Found

"Miss, Cuiqin is back."

Xiruo lifted the curtain to deliver a message.

Lin Yunwan put down her book, sat up from the couch, and said, "Let her in."

When Cuiqin entered, she was covered in dust from her journey, clearly having rushed back to the Bixi Hall without even having time to wash up.

Her eyes shone brightly, and her voice was low but excited. "Girl!"

Lin Yunwan said gently, "Don't rush to say anything. Go and freshen up first."

Cuiqin, being a composed woman, nodded and said, "This servant will come back later."

Xiruo took her to wash up for half an hour. When they came back, her hair was still wet, hanging over her shoulders, and was very black.

Lin Yunwan had snacks and tea prepared for her.

Cuiqin sat on the Embroidery Stool, looked up, and said, "This servant asked my brother to make a trip these past few days and find someone from the Su Family."

Where are the Su Family members now?

Lin Yunwan very curious. How could the wealthy merchant who once Jiangqian and controlled most of the shops in Jiangqian have disappeared without a trace?

Cuiqin said, "After his previous business failed, Master Su wanted to start a medicinal herb business again in Chengzhou. He went to many places, and I heard that he moved back to Chengzhou the year before last."

"It was quite a coincidence that the young lady found out that Master Su returned last month to pay respects to the Su Family Ancestors, and someone from the Su Family's Hometown has seen Master Su."

"Master Su should be back in Chengzhou now."

Cuiqin moved forward a little and continued, "Chengzhou isn't actually far from our Jiangqian, but the accents are different, and the roads are difficult to travel, so very few people travel between the two places. If Master Su hadn't come back, no one would have known he'd gone to Chengzhou!"

"After my brother left, I waited at his and my sister-in-law's house for a whole day and night. I saw my brother before dawn and rushed here to report to you."

Lin Yunwan looked at Cuiqin's bright eyes and asked with a faint smile, "So, your brother saw Master Su?"

Cuiqin nodded emphatically. "It's not just that I saw her. My brother said that Master Su is willing to see the young lady!"

Very good!

Lin Yunwan was very pleased and said to Xiruo with a smile, "Cuiqin did a good job. Reward her with ten taels of silver. Reward her brother with fifteen taels."

Xiruo turned around to weigh the silver.

Cuiqin hesitated to accept it, standing up and waving her hand. "Eldest Miss, this is too much!"

She had her own ulterior motives for helping the Eldest Miss.

"Eldest Miss, according to the plays, this is my pledge of loyalty. How can I accept your reward?"

Xiruo weighed out two purses of silver, handed them to Cuiqin, and let her feel their weight. With a strong voice, she said, "Helping the young lady with things brings many rewards. If you do a good job, the rewards will be even greater!"

With a purse in each hand, Cuiqin felt her wrists being weighed down... it was so heavy!

Even if the whole family worked as servants in the Lin Residence, they wouldn't earn that much in a year!

"Thank you, Miss Xie!"

Cuiqin, clutching the silver, knelt on the ground and kowtowed.

"Your eyes are all red; you must have been waiting for a whole day and night without sleep, right?"

Lin Yunwan Cuiqin up and said, "Go back and rest."

Cuiqin asked Lin Yunwan, "Eldest Miss, may I... ask for a day off?" She weighed the silver in her arms and said, "I want to take this back to my brother and sister-in-law."

Lin Yunwan joked with her, "Are you giving them all to your brother and sister-in-law?"

Like a protective mother hen, Cuiqin carefully pocketed her share of the silver, shaking her head and saying, "No! This is what I saved for myself and my parents."

Xiruo smiled and took her out. When they returned, she said to Lin Yunwan, "Miss, Cuiqin so much fun."

Lin Yunwan smiled.

Cuiqin was quite mature at first, but she started to become lively today, and she is indeed very cute.

"Young lady, do you wish to see Master Su?"

Lin Yunwan nodded. "Yes, I want to see him."

She stroked a jade bracelet on her wrist and said, "The dowry the Su Family gave to Miss Lin's Mother back then, hardly anyone in the Lin Residence knows about it now."

"However, the Su Family definitely still has the Eldest Aunt's dowry list."

"The Su Family was incredibly wealthy back then; otherwise, Old Madam Lin wouldn't have arranged for the Second Master to marry the daughter of the Su Family, a merchant family, to help the people of the prefecture during the famine."

"Miss Lin's Birth Mother brought a generous dowry when she married into the Lin Residence, but she passed away only three or four years later. How much of that dowry could the mother and daughter have spent?"

Xiruo also felt sorry for Miss Lin and her daughter.

"What do you want, young lady?"

Beside Lin Yunwan lay a book of the Imperial Court Law Code and Local Gazetteer of Jiangqian.

She pointed to a few books on the table and said, "I've been looking through them for several days. Jiangqian is similar to the Capital. If a married daughter dies, her dowry is entirely inherited by her Legitimate Son. If there is no legitimate Legitimate Son but a legitimate Di Daughter, the dowry can be used as the Di Daughter's dowry, but the bride's family can still reclaim a portion of it."

"If there is neither Legitimate Son nor Di Daughter, all the dowry given by the Su Family, except for the portion used by the married daughter, must be returned to the Su Family."

Lin Yunwan paused, then said calmly, "It's not about what I want to do now, but rather that these things should rightfully be returned to their rightful owners."

Xiruo understood something and said angrily, "No wonder Master agreed so easily to take you as his daughter. I'm afraid that without you, Master wouldn't have made Miss Lin's death public!"

"Perhaps we really need to find a fake daughter to replace Miss Lin."

Otherwise, the Su Family would still need to find a way to recover this dowry; how could the master and Madam possibly bear to part with it?

Lin Yunwan went through the whole thing in her mind, then gave a mocking smile, "Master really miscalculated. If he had adopted a legitimate son under Legitimate Son late Former Madam's name earlier, the Su Family wouldn't have gotten this dowry back."

"Unfortunately, at that time, the master was at odds with Old Madam Lin and was unwilling to take Concubines; his heart was only for his Madam. He didn't even have Concubine-born Son."

"Otherwise, given the Lin Residence's methods, they would definitely adopt a son from a Concubine-born Son to be Miss Lin's younger brother."

Xiruo hadn't thought it was that profound, but once Lin Yunwan pointed it out, she knew it made sense.

She asked with some concern, "It's been over ten years, Miss. Do you think the master and Madam might have used up all of Miss Lin's Mother's dowry?"

"It's not that bad."

Lin Yunwan thought about it carefully for a moment, then said, "Neither the Eldest Branch nor the Third Branch of the family took anything from the Second Branch. The Second Branch only has the master, Madam, and Second Miss living a wealthy life, and they don't dare to flaunt it."

"This won't cost much money."

She smiled faintly and said, "Didn't you hear what Miss Lin's wet nurse described? The Su Residence is incredibly wealthy, even more so than the mansions of princes and nobles."

Xiruo recalled Zheng Shi's usual attire and said, "They spent more than they could spend. Aren't the master Madam mistress ashamed? They got off too easy!"

Lin Yunwan wasn't worried about that.

"As long as the booklet exists, the master Madam mistress will have to pay back whatever amount they spent."

"Although no one has mentioned the Su Family girl's dowry in recent years, which family in Jiangqian doesn't understand? If this really goes to court, and the Lin Residence doesn't hand over the full amount, then they have no shame!"

"Our master is just taking advantage of Master Su's pride; he hasn't dared to visit his in-laws all these years."

Otherwise, this money should have been returned to its rightful owner long ago.

Lin Yunwan asked Xiruo to put away all the Local Gazetteer of Jiangqian, and then she went to pay her respects to Zheng Shi.

"Go see Madam. Madam always dresses so beautifully; you never know when you might not see her like that again."