However, such people are the minority; there are still many innocent won being sold.
As for his own little concubines, after all, they were once the won who served him, he wasn’t shaless enough to also sell these won to the brothel.
He just set them free, letting them choose whatever they wanted from the house; whatever they wanted to take, they took.
The Zhong Mansion had long been nothing but an empty shell, with nothing of value left.
These few concubines were good girls who had supported the household by doing needlework with Madam Ming in the past. Fortunately, they had seen through Zhong Yingming’s true nature long ago and saved so silver for themselves.
Though it wasn’t much, it was enough to stop them from starving outside.
Those with family went back to their hos, and those without family rented a small courtyard together, earning a living by selling embroidery work or washing clothes for others.
Aside from a few manors and shops, Lady Yun had so jewelry from her dowry. To avoid her son’s disdain, she voluntarily took out these jewels and sold them for silver.
With this silver, plus the money from selling the maids and servants, it was almost enough to buy a small farm courtyard outside the city to make do with.
However, such a courtyard naturally could not compare to the previous manor, and the family’s living standards plumted instantly by several levels.
Lady Yun was getting older, and after a series of misfortunes, she was no longer as healthy as before.
Zhong Yingming, being very filial, kept the maid who served her by her side, and besides this maid, he also kept Butler Zhong Shi and two clever and reliable young servants.
Hong Xiu and Lv Ran were not dismissed either; these were two won he had recently redeed from the brothel, and he had not yet tired of them, so how could he bear to send them away?
Moreover, Hong Xiu was carrying his child; having lost one son already, Zhong Yingming valued his children more than ever.
So, he kept the young Lv Ran as well, hoping these two won would give him many sons and daughters.
As for how these children would be raised after birth, who cared? They’d figure it out when they were born!
Hence, after such a significant upheaval, Zhong Yingming imrsed himself even more in the tenderness of won, even taking the maid by Lady Yun’s side into his room.
One woman was about to give birth, and two won served him both in bed and out of bed daily; Zhong Yingming lived a blissful life, heedless of the outside world!
However, the dwindling silver at ho drove the old Butler Zhong Shi to madness.
He had intended to use the remaining silver to start a small business, but Zhong Yingming, the boss, disapproved. Being just a small butler, he couldn’t overrule the boss, so he had to drop the idea.
Lady Yun was in constant fear, worried that one day her son would reject her.
Zhong Shi sighed daily, concerned that the boss would soday run out of silver and sell him too.
Finally, the anxiety exploded when the silver was about to run out.
Taking advantage of Zhong Yingming’s deep sleep, Zhong Shi stole his private seal and his own indenture contract, fled with the remaining silver and valuables without a trace.
Zhong Yingming didn’t discover it until the sun was high up the next day.
Even worse, along with Zhong Shi, his concubine Hong Xiu, who was nearly seven months pregnant, also disappeared.
Only then did Zhong Yingming realize that the child in Hong Xiu’s belly was not his at all but that bastard Zhong Shi’s.
No wonder Zhong Shi had strongly urged him to redeem Hong Xiu in the first place, and no wonder Hong Xiu was pregnant within a month after coming to the mansion.
He had naively believed Hong Xiu’s words and thought the child was the result of their love at first sight in the brothel.
In hindsight, what a fool he was!
Zhong Yingming, both furious and anxious, imdiately felt his limbs go cold and his whole body stiff, fainting on the ground.
After waking up again, his mouth and eyes were crooked; he was angered into a stroke.
Of course, these are matters of later on.
After cutting all ties with the Zhong family, Madam Ming temporarily stayed at the Idle Tea House with her son Xiao Fei.
The Idle Tea House also had a backyard. Yin Xing’s two sisters, Qing Cheng and Xue Ya, who had nowhere to go, usually lived in the backyard. So, it wasn’t a burden for Madam Ming and her son to stay.
However, Lin Yuan did not let them stay long because she sent them the Zhong family’s estate.
"These are the manors and shops obtained from Lady Yun; this is the manor you lived in before."
Lin Yuan pushed several land deeds in front of Madam Ming, recounting how she acquired them as a joke, leaving Madam Ming stunned and speechless for quite a while.
"You say, this is old lady... Lady Yun’s dowry? You, you actually managed to get these things from her?"
Madam Ming looked incredulous; it seed she knew Lady Yun had these.
Lin Yuan smiled slightly: "You hold on to these. You’ve done so much for their Zhong family. Although I don’t know if these can compensate for your losses, it’s better than nothing, isn’t it?"
Looking at the land deeds stuffed into her hands, Madam Ming quickly returned them: "Commandery Princess, you won these, I can’t take them."
Lin Yuan, anticipating that Madam Ming’s nature would not let her take these things without reason, said no more and rely gestured towards Zhong Xiaofei, who was focused on practicing his writing in the room: "Xiao Fei is very smart. Even though he doesn’t have a father, aren’t you willing to see him have a good future? You should always think about the child."
For the sake of the child.
How couldn’t Madam Ming understand? The people she felt most guilty towards in this life were her fostering parents and this child.
She had handed over her parents’ lifelong hard-earned assets to the scum, leaving her own son a holess child.
Her parents were deceased, and now she could only focus all her thoughts on her son.
"Commandery Princess, thank you, I will slowly repay you."
Though she accepted them, it was not without unease.
Lin Yuan admired those who knew gratitude and repaid kindness: "Then make sure you manage my Idle Tea House even better!"
Madam Ming smiled, and the long-furrowed brow finally relaxed.
With Madam Ming overseeing the Idle Tea House, Lin Yuan felt quite assured.
As for the Chanyin Pavilion, things were much more troubleso. Yan Ruchun managed to acquire Headmaster Song’s opera troupe, but reopening to perform wasn’t simple.
The first problem was that they didn’t have a leading perforr.
Lin Yuan didn’t mind this, saying, leading perforrs are made by nurturing, just as they had made Chang Ruchun prominent before, they shouldn’t fear they couldn’t promote another one.
Lin Yuan instructed Headmaster Song to develop talented and promising actors within the opera troupe and to contact those actors who had been squeezed out by Chang Ruchun in the past. If any were willing to return, they were welco.
Although she couldn’t guarantee turning these people into leading perforrs, she assured they’d have a steady inco.
Headmaster Song was exceedingly grateful; just based on Lin Yuan’s and Yan Ruchun’s status, he trusted her words and imdiately used his network to find those previously dismissed actors.
Reopening Chanyin Pavilion would take so ti because it needed renovations and finding suitable actors.
Most importantly, they also needed to select appropriate plays and arrange the theatrical lines.
From the lines and singing styles to the costus and attire of the actors, all this required a considerable amount of ti in preparation.
Coincidentally, Headmaster Song’s search would also take ti, so Lin Yuan was in no rush, noticing that her wedding day was approaching, decided to set these affairs aside for the mont and focus on preparing for her marriage.
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