Transmigration: Reverse Exploitation, the System Works for Me

"My lord, please look. This account book from eight years ago contains several unclear entries for pawning and selling, totaling more than six hundred taels in total."

Six hundred taels may not sound like much, but it is indeed a considerable sum of money, enough for an ordinary person to live on for more than ten years.

The ledger only recorded when and what items were pawned, without specifying the exact appearance of the pawned items.

Such vague and unclear records are far too weak to be used as evidence.

Unfortunately, everyone present, except for the Yu family, was biased and sided with the emperor and Yu Ying'er.

The records are vague, so it may not necessarily be Wu's dowry.

But doesn't this prove that it wasn't Wu's dowry?

If the Yu family couldn't find Wu's dowry, it must have been sold or stolen. Therefore, the fact that the records were vague makes it possible that it was stolen.

"Your Excellency has failed to properly manage your household by embezzling, misappropriating, and selling your first wife's dowry."

Large beads of sweat rolled down Yu Chonglin's forehead: "Yes, yes, it's my fault, it's my fault."

Commander Shumulu ignored Yu Chonglin and instead looked at Xiao Lianzi, "Eunuch Lian, look at this matter... Most of the Empress's birth mother's dowry was pawned many years ago, and the possibility of finding it is probably extremely small."

I hope that Consort Zhuang doesn't think he's not paying attention and starts whispering sweet nothings in the Emperor's ear!

Xiao Lianzi hurriedly said, "Commander, rest assured, our Lady is not the kind of person who makes trouble unnecessarily. Finding even a little bit is already an unexpected joy. Lady is only happy."

Commander Shumulu finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Then... in your opinion, what should we do with these items that have already been pawned?"

Although his idea was to make the Yu family pay a sum of money, he, as an outsider, couldn't say too much.

Xiao Lianzi smiled obsequiously, "Oh, sir, you've come to the wrong place. I didn't know the situation when I came. But our lady is always understanding and doesn't like to make things difficult for people. Just follow the rules."

Although his aunt had told the Yu family to compensate him at the original price before she left, if he were to say it out loud, it would make his mistress seem mercenary and heartless.

Upon hearing this, the officials nearby immediately stepped forward and said, "Sir, Your Excellency, according to the rules, those who misappropriate or use women's dowry for personal purposes can be punished if the circumstances are serious, but usually only compensation is required."

Commander Shumulu handed over the decision-making power to Xiao Lianzi.

Xiao Lianzi sighed, "After all, they are from our lady's clan, so let them compensate us. I'd also appreciate it if you could help us estimate the price."

The official's eyes darted around, he gave his colleague a look, picked up the dowry list and read out the names: "One nanmu bed, priced at five hundred taels!"

Nanmu is not a precious wood. Although it is more valuable than poplar, it is really not worth five hundred taels.

"One each of a nanmu wood wardrobe, five-drawer chest, display cabinet, and dressing table, priced as follows:"

"Wait!" Yu He shouted loudly to stop the official, his anger boiling over. "When did nanmu become so valuable? A broken bed costs five hundred taels!"

The official glanced at him without hiding anything, "An ordinary nanmu bed is certainly not worth five hundred taels, but what if it's made of fragrant nanmu? Or what if this bed is a thousand-craftsmanship canopy bed?"

Yu He was so angry at his sophistry that he almost couldn't speak. "You, you're talking nonsense. If it really is fragrant nanmu wood, why isn't it written on Wu's dowry list?"

The official scoffed and said dismissively, "If you can bring this bed to me, or prove that it is not made of fragrant nanmu wood, I will appraise it differently."

"You, you, you're just making excuses—"

"He'er, shut up!" Yu He was interrupted by Yu Chonglin halfway through his sentence.

"My lords, please forgive my son's rudeness. Please continue."

The official looked at Yu Chonglin and said earnestly, "Lord Yu, please don't think we're being biased. It's difficult for us without the actual items. If we overestimate, the man will have to pay more money; if we underestimate, we won't be able to appease the woman. For the sake of fairness, we always take the middle ground."

"If the value is too high, the man should just grit his teeth and pay, since he was in the wrong first, and he should bring an apology gift when he comes to apologize. If the value is too low, please forgive the woman; these kinds of items always wear out, don't they?"

"Your family shouldn't think that the bride's dowry is worthless just because it's decades old, and you shouldn't try to keep the price down. Let's not even talk about how prices change every year, and the value of many things isn't determined by their age. For example, some porcelain vases are antiques worth a fortune, while others are worth very little. Don't you agree?"

The veins on Yu Chonglin's forehead throbbed violently. The official's words sounded reasonable, but upon closer examination, they were all hinting that he should not cause any trouble and should listen and endure obediently.

But given the current situation, Yu Chonglin has no choice but to listen, endure, and accept it.

“What you say makes sense. You two can continue. No matter how much money it is, the Yu family will make up for it even if we have to sell everything we own.”

The official chuckled, clearly looking down on Yu Chonglin.

What kind of time is this? This Yu fellow actually thinks he can manipulate Consort Zhuang by using his status as "father".

Sell ​​everything you own?

If this gets out, wouldn't those censors severely criticize Consort Zhuang for being unfilial and disrespectful during the grand court assembly?

"Oh, that's not the case. We've already roughly estimated the value of the old lady's dowry, which is around 50,000 taels. Including the silver notes that the eunuch just gave us, the total is 32,000 taels. You can just add another 20,000 taels and that will be enough."

In order to shut Consort Zhuang up and prevent her from spreading the news, the women of the Yu family could come up with 30,000 taels of silver notes, so it's likely that taking another 20,000 taels wouldn't be a big deal.

The Yu family members all gasped in shock.

Fifty thousand taels!

The dowry of the Wu family was probably not worth five thousand taels, yet they demanded that the Yu family pay fifty thousand taels in compensation!

Commander Shumulu's lips curled up. He also had a daughter and looked down on the Yu family, who seized women's dowries and abused their first wives and daughters.

Xiao Lianzi had already bitten hard on the soft meat in his mouth, afraid that he might burst out laughing.

Their mistress doesn't have many hobbies, but she happens to love money!

If you take these 50,000 taels of silver back, the Empress will be grinning from ear to ear.

But when he returned to Zhongcui Palace with this huge sum of 50,000 taels of silver to report back, Yu Ying'er only held it with admiration for a while before reluctantly stuffing it back into Xiao Lianzi's arms.

"Take these silver notes to the Emperor and give them to Chief Steward Su. Ask him to present them to the Emperor and say that I cannot bear to see the Emperor worrying about the national treasury."

Yu Ying'er's heart was bleeding. Fifty thousand taels! Fifty thousand taels!

This is 20,000 taels more than the 30,000 taels her sister told her about!

Although the emperor might not want it all, it's still heartbreaking to see so much real money being given away!

Waaaaah~ This is the first time in Yu Ying'er's life that she's ever seen so many silver notes!

My heart aches so much~

I want to cry~