ATLAS TRANSLATES

Yu Mama quickly brought several influential household managers with her.

Yuzhen followed behind them, looking dejected.

Yu Mama first severely scolded Yuzhen in front of everyone, praised Tuo Niang, and then asked Tuo Niang and the others: “What else did she give to Daqing’s wife?”

Tuo Niang was straightforward and told everything about the needles and threads. Haitang added details from the side, making Yu Mama’s expression grow increasingly dark. After they finished speaking, she was furious and instructed Mrs. Huo beside her: “Go find Daqing’s wife.”

Mrs. Huo hesitated for a moment before leaving.

Yu Daqing’s wife wore a silk summer shirt and gilded earrings, her merchant background clearly visible. Seeing the situation, she immediately pushed all responsibility onto Yuzhen: “…She said she wanted to be my sworn sister. It’s common for sworn sisters to exchange gifts, and they were just small items, so I didn’t think much of it. Who knew Yuzhen was secretly taking them behind Fourth Miss’s back?” As she spoke, she turned to leave, “I’ll return everything she gave me right away.”

“Stop right there!” Yu Mama coldly commanded, “The Seventh Master entrusted the inner household matters to me, that’s our dignity as servants. Don’t think that being my daughter-in-law gives you the right to act recklessly in this manor…”

Dou Zhao had no interest in listening further.

She only needed to know Yu Mama’s handling of this matter to understand her attitude.

Dou Zhao returned to her inner chamber.

Mo Li immediately followed.

Dou Zhao laid out paper to practice calligraphy while Mo Li ground ink beside her.

The commotion outside continued for a while before quieting down.

Tuo Niang and the still-complaining Haitang entered through the curtain: “…Yuzhen only got fined two months’ wages. According to Dou family rules, such people should be beaten with boards in front of everyone and driven out of the manor. And Yu’s sister-in-law, she’s been saying she doesn’t want to work in the Dou family anymore. Now that Yu Mama has relieved her of duties and won’t let her enter the manor, it might be exactly what she wanted!”

Tuo Niang said: “Why talk about these things? We just need to take good care of Fourth Miss. You need to be more alert in the future, don’t let anyone take advantage of Fourth Miss again.”

Haitang nodded repeatedly.

Dou Zhao’s brush paused.

In her previous life, she had used people from the farm and the Cui family.

They had followed her from Zhending to the Jining Marquis Manor, and those who could remain by her side were all loyal and perceptive.

In this life, she had planned to use the same old staff. But she was still young, and hastily gathering these people around her might backfire. It would be better to wait two or three years – if anything seemed suspicious, she could explain it away as “early maturity.”

She hadn’t counted on her mother’s people at all, thinking that in her previous life, Wang Yingxue was her stepmother, and cleaning house, suppressing and winning over people were things every subsequent wife would do.

At that time, she had been young and ignorant, without a brother’s support, and her mother’s people, seeing no hope and developing their own plans over time – it was all understandable.

But understanding didn’t mean forgiveness.

Therefore, Dou Zhao had been somewhat laissez-faire about it.

As long as everyone could muddle through these two or three years, before her own people took over, she was willing to turn a blind eye, considering it thanks for their service to her mother.

But now it seemed she had been wrong.

Yu Mama’s family were just servants – what right did Yu Daqing’s wife have to declare she didn’t want to work in the Dou family?

She was just looking down on the salary from working in the Dou family after lining her own pockets while helping her mother manage household affairs.

A nameless anger burned in her heart.

When her mother died, Yu Mama had cried as if her heart was being torn out. Dou Zhao believed Yu Mama’s feelings for her mother, but thinking of Yu Mama’s handling of Yuzhen and her own daughter-in-law, she also trusted her own judgment.

Perhaps in her previous life, Wang Yingxue’s ability to control her mother’s people was because she had caught Yu Daqing’s weakness.

Thinking of these things, Dou Zhao put down her brush and instructed Tuo Niang: “Bring me that box with the peony design.”

As Tuo Niang went to get the box, Dou Zhao asked Mo Li and Haitang: “Can you tell the difference between beeswax and yellow jade?”

Both items were yellow.

Jasmine and Haitang were somewhat surprised.

Fourth Miss rarely spoke to them.

After a moment of silence, Mo Li shook her head, and after hesitating for a few breaths, Haitang also shook her head.

Just as expected!

Dou Zhao’s brows furrowed slightly.

With her mother’s sudden death, the inner household had fallen into chaos. These newly arrived young maids hadn’t received adequate guidance, and her young age was a fatal weakness. Even if she wanted to use them, they couldn’t handle it. Besides, in this family, she trusted no one except Tuo Niang! Yet Tuo Niang had only barely learned to recognize a few characters after following her. This made Yuzhen, who could read and write, the obvious choice for managing her household affairs.

Tuo Niang brought the box over.

Dou Zhao took out a stack of gift lists stored in the box.

Her experiences from her previous life had shaped her bold yet cautious way of doing things. She had habitually kept all the gift lists, which now proved useful.

When servants became disloyal, the most direct and effective method was to appear compliant while secretly disobeying, stealing things without recording them.

Her room’s daily necessities all came from the public stores, with accounts kept by Third Uncle. Her mother’s belongings were inventoried under her aunt’s supervision, with one copy for her father, one for her aunt, and one for Yu Mama. The only things Yuzhen could access were the rewards she had received recently.

It seemed she would have to inventory these rewards herself.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t done this kind of thing for over a decade.

“You may all leave!” Dou Zhao told Tuo Niang and the others, “Just don’t let Yuzhen come in.”

Tuo Niang acknowledged and went to the outer room.

Haitang, who had been following Tuo Niang with Jasmine, stopped at the doorway.

“Fourth Miss, are you going to inventory items?” she asked anxiously, “My grandmother once served the Old Madam, and we have some old items she bestowed. My grandmother often takes them out to polish…”

Dou Zhao said: “Then you can stay and help!”

Haitang happily agreed and sat down to help Dou Zhao check the items.

With just a little guidance, she quickly learned to distinguish between agate and amber.

With some more practice, she could be useful enough.

Dou Zhao nodded silently to herself.

During this time, her father’s servant came to report: “Seventh Master says he has business with Sixth Master these few days, so Fourth Miss should practice calligraphy on her own.”

This suited Dou Zhao fine as she didn’t want to see her father anyway. She nodded and had Mo Li reward the servant with a few copper coins, then continued searching for items with Tuo Niang and the others.

By afternoon, they discovered a missing gilt hairpin with garnet and many children design, and a string of agarwood prayer beads.

Dou Zhao instructed Tuo Niang: “Go tell Yu Mama to find these two items.”

Tuo Niang was so angry she stamped her feet, saying: “Yuzhen is too bold. You can catch a thief for a thousand days, but you can’t guard against one for a thousand days. I think we should tell Seventh Master about this…”

“No need,” Dou Zhao said, “Just get the items back.”

Seeing Dou Zhao’s response, Tuo Niang had no choice but to let Yuzhen off, taking the gift list to Yu Mama with anger.

Dou Zhao had other plans.

The reason Yuzhen was so bold was because she thought she could take advantage of her young age, and Yu Mama managed the inner household affairs.

If this matter reached her father, given his personality, he would at most have Yuzhen beaten and driven out, without thinking much further.

It seemed all men were like this, appearing blind to the scheming in the inner household.

She might as well handle it herself.

As Dou Zhao and Haitang were organizing things, Xuancao ran in.

Seeing only the three of them in the room, she immediately became animated: “Let me tell you, there’s a fight at Qixia Court!”

Dou Zhao was stunned.

Jasmine and Haitang immediately asked eagerly: “What happened? Quick, tell us, Sister Xuancao!”

Xuancao loved gossip, for which Tuo Niang often scolded her.

Seeing everyone looking at her expectantly, she felt quite proud and said: “Just now, Concubine Wang’s eldest brother and sister-in-law came to take her away, but she wouldn’t go. Her eldest brother slapped her so hard that half her face swelled up. Her second sister-in-law then accused her eldest sister-in-law of being cruel-hearted, saying she instigated the eldest brother to hit Concubine Wang. The eldest sister-in-law was so angry she started arguing with the second sister-in-law, then Concubine Wang hugged Ming’er and threatened suicide…”

She clicked her tongue and continued, “It’s quite lively over there. Since Seventh Master isn’t home, Old Master had to go mediate.”

“No way!” Jasmine and Haitang exclaimed together, “How do you know all this?”

Xuancao said proudly: “Not just me, Wan’er from Concubine Ding’s side and Qinghai from Seventh Master’s side were all hiding there watching the drama! Qinghai even got caught by Old Master, but luckily he was quick-witted and said Seventh Master had instructed him before leaving to keep an eye on any disturbances at Qixia Court. Old Master was in a hurry to get to Qixia Court, so he got away with it and was sent by Old Master to the East Manor to find Seventh Master.”

Dou Zhao was speechless: “Concubine Wang argued with her own eldest brother and sister-in-law in front of Old Master?”

Xuancao nodded repeatedly.

Dou Zhao sneered.

She had seen stupid people before, but none as stupid as Wang Yingxue.

How had she considered Wang Yingxue an opponent in her previous life?

She instructed Xuancao: “Then go see if there’s more drama?”

This was exactly what Xuancao wanted to hear. She responded and ran off like the wind.

The commotion didn’t settle down until lantern-lighting time.

Xuancao sighed: “…Who would have thought that someone as beautiful and gentle as Concubine Wang had suffered so much in the past.”

Jasmine and Haitang immediately surrounded her, and even Dou Zhao let out an interested “Oh,” listening to her continue.

Xuancao then described how Wang Yingxue had cried about her suffering when the Lei family broke off their engagement, how grateful she was when her sister-in-law married into the Wang family, how she had secretly vowed that even if she had to eat chaff and dregs, she wouldn’t let her sister-in-law and nephew miss a single meal, and how difficult it had been for her to do business in public all these years… leaving Wang Zhibing and Madam Gao speechless.

“Her second sister-in-law is so fierce!” Xuancao said fearfully, “Not only did she speak up for Concubine Wang, but she also cursed Seventh Master and Old Master together. She threatened to report them, saying she’d prevent Seventh Master from becoming an official and make Old Master lose face… Old Master was so angry he couldn’t speak. Concubine Wang’s second sister-in-law even sent her maid to call her brothers from her maiden family, saying she wanted to sue the Dou family!”

Dou Zhao laughed out loud.

Pang Yulou had always been so adorable!