Chapter 83 The dowry prepared by the Countess was substantial.

Pei Mama agreed, "That's true. But the young mistress's words today were so satisfying. I felt good listening to them. I want to see how the second branch of the family will talk about adopting their own son again, unless they really have no shame."

After saying a few straightforward words, Granny Pei remembered something else and said, "There's something else. Today, the cleaning lady in our courtyard saw the servants from the second and fourth households go out through the back door, secretly buy wine, meat, and cooked food from outside, and then sneak back into their courtyard through the back door."

"Pah! A bunch of ungrateful gluttons! They were supported by the General when he was alive, but now that he's gone, they can't even pretend to be properly mourning."

Yu Qingci knew what Pei Mama was talking about. For the past few months, the entire household had insisted on not eating meat. Although the kitchen tried to come up with all sorts of vegetarian dishes every day, some people still couldn't stand it after a while.

They had already discovered that the second and fourth wives, and even the third aunt, were secretly sending servants out to buy wine and meat. So they discussed with Granny Pei about keeping an eye on things and catching them red-handed when the time was right.

As a result, Granny Pei asked several old women in the courtyard to keep an eye on things for a while. They discovered that these people were buying wine and meat more and more frequently lately. At first, they knew to avoid people and covered the food boxes tightly. Later, they simply stopped carrying the food boxes and brought back the food in a basket and a cloth bag. Everyone just kept quiet about it.

Yu Qingci: "Tell our people to keep an eye on them for two more days, and then we'll catch them all together when we get them together. That way, they'll always be the ones who have the upper hand."

Granny Pei nodded and said, "I ran into Fourth Madam in the garden today. She came up to me and tried to get close to me, saying that she wanted to bring her young master to pay her respects to Young Madam. I told her that you have been staying at Songbai Hall with Old Madam lately and only come back very late. Fourth Madam was a little unhappy about that."

Yu Qingci: "Let them cause trouble for a few more days. I have discussed the matter of dividing the family property with my mother. My mother also hopes that they will move out of the mansion as soon as possible, but considering that they are still in mourning and it is not appropriate to make too much noise in the mansion, she wants to wait until after the New Year to talk about it. This matter cannot be rushed and can only be planned slowly."

Butler Lu sent someone in to deliver a message to Yu Qingci, saying that Lu Yunzhang seemed to be getting restless lately and was trying to find someone to pull strings to see the eldest son of the Wei family again.

Unfortunately, the eldest son of the Wei family was recently assigned a job to inspect the northern regions. He left the capital with his superior and is not expected to return until the end of the year.

Yu Qingci smiled sarcastically after hearing this. Others might not know, but she certainly did. She knew what Lu Yunzhang was trying to do by so eagerly climbing into Wei Gongzi's circle.

Unfortunately, he overestimated himself. In other people's eyes, the General's Mansion was nothing more than a dilapidated household without any backing, and Lu Yunzhang himself had nothing that made him worthy of special consideration.

People wouldn't even bother to associate with someone like that.

Yu Qingci: "Let him do whatever he wants, just send someone to keep an eye on him secretly."

The weather has been getting colder lately. Early this morning, just as Yu Qingci woke up, Tong'er came in excitedly and said:

"Young Madam, it's snowing outside. This is the first snow of the winter. The plum blossoms in the plum grove in the back garden are all in bloom. They look so beautiful."

Yu Qingci immediately became interested upon hearing this. Last night's snowstorm had actually caused the plum blossoms to bloom, so she wanted to go and admire them properly.

So he smiled and said, "Let's go take a look after I pay my respects."

Before she could even set off for Songbai Hall, a maidservant was sent to deliver a message:

"The old lady said that the snow is heavy and the roads are slippery today, so the young mistress doesn't need to go to Songbai Hall to pay her respects. She can rest well in the house for a few days."

The maids were even happier to hear this. Since the young mistress married into the family, she had visited Songbai Hall almost every day to pay her respects. Later, she followed the old lady to learn how to manage the household and never missed a day. She had never brought her along. Today, the old lady was considerate and said that she didn't need to go. They felt much more at ease.

Since there was no need to go to Songbai Hall, Yu Qingci decided to simply have breakfast and then go to the back garden to enjoy the snow and look for plum blossoms.

After quickly finishing tidying up, Granny Pei walked in from outside, her hands tucked into her sleeves, still muttering to herself:

"It snowed today, and it's really cold outside. Winters in Beijing are much colder than back home."

Yu Qingci smiled upon hearing this. Indeed, it was only now that the temperature in her hometown of Youyang was starting to drop, and all she needed to do when going out was wear a padded jacket. Unlike here in the capital, where charcoal braziers had already been placed in the houses a month ago.

As he spoke, he looked Yu Qingci up and down, noticing that she was wearing a light blue brocade jacket, paired with a thick pleated skirt embroidered with begonias in gold thread, and over it, a plain brocade bamboo-leaf green squirrel fur cloak, completely covering her up.

Granny Pei stepped forward, touched Yu Qingci's cloak, and frowned, saying, "It's terribly cold outside right now. This cloak isn't warm enough for the young mistress. Tong'er, go and get the fox fur cloak with green velvet trim that I specially picked out a couple of days ago for the young mistress to change into."

Tong'er responded and was about to go in to change.

Yu Qingci said, "No need, this gray squirrel fur one is fine."

With a smile, Granny Pei comforted her, "Young Madam, there's no need to be frugal. A couple of days ago, Tong'er, Lianqiao, and I sorted through the winter clothes in your dowry. The cloaks alone, made of various fabrics, filled four or five large boxes."

The dowry prepared by the Earl's wife was truly lavish; there were over a dozen expensive fur cloaks, each made of the finest fur, which the young mistress could use as she pleased.

His words made everyone laugh.

Even though Lianqiao came to serve Yu Qingci a little later, she still learned some things about the dowry from Tong'er and found it funny.

After being helped by several people to change into the cloak that Granny Pei had chosen, Yu Qingci led Tong'er, Lianqiao, Baishao, Mulan and other maids toward the plum grove in the back garden.

The General's Mansion is a four-courtyard imperial residence. When the family moved in, several families lived together, so they specially enclosed several more courtyards, including two areas in the back garden, and built houses in those areas. As a result, the area of ​​the back garden was reduced again and again.

The plum grove, located in the northeast corner of the garden, is not large, with only a few dozen plum trees. Two pavilions for viewing the scenery were built next to it, specially designed as warm pavilions so that the masters of the mansion could rest here when they came to admire the plum blossoms.

This place is rarely visited by people; only when the plum blossoms are in full bloom will the masters of the mansion come to admire them.

When the group came over to take a look, they saw that many plum blossoms had indeed bloomed. The branches were covered with abundant flowers, and the addition of snowflakes made it even more breathtaking.

It was a little cold, though.

Yu Qingci tightened her fox fur cloak, enthusiastically shoving the hand warmer in her hand into Tong'er's hands behind her. She and several maids stood in front of the plum grove, discussing which plum blossom to pick to take back, when they heard a voice from behind:

"So it really is my sister-in-law."

Turning around, he saw his second cousin, Lu Yunbo.