“Rest assured, as long as the imperial decree establishing Xuan’er as the Heir Apparent is issued, this County Princess will immediately agree to Sun Xinrou and her two children entering the estate.”
As Lin Yanran spoke, she gestured to Chu Mochen behind her to walk faster.
Hearing this, Chu Mochen’s face filled with smiles. “If I had known Madam was so virtuous, how could I have kept a mistress outside?”
Lin Yanran really wanted to give this conceited scumbag’s brain a hard blow, but thinking of the private treasury she hadn’t secured yet, she could only remind herself that a little impatience spoils great plans:
“If the Marquis keeps dawdling, this County Princess might just regret it. When that time comes, this County Princess will directly send people to beat the Marquis’s Sister Xinrou to death, so the Marquis better not regret it.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming. It’s just a private treasury, since when did Madam care so much about these worldly possessions…”
Lin Yanran did not want to hear a sermon from this man whose brain had been ruined by flattery, so she said sharply, “Shut up! If you say one more word, I will immediately send someone to slaughter your mistress.”
Threatened by the person sharing his bed, Chu Mochen’s face flushed red with anger. He snatched the keys to the private treasury from his waist and threw them at Lin Yanran. “These are the keys to this Marquis’s private treasury, send your own people to move it!”
After saying this, Chu Mochen stomped away in a furious huff.
Looking at the keys that had fallen to the ground, Lin Yanran didn’t show the slightest hint of anger. She bent down herself to pick them up, toyed with them in her hand, and happily called out to the attendants serving beside her:
“Wenmei, take all our people, we are going to move the Marquis’s private treasury.”
Wenmei quickly performed a curtsy and hurried down to arrange the personnel.
When Lin Yanran arrived at the entrance of Chu Mochen’s private treasury with her people, she unlocked it. Without even looking inside, she instructed Wenmei to quickly organize the staff to move everything.
Lin Yanran, meanwhile, headed straight for Chu Mochen’s study. The bulk of the private treasury’s wealth lay not in these physical items, but rather in things like banknotes and land deeds. She planned to search for them in Chu Mochen’s study.
After searching Chu Mochen’s study for more than half an hour, Lin Yanran finally found a hidden compartment behind a bookshelf.
Inside, Lin Yanran discovered a box. She had Wenzhu, who was beside her, open it using a special method, revealing that it was entirely filled with banknotes and land deeds.
With just one glance, Lin Yanran instantly slammed the box shut, held it tightly in her arms, and left immediately, lingering no longer in Chu Mochen’s study.
The pageboy guarding the study saw the Marchioness walk out carrying a box from the Marquis’s study. They wanted to stop her but didn’t dare, so they could only hurry out of the estate to report the news to the Marquis.
Once Lin Yanran got the box and left the study, she immediately handed it to Wenlan, who possessed better martial skills:
“Take this box back to this County Princess’s mother for safekeeping, and say that this County Princess will go back to retrieve it in a few days. Avoid people along the way, don’t let anyone see you.”
Wenlan responded deftly, took the box, scaled the wall, and left.
The good things in Chu Mochen’s private treasury were indeed plentiful; Lin Yanran and her people spent an entire afternoon moving things before they finally finished.
By the time Chu Mochen received the news from the estate and rushed back from his mistress’s place, not only were the good things accumulated in his study gone, but even the shelves used to store items in his private treasury had been carried away. It was cleaner than a village raided by bandits.
Furious, Chu Mochen wanted to go to the main courtyard to question Lin Yanran, but remembering Lin Yanran’s aggressive demeanor during the day, he didn’t want to go subject himself to her anger again.
Ultimately, Chu Mochen turned around and went straight back to his study, writing the memorial to establish the Heir Apparent overnight.
Chu Mochen now only thought about quickly bringing Sun Xinrou and her two children into the estate; he wanted to let Lin Yanran know exactly what she had lost for the sake of these worldly goods.
At this moment, Lin Yanran didn’t care at all about what Chu Mochen was thinking. Looking at the packed storage rooms, she was in an excellent mood.
She even ate an extra bowl of rice while having dinner with her second son, Chu Yunheng.
The original owner had two sons under her name. One was the ten-year-old Chu Yunxuan, who served as a study companion to the First Prince and returned to the estate for three days a month.
Chu Yunxuan had entered the palace to be a study companion since he was five years old, and now that he was over ten, the original owner didn’t usually spend much time with this son, so the relationship between mother and son was not very close—at least, that was what the original owner believed.
The other was the five-year-old second son, Chu Yunheng, who studied at the clan school. At the beginning of this year, he had also moved to the front courtyard to study, sharing a deep maternal bond with the original owner.
By now, Lin Yanran and Chu Yunheng had finished their dinner, and she was listening with great interest as Chu Yunheng talked about the day’s events at the clan school.
After listening to him for so long, Lin Yanran came to one conclusion: this child was probably not very adept at studying.
Because this boy had already talked for the duration of a burning incense stick, even detailing what snacks were served at the clan school today, yet he didn’t mention a single word about what the tutor had taught.
Once she dismissed the clingy Chu Yunheng, Lin Yanran was attended to for her washing, lay down, and immediately fell asleep, showing that this day had indeed been exhausting.
Early the next morning, before the sky had even brightened, Lin Yanran was called awake by her attendants. There was only one reason for Lin Yanran to wake up so early: she still had to pay her respects to her mother-in-law.
Lin Yanran knew that since she had emptied Chu Mochen’s private treasury yesterday, there would be a tough battle to fight at the Old Madame’s place today.
After letting her attendants dress her, Lin Yanran quickly ate breakfast and arrived at Deyuan Courtyard right on time.
As soon as Lin Yanran walked in, she saw her mother-in-law, the Old Madame Xie, with a gloomy face, as well as her two sisters-in-law waiting to watch the drama: Lady Zhou from the Second Brother’s house and Lady Wu from the Third Brother’s house.
Just as the original owner had done in the past, Lin Yanran stepped forward with slow paces, smiling as she saluted, “Daughter-in-law pays respects to Mother!”
The Dowager Marchioness, Lady Xie, stared displeasurably at Lin Yanran, who was curtsying, without telling her to rise. Instead, she questioned sharply:
“I heard you sent people to empty Chen’er’s storehouse yesterday? Why is that? Surely just because you are a County Princess, you cannot deny the Marquis a private treasury? No matter how noble a woman’s status is, once married, she must still prioritize her husband’s glory.”
Lady Zhou, the wife of Chu Mochen’s biological younger brother Chu Mode, impatiently echoed their mother-in-law’s words: “Eldest Sister-in-law, this is where you are in the wrong. You cannot just rely on Eldest Brother’s doting to leave him without a shred of dignity. Doing this, how is Eldest Brother supposed to interact with his colleagues in the future?”
The Old Madame looked at Lin Yanran angrily, “You aren’t even as sensible as Second Brother’s wife.”
Watching these two take turns trampling on her, Lin Yanran didn’t get angry at all. With a smile, she stood straight up and calmly sat down in the seat the original owner usually occupied:
“Look at how excited Second Sister-in-law is. Anyone who didn’t know better would think this County Princess emptied the private treasury of Second Brother, rather than that of my own husband.”
Infuriated by these few words from Lin Yanran, Lady Zhou spluttered a string of “yous” before turning to complain to their mother-in-law, “Mother, look at Eldest Sister-in-law, what kind of words are those? Although my words were a bit harsh, I did it for the good of our Marquis’s estate.”
Lady Wu, the wife of Chu Mochen’s concubine-born third brother Chu Moyi, looked at the tense scene before her and instantly regretted not asking for leave this morning to avoid watching this drama.
In case either her mother-in-law or Eldest Sister-in-law held a grudge against her because of this, her husband would definitely not let her off lightly.
Old Madame Xie was so angry that she slammed the teacup in her hand onto the ground with a loud bang. “Why are you venting your fire on your sister-in-law? Did I allow you to stand up? Since you put on such grand airs, I shall go into the palace right now to implore the Emperor; our Chu family cannot afford to serve a great deity like you.”
Like a villain, Lin Yanran casually toyed with her hands: “Then Mother should go ahead! I also want to talk to Imperial Uncle Emperor about that bastard Chu Mochen. When he begged to marry this County Princess, he talked about one life, one world, one couple. How long has it been since then, and his mistress has already borne two children.”
Upon hearing this, the Old Madame, Lady Zhou, and Lady Wu all whipped their heads around, staring at Lin Yanran with looks of absolute incredulity.