To divorce his wife, the top scholar preferred being cuckolded to wearing a red hat.

Su Ziyu sat on the horse-drawn carriage, looking listless. Perhaps it was due to her pregnancy, but she lacked interest in anything and found everything irritating.

Fu Jingsheng handed her a pastry: "I noticed you didn't eat much this morning, have a pastry."

Su Ziyu turned her face away: "I don't want to eat anything right now, you can take it away."

"When we get to the estate, if you like it there, you might as well stay for a while. It's quiet there, the air is fresh, and it's very good for your pregnancy."

"Will you stay there with me? It's such a big estate. If you don't come with me, I'll be a little scared to stay there alone."

"If you want to stay, I can accompany you." Fu Jingsheng also wanted to rest at the estate for a few days.

Lately, there have been too many things going on at home, making him feel overwhelmed.

Su Ziyu then smiled.

The carriage stopped at the entrance of the estate. The steward had already received word that the two of them would be coming and was waiting at the gate early in the morning.

"My lord, my lady, you have arrived."

Su Ziyu looked at the manager in front of her and snorted coldly.

She had sent someone to look for him before, but he completely ignored them and rejected her outright, which made her very angry.

At the time, she wanted to find out who was behind the manor, but she dared to refuse.

The steward smiled and looked at Su Ziyu: "Madam, I was very rude before. Please feel free to give me any instructions in the future."

"I'm just curious, who was your previous owner? I couldn't even find a way to buy you."

The steward smiled and said, "To be honest, Madam, this old servant has never seen who the previous master was. This old servant only followed orders. If I have offended you in the past, I hope you will be magnanimous and not hold it against me."

"Now you and I are my masters. From now on, if you order this old servant east, I will absolutely not dare to go west."

The steward's words made Su Ziyu forget about his opinion, and she gently scolded him, "You just need to know your place. In this house, I am the mistress. If you dare to disrespect me in the future, or dare to do other things behind my back, if I find out, I will beat you to death with sticks, understand?"

"This old servant is getting on in years and only wants to do his job properly and have a peaceful old age. I dare not do anything else reckless, so please rest assured, Madam and Master."

Fu Jingsheng had been living a humble life for the past few days. The manager's subservient attitude made him feel very uncomfortable.

This is just the beginning.

Later, once his official career takes off, more and more people will not dare to be presumptuous in front of him and will only think about currying favor with him.

"At noon, I want to eat the fruits and vegetables here, and also the pastries from the Eight Treasures Pavilion in the capital. Have someone go and buy them." Su Ziyu went directly to the back garden.

The garden behind has a complete range of species; once you go in, it's no different from visiting a small garden.

Seeing that the flowers and plants inside were well-maintained, Su Ziyu's mood improved considerably.

You should know that planting flowers and plants is easy, but taking good care of them is not.

She also planted a lot on the neighboring estate, but the gardeners there changed many times, and the results couldn't compare to those here.

Who takes care of these flowers?

"Yes, Madam, it's A-Ding who manages it. He's our gardener here, specifically in charge of the flowers and plants on the estate."

"Let him come to me."

Su Ziyu had assumed the other person would be a middle-aged man or something, but she hadn't expected him to be a young man. He was lean but muscular, the kind of lean and capable man.

"Did you take care of all these flowers and plants?"

"Yes, madam, it is I who am in charge."

"Well done, reward me." Su Ziyu called the people over, partly to recognize them, and partly to make sure the servants remembered her.

From now on, she will be the mistress of this place, so let them be more vigilant.

"Thank you ma'am."

Before long, the steward brought over a lot of maids and servants, saying they all worked on the estate.

After the maids and servants met Su Ziyu, Su Ziyu gave them all a reward.

After everyone had left, the steward apologized to the lady, saying, "Madam, I was hoping to send you a message even though you weren't here today."

"Oh, is something the matter?"

"Since you bought the estate, sir, you haven't paid this old servant a single tael of silver for the maids and servants, or for the maintenance of the courtyard. Fortunately, I had a good relationship with them before, so I asked them to wait a month, saying that they would definitely be paid after the new madam arrives."

After the steward finished speaking, he respectfully presented the bill: "This is the bill, please take a look, Madam."

Donghong, who was standing next to Su Ziyu, took the bill and handed it to Su Ziyu.

After reading it, Su Ziyu's expression changed: "The monthly maintenance cost of the estate, plus the monthly wages of the maids and servants, will require two thousand taels of silver."

The steward nodded: "There are many precious flowers and plants on the estate, and it costs a lot of money to take care of them. Also, the things on the estate are also very expensive to maintain. The monthly wages of the maids and servants are not much. When Master Fu bought the estate, I asked him how to deal with the people and things on the estate, and he said that things would remain the same as before."

Su Ziyu looked at Fu Jingsheng.

Fu Jingsheng hadn't expected that managing a manor would cost so much money: "Manager, you've never heard of such a thing before, it costs so much money every month."

In his view, the number of maids and servants, plus the expenses here, would at most amount to one or two taels of silver.

Now they're telling him he needs two thousand taels of silver.

Why is such a manor so expensive?

If I had known it would cost so much money, why would I have bought it?

Su Ziyu's face turned pale. She took a few deep breaths and then asked, "Doesn't the estate sell fruits and vegetables? Why isn't there any income from that?"

"The master said before that the fruits and vegetables on the estate should not be sold in a hurry, but some should be sent to your residence. This is our daily record of vegetable deliveries, which you can take a look at, Madam."

Su Ziyu looked at the delivery records above; quite a few vegetables were delivered every day.

But the Fu family only has so many people; how could they possibly eat so much every day?

"My lord, take a look at this ledger. The estate sends so much food to your house every day, and you can eat it all."

Fu Jingsheng frowned: "These things were all handled by Mother before. Go back and ask Mother, and you'll know what's going on."

"Could it be that she secretly sold those vegetables and put the money into her own pocket?"

“Mother isn’t that kind of person.” Fu Jingsheng didn’t want Su Ziyu to think of her mother as that kind of person.

"Whether it is or not, we'll find out once we get back. I barely ate any of the vegetables, and I haven't seen the money for selling them. They want me to pay two thousand taels of silver? What are they thinking? Manager, whoever you gave the vegetables to, go ask them for the money. I won't pay this amount." Su Ziyu returned the ledger to the manager.

The steward looked at Fu Jingsheng with a troubled expression: "Sir, what do you think...?"