The old lady is reborn

Rong Ruozhi just felt that his heart was empty, and his whole life was shattered by the few words Tian Anran said before his death.

It was just a trap set by Tian Anran, and then he made up his mind and hated Song Ying. Now the couple are estranged, and he also ruined his eldest son of the Nan'an Marquis Mansion, who is 35 years old and illiterate...

Now I am in my fifties and approaching sixty. There is no chance to start over. I have made a big mistake and it is irreversible.

Should I blame Tian Anran or myself for what has happened today?

After all, I am stupid and ridiculous. I once thought that I had a true love that was touching and a priceless understanding and companionship that broke through the mundane world.

Now that the veil has been torn off, all we see is a woman who is bent on climbing up the social ladder and, because she cannot enter the royal family, she is scheming to enter the marquis's mansion.

And he actually cherished such a woman for almost his entire life.

The Sixth Prince looked at Rong Ruzhi, but what he was thinking in his heart was waiting for his son Rong Huaiyuan to come back and see if Rong Huaiyuan would recognize him as his father.

Now that he has returned to Kyoto, there is a high probability that he will be reused by the emperor.

If he still misses his father Rong Ruzhi, then this Marquis of Nan'an is still of some use.

If Rong Huaiyuan also became estranged from him, then there was no need to keep the knowledgeable but useless Marquis Nan'an.

Rong Ruozhi returned home in a daze. Zhao Ting was waiting for him to get the money again. She asked Rong Ruozhi for money every few days for different reasons.

This time, not only Zhao Ting was waiting for him, but the accountant of the mansion was also waiting for him in the corridor in the courtyard.

Rong Ruozhi first sent Zhao Ting away, and then asked the accountant: "What's the matter?"

The accountant said, "Old Madam Song Ying took the imperial decree of divorce and demanded that the Nan'an Marquis's Mansion return the money she had used to subsidize the Marquis's Mansion for the past thirty years.

All these subsidies come from her dowry, since we are getting divorced..."

The accountant handed Rong Ruozhi a list as he spoke, and added: "The old lady made a general list and sent a carriage to bring in baskets of accounts.

I checked the accounts from one or two months ago, ten or twenty years ago, and it seemed correct. The old lady took the account books and left, leaving only this general list.

She said that if we didn't believe it, we could go to her shops at any time to check the accounts.

In the past, the things used by the mansion from the shop under Old Madam Song’s name were all provided for free.

But every shop has to keep accounts, so now we pick out those that were taken for free and calculate the total amount.

We have to pay the debt, even."

"Pay back the money?"

Rong Ruozhi went to the remote courtyard where Wu Siyu lived now. Wu Siyu didn't seem as self-righteous as before and thought that her father-in-law came to visit her to recover from her injuries.

But she also knew that Rong Ruozhi would still support her as the housekeeper after she recovered from her injury.

Rong Ruozhi deliberately asked her why she had enough money when she was the housekeeper and didn't need to ask him for money, and why life in the mansion was much better than it is now.

Wu Siyu said that it was all subsidized by Song Ying. In the past, the public office only gave out monthly allowances and the daily purchases for the big kitchen, as well as the money needed for external gifts and exchanges.

Other items such as clothes, shoes, socks, paper, ink, pens, and inkstones, winter charcoal and summer ice, and a share of cosmetics and jewelry were all given away for free by stores under Song Ying's name or bought by Song Ying.

Even the big kitchen collected a lot of fruits, vegetables, meat and eggs produced from the fields on Song Ying’s farm.

Rong Ruozhi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Has it been like this for all these years since you got married?"

Wu Siyu nodded and said, "It's always like that, but it hasn't happened since the recent winter banquet."

Rong Ruozhi was stunned for a long time before asking, "If I have to pay this debt, how much do you think it will be?"

Wu Siyu looked up in surprise, and seeing that Rong Ruozhi was not going to say anything, she could only say, "If we only count the twenty years or so since I got married.

If we calculate it based on 240 months, to pay back the money, even if we take a flat discount, 60% of the public money will be gone. "

Wu Siyu was a bit greedy as a housekeeper, and she had estimated in her mind how much Song Ying gave her per month.

After hearing this, Rong Ruzhi knew that the total was probably correct.

The accountant just said that Song Ying's bill list started five years after she got married. By then, she had two sons and all the necessary equipment was available.

Five years after she married him, Song Ying has been supporting half of the family, covering the expenses for thirty-two years.

Rong Ruozhi called the accountant and ordered, "Just pay back the total amount she asked. If the money in the account is not enough, give her the public property, the shops, farms and lands."

The accountant had already roughly estimated it, and was afraid that Rong Ruo didn't know how much the money was, so he reminded him: "If you pay it back like this, there will be basically nothing left in the Nan'an Marquis's Mansion.

We can pay it back in installments every year, just like we did when we used the money in the past. The annual output of our Nan'an Marquis' farms, shops and land can be returned to the old lady. At least the Marquis's Mansion can still keep the capital."

Rong Ruozhi heard this and said, "In the end, you are the only servant left in my mansion who still cares about the mansion and is loyal and devoted.

But I have owed her a debt for thirty-two years, and I don't have thirty-two years to pay her back.

She didn't even ask me for interest, so I just gave her the entire principal. I feel sorry for her, and I also owe Huai'an that kid.

If I don't return her, she won't be able to stay in Nan'an Marquis' Mansion. Which of these children, grandchildren, and daughters-in-law can protect and support the Marquis' Mansion?

Rather than letting it end up in the hands of someone unknown and be squandered, it is better to return it to Song Ying.

It can be given to Song Ying, and can also fall on Huai'an and Huaiyuan. They are all my children.

Let’s just focus on the private property here.”

Rong Ruo said knowingly: After Huaiyuan left Kyoto, Song Ying wrote and sent various things every month, and kept in touch with Huaiyuan and several grandchildren. After returning to Beijing, he probably lived with Song Ying... I don’t care much about Huaiyuan... Your Majesty values ​​and loves him, alas.

He added: "You are a good accountant and have been working in my mansion for almost a lifetime. After you finish this matter, I will give you a pension..."

Song Ying did not expect that Tian Anran died like this. The people from the Jingzhao Yin Police Station notified her to cooperate in identifying the body.

When Song Ying arrived, he saw "Tian Anran" arranged in the shape of a human.

Her body had been broken into six pieces, and someone had put them together to form a human shape.

Next to it were a few snowflake candies and a suicide note.

Snowflake candy? Nine Kings?

The first time Song Ying saw this snowflake crisp candy was when she attended the spring banquet in the palace that year, and the imperial concubine ordered people to put it on each table.

At that spring banquet, the late emperor publicly humiliated the late empress.

The mother of the current emperor, the Empress Dowager, prepared a spring banquet according to the old palace custom, and among the food, she also prepared traditional snacks - spring pancakes and spring rolls.

Although the emperor and empress attended the spring banquet, the late emperor ignored the late empress the entire time.

The Queen and everyone else were waiting for His Majesty to come. His Majesty came late and brought the Imperial Concubine with him. Before he sat down, he smiled and said, "I was late because I was waiting for my beloved concubine to pick out clothes and change jewelry."

He held the heavily dressed imperial concubine's hand and sat her beside him. The imperial concubine's clothes were obviously out of style, but because of what the previous emperor had said, no one dared to say anything.

From then on, every word the imperial concubine said was suppressing the queen.

The Spring Banquet hosted by the Queen was hosted by the Queen as usual. The Queen said, "Let's start the feast!"

The imperial concubine said at the same time: "Come here, Xiao Jiuer!"

At that time, the Ninth Prince stood up from the prince's seat and was embraced by the imperial concubine to sit in the main seat with the late emperor.

As part of their family, the queen sat aside as if an awkward presence.

The imperial concubine smiled and said, "What a coincidence. I shouldn't have interrupted my sister. It's my fault. I'll shout for my sister, let's start the feast!"