The mistress of the Hou family worked herself to death, and she did not serve after her rebirth

When they heard Gu Tingzhi's voice, Liu and Gu Lanzhi's eyes lit up.

Gu Lanzhi couldn't wait and cried out, "Tingzhi, you are finally back. If you hadn't come back, my mother and I would have been forced to death."

As he said this, he glanced viciously at Pei Jiuniang, the shop owner, and the yamen runners.

At the same time, Gu Tingzhi was also surprised to see outsiders, especially the yamen runners.

The shop owner and the yamen runners all saluted him, "My Lord."

Gu Tingzhi raised his hand and walked forward. When he passed Pei Jiuniang who was holding the child, his eyes paused for a moment. Seeing Pei Jiuniang looking away, Gu Yu still showed no warmth. He felt disappointed for a moment and then sat down below Liu.

"What's going on, sister? Can you explain it more clearly?"

Gu Tingzhi knew that his eldest sister, Gu Lanzhi, had been spoiled by Liu and had become lawless since she was young. However, she was already married after all, and it was wrong for her to return to her parents' home and cause trouble to her mother.

"Your good wife is the one who sold the Marquis's property without telling me, which made me lose face. And they won't give up even for a small matter, and they even come to my house to complain about the trouble. Tingzhi, help me chase them out. Do you think the Marquis's Mansion is a place where anyone can come and do whatever they want?!"

Gu Lanzhi relied on Gu Tingzhi's achievements and military merits in recent years to be very confident. Now that her powerful brother is back, she no longer takes the small shop owners and yamen runners seriously.

"Madam Chu, didn't you say that before? The Marquis..." The shopkeeper was anxious. He was already this old and doing business at the foot of the capital. The people he dealt with were all dignitaries. Not to mention the Marquis' Mansion, he had also seen the masters of princesses and princes before, but he had never seen anyone who took advantage of his power to bully others and lie with his eyes open.

"What's going on?!"

When Gu Tingzhi saw the expressions of the shopkeeper and the yamen runner, he knew that Gu Lanzhi was lying.

When Gu Lanzhi saw that her brother didn't help her, she became anxious, "Mother?"

"Tingzhi, your elder sister..."

"Mother, please don't cover up for her. Although I haven't been in the capital these years, I know her personality very well. If I blindly take sides without knowing the truth, how will others see me, Gu Tingzhi, and my mansion?!"

Gu Tingzhi's face had changed. Having been immersed in the army for many years, he had a solemn and majestic air.

Even Liu, the biological mother, felt a little scared when she saw it, let alone outsiders.

"My Lord, I am just a lowly person. I have no right to speak in front of you. But I am also the victim today. I hope you will allow me to explain."

"random."

Gu Tingzhi raised his hand and nodded.

"I am the owner of a jewelry shop on Niulan Street. This shop was originally owned by the Pei family, and later it was used as a dowry for the Marquis' wife. The Marquis' wife sympathized with the Marquis's insufficient storehouse in the past few years and did not care. She always passed her own property as the Marquis's property. This Madam Chu would swagger to the shop every now and then to take and give away things. Our shop used to be profitable, but over time it has been in the red, and the Marquis' wife would pay out of her own pocket to balance the accounts every time.

The Marquis's wife probably felt that this was not a good thing to continue, so she sold the shop. Perhaps before she had the chance to tell Madam Chu, Madam Chu came back with her people, taking things and giving gifts. We were also careful to smile the whole time, fearing that we would not entertain her well and would annoy Madam Chu. But we didn't expect that when Madam Chu heard that we had to pay, she got furious and smashed things and beat people. Our shop suffered a lot of losses.

Fortunately, we ran into the old lady while shopping. At first, the old lady was reasonable and agreed to compensate us with 30,000 taels. She asked us to go back to the Marquis' Mansion together to get the silver, and the yamen runner even came along to serve as a witness.

But we have been here for a while, and the two ladies have not mentioned the silver. They just made things difficult for Madam Hou. I heard that they want Madam Hou to take the silver?!"

"She is the mistress of the house. She is in charge of all the treasuries in the mansion. What's wrong with letting her take the money?"

Gu Lanzhi couldn't wait.

"It's a pity that I have already handed the key to the storehouse to the Marquis, and the Marquis has promised me that I am not in good health and do not need to manage the household expenses of the Marquis' Mansion."

Pei Jiuniang calmly told the story

"what?"

Now not only Gu Lanzhi was anxious, but Liu and others were also surprised.

"This, this is impossible. You, you are the mistress of a marquis's mansion, you don't manage the household, are you willing to do this?"

Gu Lanzhi didn't believe it. After all, being in charge of household expenses was a symbol of status as the mistress of the house. Anyway, she didn't believe it.

"I don't know about other families, but I am willing to give it away. Over the years, I have spent a lot of my dowry to make the accounts of the Marquis' Mansion look good. I think my aunt and mother should know. Besides, I have been in charge of the household affairs for so many years, but I have not satisfied you two. So, now I hand it over, and you two find someone who can satisfy you to manage it. Isn't it the best of both worlds?"

Pei Jiuniang smiled brightly. She hadn't gotten any good results when she was in charge. Now, if she still wanted to make her a sucker, she could just dream on.

"you?!"

Gu Lanzhi was really anxious now. Seeing that Pei Jiuniang was not going to listen, she anxiously winked at Gu Tingzhi, "Tingzhi, you let her do this?! Mother is old, and I am a married woman. If she doesn't care, do you care?"

"You don't need to worry about that, elder sister. But elder sister, I understand today's thirty thousand taels. It seems to have nothing to do with the Marquis' Mansion."

"What do you mean? We are a family?"

Gu Lanzhi suddenly felt scared, afraid that Gu Tingzhi would really not care about her and that she would have to pay the 30,000 taels herself. She knew her own weight, and even the Chu family couldn't afford it, let alone her.

"A family? Big sister, don't you forget that you are already a wife of the Chu family?"

"What do you mean? Are you saying that you don't care about me? Gu Tingzhi, you are my brother, my biological brother from my mother's side, and my support. Are you going to watch me get divorced by the Chu family?"

"You also know that I am your brother, but have you ever done anything good to the Marquis's Mansion, to me, to your nephew, and to your sister-in-law? Do you think I don't know how you treated Jiu Niang and Brother Yu over the years? Do you not know that your son killed my Brother Yu with a knife in the street? And you are still blaming me? Your son keeps calling Brother Yu a fool, have you ever cared?"

"Me? Me, he was..."

"Gu Lanzhi, don't say that I don't care about the relationship between you and me. When you got married, the Marquis's Mansion was in decline, but they still collected more than half of the silver for your dowry. It was you who thought it was too little, and you and your mother pretended to be big shots and made a fool of yourself, but you blamed all this on the Marquis's Mansion and me.

Although I have known it clearly in my heart over the years, I have never held it against you, because you are my sister. But what do Jiu Niang and Yu Ge owe you, and what do they owe the Marquis' Mansion?

Over the years, I have been fighting for military merits to stabilize the Marquisate and prevent others from looking down on it. I always thought I did nothing wrong, but now I know that it was never me or you who held up the Marquisate, mother?"

"Son, what are you saying..."

"Mother, you know what I mean."

Gu Tingzhi turned to Liu, and the anger on his face made Liu feel a little scared.

"I was wrong about what happened before. I apologize to Pei Jiuniang. Otherwise, I will kneel down..."

"I can't bear it. I'll apologize, but you've been using jewelry from my shop for five years. If I remember correctly, you always said you would ask the government to send money. Could you please pay the money, aunt?"