She got pregnant after the swap marriage, and the scumbag's family regretted it so much they cr

Zhou's gaze swept back and forth between Lu Huan and Gao Yan's faces, trying to catch a clue.

She secretly plotted in her heart that if they really dared to lie to her, she would have a good reason to make Lu Huan hand over all the money in his hands for her safekeeping.

"Tell me honestly, where did you spend those two thousand taels of silver? I've been to the Rainbow Pavilion before, I know the prices there, don't try to fool me!"

Zhou spoke aggressively, as if Lu Huanhua was using all of her money.

Faced with her self-righteousness, Lu Huan was not annoyed at all, and slowly replied, "These clothes certainly don't cost two thousand taels of silver. I used one thousand taels as a deposit."

I figured my dowry money was just sitting there, not going to generate any income on its own. So today, while I was buying people, I also bought five shops; renting them out will bring in a good amount of rent.”

"What! You bought five shops!" Before Zhou could speak, Lu Ruyi exclaimed in surprise.

According to the rules of the brokerage business, only if the value of five shops exceeds five thousand taels can one possibly ask for one thousand taels as a deposit.

She knew that Li had put eight thousand taels of silver notes in her dressing box, but before she could take them out, they were moved to the west wing of the front yard along with her dowry.

Originally, Madam Li planned to get the money back when she returned to her parents' home the next day. However, she never expected that Lu Huan would spend more than six thousand taels of silver on his trip.

Is it possible to get this money back?

Lu Huan's lips curled slightly, her tone carrying a hint of meaning: "What, is it not allowed?"

"Of course not!" Lu Ruyi almost blurted out, but how should she explain it?

Is it to admit that the money isn't for Lu Huan, or to reveal that four months later, Yanjing City is about to descend into chaos, and buying a shop at this time would be a complete waste of money?

Neither of these two reasons can be uttered!

Lu Ruyi could only whine to Zhou Shi, "Mother! I was just too surprised. Look at my sister-in-law, how could you misunderstand me like that!"

Unfortunately, Zhou was not Li, and she didn't cooperate with her at all.

"As your mother-in-law, I really don't care about that little bit of money," Zhou said, patting her chest with a pained expression. "But you, child, how could you spend such a large sum of money without even discussing it with us beforehand? Don't you consider yourself a member of the Gao family yet?!"

After saying that, she looked at Gao Yan with a loving expression, as if she felt sorry for him.

Unexpectedly, Zhou's performance seemed to be staged for a blind man. Gao Yan buried his head in his food, completely unaware of their conversation.

Gao Shangzhi, seeing Zhou Shi's distress, frowned unhappily and asked, "Gao Yan, you went with her today, why didn't you stop your wife from spending money recklessly?"

Gao Yan then put down his chopsticks, looking bewildered: "Why did you stop her? She used her own dowry to buy clothes for the whole family, and Mother was quite happy to receive them."

He deliberately obscured the order of events, making people think that they went to the clothing shop first and then the brokerage firm.

Gao Shangzhi choked, then scolded, "How dare you speak to your elders like that?"

Gao Yan's eyes flickered, and he lowered his head, saying nothing more.

Lu Huan was somewhat displeased with Gao Shangzhi's questioning of Gao Yan.

She knew that her father-in-law was just a paper tiger. As long as she got past Zhou Shi, Gao Shangzhi would have no further objections.

Lu Huan smiled faintly and asked, "I wonder, when Sister Manting gets married and uses her own dowry, will she need to obtain permission from her husband's family beforehand?"

"How could this be! What kind of mother-in-law is so shameless as to try to steal from her daughter-in-law's dowry! Aren't they afraid of being gossiped about and having their backs ripped off?" Gao Manting's eyes widened, and without thinking, she blurted out the insult.

At this time, Gao Manting was not yet twelve years old, just beginning to understand things, but also at an age where she spoke without restraint. She was no longer the well-mannered and demure young lady from her previous life, who had been nurtured by Lu Huan for many years.

Zhou's face looked as if she had been slapped hard, and her expression was quite interesting.

After Zhou's father-in-law died, the Gao family divided their property, and her mother-in-law moved to Jinling with her husband's older sister's family and her husband's older brother's family.

Zhou hadn't felt this kind of embarrassment of being pointed at and scolded in a long time.

But Gao Manting was someone she had raised herself, and she couldn't bear to be too harsh: "Manting! How dare you talk like that! Is this how your mother teaches you?"

Gao Manting tugged at Zhou Shi's sleeve and shook it: "Mother, just tell me if I'm right or not!"

Zhou glanced at Lu Huan furtively, but didn't say another word.

The latter had already picked up his bowl again and started eating slowly, not forgetting to put a piece of chicken on Gao Yan's plate as well.

This time, however, Zhou pretended to be Lu Huan's plan and earnestly said, "Once you marry into our Gao family, you become a member of the Gao family. I'm not blaming you, I just hope that the family can discuss things together."

"I've managed the Gao family for so many years, and I know that money is the kind of thing that can't be spent easily. You and Gao Yan will have children in the future, shouldn't we save the money for them?"

Lu Huan sneered inwardly, "You didn't say that in my past life!"

However, her smile didn't fade at all, and she said frankly, "But if we don't buy these shops, we won't get our deposits back!"

Zhou was so angry she almost vomited blood, but in the end she had to swallow her pride and admit it.

But Lu Huan wasn't about to let her off the hook, chattering on and on: "Mother-in-law, don't worry! I don't plan to run these shops myself. I intend to rent them all out, and I can collect a good amount of rent every year!"

I originally wanted to buy a few estates, but as you know, all the larger estates near Yanjing have been bought up by officials. Ordinary people have no access to any information at all.

The more distant estates are also unsuitable—it's inconvenient for a woman like me to go out, and Ayan can't possibly stay in those estates all the time to keep an eye on things.

What if those village heads aren't honest and underreport their harvest each year? The harvest they send over won't be worth much money. If they report an insect infestation this year and a flood next year, can they really go and verify it?

It's better to do what I did and buy a shop in Yanjing (Beijing). Even if the harvest is bad, the rent won't be affected. My father said it's a guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood.

In his previous life, Lu Huan also spent a long time figuring out the Gao family's financial situation.

In his early years, Gao Shangzhi inherited several estates from his mother, but these estates were all far from Yanjing City.

He was not good at managing property, and Zhou could not personally inspect the estate, so he could only let the estate managers become more and more unruly. Later, the estate's output could not even meet Gao Shangzhi's expenses.

Zhou simply sold the estate, along with all the servants there, and only then did he recoup some money, thus ending his reliance on those thugs.

Lu Huan's words undoubtedly touched on Zhou's old wounds. And yet, she had only been married into the family for two days; logically, she shouldn't know so much.

Zhou, who was already on the verge of exploding, became even more upset. She hastily finished her dinner, put down her chopsticks, and went back to the backyard with a dark face.

After Gao Shangzhi left, Lu Huan ate even more happily and chatted with Gao Yan casually.

It seemed rather quiet and deserted on Lu Ruyi and her husband's side.