Chapter 79: Chapter 78: A Lot of Money

Ye Shiqi did it so that Mrs. Lai would leave her in peace later on, not to trouble her father and herself, and especially not to trouble her mother during her short return.

She conjured three money pouches out of thin air from her space, took out the money pouch she had just received from her mother’s hands, and the one given by the housekeeper.

“Oh, oh, oh”

All eyes in the courtyard were once again on Ye Shiqi, as the child took out the money pouches once more, looking like she was going to give them to Mrs. Lai.

Mrs. Li closed her eyes for a moment, her heart ached, but she also knew that if the child did not take out the money, Mrs. Lai, now aware of it, would make things difficult for the child after her departure.

Handing over the hard-earned reward money and monthly salary to Mrs. Lai was indeed heart-wrenching, and though she had no choice but to comply, she concealed her sorrow and resentment, particularly annoyed that Mrs. Lai had seized the money rewarded by the housekeeper to the child.

Hongji’s facial expressions were changing, filled with sadness, pity, and most of all, embarrassment. In the presence of strangers, his mother was treating his wife like this, all because of his own shortcomings as a husband.

It was his failure to protect his wife and child; it was all his own incompetence, and Hongji was filled with self-reproach…!

The guard, seeing that the child had taken out the money, figured there wasn’t much left for him to do, so he let go of Mrs. Lai.

Mrs. Lai’s eyes remained fixed on the money pouch in Ye Shiqi’s hand with glee, and as soon as the guard released her hand, her heavy body leaped forward with a bound, snatching the money pouch from the little child’s hands.

Mrs. Li, seeing how fierce Mrs. Lai was and fearing she might harm the child after getting the money, quickly stepped back several paces.

Mrs. Lai had the money in her hands, but she ran too fast and stumbled forward, falling to the ground. She landed on her hands, nearly face-planting.

The immense impact made her hands sting sharply, and she cried out, “Ah! It’s killing me.”

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She sat up, checked her hands to see that the skin was scraped, and her clothes on the front were soiled. Fortunately, the money pouch had not been thrown away.

She just sat there on the ground, opening the money pouch right then and there, regardless of the onlookers. Inside the pouch were some copper coins; she counted several dozen. Among the three pouches, one of them contained two taels of silver.

No matter how small, it was a windfall. Her son’s entire day’s work of selling wooden Bodhisattvas only earned about 100 coins.

Mrs. Lai was injured but still smiling gleefully. To everyone’s eyes, it was all over a mere few dozen coins, and the servant from the wealthy household looked down on her as if she were dirt poor.

No one among the Tang Family’s servants who came knew how much money Madam had given Mrs. Li. They just assumed Madam wouldn’t be so stingy, and since the child didn’t hide any money, having taken out all the pouches, that was probably all there was.

Xiu Zhi and the maid Mei Zhi knew they’d made things difficult for Mrs. Li by making her take out all her money. They were smug and happy, not bothering to hide their expressions.

Mrs. Li knew it was intentional, but she did not dare to resist or even to argue with them.

Mrs. Lai put the money pouch into her pocket, took out a handkerchief to wipe her injured hand, wincing, and then suddenly looked up at Ye Shiqi with a harsh gaze and said:

“Where’s the money that the Tang Mansion’s housekeeper just rewarded you with? What if you, a little child with money in your pocket, lose it?”

Seeing that his mother had already obtained the money from Mrs. Li but was still eyeing the child’s carving reward money, having got the money and still pretending to be ignorant and deliberately scolding his own child, Hongji looked at his mother with an angry glare and said:

“Mother, that is what the child rightfully deserves. Let her keep it to buy sweets. Why are you doing this? Didn’t you notice there’s an extra pouch in your hand? Isn’t that the very money rewarded by Housekeeper Tang?”

Hongji’s father, who had been silent all this time, always let his old wife play the villain upfront, while he played the role of a peacemaker.

He knew it was his time to speak, and seeing the expression on his son’s face at this moment, he feared that if his wife pressed too hard, it might incite rebellion in their son.

“Enough, enough, the guests have arrived, and you don’t even know to entertain them.”

Mrs. Lai, rebuked by the old man, patted the dust off herself, and everyone in the courtyard moved away, covering their noses with a look of disgust.

“Old man, our family doesn’t have enough stools for them to sit on. We only have the small stools from the kitchen for sitting while eating. Er Niu, San Niu, move the stools out for the guests to sit on.”

Mrs. Lai thought about it and felt that pressing too hard was also not right. She’d have to wait until these guests left. With Mrs. Li not around, it was she who would call the shots.

Ye Shuzhi and Ye Shuzhen were called Er Niu and San Niu by their mother, which sounded unpleasant, and it made them somewhat unwilling in their hearts, yet they did not dare talk back.

When they moved the small stools out from the kitchen, they finally said to everyone, “Guests, please take a seat. My name is Ye Shuzhi.”

“I’m not called San Niu, my name is Ye Shuzhen.”

The small stools that the two sisters brought out had been blackened by the kitchen’s smoke. Aside from the guard and the housekeeper, and Mrs. Pan, others disdainfully refused to sit and preferred to stand instead.

“Oh yes, this time our Young Master has come to visit your place. He said he wants to meet the wet nurse’s elder sister and younger sisters. Madam from the Tang Family has prepared generous gifts for your family.”

The housekeeper sat on a small stool, holding the Young Master, and then remembered the gifts, instructing the guards to move the presents from the carriage.

“Heh heh, the Madam from the Tang Mansion is really too polite. You visit and even bring so many gifts, why is that?”

Hongji’s father faced the housekeeper with a somewhat sheepish demeanor, rubbing his hands together, but his eyes gleamed with delight. His daughter-in-law being valued by their employers, and their family receiving such treatment, was an honor for them.

“Gifts, oh, wonderful, wonderful.”

Mrs. Lai truly didn’t hide her greedy expression and gaze, staring fixedly at the gifts brought out by the guard, wanting to gather all the presents into her room.

“Madam, you may take those gifts, but these two boxes of candies and a little something for the young girls, you mustn’t keep them to yourself. The children haven’t come back yet, have they?”

The housekeeper, having already witnessed the behavior of this family, directed the guard to carry the children’s gifts into Hongji’s room.

The guard, following the housekeeper’s orders, did not know which room belonged to Hongji and thus asked him:

“Big brother, where is your room?”

“I’ll take it! I’ll put the gifts away.” Hongji felt that his and his wife’s room, even though it was very modest, was not a place for other men to enter, after all, it was their bridal chamber.

The guard felt it was also inappropriate to enter someone else’s room, so he handed over the presents to Hongji, allowing the honest man to carry everything back to the room.

Mrs. Lai’s mouth twitched, but in the end, she suppressed her greed, inwardly rejoicing. With so many presents entering her room, they were all hers. Whatever was reported into Hongji’s room would also be hers once the guests were gone.

Tang Shunyan at this moment wanted to find Ye Shiqi for a chat, wanting to ask this little sister why she was so clever and why her writing was so good.

Ye Shiqi, seeing those gifts taken to the room by Hongji, glanced around and did not wish to stay in her mother’s arms. She went to hug Siwa and gestured with her hands, asking her elder sister to take her back to the room, not paying any attention to Tang Shunyan’s actions whatsoever.