A Tale of Golden Heiress: Lady Wanjin - Chapter 7

“Miss, what happened? I asked Lu Ping, but the foolish girl kept stammering without making sense.” Madam Liu hurried in while fastening her robe, only to find Wenwan sitting calmly by the window. A silk screen stood in the room, and Wenwan beckoned her closer. “Don’t worry, Auntie. Father is fine. Everything’s fine.”

Madam Liu’s steps slowed at once.

As she approached Wenwan, her eyes caught the sharp-tipped reed pen on the desk and the sheet of paper densely covered in writing—though not a single character made sense to her.

How remarkable our young mistress is, she thought with pride.

In these times, scholars were rare—female scholars even rarer.

Never mind that Wenwan had only practiced calligraphy for a few years under her grandfather, a mere provincial scholar, or that her handwriting remained unrefined. To Madam Liu, she might as well have been a goddess descended from the heavens.

“Sit, Auntie.”

Wenwan gestured to a chair.

Madam Liu obeyed.

“Is Madam Cui settled?”

“Yes. Twenty taels from the household, and I added five from my own savings. Clothes, shoes, and stockings filled three trunks.”

Three trunks—a generous trousseau by Ping County’s standards.

Wenwan had always assumed the two concubines were sworn enemies, given their constant bickering. Yet here was Madam Liu, proving herself kindhearted after all.

Noticing Wenwan’s gaze, Madam Liu huffed, “After years of squabbling, don’t I know her? That woman’s got the cunning of a newborn lamb! A fine lady from a noble house, yet she couldn’t scheme her way out of a rice sack! Now she’s off to… what was it? Some cousin in Bozhou? Hah! I’d bet my last coin she’ll be swindled down to her underclothes!”

Underclothes?

Wenwan nearly choked. The image of delicate Madam Cui and… that was absurd.

With a quiet laugh, she asked, “Why aren’t you scolding her for ingratitude?”

“Didn’t Hongmei curse her blue in the face for all of us?” Madam Liu waved a hand, then sighed, “People chase their own fortunes. She was a lady once—only fell into our household by misfortune. Never bonded with the Wens, never truly shared our fate. And since when do we block another’s path to better waters?”

“Quite the enlightened perspective, Auntie.” Wenwan’s gaze drifted lightly over Madam Liu’s face. “But have you never considered seeking better prospects for yourself? At barely thirty, with your looks, you’d have no trouble remarrying if released from the Wen household.”

“Pah!” Madam Liu’s eyebrows shot up in indignation, “Don’t you dare try to sow discord between me and your father!”

Wenwan frowned, “…Is Father truly worthy of such devotion?”

Old Master Wen might have been a successful merchant and passable parent, but as a husband? Lacking. After his genuine affection for Wenwan’s late mother, his two concubines had been mere breeding stock.

And Madam Liu—born to a butcher’s family, hardly destitute—should never have sunk to concubinage.

“Worthy? He’s the most handsome man under heaven!”

Wenwan’s eye twitched, “Auntie, I’ll grudgingly concede Father might be… adequate. But ‘most handsome’? That’s a stretch even for filial piety.”

And how.

Without her mother’s exceptional genes balancing his unfortunate features, Wenwan herself might have emerged… aesthetically challenged.

“What does a little girl like you know? Your father—” A girlish blush bloomed on Madam Liu’s cheeks, her eyes glazing over with what Wenwan could only interpret as… satisfaction in certain marital arts.

Alas.

Much thunder, no rain.

Leaving fertile fields stubbornly barren.

The young mistress’s eyes sparkled with knowing amusement, “Auntie, let me release you from service—just like Madam Cui.”

Madam Liu startled, “What?”

The oil lamp flickered precariously as Wenwan steadied it, forestalling the concubine’s imminent outburst, “First—how much silver remains in our coffers?”

Though baffled by the non sequitur, Madam Liu answered dutifully, “We tallied just days ago—about eight hundred taels total. After repairs from yesterday’s… incident, Madam Cui’s settlement, and the master’s medicine… perhaps seven hundred and change?”

Seven hundred taels. At roughly 650 copper coins per tael—about 50,000 yuan in modern terms.

Wenwan massaged her temples.

Ancient economies indeed. That such a pittance could make their clansmen see dollar signs—enough to come battering at their gates.

“Is this the household’s official account… or our private reserves?”

“Master’s private funds. The official accounts are all in Shi Jinquan’s hands—no one’s ever seen those.”

Of course.

As an inner-household woman, Madam Liu had no access to the winery’s business. The account books were controlled by this “Accountant Shi,” who’d come yesterday to visit the ailing master—only to suggest, in veiled terms, that Wenwan find someone else to manage the winery. Clearly, he meant to wash his hands of them.

How infuriating.

The original Wenwan had never bothered with the family business, and doting Father Wen hadn’t insisted she learn. Only after his collapse had she scrambled to educate herself—with predictably dismal results.

From what Wenwan could recall, the winery’s affairs were a tangled mess:

• Location: Along a tributary of Peach Blossom River
• Workforce: Fifty-odd employees
• Product: Bifang Wine (modestly successful, somewhat renowned throughout Bozhou)

Beyond that? Nothing.

“Can this Shi Jinquan be trusted?”

Madam Liu looked as clueless as she felt, “Unclear. He’s served the Wens for years—every copper must pass through his hands. The master trusted him implicitly.”

“So… our entire fortune rests with him?”

“I… suppose so?”

Wenwan’s brow furrowed.

Let’s review:

• Company Status: Small-to-medium enterprise
• CEO: Comatose
• CFO: Resigning
• Creditors: Banging down doors
• Senior Management: Defecting

Ah yes. Truly, what bright days ahead.

For now, she had little choice but to rely on those around her.

“Auntie Liu,” Wenwan said bluntly, laying out her suspicions about the Qi family. “Father’s messenger returned from the Qis’—waited two days outside their compound without seeing a soul.”

Madam Liu’s heart plummeted.

How many times does this make now?

“Hasn’t our family sent messengers to the Qis at least four or five times by now?”

Each attempt met with the same result—not a single Qi family member in sight. Anyone with eyes could see they were deliberately avoiding the Wens!

Madam Liu’s willow-leaf eyebrows knotted together, “What game are the Qis playing?!”

Wenwan let out a derisive snort, “Perhaps… they mean to checkmate us.”

If the Qi family refused the matrilocal marriage proposal, by law, the married-away daughter Wen Yue could still claim a portion of the family assets.

“How could Elder Aunt do this?” Madam Liu trembled with outrage. “She’s the master’s own flesh and blood!”

She sprang up and began pacing the room like a caged tiger, “What kind of viper repays kindness with venom?! In the past, she came visiting every fortnight—never left empty-handed! When her daughter-in-law had that difficult birth two years ago, who paid fifty taels for that ginseng to save her life? Without our master’s help, her precious grandson would’ve died in the womb! And this is how she repays us?!”