With a pained expression, Granny Zhao advised, "My lady, please don't worry about it. Even if she causes a huge mess in the manor, it's none of your business."

Madam Gu looked ashamed and said, "I was just saying."

Granny Zhao said, "We can't say anything. Didn't we swear we wouldn't care about anything anymore?"

Madam Gu said, "I will definitely not interfere."

The maidservant outside asked Granny Zhao to come out and talk, saying, "The head maids are here to see Granny Zhao."

"Didn't I tell you I'm serving Madam? Why do you have to come to me for anything?"

Granny Zhao was very unhappy.

The little maid was a bit anxious, but with Madam Gu present, she could only wink and make eye contact.

Seeing that things weren't going well, Granny Zhao impatiently waved her away, saying, "Fine, I know. I'll get out right away. If it's not something important, I'll skin you alive."

Madam Gu said, "You should go out. There might really be something that needs to be done. Don't delay."

Granny Zhao said, "Don't worry about it. It's noon already. Both young masters have gone with Sixth Master to entertain the guests. Why don't you rest for a while?"

After chatting with her children whom she hadn't seen in a long time, feeling both happy and surprised, Madam Gu Liu was also tired and obediently closed her eyes to rest.

Only then did Granny Zhao leave.

From afar, she could see several housekeepers beckoning to her.

"What's up?"

The head housekeepers no longer treated her with the same respect as before, saying, "What else could it be? Granny Zhao, you're too forgetful. Have you forgotten how you encouraged us all to contribute money and buy pepper?"

Granny Zhao asked, "What's wrong with pepper?"

"What's wrong?"

The stewardesses' eyes blazed with anger as they said furiously, "Did you only encourage us to buy, without buying anything yourself? Do you know how much the price of pepper has dropped outside? Madam said it might continue to fall."

“How could it possibly fall?” Granny Zhao scoffed. “Before the closure of the manor, prices were always rising. Even the madam couldn’t find anywhere to buy. You all listen to her.”

“In the short time since the government was sealed off, the price has already fallen to a little over forty taels. If it falls any further, it might be cut in half. I’ve already lost over a hundred taels.”

Granny Zhao was shocked: "No way, I also bought several hundred taels."

Madam Gu spent a large sum of money on it.

If it's true...

Granny Zhao felt weak in the knees and hurriedly tried to find someone to ask for information, but they stopped her and insisted on knowing the truth. What should they do now that things were like this?

"I know what to do. But when you make money, do you ask me what to do?"

Granny Zhao was furious.

With Madam Gu in this state, she probably won't be able to manage the household affairs anymore, and she won't need to maintain a false relationship with these profit-driven people.

"Let me report this to my master. If you make a scene in front of the Sixth Madam and alarm her, no one will speak up for you, and I'm afraid the Marquis's mansion will not tolerate you."

The supervising mothers were speechless, and could only stare blankly.

Everyone knows that there's no such thing as a business where you only make money and never lose. With the Sixth Madam seriously ill, they didn't dare to cause a scene. But they couldn't just watch their money go down the drain, so they came to pressure Granny Zhao.

"The price of pepper changes every day these days, when can you give us some news?"

Granny Zhao smiled bitterly: "The Sixth Madam is ill, and even the head of the Imperial Hospital says she can only rest quietly. No matter how much pressure you put on her, I won't care anymore."

"We can't wait much longer. The price of pepper outside is dropping every day. You need to give us a definite answer quickly."

...

Qin Yuan heard that someone was causing trouble, but it was already quite late.

It was Hongye who received the news and said, "There is trouble outside the mansion. They want to see the Marquis, saying that the Marquis is abusing his power and bullying an official of the court to death."

Cui Ming exclaimed in surprise, "Nonsense! How dare you slander the Marquis's mansion like this?"

Qin Yuan frowned and asked, "Are they from the Liu family?"

Hongye nodded quickly: "That's right."

Cui Ming said, "They still dare to cause trouble!"

Qin Yuan put down her brush, gently rubbed her temples, and said, "Butler Han can handle this matter."

Hongye said, "Indeed, Steward Han dismissed them with just a few words, but a group of people gathered outside the mansion gate, saying that the Marquis's mansion was unjust and unscrupulous."

"Why?" Cui Ming asked, puzzled.

Hongye said, "The Liu family members were crying outside the door, saying that Physician Liu risked his life to enter the Marquis's mansion, and no one in the Marquis's mansion died, but Physician Liu lost his life and was left with only a jar of ashes. They were crying and demanding an explanation from the Marquis's mansion."

Cuiming asked, "How did you deal with Butler Han?"

"Steward Han said that the Marquis's residence also followed Physician Liu's dying wish to cremate him. The Marquis has already submitted a memorial to the Emperor, detailing Physician Liu's actions. The head of the Imperial Medical Academy also said that he would report Physician Liu's matter to the court. It seems that the court will surely reach a conclusion on Physician Liu. Steward Han then asked, 'I wonder if there is any opinion in the court regarding Physician Liu?' The Liu family members left in a sorry state after being questioned. Only the idle men guarding outside the door were talking nonsense. But when Gu Shiba and his men stood outside watching, they all quieted down."

Upon hearing this, Qin Yuan said, "Those idlers must be from the Yelü clan. They only dare to instigate among the crowd and do not dare to confront them directly, but this is indeed detrimental to the Marquis's reputation."

Hongye asked in surprise, "A member of the Yelü clan?"

Qin Yuan said, "That's right. The Marquis of Dingbei's mansion guards the northern frontier for the imperial court, and their opponent is the Yelü clan. This time, the Marquis brought Yelü Guzha, the eldest son of the Yelü clan leader, as a hostage when he returned to the capital. He bribed officials of the court and arranged for people to secretly oppose the Marquis. These idle men must have been sent by him to spy on the Marquis's mansion."

Hongye said solemnly, "In that case, I need to tell them to be careful."

Cui Ming asked in surprise, "Who do you want to be careful? What method do you want to use? Don't cause any trouble."

Qin Yuan raised her eyebrows, waiting for Hongye to continue.

Hongye said, "Didn't Miss assign me to oversee the tea room? I know all the old women and servants outside well. I just told them to be careful of Yelü's spies, and that was the right thing to do."

She could persuade the old woman who boiled water, the servant who swept the floor, and the gatekeeper.

Qin Yuan thought for a moment and then smiled, "I didn't expect you to have such a wonderful use. You might just become my secret weapon in the future."

Hongye patted his chest, his face full of pride.

"That's right, Miss, you can rest assured that I can handle these things."

Qin Yuan said, "Tell the gatekeeper to pay close attention to the appearance and behavior of these people outside. Also, have the old women in the mansion keep a close eye on whether anyone is trying to trick you into revealing information about the mansion, or if anything seems amiss. If it is helpful, there will be a generous reward."

The incident involving the fake Granny Yang must not happen again.

Hongye nodded, "Okay."

Hongye added, "There's something else. Those head maids all went to make trouble for Granny Zhao over the pepper issue."

Qin Yuan said, "This... sigh... it's not appropriate for anyone to interfere."

Hongye laughed and said, "When these stewardesses saw that the Sixth Madam was no longer in power, they all went to pressure Granny Zhao. Granny Zhao herself had invested several hundred taels of silver, and her retirement savings were probably greatly reduced. We don't know what will happen to this debt, after all, it wasn't the Sixth Madam who bought the pepper, but rather the Sixth Madam's family."