The messenger jumped back to avoid the messenger.

This action, observed by Zhao Qianqian, elicited a cold laugh from the young girl. "What's wrong, Granny? Are you frightened?"

The old woman quickly explained, "No, no, Miss, please don't be angry, lest you hurt yourself. I think it's Jiang Mingzhu who doesn't know her place. After all, she's just a peasant girl. How could she be qualified to be a guest in our mansion? Miss, you're being too polite to her."

Zhao Qianqian gave a cold laugh, "It's all because of what Mother said. My aunt thinks highly of that Gu An'an and wants me to find out what's going on. Otherwise, I wouldn't want to get involved in this."

The old woman hesitated slightly upon hearing this. "Young Master Cousin has already gone to the capital, and isn't he engaged to that princess? How could he possibly be interested in a country girl?"

Despite saying that, Zhao Qianqian was still a little worried. "It is Princess Linglong, but that Chen Bei has always been unconventional. He used to wear women's clothes all the time, which made my aunt sigh a lot. But as you can see, he hasn't worn women's clothes much during his time in Anping. He is always neat and tidy. He really looks like he wants to be Gu An'an's son."

He can't be a son, but he might be a son-in-law.

This is something that neither her aunt nor Zhao Qianqian would want to see, let alone allow.

She had no desire to have anything to do with Gu An'an's family.

Although Gu An'an's cooking was quite delicious, she was at most just a cook at their residence.

How can we possibly become in-laws with our children?

"Young Master is probably just looking for something new. There are so many fun things to do in the capital. He might forget about it after a few days."

These words infuriated Zhao Qianqian again. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. Mother is really something. Why won't she let me go to the capital to attend my maternal grandmother's funeral? I've hardly ever traveled far from home since I was a child, let alone to the capital. Look, my aunt took Chen Shu and her brother Chen Bei with her."

The old woman thought to herself, "Isn't it just that the madam doesn't want to see the prefect's wife?"

After all, one was the wife of a high-ranking official, while the other, though wealthy, was merely the wife of a merchant.

The two marriages of the Xie sisters in the past have always been a topic of discussion, and nobody wants to be the subject of gossip, right?

However, she couldn't say that.

"Don't take Jiang Mingzhu's lack of appreciation to heart, Miss. The other young ladies in the manor have all agreed to come and accompany you to the Qixi Festival tomorrow."

Zhao Qianqian nodded reluctantly upon hearing this, "They're smart enough to know what's good for them."

She knew that if she had the chance, she would definitely teach Jiang Mingzhu a lesson and see if she would dare to refuse her again.

Neither Jiang Mingzhu nor Gu An'an knew that this refusal would anger the Zhao family's spoiled young lady.

However, while one of the mother and daughter was busy at the shop, the other was practicing calligraphy and finishing her homework. Only then did they take their older brother and younger sister out to the street to buy things.

On Qixi Festival, Gu An'an slept in, which was rare for her.

When I woke up, it was already past 9 AM.

As I came out of the house, I saw Jiang Mingzhu and Bao'er dressed neatly and reading in the yard. However, the two children were holding the books upside down, so they obviously weren't really reading.

"Aren't you going to Mr. Sun's place today?"

Jiang Mingzhu said with a smile, "The master said that today is Qixi Festival, a day for girls to pray for skill, and that Bao'er and I should stay home and enjoy the festival."

“He’s quite good at shirking his responsibilities.” Gu An’an shook her head with a smile. “Alright then, let’s grab our things and head to the shop to get busy. We don’t have everything we need at home, so I asked Jiu Niang to get some things for us.”

Jiang Mingzhu and Bao'er exchanged a glance, then hurriedly went to the kitchen to pack their things, moved them onto the carriage, and followed them to the shop.

It wasn't actually that far, but it was definitely more convenient to transport things by horse-drawn carriage.

"Mom, isn't this place supposed to open today? Why isn't there any news yet?"

Gu An'an smiled slightly, "I don't know, perhaps it caused a delay?"

She originally wanted to avoid the topic, after all, talking about brothels with her daughter was not a good topic, but when she thought of Jiang Mingzhu's ambition to become a female general, she added, "Brothels are mostly lively at night, but we won't join in the liveliness."

Jiang Mingzhu nodded repeatedly upon hearing this, "Don't worry, Mother, I will take good care of Bao'er."

She knew it wasn't a good place, so she naturally wouldn't go there out of curiosity.

Gu An'an nodded upon hearing this and instructed Xiao You to play with Bao'er while she and Jiang Mingzhu went to the kitchen to work.

Qixi Festival is a festival for girls, and it originally had nothing to do with men's families.

However, it's not just men who come to eat at Gu An'an's place; most of them have families, and some even bring their wives and children along occasionally.

Gu An'an was thinking of giving back to her loyal customers for Qixi Festival.

She always pays attention to these kinds of things; otherwise, how could she keep her guests?

Liu Jiuniang praised her for having many ideas, and was even more dumbfounded when she saw the little dough balls that Gu An'an had made.

"Oh my, look at these hands." Liu Jiuniang couldn't help but grab them to take a look. Gu An'an's hands were rather slender, and her delicate skin was well-preserved.

"Even a celestial being descending to earth couldn't be more beautiful than this. And look at my hands, they're practically pig's trotters."

Look at this dough ball, "Is it a rabbit?"

The sculpture is incredibly lifelike.

"Xiao Gu, what is this?" The color is a bit complicated, it looks a bit like a cat but is more majestic than a cat.

"This is a tiger."

She hasn't been back to Jiangjia Village for a while; she'll have to go check on it later. She wonders how the little tiger is doing now.

"Tiger, how did you get those colors?"

Gu An'an smiled and said, "I bought some fruit beforehand, and I used it to make this."

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