Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

After carefully settling her father, mother, and brother, Xiao Lan hurried towards the courtyard where Lady Hou was. In the past, Xiao Lan would have believed that with her mother Jiang Nihuang's decisive and skillful methods, handling all matters within the Xiao family's inner courtyard would be a piece of cake. However, the situation was quite different now, as Jiang Nihuang was now six months pregnant—a significant change from before!

Recalling the heart-wrenching pain she had personally experienced in her past life—watching her unborn child die in her womb—Xiao Lan's heart still ached. Because of this, she secretly pondered: since her mother, Jiang Nihuang, was already pregnant, it would be best to minimize her mother's workload.

At the same time, the cooperation with Madam Hou must be put on the agenda as soon as possible. Xiao Lan knew that time was of the essence, and she had to take advantage of this precious time in Xiwu Prefecture to handle as many matters as possible. Only in this way could she lighten her mother's burden, allowing her to focus on her pregnancy and avoid excessive fatigue.

Now, let's talk about Madam Hou, Hou Xianglan. This morning, she first mercilessly whipped her despicable husband, Xiao Dayi, whom she once loathed, then personally witnessed him being flogged, and subsequently watched as the prefectural magistrate's men escorted him away. Not only that, Hou Xianglan had secretly sent lavish gifts to the prefectural magistrate's clerk beforehand and made arrangements. The clerk assured her that as long as the Xiao family did not interfere in this matter, Xiao Dayi would at least be sentenced to three years in prison. Thinking of this, Hou Xianglan couldn't help but lower her head slightly and sip her tea, a smug smile involuntarily spreading across her face.

Just then, a maid rushed in and announced to those inside, "Madam, Miss Xiao Lan has arrived!" Before she finished speaking, everyone heard footsteps approaching. A short while later, Xiao Lan led two maids and strode into the room. She was still covered in the dust of her journey, looking somewhat travel-worn, but her eyes revealed a resolute and urgent spirit.

Upon seeing this, Hou Xianglan quickly stood up to greet her and exchanged pleasantries with Xiao Lan with a smile. After exchanging greetings, Xiao Lan noticed that Hou Xianglan seemed to be in a rather good mood today, so she cut to the chase and said, "Madam Hou, to be honest, my mother has already come to the Xiao family. Originally, we had a good plan, thinking that with your help, a month should be enough to sort out the accounts of the past ten years. But who would have thought that things would turn out so unexpectedly! My mother is now pregnant, and her health is naturally not as good as before. Therefore, I must sort out all these accounts within ten days. To be honest, this is indeed a bit difficult for you, but please rest assured, if Madam Hou is willing to help me with this, after it is done, I will definitely arrange to return your dowry to the Hou family in double. In this way, regardless of whether you ultimately choose to return to the Hou family, with this substantial sum of money, you will be able to run some small businesses on your own, and you won't have to live at the mercy of others for the rest of your life!"

Seeing that Lady Hou's expression seemed somewhat wavering, Xiao Lan was secretly delighted and quickly pressed her advantage, saying, "If Lady Hou is interested in returning to the Hou family to take charge of the household, I can certainly make some plans for you. But I wonder if you have ever seriously considered this question? You are in the prime of your youth, and you have a long future ahead of you. Have you really not thought about remarrying or having a child of your own? If so, why bother fighting for the power to manage the household? It would be more practical to accumulate more wealth! In the future, with ample wealth, you can find a good family to remarry into and regain a happy and fulfilling married life; or you can find a suitable partner, have a lovely baby with your surname, and live a peaceful and happy life from then on."

Xiao Lan knew perfectly well that although her words sounded contrary to common sense, things always turn around when they reach their extreme. Back then, Hou Xianglan had married Xiao Dayi with great joy, only to suffer such misfortune, losing her own daughter to a tragic death. She must have already tasted all the bitterness and hardship a woman endures, suffering the torment and torment inflicted by men. Therefore, Xiao Lan was certain that if she could clearly explain the pros and cons and assure her that she would no longer have to suffer in the inner quarters, Hou Xianglan would be moved. Even if she had no interest in being free from suffering, Xiao Lan had already made thorough preparations—giving Hou Xianglan double the amount of money as dowry. Hou Xianglan came from a merchant family and naturally possessed a keen insight and a strong desire for wealth. How could she not be tempted by such an alluring offer?

As expected, after listening, Hou Xianglan spoke frankly without hesitation: "To be honest, I was willing to agree to what Miss Xiao proposed. However, these ten years of accounts, even if we tried our best to sort them out within a month, it would be an impossible task! But now, Miss Xiao has dared to make such a boast, claiming that she will settle all these accounts in just ten days. Not to mention that you promised to return my double dowry in full, even if you offered ten times more, I would still be powerless to do so!"

Hearing Hou Xianglan's words, Xiao Lan showed no sign of backing down. She looked firmly at Hou Xianglan and said, "Ten times isn't enough? How about a hundred times? Or a thousand times?"

Faced with Xiao Lan's aggressive stance, Hou Xianglan couldn't help but sneer and retort, "Miss Xiao, are you joking with me? Regardless of whether the claim of a hundredfold or a thousandfold is true, it's questionable whether the Xiao family can even come up with such a large sum of money. Even if the Xiao family truly has such substantial wealth to afford this enormous sum, given your position within the family, Miss Xiao, not only would you be unable to make this decision, but even Lord Xiao Zhenwei of your esteemed household might not dare to make such a decision lightly. Furthermore, the purpose of our audit is simply to recover all the money that was embezzled and misappropriated by Xiao Jin. If in the end all the recovered money is used to compensate me, then what practical meaning is there in all the effort we put into auditing these accounts?"

"Madam Hou, to be honest, at most I can only offer you twice the reward right now. You can consider it a fee for your hard work, and of course, from another perspective, it's also a considerable fee for your services! However, if I can truly help you successfully become a royal merchant and achieve a complete monopoly on the industries of Jiangnan, that would be incredible! At that time, let alone a mere hundred times the dowry, even ten thousand times more would be no problem at all! Think about it carefully, doesn't that make sense? After all, how can wealth obtained through the charity of others compare to the stability and security of wealth earned through one's own efforts? Right?"

Actually, Xiao Lan had already planned ahead. She had previously expressed her willingness to help Hou Xianglan return to the Hou family and regain control, and at that time, she was already plotting to have Hou Xianglan ruin the Ye family's business so that Hou Xianglan could establish her own. In this way, if the Hou family wanted to become imperial merchants again, they would have to rely on Hou Xianglan. Originally, Xiao Lan planned to discuss this matter in detail with Hou Xianglan after this month's events were over. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned; Jiang Nihuang was now pregnant. To avoid causing her mother worry, Xiao Lan decided to take advantage of her time in Xiwu Prefecture to quickly resolve all the matters that could be sorted out.

As expected, when Hou Xianglan heard Xiao Lan say this, her face initially showed extreme shock, as if she had heard something earth-shattering. However, this surprise only lasted for a moment before quickly turning into a light laugh.

Hou Xianglan shook her head slightly and said with a light laugh, "That woman, Xiao Jin, is truly foolish! She only cares about your brother, completely unaware that the most outstanding and powerful person in the entire Xiao family is actually you, this extraordinary woman! How could someone who has received the Emperor's favor and been able to marry a prince be an ordinary person? It's laughable that Xiao Jin actually tried to use you to make a deal with the Ye family to gain benefits. Her behavior is utterly foolish!"

After speaking, Hou Xianglan suddenly made an unexpected move—she knelt down on both knees without hesitation. Before kneeling, she tightly gripped Xiao Lan's arm, as if afraid that if she let go, the person in front of her would disappear.

At this moment, Hou Xianglan looked at Xiao Lan with a sincere expression and a firm gaze, and said earnestly, "Miss Xiao, if you are willing to lend a helping hand and help my Hou family regain the power of the imperial merchant, then from now on, I, Hou Xianglan, will definitely obey your orders and put you first in everything, without any intention of disobeying you!"

Xiao Lan was overjoyed, knowing the other party had agreed. She quickly stepped forward, carefully helping Lady Hou to her feet, and said softly, "Lady Hou, please rise. Please don't be so polite. And please, never again will you kneel in such a manner." After a brief pause, Xiao Lan continued, "Tomorrow morning, I will send someone to summon all the managers. At that time, I will solemnly inform them that they must, within the next three days, clearly organize and submit the accounts under their jurisdiction. Of course, this time I will definitely..." Explain to them clearly that what I need are accurate and complete accounts. After they submit the accounts in three days, we only need to spend one day conducting random checks. If any omissions are found during the checks, they should be examined in detail. Once all these accounts have been checked and are free of errors, we will then spend three days carefully verifying and organizing the overall accounts of the Marquis's residence. In this way, it will only take about eight days to thoroughly clarify these complex accounts.”

"What did I do during the days they were doing the accounting?" Hou Xianglan frowned slightly after hearing Xiao Lan's words, her face showing a look of doubt, and she couldn't help but ask.

Xiao Lan's lips curled into a sly smile as she softly said, "These next few days, you'll be in charge of interrogating that old nanny who used to serve Xiao Jinshi with my mother. You see, that old nanny knows all about Xiao Jinshi's dirty tricks! As long as you're patient and listen carefully and ask questions, you'll naturally know where to start when we investigate the final accounts. To be honest, these accounts span such a long period of time that even a month or a year might not be enough to thoroughly investigate them. Therefore..." "Well, we don't need to get bogged down in the details. As long as we can find the key issues, that's fine. After all, if the Jin family can falsify accounts, surely you can too? Hehe, let's use these key issues as the basis for our accounting. If the Jin family dares to embezzle even a single tael of silver from the Xiao family, then we'll make them pay back tenfold. Otherwise, why would we go through all this trouble just to get back what originally belonged to the Xiao family?" As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Lan playfully winked her bright eyes at Hou Xianglan.

Hou Xianglan pondered to herself, increasingly convinced that Xiao Lan was no ordinary young lady. Even seasoned veterans of the martial world, who had spent decades navigating the treacherous waters of the martial world, would likely find her a formidable opponent! Such a vengeful person—the Jin family, including Xiao Jinshi, was likely doomed. However, on second thought, if she didn't become enemies with such a powerful figure, but instead befriended her, she might actually be able to rely on her influence to protect her entire Hou family.

Thinking of this, Hou Xianglan not only didn't try to dissuade Xiao Lan, but instead replied with a joyful expression, "I understand your deep meaning, Miss Xiao. I will definitely do my best to assist Madam in checking the accounts tomorrow." After speaking, Hou Xianglan turned her head slightly, glancing at the people standing beside her, and then continued with a troubled expression, "However, as you can see, Miss, I only have a handful of people with me. Among them, only a head maid and a matron can help check the accounts. With so few people... I'm afraid the audit will be quite difficult." After saying this, she sighed softly, seemingly quite helpless about the current situation.