A Tale of Golden Heiress: Lady Wanjin - Chapter 32

No wonder Aunt Liu was disheartened.

The Wen family might have had some status in Ping County, but at best, they were like township entrepreneurs. Now, they owed seven to eight hundred taels of silver, and it looked like the winery had no grain to start production, meaning there would be no business in the second half of the year. If this continued, the decline of the Wen family was inevitable.

“We’re not at the end of the road yet,” Wen Wan comforted Aunt Liu. She picked up the remaining half of the silver on the tray and pressed it into Aunt Liu’s hand. “The Liu family brothers and uncles have worked hard today. Use this money to buy them some wine, as a token of the Wen family’s gratitude. It’s not convenient these next couple of days, but I will personally visit to thank them when I have time.”

Aunt Liu refused to take it. “This is nothing—”

But Wen Wan stopped her. “One thing is one thing. We can’t let the Liu family work for free, and we can’t make you lose face.”

Moreover, Aunt Liu’s current status in the Liu family was awkward. A concubine who had left her master—why was she always helping her former husband?

And he wasn’t even really a husband.

According to the customs of this dynasty, Old Master Wen was Aunt Liu’s former master.

“Did you explain to the Old Master the reason why the Wen family gave you the letter of dismissal?”

Aunt Liu nodded but didn’t speak.

Wen Wan knew her concerns and was annoyed at herself for having treated the letter of dismissal so lightly initially, leaving Aunt Liu in this awkward position. On one hand, she kept asking Aunt Liu for help, but on the other, she hadn’t given her a proper status.

Thankfully, Aunt Liu wasn’t petty, or she might have suspected Wen Wan of using official reasons for personal gain to eliminate a rival.

What’s more, this time Aunt Liu had handed over three hundred taels without hesitation, not even mentioning the difficulties she faced in her maiden family. Instead, she always considered their situation, showing she was truly on their side.

“Aunt Liu, I was thoughtless before, making things difficult for you now. I will speak to Father and suggest he welcome you back to the Wen family with a proper, grand ceremony.”

Aunt Liu gave Wen Wan a grateful smile, but her expression remained stubborn. “Even if I were to return gloriously, it shouldn’t be you who brings it up. Your father… he knows very well how much I’ve suffered these days… yet he hasn’t said a single word of comfort. This time, I want to see how long he can pretend to be deaf and dumb! If he doesn’t invite me back properly, I won’t return to this house!”

Wen Wan suddenly felt something was wrong.

Oh no.

It seemed she had handed her father a hot potato.

Her father still pined for her original mother’s memory. Now, the substitute female lead who had devotedly waited for ten years had suddenly come to her senses. Faced with choosing between the white moonlight of his memory or the gentle female lead who had accompanied him for years, which way would Old Master Wen go?
Wen Wan silently lit a stick of incense in her heart for her father.

Finally, Wen Wan asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time, “Aunt Liu, I’ve always wanted to ask… how exactly did you come to fancy my father?”

Aunt Liu’s pretty face flushed red. “I just… took a liking to him, that’s all.”

Wen Wan laughed. “My father was quite ordinary-looking when he was young, just had a bit of money. But the Liu family… they weren’t short on money.”

“Ah,” Aunt Liu sighed, plopping down onto a seat. “I was young and inexperienced, hadn’t seen much of the world.”

Seeing Wen Wan’s curious expression, Aunt Liu used her finger to push Wen Wan’s eagerly leaning face back. “His steward kept coming to our shop to buy meat on credit and never paid up. I went to collect the debt, and your father severely reprimanded the steward and apologized to me. At that time, I thought your father was a reasonable man.”

“Later, a pork seller set up shop across from us, stealing our business by selling pork a few coins cheaper per pound, making it really hard for us. Your father found out and acted as a mediator. In the end, the two shops made peace, one operating in the west and the other in the east, neither bothering the other. So, back and forth, we became familiar.”

Wen Wan understood.

A young girl would find it hard to resist an older man who was so adept in business.

Her father… while average-looking, was eloquent, gentle, and polite in his dealings with people—quite popular with women.

“But… how did the Old Master agree to let you become someone’s concubine?”

The Liu family wasn’t short on money, and Aunt Liu was their only daughter. Wen Wan couldn’t figure out how Aunt Liu had pressured Old Master Liu into agreeing.

But Aunt Liu refused to say. “Alright, stop asking. We have important matters today. You wait—”

Aunt Liu hurried out but returned moments later, slapping a small booklet down in front of Wen Wan. “Your father asked me to give this to you. He said your mother died early, and he was afraid no one would teach you these things. Study it well yourself.”

After saying this with an unnatural expression, Aunt Liu vanished as if her feet were oiled.

Wen Wan picked it up and saw the large characters on the cover: “The Art of Yin-Yang Joy.”

Wen Wan was speechless, a cascade of metaphorical black lines over her head.

This… did she really need to study it?

She was an old pro, wasn’t she?

Heck, she’d seen it all—not just Yin-Yang, but Yin-Yin, Yang-Yang, and every combination in between!

But then another thought struck her: Just because she’d seen it all didn’t mean Zhao Heng had.

What if Zhao Heng was a complete novice?
Molding her own “figurine” was a task that brooked no delay.

Wen Wan blew out the lamp, rolled the book into a scroll, tucked it under her arm, and sneaked out. On the way, she ran into Nanny Chen, who had been busy all day. “Miss, have you had your evening meal? The gifts from the guests today are all stored in the warehouse, and the list is on your desk. You… you… why are you running?”

Remembering something, Wen Wan stopped, still clutching the scroll tightly under her arm.

“Nanny Chen, tell me… should I remind Father… to formally welcome Aunt Liu into the family as the official wife, with a grand wedding procession?”

The question practically short-circuited Nanny Chen’s brain.

Why bring up elevating Aunt Liu to official wife status all of a sudden?
Wen Wan had no one else to ask, so she pressed Nanny Chen. “You were brought here by my mother, and you know Aunt Liu’s character. Now she has the letter of dismissal; her status is awkward, and she’s busy running around for our family all day. This situation started because of me; I can’t just ignore it.”

“This…” Nanny Chen hesitated, unwilling to commit. “It’s hard to say.”

“I was brought here by your mother, but the mistress has been gone for over ten years. Honestly… I can barely remember what she looked like.” Speaking of Wen Wan’s birth mother, who died young, Nanny Chen’s eyes reddened. “But Aunt Liu has been sincere to the Master and you all these years. To say something a bit disrespectful, even though she’s a concubine, what’s the difference between her and your own mother? The palm and the back of the hand are both flesh… I… I… can’t say…”

Wen Wan nodded solemnly. “Alright, I understand.”

Nanny Chen couldn’t help but ask, “Did Aunt Liu mention this to you?”

“No. My maternal relatives aren’t reliable, so we’ll have to rely on Aunt Liu’s brothers. We can’t use their help while still keeping them at a distance. Over time, I’m afraid we’ll chill Aunt Liu’s heart.”

Reminded of this, Nanny Chen nodded anxiously.

But the matter was urgent, and Nanny Chen couldn’t help but worry.

Wen Wan then smiled and said, “I was just mentioning it casually, Nanny Chen, don’t take it to heart. Everyone is tired today; go back and rest. No matter how big the issue, we can talk about it tomorrow.”

Nanny Chen chided her, “Young Lady, you’re saying that? After what happened today, your husband is out there alone dealing with that crowd of guests. He’s so tired he’s about to collapse. I feel sorry for him. Tonight is your wedding night; you mustn’t neglect your husband, and you absolutely must not look at the account books—”

Nanny Chen, thinking the scroll under Wen Wan’s arm was an account book, reached out to take it. But Wen Wan dashed away as if ghosts were chasing her.

Nanny Chen said, bewildered, “What’s going on? I can’t even read. Why is she hiding it from me?”

Tsk tsk.

She wasn’t even allowed to touch the account books now, and they claimed to love her?