Chapter Ten: The Reckoning

The moment Liang Shanru finished speaking, the sky turned completely dark.

Lanterns had already been lit throughout the Marquis of Changle’s estate while the light was still dim, and now, the flickering candlelight inside the room stood in stark contrast to the pitch-black exterior.

The Marquis of Changle initially thought he had misheard, and Lady Zhou asked, "What did you say?"

Liang Shanru clicked her tongue. Zhou Shen, unsatisfied, answered for her: "Repay the money. The money you have been withholding from the child—return it all to her."

"What a joke!" The Marquis of Changle was genuinely amused by the audacity, letting out a roar of laughter. After laughing for a long while, he finally snatched up a teacup from the side and hurled it at Liang Shanru.

Liang Shanru moved to dodge, but Zhou Shen was faster. He stepped in front of her, waving his wide sleeve to deflect the cup.

As the porcelain shattered, he lunged forward, grabbed the Marquis of Changle by the collar, and landed a heavy punch right on his cheek.

Zhou Shen possessed a heavy hand; the Marquis’s lip immediately split, blood trickling down. He even felt as though his molars had been loosened by the blow.

"You bastard! Boiling tea and hard porcelain—you dare throw such things at Shanru? A black-hearted, rotten-lunged wretch like you is better off dead than alive!" Zhou Shen glared, his presence truly terrifying.

Lady Zhou wanted to intervene but feared getting caught in the crossfire, so she could only hesitate and offer verbal pleas.

When the Marquis, driven to desperation, tried to strike back, Zhou Shen pinned him down firmly. "What kind of thing are you to dare raise a hand against me?"

Yet, it was clearly the Marquis who had struck first!

"I shall impeach you!"

"If you don't, you are born of a beast!"

As Zhou Shen drew back his fist to strike again, the Marquis’s personal attendants rushed in, clinging to him. It took the combined strength of three or four servants to barely pull Zhou Shen away.

Having joined the army in his youth and spent half his life in the saddle, the coarse insults he used were all learned in the barracks.

Only just realizing he had been too angry to remember Liang Shanru was present, he regained his composure, rubbed his forehead, and called to her: "Pay no mind to those words. A young lady must not learn such language."

Liang Shanru was stunned, nearly failing to catch his meaning, before she nodded. She stepped forward to pull Zhou Shen away. "It’s not worth hurting your own hand by hitting such a person."

The Marquis of Changle jumped to his feet, eager to lash out: "You wicked, wild—"

"I see you haven't had enough of a beating!" Zhou Shen knew that nothing but filth would come out of the Marquis’s mouth, and he would not let him finish his insult.

Liang Shanru lifted her delicate chin, her expression indifferent. "My father is an official of the second rank, General of Dingguo, and my mother was the only daughter of the Duke of Weiguo. Who exactly is the Marquis of Changle calling a wild child?"

Stung by his own pain, the Marquis stood there, his face throbbing so severely that he dared not speak again.

Liang Shanru scoffed with disdain. "My mother’s dowry is held by the Marchioness, is it not? When I was young, you bullied me for being ignorant; it should have been handed over for me to manage long ago, but you withheld it. That is true, is it not?

"My father has served with great distinction, earning many rewards from the imperial court. Many of the gifts sent from the palace to Yangzhou should have been delivered to the General’s Mansion. Yet, because the Marquis refused to let my father move out, those items were naturally delivered to the Marquis’s estate instead.

"Marquis, these things were never yours. Is it not only right that you return them to me in their entirety?"

It was certainly right, but with what could they pay her back?

Her mother’s dowry was manageable; they hadn't touched it. They had planned to wait until she married and negotiate with her husband’s family, swapping dowries for bride-prices to make a fortune, thinking there was no need to move those assets lest someone come looking for them later.

But the imperial rewards? Once they entered the Marquis’s estate, they had long since been absorbed into the household’s common accounts. How could they return those?

"Stop spouting nonsense. If we are to settle accounts, how much has your father spent over the years? How much have you spent?" The Marquis braced himself, gritting his teeth as he spoke. "Who can remember how many rewards the court bestowed? Must I give you whatever amount you claim? If that is the case, I say the expenses for you and your father living in this estate amount to one hundred thousand taels. Will you pay me back for that debt, too?"

He knew she had no money. Over the years, she had received a monthly allowance, often subjected to deductions, and he knew she could not produce such a sum. Furthermore, Lady Zhou had more than once secretly instructed the maids in charge of the allowance not to pay her the full amount, knowing she dared not make trouble.

Liang Shanru seemed to have anticipated this. From somewhere, she produced a small ledger, held it in her hand, and shook it at the Marquis and his wife. "My father kept accounts. His own, mine, and even my mother’s. I was only seven when my mother passed away and could not keep them, but from the time I turned ten, Father told me that every penny spent in this house must be recorded for a future purpose. As for the rewards my father received from the court, they were, of course, all recorded as well.

"If you fear the accounts are unclear, we can compare them against the ledger line by line. We will surely be able to calculate it all."

The Marquis and Lady Zhou exchanged a look; neither had expected to be checkmated like this.

"Heaven knows where you got this thing. We certainly do not—"

"The Marchioness need not rush to deny it. There are two sets of ledgers: one kept by my father, and one left with my aunt." Liang Shanru thought for a moment, then walked forward and placed the ledger on the square table beside the Marquis. "You need not fear that I have fabricated anything. Even after my aunt married, two copies were kept.

"If the Marchioness still refuses to acknowledge it, once you have finished reading the ledger, give me a figure. I am not an unreasonable person. Even if I am to leave the Liang family, and despite how poorly you have treated me, we have lived together for over a decade. I am willing to negotiate."

She was clearly employing a strategy of retreating to advance. How could Lady Zhou fail to see through such a ruse? She spoke with honeyed words, making them appear petty.

Lady Zhou’s mind raced. "Shanru, we are family. If we take this to such an extreme, how will we ever face each other again? If you break away from the Liang family, you will truly become an orphan. You will no longer be able to borrow the name and influence of the Marquis of Changle’s estate; it will do you no good. You are only angry because of the marriage proposal from the Li family. Even if your aunt and uncle were wrong, we will not force you anymore, will we?"

Zhou Shen could not bear to hear her call her an orphan. He glared at her, warning: "Away from your den of wolves, Shanru’s good days are yet to come. If you dare let filth pass your lips again, see if I spare you."

Lady Zhou was a woman of the inner chambers and feared Zhou Shen all the more. She shrunk her shoulders, not daring to look at him. "I am only doing this out of concern for Shanru. These words, though unpleasant, are the truth. Shanru has not yet discussed marriage—"

"Am I truly not discussing marriage?" Liang Shanru interrupted her without mercy once more. "I have heard these words repeated over and over; the Marchioness may not be tired of saying them, but I have long been sick of hearing them. You ask me what it will take for me to be satisfied—I have already stated it clearly.

"The hour is late. I suggest the Marquis and his wife discuss it. Tomorrow morning, we shall open the ancestral hall and invite the elders of the clan to witness the removal of my father’s name from the Liang family genealogy, granting us our freedom. As for the rest, I will bring all the ledgers tomorrow, and we shall settle everything once and for all!"

Saying more was a waste of time. Liang Shanru repeated these words to the Marquis and his wife one last time. Zhou Shen understood immediately; he stepped forward to guard her side and led her away, ignoring the clamor of the Marquis and Lady Zhou behind them.