It was the time that He Shuijin was needed the most. Her health surely couldn’t be neglected. Dr. Lin who was Marquess Qin’s private doctor and his assistant arrived in a hurry almost at the same time when He Shuijin was carried back to her room!

The crowd wasn’t in the mood of checking the account books. They all waited at the door nervously.

Dr. Lin went out after a while. He wiped his sweat as he walked. Seeing that, Madame Dou Junior who stood in the front of the crowd was about to ask. Dr. Lin waved his sleeves and bowed. He said with a serious face, “Marquess is waiting for me. Everyone, please make way!”

Since he mentioned Marquess Qin, everyone had to make way. They all asked Madame He who went in with the doctor, “Third aunt, how is Shuijin?”

“She hasn’t fully recovered. Now she’s too tired!” Madame He looked terrible. She was responsible for He Shuijin’s miscarriage. And she lost the first-born grandson because of it. Why did she do that? Because she was afraid that He Shuijin would miss the opportunity!

However, He Shuijin had only been checking the account books for a night and half a day before she fell ill. Dr. Lin wasn’t in the mood of saying more when they were inside. But judging by his look, she knew it was serious. Could He Shuijin continue to work?

The fourth branch just planned to go after Empress Dowager’s party via Princess of Cai’s dowry. The first branch and the sixth branch wouldn’t be treated poorly as long as Marquess Qin was in charge. The kids of the eighth branch were young and mediocre. But they had a mother who had always been Marquess’s favourite. Thinking of those, Madame He felt so upset!

She was stunned for a moment. Madame Dou Junior’s and other’s questions made her more upset. She fought back her impatience and waved her hand, “Just go do your things as Shuijin just instructed now!”

Madame He felt that she needed to be alone. She needed to think about what she should do in order to earn enough points and benefits for the third branch if He Shuijin really couldn’t continue to work.

She didn’t know that in the room behind her, He Shuijin who was weak and weary opened her eyes after she and Dr. Lin left and only her close maid remained. He Shuijin’s look was calm. She was quite sober. She didn’t look like she was dying.

“Madame!” Juan opened her mouth and formed the word without making a sound. She gave her a cup of hot rose water.

“I really haven’t fully recovered!” He Shuijin took a few sips of rose water. She felt much better. She gave Juan back the cup and heard what Madame He told the crowd. She smiled. Her smile was both triumphant and sarcastic, “Although I pretended to faint, I really felt so tired after I lay down…”

Juan was peeling an orange for her, sitting on the footrest in front of the bed. Hearing that Madame He had gone far, she whispered, “You haven’t fully recovered. And you’ve stayed up all night… Frankly speaking, even if you didn’t pretend to faint, you wouldn’t be able to last through tonight!”

Juan sighed, “Why didn’t you take those medicines? If you do, you’ll almost recover!”

“Dr. Lin is a great doctor. I’m in the prime of life. If I almost recover from the miscarriage and then faint after working for a night and half a day, do you think we can fool him?” He Shuijin said calmly, “Old Master is a generation away from me. And he is a man. Even if he knows that I’m good at managing the house, he has seen all kinds of people in his life. How could he pay attention to a woman like me who is his junior? If I don’t draw his attention at this very moment, the third branch will claim all the credits after I work my heart out finishing the job! I’ll only get a little praise at most… Why do I have to endure this?”

Her calm look became gloomy, “Besides, even if I take all those medicines and almost recover, you saw the amount of the account books. And those are just the account books of Qingfeng Ji in Jing City. There are many more coming from other places. You tell me how long I can last working day and night even if I hadn’t miscarried? A lot of elders are focusing on this matter. If I don’t work day and night, my aunt surely will have something to say! She has been waiting for me to get sick so that she can find my husband a concubine or another wife, hasn’t she?”

She looked down, “Now I’m sick. And those many people saw that I still worried about my work after I came out of a coma… Dr. Lin also diagnosed me as weak. Don’t you think that Old Master will ask me to slow down? With Old Master saying so and my fainting accident, who can blame me for being slow since I’m working in spite of illness?”

Juan couldn’t help crying, “Madame, you’ve suffered! You haven’t offended anyone. And you put your heart and soul into the third branch. Why do you…” Why did she have to have this kind of mother-in-law? And she was her aunt!

“Too much water drowned the miller. I never thought much of it before. Now I know how wise our ancestors are!” He Shuijin cried a bit. But she wiped her tears right away. She whispered, “If I were as mediocre as those normal ladies, how could I annoy my aunt? But luckily I’m alive. I’ll seek justice for me and my poor kid one day!”

She opened her eyes suddenly. There were no tears and weakness in her eyes. She instructed coldly, “Ask Xian to invite Yelan here stealthily… I need her help with something!”

About the same time, Dr. Lin arrived at Marquess Qin’s study in a hurry. He reported He Shuijin’s condition cautiously, “Madame Shuijin’s body was damaged due to the miscarriage. And she was too sad in the one month’s convalescence. She can’t afford to strain herself these months. But she has been working last night and this morning. So…”

Marquess Qin said frowning, “If she can’t work anymore, how about others?”

He didn’t ask Dr. Lin. He asked the old servant standing behind him. The old servant answered obediently, “Others can do it. But they may not be as good as Madame Shuijin. After all, Qingfeng Ji works for Empress Dowager. How could they not have a precaution? They have a huge amount of account books. Because they have a successful business and they have real account books and false ones. We need to identify the account books and then look for clues!”

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“But Shuijin isn’t well. Let her rest for now,” Marquess Qin was silent for a while and then said flatly. He looked at Dr. Lin, “You go and stay in the third branch for a few days.”

When the words reached the third branch, Jiang Tianqi and Madame He both got the implication, “If father doesn’t want Shuijin to continue to work, why did he send Dr. Lin here? However, Shuijin fainted in front of all those people. If father asks her to set store by overall interests now, it’ll make him look unkind! We have to be the bad person.”

Madame He longed for He Shuijin to bring honour to the third branch. She promised at once, “I’ll talk to her right away!”

“Choose your words carefully. Don’t make her hold a grudge!” Jiang Tianqi said, “The accountants of our family are really useless. None of them is as good as her! The current situation is so urgent that she has to endure!” Then he said, “Tell Heng’er not to go out these few days, especially not to go to the brothels. In case Shuijin needs to worry about him even though she’s tired!”

Hearing that, Madame He felt jealous in her heart, “When I just married to you and began to manage the house, I was also up to my neck in work, wasn’t I? But you still went to the brothels every other day or so. Wasn’t I sad? Now your son did the same thing. You were actually worried about your daughter-in-law!”

But Madame He knew that Jiang Tianqi had always liked He Shuijin who was capable and sophisticated. He even said in private that if his son were half as smart as He Shuijin, he wouldn’t be worried about him for the rest of his life. They needed to rely on He Shuijin at that moment. She had to suppress her jealousy and said, “I know. She’s smart. I think she’ll get my implication. It’s not that we don’t adore her. It’s for their own future!”

While they were talking, a servant came in to report, “Madame Shuijin’s maid, Juan is here!”

Jiang Tianqi said in a hurry, “Send her in. Did Shuijin wake up?”

After going in, Juan saluted. Indeed, she told them that He Shuijin was awake, “Madame Shuijin is too weak to get up. But she still worries about her work. So, she sent me here to discuss with you guys. Is it okay to set up a screen in the inner chamber and let the butlers report behind the screen?”

“She’s already too weak to get up. Why does she still worry about the account matter?” Jiang Tainqi was so pleased that his daughter-in-law was so sensible. He had to make a feigned complaint, “Tell her to rest and not to worry. Getting better is more important!”

Juan scolded them for their hypocrisy and shamefulness inwardly. But she said politely, “Madame Shuijin said that she couldn’t rest at ease thinking that everyone was busy! She just hopes you guys could forgive her for being impolite!”

“How is she impolite? We should be flexible when things are urgent!” As expected, Jiang Tianqi just pretended to refuse at first and then agreed at the next moment. He instructed to take a few antiques and medicinal materials from his storage and rewarded those to He Shuijin. He always liked He Shuijin. Her being so sensible at that moment made Jiang Tianqi so pleased. Then he decided, “Where is Heng’er today? Get him back! I assume Shuijin is too weak to write now. Tell him to keep his wife company in the room. In this case, it’s okay for the butlers to come and go. If she needs to write, she can ask Heng’er to do it!”

Hearing that, Juan was thrilled, “Master, I thank you on behalf of Madame Shuijin!”

When the Jiang Family was working hard to find evidence of the crime of Empress Dowager’s party, Empress Dowager’s party surely wouldn’t helplessly wait for death!

“Duan Jin has already committed suicide. However, he was proved guilty of corruption and bribery. Now we can only try to save his family!” Empress Dowager Gu on the chair had a serious look, “I’ve already asked Gu Yan to handle it… The Jiang Family found evidence of Duan Jin dealing with Qingfeng Ji in his house. They shut down Qingfeng Ji in order to check the accounts via this chance. Now they must be so eager to go after us at one fling! They may not have time to care about Duan Jin’s family. It should be easy for us to save them!”

“Account books of Qingfeng Ji in Jing City have been delivered to Marquess’s Mansion. There’s nothing we can do,” Qiu Dian suggested, “But we can never let them have the account books of other places! Otherwise, there’s no way we can explain ourselves when those were compared correctly with the general ledger!”

Political struggle required a lot of money. This was also the reason why He Shuijin managed the Jiang Family’s account before she got married. If she managed the account after she got married, the Empress’s party would make a lot less money in those years! Compared to the benefits she could bring, rules weren’t worth mentioning!

For Empress Dowager’s party, Qingfeng Ji was their biggest financial support!

Now that the Jiang Family shut down Qingfeng Ji, they would not only be tracked down, but their interests would also be greatly affected!

A party with no money couldn’t survive and develop unless most of its members had a noble ideal and could give without expecting anything in return. Apparently, people in Empress Dowager’s party were not like that! The closure of Qingfeng Ji hit them harder than Duan Jin’s downfall!

So, they stopped discussing Duan Jin’s family after Empress Dowager Gu told them the result. They were more interested in what would happen to Qingfeng Ji at that moment.

“I’m afraid that it’s too late for us to save the account books of other places either!” Tang Zimo mused for a while and then shook his head, “The Jiang Family has clearly planned it for a long time. How could they not have people wait in other places? Once they launch an attack successfully in the meeting and get Qingfeng Ji in Jing City shut down, they will act immediately. Even if we send them messages using pigeons, it’ll be too late!”

Hearing that, Empress Dowager Gu’s look changed suddenly!

But Empress Dowager had been acted as regent for decades. She wasn’t that easy to beat. After musing for a while, Empress Dowager Gu decided, “Is Duan Jin the only one who was corrupted? The Jiang Family’s adherents are no better! We’ve lost the upper hand in the matter of Qingfeng Ji. There’s nothing we can do! In this case, let’s just let it go! We’ll go after the Jiang Family and their adherents. They can impeach our people. We also can oust those rebels and traitors!”

“Don’t think that Qingfeng Ji could mess me up and I would be led by the nose by you guys!”