He Jingheng's voice made Zhang and He Jinghe tremble inwardly.
For so many years, He Jingheng rarely managed the affairs of the mansion. He was in the prince's mansion for at most a few dozen days a year.
But this didn't mean that the He family wasn't afraid of him.
One should know that He Jingheng had survived the fierce battles among thousands of troops.
When he was truly angry, the murderous aura on him was no less than that of the Asuras in hell.
"Jingheng, your younger brother just said it casually. It doesn't count, it doesn't count." Zhang put on a flattering smile, fearing that she might really anger He Jingheng.
"Now that my mother has handed over the house - keeping power to Ruoyi, she's the one who makes the decisions in the entire He family. If she says she won't give you any, then don't even think about taking a single thing from here."
He Jinghe was unwilling in his heart, but he didn't dare to challenge He Jingheng at all. The pain on his face was still there, constantly reminding him that the elder brother in front of him couldn't be provoked.
Just then, He Yunyi helped the old princess walk out of the room.
Seeing this, Zhang quickly stepped forward. "Mother."
"Humph!" The old princess glanced at her and said coldly, "You know to call me mother now? Weren't you eager to stay away from us when we were down and out?"
The smile on Zhang's face froze. She knew the old princess was mocking her, but at the moment, as long as they could return to the He family, what did a few mockeries matter? At least they could have enough to eat and wear, and there would be servants to attend to them.
Coincidentally, Qiao came out with a quilt to dry. Zhang smiled and said, "Mother, look, now that Yanxin has also returned to the He family, let us come back too! I'll serve you."
Shang Ruoyi sneered. Zhang had really calculated well! She said she would serve the old lady, but in essence, she just wanted to come back to the He family to freeload. She wouldn't let them have their way and end up raising a bunch of parasites to annoy herself.
However, she could give Zhang a taste of her own medicine first.
"If Second - aunt wants to return to the He family, it's not impossible." Shang Ruoyi stepped forward and looked at her and He Jingheng with a smile.
"Really?"
"In a few days, we're going to build a house and need a lot of workers. At that time, Second - uncle and Jinghe can come to build the house. We'll provide food and pay wages."
"You want me to do manual labor?" He Jinghe said angrily. "Are you crazy? I'm a master! Even if I return to the He family, I'm still a master. How can I be a servant at your beck and call!"
"If others can do it, why can't you?" He Zhiyuan stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "I knew you were a wastrel. Now that we're in this situation, you still refuse to reform. You still want to be a master? Dream on!"
"Third - uncle, how can you also be deceived by her? I'm your nephew." He Jinghe couldn't understand why Shang Ruoyi, a married - in woman, had a higher status in the hearts of the He family than him. He turned his gaze to the old princess, hoping to arouse her pity. But as soon as the old princess saw him, she couldn't help but think of all the absurd things he had done and only wished he could stay as far away from her as possible.
Just then, He Ning'an walked out of the crowd and came to the old princess. With a solemn face, he said, "Mother, I just want to ask you one thing. Will you take care of our family of three or not?"
He had seen clearly that there was a big cart of food being moved into the house like a flowing stream. His son was right. Why didn't they have a share?
"Second - brother, why should mother take care of you? On the way of exile, weren't you disdainful to be with us? How many times has mother been sick? When did you ever come to visit? Now that you see our lives are getting better, you want to come and get a share. There's no such easy thing." He Zhiyuan snorted coldly. "When we were in the prince's mansion years ago, you were addicted to pleasure - seeking. Now it's still the same. That's why Jinghe has become like you."
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
"It's not your turn to lecture me!" He Ning'an waved him aside and looked at the old princess gloomily. "Mother, you're determined to ignore me, right? There's no lack of silver now. It's not that we can't afford to support our family of three. Are three more people really that much of a burden? I'm a county prince, and Jinghe is the heir of the county prince. How can we be compared with those low - class people?"
The people standing outside the courtyard were very displeased. What did he mean by low - class people? Who was he calling low - class?
Many of them were former court officials who had been exiled here. So when they heard He Ning'an's words, they all frowned. He Ning'an didn't expect that his words would stir up public resentment.
Seeing that the old princess didn't answer, he said coldly, "In that case, give me the money for the family - division."
Family - division?
Shang Ruoyi understood. So the second - branch had made such a scene for this.
"How do you want to divide it?"
"Divide all these things you bought into three parts. We'll take one part."
Shang Ruoyi sneered. After the old princess's jewelry was exchanged for silver, it wasn't even enough to buy all these things. And they still wanted to take away one - third directly? They were simply daydreaming.
"No way." Shang Ruoyi's voice rang out.
He Ning'an had always looked down on Shang Ruoyi. Now that she actually refuted his words openly, he said angrily, "With the elders here, where is it your turn to speak?"
"Second - uncle, you're wrong. Since I'm in charge of the He family, I make the decisions about household finances." She took out a few pieces of paper and handed them to them. "When I went to the pawnshop to exchange silver today, I specifically asked the shopkeeper to write down how much silver each of the things we sent there was exchanged for. Grandmother, mother, Third - aunt, please have a look to see if there are any omissions."
"Oh, my dear, when your aunt gave you her possessions, she trusted you completely. There's no need to calculate so clearly. It would make us seem distant." Lin smiled and didn't look at the paper. "No need to look."
"Thank you, Third - aunt."
He Jingheng watched her show the accounts to those three people, but not to him. The corners of his lips curled up slightly.
In his perception, Shang Ruoyi regarded the two of them as one, so she didn't show him these accounts.
In fact, it was because Shang Ruoyi didn't pawn his finger - guard at all, so she couldn't produce the relevant account.
The old princess looked at the accounts and nodded. "There's no problem. It's exactly these amounts."
Shang Ruoyi handed the old princess's bill to He Ning'an. "Second - uncle, have a look! Grandmother's jewelry was sold for a total of thirty taels. Divided equally into three parts, it's ten taels."
She took out ten taels of silver from her purse and handed it to him. "Here, Second - uncle, this is your share."
Ten taels!
How could it be only so little?
He Ning'an looked at her with a scrutinizing gaze. "Did you forge this? Just to give us less silver."
"If Second - uncle doesn't believe it, you can go to the town and ask yourself. The name of the shop is also written on it." Shang Ruoyi sneered. "Furthermore, I'm not a prophet. How could I have predicted that Second - uncle would come today to ask for money?"
He Ning'an looked at her. Just as he was about to take the silver, Shang Ruoyi's voice came. "Second - uncle, once you take this silver today, we're completely separated."