Yu Fanfan didn’t beat around the bush either. She immediately counted on her fingers, striking a posture ready to settle all accounts.
“I’m not someone who doesn’t know what’s good for me. If you hadn’t gone too far before and tried to take my life behind my back, I, Yu Fanfan, wouldn’t have hardened my heart to make such a scene.”
At this point, the old madam sitting above, who was leaning her head on her hand with her head slightly tilted, secretly lifted her eyes and glared fiercely at the culprit, Li Jiayu.
She cursed inwardly at this useless idiot who had botched the job; otherwise, how could today’s scene have happened? She then heard Yu Fanfan continue:
“When I entered the doors of your duke’s manor back then, I brought thirty-eight chests of dowry. If you want to cast me out, fine. But the dowry that belongs to me must be returned, right? It makes no sense for such a grand duke’s manor to be coveting the little bit of belongings belonging to an orphan girl like me.
“Furthermore, you took advantage of my husband being away to cast me out on ridiculous pretexts. Sure, fine, that’s acceptable too. But there is one condition: this divorce letter must be changed into a mutual divorce agreement, otherwise I will not accept it!
“And most importantly, my household registration document must be returned to me. I want to establish an independent female-headed household. I don’t want to have any more messy entanglements with you black-hearted people!”
“Furthermore, after being framed and humiliated by you, I nearly died a wretched death out there. It’s only right that you compensate me. I’m not asking for much—just settle my medical bills, lost wages, emotional distress, and youth compensation all together.”
“Rest assured, once the silver is settled, I, Yu Fanfan, will never bother you again. No matter how wonderful your family’s descendants are, I couldn’t care less about them!”
Yu Fanfan paid no mind to the bewildered looks of everyone present as she rattled off all those unfamiliar fees. Once she finished, she held out her hands, poised to take the money and leave immediately.
Her audacity infuriated the onlookers.
While the crowd remained baffled by the strange terminology, the old hen was too shrewd to stay confused for long. After all, she hadn’t climbed from a lowly concubine’s daughter to a successor wife without sharp wits.
She was the first to recover. Pointing a trembling finger at Yu Fanfan, she snapped, “Madam Yu, have you lost your mind to greed?”
Yu Fanfan shrugged, utterly unfazed. “I’m only asking for what belongs to me. What, is this great duke’s manor too poor to cough up such a small sum? Or are you dead set on bullying an orphan girl out of her due?”
“You… you heartless wretch!” the old hen stammered, shaking with rage. “Never mind that when you married in, the old duke secretly subsidized at least half of your thirty-eight dowry chests out of pity for the Yu family’s poverty, just so you could save face and enter our gates with dignity. Did you really not spend a single copper of it over the past three years?
“Now you’ve squandered the best of your dowry, leaving behind nothing but bulky, worthless junk. Forget about showing gratitude to the late master—how dare you turn around and demand the rest from us? The sheer nerve of you!”
Yu Fanfan had no intention of wasting her breath arguing. If the original host had burned through her dowry over the past three years, it was only because these people had treated her like dirt, and the opportunistic servants had taken every chance to bully and shortchange her.
As the eldest young madam—the wife of the eldest grandson and, by all rights, the future heir’s wife—she should have received a generous monthly allowance. The original owner had been honest and simple, never caring for fine food or clothes. Why would she have ever touched her precious dowery savings?
Besides, the manors, shops, and ancient books her father had meticulously prepared as her dowry remained completely untouched. The annual profits from those properties alone were more than enough for her to raise her son in comfort.
Even setting that aside, if she remembered correctly, of the two hundred gold pieces and three thousand taels of silver in the original owner’s dowry chest, all the gold and more than a thousand taels of silver should still have been untouched.
Add to that over three years of revenue from the manors and shops—none of which had ever reached her pockets—where had all that money gone?
Yu Fanfan glared at the old hen, letting out a cold scoff.
“Whether I’m shameless or not is none of your business, you black-hearted second wife. As for where my dowry actually went, I’m sure Old Madam and Madam know best!”
“Of course, I didn’t come here today to squabble over the past. Since we can’t sort out the old accounts, let’s leave them be and focus on the present. In short, if you want me to keep my mouth shut and leave quietly without causing a scene, what I just demanded is my bottom line!
“You can refuse, but I’m ready to stake my life on beating the petition drum outside the palace gates. Surely, somewhere under heaven, there is someone who will give me justice.”
“You’re blackmailing us! This is extortion!”
“Mhm, that’s right. It is extortion.”
The women of the manor had never encountered such a brazen, reckless rogue who had completely cast aside all pretense of decorum. They found themselves utterly powerless to handle her.
Sitting at the head of the room, the old madam realized Yu Fanfan would not leave empty-handed today. Even if she could use underhanded means to reclaim the silver later, the old madam bitterly resented the idea of paying off this scoundrel, simply unable to swallow her pride.
Unwilling to spend her own money yet desperate to end the farce, she shifted the blame. Groaning and clutching her head in feigned agony, she pressed Li Jiayu to take care of it.
The old madam reasoned that since the eldest daughter-in-law was so eager to push her niece into the position of Xie Shiyan’s principal wife, she should be the one to pay for it.
“Eldest Daughter-in-law, resolve this quickly. Don’t let Madam Yu keep making a scene. Send her packing before the incense stick burns down!”
Caught between the old hag and Yu Fanfan, poor old hen Li Jiayu was furious enough to kill. She had not spent that silver, so why should she have to pay?
The old hag was blatantly washing her hands of the mess. Worse, she still controlled the keys and tally tokens to the family treasury. Her attitude made it abundantly clear: not only would she refuse to get involved, but she would also forbid a single coin from coming out of the communal funds.
That left Li Jiayu alone to cover the abandoned wife’s demands from her own private stash.
She trembled with pure, agonizing heartache for her money.
She had only taken over household management recently and had yet to secure complete control. Over the years, she had painstakingly scraped together a few tens of thousands of taels in savings. Was she truly supposed to squander it on an impoverished nobody?
No matter how she turned it over in her mind, the bitter pill refused to go down, yet she had no choice but to yield.
Suppressing the hatred and murderous intent in her heart, Li Jiayu endured the old hag’s overbearing gaze from above and patiently bargained with Yu Fanfan.
“Madam Yu, seeing that you are a helpless orphan, our duke’s manor won’t hold this against you. We can give you the silver, but a divorce agreement is out of the question!”
Because of the shameful plans she harbored in her heart, Li Jiayu adamantly stood her ground on this point.
Just as Yu Fanfan was about to insist further, the Second Madam and Third Madam, who had been silently watching the show from the side, chimed in, not minding playing peacemakers now.
As they chattered on with their words of persuasion, Yu Fanfan cross-referenced them with the original host’s memories and finally understood the rigidity of this feudal society and how extraordinarily unfriendly it was to women.
No wonder ever since the original host stepped through the gates of the duke’s manor, she had transformed from a vibrant, delicate flower into a drooping weed. It was all the fault of this cruel society!
Yu Fanfan thought to herself that she had no intention of remarrying anyway. Although a divorce letter sounded humiliating, the arm could not twist the thigh in certain matters.
No matter how well she manipulated public opinion, how justified she was, or how supportive the onlookers were, when it came to certain things, people’s minds were inherently biased.
Yu Fanfan stopped arguing over whether it was a divorce letter or a divorce agreement. Conceding the point, she accepted the letter and demanded the household registration document she cared about most.
She followed the maid sent by the old hag back to her courtyard and swiftly inventoried her dowry. While the old hen ground her teeth in fury, Yu Fanfan stood firm until she secured a massive ten thousand taels in compensation.
To add insult to injury, she openly inspected every single banknote on the spot to verify its authenticity before tucking the stash securely into her bodice.
Only then did she look up at the crowd, who clearly wished she would just drop dead or disappear.
“Well…”
“Madam Yu! You have your registration, you’ve checked your dowry yourself, and we’ve paid you a fortune. What more do you want?”
Li Jiayu was so desperate to see the back of her that the moment Yu Fanfan spoke after counting the money, she lost all her usual noble composure. Gritting her teeth in sheer exasperation, she cut Yu Fanfan off, terrified of giving her another inch to push her luck.
Yu Fanfan smiled. “Come now, let’s talk reasonably. I’m not here to cause trouble. But after all, I am a mother. You can’t honestly stop me from seeing my own son, can you?”
“See her son?”
The crowd was bewildered. Had this money-grubber actually remembered she had a child? Did she really want to see the little jinx who was as cursed as she was?
Li Jiayu glanced up at the old madam, who gave a subtle nod. Clearly desperate to rid the household of this walking plague once and for all, Li Jiayu waved a hand to her trusted servant.
“Go fetch Ye’er. If she wants to see him, let her. Otherwise, outsiders will accuse the Xie family of being cruel and keeping mother and child apart!”
Eager to send Yu Fanfan packing, the household acted with surprising efficiency. Earlier, when the old hen handed over the banknotes and Yu Fanfan went with the maid to inventory her dowry in her former courtyard, they had dragged their feet and grumbled endlessly. Now, bringing Little Bun over took no time at all.
While waiting, Yu Fanfan ignored the hostile glares filling the hall. Without waiting for an invitation, she pulled up a chair and made herself comfortable.
She was just calculating how much time had passed since lighting the incense stick when she spotted them approaching in the distance. A plump, fair-skinned woman with a round face was walking over, trailed by a scrawny young maid wearing double buns.
In the woman’s arms was a frail, listless toddler.