Favoring concubines and ignoring wives? The mistress of the marquisate remarried a powerful official

Song Wanning was counting her dowry in the yard.

At first, the general's mansion thought that she had married into a noble family, so she must have a lot of dowry so that people would not look down on her. Song Wanning's father and brother even added more dowry to her. Now it seems that the amount of dowry is one of the highest in the capital.

In this life, she didn't spend much of her dowry to fill the holes in the Marquis' Mansion, and fortunately, the dowry was hardly touched.

Song Wanning was feeling lucky. She was planning to use the dowry money to start some business and build some private property, but she saw Caique running in from outside the yard, saying in a hurry, "Second Madam, something big has happened. Aunt Cui, the housekeeper of the west yard, lost money in her rouge shop, so she secretly used Master Zhong's money to make up for it. In recent days, she saw that Master Zhong's money was not enough to spend, so she even set her sights on the farm. The old ancestor has sent someone to ask us to go to Rongfu Hall to talk and deal with it."

Song Wanning had two maids who served her closely, Caique and Zhuque. Zhuque's parents were seriously ill, so she asked for leave for half a month. Zhuque, who had just returned from her parents' home two days ago, heard this and hurried out of the inner room. She looked at Caique and said, "How could Aunt Cui be so bold? But this was done in secret. How was it discovered?"

"What a coincidence." Cai Que's eyes revealed a bit of gloating, and she said with a smile, "Madam Cheng from the first house went out to buy something, and she saw Aunt Cui sneaking into the pawnshop. Madam Cheng followed her to see, and caught her stealing and selling land. Stealing and selling land is a serious crime, and I want to see how Mr. Bai will excuse Aunt Cui."

Song Wanning's expression was calm, not at all surprised, and she just said, "Since the ancestor has spoken, let's go and take a look."

When Song Wanning led the maid to Rongfu Hall, Cui Xiaoxiao was kneeling on the ground with her head down, and Wen Tingbai beside her also had a look of disappointment in his eyes.

The old lady doted on Wen Tingbo, so she also loved Cui Xiaoxiao, the girl Wen Tingbo liked. Who would have thought that Cui Xiaoxiao would cause so many troubles.

The old lady's face was filled with anger. She scolded coldly, "Tell me! How much did you secretly sell in total?"

Cui Xiaoxiao was also scared now, and hurriedly explained, "Answering the ancestors, I, I have never secretly sold land... This is the first time I was discovered, and there have been no other cases."

"All the farms and shops in our mansion, even where every ounce of silver was spent, are recorded in the book. I advise the aunt of Bo'er's family not to lie." Fei Biyun looked at Cui Xiaoxiao coldly and said lightly, "You have made such a big mistake now. If you are found to have secretly spent other money, knowing the mistake and not correcting it will be a heavier crime."

"I...I..." Cui Xiaoxiao looked at Fei Biyun and cried, "Grandma Cheng, why do you have to be so aggressive? I just made a mistake and it didn't cause any disaster. Please forgive me when you can."

Fei Biyun was the last to be fooled by this. She just looked at Xiao Si outside and said, "Have someone bring the account book up so that we can check it in class."

Seeing that Xiao Si at the door was about to lift the account book, Cui Xiaoxiao looked at Wen Tingbo for help, but he ignored her completely. She could only cry and said, "I... I also moved some money to make a few clothes."

"How much is a little silver?" Fei Biyun looked straight at Cui Xiaoxiao, with no intention of letting her go.

Cui Xiaoxiao hesitated for a long time, and finally said, "I took five hundred taels of silver from the Duke to make clothes."

Fei Biyun had already learned all the details about her rouge shop, and asked, "Your rouge shop still owes a lot of money. How much has it embezzled?"

"I moved two thousand taels of silver... and now I still owe one thousand six hundred taels..." Cui Xiaoxiao's lips turned pale when she said this.

"Bitch!" Wen Tingbo, who was standing aside, couldn't help it anymore and stepped forward to slap Cui Xiaoxiao in the face.

Cui Xiaoxiao fell to the ground, looking at the furious Wen Tingbo, crying even harder, and said bitterly, "A few days ago you said you would listen to me no matter what, but now you beat and scold me when I make a mistake. I am really blind."

"How much money you owe has nothing to do with our Marquis' Mansion. I'm afraid you'll have to figure it out on your own." Fei Biyun looked at Cui Xiaoxiao, who was crying, with no expression on her face.

Fei Biyun said as she fixed her eyes on Wen Tingbai, and said softly, "Second brother, now that the aunt in your courtyard has done such a thing, and secretly embezzled so much money from the Duke, do you have to make up for the money?"

Wen Tingbai stood there gasping for breath. The silver he had saved during his three years away was only one thousand taels, and he had given it all to Cui Xiaoxiao. How could he have any silver left to pay off his debts?

"How could Tingbai bring a vicious woman like you into the house?" The old lady sitting above almost couldn't catch her breath and said sternly, "First take the housekeeper's key from her hand, beat her with twenty sticks and drive her out of the house. No matter who picks her up outside, it's her good fortune."

When Cui Xiaoxiao heard that she would be beaten with a stick and kicked out, she finally panicked. She knelt on the ground and moved to Wen Tingbo's legs, pulling Wen Tingbo's trouser legs and crying, "Tingbo, I know I was wrong. Tingbo, please save me. You said before that you would love me no matter what. You said that you would treat me well no matter what. Please forgive me this time. I was just blinded by lard for a moment."

Cui Xiaoxiao said, holding onto Wen Tingbo's trouser leg tightly and unwilling to let go, crying, "Tingbo, do you remember when we first met, you were injured and I found you in the woods and took you home to take good care of you? Do you remember? You told me at that time that you would treat me well for the rest of your life. If you didn't want me anymore, why did you bring me back?"

After hearing what Cui Xiaoxiao said, Wen Tingbai's eyes were finally moved. He looked at the old lady above and said, "Grandfather, Xiaoxiao was just confused for a moment. Fortunately, she hasn't made a big mistake yet. She will definitely repent in the future. Please forgive her this time."

"Humph, if you hadn't protected her time and again, this disaster wouldn't have happened. You're still protecting her now, are you trying to bury our entire family with her?"

The old lady no longer loves Cui Xiaoxiao as much as she did in the past. She heard that she brought shame to Wen Tingbo and ruined his reputation. She only gave him a seventh-rank official title, and she felt that she was a beauty who brought disaster. "I said at the beginning that a woman who is not from a decent family cannot be accepted into the family."

The old lady said, looking at Song Wanning, and accusing her harshly, "I am old, dizzy and confused, and I do things without basis. Wanning is the same, taking care of such a big family, but she didn't even remind me. Tingbai is your husband, but you don't know how to advise him, you just know how to spoil him!"