Madam Chen led Zheng Yunyun out of Old Madam Zheng's courtyard. Zheng Yunyun lowered her head and said softly, "Mother, why do you insist on begging them to take me out? I don't want to go out with them."

Madam Chen stopped and poked Zheng Yunyun's forehead hard with her index finger, saying with exasperation, "Are you stupid? Do you think someone like Yuan-ge's daughter-in-law would introduce Zheng Yuanyuan to people of lower status? Yunyun, I know you feel ashamed to bow down in front of them, but how much is that face worth?"

Zheng Yunyun looked up at Xiao Chenshi, but in the dim starlight, she could only see a somewhat ferocious face. She quickly lowered her head.

Madam Chen turned around, looked at the trees and buildings hidden in the darkness, sighed, and said, "My birth determines that I cannot stand among the noble ladies of the capital. I have nothing to say about that, but you are the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Pingxi. If you don't fight for it, who will bring the honor and favor that is rightfully yours to you?"

Seeing that Zheng Yunyun was still keeping her head down, Madam Chen felt even more annoyed and said, "I've already told you what I wanted to say. I will definitely find a way to help you stand out in front of those ladies."

Zheng Yunyun raised her head and said, "Mother, why does it have to be this way? Grandmother is right. Wouldn't it be better to marry into a family with a lower social standing and live a good life together?"

Madam Chen's temper flared up instantly. She grabbed Zheng Yunyun's arm and said fiercely, "Yunyun, why are you so unambitious? What am I working so hard for? Isn't it all so that you and your brother can make something of yourselves? At least your brother can inherit a title. What about you? You find someone from a lowly family, and someone from a high-class family over there. If you have to bow to her when you meet her in the future, won't you resent it?"

Zheng Yunyun's arm was gripped painfully by Xiao Chenshi, but she didn't dare to say anything. She bit her lip tightly and after a long while, she finally said, "Mother, we can't both be named Zheng. We're all sisters in the same family. How can you make things difficult for me?"

Hearing this, Madam Chen felt a pang of bitterness in her heart, but she still patiently said, "Yunyun, it wasn't easy for your mother to marry into the Zheng family and have you and your brother. I had to swallow all the hardships. You know your maternal grandmother and uncles aren't the kind of people who can handle things. I don't want you to suffer the same hardships I did. Yunyun, you have to be strong and do as I say. Find a good marriage so that I can have something to be proud of, okay?"

Hearing this, Zheng Yunyun's eyes filled with tears, and she felt a surge of grievance. She knew in her heart that her mother, on the surface, said that finding a noble marriage was for her sake, but in reality, it was for her own.

Zheng Yunyun lowered her head, looking at her arm being held by Xiao Chenshi in the dim starlight, without saying a word. When Xiao Chenshi saw this, she shook off Zheng Yunyun's hand and walked towards her own courtyard without looking back.

After Madam Chen walked away, Zheng Yunyun's personal maid came over and whispered to Zheng Yunyun, "Miss, shall we go now?"

Zheng Yunyun responded softly, took the maid's hand, and walked towards her own courtyard.

Back in her room, Zheng Yunyun rolled up her sleeves. The spot on her arm where Xiao Chenshi had gripped her was already bruised. When the maid saw this, she gasped softly. Zheng Yunyun glanced at her, and the maid quickly covered her mouth and turned to find some ointment to rub on Zheng Yunyun's arm.

Zheng Yunyun sat blankly in the chair as her maid found some ointment to help with bruising and rubbed it on her. While rubbing, the maid whispered, "Miss, after I finish rubbing, I'll give you a good wash so you won't smell like medicine tomorrow."

Zheng Yunyun agreed and waited until the maid finished massaging her face before saying softly, "Tell me, why does Mother insist on marrying me into those high-ranking families? She knows that being a wife in a high-ranking family is not easy, so why does she want me to go through the same hardships she went through?"

The maid paused for a moment, thought for a while, and said, "Perhaps the madam thinks that if you marry into a high-ranking family, the old madam and the marquis will look at you with more respect."

Zheng Yunyun smiled bitterly after hearing the maid's words and said, "You also think that Grandmother and Father look down on my mother, right?"

Upon hearing Zheng Yunyun's words, the maid turned pale and said helplessly, "Miss, I didn't mean that."

Zheng Yunyun waved her hand and said, "You can go now. I'll sit for a while longer and then go rest."

After the maid left, Zheng Yunyun sat at the table, staring at the glass lampshade on it until tears welled up in her eyes. Then she sighed softly, got up, took off her clothes, and went to lie down on the bed.

That night, some couldn't sleep because they had too many worries, while others were too excited to talk to sleep.

Xu Gui was too excited to sleep, tossing and turning until midnight. Lu Mingzhang couldn't stand it anymore and asked her, "What are you doing? It's past midnight and you're still not asleep."

Xu Gui felt a little embarrassed when she saw that Lu Mingzhang was also awake. She said, "Husband, did I wake you up? I was so excited about setting off for Hexi tomorrow that I couldn't fall back asleep."

Lu Mingzhang hadn't expected Xu Gui to think this way. He sighed and said, "I thought you were having trouble sleeping because you were afraid of leaving the capital. Hexi is remote, and life there isn't easy for the next hundred years. How could you be happy?"

Xu Gui simply turned to the side, looking at Lu Mingzhang with bright eyes, and said, "But when we get there, we'll just live our own little life behind closed doors, right, husband? Didn't you buy a three-courtyard house? Tell me, what does that house look like?"

Lu Mingzhang thought for a moment and said, "Those courtyards are all made of blue bricks and black tiles, and the walls are also made of blue bricks. Back then, my third uncle led the elders of Hexi and the brothers from Yanmen Pass to build them together. They were rebuilt on the old city of Hexi. I heard that in order to build the houses, they even found a place outside the city to build brick kilns and tile kilns, and purchased countless pine trees from Dayan to make roof beams. Those houses were all planned in a unified manner. I heard from some old people that they could house several generations."

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