Zhulan took the letter, "Only one letter?"

Steward Ding, "The messenger said he’s Silver Coin’s personal young servant, he’s waiting outside to see the lady of the house."

Zhulan wasn’t in a hurry to read the letter, as Silver Coin would usually send New Year’s gifts through a courier, and never had someone personally deliver them. Today, to send a letter with his personal servant, it seemed there must be something urgent, "Please invite him in."

Lady Lixu felt it was inappropriate to stay and stood up, "I’ll go out for a walk and come back later."

Zhulan stood to see her off, "Alright."

After Lady Lixu left, Steward Ding brought the young servant inside. Zhulan recognized the servant; he was Silver Coin’s first servant and had lived with Zhulan and the others for a while. "Did Silver Coin send you here because something has happened?"

The young servant respectfully replied, "The old lady and the old master passed away a few days ago."

Zhulan paused before regaining her composure. Lady Li had passed away? "How could they suddenly be gone?"

She clearly remembered that Lady Li was in good health.

The young servant, head bowed, felt it was a family disgrace, but considering Silver Coin was the godson of the Zhou family, he thought it wasn’t a big deal to speak of it, "Silver Coin’s uncle took advantage of our master’s reputation to handle affairs, causing much trouble for our master. The old master, already sick, could not survive the blow upon learning of it, and the old lady, heartbroken, followed him in death shortly after."

Zhulan felt a mixture of emotions. During the New Year’s gift exchange, Lady Li had even had Wu Ning write a letter to her, and now in just a few months, she was gone. Zhulan’s eyes reddened with grief, "Is your master doing well?"

The young servant thought to himself that the master was far from well. After the old master and the old lady had been laid to rest, the master had changed. Before, no matter who mocked him as the most unworthy top scorer, he was not offended and even took it with good humor. Now, the master never smiled.

Seeing that the young servant didn’t respond, Zhulan sighed, realizing it was redundant to ask. She opened Silver Coin’s letter. Silver Coin wrote, "Godmother, godfather, hope all is well. Recently, there have been changes at home; I should observe a year of mourning for my grandparents in our ancestral home as is customary, but my memorial ’Zhezi’ was rejected, and I cannot return home to mourn. Therefore, I plan to observe three years of mourning. Since I will not marry for these three years and there is no mistress of the household, and my younger sister is of marriageable age, I’m concerned that her prospects may be affected due to my circumstances, so I have no other choice but to turn to godmother for help."

Zhulan thought about the dingyou system of that era; children mourn for parents for three years, and grandchildren for a year. Silver Coin couldn’t return to his ancestral home, so he planned to mourn for three years.

The Emperor did not favor Silver Coin; naturally, neither did Silver Coin’s superior. Now that even his request for mourning leave was rejected, Silver Coin wouldn’t need to endure many more years of hardship to cultivate his patience; this year alone would be enough.

Zhulan said to the young servant, "You may go rest now; I’ll arrange for someone to accompany you on the journey back."

The young servant respectfully said, "Yes."

Once the young servant had left, Zhulan decided to send the eldest to fetch Wu Ning. As the first son, he could represent Zhou Shuren and was also on his way to see the Li family off.

An hour later, Lady Lixu and Li Cong came together. Lady Lixu had seen the contract and understood it still required Li Cong’s signature, so they came together.

Zhulan brought out the contract, "The partnership I mentioned is like this: in the autumn, I plan to buy two estates. I don’t trust others to manage them, so I’d like to entrust them to my relatives. You would oversee the two estates and I would give your family one and a half percent of the grain every year."

Zhulan had done the calculations; even after paying the taxes and giving to the Li family, she would earn quite a bit each year. In the future, by handing over the fields to the Li family, she would be at ease and save herself the trouble, and the one and a half percent of grain would be worth it.

Lady Lixu did not know how large an estate could be; she only knew that, according to the nature of her in-laws, they would certainly not treat the Li family unfairly. However, "Why didn’t in-law give it to your eldest son-in-law?"

Zhulan explained, "Jiang Sheng is teaching at the clan school and doesn’t have that much energy."

Moreover, Jiang Sheng had plans to continue his studies in the future. She felt that it was most suitable for Jiang Sheng to teach calmly at present, allowing him not only to concentrate on his studies but also to have time to take care of Xue Mei and the children.

Li Cong, rubbing his hands, spoke up, "In-law mother, we are relatives by marriage, and it is only right for us to help take care of things. There’s no need for compensation."

Zhulan smiled, "If it were just a few dozen acres, I naturally wouldn’t talk about compensation. In-law, what I plan to buy is a large estate, at least three hundred acres each. When the time comes to hire people for various tasks, in-law won’t need to do anything else, and the compensation must be given."

Li Cong was somewhat dizzy with all this, and Lady Lixu smiled, "Although clear accounts make for good brothers and sisters, fifteen percent is still a bit much. Ten percent, what do you think, in-law mother?"

Zhulan really liked the Li family. It was the first time she negotiated a partnership where the other side continuously conceded on the price. Holding Lady Lixu’s hand, she said, "This is not for just a year or two, in-law mother, just follow my arrangement."

Lady Lixu, thinking of her sons and grandsons, swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue, "Then I shall shamelessly thank you, in-law mother."

Afterward, the Li family signed their names, and the contract, in triplicate, was kept with Zhulan for the time being, to be given to the Li family once the estate was purchased.

Lady Lixu did not stay any longer and went back to pack her bags. Lady Lixu’s harvest in Prefecture City of Lizhou was not small; the Li family and the eldest son’s respectful offerings of fabric and food were not few. Zhulan bought quite a lot, and the Yang family also gave some. Lady Lixu came with two horse-drawn carriages but left with four.

Two days after Lady Lixu left, Zhou Shuren returned, bringing back many mountain goods from Dongbei. Zhou Shuren explained, "Father and mother love the mountain goods from our hometown, and since it’s rare for me to return, I decided to stay a few extra days and gather more mountain goods."

Zhulan looked at the list. She did not know how much silver Zhou Shuren had taken with him, but the two fifty-year-old ginsengs listed were worth a lot of silver. Something was off about the list, "Did you buy these ginsengs yourself?"

Zhou Shuren said, "Mother, the list you are looking at is the Qian family’s list. The mountain goods I gathered are listed below."

Zhulan had not been paying close attention just now. Upon closer inspection, indeed there were two lists. She thought Zhou Shuren had included gifts in his own list, but the Qian family’s gift list was an expression of gratitude. Zhulan asked, "You visited the Qian family, is everything alright there?"

Zhou Shuren’s face flushed with embarrassment. He really hadn’t expected his mother-in-law to be so ruthless, to have sold almost all of the Qian family’s valuable antiques. He thought all the silver coins in his mother-in-law’s hands were the Qian family’s current silver. He was still impressed by how much silver the Qian family had, only to discover the truth when he arrived at the Qian family. It was after he returned the silver that the Qian family’s mood improved somewhat, "All is well. When I was leaving, Qian eldest begged me to thank you all profusely on their behalf."

Zhulan looked at Zhou Shuren, hoping that he would remember this lesson for a lifetime. However, she still had to warn him, "You only get one chance."

Zhou Shuren always remembered what father had said about adopting him, and now it hung over him like a blade. He truly learned his lesson and dared not repeat his mistake, "Mother, your son dares not anymore."

Zhulan hummed in acknowledgement, "Get ready, we’re going to Chuanzhou Province tomorrow."

Zhou Shuren dared not face father anymore. Ever since he had seen the other side of his father, he had nightmares every night, either being driven out of the house by father or living in destitution after being adopted. Each time he woke up frightened, "Mother, I’ll go pack right away."