Golden Age Legitimate Fei

Chapter 8: Gaining Advantage By Striking Last, Wang Shi Vomits Blood

Chapter 8: Gaining Advantage By Striking Last, Wang Shi Vomits Blood 

((*Note: The common idiom is "先发制人 – xianfazhiren", which means to take the initiative by striking first, but instead of using "先 – xian" meaning 'first', the author replaced the first character with "后 – hou", which means after / behind / back.))

"You see what good thing you've done!"

Laotaitai's face was gloomy as she threw the ledger at the side of Wang Shi's feet. w.a.n.g shi couldn't imagine how it had originally started with wanting to punish Ye Li and yet with a few words from Ye Li managed to turn the matter towards her own self. Holding up the ledger with both hands, the closer she flipped the pages towards the end, the more w.a.n.g furen's hands began to shake. In her heart she deeply resented herself in the past for having looked down on this yatou, she had clearly never taught her about the matters of being in charge of managing a home, but based on this ledger, unexpectedly not even the slightest trace could be hidden from her. Even the hidden accounts were all uncovered, which clearly shows that the means of the person creating difficulties in doing things weren't at all ordinary. "Laotaitai...laoye, qieshen (妾身 – a deprecatory or modern appellation for a woman referring to themselves)......"

Laotaitai gave a cold humph and said, "No wonder when letting you manage the dowry you said that the fu was unable to bring out money, emotional money was even taken back to subsidize your niangjia (娘家 – married woman's parents' home or family)?"

"Laotaitai, xifu (媳妇 – daughter-in-law) is being accused wrongly. It's all because the people from below had gotten greedy, xifu doesn't know at all about these..."

"Don't know? Don't know that that tangxiong (堂兄 – paternal uncle's son / paternal cousin) of yours is working at Shen De Xuan as the shopkeeper? Don't know how you hastily had several shops' shopkeepers changed?" Laotaitai fixed her gaze on w.a.n.g shi; laotaitai's whole life had been for this family, what she hated most was that w.a.n.g shi had taken the Ye family's money over to subsidize her own niangjia, this matter was what any popo (婆婆 – husband's mother / mother-in-law / grandma) would be unable to put up with at all, not to mention w.a.n.g shi wasn't officially wedded but had come up from the ceshi (側室 – sideroom / concubine). "Li yatou, where are those chilipawai (吃里扒外 – idiom that means living on somebody yet secretly helping others / lit. eat inside but digging outside) inhuman beings?"

Ye Li lowered her eyes and respectfully answered, saying, "Li er had personally taken the initiative to act accordingly and had those people detained in custody. Each one with a signed slave contract were flogged ten times, while those who were hired from outside are about to be sent to the authorities."

Laotaitai's eyebrows creased and said, "You yatou are still too softhearted. What can getting flogged ten times do? Get someone to have Shen De Xuan and Cang Zhen Ge's (藏珍 – treasure 阁 – pavilion) shopkeepers brought up here." Shen De Xuan and Cang Zhen Ge, one was a store of antiques and the other of jewelry, they were precisely the most profitable among the twelve shops, almost taking up half of the entire income.

In a short while, several people who had been wuhuadabang (五花大绑 – to bind a person's upper body, with arms tied behind the back and rope looped around the neck) were dragged inside by other people. Once that w.a.n.g shopkeeper saw w.a.n.g shi, he started wailing, "Younger sister, meifu (妹夫 – younger sister's husband), save me....."

Ye Shangshu's complexion looked ashen as he stared at w.a.n.g shi, but didn't open his mouth. w.a.n.g shi was angry as well as furious, repeatedly said, "Impudent, still not letting go of jiu laoye (舅 – maternal uncle 老爺 – master / lord of the household)!"