Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Only a few days had passed since the incident with Liu Jinzhou when trouble broke out in the household again.

My third brother, Liu Kuangzhi, who should have been studying at the Imperial Academy as usual, was escorted back one day by government soldiers.

The reason was that he had gotten into an argument with someone at the academy and, in a fit of rage, started throwing punches. If it had only been an ordinary scuffle, that would have been one thing.

Unfortunately, he had always been good at gathering followers at school. The moment he made a move, the others joined in too.

Dozens of students beat one person, leaving him seriously injured and still unconscious to this day.

The victim was, after all, the son of an official family. His father held a post in the Ministry of Personnel.

With a few connections pulled, they arranged to have Liu Kuangzhi taken away and imprisoned.

The Liu Family claimed to be upright and uncorrupted in the eyes of outsiders. If Liu Kuangzhi wanted to enter court as an official, he would have to follow the same path of clean politics as Father.

If he went to prison, most of his future would be ruined.

Father was still attending court at the time. After Mother, who was in charge of the household, heard the soldiers’ account, she wept as if her heart were being torn apart. She had completely lost the bearing of a noble lady, clutching Liu Kuangzhi’s arm and refusing to let the soldiers take him away.

The soldiers pretended to be troubled for a while before finally saying, as if conflicted, “It is possible to keep him here temporarily, but the bail money may be…”

Seeing this, Mother was terrified they would change their minds and quickly ordered the accountant to fetch the ledgers and withdraw the money.

The accountant soon returned, but the chest of silver ingots that should have taken two people to carry had become a small box held in his hands.

Mother was furious and immediately berated him for his incompetence.

But after she took the ledger, her face went deathly pale.

As it turned out, after I fell ill half a month ago, I had very publicly returned control of the accounts to Mother.

Rong’er and Lian’er had carried the ledgers on a long detour through most of the Grand Preceptor’s Mansion, so naturally, Liu Wanqing learned of it.

From then on, she went to Mother’s place every day and refused to leave.

One moment, she wanted Mother to allocate money for new clothes. The next, she wanted to bid against princesses and commandery princesses for jewelry.

Mother had not handled these matters for years and did not know how thin the household’s savings had become. Out of her love for Liu Wanqing, she granted whatever Liu Wanqing asked for.

Until now, when Liu Kuangzhi was about to be taken away to prison.

The household could not even scrape together his bail money on the spot.

Every sum of silver had turned into the splendid, colorful ornaments adorning Liu Wanqing.

After Liu Kuangzhi was taken away, Liu Wanqing appeared at the doorway, skipping along with a dangling hairpin in her hair that she had won at auction from the Pearl and Jade Pavilion for five hundred taels of silver.

She had no idea that her elder brother’s future was about to be completely destroyed over those five hundred taels.

Liu Wanqing even showed off in front of Mother with great pride, circling once before clinging to Mother’s arm in a sweet, spoiled manner and asking if it looked pretty.

Mother stared at that dazzling hairpin with reddened eyes. After asking Liu Wanqing the price, she tried to drag Liu Wanqing away to return it and get the money back.

Naturally, Liu Wanqing refused no matter what. She cried and shouted that it had been bad enough when I managed the accounts and cut back on her clothes and accessories, but how had Mother become so heartless now that she was in charge of the household too?

Mother’s temper flared then, and even the hand she pointed at Liu Wanqing was trembling. “In the past, you slandered your legitimate elder sister and claimed she was cutting back on your expenses. Only now do I understand. How was that cutting back? It was clearly you spending recklessly, yet you blamed your legitimate elder sister for it! Come with me right now and return that jewelry!”

Mother was firm. Under normal circumstances, Liu Wanqing would have given in.

But she had already boasted a few days earlier that at the palace banquet ten days later, she would outshine her sworn enemy, Song Ruzhi, and trample her thoroughly underfoot.

She had only just enjoyed the satisfaction of snatching a treasure from her sworn enemy. Asking her to return it now was practically the same as grinding her face underfoot.

Liu Wanqing refused to go, and Mother was determined not to let the matter pass just like that.

In the middle of their argument, Liu Wanqing suddenly let out a wailing sob. She lowered her head and rushed toward the pond nearby, saying that if they made her return the hairpin today, she would kill herself.

In the end, Liu Wanqing was stopped by the old maidservant at Mother’s side, but Mother had also lost the strength to argue with her.

She stood there in utter dejection, thinking of the son and daughter she had cherished like her own heart. Both her thoughts and her expression were filled with blank bewilderment.