After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 100 The Bai Family is Out of Money

The next day, Bai Wanqing received a letter from Cheng Susu pleading for help.
Bai Wanqing frowned at first, then burst out laughing.

Ruixin happened to bring in a basin of water. Seeing her young mistress smiling, she asked curiously, "Miss, what's wrong? What are you smiling about so early in the morning?"

Bai Wanqing put down the letter, then came over to wash her hands. "It's Miss Cheng. Lord Cheng has locked her up in the mansion and said he'll take her back to the capital tomorrow. She can't come to the wedding banquet, which is a real shame. He hopes I can go to the Cheng family and talk to Lord Cheng properly so that she can be released."

Ruixin listened and laughed along, "This Miss Cheng is really interesting. She's so generous and straightforward. I didn't expect that she would dislike Miss so much at first, but in just a few days, she's become friends with Miss."

Bai Wanqing nodded gently and said, "Yes! She is indeed a rare person who dares to love and hate."

"Miss, are you really going to the Cheng family to talk to Master Cheng?" Ruixin asked.

Bai Wanqing shook her head and said, "There's no need to go, it's useless! But we can bring some things for Miss Cheng, and we'll send them to her when she leaves the city tomorrow."

Ruixin nodded knowingly, "Miss, you don't hold a grudge, so you are truly sincere towards her."

"It was just a misunderstanding, there's no need to argue about who's right and who's wrong." Bai Wanqing was quite open-minded about this kind of thing.
She and Ruixin packed several bolts of cloth for Cheng Susu, saying, "Wrap these up and give them to Miss Cheng to wear tomorrow."

“Miss, these are all the finest fabrics, specially sourced by the master for you to make your wedding dress. And you’re giving them all to Miss Cheng?” Ruixin felt a pang of heartache seeing her young mistress being so generous.

"Okay! Take them all to her!" Bai Wanqing didn't seem to care about these things.

Ruixin had no choice but to listen to Bai Wanqing wrap up all the fine fabrics. "But Miss, we don't know when Miss Cheng and the others will leave!"

"We can't just keep waiting for them at the city gate!"

Bai Wanqing smiled and said, "They will definitely leave in the morning. We can just wait for them at the city gate early tomorrow morning."

Ruixin wanted to ask her mistress how she knew, but seeing that she was engrossed in reading the medical book, she didn't disturb her any further.

Meanwhile, in another courtyard, Bai Chenming was rushing to find Chen Shi. Seeing Chen Shi calmly drinking tea, he felt somewhat displeased.

"I told you Wanqing and Qinglian are leaving in a few days, you should at least have prepared the house! It looks like we haven't prepared anything!" Bai Chenming asked.

Madam Chen raised her head, looked at Bai Chenming's anxious expression, and snorted, "I've prepared everything I need to. If you don't believe me, look, this is the dowry list for my two daughters."

After saying that, Madam Chen took out the dowry list and slammed it on the table.

Bai Chenming naturally didn't take it, but just glanced at it and already had a general idea of ​​what was going on. "I know you took all the betrothal gifts from the Lin family back to Wanqing, so I have no objection to this dowry."

"But now that the dowry is ready, we still need to decorate our home for the wedding day," Bai Chenming reminded him.

Chen said sarcastically, "Arrangements, sir, aren't you afraid the whole neighborhood will laugh their heads off if we decorate our house like this?"

"What do you mean by that?" Bai Chenming was somewhat annoyed.

“Look at the kind of daughter we’re marrying off. She’s a second-time bride, and she’s marrying an ordinary farmer. If you ask me, we should just leave home quietly.” It wasn’t that Madam Chen didn’t want to make arrangements, but she had spent a lot of money on Qinglian’s dowry recently, and now she didn’t have much money left to spend.

"How can that be! Whether it's our first marriage or our second, we can't let people look down on us!" Bai Chenming said, pursing his lips.

"Even if you don't mention Qing'er, you should at least make some arrangements for Lian'er," Bai Chenming said, using Bai Qinglian as an excuse, thinking he was being clever.

Chen became even more furious. "Bai Chenming, what do you mean by that? Do you think I'm showing favoritism?"

"No. I just wanted to say that you can't just watch your two girls get married in such a shabby way."

Madam Chen naturally wouldn't let Qinglian go out in such a shabby manner. She planned to pay for it herself from her own savings, but why should Bai Wanqing pay for it? However, she wouldn't say that to Bai Chenming, "Do you think I want to? But our public funds are already empty. Otherwise, if you take out some more money, I will naturally make sure my two daughters are dressed beautifully."

After Chen finished speaking, she asked Qiuwen to bring out the public account books, saying, "If you don't believe me, you can take a look."

Bai Chenming didn't react for a moment, then glanced at the account book and exclaimed, "No, our company has so much money, and now there are only two hundred taels left?"

“Where would we get so much money? Look at all the things our family has done these days. And yet you still think about your eldest daughter. Look at both Furong and Qinglian, a portion of the dowry from their husbands’ families has been left to our Bai family. Only Qing’er’s dowry hasn’t been left at all.”

Thinking of this, Chen couldn't help but feel so angry that her teeth itched.

Bai Chenming understood what she was thinking when he heard her say that, but when he saw that most of the money in the account book had been used to add to Qinglian's dowry, and that the amount far exceeded that of Furong and Qingya, he couldn't help but frown.

“I say, although Qinglian is a concubine, she is still marrying into the Huang family. Is it really necessary for you to provide her with so much dowry?”

"It's practically like giving her half of the Bai family."

Bai Chenming felt a pang of regret looking at the account books.

Madam Chen retorted confidently, "How can that be the same? Although the Huang family is not short of money, we can't let Madam Huang bully our Furong!" "Master, you don't know what happened the other day. When we were having a banquet at the Du family, Madam Huang came, and she was obviously there for our Bai family. You can imagine that she dared to say that she was bullying our Bai family in front of so many people. Not to mention what would happen if Qinglian really went to their Huang family."

"Having some money always gives you some confidence, doesn't it?"

As Chen spoke, she wiped away her tears. Bai Chenming had also heard about what happened to the Du family that day, and his heart softened immediately.

However, the marriage of the two children must at least appear acceptable on the surface.

"Alright! Alright! I'll listen to you this time. As for the arrangement of Qing'er and Lian'er's rooms, I'll figure it out." Bai Chenming sighed and said.

"What's your plan?" Chen asked. "You don't mean you're hiding some money away, do you?"

Bai Chenming snorted coldly, "What secret stash of money? Where would I get any secret stash of money? If not, I'll go back to the Bai family and borrow some from the clan leader and my brothers. We'll definitely have to pay it back later."

When Chen heard that it was a loan, she stopped talking.

Seeing that Bai Chenming had left, she happily put away the account book and then ran to Qinglian's courtyard to claim credit.

"Mother, Father really agreed and didn't say anything to you?" Bai Qinglian was very happy to hear this news. After all, when her mother gave her a lot of dowry, she was still worried that her father would disagree and withhold it.

Chen's throat was dry from talking, so she took a big gulp of tea and said, "It's true, this time we're officially on the right track, so you can rest assured!"

Bai Qinglian smiled happily; at least there was one thing that went relatively smoothly.

With these shops and money, even if she suffered grievances in the Huang family, she could find a way to make amends, and her life wouldn't be too difficult.

“Mother, we’re leaving in a couple of days. I don’t see anything happening at home yet!” Bai Qinglian reminded Chen.

Madam Chen smiled and said, "Naturally, there's been no movement. The Bai family is broke right now."

"No money left?" Bai Qinglian was completely taken aback.

"But it's alright, your father has already tried to borrow some. He'll be able to get some. I've secretly bought some things these past two days, so it won't delay your wedding." After saying this, Madam Chen proudly puffed out her neck.

Bai Qinglian immediately understood and gave her mother a big thumbs up.

"Thank you, Mother. Thank you for still loving me like this."

Madam Chen patted Bai Qinglian's arm and said, "Lian'er, you've suffered. I can't prevent you from marrying into the Huang family, but I can at least find a way to make your life a little easier."

"Don't worry, although your father was angry before, he's mostly calmed down now and he still cares about you."

Bai Qinglian simply gave a perfunctory "hmm." She still harbored resentment towards Bai Chenming for trying to kick her out of the Bai family that day. She thought that one day, she would let her father know that in the end, the one the Bai family could rely on was her, Bai Qinglian.

While the Chen mother and daughter poured out their hearts to each other, Bai Wanqing had already prepared her wedding dress.

Ruixin was also very curious about the Bai family's lack of activity. "Miss, why is there no activity at all in our house? We're supposed to be leaving in a few days."

Looking at the dowry list that Chen had sent, Bai Wanqing said, "I'm afraid all the money in our family has been taken away by Third Sister."

Ruixin was immediately taken aback. "So you're not planning to furnish the house?"

Bai Wanqing shook her head, "The Chen family wouldn't do that; they'd probably ask Father for help."

"Shouldn't we tell the master?" Ruixin felt sorry for her young mistress.

"No need! These are our parents' business, not ours to interfere with," Bai Wanqing said calmly. She then had Ruixin pack up all the things, and the two of them went to bed early.

The next day, the sky was slightly bright.

Bai Wanqing was already waiting at the city gate in her carriage when she saw the Cheng family's carriage approaching the gate.

Bai Wanqing immediately got out of the car and waved to the Cheng family's coachman.

Seeing the carriage stop, Cheng Kailin asked, "What's wrong? Why did you stop?"

The coachman stammered and couldn't explain clearly, but Cheng Susu, with her sharp eyes, spotted Wanqing outside the carriage at a glance.

"Father, a friend came to see me off." Without waiting for Lord Cheng to speak, she jumped off the carriage and ran happily towards Bai Wanqing.

Cheng Kailin: His daughter probably likes men.

(End of this chapter)