Two flowers bloom, each representing one thing.
Back at the Li residence, after driving away the ungrateful Li Yaonan, Ma Yulian couldn't wait to go to Jinglan Courtyard that very day to count Lin Yixuan's dowry.
After the old lady got the news, she secretly cursed Ma Yulian for being unfilial. She lightly told someone to seal up the dowry, saying that it was Lin Yixuan's stuff after all and no one was allowed to touch it. Then, she quickly put all the dowry in her room.
Ma Yulian was so angry that she fell backwards. She had been running around for someone, but she didn't expect that the old lady would intercept her.
Aunts and nieces are all scum when it comes to interests.
Ma Yulian racked her brains, trying to get something out of the old lady.
The older the old lady gets, the more she likes money. Even though her son is filial, money is not as real as it is. Most importantly, the one she loves most is Ma Yulian's son. Although he is also her grandson, there is a gap between them. The older she gets, the more power she desires. For the sake of her final say in the Li family, the old lady will never let Ma Yulian get away with anything.
The old lady understood everything very well. Don't think that she didn't know Ma Yulian's little thoughts. If she hadn't held on to her money tightly, how could Ma Yulian be so filial.
No matter how much Ma Yulian talked, the old lady remained unmoved. However, she was still generous to her grandson. When Li Yaozong left, the old lady gave him 1,000 taels of private money.
Lai Yiu-chung was close to this grandmother from the bottom of his heart.
Ma Yulian was furious and scolded her son for being stupid. The old lady had received so many benefits, but she only gave Zong'er one thousand taels. He wanted to bribe her son with such a small amount of money. He was dreaming. She hurriedly nagged her son again, making sure he understood that he came out of her belly and could not be siding with outsiders.
As for who the outsiders are—
Lai Yiu Chung actually had a headache. Both his grandmother and his mother were doing it for his own good. No matter how they fought, he and his eldest brother would be the only ones to benefit. He really couldn't understand why his mother and grandmother had to fight against each other like this, so he simply packed up his things and ran away.
Of course, before leaving, he did not forget to coax his grandmother and mother so that they would think that their son (grandson) was obedient.
In the past, with Li Yaonan as a thorn in the eye, the conflict between the old lady and Ma Yulian was not obvious. Now that Li Yaonan has been kicked out of the house, Lin Yixuan's dowry is not a small amount. Ma Yulian was already lacking in confidence due to her poor background, and faced with such a large sum of money, how could she bear it? The discord between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gradually surfaced.
They fought fiercely here. At the end of the month, the merchants came to collect the debts. The old lady and Ma Yulian were dumbfounded. Looking at the shopkeepers of the four shops in front of them, Ma Yulian turned pale and roared without any image: "What's going on?"
Several shopkeepers' faces changed, and one of them stood up and said coldly: "Madam, do you want to deny your debt?"
The old lady was so angry that she was shaking: "You, tell me, what's going on? When did the Li family owe the debt? How come I didn't know about it?" The old lady recognized this shopkeeper. She heard that this shop was backed by the prince's mansion, so the Li family naturally couldn't afford to offend him.
"The old lady celebrated her birthday a few days ago and bought a lot of things on credit from our shop. She agreed to settle the bill at the end of the month. What? You don't admit it?" Shopkeeper Liu looked at them coldly. He looked down on this family. Their claims of virtue and filial piety could only fool the ignorant common people. Everyone in a real wealthy family would have a debt in their heart. She really thought she could sit back and relax just by working for the Shangshu Mansion. She's just a concubine's daughter.
Ma Yulian's eyes turned black and her voice trembled: "This, this was bought on credit by the second son's wife..." It has nothing to do with the Li family.
Before Ma Yulian could finish her words, Manager Liu said impatiently, "I only know that the Li family is hosting a birthday banquet, and the total is 26,323 taels. After deducting the decimal, you can just give 26,300 taels."
"I have seven thousand six hundred taels here, too."
"And here I am, twelve thousand eight hundred taels."
"Here are my nine thousand taels."
Several shopkeepers reported their accounts one by one. Shopkeeper Liu said calmly, "A total of 55,700 taels. Thank you for your patronage. These are the shopkeepers of Jubaozhai, Yunhua Cloth Shop, and Fulai Grain and Oil Shop."
The old lady and Ma Yulian were disappointed when they heard this. These shops all had backers. Among them, Yunhua Cloth Shop had the lowest backer, but it was also the property of the Censor's wife. It was impossible for them to default on their debts.
Ma Yulian was so angry that her heart ached. She was so angry that her teeth itched. She suspected that Lin Yixuan was deliberately doing this. Otherwise, there were so many shops in Yangzhou, why did he choose to buy things from these few shops? She said angrily: "You should go to find Lin Yixuan, the Shuang'er from Jingyang Marquis Mansion. He is my second son's wife, and he is in charge of all the birthday banquet matters."
Shopkeeper Li sneered, "Madam, are you kidding me? The bill is signed by the Li family. I only recognize the bill and not the person. If Madam doesn't pay, I will have to report it."
Ma Yulian stood aside pretending to be dead. There was not that much silver in the account of the Li family.
The old lady was furious, but there was nothing she could do. Faced with the aggressiveness of the shopkeepers, she could only reluctantly reach into her own pocket and have someone take out her private money.
After finally getting rid of the shopkeepers, the old lady became so angry that she fell ill and couldn't eat for several days. Lin Yixuan's dowry hadn't even been warmed up yet, and most of her own private money had gone out. How could she not feel upset? Fortunately, the two little beasts had been driven out of the house. The old lady immediately ordered those at the gate to kick the two ungrateful bastards out if they saw them.
Ma Yulian gloated over the misfortune, and later shared the same hatred. She was really happy to see the old lady being humiliated. Who let the old man occupy Lin Yixuan's dowry? But Ma Yulian felt a little uncomfortable about paying tens of thousands of taels of silver to others. Those were her son's things...
The relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law immediately reconciled. Having a common enemy, they also had a common language. They cursed Li Yaonan every day, wishing him to die outside.
Li Yaonan is simply the detente between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
She became even more determined in her heart to protect Lin Yixuan's dowry well and never let them take it back. After all, they were not in the right in this matter.
When Li Yaonan and Lin Yixuan arrived at the Yangzhou wharf, they did not go directly to the new house, but returned to the Li Mansion.
The group walked in a swagger, almost beating drums and gongs to tell passers-by that the second young master of the Li family had returned.
Li Yaonan did a full-on show. Since he had been adopted, he did not want to leave any hidden dangers. He and Master Li were father and son, and this blood relationship could not be cut off. Even though he had been adopted, if Master Li used his status to pressure him, although he could ignore it, it would be bad for his reputation. In the future, he would work in officialdom, and the most important thing was his reputation. He did not want his future to be ruined by this troublesome family.
Most people in Yangzhou City knew that Li Yaonan was going to be adopted, and this achievement was thanks to his own publicity.
When they arrived at the gate of the Li Mansion, as expected, the servants were guarding the gate tightly and would not let them in.
Li Yaonan was not afraid of being embarrassed, and immediately burst into tears: "Father doesn't want me anymore, why doesn't he even let me in the door?"
Lin Yixuan's face was full of black lines and his cheeks turned red. He had never encountered such a thing before. He just wanted to find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
Li Yaonan cried bitterly, beat and scolded the servants, saying that he was the son of the Li family, why should they stop him, and who gave them the courage.
Seeing that more and more people were gathering at the gate of Li's mansion and people watching the fun were pointing and talking, the servant hurried in to report.
When the old lady heard that they had returned, she flew into a rage at the servant, pointing at his nose and cursing, "Kick them out! Beat them out! Get them out! The Li family doesn't have descendants like that."
Ma Yulian was still filled with hatred, so she quietly called her trusted nanny over, gave her a few words of advice, and then gave her a silver note.
Nanny Wang nodded, rolled her eyes, patted her chest and said, "I promise to get this done."
Ma Yulian felt relieved and hurriedly comforted the old lady: "Aunt, please don't be angry. Take care of yourself. You are the backbone of our Li family. You don't have to pay attention to those two ungrateful people."
The old lady had a gloomy face. She was filled with hatred in her heart. She felt uncomfortable when she thought of the 55,700 taels of silver. If it weren't for Lin Yixuan's dowry to make up for it, she would have wanted to tear those two little beasts to pieces.
Li Yaonan cried heartbreakingly at the door: "Father, old lady, don't you want the child anymore?"
"Get out of here, don't make trouble in front of the Li Mansion. The old lady said that the Li family doesn't have descendants like you." The servant was very angry and naturally had no good face to Li Yaonan, not to mention that he was a loser with no permanent property.
Li Yaonan was so grief-stricken that he took several steps back, with an expression of disbelief on his face: "Impossible, I want to see the old lady. I am her grandson, she can't let me go..."
"Just get out if I tell you to. You are no longer a member of the Li family, so why are you still staying here? Second Young Master, if you don't leave, don't blame us for being rude." Anyway, the old lady didn't like him, and since she said to kick him out, he naturally had to do as she said.
"No—" Li Yaonan was devastated. He covered his chest and looked sad.
More than twenty servants surrounded him and were ready to use force.
Li Yaonan lowered his eyes to hide the sarcasm on his lips. These servants were so bold. They probably didn't tell them that there were people watching around their master. Ma Yulian cherished her reputation and would not let anyone commit a crime in public. But it was fine. Seeing that more and more people were gathering around, Li Yaonan didn't plan to continue acting. He knelt on the ground with a sad face and said resolutely: "Uncle, Madam Li, I kneel to you again. I will never bother you again. From now on, I am the son of the sixth room!"
When the onlookers saw that his address had changed, they began to whisper to each other and looked at Li Yaonan with sympathy.
Li Yaonan stood up from the ground, with a look of affection on his face, and held Lin Yixuan's hand.
Lin Yixuan was startled and felt his hands burning as if they were branded. He endured it and didn't push Li Yaonan away.
Li Yaonan said with shame: "Husband, I'm sorry, it's all my fault. Your dowry is still in the mansion. It looks like we can't go in. You will have to suffer with me in the future."
The surrounding crowd was in an uproar.
Lin Yixuan's eyes darkened, and he quickly understood his intention, and said lightly: "Let's go."
In people's eyes, the two of them were downtrodden, miserable, and slowly, supporting each other, leaving the gate of the Li Mansion...