Chapter 52: Mother-in-law (2) (1/2)

When the two sisters-in-law stepped out of Madam Liu’s courtyard, they made a turn into one of the estate’s small gardens. They each had a crimson jade bangle in hand. The vibrancy of the bangles’ colour made it obvious how priceless it was. Madam Liu had come from a great noble family. Her dowry back then had been extremely rich and filled with extravagant treasures. This was something that Madam Zou told Chu Lian much later on.

Chu Lian looked at the bangle in her hands awkwardly. These two red jade bangles were a pair; she and Madam Zou had each gotten one. Chu Lian had never seen such a valuable accessory in her life before, and although she had received quite a few treasures from the tea ceremony that day, they paled in comparison to this red jade bangle.

Madam Zou caught sight of her uneasy expression and smiled reassuringly. “Since Mother decided to give these to us, just keep it. Mother won’t be happy if you reject her gift.”

Chu Lian could only nod. Since she had already accepted it back in Madam Liu’s room, she couldn’t possibly go back to return it at this point.

Madam Zou passed her own bangle to one of her maidservants, instructing her to wrap it up and keep it carefully. She then pulled Chu Lian to a winding corridor covered in purple wisterias. As they walked slowly along the corridor, Madam Zou suddenly sighed. “Actually, Mother probably doesn’t have much left in her dowry. These two bangles are probably the last of the more valuable ones.”

Noticing the perplexed expression on Chu Lian’s face and wanting to tell her more, Madam Zou waved away the personal maidservants following behind them. The maidservants hurriedly stopped where they stood, allowing Madam Zou to pull Chu Lian further away from the extra listening ears.

Once there weren’t any outsiders around to listen in, Madam Zou began to open up. “Third Sister, I’m sure you must have heard the details of Mother’s illness.”

Although He Sanlang had never told her about it before, Chu Lian knew how serious Countess Jing’an’s illness was. The book had also mentioned that Countess Jing’an was frequently bedridden.

Chu Lian nodded.

“You might know a few bits and pieces… The imperial physicians don’t have any way to treat Mother’s illness. They can only delay its progression with specially made medicine. But the medicine requires various types of expensive herbs, and quite a few of them cost over a thousand gold taels. Although House Jing’an is quite influential, Father isn’t around to manage the household, and he’s not the best at generating income for the family, either. If not for the fewer mouths to feed and our simple expenses, as well as the matriarch occasionally adding some income from her personal businesses, the household would be living in a much poorer state. Mother’s medicine costs a lot, and in the beginning, the money came from the household accounts.” Madam Zou raised a single finger.

“A thousand taels. It costs a thousand taels just to buy the herbs to make her medicine every month. Father earns a thousand strings of coins annually as a general. If you put together all the earnings from all the holdings and stores under our family, that’s only about a thousand more strings of coins…”

House Jing’an paid Countess Jing’an’s medicine fees for two years. Afterwards, Countess Jing’an told Madam Zou to remove that expense from the household accounts. Countess Jing’an then paid for her medicine out of her own dowry.