CHAPTER 319: CHAPTER 316: I AM THE MARQUIS MANSION DOWAGER 5

Under the witness of Mr. Tang and General Gai, Anning smoothly divided the family estate for the two simple-minded sons.

Although Mrs. Song was somewhat angered, feeling that Anning was too biased towards the second son’s household, Anning acted as if she saw nothing.

And Tang Dingguo was not the kind of person who envied his brother, not wishing well for him. Given that both his sons were not bad, Anning naturally wouldn’t quibble with his daughter-in-law.

After the estate division document was prepared, the imperial reward from the court also arrived.

Emperor Jianyuan was quite generous now, bestowing a residence to Tang Baoguo.

The new Duke Zhongyi Mansion belonged to a Prime Minister from the previous dynasty, which survived the war turmoil. For many years since, it stood vacant with no one residing in it.

The residence was fairly large; despite being deserted for many years, it would be quite nice once properly renovated.

Anning went with Tang Baoguo to see the new Duke Zhongyi Mansion and then started hiring workers to renovate and take care of the mansion from top to bottom.

To expedite the renovation, Anning had Tang Baoguo hire many skilled craftsmen. They didn’t stint on spending money, piling it into the renovation, and in just over two months, the new residence was refurbished.

Afterward, it was time to furnish the interior.

Tang Dingguo was quite helpful at this time, giving some of the larger pieces of furniture from the storeroom to Tang Baoguo.

Tang Baoguo didn’t leave his brother at a loss either, sending a good number of South Sea Pearls to Tang Dingguo for his niece’s dowry in the future.

After watching the new Marquis Mansion being settled, Anning took Tang Baoguo and his wife to see the storeroom she had built outside.

Tang Baoguo and Mrs. Yang followed Ning through twists and turns until they arrived in front of a rather large estate.

Anning knocked on the door, and an old man with one arm opened it: "Marquis."

Anning pointed to the one-armed old man and said to Tang Baoguo: "Call him Uncle Dazhu."

Tang Baoguo quickly stepped forward and called out the name.

Anning then said to Tang Baoguo: "Dazhu has followed your father and me through battles in the south and the north, having earned great merits. That eye was blinded while saving your father. I originally wanted to get him a title as a reward, but he said he’s all alone and doesn’t need any titles – he just wanted to earn his keep with your father and me. So, I arranged for him to guard this storeroom for me, and he’s been doing so for many years."

Upon hearing this, Tang Baoguo respectfully called out once more: "Good to meet you, Uncle Dazhu."

Anning cautioned Tang Baoguo: "Dazhu has been guarding this storehouse for you for years, you must treat him well in the future, or I won’t let you off easily."

"Mother, rest assured, I will definitely take good care of Uncle Dazhu," he replied.

Then, Anning led Tang Baoguo and Mrs. Yang inside.

The two didn’t expect Anning to have such a large estate in the Capital, and they thought the Old Madam had kept it quite secret.

The three of them walked from the front hall through several courtyards to the garden.

Anning stopped in front of a rockery and then instructed Tang Baoguo to come forward and explained the mechanism to him.

Once Tang Baoguo took note of it, he personally opened the storeroom door.

After the door opened, the three of them didn’t immediately go in but waited outside for a while, until Anning lit a candle and waited for the flame to burn vigorously before they descended the steps one by one.

The stairs were quite long and it was very dark inside, causing Mrs. Yang to feel a bit uneasy as she walked.

Meanwhile, Tang Baoguo, who was bolder, would support Anning and then hold Mrs. Yang, always mindful of taking care of his mother and wife.

When they reached the bottom, Anning lit several oil lamps, and only then could Tang Baoguo and Mrs. Yang clearly see the contents of the storeroom – this sight shocked both of them.

"Mother!" exclaimed Tang Baoguo.

Anning glared at him: "What are you shouting for? You must stay composed."

But Mrs. Yang couldn’t remain composed either.

She too grabbed Anning, exclaiming: "Mother, this, this..."

The storeroom had much more than what Anning had mentioned.

It was very large, much more so than the Duke Zhongyong Mansion’s central storeroom. There wasn’t any bulky furniture, just lots of big chests. Anning opened them one by one, revealing various treasures.

Boxes of precious artifacts and paintings, many books, and chests of gold and silver.

Anning claimed she only had 500,000 taels of silver in her storeroom with no gold, which wasn’t true.

There was far more silver here than just 500,000 taels, roughly millions of taels, and the amount of gold was not much less than the silver.

Mrs. Yang was so shocked she couldn’t catch her breath: "Mother, this, these items..."

She truly dared not accept them now.