Lady Gu handled matters with a generous hand and gave out handsome rewards, which left everyone in the estate in high spirits, and even the Duke himself praised her for her virtue. Having tasted the power of managing the household, Lady Gu was eager to assert herself further and was just waiting to catch Lady Lu in a compromising mistake.
Lady Lu grew furious whenever Lady Gu brought up the management of the household, all the while terrified that Lady Gu would seize upon today's incident as an excuse to make trouble before the Old Madame. Torn for a moment, she ultimately decided that retaining her hold over household affairs was far more important.
Gritting her teeth, she forced a smile onto her face. "What is my second sister-in-law saying? How could I not have thought of this method myself? I was just about to instruct the steward to smash the locks on the storehouse door!"
Hearing her finally speak some sense, Jiang Lingzhi smiled at last. Turning back to look at the steward, who was hurrying to catch up, she commanded, "Smash it!"
How could the steward dare to argue? He hastily led the men forward. "Yes! Right away!"
Seeing Lady Lu’s ashen complexion, Second Madame Gu felt her face split into a wide grin. The more she looked at Jiang Lingzhi, the more pleasing she found her. "Good sister-in-law, don't be afraid. From now on, if anything comes up in the estate, just come to your second sister-in-law. I’ve got your back."
Sensing the deep animosity between Lady Lu and Gu, Jiang Lingzhi did not refuse this half-sincere show of favor. "Then I must thank you, Second Sister-in-law."
Lady Lu watched as the steward and his men deftly smashed the locks on the storehouse and cleared it out like a swarm of locusts, the clumsy men even kicking over and trampling the precious flowers and plants in the courtyard as they went. She felt as though her very heart was bleeding.
She had looked over the dowry inventory, and this dowry had truly been prepared with the utmost care by Madame Wei; it was worth at least one hundred thousand silver taels!
Mammy Wang knelt on the ground with disheveled hair. She had followed Lady Lu through glory for the better part of her life, never imagining she would lose every shred of her dignity today! Tears streaming down her wrinkled face, she wept, "Mistress, the Fourth Mistress is riding right over our First Branch's head now. You simply cannot let her get away with this!"
Yet, having witnessed Jiang Lingzhi's shrewish and overbearing nature firsthand, Lady Lu truly had no desire to lock horns with her directly.
"She's like a mad dog; it's not worth dirtying our own hands." Lady Lu was consumed by anger, her lips trembling as she spoke. "Since the Jiang family doesn't know how to raise their daughters properly, they can shut their own doors and deal with her themselves."
For a moment, Mammy Wang didn't understand.
A sinister glint flashed in the depths of Lady Lu's eyes. "Go to the Jiang family immediately and tell Madame Jiang to find a way to get that dowry back! Otherwise, she can have Jiang Lingyuan marry into a higher family and banish all thought of ever setting foot in the Duke Estate."
***
After Old Madame Xiao returned to the estate, Second Madame Gu exaggerated the events and went to lodge a complaint with the Old Madame.
"Absurd!" Old Madame Xiao slammed her hand on the table. "As the eldest sister-in-law, to withhold a younger sister-in-law's dowry—what on earth is she trying to do?"
A smile plastered across her face, Second Madame Gu insinuated, "Perhaps the illness the Eldest Sister-in-law suffered last winter hasn't fully healed yet, leaving her a bit muddled in the head, which is why she makes such a farce of things."
"Her conduct may not be as sharp and capable as yours," Old Madame Xiao shot her a sidelong glance, directly piercing through her intentions, "but she is still the mistress of the First Branch. When the house prospers, we all share in the glory; when it falls, we all suffer. Don't always sit around hoping for her downfall."
Second Madame Gu instantly looked sheepish. "Yes."
After a pause, Old Madame Xiao softened her tone. "However, you did well today in helping the Fourth Daughter-in-law recover her dowry. From now on, you shall take charge of matters concerning the family school."
Having snagged a bit of real authority after all, the Second Madame brightened up at once. "Yes, Mother!"
In her view, seizing control of the household required taking it piece by piece.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lingzhi looked at the dowry that filled an entire courtyard. After having the servants check every item against the inventory, she had it all safely stored away in the storehouse.
Just in case things didn't turn out as she hoped... this would be her foundation and fallback for the rest of her life!
Before dinner, the imperial decree bestowing upon Jiang Lingzhi the title of a First-Rank Lady of honor was delivered to the Duke Estate. Upon hearing the news, the various branches inevitably sent over congratulatory gifts.
Even though Lady Lu remained deeply unhappy and unwilling, she ultimately sent gifts as well.
The maid Chunxing came over to drop off the items, then produced a gift ledger for Jiang Lingzhi to review. "Fourth Mistress, this is the list of gifts for your return home tomorrow. Our mistress says please look it over to see if there is anything amiss."
A bitter resentment had been brewing in Lady Lu’s chest, and she had wanted to wash her hands of the whole affair, but the mere thought of Second Madame Gu immediately made her swallow her anger and pull herself together.
If she refused to handle it, Second Madame Gu would only be too eager to step in! Besides, preparing the return gifts was not particularly difficult; they had been prepared beforehand anyway. Although they were originally meant for a daughter-in-law, they would work just as well now that she had become a sister-in-law.
Jiang Lingzhi was still splitting bamboo. With a single swing of the chopper, she didn't even raise her head. "Since the Eldest Sister-in-law has managed the household for many years, her arrangements are naturally proper. There's no need for me to look."
*Hmph*, she couldn't be bothered to waste any thought on sending gifts to the Jiang family.
Since Jiang Lingzhi was so nonchalant, Lady Lu felt she had been spared some trouble.
She had thought the matter of the homecoming gifts was settled, but when Old Madame Xiao looked over the ledger, she felt it fell short of the prestige owed to a First-Rank Lady of honor. She therefore picked out a few boxes of items from her private treasury and had Lady Lu add them to the ledger.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been an issue.
However, upon inspecting those boxes of gifts, Lady Lu became thoroughly discontented. Why should all the best things go to that fourth daughter-in-law of hers?
Running her hands back and forth over a snow-white fox-fur cloak, she complained to Xiao Jingping, "Look at that! Mother’s partiality has truly reached the ends of the earth. Out of all the daughters-in-law in this estate, she only has eyes for the fourth branch! She begged for a noble title for her, gave her such heavy homecoming gifts, and look at this fox-fur cloak—not a single stray hair on it. It must be a bestowal from the imperial palace!"
Xiao Jingping said impatiently, "Are you at it again? You withheld someone else's dowry by day, and tonight you're eyeing her homecoming gifts. Do you really want to make sure Mother punishes you?"
Seeing her own husband undermine her like this, Lady Lu said in exasperation, "What kind of talk is that? Don't you even think about who I'm doing this for?! Without that dowry, I'll have to find some other way to scrape together those one hundred thousand taels for you!"
A flash crossed Xiao Jingping's eyes, and he hurriedly softened his tone. "Alright, alright, it was my fault. I won't say anymore. Stop making yourself angry, will you?"
"Hmph, at least you have some conscience!"
As Lady Lu stroked the fox-fur cloak back and forth, her tone dripping with bitterness, she muttered, "Tell me, has Mother lost her mind? The fourth daughter-in-law is the very woman our Yan'er rejected, yet now they treat her like some precious treasure! When she served tea, Mother gave her the family heirloom jade ring; because of her few whispered words of provocation, the Duke punished Yan'er to go suffer; and you—my husband, she's only seventeen and has already been granted a noble title, while you're almost forty and still aren't even the heir!"
"How did we get back to whether I'm made heir or not?" Xiao Jingping truly could not stand the way Lady Lu always struck at his sore spots the moment she spoke. "Pack up your things slowly," he said impatiently, and flicked his sleeves as he walked out.
Furious, Lady Lu rolled her eyes. What kind of debt must she have owed in a past life to end up like this!
Yet very soon, her gaze was drawn back to the fox-fur cloak.
She stroked it again and again, feeling the luxurious fur slip softly and smoothly between her fingers, until she finally could not resist the temptation.
"Chunxing, fetch my grey rat-fur robe and swap it for this one."
It was going to the Jiang family anyway; she supposed that Madame Jiang wouldn't dare say a word about it!
***
Night fell.
Jiang Lingzhi knelt on the edge of the bed, massaging Xiao Jingyi's entire body.
Doctor Mu had given strict instructions: without massage and movement, even the finest tendons, bones, and flesh would atrophy. Starting from his fingers, she kneaded upward little by little to his shoulders, pressed down across his chest, down his thighs, his calves, and finally worked his joints through a few flexes.
Xiao Jingyi experienced a tumult of complex emotions, feeling rather like a lump of dough being kneaded and tossed back and forth by this country girl. Yet, occasionally, a faint tingling sensation rippled through his limbs. Surprised by this fleeting trace of sensation, he silently reined in a portion of his resistance.
He merely resolved in the depths of his mind that if she truly succeeded in waking him up through these massages, he would undoubtedly reward her with a great deal of silver as compensation.
Exhausted, Jiang Lingzhi collapsed to lie beside him, panting heavily as she began to grumble, "I knew it would be tiring, but I never expected it to be *this* tiring. I'm just a young woman and simply don't have enough strength. Tomorrow, I'll just have a manservant massage you instead."
The sliver of gratitude Xiao Jingyi had just felt toward her vanished instantly.
Forget it, he might as well save the silver!
"After all, my strength is precious; I have to save it to consummate our marriage with you." Jiang Lingzhi’s words were startlingly bold.
Stormy waves surged within Xiao Jingyi's heart.
*What?*
He couldn't even move a single finger right now, yet this country girl actually wanted to take advantage of his helpless state to steal his purity?!
He had always kept himself strictly disciplined; he didn't even have a single concubine or bed-attendant by his side. Having fought in battles for many years, his mind held only the single goal of pacifying the northwest, and he had never wasted extra words on any woman. He had privately imagined that once the war ended, he would return to Shangjing and marry a beautiful, slender, high-born bride.
And now, he was being targeted by a rustic country woman!
He desperately wished he could wake up right this instant and throw this ignorant woman out the door!!!
After finishing her grumbling, Jiang Lingzhi felt a twinge of guilt. Turning her head to glance at him, she saw he still wore that unconscious, lifeless expression, which let her breathe a sigh of relief.
She couldn't help letting out another sigh.
"Actually, it's quite nice that you're unconscious like this—you don't have to do things you don't want to do. If I were like you, I wouldn't have to go back to the Jiang family for my homecoming tomorrow."
With that, she hastily added, "Still, avoidance isn't good either; you should hurry up and wake up, General. Just like... even though I don't like the Jiang Minister's Manor, my mother's spirit tablet is still there, so I have to go back."
Xiao Jingyi let out an internal sneer. *Hah, a little country girl actually lecturing a general?!*
... *Wait, the Jiang Minister's Manor?*
Naturally, he was aware of the betrothal between the Jiang and Xiao families. He also knew that the Jiang family's legitimate eldest daughter had been raised in the countryside, and it was only because his father kept pressing the issue out of respect for the late Grand Tutor Jiang that the Jiang family had finally brought her back to Shangjing.
But wasn't that eldest Miss Jiang supposed to marry his eldest nephew???
At the thought that the country girl who had just felt him up from head to toe should properly have been his nephew's wife, Xiao Jingyi wanted nothing more than to leap three feet in the air and flee this bed.
Yet stubbornly, he could not move a single muscle.
He desperately wanted to know what on earth was going on, but this country girl... no, this eldest Miss Jiang, had stopped talking.
Exhausted, Jiang Lingzhi had fallen asleep.
Xiao Jingyi: "..."
He could only lie there with his eyes closed, wide awake.