Yan Hong's mother was a very beautiful girl who was bought from outside. Somehow, she married Yan Hong's father. Yan Hong inherited her mother's good looks, which is why Yan Hong's father had such thoughts. Unfortunately, Cheng Kai was a man who only liked to practice martial arts. He didn't care much about the maids who served him and only allowed two personal servants to serve him all day long.

After Cheng Kai got married, Yan Hong did have other thoughts, but unfortunately she was always serving in Cheng Kai's courtyard. Even if she went to serve in the courtyards of the other young masters in the mansion, there would be no good results. Later, Cheng Kai brought his wife to Liaodong Prefecture. Yan Hong had given up and planned to find a steward in the mansion with similar conditions to marry. However, the lady of the Earl's Mansion wanted to send two people to Liaodong Prefecture. Yan Hong couldn't get rid of the resentment in her heart, so she simply asked to come here herself.

As for the other Cui Liu, she was a skinny horse that the Lady of Qingping Marquis's Mansion specially sent someone to Jiangnan to buy. Originally, she was going to give her away after buying her or training her, but she was not given away. Later, the Lady of Qingping Marquis felt that she could not just keep her at home to eat food, so she sent her to Liaodong as well.

Accompanying Yan Hong and Cui Liu was a nanny from the Qingping Earl's courtyard, surnamed Li. Nanny Li was a maid who came with the Qingping Earl as part of her dowry. Later, she married a steward in the mansion and had quite a bit of influence with the Qingping Earl. This time, she was sent to Liaodong by the Qingping Earl under the pretext of delivering gifts.

As a confidante of the Lady of Qingping, Granny Li naturally knew her mistress's thoughts and observed Xu Gao's daily life closely after arriving.

As the mistress of the Qingping Earl's Mansion, Lady Qingping had a morbid desire to control the entire mansion. She felt that not only her children, but also her daughters-in-law had to be at her beck and call.

Lady Qingping still liked Xu Gao's forbearance and hardship as her eldest daughter-in-law. She always enjoyed tormenting this daughter-in-law and found it very enjoyable to make this legitimate daughter of the Marquis's family run wild.

Unfortunately, Xu Gao later followed Cheng Kai to Liaodong and was out of her control. At first, Lady Qingping was a little unhappy, but later she was busy looking for a husband for her daughter and a wife of high social standing for her youngest son, so she couldn't take care of her eldest daughter-in-law who was far away in Liaodong.

Lady Qingping had complicated feelings towards her eldest son. He was her own child, but because of a difficult birth and the fact that Cheng Kai was not raised by Lady Qingping herself but by the old Lord Qingping and his wife, she didn't care much about Cheng Kai's affairs. Even Cheng Kai's marriage was arranged by the old Lord Qingping.

Lady Qingping favored her youngest son because he was adept at sweet talk and could easily win her over. Her eldest son, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He always had a stern face and never took the initiative to speak to her, only answering her questions with brief replies. Lady Qingping's dissatisfaction with her eldest son reached its peak after Cheng Kai was granted the title of Heir Apparent of Qingping.

Lady Qingping always thought that after her parents-in-law passed away, she would be in charge of the household, and the title of heir would be given to her youngest son. However, she never expected that her father-in-law had sent a memorial to the Ministry of Rites requesting the title of heir before he passed away. The family received the imperial decree to appoint the heir as heir as soon as her father-in-law's funeral was over.

No matter how much Lady Qingping hated it, the die was cast, and she could only worry helplessly. Later, Lady Qingping thought that finding an easy-to-manage daughter-in-law would still allow her to keep the manor under her control. After Xu Gao entered the family, everything proceeded according to her plan. However, Lady Qingping later discovered that while her daughter-in-law was easy to manage, her family was not. The elders were cunning, and the younger ones were even more so. Before she knew it, her eldest son and his wife had run off to Liaodong Prefecture. Lady Qingping had already chosen a suitable candidate and was just waiting for the three-year period to be completed before sending her to Cheng Kai's bed. Since Xu Gao had been married for three years without having children, she could openly send people into their room.

As a close servant, Granny Li was perfectly aware of her mistress's thoughts. This time, Lady Qingping had really gone all out. You know, buying the slender horse Cuiliu cost a lot of money. Before Granny Li came, she had carefully discussed it with her mistress.

She had considered many things, but she hadn't anticipated that Xu Rao would become the prefect of Liaodong and bring his entire family to Liaodong Prefecture. The arrival of Xu Rao's family meant that Xu Gao had a strong backing. When Li Mama heard this news, she naturally understood this.

Li Mama naturally lived in the same courtyard as Yan Hong and Cui Liu. In this side courtyard, one girl lived in each of the east and west wing rooms, while Li Mama lived in the east corner room. When she heard the commotion in the courtyard, Li Mama was lying in her room.

Granny Li was now afraid that Yan Hong and Cui Liu would cause trouble that would be difficult to handle. You know, back in the capital, the Yongning Marquis's mansion had really caused a scene, almost to the point of publicly pointing at their own mistress and cursing her. Granny Li was very wary of the Xu family. When she heard Tuan Ge'er outside calling him Seventh Uncle, Granny Li quickly got up and ran to the courtyard like a gust of wind.

Xu Bai didn't enter the side courtyard. Instead, he stood at the entrance with Tuan Ge on his back and asked, "Is this the place? Why is no one here?"

Tuan Ge'er said, "They probably knew that Seventh Uncle was coming and were too scared to come out. Last time I was under the courtyard wall over there, I heard someone say that my mother was incompetent and couldn't shoulder the burden of the family."

Upon hearing this, Xu Bai asked in surprise, "You're saying your mother is incompetent? Your mother can manage the household, do the accounting, and run the shop. How is she incompetent?"

Tuan Ge'er frowned and said, "That's what I think too. My mother is so capable, how can she be incompetent? Seventh Uncle, that Granny Li, even took those two older sisters to tell my mother that she can't have children and can't carry on the family line. She wanted my mother to keep the two older sisters in the mansion to give me younger brothers and sisters. My mother was so angry that she cried."

Upon hearing this, Xu Bai angrily said, "You're really useless. They're bullying you right here at your doorstep, and you're not even going to fight them off?"

Tuan Ge'er said shyly, "Seventh Uncle, I'm still young and can't beat them, but I will practice my kung fu hard and I will definitely master it so that I can protect my mother from being bullied like this again."