Chapter 428: The Uninvited Guest
Chapter 428: Chapter 428: The Uninvited Guest
Liu Yun’s body went limp. As expected, she had come for this matter again.
"What exactly is going on with her? Can it be that the Third Prince can no longer afford to support her?"
She had never seen someone so foolish. Instead of bringing things back to her maiden home, this married daughter was constantly trying to scrape things away from them.
"Everything in the mansion requires silver to smooth things over," Cai Hua said, feeling bitter inside. The Third Prince looked glorious on the outside, but who would have known he was so poor behind closed doors.
It was said that every branch in the backyard used their own dowries to subsidize their living expenses. Normally, aside from three meals a day, they shouldn’t expect anything else.
The women in the backyard competed for attention all day long. Her young miss had only brought over a little silver and a few sets of clothes. Even the fabrics in her dowry were just cheap cotton used to make up the numbers. Because she wore the same few outfits day in and day out, they had suffered an untold amount of ridicule.
Her miss had no choice but to send her to the Gu Family to ask for more. The silver she had brought back last time had at least managed to buy two new outfits and two sets of jewelry. However, the Princess Consort’s birthday was approaching. All the courtyards in the mansion had been notified early on, and everyone was expected to prepare a gift of some sort.
"But I really can’t produce any silver right now," Liu Yun said. Ultimately, she didn’t want to say anything too harsh and offend her daughter, who had married into a noble household. If the Third Prince were to succeed in his ambitions in the future, her daughter would become an honored figure in the palace.
"Madam, please think of a way. The miss is having a very hard time in the mansion right now. You don’t know this, but in the backyard, you even have to pay silver just to get a hot meal.
"We don’t even dare to hope for that; we just eat whatever the main kitchen sends over. But the social obligations and gift exchanges within the mansion are completely unavoidable."
No matter what, Cai Hua had to bring silver back today. Otherwise, not only would she fail her task, but the maids would also be implicated and lose even more face in the mansion.
"What sins have we committed?" Liu Yun steeled her heart. "Wait here for now. I’ll go look for the old man."
She didn’t have any silver here, but the old man definitely did. Without noticing the evasive look in Cai Hua’s eyes, she hurriedly ran out.
Facing Liu Yun, who had just barged in, Gu Baijiang was truly at a loss for words. He couldn’t even be bothered to reprimand her for her lack of manners.
"Father," Liu Yun bowed respectfully.
"Say no more. I don’t have any silver here. Tell An Tong to just live her life quietly in the backyard and stop thinking about unrealistic things all day. Our family’s financial situation is what it is; she cannot afford to compete with others."
Liu Yun was somewhat shocked. She hadn’t even said anything yet. How did Gu Baijiang know why she was here?
"Before she went to you, she had already looked for me a few times." Gu Baijiang put down the brush in his hand. He used to be somewhat skilled in painting, and recently he had been taking jobs from the bookstore to draw some illustrations. Now that he had been interrupted, it seemed this painting was ruined, so he decided not to waste the paper. "I gave her silver a few times, but it’s a bottomless pit. With our current resources, there’s absolutely no way to fill it."
He had originally thought that sending his granddaughter to the Third Prince Mansion would tightly bind the two families together. However, Gu Antong was far too useless. Aside from being favored during her first few days in the mansion, she hadn’t received any special attention since. Not only could she not help the family, but she now required them to subsidize her.
If his entire storehouse of silver hadn’t been lost, he might have been willing to invest a little. But now the entire Gu Family was completely destitute. Even he had to find ways to earn money, so how could they afford to support her?
Liu Yun was truly foolish. Was she not clear about the family’s situation recently? Yet she still dared to barge into his study.
"I really didn’t know about this," Liu Yun said, having never heard of it. "But Cai Hua is waiting over there right now. What should we do?"
At the end of the day, An Tong was her own daughter. Liu Yun still wanted to help her if possible. She blamed the old man in front of her. Even though he let her manage the household, he only gave her enough for daily expenses. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have to come here and suffer his attitude.
"What can we do? Explain our family’s current situation clearly to them. We truly cannot produce any silver right now. Tell An Tong that if she has any difficulties, she should go directly to the Third Prince. The Third Prince is, after all, a prince. He won’t just let her constantly beg her maiden family for handouts."
"Father, are you leaving An Tong with no way out?" Liu Yun asked. If the Third Prince heard such words, would An Tong ever have a good life?
"How am I leaving her with no way out?" She was his own granddaughter, so of course he hoped for the best for her. Thinking about it now, Xu Huizhen had truly died at the wrong time. If she were still alive, he wouldn’t need to be the one to give such advice. As for Xu Shuanghong, he didn’t dare to count on her. It was good enough if she didn’t cause trouble.
"She is now a concubine of the Third Prince. The most important thing right now is for her to bear him a child. There’s no need to compete with the other female family members in the backyard. Those are daughters from prominent, noble families. How can she possibly compare?"
Liu Yun also knew that even before the Gu Family had fallen from grace, they wouldn’t have been able to compare financially with those women. She also felt that her daughter’s most pressing priority was to hurry up and have a child, but as a mother, she had already said everything she could.
"Have that maid go back and tell her that if she faces any difficulties, she must find a way to approach the Third Prince directly. She is the Third Prince’s woman; for the sake of appearances, the Third Prince cannot possibly mistreat her.
"Men sometimes like it when women rely on them. If she doesn’t voice her struggles, who will know what she wants?
"The Third Prince is very busy; he doesn’t have time to play guessing games with her."
At this point, Gu Baijiang’s expression grew a little unnatural. If he continued speaking, was he supposed to teach his disappointing granddaughter how to seduce the Third Prince? He looked at Liu Yun with dissatisfaction. "Enough. These are things that you, as her mother, should be teaching her. Go back and think it over carefully. Either way, the Gu Family cannot cough up any silver right now."
"But to just let her leave empty-handed..."
"If you can’t bear it, then figure out a way to solve it for her yourself. Under the current circumstances, the Gu Family cannot afford to support her."
Liu Yun returned to her courtyard despondently, only to see Xu Yulan holding Cai Hua’s hand, speaking intimately about something.
Seeing her enter, Xu Yulan walked toward her with a fawning expression. "Liu Yun, you’re finally back. This is our concubine’s senior maid. How could you neglect her?"
"How do you have the time to come to my place?" Liu Yun asked.
These past few days, Xu Yulan had been running outside every day. Word had it that she had returned to her maiden home again. She didn’t even consider the trouble her maiden home had caused before. She truly didn’t know where her loyalties should lie.
"Listen to you, Liu Yun. I would love to come and bother you more often, but you are always so busy that your feet barely touch the ground. Even in such a small courtyard, it’s rare to run into you.
"Seeing that you had a guest, I decided to help you entertain her."
As Xu Yulan spoke, her eyes darted around slyly. "What good things did our concubine send to you, Liu Yun? Bring them out so I can admire them too."
At this, even Cai Hua, who had just been flattered, felt a bit uncomfortable. She had come to take things; how could she have brought gifts?
"There is nothing. Tong Er just had some matters to ask me about. I still have things to take care of here, so I won’t keep you any longer, Yu Lan."
With such an obvious dismissal, no matter how thick-skinned Xu Yulan was, she couldn’t stay any longer.