Chapter 6 Suspicious. On the one hand, Xiao Quexian remained outwardly calm, but inwardly she was lost in thought…

Chapter 6 Suspicious. On the one hand, Xiao Quexian remained outwardly calm, but inwardly she was lost in thought…

While Xiao Quexian remained outwardly calm, her mind racing, Xiao Yanhui continued to defend herself.

"Even if the servant said it was my idea for Qin's eldest son to appear at the waterside pavilion, I not only didn't step into the pavilion yesterday, but I was also drugged by Liuying and almost drowned in Lotus Lake. Who in this world would set up a scheme to drown themselves?"

"I don't know which heartless person bribed my head maid, but today you're the ones who came to my room to interrogate me, making false accusations first. If Father really thinks I did it all, then you can punish me by having me beaten and made to kneel in the ancestral hall, or send me directly to the family temple. It's up to you to decide!"

Unlike her previous calm and reasoned tone, Xiao Yan Hui spoke these words hastily and impulsively.

As she spoke of this, she recalled the panic she felt when she inexplicably transmigrated and had to face such a crisis. Then, she felt genuine fear and resentment, and tears inexplicably streamed down her face. She also felt a surge of anger that she had to vent.

Suddenly, she lost all interest in dealing with everyone in the room. She simply threw down the handkerchief in her hand, grabbed the blanket, and burrowed inside, leaving everyone with only a big bundle of blankets.

The First Madam had just noticed something was off about her daughter's tone and quickly sat down on the edge of the bed to hug and comfort her. However, Xiao Yan was too quick to react, and all she could manage was to gently stroke her through the blanket with a tender expression.

Faced with his third daughter's sudden outburst, even Xiao Fuyan showed a hint of embarrassment and guilt on his face.

Early this morning, the second wife presented Xiao with so-called witnesses and evidence. He had come with the second wife hoping to see what kind of drama the first and second wives would put on this time.

All his previous actions were merely a convenient way to watch the show, until Xiao Fuyan noticed that his second and third daughters seemed to have changed somewhat after not seeing them for more than half a year. Only then did he shift his focus from watching the show to seeing just how much his two daughters had changed.

Sending Xiao Yan back to plead his case was also a test to see how cunning and clever she was now.

Hearing her tearful account, he was startled to realize that Yan Hui had indeed suffered a great injustice yesterday, and he felt ashamed that he had gone too far.

"Why did we get so angry all of a sudden?" He rubbed his nose and complained to himself.

Seeing that neither his first wife nor his third daughter paid him any attention, Xiao Fuyan had no choice but to find a way to back down.

"Yan Hui is right about the gold barley. Any gold and silver shop can make that, so how can it be considered physical evidence? Also, that head maid is indeed suspicious. I heard she has been missing since yesterday?"

Xiao Fuyan raised his voice slightly and asked the First Madam.

"..." Seeing her daughter looking wronged, the first wife didn't want to talk to her, but considering his reputation as the head of the family, she remained silent for a while before picking up the conversation.

"Since she dared to do such a treacherous thing, she must have already planned her escape route and has long since fled somewhere."

"Then send a notice to the yamen to arrest the runaway slave, and that servant boy, who is arbitrarily framing the young lady in the house. Before we came, I had already asked Steward Lin to send him to the estate over at the quarry."

Upon hearing this, the second wife's eyes widened as she turned to look at Xiao Fuyan. She had prepared witnesses and physical evidence, thinking she was bringing the master to the main house to question him, but she never expected that he had already dealt with the servants before coming!

Then what is she, a clown?

As the person in charge of the family, Master Xiao naturally didn't need to worry too much about what the second wife was feeling at the moment. He continued to give orders, and this time the words he uttered were the ones that truly hurt the second wife.

"Such a big blunder happened in the back garden yesterday. The head nanny is really incompetent. Let her go back home. First Madam, you should recommend someone to manage the garden. From now on, you will take over this matter."

Upon hearing this, the First Madam's eyes lit up, and she glanced at the Second Madam with a hint of a smile before replying with an "okay."

“Yesterday was hectic, so it’s normal that some things weren’t taken care of. Granny Liu is usually quite diligent…” The Second Madam’s face suddenly turned very pale, but she still tried her best to speak up for Granny Liu.

“Father, this is the busiest time of year for the garden. If we change people abruptly, the newcomer might not be able to handle such a large undertaking. Should we postpone this matter?” Although Xiao Quexian spoke with some consideration, the meaning behind her words was quite clear.

"Second Miss is overthinking it. It's just a matter of flowers and trees, nothing too troublesome," the First Madam said coolly.

Xiao Yan was trying to avoid people by pulling back the blankets to let some air out on the inside of the bed. Hiding under the blankets in this weather was really not a comfortable thing; she was dying of heat. How could she have lost her mind just now because of that anger in her chest?

However, upon hearing their conversation, Xiao Yan couldn't help but smirk. The mother and daughter deserved it all; after all their scheming, they ended up suffering a great loss.

Although Master Xiao ostensibly said he was changing the manager of the garden, the change in the head maid from the second wife's confidante to someone chosen by the first wife was actually a transfer of control over the garden.

The garden is not just a garden; it includes the lotus pond within it, a manor outside the city that supplies flowers and trees to the Xiao family, and a shop inside the city.

The lake teems with fish, flowers, and lotus roots, while the village boasts a variety of seasonal blooms. Besides supplying their own household needs, countless items are surplus each season. These surpluses aren't simply left to rot; some are sold to shops in the city, while others are leased to other merchants. A careful calculation reveals the profits at play.

Otherwise, why would the wives of wealthy families fight for the right to manage the household? Besides vying for power within the inner quarters, they were naturally also fighting for these tangible benefits.

If the family is struggling financially, the housekeeper can only skim a little profit from these gains. However, the wealthy Xiao family doesn't value these small profits. These marginal gains don't need to go to the public treasury; it's customary for whoever manages them to keep them.

Simply put, what Master Xiao meant by changing the head maid was actually transferring all the relevant rights and benefits from the second wife to the first wife.

Even if the second wife had plenty of money for daily expenses, the fact that her vested interests were being taken from her and transferred to the first wife's family was enough to make her furious. Not to mention that in addition to losing real benefits, she would also lose face. It's no wonder that the second wife and her daughter were so anxious and flustered when they heard this bad news.

What's urgent is that both substance and face will be lost; what's alarming is that since Master Xiao, who has always been the mediator between the two households, has made this decision, it means that even if he doesn't fully understand the inside story, he at least knows seven or eight parts of it.

Xiao Fuyan, however, was used to being a respectable person and never liked to speak harshly. This move both punished the second wife and appeased the first wife, but it also indicated that some things did not need to be investigated so thoroughly.

"Master..." The second wife tried to make a last-ditch effort, but Xiao Fuyan's slightly cold gaze choked her.

"That's settled then. This concerns the Xiao family's reputation, and I don't want to hear any rumors inside or outside the mansion. All you maids and servants, keep yourselves in check, understand?" Xiao Fuyan said to the First and Second Madams.

At this point, the decision was final, and regardless of their true feelings, the two wives could only respectfully reply "Yes."

"Xiao Yan Hui, come out." Calling her by her full name was a slightly warning way of addressing her. Xiao Fuyan could tolerate his pampered daughter having a little temper, but if she continued to be unreasonable, she would be going too far.

The First Madam was quite familiar with Xiao Fuyan's ways. She immediately lifted a corner of the blanket and looked at her daughter, whose face was flushed and whose forehead was covered in sweat. She smiled and gently scolded her, "How old are you? You're still acting like a child. Look at your face, it's all red from being stuffy. Aren't you hot? Come out here."

With the First Madam smoothing things over, Xiao Yanhui readily agreed.

"Your daughters are all grown up now, how are they doing with managing the household?" Xiao Fuyan then changed the subject.

Although he was asking the two ladies questions, he didn't really care about their answers and instead went ahead and told them his own arrangements.

"You won't learn much from just talking about these things on paper. Here's what we'll do: there are a few empty shops on Qibao Street in the east of the city. You can each choose one, and then take five hundred taels of silver from the public treasury to practice your skills. Let me see what you're capable of. All profits will be your pocket money, but if you lose money, I'll take the shops back. Quexian is the eldest, so you can choose first. Later, I'll have Steward Lin give you and your sister the information on the empty shops." Xiao Fuyan smiled and stroked his beard.

This should have been good news, but the two sisters, Xiao Yanhui and Xiao Quexian, were both stunned.

Xiao Yan Hui was stunned because the mention of Qibao Street brought back some memories that seemed ordinary to the original owner, but were quite suspicious to the transmigrated Xiao Yan Hui.

The best restaurants on Qibao Street even sell high-proof liquor, and you can buy top-quality white salt at exorbitant prices in the salt trade.

She also discovered, while searching through the everyday details that are easily overlooked, that in the southern region where most waterways do not freeze in winter, clean and affordable ice can be bought at ice shops in the summer.

Of course, the "affordable price" here does not mean that the ice price is cheap, but rather that the ice price is close to the cost price of each company's ice storage.

She didn't know when strong liquor and white salt appeared. But she remembered very clearly that the ice shop opened the year before last, because the first wife said that the cost of buying ice from the ice shop was almost the same as the cost of transporting ice from the north to store in winter. She wondered where the ice shop owner found such a good source of ice.

Wine, salt, and ice—if only one of them were present, it could be considered a coincidence. But putting them together is far too suspicious.

After all, everyone knows the tricks and methods of time travelers. In low-level games, they use the three-piece set of tofu, braised dishes, offal, and soap, while in high-level games, they focus on salt, wine, ice, medicine, and glass.

"Could there be someone who traveled from another time?" This thought swept over Xiao Yan Hui like a tornado, leaving her mind blank and momentarily at a loss for how to react.

A note from the author:

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