Lady Hou is reborn and, by pampering her illegitimate son, reclaims her life of wealth and privilege

Butler Zheng quickly replaced the tiles, jumped off the roof, and the two hurried along the path, gradually disappearing into the deep night.

……

Inside the Moyou Hall of the Jiaxing Marquis's Mansion, several red candles cast intermittent halos of light, illuminating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Night had fallen, yet Jiang Huaiyu remained awake, his face as solemn as stone, seated upright in the deep red walnut armchair in the center of the hall. The door was wide open, facing the dark courtyard beneath the night sky.

Silver light spilled down, filtering through the swaying branches of the sycamore trees in the courtyard, casting dappled shadows across the ground, like the whispers of the night.

Suddenly, several footsteps approached from afar. Jiang Huaiyu immediately stood up from her chair and strode forward to meet them. Butler Zheng and Instructor Feng, dressed in black, entered the room, exuding an intimidating chill.

A hint of anticipation flashed in Jiang Huaiyu's eyes as she looked eagerly at the two of them.

Steward Zheng respectfully clasped his hands in a salute, his voice firm and deep: "The matter is accomplished."

Jiang Huaiyu breathed a sigh of relief, a smile of satisfaction spreading across her face. "You've worked hard. Manager Chao will come to pick up the goods tomorrow."

……

The next morning, Cuiying ran into the house with a face full of joy.

She gasped for breath and exclaimed excitedly, "Madam!"

Jiang Huaiyu glanced at her, her tone casual, "What's making you so flustered?"

After catching her breath, Cuiying walked lightly to Jiang Huaiyu's side and whispered, "I heard that the cloth warehouse of the Marquis of Changtai's mansion caught fire last night, resulting in a loss of nearly ten thousand taels of silver."

Jiang Huaiyu's lips curled up slightly, revealing a cold smile. "Good and evil will eventually be rewarded. Those who commit many evils will naturally have someone to clean up their mess."

Green Sleeve excitedly chimed in, "That's right! Mai Yufeng once framed the young master. In my opinion, this fire must have been secretly manipulated by the Marquis of Changtai's mansion. It's truly gratifying!"

Jiang Huaiyu chuckled softly, picked up a pearl hairpin inlaid with sapphire blue and kingfisher feathers, and gently inserted it into her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror from left to right, as if admiring her own beauty.

Although the years have etched forty years on Jiang Huaiyu's face, making her a grandmother in this era, she still possesses remarkable grace and is well-maintained. Her skin is as white and delicate as a peeled egg, without a single obvious wrinkle, making her appear exceptionally radiant.

"The lady remains as stunningly beautiful as ever."

The warbler beside her praised softly.

Jiang Huaiyu glanced at Cuiying sideways, a slight smile playing on her lips. "You're the best talker with that clever mouth of yours."

……

Inside the Changtai Marquis's residence, Manager Liang was patiently recounting to Madam Pei the events of the previous night.

"what?"

Pei's brows furrowed tightly, her face as pale as paper. "Twenty thousand taels? That's twenty thousand taels! Quickly, send people to the capital immediately to buy up the fabric from house to house. At the same time, inform Manager Chao and ask him to give us a few more days. We will do our best to make amends."

The goods were originally worth 10,000 taels, but now the compensation for failing to deliver is 20,000 taels. If they could successfully acquire enough cloth and resell it to Manager Chao, the only loss would be the cost of the hastily made cloth.

However, if the required fabric could not be gathered, an additional 20,000 taels of silver would be required. Manager Liang clasped his hands in a fist and replied, "Yes, sir." He then immediately dispatched men to purchase the fabric.

Not long ago, when Jiang Huaiyu assigned people to purchase these kinds of fabrics, he deliberately didn't take them all, leaving one bolt for each shop to avoid arousing suspicion. Furthermore, Jiang Huaiyu also had the purchased fabrics subtly altered.

At this moment, Manager Chao had arrived at the cloth shop managed by Manager Liang, only to find that Manager Liang was not there and was making a scene at the door.

Just then, Manager Liang hurriedly returned from the Marquis of Changtai's residence and quickly pulled Manager Chao into the shop, fearing that they would cause another disturbance at the entrance and damage the reputation of the cloth shop.

"Manager Chao, could you please give us some more time, just two more days?"

Upon hearing this, Manager Chao slammed his hand on the table, his eyes wide with anger, his beard bristling with rage. "I already told you that I urgently need this fabric to make clothes. At the time, I only requested five hundred bolts, but you insisted on taking them all, and even swore that you could deliver on time. Now that the deadline has passed, you have failed to keep your promise."

Facing the shopkeeper from the Marquis of Changtai's residence, Manager Chao said firmly, "Gentlemen, the reason I chose your esteemed family's shop as a partner is precisely because of your family's prominence and outstanding reputation. This gave me the confidence to come here seeking cooperation. But unexpectedly, this has happened today. If my customers cannot receive their goods on time, who will bear the loss?"

Manager Liang looked embarrassed, forcing a smile as he tried to ease the tension. "Manager Chao, please calm down. How about giving me two more days? Just two days, and I will do my best. If I still cannot fulfill my delivery promise by then, we will compensate you double the amount of the goods, as stipulated in the contract. What do you say?"

Manager Chao took a deep breath, his face still as cold as ice, his tone carrying an unquestionable authority, "According to the rules, if the goods are not delivered today, a penalty should be paid immediately. However, considering Manager Liang's attitude is quite sincere, I am willing to give you two more days. If the goods are still not delivered on time after two days, I will definitely report to the government and request a fair official judgment."

Manager Liang smiled helplessly and replied repeatedly, "Yes, yes, Manager Chao, please rest assured, our Changtai Marquis's Mansion has always valued integrity as the foundation, and we always keep our word."

Manager Chao nodded with slight satisfaction, then turned and left with his entourage. Manager Liang hurriedly summoned his men and sent people to major cloth shops in the capital to urgently purchase that scarce fabric.

Manager Chao returned to the private room at Wenxiang Restaurant, where Jiang Huaiyu had been waiting for some time. Manager Chao clasped his hands in a respectful greeting and said firmly, "Everything is progressing smoothly and is proceeding according to plan."

Jiang Huaiyu nodded slightly and turned her gaze to Butler Zheng beside her, "Now it's your turn to make your appearance."

Steward Zheng clasped his hands in a fist and replied in a deep voice, "Yes, sir."

In a shop in the Changtai Marquis's residence, a servant boy emerged from a cloth shop, clutching the fabric he had just purchased. He muttered to himself, "The shopkeeper ordered us to come out and buy this kind of fabric, but each shop only has one or two bolts. It's no easy task to gather this much."

Just then, a burly middle-aged man with a face full of scars blocked the servant's way. He looked the servant up and down and asked in a sly tone, "Young man, I've seen you going back and forth between several shops. Are you perhaps planning to buy up a large quantity of this fabric?"

The servant was taken aback at first, but after listening to the middle-aged man's words, a surge of excitement welled up in his heart. "Yes, sir, does your shop have a large stockpile of this kind of fabric?"

The middle-aged man sighed helplessly, "Alas, the shop went out of business a long time ago, business was terrible, and it has already closed down. However, there is still a lot of this kind of fabric left, probably nearly a thousand bolts. Young man, what do you need? You can come and take a look at my shop."