Chapter 65 I've Got Money

Faced with Madam Yu’s stubbornness, Nanny Yu continued to explain, "The high price you gave Xiao Lin could be passed off as a generous tip for an obedient servant boy."

"Yet outside the apothecary, you were willing to step forward and speak up for us. This proves... you truly regard us as human beings."

"In time, you will surely be able to treat Rongxue as a human being too, without despising her for her tainted bloodline or being born to a lowly concubine!"

"To be frank with you, ever since we returned from the apothecary, I have already had Madam An investigated."

Once registered under the lowly caste, one is forever denied any chance of redemption. Having suffered deeply from discrimination herself, Nanny Yu never wanted her child to endure the same fate.

"I dared not entrust Rongxue to anyone else simply because I feared the child would suffer generation after generation. Aside from the sisters in the pleasure house, Madam An, you are one of the very few who know Rongxue’s true origins."

"For her future, I have endured eleven bitter years of keeping my distance without daring to acknowledge her. If I did not know your character and integrity, I would never have dared to be so presumptuous."

Upon learning about Xiao Lin, Nanny Yu had immediately dispatched people to the Qiushui Silk Shop and the agency to investigate Madam An Chunfeng.

Naturally, Qiushui held nothing back, spilling all details about their business dealings with the Hundred Flowers Pavilion and showering extravagant praise on An Chunfeng's cleverness and capability.

The agency had also produced An Chunfeng's records, detailing her household registration, Granny Zhuang's visit, the disturbance caused by the drunkard during the Double Seventh Festival, her filing a case at the magistrate's office, and her securing Qiu's release.

Listening to all this, Nanny Yu was filled with endless admiration. Not only was Madam An beautiful and kind-hearted, but she also knew a few self-defense skills. She was quite simply the best possible refuge for her daughter.

If Rongxue could live with Madam An, there would be no need to ever worry about her being bullied in the future.

She also believed that a young mistress with such a sharp mind, competence, courage, and insight would surely be able to reach an agreement with her.

An Chunfeng was truly dumbfounded!

What?

Just because she viewed others with equality?

She really hadn't stopped to ponder who counted as a human being and who didn't!

The sins of parents—how innocent were the children?

Moreover, the fact that Nanny Yu had been investigating her ever since their meeting at the apothecary showed just how desperate she was.

With her wet nurse dead and aside from those old sisters at the Department of Music, she was likely the only ordinary person who knew the truth.

An Chunfeng began to scratch her head again. By now, even if she wanted to pretend she had heard nothing, it was probably too late!

Thinking back carefully, although little Linzi and Rongxue lived in the slums and were technically unregistered outcasts, their speech and manners lacked the numbness and greed born of lifelong poverty.

Their physical health was also free from major deficiencies, which had to do with their peaceful and affluent life in the past.

Since they trusted her so completely, An Chunfeng decided to hear Nanny Yu out to the end and see what further requests she might have.

"There are none. Madam An only needs to step forward and rent a house for Rongxue. I will provide the money to hire people to look after her. From this day on, Madam An will be Rongxue's maternal aunt, and you shall enjoy Rongxue's filial devotion in the future."

"It's that simple? There's no need to consider household registration or marriage matters?" An Chunfeng was somewhat surprised. Being a maternal aunt certainly couldn't be this easy.

She dreaded trouble above all else and understood nothing about such matters. If she had the energy to pick husbands for other people, why would she bother remaining single?

"As long as she can leave the large courtyard compound, I will naturally attend to her marriage and household registration myself. Madam An, I do not scheme for her to attain wealth and glory; I only hope she can live out the rest of her days in peace and stability!"

The subtext of these words was essentially: The reason I don't care about my daughter achieving wealth and glory is because this mother of hers has money.

Living out the rest of her days in peace and stability was also simple—she wanted her daughter to remain untouched by the stigma of having a mother from the Department of Music.

And in the future, she wanted this "maternal aunt" of hers to step forward for everything.

Maternal love was truly magnificent!

The fact that Nanny Yu could harden her heart and avoid approaching her own daughter for eleven whole years just to sever ties with her was utterly mind-boggling in any era.

An Chunfeng even felt that her own momentary ruthless impulse—worrying about a child's bleak future and contemplating abandoning her—paled into complete insignificance compared to Nanny Yu.

And what about herself? Should she act as this maternal aunt or not?

An Chunfeng left the agency in a daze and made her way back to Pear Blossom Alley.

Tucked safely against her chest were two deed certificates worth over three hundred taels of silver, along with a brass key.

From this moment on, An Chunfeng was also a landlord with real estate in the capital.

Arriving at her front gate, An Chunfeng raised her hand, intending to knock, but her gaze shifted instead to the black-painted door right next to her courtyard wall.

That courtyard door was tightly shut, the wood freshly washed and not yet dry, leaving damp, dark patches lingering around the frame.

An Chunfeng paused in thought before finally knocking on her own door.

Little Linzi quickly opened the courtyard gate. "Madam An is back!"

Instead of stepping inside, An Chunfeng pointed at the black-painted door and asked, "Little Linzi, when did the people living over there move out? How is it that I didn't know?"

Little Linzi tilted his head to look. "It seemed to be the day before yesterday morning. Madam An, you had gone to the silk shop at the time, and people from the agency came to handle the move. The people in that courtyard were quite straightforward and packed up and left without a fuss, though one woman cursed a bit."

An Chunfeng nodded. The one doing the cursing was undoubtedly Madam Lu.

Several families had shared that courtyard, and Madam Lu had only rented one of the rooms. Now, she had finally been driven out.

"Oh! Come along, let's go take a look at the place!"

A shiny new golden lock hung on the black-painted door. As if performing a magic trick, An Chunfeng retrieved a key from her sleeve and easily unlocked it.

This courtyard was one of the properties Nanny Yu had prepared for Rongxue, Little Linzi, and the others, originally assets belonging to the Department of Music.

Following the imperial amnesty, Nanny Yu and the others pooled their silver to purchase the properties that the Department of Music had intended to sell, turning them into personal assets to rent out for income.

Now, Nanny Yu had transferred the deeds of both courtyards into An Chunfeng's name, which could also be considered advance payment for looking after Rongxue.

Back at the agency, besides presenting the deeds, Nanny Yu had also offered to help An Chunfeng with her silk and undergarment business.

Having once been a top courtesan and having taught the zither, chess, and other arts to dozens of leading courtesans in other pleasure houses, she was a veteran of the pleasure quarters.

With her reputation in the world of cosmetics and fashion far surpassing Qiushui's, she only needed to say a single word, and the top courtesans of nearly every establishment would eagerly show their support.

Nanny Yu had also suggested that An Chunfeng's undergarment designs needed improvement and should not be sold exclusively to brothels.

The real market lay among the female family members of wealthy and influential households.

Yet this venture involved countless subtle intricacies.

An Chunfeng understood nothing of what women in grand manor back-courtyards desired, nor did she ever wish to deal with such women.

However, Nanny Yu and her companions all hailed from prominent aristocratic families. Some had been legitimate daughters trained from childhood in household management, while others were concubine-born daughters specializing in embroidery and garment-making. They knew the preferences of madams and mistresses inside and out.

In short, Nanny Yu declared that An Chunfeng's future affairs would be the business of all of them. They wanted no silver in return; their sole request was her assistance whenever they needed to acquire rare medicines.

This meant they were essentially offering to work for An Chunfeng for free—and these were high-ranking executives and technical specialists cultivated by great aristocratic families since childhood.

Even though she knew this was a bait laid by Nanny Yu, intended to secure a future guardian for Rongxue, An Chunfeng found herself unable to refuse such overwhelming wealth and gritted her teeth to accept the responsibility of raising Rongxue.

Seeing the relaxed and joyful expression on Nanny Yu's face, An Chunfeng guessed...

Aside from lifting the heavy burden concerning her daughter, the truth was that these women simply had too much time on their hands.

After spending half a lifetime in the world of wind and moon, no longer needing to cater to or please men, they were a group of women brimming with artistic talent, with nothing to do, no emotional anchorage, and on the verge of entering menopause.

Now that their daughter had finally found someone suitable to care for her, they themselves had a useful purpose once more.

This joy of shedding a crushing burden and finding a renewed lease on life was so profound that even someone as emotionally steady as Nanny Yu could not conceal it.