It wasn't until nightfall, when the lanterns were lit, that the courtyard of the Jining Marquis's mansion finally quieted down.
The dowries brought by the two new concubines had all been registered, categorized, and moved into the storage room for safekeeping.
Various silk and brocade fabrics, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jade and curios, along with heaps of gleaming silver and a small bag of gold ingots—altogether the silver alone was worth about 115,000 taels.
Adding the dowry that Dou Zhao had brought earlier, the inventory value in the Jining Marquis's storage was now approaching 250,000 taels.
Among this, just the silver alone amounted to five boxes—nearly 100,000 taels of cash.
Because of the large amount of valuable goods, Wei Tingyu had taken two female guards from the inner courtyard shadows and assigned them to alternate shifts guarding the storage room, to prevent thieves from coveting the dowries of the three ladies.
...
In the dining hall, Wei Tingyu sat at the main seat enjoying his dinner, while Zhao Zhangru sat beside him pouring wine and serving dishes.
Dou Zhao and Miao Ansu, the two women, only took a few bites before moving to the side and busily tapping away on their abacuses, occasionally jotting down figures in their ledgers.
There was no helping it! These two women became so absorbed in their calculations whenever it involved abacus work that even when Wei Tingyu asked them to eat properly first, they refused.
Finally, after Wei Tingyu was half full, the two women stopped their work, looked up, and smiled at each other.
"What's the result?" Wei Tingyu could only shake his head helplessly, then asked, "After all that clacking, what did you figure out?"
To be honest, Wei Tingyu didn't really know what Dou Zhao and Miao Ansu were calculating.
When asked, the two women deliberately kept the result secret, which made him feel a bit bored, so he just continued drinking wine with Zhao Zhangru.
That little girl had apparently seen some "romantic scene" in a painting or book and insisted on drinking the cross-cup wine with Wei Tingyu. So in the span of that meal, they had already done the cross-cup ritual six or seven times.
Meanwhile, Dou Zhao and Miao Ansu were completely absorbed in their abacus work, ignoring the couple showing off their affection behind them.
They didn't even get jealous? Not a hint of temper? This made Wei Tingyu feel quite hurt! So as soon as the two women stopped, he quickly asked.
"Go ahead and say it!"
Dou Zhao smiled and nodded to Miao Ansu, giving her the honor of reporting the results to him.
"All right!" Miao Ansu, of course, understood her good friend's intentions, gave her a grateful glance, then slowly bowed slightly before Wei Tingyu and said, "Marquis Bing, Sister Zhao and I have just finished calculating all the current inventory in the Marquis's storage and the debts owed previously…"
"If we use the Marquis's current inventory to pay off all the debts at once, there will still be a remainder of 187,455 taels!"
"But such an important matter still needs the Marquis's decision!"
"If you agree, Sister Zhao and I will visit all the restaurants and shops we owe tomorrow and settle all the debts!"
"From then on, our Jining Marquis's mansion will be free of debt and carefree!"
Wow! Upon hearing this, Wei Tingyu's hand holding the wine cup froze mid-air.
He looked at Dou Zhao, then at Miao Ansu, then turned to Zhao Zhangru beside him, noticing that all three women had expressions full of excitement and happiness.
"That's wonderful! I was worried that the Jining Marquis's mansion owed too many debts. Who would have thought that after paying off the debts, we would still have 180,000 taels left!" Zhao Zhangru put down her wine cup and applauded.
However, Wei Tingyu's heart was stirred into a turbulent storm.
Because he had transmigrated here, he only knew the mansion owed quite a bit of external debt before, but he had never gone through the exact figures.
Now, seeing Dou Zhao and Miao Ansu had completely sorted out the accounts, he realized that over these years, from his parents' time until before his transmigration, the entire Jining Marquis's mansion owed a total of 70,000 to 80,000 taels in external debts.
Of course, what moved Wei Tingyu most was that the three ladies had willingly offered their dowries to fill this huge financial hole in the mansion.
But the more the three ladies insisted, the harder it was for Wei Tingyu to accept such grace from these beauties.
After all, he really did not want to live off others! And this "soft rice" (living off a woman) was being fed directly into his mouth by these three!
"I appreciate the kindness from all three of you!" Wei Tingyu lightly shook his head and said, "But you just entered the mansion not long ago, and for me to immediately spend seventy or eighty thousand taels of your dowries, both morally and reasonably, it's just not right!"
"Besides, didn't we settle everything clearly on the wedding night? From now on, we are husband and wife in personal matters, but business is business!"
"How could you forget that after only three days?"
Seeing Dou Zhao wanted to say something, Wei Tingyu shook his head and interrupted her.
Dou Zhao was stunned by Wei Tingyu's words and felt a huge emotional wave rise inside her.
Because she really had forgotten the agreement made with Wei Tingyu on their wedding night—husband and wife in relationship, but separate in assets!
At least before being reminded, in these short three days, Dou Zhao surprisingly found that she had already completely integrated into the role of the main wife of the Marquis's mansion.
Her joys and sorrows all centered on Wei Tingyu! Regardless of pros and cons, the mansion came first!
"But Marquis... this is what we want! You didn't force us!" Miao Ansu got anxious upon hearing this. She had just entered the mansion and was eager to establish merit, and now there was an easy way to pay off debts with money.
"Although we are willing, how can outsiders believe it?" Dou Zhao frowned, then turned to Miao Ansu behind her and said, "This matter is indeed simpler in our minds. After all, what about the Marquis's reputation in court?"
"Then... what about the debts of the Marquis's mansion?" Zhao Zhangru blinked, always lacking strong opinions, and now felt that what Dou Zhao and Miao Ansu said made sense, but the Marquis's refusal was also reasonable.
"What to do? Of course, earn the money ourselves to repay..." Wei Tingyu chuckled and raised his eyebrows at Dou Zhao.
"The Marquis earn money to repay?" Miao Ansu and Zhao Zhangru were stunned, not expecting their husband to be so progressive and open-minded! To think the Marquis was willing to engage in business...
"The Marquis means he has the treasure to earn money! We don't need to worry about it!" Dou Zhao understood immediately and took out a list that had just been delivered before dinner.