Chapter 59 Leaving the House

Old Madam Xiao was not fooling her eldest grandson. Wang did have the idea of ​​hosting a banquet at home.

But she later thought that the second young master's wedding with the young lady from the Liu family was imminent and the mansion might be too busy to handle it for the time being, so she postponed the date and decided to wait until the two were married.

The wedding date was set for the sixth day of December, which was a bit rushed, but since the incident, both families had been making preparations in a hurry.

It was not until the end of November, when Liu Qingwan was about to return to the Liu family's mansion, that Xiao Jinshan brought her fourth sister Xiao Jintong to Jiyunzhai for the first time.

Not long after entering the door, he asked, "Cousin, what did you prepare for Cousin Liu?"

Xu Shuyao was silent. When she first came to the mansion, she still had one thousand taels of silver.

But now two years have passed, and no less than two hundred taels have been spent.

Silver is needed for hiring maids, giving gifts to people, and buying ingredients for cooking.

Although the Chengguo Mansion paid her two taels of silver every month, as an old servant from Huzhou, Nanny Zheng's monthly salary came from Xu Shuyao.

Although she and Liu Qingwan had no close relationship and even had a grudge against each other behind the scenes, she still had to take these superficial courtesies into consideration.

It was when Xiao Jinshan mentioned this that Xu Shuyao couldn't help but think that her cousin was about to get married.

You can be more casual when adding makeup to Liu Qingwan, but you can't be careless when it comes to your third cousin.

After sending her two cousins ​​off, Nanny Zheng saw that she was worried about the money, so she took the initiative to hand her a cloth bag and said, "I haven't spent the monthly salary that the Xu family has given me over the years. If you are short of money right now, please use it first."

Nanny Zheng was an old servant who had followed Xu Shuyao since she was a child. She had fled to Huzhou because of a flood.

Later, in order to find someone to take care of his daughter, Xu's father saw that this woman had a kind nature and had no children and nowhere to go, so he brought her back.

So until now, the nanny didn't know that she was not Xiao Chen's biological daughter.

Xu Shuyao looked at the cloth bag in front of her that had become a little worn out by rubbing. The nanny once said that this was the only thing she and her young son had in their hands when they were separated by the flood, a piece of indigo cloth.

Later, she sewed the cloth into a cloth bag and put all the monthly salary given by the Xu family into it.

Over the past ten years, I have saved quite a bit of money.

But Mammy never used it.

Xu Shuyao knew in her heart that the nanny was using this way to commemorate the child, thinking that if he were still alive, this money would be saved for him.

Xu Shuyao felt sad and quickly handed the bag to Madam Zheng. "Why is it like this? I still have several hundred taels of the one thousand taels of silver my mother left me!"

"Miss, you don't have any money, so don't reward the servants in the future." The old man advised her again.

"It's easy to see the King of Hell, but it's hard to deal with little ghosts. Should you know this, Ma? The more destitute you are, the more you cannot let others look down on you." Xu Shuyao replied seriously.

In fact, the old lady has given her many good things recently, and even her aunt has given her jewelry several times.

But Xu Shuyao couldn't use these to add makeup.

The only gifts she could give were the few calligraphy and paintings and the inkstone left by her father.

But she also knew that she was not Xu's biological child, and felt that these things should be left to her younger brother.

She used to own a pen and ink shop in Huzhou City, but when she was about to move to Beijing, she sold the shop.

Now another one has been opened in the capital, but the business has been lukewarm.

Xu Shuyao had no excuse to leave the house, so occasionally, Manager Yang would pass a letter or an account book through the second gate.

She also looked at the shop and found that its business prospects were really bleak. After two years, it was barely enough to cover the rent and the monthly wages for the manager and the clerks.

Just now, her third sister came to invite her to go out of the house in two days to help Liu Qingwan choose and add makeup, and Xu Shuyao had already agreed to her request.

Besides, she also wanted to find a reason to go to her own pen and ink shop to take a look.

When Chen heard that they were going to leave the house, she gave her daughter a silver note worth two hundred taels and asked her to take her sisters to buy some jewelry and flowers to wear.

Of course she knew that her daughter was going to choose a gift for her future daughter-in-law, but she was unwilling to say it out loud.

Xiao Jinshan accepted it with a smile, saying that she would treat Xu Shuyao and her half-sister to a big meal.

When the three of them left the house, they would of course go and ask the one who was still living in the Rose Courtyard.

Mrs. Xu, the manager, came out and said that her young lady was embroidering her dowry and would not go.

Xu Shuyao stood behind Xiao Jinshan and clearly felt the old servant's gaze on her, with a hint of coldness.

She looked up at the other person, and when she saw Mrs. Xu lowered her head, she looked away.

In order to allow everyone to talk together, Xiao Jinshan asked the steward to prepare only one carriage today.

However, this carriage was much more spacious than ordinary carriages. After the three of them sat in it, each of them could bring a maid to serve them.

There was a small table in the middle, on which were placed a set of small and exquisite tea sets, some dried fruits and cakes.

Among the three, Xiao Jinshan called up a maid named Manju, and Xiao Jintong's maid was called Cao'er.

Xiao Jintong didn't say much. If you looked closely, you could see that she had delicate features, a small face with a pointed chin, and spoke in a soft voice.

Xu Shuyao originally thought that this seldom seen Miss Xiao Si was following the path of Liu Qingwan, but after spending a few times with her, she found that she was completely different from Liu Qingwan.

Although Xiao Jintong is timid, he is not harsh on others and his words are not sharp.

On the contrary, she is very easy to get along with.

Although he doesn't actively talk to anyone, he will shyly answer if someone asks him.

And her maid named Cao'er was a very strong person.

Before getting on the car, the servant brought in a ironwood table, intending to ask the master inside to make way, but Cao'er reached out and brought it into the car.

The young man's eyes widened.

But she seemed unaware of it and carried it all the way to her masters, causing everyone in the car to laugh in silence.

Xiao Jinshan teased her with a smile, "Take it easy, pretend a little, and don't scare away those men who want to marry you."

Fourth Miss Jintong blushed, but she was very protective of the maid, "Cao'er is already in love with someone else."

Xiao Jinshan curled her lips, looking disapproving: "They must be treating her as a ready-made labor force."

Jintong wanted to argue again, but then she remembered that Cao'er was looking for the son of the head of the village on her aunt's farm. If she married him, she would have a lot of work to do. She didn't know what to say for a moment.

Cao'er said nonchalantly: "Labor is labor! How can you eat if you don't work?"

You can tell from the sound of it that she is a girl who has suffered a lot.

Xu Shuyao quickly changed the subject, and Qiao Wei also took the initiative to make tea for the three of them, and then they turned to other things.