I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 15 Everyone for themselves
Although Master An was not qualified to attend court, he was able to get some information from his colleagues and echoed, "Father is right. The Minister of Revenue wanted to withhold the Northwest Army's pay for disaster relief. The Xuan Palace naturally didn't want to do that, so they pushed this little bitch to donate money and property. This way, the Xuan Palace can preserve the pay without spending a single soldier!"

An's eyes were filled with tears. Master An winked at her, and Madam An and a group of female relatives came forward to comfort her.

Being carefully held, An's mood improved a lot and she said her purpose, "The prefect of Luoyang asked me to return Song's lost dowry. I have almost sent it all to her parents' home. You should quickly find it and let me take it back."

The smile on Madam An's lips froze, and the other female members of the family retreated without leaving a trace.

Madam An was the first to speak out, "Zhenniang, why would you ask for something back after sending it back to your parents' home? Besides, if the prefect of Luoyang wants it, you can just find an excuse to send him away. Why bother coming back to your parents' home and making things uncomfortable?"

"Mother, do you think I don't care? That hateful little bitch kept it a secret and actually gave the dowry list directly to the prefect of Luoyang. That man surnamed Yin took the list and checked the items one by one. He wanted to tell me which item was missing and why! Otherwise, why would I come back to my parents' home to ask for things!"

"It's your fault for being so ostentatious, showing off all your goodies." Mrs. An pointed at the gold hairpin on Mrs. An's head. "A few days ago, my sister-in-law was showing off everywhere with a gold hairpin, and that Lady Yin saw it, so she went back and told him!"

"If you hide it secretly and no one knows, I can easily get away with it!" An became more and more angry as she spoke.

Madam An looked embarrassed and took out her gold hairpin and hid it in her sleeve.

"What are you hiding now, sister-in-law? You have to hand it over anyway!" An said unhappily.

Ever since An took over the household affairs of the Duke's Mansion, countless good things have been moved back to her parents' home over the years. Not to mention the women in the An family, even the men are reluctant to part with them.

Master An held the exquisite Hetian jade pendant at his waist and hesitated, "Father, how about..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by a burst of ghostly howling, "Madam, old master, master, something terrible has happened!"

In just one day, An had heard three times that something terrible was going to happen. She was terrified and felt a sharp pain in her stomach.

She groaned, "My stomach, my stomach, hurts."

Aunt Zhao was horrified. "Someone come quickly! Madam is frightened! Call the doctor!"

The baby in An's belly was the future prince of Duke Wei's mansion. If anything went wrong, Master An would make a quick decision, "Quick, prepare the carriage and take Madam Wei back home!"

Master An, facing An's surprised look, soothed her, "Sister, how can any doctor outside be as good as the imperial physician? As a fifth-rank official, we are not eligible to have an imperial physician come to our home for consultation. Sister, you should hurry back to the Duke's Mansion and get a letter to invite the imperial physician to come to your home!"

"Yes, yes," An was sweating profusely from the pain, and naturally could not see the look of Zhao Ma who wanted to say something but hesitated. Madam An ordered people to carry her in a sedan chair and send her out of the house.

In the hall, Old Master An breathed a sigh of relief. His daughter had returned to Duke Wei's Mansion, and if anything happened, their family would be able to distance themselves from the matter.

Master An was still thinking about the important event that had just happened, and hurriedly let someone in.

Manager An crawled into the house, shouting in a shrill voice, "Old Master, Master, this is bad! The Five Cities Army has sealed our shop and emptied out all the goods!"

"What?" Master An was furious. "How dare you!"

He kicked the pearwood chair away and paced back and forth. "This is really lawless! Tomorrow, the master will definitely file a letter to the Five Cities Military Affairs Office and give them a serious report!"

Old Master An tightly grasped the handle of the sandalwood chair and asked, "Which shops?"

Manager An rested his head on the ground, motionless, his whole body trembling. "All, all."

boom!
Old Master An slammed his palm on the table. "Okay, okay, okay! Yin Wei really doesn't leave any face for my An family!" "Father, what should we do now?" Master An gasped in pain, clutching the Hetian jade pendant tightly, as if someone would reach out and snatch it away at any moment. "The shop has been closed down. How are we going to live in the future?"

After ten years of living a life of fine clothes, delicious food, beautiful clothes and jades, and having servants at my disposal, how can I go back to the days of poverty and destitution?
"Give orders to find all the things Zhenniang sent, including the land deeds, and send them to the Luoyang government office with great fanfare tomorrow morning!" Old Master An's eyes were bloodshot as he spoke word by word.

"If father does this, won't he be telling everyone in the world that my An family was able to gain a foothold in Luoyang by forcibly snatching dowries from orphans and weak women?"

"What else can we do? The shop is closed, and anyone with eyes will know why. Are we going to stubbornly deny it?"

Seeing that his eldest son really thought so, Old Master An scolded him angrily, "Didn't you hear what Zhenniang said? That little bitch has the dowry list in her hands. Who cares whether you acknowledge it or not? Do you dare to force your way open the shop after it's sealed? Do you still want to be a member of the Ministry of Rites?"

"The only way to save the An family now is to put the blame on Zhenniang!"

Master An's eyes widened. "Push, push it onto Zhenniang?"

"This is the only way. You have to take up your post, and the men of the An family need to marry, and the women need to get married. The An family cannot bear this bad reputation!" Old Master An half-closed his eyes, "I can only apologize to Zhenniang."

"Father is right," Master An hummed. "After all, my sister is already married and pregnant with the Crown Prince. Even if she made a mistake in a moment of confusion, the Duke of Wei's Mansion will not punish her harshly for the sake of the child."

“But what about my aunt?” Master An hesitated. His sister was beautiful in name only, but his aunt… Master An shuddered.

"I'll take care of your aunt's situation," interrupted Old Master An, "you go down and make the arrangements."

"Yes," Master An bowed and left with Manager An.

Old Master An returned to his study alone, sat quietly until dawn, prepared pen and ink, wrote a letter, and gave it to his most trusted old servant, "Be sure to deliver it to my aunt personally."

The old servant took the order and left.

After a night of noise, the Duke of Wei's Mansion finally quieted down.

Nanny Yu helped the old lady, who had been chanting all night, out of the small Buddhist hall and poured a cup of tea. "Madam's pregnancy is safe. The palace doctor repeatedly emphasized that she must not be stimulated again, otherwise..."

Seeing that the old lady didn't want to listen anymore, Nanny Yu kept silent, "Someone from our family has come. It's my elder brother."

The old lady paused while drinking tea and said, "Let him in."

Yu, the old servant, knelt down respectfully and bowed deeply. He took out the envelope from his bosom and raised it above his head. "The old master has instructed that my aunt must read it in person."

Nanny Yu delivered the letter to the old lady.

The old lady looked at the tightly sealed letter and her heart sank. She tore it open and found that it was just as she had expected.

"Go back and tell my good brother that this is the last time."

Yu Laopu agreed and left.

Bang! The blessing cup presented by the Three Immortals of Fortune, Longevity and Happiness fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)