Chapter 29: Left Speechless

Old Madam Lu arrived in a great hurry, panting heavily as she stepped into the courtyard. The moment Zhang Neng’s parents saw her, they seemed to find their backbone; they rushed over, clutching her legs and begging for mercy.

"Old Madam, our family has served the General’s Mansion for generations. If we have no merit, we have at least put in the labor. Please, I beg you to show mercy and give that scoundrel one more chance. I guarantee he will turn over a new leaf."

Old Madam Lu bent down to help Zhang Neng’s mother up. "Stop crying. As long as I am here, no one shall touch the foundation of my General’s Mansion!"

With that, she turned to Lin Wanqing, scolding her furiously, "Lady Lin, what are you doing? Is this how you manage the household on your very first day? Are you trying to turn the General’s Mansion upside down?"

Lin Wanqing rose and offered a respectful salute. "I greet you, Mother."

Old Madam Lu snapped, "Spare me the formalities! Tell me, what is the meaning of this? The servants in this courtyard have worked hard for the Lu family for half a lifetime. Is this how you treat them?"

Seeing that Old Madam Lu had come to back them up, the servants began to clamor.

"Old Madam, I am wronged!"
"Old Madam, please seek justice for me!"
"Old Madam, please revoke her authority to manage the household."

Old Madam Lu raised a hand. "Everyone, set your hearts at ease. With me here today, no one shall disturb the roots of my General’s Mansion!"

Lin Wanqing smiled faintly. "Mother, you are mistaken. The foundation of the General’s Mansion lies in the generations of lords and mistresses of the Lu family, and in the sons currently serving on the battlefield—not in a courtyard full of audacious, evil slaves."

"They sold themselves into servitude to perform these tasks. No matter which household they serve, this is the nature of their work."

"It is their duty to serve with devotion. If a servant is derelict, the master has every right to have them beaten and sold. Who could say the master is wrong?"

"Furthermore, the General’s Mansion has not let them work for nothing. That their families have lived in comfort and dignity for generations is entirely due to the grace of this house. To put it bluntly, without this mansion, their families would have perished in poverty generations ago! They have no right to be shouting here!"

Old Madam Lu was left stunned. No one had ever spoken to her like this before.

She came from humble origins and had married into the General’s Mansion far above her station. Her mother-in-law had always looked down on her and suppressed her at every turn. The servants in the household were equally opportunistic, bullying her both openly and in secret.

With the old general away and no support from her own family, she had been left helpless and had no choice but to cautiously curry favor with the servants around her. Over time, this became a habit, and even after she became the mistress of the house, she never managed to break it.

Lin Wanqing sighed. "Mother, I have always understood that it is the servants who should be grateful for the benevolence and generosity of their masters. I have never heard of a master who needs to thank their servants for simply doing their jobs."

"Look at these servants in the courtyard, every one of them fat and pampered. Now look at Qi'an. If he were dressed in the clothes of a commoner’s child, who would believe he is the legitimate grandson of the General’s Mansion?"

She called Banxia over. "Tell the Old Madam what you have discovered while investigating the Third Young Master’s courtyard over the past few days."

Banxia stepped forward, bowed, and reported, "Reporting to the Old Madam, I followed the Madam’s instructions to investigate the Third Young Master’s courtyard two days ago. After three days, I discovered that the courtyard consumes two taels of bird’s nest and a ten-year-old ginseng root every day, along with various other supplements. All these expenses were recorded under the Third Young Master’s name."

Old Madam Lu looked confused. "Is there something wrong with that?"

Lin Wanqing sighed helplessly. "Mother, these items—ginseng and bird’s nest—are not meant for a child of Qi'an’s age. Even if they were, look at him. Does he look like a child who has been properly nourished?"

Zisu brought Lu Qi'an forward. The thin, frail boy bowed to Old Madam Lu. "Grandson Qi'an greets Grandmother."

The four-year-old boy was so small and thin he looked barely three.

Lin Wanqing continued, "Mother, Qi'an’s father is seven feet tall, and his mother is not short either. Under normal circumstances, he should be taller than his peers. Yet, look at him—he is not even the size of a child from a poor family."

"Since Qi'an moved into my courtyard, the ginseng and bird’s nest have still been collected from the stores, but they have never once arrived in my courtyard."

Old Madam Lu gasped. "Then where did they go?"

Lin Wanqing’s cold gaze swept over the servants from Lu Qi'an’s courtyard. "Indeed, where did they go? Into whose stomach or whose pockets did they end up?"

The wet nurse and maids of Lu Qi'an felt their legs go weak, and they collapsed onto the ground in a row. They had just witnessed Lin Wanqing’s methods; they knew that trying to lie in the face of evidence would yield them no mercy.

Lin Wanqing sneered. "You are quite self-aware, aren't you?"

The wet nurse, trembling on the ground, cried out, "Madam, have mercy! I... I had no choice. The Third Young Master has had a poor appetite since he was little and did not drink much milk, leaving him thin. The Old Madam was pained by this and often reprimanded me. I was afraid of being punished, so I thought I would eat the supplements myself to ensure my milk was rich and nutritious, hoping to help the Third Young Master grow..."

Lin Wanqing laughed. "Then tell me, how long has it been since the Third Young Master was weaned? He was weaned at fourteen months old; it has been three full years! Who have you been feeding this milk to for the last three years?"

The wet nurse could not answer and only collapsed further, shaking violently.

Lin Wanqing pointed at Zhang Neng. "Mother, your kindness and compassion for the servants were meant to be a blessing for these wretches. But these ingrates, instead of being grateful, exploited your trust and generosity to act recklessly, brazenly plundering the wealth of the General’s Mansion."

"At the time of my wedding to the General, this scoundrel alone embezzled nearly a thousand taels! Mother, do you know that there is only about a thousand taels of liquid silver left in the mansion's accounts? A grand General’s Mansion, and yet it is less wealthy than one of its own servants! Should I not have stepped in to restore order?"

Old Madam Lu’s mouth fell open in shock. "What did you say? Only a thousand taels of liquid silver left?"

Lin Wanqing was surprised in turn. "Mother, have you not been checking the ledgers?"

Old Madam Lu looked blank. "I entrusted the ledgers to Jinrong. She never told me..."

Lin Wanqing was rendered speechless.

No wonder Lu Jinrong had been so eager to let her take over the mess of the General’s Mansion! She couldn't handle the situation anymore, so she quickly dumped this hot potato onto her.

Lin Wanqing asked Banxia to bring the ledger, opened it, and spread it before Old Madam Lu. "Mother, please look. This is the master ledger."

Old Madam Lu looked uncomfortable. "I... I am illiterate..."

Lin Wanqing was stunned again.

The former mistress of a prestigious General’s Mansion was illiterate! It was no wonder these servants had become so arrogant.