Chapter 561: Shifting Responsibility (2)

Xiyan took out a letter from her sleeves and presented it to Chu Lian. “Third Young Madam, this letter came from the northern border. It’s from Manager Qin.”

Chu Lian opened the letter and skimmed through it quickly.

When she finished reading, she smiled and said, “Manager Qin has finished setting up the simple market, so he and the others are already on the way back to the capital.”

Since everything was going swimmingly, Xiyan was happy as well.

The mood in Songtao Court was harmonious with the sounds of laughter and happy chatter, but it was the complete opposite in the gloomy Qingxi Hall.

The matriarch slammed the letters in her hand on the side table, her complaints bursting out in a furious exclamation. “This is absurd! How can these people be so brazen!”

He Ying stood by her side, dabbing at her tears. “Mother, please don’t be angry. It’s all my fault. I couldn’t find a good chef, causing Guilin Restaurant to get criticised.”

Senior Servant Liu stood behind the matriarch and patted the matriarch’s back. There was a disapproving expression on her face as she looked at He Ying.

“Enough, stop weeping. This isn’t completely your fault; Sanlang’s wife transferred all of the original personnel away, so there’s nothing you could have done about it!”

He Ying wiped away her tears and nodded dejectedly. “Mother, what are we going to do then? Our family still needs funds! We couldn’t possibly go borrowing from others, right?!”

There was only a small amount of funds left in the public accounts in the first place. After they were returned to Matriarch He’s hands, Muxiang and He Ying had both taken their cut, leaving a paltry sum of income. The funds couldn’t cover their estate’s expenses now.

The matriarch’s brows were furrowed tightly together. She hadn’t thought that she would have to worry about their bread and butter even after reaching such a grand old age. She should’ve been happily retired by now.

Seeing the terrible expression on the matriarch’s face, Pan Nianzhen spoke up in a soft tone, “Grandmother, I’ve heard that Aunt’s health has gotten much better. She can get off the bed and walk around now, as well as take care of the management of her courtyard!”

Thanks to Pan Nianzhen’s reminder, a lightbulb went off in He Ying’s head.

She looked approvingly at her daughter. “Mother, Nianzhen is right. You’re already in your golden years. This is when you should be able to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour. It shouldn’t be up to you to manage these tiresome matters in the estate. Sister-in-Law’s health wasn’t up to the task in the past, but now that she’s healthy again, shouldn’t she be the one to manage these household matters?”

The matriarch’s body wasn’t as hearty and hale as it had been in the past. She was starting to struggle with the estate’s management. Her daughter’s suggestion sounded perfectly reasonable to her. Since she didn’t want to handle these trivialities any longer, she might as well hand it off to her daughter-in-law.

Her daughter-in-law had been resting for so many years. It was indeed time for her to take the mantle back up again.

Gears were turning in Eldest Madam’s head as she thought of how best to gouge another cut from the funds after handing the public accounts over to Countess Jing’an.

Once the account books reached her sister-in-law’s hands, it would then be her business to take care of making ends meet. It wouldn’t have anything to do with her.

While He Ying was deep in thought, the matriarch brought up an abrupt question. “Miss Ying, how are Nianzhen’s marriage prospects going?”

Since the new year had passed, Matriarch He had been busy looking at potential grooms for Pan Nianzhen. Her friends had passed on some candidates, but her daughter and granddaughter had rejected all of them.

Actually, she wasn’t very satisfied with the choices presented either. Most of them were from minor officials’ families, or some poor households. If the potential candidate had some money, then it was only because they were a lowly merchant.

Unfortunately, the matriarch hadn’t taken Pan Nianzhen’s status into consideration while thinking this.

Other than being linked to House Jing’an through her mother, she didn’t have any other redeeming qualities to her. Her mother was also a widow who had abandoned her husband’s house. In her younger days, her mother had also made a bad name for herself.

It hadn’t been easy to collect this list of men without any bad reputation.

Actually, He Ying didn’t like the potential candidates because she had her mind set on He Erlang.

She secretly glanced at her mother to gauge her mood before pretending to be furious. “All of them are looking down on us! Look at who they’ve recommended. Miss Zhen has been suffering with me ever since her childhood. How could I let her marry just anyone? Wouldn’t she have to continue suffering under her mother-in-law after marrying then?”