Chapter 182
"Girl, Miss Cuiqin is back."
Xiruo raised the curtain to spread the word.
Lin Yunwan put down her book, sat up from the couch, and said, "Let her in."
As soon as Cuiqin came in, she was dusty and tired. She rushed back to Bixi Hall and didn't even have time to wash up.
Her eyes were bright and her voice was low but excited: "Girl!"
Lin Yunwan said gently: "If you have anything to say, don't rush to say it. You go and freshen up first."
Cuiqin was also a calm person. She nodded and said, "Slave, I'll come back later."
Xiruo took her to wash up for half an hour. When she came back, her hair was still wet and draped over her shoulders, very black.
Lin Yunwan had someone prepare snacks and tea for her.
Cuiqin sat on the embroidered pier, raised her face and said, "I asked my brother to go out these days and found people from the Su family."
"Where are the people of the Su family now?"
Lin Yunwan was very curious as to why there was no trace of the wealthy businessman Mingyang Jiangqian who controlled most of Jiang Qian's shops.
Cuiqin said: "Since the original business failed, Mr. Su wanted to start a medicinal material business again in Chengzhou. Later he went to many places. I heard that he lived in Chengzhou again the year before last."
"It's a coincidence that the girl also inquired about it. Mr. Su came back last month to pay homage to the ancestors of the Su family. Someone in the Su family's hometown has seen Mr. Su."
"Master Su should have returned to Chengzhou now."
Cuiqin sat forward a little and continued: "Chengzhou is actually not far from Jiang Qian, but the accents in the two places are different, the roads are not easy to walk, and there are very few people traveling between the two places. If Mr. Su doesn't come back, who will I didn’t even know he had gone to Chengzhou!”
"After my brother left, I waited at my sister-in-law's house for a day and a night. I saw my brother before dawn and rushed to reply to your message."
Lin Yunwan looked at Cuiqin's bright eyes and asked with a faint smile: "So, your brother has met Mr. Su?"
Cuiqin nodded heavily: "It's not just that I met you. My brother said that Mr. Su is willing to meet the girl!"
Very good!
Lin Yunwan was very happy. She smiled and said to Xiruo, "If Cuiqin does well, I will reward her with ten taels of silver. Her brother will be rewarded with fifteen taels."
Xiruo turned around and went to weigh the silver.
Cuiqin didn't dare to ask for it, so she stood up and waved her hands: "Miss, this, this is too much!"
She has her own little plans for helping the eldest lady.
"Miss, according to the play, this is a certificate of surrender handed over by a slave. How can I ask for your reward?"
Xiruo weighed the money in two purses, put it into Cuiqin's hand, asked her to weigh the weight, and said angrily: "If you help the girl do things, there will be a lot of good things. If you do it well, there will be even more good things!" "
Cuiqin held a purse in one hand and felt that her wrists were being pressed down... so heavy!
Their whole family works as slaves in the Lin Mansion, and there are not so many slaves in a year!
"Thank you girl, thank you girl!"
Cuiqin hugged the silver and knelt on the ground to kowtow.
"Your eyes are all red. You haven't slept all day and night, right?"
Lin Yunwan helped Cuiqin up and said, "Go back and rest."
Cuiqin asked Lin Yunwan: "Miss, can I... take a day off?" She weighed the money in her arms and said, "I want to take this back to my brother and sister-in-law."
Lin Yunwan joked with her: "Give it all to your brother and sister-in-law?"
Cuiqin put away her share of the money as if she was protecting a calf, shook her head and said, "No! This slave saved it for herself and her parents."
Xiruo smiled and took her out. When she came back, she said to Lin Yunwan, "Girl, Cuiqin is so fun."
Lin Yunwan smiled.
Cuiqin was very mature at first, but she started to become more lively today, and she is indeed very cute.
"Girl, do you want to see Mr. Su?"
Lin Yunwan nodded: "I want to see you."
She rubbed a jade bracelet on her wrist and said, "Not many people in the Lin family now know about the dowry given to Miss Lin's mother by the Su family."
"But the Su family must have kept the dowry list for my aunt."
"The Su family was a very wealthy family back then. Otherwise, during the famine, Mrs. Lin would not have made the decision to let the second master marry the daughter of the Su family, a merchant, so that together they could help the people of the house."
"Miss Lin's biological mother married into the Lin Mansion with a generous dowry, and passed away only in the third year of her reign. How much dowry could the mother and daughter spend?"
Xiruo also felt sorry for Miss Lin and her daughter.
"Girl, what do you want?"
Lin Yunwan kept a copy of the imperial law book and Jiang Qian's local chronicles.
She clicked some books on the table and said: "I have been browsing for several days. Jiang Qian's place is similar to the capital. If a married woman dies, the dowry will be inherited by the legitimate son. If there is no legitimate son and a legitimate daughter, she will be the legitimate daughter. The dowry is also allowed, but the mother’s family can also recover part of the dowry.”
"If there is no legitimate son or daughter, the dowry given by the Su family, except for the portion used by the married woman, must be returned to the Su family."
Lin Yunwan paused and said calmly: "It's not what I want now, but these things should be returned to their original owners."
Xiruo thought about something and said angrily: "No wonder I agreed to accept you as his daughter so easily. I'm afraid without you, I wouldn't have made Miss Lin's death known to the public!"
"I wonder if I really need to find a fake daughter to replace Miss Lin."
Otherwise, the Su family would have to find a way to recover the dowry. How could the master and his wife be willing to cut their flesh?
Lin Yunwan went through the whole thing in her mind and smiled sarcastically: "Master really miscalculated. If he had adopted the legitimate son under the name of the late wife earlier, the Su family would not be able to get back the dowry."
"It's a pity that at that time, the master was competing with Mrs. Lin and was unwilling to accept concubines. He only had his wife in mind. He didn't even have a bastard."
"Otherwise, with the Lin family's methods, a bastard will inevitably be adopted as Miss Lin's younger brother."
Xiruo didn't expect it to be so profound, but as soon as Lin Yunwan said it, she knew it made sense.
She was a little worried and said: "It's been more than ten years. Miss, do you think the master and his wife have used up all the dowry of Miss Lin's mother?"
"That's not the case."
Lin Yunwan thought about it seriously and then said: "Neither the first bedroom nor the third bedroom took anything from the second bedroom. The second bedroom is only as wealthy as the master, wife and second lady, and they are still wealthy enough that they dare not show off."
"It doesn't cost much money."
She smiled lightly and said, "Didn't you hear Miss Lin's wet nurse's description? The Su Mansion is so rich that even the palaces of princes and princes can compare with it."
Xiruo recalled Zheng's usual dress and said, "It's a lot of money to spend. The master and his wife are not afraid of violating their conscience. It's too easy for them!"
Lin Yunwan is not worried about this.
"As long as the book is there, I will spit out as much as I spent on it."
"Although no one has mentioned the Su family girl's dowry in these years, which Jiang Qian family doesn't understand it? If we really want to sue the court, if the Lin family doesn't come up with it, then don't be ashamed!"
"Our master is just bullying Mr. Su because he is too proud and has not dared to visit his in-laws these years."
"Otherwise the money should have been returned to its original owner long ago."
Lin Yunwan asked Xiruo to put away Jiang Qian's local chronicles, and she went to pay her respects to Zheng.
"Go and see my wife. She is always dressed up so gorgeously. Maybe one day I won't see her like that again."
