"I have a share in the money of Prince Duan's Manor, so why shouldn't I be allowed to use it?"
With her internal alarms ringing, Ye Qiong narrowed her eyes. "Dad, do you have another woman on the side?"
"I'm telling you now, I don't care how many secret kids you have out there. I'm the one inheriting Prince Duan's Manor, and I won't let anyone else take a piece of my property. You can just put that idea out of your head!"
With a look of pure disbelief, Prince Duan stared at her. "You're already thinking about carving up my estate?"
Ye Qiong nodded, showing no shame at all. "I'm going to inherit it sooner or later, anyway."
"I'm still alive, you little brat!"
With a face red from rage, Prince Duan grabbed a bowl from the table and prepared to hurl it at her.
Seeing this, Steward Wang rushed forward and grabbed Prince Duan's arms. With a strained voice, he pleaded, "Your Highness, you can't throw that! That bowl... it wasn't cheap."
The expenses of the manor had been astronomical over the last two weeks, and they couldn't afford any more destruction from these two ancestors.
With a stunned expression, Prince Duan looked down at the bowl in his hand. "Is the manor so poor now that we can't even afford to buy bowls?"
Steward Wang nodded. With a look of silent accusation, he stared at Prince Duan.
His Highness never bothered with the manor's businesses. He spent every day eating, drinking, and playing, and there was no mistress of the house to manage the finances. If the Empress Dowager and the Emperor hadn't been looking out for them, the manor would have run out of food long ago. Now, they were stuck with a Princess who was a complete spendthrift.
With every passing thought, Steward Wang's face grew gloomier.
With a feeling that his world was ending, Prince Duan looked at him. "That girl... she didn't hock the manor, did she?"
"Not yet. But... at the rate the Princess is spending, it's only a matter of time."
With a dazed look, Prince Duan fell silent. He didn't know whether to be angry that his daughter was such a brat or to be depressed that his manor was so fragile.
"Don't we still have plenty of businesses?"
With a pained expression, Steward Wang looked at him. "Your Highness, did you forget? You lost all the profitable ones to the Duke of Ying during that cockfighting match. Most of our remaining shops are losing money. If it weren't for the Empress Dowager and the Emperor helping us out over the years, we wouldn't have been able to put food on the table."
Ye Qiong, who had been trying to sneak out the door, immediately sprinted back when she heard that.
"Uncle Wang, what did you just say?"
With a look of utter betrayal, she pointed at her father. "My dad... he already gambled away my inheritance?!"
Steward Wang immediately covered his mouth. "Princess, I didn't say a word."
He had messed up. He was supposed to be mediating their fight, but his comment had only made things worse.
With a guilty look, Prince Duan stammered, "What do you mean 'your' inheritance? That's mine..."
"Dad, I am so disappointed in you!" Ye Qiong cried out. "You actually had the nerve to call me a spendthrift!"
She had thought she'd been reborn as a wealthy socialite with endless riches to enjoy. Who would have guessed her useless father hadn't just failed to get ahead, but had actually gambled away the family fortune?
Prince Duan glared at Steward Wang before arguing back. "You're the spendthrift here! No matter how bad I am, I never acted like a sucker and spent a fortune on a failing brothel!"
"And you think you're right because you were gambling?" With a surge of anger, Ye Qiong jumped onto Prince Duan's back and yanked on his ears, looking like she was ready to fight to the death.
Prince Duan roared, "Get off me!"
"I won't!" Ye Qiong snapped. "You get that property back, or I'll take you down with me!"
She had only enjoyed the luxury of being a high-ranking lady for two weeks, and now she was being told they were broke. This was basically a death sentence to her.
Prince Duan tried to shake her off but failed. With a loud shout, he cursed, "Who are you calling 'Old Man'? I'm your father, you ungrateful girl!"
"Uncle Wang, get this brat off me!"
Steward Wang, who had already retreated outside the door, turned and ran. Based on his past experiences, whenever these two fought, any attempt to help would only result in him being blamed for the manor's financial ruin.
With no one coming to his rescue, Prince Duan, who had been mentally rehearsing a hundred ways to discipline his daughter, finally gave in.
"I promise I'll win the businesses back!"
With tears practically in his eyes, Prince Duan realized that in just a few sentences, he had become the manor's official villain.
Ye Qiong finally hopped off his back. With a look of deep sorrow, she sighed. "Dad, I'm really disappointed."
"At your age, you have elders to support and a child to raise. How can you spend your days being so lazy and useless? You need to be ambitious! You need to hustle! You need to make money!"
With a speechless expression, Prince Duan looked at her. "Ambitious like you? The manor would go bankrupt even faster."
"Dad, how can you say that? Do you really have the heart to watch your daughter suffer? Am I supposed to live a life with no mother and no money?"
"Other princesses have parents who plan for their futures. Then there's poor little me. No one loves me. I won't even be able to afford pretty clothes soon. When I go out, the other girls will laugh me to death."
With tears streaming down her face, Ye Qiong sat on the floor, lost in her grief.
"The little cabbage withers in the field,
Left all alone since I was a child.
My mother is gone and my father is cold,
I'm scared of a stepmother when he gets old!
She'll have her own kids and they'll get the meat,
While I'm left with soup and nothing to eat!
I'll hold up my bowl as the tears start to flow,
Oh, Mother! My dear Mother, where did you go?"
"Fine, stop it! I'll find a way to make money!" Prince Duan rubbed his forehead. He didn't know where she had learned those lyrics, but they made his heart ache.
Seeing that her father was finally motivated, Ye Qiong felt relieved.
"Dad, starting tomorrow, we both start grinding for cash."
"You take the west side of the city, and I'll take the east. I'll see you at the top."
After saying her piece, Ye Qiong scrambled off the floor and marched back to her courtyard with newfound determination.
With a bewildered look, Prince Duan watched her go. "What's wrong with her? Didn't she tell the Emperor today that she didn't want a job? It hasn't even been a day, and now she's acting like she's possessed by a ghost of productivity?"
If it were anyone else's daughter, it would be a good thing. But his daughter was not a normal person.
Steward Wang, who had timed his return perfectly, entered just in time to hear the mumbling. "Perhaps the Princess has finally grown up. She sees the manor is short on cash and wants to help."
Even though he didn't think she had any talent for making money, he couldn't stop her from trying.
The reminder made Prince Duan angry again. With a heavy thud, he slammed his hand on the table. "Qiong'er is right. I have to find a way to make money."
"That old fox, the Duke of Ying... does he really think I can't beat him?"
"Go find me a rooster! I want one that's massive, brave, and powerful. Set up a match with that old fox for tomorrow morning at the cockfighting pits!"
"This time, I'm going to regain my honor and win back everything I lost!"
Steward Wang stumbled. "Your Highness, you forgot that the Emperor just gave you a job. You have to go on patrol tomorrow."
Good heavens, he thought. Please stop thinking about cockfighting. If this continues, the manor will be renamed after the Duke of Ying by tomorrow night.
With a fire burning in his eyes, Prince Duan declared, "Don't worry. I'll win it all back with interest!"
Steward Wang tried one last time to steer him away from the idea. "Your Highness, you have to work tomorrow. The Emperor has people watching you."
"Then I'll go after my shift!" Prince Duan snapped. Without giving the steward a chance to argue, he marched back to his own courtyard with his head held high.
Steward Wang was left standing alone in the wind. Where did these two get their confidence from?
He could only pray that this was just a passing whim. He hoped that when they woke up tomorrow, they would return to being the lazy, useless masters he knew and loved.