After Xu Yuanshan and his son went to the palace to meet His Majesty, they returned to the manor in great style with a large haul of imperial rewards.
Because Xu Yuanshan had rendered meritorious service by repelling Dayan’s invasion, he was granted the rank of Second-Rank Protector Grand General. Xu Qiming was also promoted to General Dingyuan of the fifth rank, advancing two ranks at once. Officials from the capital came to the manor one after another to offer their congratulations.
The servants of the Protector-General's Manor were so busy that their feet barely touched the ground. Madam Xu brought her sons and daughters to the front to receive the guests.
For a time, no one cared when Jiang Youning had returned to the Protector-General's Manor.
When she returned to Qiyun Courtyard, she saw Qinghe scolding a young maid who was sweeping the courtyard.
“You idiot! I asked you to sweep a courtyard, and you can’t even do that properly. This, this, and this—it’s all covered in leaves! Hurry up and sweep it again.”
The young maid wiped away her tears as she swept. As soon as she finished, Qinghe kicked the tree, sending the leaves falling down again. The young maid was subjected to another round of scolding and continued sweeping, not daring to talk back.
“Qinghe, what are you doing?” Qingyang spoke up when she saw Youning doing this.
Qinghe turned around and saw Jiang Youning. Her eyes immediately reddened. She gave a huff, turned around, went back to her own room, and slammed the door.
“Miss, Qinghe must have run into some trouble. I’ll go take a look.” Qingyang was worried when she saw Youning acting like this.
“There’s no need.” Jiang Youning watched Qinghe’s back coldly before turning and returning to her own room.
Qingyang glanced worriedly at the closed door, then followed Jiang Youning inside.
Earlier, Qinghe had desperately pushed her way forward to give Qiming, the Young General, a purse. She had almost reached the Young General’s horse when the man beside him reined in his horse and stopped her.
Qinghe looked at Xu Qiming with an aggrieved expression and called out loudly, “Young General, this servant is Qinghe, the maid by Miss’s side. I came especially to give you this purse, Young General.”
She had thought that the Young General would certainly speak up for her when he saw her. Who would have expected him merely to sweep her with a glance, as though she were a stranger, before riding straight ahead?
“Heh. A young woman shamelessly throwing herself at a man like this. It seems your miss isn’t any good either,” a shrill voice rang out.
Qinghe looked toward the voice. It was the man she had seen earlier walking beside the Young General.
The man cast her a glance, his eyes full of contempt. He tightened the reins and followed the Young General away.
Qinghe had never been cursed at like that before and was furious. For a moment, she failed to notice that the man’s voice was far too soft and delicate compared with that of an ordinary man.
She turned around, intending to find her miss and have her vent her anger on her behalf, only to discover that both her miss and Qingyang were gone.
After searching around to no avail, Qinghe finally confirmed that Youning had left her behind. Her anger surged. When she returned to the manor and found that Youning and Qingyang still had not come back, she had no idea where the two of them had gone. With a bellyful of pent-up rage, she took it out on the maid responsible for sweeping the courtyard.
Fuming, Qinghe returned to her room and waited for Jiang Youning to come and apologize to her of her own accord. When that happened, she would certainly demand the white jade bracelet from her miss’s room.
That was how things had always been. Whenever Youning saw that she was upset, she would come comfort her and, in the end, give her a piece of jewelry to coax her into a better mood.
Unexpectedly, Qinghe waited until the lamps in Jiang Youning’s room had gone out, yet no one came to see her. The feeling of blockage in her chest only grew worse.
With a creak, the door opened. Qingyang walked in and saw Qinghe sitting beside the table with a dark expression. She sighed inwardly and walked over.
“Qinghe, you really went too far today. Miss hadn’t even said anything, yet you took it upon yourself to give the purse you embroidered to the Young General. Then, when you came back, you inexplicably made things difficult for Little Cui.”
Qinghe rolled her eyes at Qingyang. “Spare me your lecture. I did this for Miss’s sake, to help win the Young General’s heart for her.
“Didn’t you see how many young ladies were surrounding the Young General today? If Miss doesn’t take the initiative soon, the Young General might be snatched away by someone else.”
Looking at Qinghe like this, Qingyang hesitated to speak. The matter of Miss posting the Imperial Proclamation had yet to be settled, and she did not dare say anything recklessly, lest something go wrong.
“Qinghe, we are Miss’s servants. Everything should be centered around Miss. If Miss hasn’t said anything, we shouldn’t take matters into our own hands.”
Qinghe seemed to realize something. She suddenly stood up, pointed at Qingyang, and angrily cursed, “It was you, wasn’t it? You must have badmouthed me in front of Miss. That’s why Miss treated me like this today.
“Qingyang, we serve Miss together. I treated you like my own sister, yet you actually harmed me like this behind my back!”
Qingyang froze and hurriedly explained, “Qinghe, I didn’t—”
“Enough! I don’t want to listen. I’ll remember this grudge.” With that, Qinghe turned around angrily, climbed into her own bed, and turned her back to Qingyang, refusing to say another word.
Qingyang wanted to explain further, but Qinghe clearly could not take anything in while she was like this. In the end, she shook her head and said nothing more.
Qinghe had always had this sort of temper. It was only because she had encountered a master as even-tempered as Miss that she had been indulged all this time.
Forget it. Once Qinghe learned of Miss’s decision, she would know how outrageously wrong she had been today.
*
At Jinghe Residence, Madam Xu, Song Ying, personally helped Xu Yuanshan bathe and change clothes.
Song Ying was nearly forty, but she had taken good care of herself and still looked quite young.
Seeing the scars on Xu Yuanshan’s body, Song Ying could not help wiping away her tears. “General, you’ve suffered.”
Xu Yuanshan gently patted Song Ying’s hand. “These minor injuries are nothing. Now that I’ve returned, I won’t be going back to the border for quite some time. It’s time to arrange Qiming and Youning’s marriage.”
“That’s right. Ming'er went to the border with you, which delayed things for a while. He’s already twenty-one now. It’s time for him to marry.” Song Ying nodded.
Xu Yuanshan continued, “Youning is still young. After she marries into our Protector-General's Manor, the dowry her elder brother left her will have to be managed with your help, Madam.
“Qiming has been promoted to General Dingyuan of the fifth rank at such a young age. There are certainly people in the army who are dissatisfied with him.
“Once Youning marries Qiming, the former subordinates of the Jiang family in the army will naturally turn around and support Qiming, helping him establish a firm foothold in the military. That will make the road ahead much easier for Qiming. I imagine his future achievements will not be beneath my own.”
“The General is right. Now that you and Qiming have both been promoted, I was thinking that we should expand our manor again and add more servants and furnishings. We’ll have many more social obligations as well, so the expenses of the manor naturally won’t be small. With Youning’s dowry, things will be much easier.”
In Song Ying’s eyes, everything belonging to Jiang Youning already belonged to their general’s manor. She would never allow the influence of the Jiang family’s former subordinates or the Jiang family’s wealth to fall into the hands of outsiders.
It was truly irritating when she thought about it. Su Rou had been like that too. Even when she was on the verge of death, she had gone behind Song Ying’s back and listed all the Jiang family’s assets with the authorities, declaring that when her daughter Jiang Youning married, all those assets were to be included in Jiang Youning’s dowry and taken to her husband’s family.
As a result, when Jiang Youning married, the dowry inventory would have to be checked. If the inventory did not match and it was discovered that they had misappropriated anything, they would have no way to answer to the authorities. The people’s spit would drown them, and His Majesty would not let the Protector-General's Manor off either.
Su Rou had been skilled at managing businesses. While she was alive, she had earned quite a lot of silver for the Jiang family, yet she had left the Protector-General's Manor only ten thousand taels of gold, one hundred thousand taels of silver, five shops, and one estate as payment for raising and caring for Jiang Youning until she married.
How little was that? She was truly stingy.
Song Ying had never considered that an ordinary family in Dayue might earn no more than ten taels of silver in an entire year, even if things went well—and that still required running a small business.
An ordinary farming household earned less than two taels of silver a year.
Including his salary, allowances for feed and miscellaneous supplies, stipend rice, and income from his official fields, Xu Yuanshan earned no more than eighty-five taels a month. What Su Rou had left them was more than enough to raise a ten-year-old girl until her marriage.
Over the years, in addition to the gold and farmland bestowed by His Majesty, the silver Su Rou had left behind, the five shops in prime locations in the capital, and the income from the estate, the people of the Protector-General's Manor had lived very comfortably.
But who in this world would ever think they had too much money? Song Ying had already calculated that once Jiang Youning married into the manor, her dowry would allow the family’s circumstances to rise another level.
Jiang Youning had been adopted and raised in their manor, and she was utterly devoted to Qiming. She would be easy to manipulate. Sooner or later, everything would belong to the Protector-General's Manor anyway.
What Su Rou had done back then had made things somewhat troublesome, but it did not affect the final outcome.
After finishing the matter of Jiang Youning, Song Ying changed the subject. “General, how did you and the others come to meet this child Xiuyi?”