New Song Dynasty: My Wife is an Imperial Princess

Since it was a sudden visit, and the Ye family had already separated, with none of the relatives living in the ancestral home, Tang Qian and Ye Qingmiao's homecoming banquet could only be simply attended by Ye Zhao and his wife.

Tang Qian applauded this arrangement. He was genuinely worried that his father-in-law would bring out another jar of wine at the luncheon. After the ordeal of the past two days, Tang Qian's stomach was really not up to the task.

"This morning, Siyu and I went to the Jiang family's ancestral home. Although we don't know the exact location of the buried treasure, Siyu guessed that there should be a hidden compartment in the house. Should we send someone to look for it?"

“Those are all Sister Siyu’s dowry, which can be considered your private property. It’s not appropriate for me to interfere.”

When the Jiang family left the city, Tang Qian had said in front of all the people in the city that as long as any family member remained in the city, the house would not be sealed off. So even if the Jiang and Bai families only left Jiang Siyu in the city, those two houses could not be touched.

Moreover, after the previous exploitation, the city lord's mansion is now incredibly wealthy, with a large amount of silver still piled up in the prefectural government's treasury. Tang Qian really has no intention of taking the Jiang family's wealth for himself.

“Since it’s my Jiang family’s property, then I’ll decide what to do with it.” Jiang Siyu and her husband Ye Zhao exchanged a glance. “After we find it, part of it will be sent to the Ye family as my dowry, part of it will be given to my godmother as my adopted daughter, and the rest will be handed over to the city lord’s mansion. It’s my way of doing my part for the Jiang family’s defense of Guangling.”

“If you trust me, then follow my instructions. Don’t touch the savings of the Jiang and Bai families for now. We can take them out after we defeat the invading Jin army.”

Although she didn't know what Tang Qian was planning, Jiang Siyu felt that he was the only person she could trust besides Ye Zhao.

“Then we’ll do as you say and leave for now. I’m just worried that one day the Jiang family might return and take all the money back.”

Tang Qian smiled faintly, seemingly unconcerned about Jiang Siyu's worries: "If they have the ability to take even a single coin from me, I'll cut off my head and give it to them to sit on."

After lunch, having finished their conversation, Tang Qian and Ye Qingmiao got up to say goodbye. Ye Zhao and his wife saw them off at their doorstep: "Please ask my brother-in-law to go back and tell my godmother that I will take Siyu back to visit her tomorrow."

"My mother is only in her thirties, still very beautiful, how could she be an old woman?" Tang Qian waved to the two of them, indicating that they didn't need to see him off, and pulled Ye Qingmiao into the carriage.

"It's still early, and there's no point in going back. How about we go to Gaomin Temple in the south of the city to burn incense? Their amulets are very effective. Let's get one for everyone in the family. What do you think, my husband?"

Faced with Ye Qingmiao's coaxing, Tang Qian readily agreed and instructed the coachman to turn the horse around and head towards the south of the city.

Only after the carriage disappeared around the corner at the end of the alley did Ye Zhao take advantage of the fact that no one was around to hold his wife's hand. Only someone with Tang Qian's and his sister's unrestrained nature would dare to make such an intimate gesture in front of them. At least Ye Zhao, who considered himself a gentleman, would never do such a thing.

"What's wrong? You look thoughtful. How about we go visit a temple another day?"

Jiang Siyu blushed at Ye Zhao's action, but did not break free from her hand: "Everyone says that your sister speaks and acts without thinking, but I think she is the smartest woman in the entire Guangling City."

"Oh?" This was the first time Ye Zhao had heard someone praise her younger sister's intelligence, and she couldn't help but become interested. "How do you know?"

"Qingmiao has always been very clear about what she wants. She acts recklessly in the city, even at the cost of ruining her reputation, all to prevent wealthy young men from proposing marriage before Tang Qian returns. The Ye family is very wealthy, and as the second young lady, how could she not see that the jade bracelet her godmother gave her was not a valuable item? Yet she treated it as a treasure and showed it off in front of her mother. She even boasted about her mother-in-law in front of Tang Qian, all to please him. With such cunning, your sister will certainly not suffer any losses in front of Tang Qian's other two wives."

"Now that you mention it, it seems to be true." Ye Zhao stroked his chin and couldn't help but admire Ye Qingmiao's methods of training her husband. "It seems I've been worrying about her for nothing."

You should know that Tang Qian's other two wives are both princesses. Ye Zhao was really worried that Ye Qingmiao would offend both of them as soon as she got married.

Jiang Siyu shook her head with a wry smile: "I'm a little worried about my godmother. I don't know if she can handle these three daughters-in-law."

Before getting married, Jiang Siyu spent two days with her godmother, Qiu Linghua. On the surface, Qiu Linghua appeared calm and wise, but in reality, she was a simple-minded elder with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. None of her three daughters-in-law were easy for her to handle.

"Furthermore, there are only two reasons why the godmother would give Qingmiao such a worthless bracelet as a family heirloom. One is that the godmother really looks down on Qingmiao and just gives her something random to fool her. The other is that the godmother is really short of money and can't afford anything decent."

Jiang Siyu turned to look at her husband. "Based on my deduction, the truth is most likely the latter. As her goddaughter, shouldn't I help my godmother save face for the Tang family?"

"That kid Tang Qian would be short of money? No way!" Thinking of the silver piled up in the prefectural government office, Ye Zhao felt dizzy. "Why not just send someone to collect a few thousand taels of silver?"

"As the lord of a city, Tang Qian needs to win the respect of the people. He is too young. If he cannot keep his word, he will have no way to establish his prestige. Tang Qian said that those are silver that are to be distributed to the people guarding the city. He will definitely not touch them."

After Jiang Siyu's reminder, Ye Zhao realized that Tang Qian would not do something so foolish as to ruin the prestige that the City Lord's Mansion had just established.

"Then when we return to our parents' home tomorrow, we'll bring some silver from home as a gift for your return visit."

Although Ye Zhao wasn't particularly clever, she was quick to understand. Jiang Siyu slightly bent her knees towards her husband and said, "I leave everything to my husband's discretion."

“We agreed beforehand that we wouldn’t need so many formalities when no one else is around.” Ye Zhao took his wife’s hand, and the two walked side by side toward the door. “You say my Qingmiao is smart, but I think you’re the smartest one.”