I just want to live a happy life

However, what they don't know is that the current mistress has been replaced and will no longer obey them.

So, Qingyue forcefully beat the few people who made the loudest noises with a stick and sold them out. Moreover, the people Qingyue found were not regular human traffickers, but unscrupulous ones. As for whether they could survive in the end or what their fate would be, Qingyue did not care.

Seeing what happened to them for offending the eldest lady, the other servants didn't dare to say anything more, for fear that they would be the next to suffer.

So, after Qingyue's example of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys, the original servants completely shut up. The easy and well-paid jobs were taken over by Qingyue's people, while these people could only do rough work that paid little and was tiring.

With Qingyue's continuous efforts, the main courtyard was completely under her control in a short period of time. She changed her previous low-key and simple style and replaced every chair, couch, screen, porcelain, bed curtain and ornaments in the main courtyard with precious items.

Moreover, Qingyue was not stingy with money. The monthly salary of the servants in the main courtyard was twice that of other servants in the marquis's mansion. Such behavior made them even more enthusiastic. They spontaneously surrounded the main courtyard like an iron barrel and protected Qingyue tightly.

As mentioned before, the Marquis' Mansion could only exist due to the dowry of the original owner. If they hadn't been short of money, they wouldn't have let her marry into the Marquis' Mansion. After paying back the money to the court, the Marquis' Mansion didn't have much money left. In addition, the family was full of good-for-nothings who did nothing but take large sums of money from the Marquis' Mansion. One day, all the money would be spent.

So after the money in the Marquis' Mansion was almost gone, most of the money had to be lived on the original owner's dowry. And the original owner had been wholeheartedly devoted to Gu Yankai before, so naturally she was not stingy with him.

Therefore, the kitchen purchases and maintenance of the Marquis' Mansion, the monthly wages for the servants' food and clothing, and even the precious medicinal materials and medicated foods that his eldest son Gu Tingyu needed to nourish his body were mostly paid for by the original owner.

The original owner gave so much without complaint, but they took it away without any hesitation and looked down on her. In that case, she was not going to ask for money anymore, and they could do with the money as they pleased.

After Qingyue stopped taking money from outside, problems soon arose in the Marquis' Mansion.

One day, the steward of the marquis's kitchen went to the front yard to meet Gu Yankai and told him that the kitchen was short of money for purchasing supplies.

Gu Yankai's heart flashed with dissatisfaction, and his tone became gloomy: "Everything was fine before, and nothing happened. How come all the money for shopping is gone suddenly?"

From the tone of the Marquis' words, he suspected that the steward had taken it. He was really wronged, and he didn't care about anything else at the moment, so he quickly explained.

"My Lord, the money used to buy things for the kitchen was taken by Madam, but she hasn't taken any money since last month, so I can only use the money I saved. But I've spent all the money I saved this time, so... I can only report it to you."

Gu Yankai felt embarrassed for a moment after hearing what the steward said. He vaguely knew that Bai had used her dowry to support the entire marquisate in the past few years, but since she didn't say anything, he just pretended not to know. After all, it was her own will and he didn't force her.

After the embarrassment, anger surged in his heart and he became dissatisfied with Bai. She was from a merchant family and could not show herself up in public. She really did not care about her face at all and let the steward bring the matter to him. If outsiders knew about it, his mansion would lose all face.

But Gu Yankai still had to save some face. Even if he was dissatisfied, he could not openly ask Bai for money and ask her to support the marquis's mansion.

In fact, Gu Yankai also understood in his heart that the current Marquis' Mansion was just a facade, and the most valuable thing was the plaque of Marquis' Mansion, but life required money.

Although the Marquis' Mansion also had farms, shops and other things, they had been mismanaged when it was in the hands of Madam Qin, and the amount of money earned each year was not much. Even now in his hands, the situation had not improved. He himself and his brothers and sisters were not good at management, and the management was worse than before.

No matter how much he denies it or how much he despises the Bai family, the current Marquis' Mansion still needs the money from the Bai family to survive.

Gu Yankai didn't take Bai's sudden refusal to take the money to heart. He just thought that she was dissatisfied with him not going to the main courtyard to see her. After some time, she would give in.

Thinking of this, he subconsciously ignored the fleeting uneasiness in his heart, felt a little proud, and did not make things difficult for the manager, and gave him the money for the purchases.

As the Marquis of Ningyuan, he also had some savings.

But this incident seemed to be just the beginning, and the next things would require Gu Yankai to take more money.

Gu Tingyu is the son of Madam Qin. Gu Yankai loves Madam Qin deeply, so he naturally favors and loves the son she left behind. However, Gu Tingyu was born weak, and if he wants to be raised, he needs to spend a lot of money to buy precious medicinal herbs to feed him. But after Qingyue stopped giving him money, naturally the people around Gu Tingyu would ask Gu Yankai for money.

Gu Yankai naturally couldn't ignore his son, so he spent the rest of his money like water.

In addition, the east wall of the mansion showed signs of damage due to the rain in the past few days, and it would cost money to hire craftsmen to maintain it.

He also had to pay the monthly wages to the hundreds of servants in the marquis's mansion.

There is also the living expenses of his two younger brothers' families, which all need to be paid by him. After the old marquis and his wife passed away, his half-brothers were separated. Gu Silang and Gu Wulang are his biological brothers, and as the eldest brother, he has to take care of them, so these two families are still living in the marquis's mansion and relying on the mansion for support.

He had even less money.

Moreover, his two younger brothers are both restless. They treated people to a meal in a restaurant the day before yesterday, and went to a brothel to drink yesterday. Sometimes they even fight with others and need to pay compensation for the injuries. Gu Yankai has to clean up these things.

After a month, Gu Yankai looked at the little money he had left and suddenly felt a splitting headache.

There was no other way. Even if he didn't want to meet Bai, he had to go. Considering that he took the initiative to see her, she would probably give him the silver, Gu Yankai thought confidently.

Arrived at the main courtyard gate.

Gu Yan noticed something different at first glance. There were two old women guarding the door. They were big and strong, and looked very strong. He also felt that they looked unfamiliar, as he had never seen them before.

Walking to the main courtyard, people coming and going were all maids in blue clothes. Some were wiping tables, some were mopping the floor, some were taking care of flowers and plants, some were feeding goldfish, and some were rolling up curtains. No one was whispering. They were all working seriously, each doing their own job. They looked very disciplined. When they saw Gu Yankai, they immediately bowed respectfully, not as lazy as before. It was as if the main courtyard had suddenly come alive, adding a strong atmosphere of life.