Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 240
Chapter 240 - Fourth Aunt Yun Asks for Money
In the early morning, rain began to fall.
The weather was turning colder by the day, yet after practicing her martial arts, Yun Chu worked up a thin layer of sweat.
She had just sheathed her dagger and stepped into the room when she saw the little guy pouting his lips in displeasure: "Mother didn't call me when practicing martial arts. I'm angry now."
"Didn't Mother tell you? You can wake up early to practice martial arts once your health is fully restored." Yun Chu pinched his arm gently. "Only by putting on more meat can you hold a sword, understand?"
"Hmph!"
The little guy crossed his arms over his chest, his cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish, intentionally ignoring Yun Chu.
Yun Chu tried to dress him, but he ran over to Ting Xue instead, letting Ting Xue help him finish dressing. He then picked up his books and marched out the door, walking over to the other side of the doorway on his own.
"This little rascal..."
Yun Chu shook her head and let out a sigh.
She pondered whether her deep desire to make things up to the child had led her to a point bordering on overindulgence, which was actually not a good thing.
Yu'er was the heir to the Prince's Manor. Barring any accidents, he would become the ruler of Luochuan, Prince Pingxi's fiefdom, in the future.
The ruler of a domain indeed had to endure a bit more hardship than ordinary people from a young age.
Let's wait until he turns five.
Yun Chu thought to herself that once Yu'er reached the age of five, she would let go and allow the child to grow on his own.
Daylight gradually brightened, and the rain slowly stopped.
Yun Chu woke up Changsheng and enjoyed breakfast with her young daughter.
After finishing the meal, Changsheng, as usual, spread out her drawing paper on her own and began to paint with earnest dedication.
Yun Chu also began her busy day.
While handling various trivial matters around nine in the morning, the women from the branch families of the Yun clan arrived.
First, they came to congratulate Yun Chu on her conferment as a Yiren of the Fifth Rank.
Second, they were there to report on the accounts of the shops under their respective management.
Yun Chu had the maidservants serve tea and asked everyone to speak one by one.
"The harvest from the two farm estates I oversee turned out quite good this year," the Seventh Sister-in-law of a branch family said as she flipped through her account book. "One estate brought in thirteen hundred taels, while the other brought in slightly less at eight hundred taels. I checked through the ledger—the lower revenue was mainly because draft cattle and farm tools were stolen in July, and some fields were trampled and damaged. We also spent a considerable sum buying cattle and forging agricultural implements..."
Yun Chu nodded. This Seventh Sister-in-law had indeed put a great deal of effort into auditing the books. To take two farm estates with modest yields so seriously meant she could be entrusted with greater responsibilities in the future.
Immediately after, the rest of the women reported their accounts in succession.
"Things are a bit more complex on my end. Our Yun family's cloth shop and tea shop can be considered massive enterprises, and I've barely slept these past few days, going over every single ledger," Fourth Aunt Yun spoke with a smile. "The profit from the cloth shop reached nearly a thousand taels of silver last month, and the tea shop was even more extraordinary, making thirty-two hundred taels in a single month."
When she looked through the ledgers, she too had received quite a shock.
She had never imagined that the combined annual income of just the cloth shop and tea shop could reach over fifty thousand taels of silver.
Factor in the other properties, and the Yun family had an annual income of at least eighty thousand taels of silver.
In the past, when she was far removed from these affairs, she used to wonder privately every day how vast the Yun family's assets truly were. Now that the ledgers were in her own hands, her heart flared with intense ambition.
She spoke up: "Yesterday, I heard someone mention that the south produces a very soft fabric that our capital doesn't have. I was thinking whether we should arrange for people to purchase it in bulk from the south. When the time comes, the cloth shop could make at least this much."
She held up two fingers.
Seventh Sister-in-law Yun probed, "Two thousand taels?"
Fourth Aunt Yun shook her head: "If it were only two thousand taels, I wouldn't even bring it up—it's twenty thousand taels! As long as we send someone to make the trip and stock the goods, we can make twenty thousand taels in a month! This is a guaranteed, highly lucrative business venture! Chuchu, hurry and allocate some silver to me from the public account, and I'll make the cloth shop overflow with wealth!"
Yun Chu took a calm sip of tea: "How much should I allocate?"
"Ten thousand taels will be enough," Fourth Aunt Yun grinned widely. "When the time comes, principal and profit combined, I will return thirty thousand taels to you."
She had ordered people to inquire carefully into the matter. That fabric was exceptionally rare; a consignment worth a hundred taels of silver could be sold for at least five hundred taels once transported to the capital.
In other words, asking Yun Chu for ten thousand taels of silver would eventually turn into fifty thousand taels. She could return thirty thousand taels to the public account and still pocket twenty thousand taels for herself.
Yun Chu set her teacup on the table: "Fourth Aunt surely doesn't think the present Yun family can effortlessly produce ten thousand taels of silver, does she?"
Fourth Aunt Yun countered: "Why couldn't we?"
Just a single year's harvest yielded eighty thousand taels. After so many years, she didn't even dare to imagine how much money was sitting in the Yun family's public account.
She was only asking for ten thousand taels—was that so excessive?
Yun Chu shook her head: "For a family as large as ours, Fourth Aunt can calculate in her own mind how much the daily expenses add up to. Furthermore, with the end of the year approaching, the Yun family's annual ancestor veneration ceremony is about to begin. Although trouble has fallen upon the Yun family, we cannot mistreat our ancestors. The annual expense for ancestor worship exceeds five thousand taels of silver. If that silver is given to Fourth Aunt, what will we do about the ancestral rites?"
For an influential, aristocratic family like theirs, the ancestor veneration ceremony was the grandest event of the year, one that even clan members living in distant lands had to attend.
Spending five thousand taels of silver on it would barely make a splash.
Fourth Aunt Yun found it hard to believe: "I don't believe there's only this little silver left in the Yun family's account!"
Clang.
Yun Chu's teacup lid clinked sharply against the cup.
Her expression turned instantly cold: "By saying this, Fourth Aunt means to imply that I have embezzled the Yun family's silver?"
Fourth Aunt Yun parted her lips, remaining silent.
In her eyes, a daughter like Yun Chu—who had married out and then returned after a divorce—was not fit at all to manage the Yun family's properties.
As an elder, to bow her head and act submissively before a niece made her feel deeply unwilling whenever she thought about it.
"It seems Fourth Aunt neither trusts me nor accepts my authority. Since that's the case—" Yun Chu spoke up, "then let us find someone else to manage the tea shop and cloth shop."
All the women in the hall gasped in surprise.
They had not expected Fourth Aunt and Yun Chu to fall out so completely.
Nor had they anticipated that Yun Chu would turn cold in an instant and replace someone without hesitation.
Fourth Aunt Yun could barely conceal her shock, which quickly turned into rage.
She shot a cold glare at the other women sitting in the hall; whoever dared to take over these two properties would be making an enemy out of her.
Her father-in-law was the full brother of the old General Yun, making their branch the closest offshoot to the main line.
Most importantly, with Yun Silin's whereabouts unknown, the only remaining adult man of this generation in the entire Yun family was her husband, Yun Siyuan.
As the sole male elder, he naturally carried a degree of authority in the Yun family.
As her gaze swept across the room, the others lowered their heads one after another, either sipping their tea or looking out the door.
Yun Chu surveyed the crowd: "Is anyone willing to volunteer?"
No one spoke up below.
Fourth Aunt Yun smiled.
Only she could take over these two properties.
She wanted to teach Yun Chu that a junior could never walk all over an elder.
Just when she thought Yun Chu would back down, a woman stood up: "Eldest Young Lady, do you think I could give it a try?"
Yun Chu looked over; this woman was the mother of Cousin Yun Qin, who had previously divorced.
Yun Qin's branch of the family was considered quite distant. Yun Qin's grandfather and her own grandfather were cousin brothers born to concubines, and Yun Qin's father was also born to a concubine, making the kinship even more remote. As a result, Yun Qin's mother did not dare to call her Chuchu, dutifully addressing her as Eldest Young Lady instead.