The Imperial Capital Rhapsody 8: The King's Family Spits Blood

  Wang's belated counterattack ended with him spitting blood.

  "Look at the good deed you've done yourself!"

  The old lady's face turned gloomy as she threw the account book at Wang Shi's feet. Wang Shi couldn't believe that what was originally meant to punish Ye Li had somehow been turned around by Ye Li's few words, and now the blame was on herself. As she flipped through the account book, her hands trembled more and more. In her heart, she deeply regretted underestimating this young girl in the past. Clearly, she had never taught Ye Li anything about managing the household or wielding power, yet there wasn't a single discrepancy in the account book that Ye Li couldn't uncover. Even the hidden accounts of the store were exposed, showing that Ye Li's methods of grasping and manipulating people were not ordinary at all. "Old lady...old master, I..."

  The old lady snorted and said: "No wonder you said that the mansion couldn't afford to pay for your dowry, it seems like all the money was taken back to support your mother's family instead?"

  "Old lady, it's all a misunderstanding. It's those people below who are greedy, the daughter-in-law doesn't know anything about this..."

  "Don't you know? Don't you know that your cousin is the manager of Shen De Xuan? Don't you know that you hastily replaced the managers of several shops?" The old lady stared at Wang Shi, the old lady had spent her whole life for this family, and what she hated most was that Wang Shi used the Ye family's money to support her own natal family. This was something that no mother-in-law could tolerate, let alone Wang Shi who was not even married through proper channels but was instead brought in from a side room. "Li Ya Tou, where are those things that eat inside and scratch outside?"

  Ye Li lowered her eyes and replied respectfully: "Lier took the initiative to have those people arrested. Those who signed the contract were beaten with ten boards, and the external hires are ready to be sent to the government office."

  The old lady frowned and said, "You're still too soft-hearted. What can ten boards do? Have someone bring the managers of Shendexuan and Cangzhenge here." Shendexuan and Cangzhenge were two antique shops that made the most money among the twelve stores, accounting for almost half of all income.

  Before long, several people who were tied up with ropes were dragged in. As soon as Wang saw his sister, he wailed, "Sister, brother-in-law, save me..." Ye's face turned iron-gray and glared at Wang without saying a word. Wang was both angry and furious, repeatedly shouting, "How dare you! Quickly release my uncle!" Ye Lian smiled apologetically, "So it really is the uncle of the Wang family, I thought it was just Fourth Sister playing a joke on me. Although the Wang family isn't a big shot, there are many people in the imperial court who have become officials, how could they actually be the shopkeeper of Shen De Xuan? However...the master and apprentices of Shen De Xuan accused Wang before, embezzling over 80,000 taels of silver from Shen De Xuan. I wonder..."

  "This must be a slander by those petty people. How could my elder brother embezzle silver?" Madam Wang said resolutely.

  Ye Li looked at the old lady and did not refute, saying: "Since Madam is willing to vouch for Wang Zhuanggui, how dare I not believe? Let's ask Wang Zhuanggui and Shendexuan's master and apprentices to go to the Beijing Prefecture together to confront each other face-to-face."

  Wang's expression changed, and he hastily said: "It's just a small matter, no need to trouble the new Metropolitan Governor Qin Mu." The newly appointed Metropolitan Governor Qin Mu was known as the Iron-faced Judge, and whoever fell into his hands would not get off well.

  "Madam, don't worry, if we have wrongly accused Uncle, I will personally apologize to him. Take this thing that eats inside and peels outside out and give it another 50 lashes!" Ye Li'an said with a smile, pointing at the Cang Zhen Ge shopkeeper who was crouching on the side. The shopkeeper, who had just been beaten with 10 lashes not long ago, immediately turned pale, "Third Miss, spare my life! Third Miss... Madam, save me..." Wang Shi's face was dark and she didn't say a word. The old lady's eyes narrowed slightly, and she instructed in a light tone, "Do as the third miss says." Her gaze at Ye Li'an had a few more layers of meaning, and Ye Li'an naturally knew that the old lady was sizing her up, but she didn't mind, coldly staring at the shopkeeper and saying, "You are different from Wang Shopkeeper, you are a slave who was sold to the Xu family to be my mother's companion. My mother treated you well when she was alive, but in just a few short years, you dare to betray your master like this. Even if I beat you to death, no one would dare say half a word! Beat him hard!" The shopkeeper cowered on the ground, his body trembling non-stop. The people present also couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, originally thinking that this quiet and unassuming third miss was someone who could be easily bullied, but it turned out they had misjudged her.

  "Please... Third Miss, spare my life! Madam, save me... I've given you more than half of the money I've earned, you can't just abandon me to die!"

  "Nonsense! What are you talking about? Get him out of here at once!" Wang shouted in a fluster.

  The shopkeeper was dragged out, and soon a mournful cry came from outside. In the hall, Ye Lixia's clear and elegant voice faintly sounded, "Qingfeng, let people invite Wang Zhuanggui and all of Shen Dexuan to go to the Beijing City Governor's Mansion, and tell Qin Daren that we have heard that he is a just and impartial official, and ask him to give our Ye family justice."

  "Yes!" Qingfeng replied crisply.

  "Wait..." Ye Ying stepped forward and said: "Grandmother, Father, this matter absolutely cannot happen. If we go to the yamen, once this gets out, the face of Consort Zhao and the Li Wangfu will definitely be lost... And I, Ying'er, will have no face left to get married again. Please, Father and Grandmother, think thrice..."

  "Mother..." Ye Shangshu looked at the old lady, he naturally did not agree to go to the yamen. The most important thing now is the matter of Princess Zhao's daughter and Ye Ying's marriage.

  The old lady glanced at Ye Li with a look of disgust, frowning and looking at Wang Zhanggu with a face full of dislike: "Since we are all relatives, it's not good to tear our faces apart. But the shop is Lian'er's, and it can't be settled like this either. The missing silver must be made up as soon as possible, after all...the Lei Wang family cannot be offended, and the Dingguo King's Mansion also needs to be accounted for."

  "Make up for it?!" Wang shouted in a loud voice. Tens of thousands of taels of silver are no small sum, how can she make up for it?!

  "Shut up! As the second wife, you embezzled the first wife's dowry silver, isn't that a good thing to say? You don't have any face, Four Miss still has face, and even the Imperial Concubine in the palace has face. Turn around and bring me the account books from the house, I want to see how you've been managing the household!" Madame Wang's face turned deathly pale, Old Madam was going to take away her power to manage the household, "Old Madam..."

  "Old lady, the Wang family is actually the maternal grandparents' home of my second sister and fourth younger sister. Originally, giving them this money wouldn't be a big deal. However... Mother instructed before she passed away that we should leave some to show respect to our grandmother and also leave some for my younger sisters as their dowry. I think it's not necessary to give too much, considering there are only four younger sisters waiting to get married at home, so let's just give each of them 10,000 taels. And also give grandmother 30,000 taels as her own silver. That would be a total of 60,000 taels." After finishing speaking, she turned her head and smiled at Zhao Yiniang, saying: "Don't worry, auntie, if in the future there are younger brothers or sisters, I will naturally make up for their share." Zhao Yiniang was taken aback, originally still feeling some regret and discontent, but hearing Ye Li say this, she felt happy and covered her mouth to smile, saying: "Then let's take Third Miss's auspicious words. Third Miss is indeed worthy of being the legitimate daughter of the Ye family, truly with a magnanimous demeanor." Whether or not Ye Li would fulfill her promise was another matter, but for now, her words had made Zhao Yiniang happy.

  Sixty thousand taels sounds like a lot, but Ye Li knew that much of the silver had been taken by the Wang family to grease their way or squandered. Now, asking the Wangs to take out sixty thousand taels at once was enough to make her spit blood. As long as Shao Yi was still around, and Ye Ying was still the Princess of Lei, the old lady would never really do anything to the Wangs. Let her spit some blood then.

  Ye Shangshu listened and indeed felt that Ye Li was very magnanimous, nodding in approval: "Li'er is right, let's do it this way." Although he couldn't openly oppose Wang Shi for the sake of his family, he still didn't like how she used their family's money to support her natal family. He couldn't help but think of his late wife, who had always worked hard for the Ye family, and his gaze towards Ye Li became even warmer.

  The old lady also agreed, saving face for both families and saving tens of thousands of taels of dowry silver. As for the Wang family... the Wang family was not yet capable of competing with the Ye family, let alone being in the wrong from the start. Even if Ye Shao Yi was born to the Wang family's daughter, she was still a daughter of the Ye family and would never point out her own family's shortcomings. With loving eyes, she nodded in approval at Ye Li: "Li'er has done things with restraint, truly showing the virtues of a mistress of the house. In the future, when you enter the Dingguo Wangfu, your grandmother will not have to worry. It is indeed the good upbringing of the Xu family." Wang Shi's face turned even more unsightly upon hearing this - was it saying that her own Wang family had poor upbringing? Ye Ying glanced at Ye Li with a look of grievance and lowered her head. Just as Wang Furen was about to say something, the old lady gave her a stern glance and coldly said: "Do you really want to go to the capital's official residence?"

  "I will obey, I will make up the silver as soon as possible." Wang Shi said with gritted teeth.

  "In a few days, Ying'er will be getting married. You'd better teach her how to be a good wife in the courtyard during these days."

  "Yes." This stopped her from taking another step, and she didn't even have a chance to enter the palace like a Shao instrument to report to the empress.