Madam Jiang suddenly raised her head and looked at Tong Xiyang, but quickly lowered her head guiltily. Tong Xiyang abruptly stood up and pointed at Madam Jiang’s nose, scolding, "You really did it. I always thought you were very smart, but how could you do something so foolish at such a critical moment? The people at Tongxuan Hall can take over the Drunken Immortal Pavilion without a sound; you should know that the people behind them must have a powerful background. Instead of focusing on our work, you came up with such a crooked idea, trying to fool them with substandard goods." She paused for a moment, still unsatisfied with her anger, "Tell me, what are you going to do now?"

Madam Jiang never thought the matter was so serious. She looked at Tong Xiyang and explained, "Third Young Madam, you also know my family’s situation. We must move, and my husband and I are unfamiliar with life in the Capital. It was hard enough to find a house and ask someone to help us, but we don’t have enough silver on hand... so... so... I really didn’t think it would become this serious."

Tong Xiyang’s face was even colder than the ice and snow outside. She pressed on relentlessly, "Didn’t think it was so serious? What is your brain filled with?" She paused and continued, "Move out, move out. Didn’t I tell you that you can’t buy a house? She told you to move, and you just did it? Since when are you so easy to talk into? When Fourth Miss was here, you weren’t like this; now you’re being overshadowed and can’t even lift your head." She waved her hand dismissively, "I don’t care how useless you are, but you can’t be a drag on me. Now we’ve gotten ourselves into this mess. It’s too late to make new clothes; the other party is making us compensate according to the contract. What are you going to do about it?"

Madam Jiang still didn’t seem to realize the severity of the issue and asked hopefully, "So... how much do we have to compensate?"

Tong Xiyang glared, and the steward beside her trembled slightly, responding, "I... I calculated... all over again... w... we need to pay eighty thousand taels of silver."

Before the steward could finish, Madam Jiang’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

The Jiang Family was turned upside down that day. The embroidery shop couldn’t be kept open. Tong Xiyang calculated carefully and found that giving the entire embroidery shop to them still required an additional contribution of thirty thousand taels of silver. This meant that not only had their efforts over the past year gone to waste, but they had also thrown away tens of thousands of taels for nothing.

She pooled together her assets, splitting the losses with the Jiang Family. Meanwhile, Madam Jiang was crying for help from Jiang Shilin, begging him to use his connections to have Tongxuan Hall reduce the compensation. Jiang Shilin, left with no other option, navigated through layers of connections to reach the Tongxuan Hall shopkeeper. Somehow, they managed to reduce the compensation by ten thousand taels...

Madam Jiang didn’t have any money, so every day she cried in front of Old Madam Jiang and Jiang Shilin. The whole family scraped together whatever they could to fill the gap. Tong Xiyang also had to empty her savings from the past few years and fell sick at home... Meanwhile, a letter came from Pingliang, saying that Ren Jun’s old illness had relapsed and the family needed to send over five thousand taels.

The Wujin Bo Mansion had long been emptied; at this point, there was no more silver left in the public accounts. Besides, sending money to Ren Jun, with Ren Family’s current head just inheriting the title and First Young Madam Ren managing the household, how could they agree to use the public accounts? Tong Xiyang tore the letter in front of the Grand Dowager.

The family started discussing a split. First Young Madam Ren, now the Countess, tearfully said to Old Madam Ren, "If it weren’t for the third sister-in-law instigating Madam Jiang to start the business, the Jiang Family wouldn’t have ended up like this. Even the younger sister over there is struggling; she even has to use her dowry to support her whole family, while we are suffering here..."

Old Madam Ren heard the underlying message of the Countess. She, too, was using her dowry to supplement the public silver, supporting a large family.

The Countess had a gentle temperament and wouldn’t raise her voice even when angry, but Madam Jiang was different. Though they were cousins, their personalities were worlds apart.

Old Madam Jiang furrowed her brows, holding a bowl and looking at the table with only two dishes and a soup, casually tossing the chopsticks aside in question, "A whole family, just these?"

"Is the food not to your taste?" Madam Jiang asked with worry, "Is it too salty, too bland? Should I have someone reheat it?"

Old Madam Jiang caught her evasive answer and discontentedly said, "It’s one thing when it’s just us women at home for lunch, but now that Shilin is at home, you serve only these two dishes?" She pointed at the greens and tofu soup before her, "If I remember correctly, this was leftover from lunch, wasn’t it?"

Madam Jiang’s eyes reddened, and she looked toward Jiang Shilin with grievance, lowering her eyes further, "Mother, you don’t know, the household isn’t the same as before, we have to save where we can." She glanced at Madam Jiang, who couldn’t move out after all, "It’s not that I’m not happy, it’s just that my heart is as unwilling as yours; you all have it better, but for me, living for over ten years, I’ve never eaten like this."

Old Madam Jiang was rendered speechless by her words, staring at her with wide eyes.

Madam Jiang held her forehead and swayed a bit, looking to Jiang Shilin, "I’m not feeling well, my husband, take your time with Mother; I’ll go back and rest a bit."

The whole table watched as Madam Jiang left the room. Old Madam Jiang was so angry, pointing at her back, unable to speak for a long time. Jiang Shilin consoled, "Mother, tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll have someone go to the Hongyan Building to buy it."

"I won’t eat!" Old Madam Jiang stood up: "Since she put it that way, even if I could eat, I’d choke to death." With that, she supported herself on the arm of the maid next to her and headed back to her room.

Upon entering the room, she instructed the maid next to her, "Go to the outer courtyard, give some silver to a young servant, and send him to Hongyan Building to buy some crystal braised meat and ham hock back." The maid complied and took some broken silver before leaving the room. Not long after, she hurriedly returned with a changed expression and reported, "Old Madam... the young servant in the outer courtyard said that they are very busy right now and don’t have time to go out."

Old Madam Jiang’s anger flared up instantly, and she said furiously, "What do you mean by ’very busy’? They can’t even be commanded to do such a trivial thing. What’s the use of keeping them around!"

The maid replied in a low voice, "Old Madam, they really are too busy now, each person is doing the work of three..." Old Madam Jiang asked, looking puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"

The maid answered cautiously, "It’s... it’s the Second Madam... who dismissed more than half of the young servants and maids in the house, saying that they can’t afford to keep so many idle people."

Old Madam Jiang was so angry she almost stumbled: "Let’s go, find her!"

The two made their way across the snow to the courtyard of the second house. Without announcing her presence, Old Madam Jiang burst through the door, just in time to see a maid carrying out a food box, containing a bowl of bird’s nest soup, a dish of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall... three or four plates of meat dishes. Her eyes turned red with anger, and she shouted from the doorway, "So many good dishes, are these prepared just for the Second Young Master?"

She had inquired before coming and knew that Jiang Shilin was currently in the study room.

Madam Jiang came out from inside, with a faint, proper smile on her face, but Old Madam Jiang, seeing her, felt her anger rise at once and exclaimed, "I didn’t expect it, you seem to have grown quite capable, dismissing the servants in the mansion without even informing anyone. With so many people dismissed, who will do the work in the future?"

"Mother, you might not know this, but the household here is almost depleted, and if your daughter-in-law doesn’t economize a bit, we won’t be able to get by," she sighed helplessly. "If you find yourself short-staffed, please be a little patient. Once things are better in the house, your daughter-in-law will hire them back for you."

Old Madam Jiang had a very clear understanding of the accounts in her heart, and she looked at Madam Jiang with displeasure: "Although the household is burdened by your elder sister-in-law, it shouldn’t be this difficult. If you don’t know how to manage the household, perhaps you should let your elder sister-in-law continue to bear the burden!"

Madam Jiang’s eyes flashed with mockery, and a cold smile appeared in her heart while maintaining a smile on her face as she replied, "Mother, saying that really hurts your daughter-in-law’s heart. Your daughter-in-law may be foolish, but when it came to household management, I was taught by Mother yourself. Besides, although Big Sister-in-law Thrifty... who knows, she might take the silver and start a business again, our family really can’t withstand any more turmoil."

Old Madam Jiang’s anger rose inside her as she tried to suppress her fury, "In that case, bring me the household account books, I want to see how it is that you claim the pot has truly run dry."

"Please wait," Madam Jiang answered almost before Old Madam Jiang had finished speaking, and the maid behind her came out with the account books. The speed of the response made it seem as though it had been prepared long before. Old Madam Jiang squinted as she took the account books, flipping through them. Her face turned dark: "Impossible, how can there be so little silver?" The account books showed no problems.

Thinking it over, she suspected Madam Jiang had embezzled the silver, leaving them to eat only greens and tofu while she dined on luxurious foods in her room, and angrily pointed at the food box the maids were carrying, saying, "Is this what you mean by not having enough money? What is this then?"

Madam Jiang paused at her gaze and said, "Mother, you’re wronging me. I bought this with my own dowry to nourish my husband. I haven’t touched any public funds."

"What!?" It was as if she had heard the biggest joke, she looked at Madam Jiang incredulously and said, "Your dowry? Once you married into our Jiang family, you are part of our Jiang family, and you still distinguish between yours and mine?"

Madam Jiang looked as if she too had heard a huge joke, she covered her face and began to laugh: "Mother, you can’t expect me to use my dowry to support you, can you? You need to know, these things are my own..." She paused mid-sentence, showing disdain on her face: "You don’t expect me to be like Fourth Miss Tong, using my dowry to support you, do you?"

"You!" Old Madam Jiang was choked by her words. Madam Jiang bowed slightly and said, "Mother, my husband hasn’t eaten dinner yet, and your daughter-in-law needs to go and serve him his meal, please take your time!" With that, she bypassed Old Madam Jiang and left with the maids and maidservants.

Old Madam Jiang was so enraged that she leaned against the door frame, her body trembling, and her vision blurred with bouts of darkness.