“The clerk said that woman started dealing with everything at noon on the very day news of Eldest Young Master’s death reached home,” Li Yanzhao said with difficulty. “The messenger had barely arrived when she immediately sent people to every shop to settle the accounts. By the time we showed up, all the businesses had already been converted into banknotes.”
Li Boyong slowly collapsed back into his chair, his eyes widening like bronze bells.
He remembered now.
On the day the clansmen had arrived in force to “help,” Weisheng He had been dragging her newly postpartum body around, directing the servants as they prepared the mourning hall.
At the time, they had thought she was putting on an act and pretending to be pitiful.
Only now did he understand.
She was buying time.
She was waiting for us to come. Waiting for us to put on our little performance. Waiting for all our attention to be focused on forcing her to remarry.
Meanwhile, her servants had already disposed of every last business.
“That bitch…”
Li Boyong ground his teeth in hatred.
Wait.
Wasn’t half a month ago precisely when Weisheng He had given birth?
Was the day she gave birth also the day she received the news?
No. That doesn’t make sense…
Li Boyong sorted through the sequence of events until he finally reached a conclusion.
She must have gone into premature labor as soon as she learned that the two men of the main branch had met with disaster.
Then she made all the arrangements.
But the clan had not received the news until half a month after the children were born.
They had been a full half month too late.
“Father, what do we do now?”
Li Yanzhao was growing anxious. “Those businesses were worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver…”
“Silver?”
Li Boyong suddenly thought of something, and his expression grew even darker.
“No. Why did she convert everything into silver? She’s a woman with four children. If she had kept those businesses running, they would continue earning money and keep her from slowly eating through her savings. Her future would at least be secure. Why sell them?”
Li Yanzhao froze.
That was true.
No matter how much silver she had, it was still finite.
She could not personally conduct business, purchase more property, or simply take the children and disappear somewhere far away.
So why had she sold everything?
Li Boyong finally understood.
He slammed the table so hard that the tea tray jumped.
“She’s cutting off every path we could use!”
His voice was sharp with fury.
“She sold everything, so now we have nothing to interfere with! No shops to manage, no accounts to inspect, no warehouses to take over.”
“We don’t even have an excuse to get near her!”
In the mourning hall, Lin Ruhai had made himself clear.
No one was permitted to force Weisheng He to remarry.
But as long as Weisheng He still owned businesses, the clan could interfere under the pretext of “helping her manage them.”
Three years would have been more than enough time to hollow those businesses out completely.
But now the businesses had become banknotes sitting inside Weisheng He’s dowry chest.
How were they supposed to get their hands on them?
Weisheng He was observing mourning behind closed doors.
They could not even get through the gate.
Li Boyong took several deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.
“She thinks this means she can sleep peacefully from now on?”
He sneered.
“In her dreams.”
He turned to his eldest son.
“Go. Bring me Matchmaker Sun from the east side of the city.”
“Matchmaker Sun?”
Li Yanzhao frowned. “That greedy gossip…?”
“Yes. Her.”
Li Boyong narrowed his eyes.
“Have her compile a list of every widower and useless good-for-nothing in Weiyang. The worse his character, the better. Cripples, blind men, philanderers, wife-beaters, gamblers, drunkards…”
“Write down every last one of them.”
Li Yanzhao understood.
“Once her three years of mourning are over, she’ll have to remarry.”
Li Boyong’s voice turned cold.
“When that time comes, we’ll marry her directly to the worst man in all of Weiyang. Doesn’t she have all those banknotes? Perfect. We won’t even need to provide a dowry.”
“But we still wouldn’t get the money.”
A cruel smile tugged at Li Boyong’s lips.
“Can’t you get some leverage on her future husband beforehand and make him help us dig the money out of that damned woman’s pocket? Do I really need to teach you something this simple?”
Once the money had been drained away, they could eliminate whoever needed silencing.
Weisheng He would have lost two husbands in succession, become overwhelmed with grief, and then followed them in death…
Haven’t things like that happened before?
As long as she doesn’t die in the Li household, who could accuse the Li family of anything?
By the time the news reached Weisheng He, three days had passed.
Shanhu returned after making inquiries, her eyes red with anger.
“Young Madam, they’re utterly shameless!”
“Matchmaker Sun has been asking everywhere about widowers and useless men. She’s telling people that once three years have passed, she’ll arrange a marriage for the Li family widow. Lame Wang Mazi from the east side, Zhao San the gambler from the south, even that butcher in the north who beat his wife to death… They’re all on her list!”
Weisheng He was reading while waiting for the wet nurse to finish feeding the babies.
At those words, her hand paused briefly.
Then she continued reading.
“Young Madam, aren’t you angry?” Shanhu asked anxiously.
“What good would anger do?” Weisheng He’s voice remained calm. “That’s exactly what they want. If I get angry, I’ll want revenge. If I want revenge, I’ll have to make a move. The moment I make a move, I might make a mistake.”
“And once I make a mistake…”
“They’ll have an opening.”
“But why should I be angry?”
“I’m still observing mourning.”
“Idle gossip outside isn’t something a woman in mourning should even know about. The right response is to give them no response at all.”
“Still, the fact that they’re resorting to this does tell me one thing…”
She raised her head, an almost-smile touching her face.
“They can’t do anything to me.”
The businesses had been sold.
The money was already in her hands.
The warning from Lin Ruhai and his wife was still fresh in everyone’s minds.
Its message could not have been clearer.
The Li family did not dare touch her. All they could do was resort to these underhanded tricks.
Three years of mourning was neither especially long nor especially short.
She had more than enough time to plan her way out.
“How has Madam Sun been these past few days?”
Shanhu curled her lips.
“Madam spends every day pacing around the courtyard like a bird trapped in a cage. Two days ago, she even tried to send someone outside. We stopped them, and she threw a huge tantrum.”
“A tantrum?”
Weisheng He sneered.
“She has the nerve to throw a tantrum? I haven’t even settled the account with her over what happened in the mourning hall.”
Madam Sun had helped Li Boyong force her to remarry in the mourning hall.
Weisheng He had never forgotten it.
She did not hold grudges.
She kept accounts.
And she remembered every single entry perfectly.
“Go invite Madam Sun over,” Weisheng He said. “Tell her that her daughter-in-law hasn’t seen her for quite some time and misses her.”
Madam Sun arrived soon afterward.
She wore a plain outer jacket, with no jewelry in her hair and no powder on her face.
Anyone who did not know better might have thought she was an exemplary widow devoted to observing mourning.
But Weisheng He could see the resentment and restlessness in her eyes.
“Yanming’s wife, you wanted to see me?”
Madam Sun’s voice was still soft, but the sincerity it once held was gone, replaced by something deliberate.
Weisheng He invited her to sit and had Shanhu serve tea.
It was excellent tea, fresh Longjing from that year’s harvest.
Madam Sun lifted the cup, took a sip, then set it down again.
The two sat in silence for a while.
Weisheng He was the first to speak.
“Mother, I asked you here because there are a few things I want to make clear between us.”
Madam Sun’s expression changed slightly.
“Go ahead.”