Greetings, Ninth Uncle
chapter-52-1

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Hearing Ruan-shi’s accusation, Cheng Yujin almost blurted out. Why should she help Cheng Yumo? She wasn’t Cheng Yumo’s mother. Whether Cheng Yumo losing face or not, living well or not, why did it matter to her?

But Cheng Yujin quickly calmed herself down. Lashing out over a dispute was easy, but it was very difficult to keep her reputation and prosperity afterward. The best thing to do was to say all kinds of pleasing words without paying a single copper coin. It wasn’t a good move to tear off the facade with Ruan-shi now.

Cheng Yujin secretly pinched the palm of her hand, and then said in a sincere but helpless tone: “Of course I am very happy to help my family, but my ability is limited. I truly don’t have much to add to the dowry for the second sister. The second sister still has two thousand taels of silver, but I only have a few land deeds, which are incomparable to the second sister’s share. As an elder sister, I am useless. Although I want to help, I am powerless.”

Ruan-shi frowned: “Don’t you get three shops from father? And there is also small farmland. With so many things in your hand, how can you are unable to give anything?”

“Second aunt maybe doesn’t know.” Cheng Yujin said. “Grandfather pitied me and gave me those properties. However, the business condition of those shops is incomparable to the ones father and second uncle got. The profit I got each month is barely enough for my daily expenses. With those shops, I don’t have to worry about my food and clothing in the future, but if I want to buy anything extra, it’s not enough.”

When Old Master Cheng distributed the property, everyone in the family witnessed that Cheng Yujin got three shops in the capital and a small farmland estate. In fact, with Cheng Yujin’s current financial resources, it was easy to buy a set of high-quality mahogany furniture. Not to mention her fixed assets such as land deeds and gold, just the monthly profit from the shops alone was enough to buy a few sets of furniture. However, Cheng Yujin would never admit the real amount of her wealth. Even if they came to her, crying about how poor they were, Cheng Yujin would never give them her money.

Seeing that Ruan-shi was still not reconciled, Cheng Yujin decided to give a more potent pill. She suddenly changed her tone and said cheerfully: “Second aunt, since it’s this way, why don’t you lend me second sister’s two thousand taels of silver first, let me use it to expand my shops, and after it becomes profitable, I will pay you back. How?”

Ruan-shi’s smile was stiffened. Cheng Yujin couldn’t make much money even with three shops, but now wanted to borrow Mo’er’s money to expand the business? What if she failed?

Ruan-shi’s expression was not very good, but Cheng Yujin seemed not to notice it and enthusiastically spoke about borrowing money from Ruan-shi. As she listened, Ruan-shi’s expression became darker and darker. She quickly found a chance to turn the topic off and refused to mention the shops again. Cheng Yujin pretended to be very disappointed, but inwardly, she snorted in disdain. Since Ruan-shi wanted to take the opportunity to ‘borrow’ Cheng Yujin’s dowry, the best way to deal with her was by asking back for money and see whether she was willing to take out the silver or not.

Ruan-shi once again turned to persuade Old Madam Cheng. Cheng Yujin secretly sighed in relief. However, it was merely a first-aid solution, not a long-term one. She could pretend to be stupid for a while, but this method wouldn’t work forever. If the dowry matter wasn’t resolved, her situation was like treading on a piece of thin ice where she could fall anytime. Cheng Yujin calmly glanced at the door. As early as when Ruan-shi began to mention her dowry, she hurriedly sent Du Ruo to invite Qingfu Junzhu over. Cheng Yujin was Ruan-shi’s junior and also bore the grace of giving birth. It would be difficult for her to refuse Ruan-shi’s request. But Qingfu was different. Only by having Qingfu blocked the request could Ruan-shi be deterred. On Qingfu Junzhu’s face, the Old Madam also wouldn’t press Cheng Yujin too much.

For some things, Cheng Yujin had to do her utmost to avoid, but for Qingfu, it was merely a matter of one sentence.

Cheng Yujin thought, although she wasn’t born to Qingfu Junzhu, she never neglected any of her obligations as a daughter over these years. She also never absent from paying respect every day. It has been more than ten years. Even raising a cat or dog, people would develop some feelings. Judging from the feelings over the years, Qingfu Junzhu should help her this time, right?

In the Chenming Courtyard, Liu Yi kneeled before the table, reporting the affairs of the palace to Cheng Yuanjing: “Your Highness, in the past few days, some people in the court once again mentioned about the country’s instability. Senior Grand Secretary Yang stated that he didn’t dare to discuss the matter about crown prince arbitrarily, and sent the memorials directly to the Emperor.”

The crown prince was the foundation of a country. After the crown prince Li Chengjing’s disappearance, the court has been arguing about this matter for a long time. At first, the courtiers saw that the Emperor was hit hard by this tragedy and almost madly searching for the crown prince’s whereabouts over the years. Because of this, no one dared to mention appointing a new crown prince, lest they attracted the Emperor’s wrath. Over the years, the storm of Qingxuan Temple’s tragedy has gradually subsided without the slightest clue of the missing crown prince’s whereabouts. But the second prince born from Empress Yang was growing up day by day. Especially since this year, the second prince’s reputation for being smart, diligent, and respecting teachers has spread everywhere.

Therefore, many people in the court began to have another thought, and a certain restless opinion was getting louder and louder.

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