Chapter 5
One day, my mother-in-law summoned me while she was taking tea and gossiping with her daughters-in-law.
“You have been in this family for several months. As the eldest daughter-in-law and the principal wife of the clan, it is time the household management was returned to you.”
As she spoke, she glanced toward the wife of the second son.
The former heir’s wife had supposedly been in poor health, so Madam Qiao had controlled the estate’s accounts for years.
Madam Qiao hurried to her feet.
“Now that Eldest Sister-in-law is here, I can finally set down this heavy burden. I will hand over the account books and storeroom keys today.”
Her words were gracious, but the calculating flash in her eyes did not escape me.
She was my mother-in-law’s niece from her maiden family. The two ought to have been allies. What performance were they staging now?
I studied the gathering and noticed Madam Lu, the wife of the third son, watching with open amusement.
Before long, the steward arrived and piled thick account books in front of me.
The dense columns of the ledger made my head ache. I knew how to march and fight, but account books…
A smug smile appeared on Madam Qiao’s face.
“I hear Eldest Sister-in-law was raised at the frontier and has never dealt with such mundane affairs. I can teach you slowly.”
My mother-in-law’s eyelids lowered, satisfaction written across her face.
“You may be the eldest sister-in-law, but when you do not understand something, you must not be ashamed to ask.”
Madam Qiao opened a ledger and suddenly put on a worried expression.
“To be honest, the estate may look prosperous, but our circumstances are difficult. We run a deficit every month. Mother and I have been using our dowries to make up the difference. Now that Eldest Sister-in-law is here, we can finally breathe a little easier.”
So that was it. They had set their sights on my dowry.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Madam Lu’s mouth curl with scorn.
Madam Qiao kept talking until I raised a hand to stop her.
“Who says I cannot read accounts? Don’t be impatient, Sister-in-law. I will decide what to do after I have examined them.”
My mother-in-law’s smile froze. She and Madam Qiao exchanged a glance.
The next day, both their faces turned green when they saw four clerks seated in my study, abacuses clattering without pause.
“What… what are you doing?”
I smiled.
“These are the clerks who handle Grandfather’s military provisions and soldiers’ pay. They have counted more silver and grain than most people see in a lifetime. With them here, every account in the estate will be made perfectly clear, and I can give Mother and Sister-in-law a proper report.”
“Nonsense! These are private household affairs. How can you trouble General Shen’s army with them?”
My mother-in-law was the first to object.
“If Eldest Sister-in-law is dissatisfied with me, say so openly. Why invite outsiders to humiliate your own family?”
Madam Qiao wiped her eyes, looking deeply wronged.
“Mother and Sister-in-law misunderstand. When His Majesty decreed my marriage, Grandfather told me that the great property of the Xiaoshan Earl’s Estate depended upon its mistress. He feared that a wild girl raised at the frontier would know nothing and mismanage the household, so he gave me these four clerks to help with the accounts. They belong to me now and are members of this household. They would never favor outsiders over their own people.”
I held up their indenture contracts.
“Since Mother never mentioned handing me the household, I thought the four of them would have nothing to do and was about to send them back to the army. But Mother trusts me enough to place the household in my hands. I will devote myself to the task and never betray that trust!”
My mother-in-law’s lips trembled soundlessly. She looked as though she wished she could slap herself.
Behind her, Madam Qiao glared daggers at her back.
Before either could invent another excuse, one of the clerks approached Madam Qiao with a ledger in his hands.
“Second Madam, several entries here appear incorrect. This humble servant would like to question the people who previously managed the accounts.”
Madam Qiao’s face went white.
The reactions of aunt and niece were far too strong. Anyone would suspect the ledgers hid something.
Sure enough, after the four clerks worked day and night for three days, they uncovered a shocking truth.
The estate’s deficit was enormous.
Far from using her dowry to fill it, Madam Qiao had transferred out great sums of silver and property.
Assets purchased in the Qiao family’s name were, in fact, controlled by the second branch of the Wei family.
I threw the accounts down in front of her.
“Second Sister-in-law, explain this.”
Madam Qiao collapsed to the floor and looked desperately at my mother-in-law.
My mother-in-law pounded the table.
“Madam Shen, you have no respect for law or hierarchy! You investigate your own family as though they were criminals. Are you trying to tear this household apart?”
I did not flinch.
“How strange. Second Sister-in-law has managed the estate for three years, reduced its accounts to chaos, and made a fortune in family property disappear. Yet Mother does not rush to recover it. You blame me for investigating instead. How very peculiar.”
Madam Qiao was merely the wife of the second son. How could she have dared so much alone?
No ghost would believe my mother-in-law had neither approved nor participated.
That thought drove her into hysterics.
“So now you suspect me as well? I am the wife of an earl, yet you dare slander me this way! I may as well die. Summon the heir! Let him see how his good wife persecutes his own mother!”