Eighty helping hands are better than one

  When the Wen family's numerous female relatives arrived at the Yuan family in a grand manner, the people of the Yuan family knew that something was amiss and had already informed Madame Guo. Madame Yuan immediately led her entourage to welcome them at the second gate.

  When they met Mrs. Yuan, Zhen Shi and Miao Shi were the first to come forward.

  Miao's family was crying, with a handful of snot and a handful of tears, not at all sad, and the onlookers couldn't help but shed tears along with them. Those who didn't know would really think that the fourth sister had already left this world.

  Zhen's wife was furious, and she brought out the skills she had cultivated over the years to quarrel with others. She scolded in a shrill voice for half an hour, not repeating a single word. As a result, Madame Yuan and her two daughters-in-law were left speechless.

  The two of them had almost finished their argument when Jiang stepped forward again, using a combination of gentle and forceful tactics.

  If you know what's good for you, hand over the dowry properly. Otherwise, I'll take it to court. Although the Wen family will be ridiculed by others, the ones who will truly lose face are still the Yuans.

  Now that your family's noble house has declined, you can't save face, but how could the thriving side branches allow such a thing to happen?

  If it really gets out of hand, I'm sure the internal contradictions will come out, and you'll be caught in a pincer movement, unable to escape.

  As expected, after the three daughters-in-law of the Wen family had taken turns, Madame Yuan's face changed slightly. After a moment of contemplation, she conferred with the other two daughters-in-law and nodded in agreement.

  In fact, the Yuan family didn't necessarily need to covet the fourth sister's dowry, but because they couldn't bear the fourth sister's initiative to step down, feeling that they had lost face, and adding to the financial difficulties of the Guo Gong Fu, they really gave birth to a few unjustifiable lucky thoughts.

  It's ridiculous. I don't know whether to say that the people in this imperial palace are brainless or childish, how can they not want so many dowries?

  Watching Mrs. Yuan lead the Wen family's women and her two daughters-in-law into the house, Jiu Si'er couldn't help but shake her head secretly in her heart.

  "Sister, I think things are not that simple!" Xiao Shi said in a low voice as he walked beside her.

  Jiuer was taken aback.

  It turned out that Xiao's guess was correct. When the Wen family counted the dowry with the customized booklet, there were indeed discrepancies again.

  The dowry is not complete, lacking some items, mainly a few pieces of valuable jade and some calligraphy and painting antiques, which are worth at least 3,000 to 4,000 taels of silver.

  Asking about Mrs. Yuan, she was tongue-tied and couldn't explain clearly. When asked again, Mrs. Yuan couldn't make it clear because the things in each house were managed by each house separately.

  "...you can ask Ye Niang for that." Suddenly, Mrs. Yuan said before the Wen family could turn against her.

  Aunt Ye?

  It was Yuan Shiuan's concubine who was spoiled to the point of being lawless, and it was also her who had harmed Fourth Sister to this extent today. Everyone couldn't help but be stunned.

  But... what does this mean?

  Is it that the things in Yuan Shihuan's house are not managed by the main room, but have always been managed by the concubine?

  "That... before the fourth sister entered, all the things here were taken care of by Aunt Ye. After the fourth sister just entered, she wasn't familiar with it, so she didn't take over in time, and it was delayed until now." Madam Yuan hastily explained.

  But apparently Wen's family was not satisfied with this answer, and one by one they showed their discontent.

  "Let's get Aunt Ye over here and ask her in detail." But at this moment, all of these are no longer important, the only problem is to solve the dowry issue.

  But I don't want this requirement of the masses to be discounted again ——

  Madam Yuan then sent one of the servant girls by her side away, but not long after, the girl hastily returned and whispered a few words in Madam Yuan's ear.

  "Ah, that relative... I'm afraid Lin Niang can't come out to see you all. She's been weak since she got pregnant and now she's ill again. If you must see her, please be considerate and condescend to visit her..." Madam Yuan continued to say to the crowd.

  What? The crowd couldn't help but glare at him again.

  Let everyone go see this concubine, what is going on...

  "Is that all you're offering? We don't want it." The second mistress, Miao, flew into a rage and turned to leave with her entourage.

  "Mother, how can that be?" But Xiao Shi raised an objection, "This little silver is indeed not much, Fourth Sister becoming Mrs. Yuan's daughter-in-law for a time is also a way of showing filial piety to the mistress, but what I fear is that some unscrupulous slaves will take advantage of it, and that would be terrible. Not only would it damage the mistress's reputation, but it might even lead to other troubles."

  After hearing this, Mrs. Yuan naturally didn't know what to say and only wanted to get rid of them by having someone lead the crowd to see.

  "Mother..." Seeing Miao's furrowed brow, Xiao knew she didn't want to go, so he said again, "I'll go take a look with my sisters. You and the two aunts are tired, just rest here at Madame's place."

  Miao naturally nodded in satisfaction after hearing her words. Several sisters and Xiao followed the leading woman out of the door.

  "Third Sister, what are we going to do in a little while?" Nine asked in a low voice as she walked alongside Xiao Shi on the corridor.

  Now for this sister-in-law, she really has a certain admiration, although her face is not beautiful, but her talent and insight are indeed superior to others.

  "It's all right as long as you see it through!" Xiao Shi said after a moment of hesitation.

  The ninth sister listened and couldn't help but nod immediately. Indeed, when faced with sudden events, one can only react to the situation and take action accordingly.

  Xiao saw her nod and immediately smiled at her.

  She smiled back at her.

  They soon arrived at Ye Dajie's place.

  Looking at all the things that entered their eyes, several sisters couldn't help but feel deeply indignant again, because the home furnishings here were even more exquisite and elegant than those in Fourth Sister's house.

  "A few girls, please sit down for a moment, I'll go in and ask the madam to come out." The leading woman went, and another one came to greet several people, but didn't even mention pouring tea, really very rude.

  The tenth sister and little eleven were both very annoyed, so Xiao Shi comforted them to calm down.

  Just as they were speaking, the door curtain was lifted and two maidservants supported a young woman wearing a pink blouse made of cloud-patterned silk with a high collar, who walked out.

  Her face was as pale as frost and snow, her eyes were as clear as water, and her figure was so good that even with a slightly bulging belly, she still couldn't hide her slender and plump body. Hmm, indeed beautiful, no wonder that Yuan Shihuan was infatuated to the point of being dizzy and disoriented.

  "Cough, cough..." However, this beauty was a sickly Westerner, not only covering her mouth to clear her throat, but also with a weak and frail appearance. "Sisters have come from afar, I wasn't able to go out to greet you, please forgive me."

  But the sick Xi Shi was extremely polite, and while speaking humbly, she slightly bowed to several sisters.

  "Mrs. Ye is being polite," said Xiao Shi, "but since we've come to disturb you while you're ill, it's unavoidable. I heard that Mrs. Ye is in charge of the household matters, so please help us thoroughly investigate the dowry for our fourth sister. We need to take it back with us today."

  As soon as she heard this, a hint of joy flashed across the beautiful face of the sick beauty, and it seemed that she was finally going to get rid of her fourth sister.

  "How could this be? It's all my fault, I really didn't mean to... Sisters, please persuade my sister, don't let her do this, or she'll ruin her whole life..." But soon, a clear expression of sadness and heartache floated back onto the beautiful woman's face.

  All those people are so pretentious! Looks like this sentence is still quite accurate.

  Looking at Ye Xiaojie's affected behavior in front of her, Jiujie couldn't help but shake her head inwardly.

  It's just a pity that he isn't really an intelligent person after all...

  If this concubine is really clever, why bother to squeeze out the fourth sister who doesn't love to fight or contend? Doesn't she know that even if the fourth sister doesn't become the legitimate wife, it still won't be her turn?

  When the time comes, bring in another hostess, and she might be as weak and easy to bully as Fourth Sister...

  "Never mind, let's just hurry up and deal with my fourth sister's dowry." The tenth sister had been impatient for a long time, and now seeing Ye Xiao as the concubine, she couldn't bear it anymore.

  "Yes, it's late, we still have to go back." Then Xiao Shi also urged and then told Ye Xiaojie about the dowry again.

  "Sister's dowry actually went wrong under my nose, this is unbearable, these daring dog slaves, it's really turned upside down...... Cough cough...... Cough cough......"

  Ye Xiaojie immediately became indignant and excited upon hearing this, and started coughing again, seemingly quite severely. She even covered her stomach with a pained expression afterwards.

  "Aunt... Aunt..." The maid on the side hastened to call out to comfort her, "You're not feeling well, why don't you go rest first?"

  That Ye Xiao didn't pretend to be ill and put on a show like Jiu Ji thought, but instead immediately started coughing pitifully and bowed to the several sisters, "Several...several sisters, my body really...can't take it anymore. Let's do this...once I'm feeling better, I'll definitely investigate the matter of sister's dowry as soon as possible, and bring those reckless slaves to justice according to the law, giving sister a fair deal..."

  Actually wanted to use the "drag" trick!

  The tenth sister and little eleventh immediately had a furious expression, even the eighth sister who always existed in a hidden state furrowed her brow.

  Jiuer looked at Xiao Shi, and Xiao Shi also looked back at her.

  After a brief eye contact, both of their gazes fell on the two large flower vases placed on the corner cabinet with diamond-shaped lacquer.

  Exquisite and smooth, like jade emitting a brilliant glow, it's clear at a glance that it's no ordinary product.

  "Aunt Lin, let's do it this way. You first temporarily take care of the dowry that Fourth Sister lost, but considering that we may not be able to come over frequently in the future, we'll just bring these two vases away for now. When you find out about the stolen goods, you can come and fill the space with these two decorations."

  The ninth sister said as she walked quickly to the corner of the house, and casually took down one of the flower vases, then gestured for little eleven to take another one.

  That little eleven naturally immediately took another one in hand.

  "That... can't be, this vase is the young master's birthday gift to me this year..." At this time, Lin Xiao Qi suddenly became anxious, not coughing or panting anymore, and immediately had the maid arrange for the two of them.

  "What's wrong with that? Let your family's young master send you again." Jiujier quickly flashed past two maids, smiling and saying.

  "Yes, this must have been sent by the young master of your house too. Hmm, not bad, it's a genuine piece. Let's take it back, just in time to replace the one that Fourth Sister lost." The tenth sister even climbed up high to take down the calligraphy on the wall.

  "No...!" Lin Xiaoqie couldn't pretend anymore, and suddenly rushed over, jumped up, and went to protect the calligraphy and painting...

  ……

  －－