I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 16 Rewards arrive
The next morning, the main gate of the An Mansion opened and twenty mule carts slowly drove in.

Mrs. An was sitting in the front mule cart, her face frosted and her eyes bloodshot.

In one night, she took all the female relatives to count the things sent by her sister-in-law, packed the property left in the mansion, and redeemed those that were pawned, sold, given away, or used as dowries for their children one by one!

Even if we are ridiculed and humiliated, we still can't make up the number!
She had no choice but to sell all the things that had been accumulated in the mansion over the years, even her and her sisters-in-law's dowries, on the black market, and only then could she barely make up the enough money.

Madam An touched the pearl hairpin on her head. If she had not risked her life to keep this hairpin, even the only souvenir left to her by her deceased mother would have been pawned away.

Mrs. Tang, Zhao, and An repeated this name over and over in her mind, wishing she could skin the man alive.

"Madam, we have arrived at Shuntian Prefecture Government Office."

The hatred in Mrs. An's heart was suddenly replaced by fear. She was helped down from the carriage. The cold wind blew, and her already trembling body shook even more like a dead leaf in the cold wind.

Someone came forward and said in a gentle manner, "Are you a kind person who came to donate money?"

"No, it's not," Madam An said, giving a smile uglier than crying. "I am Sun, the wife of a Deputy Minister of Rites. I have come to return the gifts given by An, the wife of the Duke of Wei."

The runners from the Luoyang government office had all been dispatched by the prefect to the front lines of disaster relief. Now, replacing them at the gate were the officers from the Five Cities Military Affairs Division who had accompanied the Duke of Wei's mansion yesterday to search the dowry. They'd been busy all night, sleepless, but their spirits were remarkably high.

Firstly, with the money for disaster relief, the victims can be resettled immediately, and the guarding work in Luoyang will be much easier. Secondly, the gossip about the second wife of the Duke of Wei occupying the dowry of the original wife is something that can be talked about for three days and three nights!
When the officers from the Five Cities Military Affairs Division heard this, they knew that this was the family of the second wife of the Duke of Wei's mansion. Their faces immediately turned unhappy, and they turned and left after saying "wait".

Ever since her sister-in-law became the wife of Duke Wei, Sun was flattered wherever she went. Now, she was humiliated by a soldier who had never even had the qualifications to kneel before her. She was so angry that her face turned pale and she was about to yell, but was stopped by a servant beside her.

Sun tore the handkerchief and cursed in her heart.

Yin Wei was not tired at all from staying up all night. Instead, he was full of energy. When he heard the official say that someone from the family of the Deputy Minister of Rites had come to return property, he was even more excited and put on his cloak and strode out.

In front of the Luoyang government office, within half an incense stick of time, a thick layer of snow had accumulated on the umbrella. When the northwest wind blew, the snow fell all over Sun.

Sun: ...

Yin Wei saw this scene as soon as he walked out the door. He almost laughed out loud. He coughed quickly and asked knowingly without inviting anyone in, "I wonder what brings you here, Madam An?"

Sun explained her purpose, "The wife of the Duke of Wei couldn't bear to see her family suffer from poverty and her elderly parents without medical care, so she gave some money to her parents. The old man and the old lady appreciated their daughter's filial piety and accepted the money. But who knew that it was my sister-in-law who stole the original wife's dowry."

"When the old master and the old lady learned about this, they were furious and ordered people to find all the things that my sister-in-law had sent over the years and return them to their original owners."

"So, your old master is completely unaware of what the Duke of Wei's wife did?" Yin Wei's eyes were filled with meaning. "Your old master is truly focused on health and doesn't care about worldly affairs."

Sun smiled apologetically.

"The Duke of Wei's wife is truly filial, sending so many gifts to support her family," Yin Wei snorted, "but most people wouldn't have the luxury of such a filial daughter."

"Please tell the old man that when you receive subsidies from your daughter in the future, don't forget to ask if it's your own things that are used to support your family."

Under the cloak, Sun tore the handkerchief apart alive.

If the person who came was Old Master An or Master An, Yin Wei would definitely teach them what propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame meant. However, who knew that the men of the An family were so cowardly that they pushed a woman out to settle the matter.

Yin Wei was too disdainful to get angry with a female member of the inner house, and ordered people to come forward to count the property. Hundreds of people surrounded the carriage, carefully counted the property against the list, and after confirming that there was no problem, they nodded to Yin Wei.

Yin Wei waved his hand, and the officers from the Five Cities Military Affairs Division took the place of the servants from the An Mansion and got on the mule cart. They removed the threshold, drove the cart into the government office, and carefully unloaded the box.

An led the empty mule cart away from the Luoyang government office.

The people who had been watching the excitement for a long time couldn't wait to ask, "Sir, who is this kind person?"

"It's still Mrs. Tang, the fifth young lady of Prince Xuan's Mansion." "But the word 'An' is clearly written on the mule cart," the literate scholar retorted.

"The second wife of Duke Wei was filial and accidentally gave the dowry of the first wife to her parents' family. When the An family found out, they felt bad and came here specially to return it," Yin Wei said slowly.

"Wow! It's not enough for me to take all the money, I have to share it with my mother's family!"

"This An Fu is worthy of being an official in the Ministry of Rites. He still has some sense of shame."

"Bullshit! I don't believe the An family didn't know anything about this! Besides, the An family isn't a good family after raising such a shameless daughter!"

"Yeah!"

. . .

If there weren't a lot of things waiting for him to deal with, Yin Wei really wanted to stand here and listen for another hour or two.

It feels so fucking good.

******
In the main courtyard of the Bidan Courtyard, Qiuyu, like a storyteller, vividly recounted the story of the grain store and the incident this morning when Sun returned her dowry in front of the Luoyang government office.

Tang Zhao had a smile on his face.

[Ding! Save the cannon fodder male supporting role system. Second mission: Reclaim the dowry has been completed! The reward of 100 kilograms of potatoes has been stored in the space. 50 health points have been received. The current total health points are 64.]

The smile on Tang Zhao's lips deepened.

In the study room on the other side, the two brothers of the Gu family looked at each other.

"Fifth brother, what exactly did you tell your sister-in-law?" Gu Liu felt complicated.

Gu Ci's mood was even more complicated than his elder brother's, because he truly felt that he was innocent. "I just wanted her to start something, but who would have thought..."

Who would have thought that she would throw away a mountain!

Prince Xuan’s Palace, inside Minghui Hall.

The Crown Prince's Consort looked at the five thousand taels of silver in her hand and asked, "Mother, do you want some more?"

Princess Xuan drank her tea woodenly and said, "Even if we sell the palace, we won't get more than 470,000 taels."

That's it.

She never expected that this daughter-in-law who came to get married for good luck would be so helpful!
The Crown Prince's wife agreed and nodded, then prepared a carriage to go to the Luoyang government office.

"Princess, there are many people gathered in front of the government office!" the palace guard who was driving reminded.

"Go and take a look," the Crown Princess ordered.

The guard took the order and left. Not long after, he returned to report, "It was the common people who came to donate."

"So many people?" The Crown Princess looked out the window and asked in confusion, "Are those beggars here to donate as well?"

The guard also looked puzzled, but said firmly, "I am indeed here to donate."

The Crown Princess was curious, so she got off the carriage despite everyone's objections and stood outside the crowd to take a closer look.

(End of this chapter)