After seeing Liu Jinyu off, Qiao Shuyi turned and headed toward the accounting office in the eastern part of the Prince’s mansion.
The accounting office was managed by Qiao Nanyu’s most trusted aides, and outsiders were not permitted to enter casually.
But Qiao Shuyi was different—she had visited this office countless times, always to withdraw silver for her expenses.
Seeing her arrive, the accountant quickly rose to greet her, a flattering smile on his face:
“Does the young lady wish to withdraw silver? How much? I’ll fetch it right away.”
Qiao Shuyi waved her hand dismissively, sat down in a chair, and said lazily:
“Not withdrawing silver. Bring me the account books from the past three years to look at.”
The accountant was taken aback:
“Why does the young lady want to see the account books?”
“My mother says I spend too much and wants me to understand the numbers. Just bring them, no need for so many questions.”
Qiao Shuyi’s authority in the Prince’s mansion had been deeply rooted since childhood.
When she decided to punish someone, she didn’t care whose person they were.
What if they were the Prince’s trusted aide?
If they displeased her, she would punish them without hesitation.
The accountant knew all too well the temper of this young mistress and dared not say another word, simply nodding repeatedly.
He scurried into the back room and soon returned with a thick stack of account books, neatly arranging them before her.
He stood to the side with his hands at his sides, outwardly respectful but inwardly dismissive.
After all, this young lady had been known since childhood for her lack of diligence in studies—she had driven away three tutors from the schoolhouse.
Even if she were given the account books, she’d likely just flip through them for amusement. What could she possibly understand?
Sure enough, when he stole a glance,
the young lady casually opened one book, her eyes scanning the pages rapidly, flipping through them one by one as if reading a lighthearted novel.
The accountant felt reassured and quietly retreated to the side, busying himself with his abacus.
Little did he know that Qiao Shuyi’s reputation for being “uneducated and lazy” was, from start to finish, a misunderstanding.
Since the day she was born, she had possessed the intellect of her previous life.
While other children were still babbling, she could already recite the Three Character Classic backward. While others were still learning to recognize characters and trace red ink, she had quietly read through half the books in her father’s study.
But she couldn’t reveal this and had to pretend.
So in the schoolhouse, when the tutor spoke the first half of a sentence, she could finish it. When the tutor assigned homework, she completed it in moments, leaving the rest of the time to gaze around idly, utterly bored.
The tutor assumed she was merely going through the motions, unaware that she truly had nothing left to do.
Over time, the reputation of “the legitimate daughter of the Prince of Jin’an being uneducated and lazy” spread far and wide.
Liu Jinyu herself disliked studying and naturally didn’t impose academic demands on her daughter.
As long as her daughter was happy, everything else was trivial.
Thus, the Qiao Shuyi of today came to be—
Others believed she only knew how to eat, drink, play, spend money, and indulge her whims, unaware of how much she had quietly learned over the years.
Arithmetic? She could memorize it at a glance.
Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting? She had dabbled in them all.
Life in ancient times was dull, and learning was the only way to pass the time.
If she had known Qiao Nanyu harbored rebellious intentions, she should have studied military strategy and tactics—that would have been more useful than these frivolous pursuits.
But there was one thing: today she’d learn the zither, tomorrow painting, the day after she’d flip through chess manuals. To outsiders, this appeared as “fishing for three days and drying the nets for two”—dabbling in everything but mastering nothing.
Over time, this only solidified her reputation for being uneducated and lazy.
Qiao Shuyi couldn’t be bothered to explain.
She preferred the peace and quiet.
Now, as she flipped through the account books, her eyes were sharp as lightning, focusing intently on the records of large silver transactions.
Others thought she was just flipping through the pages randomly, unaware that she was reading ten lines at a glance, absorbing all the numbers into her mind.
As she read, she began to see the pattern.
The Prince’s Mansion had two main sources of income:
The first was Qiao Nanyu’s official salary, taxes from his fiefdom, and the military funds allocated by the imperial court to Jinzhou.
The second was the dowry silver brought by the Liu family, as well as the subsidies Liu Jinyu had continuously received from her natal family over the years.
As for the expenditures, they were clearly divided.
Most of Qiao Nanyu’s silver was used for the daily expenses of the Prince’s Mansion—repairs to the estate, purchasing furniture and utensils, and paying the servants’ monthly wages. A significant portion was also recorded under the heading “Young Lady’s Expenses.”
Her food, clothing, daily necessities, jewelry, and garments—all the silver she spent like flowing water—were recorded under Qiao Nanyu’s account.
In contrast, the whereabouts of Liu Jinyu’s silver were vague.
“Purchases,” “materials,” “miscellaneous items,” “various expenses”—these were the same few terms repeated over and over. One entry after another, ranging from a few hundred taels to tens of thousands, was deducted from Liu Jinyu’s dowry silver, recorded in the Prince’s Mansion’s public accounts, and then disappeared under these ambiguous headings.
Qiao Shuyi closed the account book, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.
Qiao Nanyu had truly calculated everything perfectly.
His own silver was spent openly and honestly—on the Prince’s Mansion and on her, his legitimate daughter.
But Liu Jinyu’s silver was quietly siphoned away by him.
Yet Liu Jinyu didn’t know.
Because Qiao Nanyu had told her that their daughter spent money like water, and all her silver had been squandered by Qiao Shuyi.
Liu Jinyu believed it.
Qiao Shuyi did indeed spend lavishly. Since childhood, she had bought whatever she wanted. Even mountains of gold and silver couldn’t withstand such spending.
Wasn’t it only natural that the silver disappeared quickly?
She thought she was raising her daughter.
But she didn’t realize she was funding her husband’s private army.
Qiao Shuyi closed the account book and stood up:
“I’ve finished reading. I truly spent a lot. I’ll be more frugal from now on.”
The accountant nodded repeatedly, not daring to ask further, and respectfully escorted her out.
Qiao Shuyi walked alone along the small path outside Jinglan Garden, her steps quicker than usual. The hem of her skirt brushed against the flowers and grass by the roadside, scattering a few petals.
She was troubled.
All the silver flowing in from the Liu family had gone to those unspeakable places outside the city.
But she couldn’t tell her mother.
She knew her mother all too well.
Stubborn and inflexible.
For over a decade, she had been pampered and doted on by Qiao Nanyu, to the point where she had lost all sense of reason.
In her eyes, Qiao Nanyu was her entire world.
If she were to run to her now and say: “Mother, the man you love has been using you all along. All that silver has been used by him to fund a private army. He’s planning a rebellion—”
Would she believe it?
Before she could even finish speaking, Liu Jinyu would likely cover her mouth, scolding her for talking nonsense and slandering her own father.
Even if she threw the account book in her face and laid out the evidence piece by piece, her mother would still say:
“Your father must have his reasons.”
“These are matters for men. We women don’t understand.”
“Marry a chicken, follow a chicken; marry a dog, follow a dog. If he wants to rebel… then I can only follow him.”
This was what she feared most.
Not that her mother wouldn’t believe her, but that even if she did, she would still choose to stand by Qiao Nanyu’s side.
This world was too harsh on women.
From a young age, they were taught the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, to obey their husbands after marriage, and to regard their husbands as their heaven.
Liu Jinyu was exactly like that.
She loved Qiao Nanyu.
Within this love, there is sincerity, infatuation, and also the notion of “remaining faithful to one person until death” that has been instilled deep into her bones.
Even if one day Qiao Nanyu’s crimes were proven true, even if the entire Qiao family were executed, she would likely still believe—that it was fate, that it was a tribulation, that it was what she deserved.
And then she would follow Qiao Nanyu to death.
Qiao Shuyi leaned against a roadside pillar, gazing at the clouds on the horizon, and let out a long sigh.
How utterly vexing!