Su Nan realized her slip of the tongue, and her ears turned as red as ripe shrimp.
Chang Le exaggeratedly picked at her ear, "No, my earwax isn't blocking my ear canal. I heard you clearly just now. You were talking about reputation."
"Could it be that you, Su Er, have homosexual tendencies?"
"you……"
Su Nan had no choice but to grit his teeth and suppress his anger as he dealt with Chang Le.
Seeing Su Nan get the short end of the stick, Chang Le's handsome face turned bright red.
She chuckled and said, "It's alright if I guessed right. We're relatives after all, so I won't tell anyone."
"You wait!"
The three words were practically spat out from between Su Nan's teeth.
"Hmph! Do you think I'm afraid of you? If you dare to lay a hand on me, I'll have Lord Su deal with you." Chang Le was fearless and her arrogant attitude was on full display.
The two were exchanging barbs, but when Sui Sui's little figure came into view, they both shut up and put on warm smiles again.
"Auntie, Uncle, shall we play Connect Four together?"
"Okay, the loser gets a sticker on their face." Chang Le laughed heartily.
"It's not certain who will lose yet, Your Highness, don't be too happy too soon."
With Sui Sui by their side, the two of them put away their tense expressions, and the atmosphere instantly became harmonious.
Meanwhile, Jiang Shuyue and Qiuju left the Jiang residence and saw that Gao Mu had already driven the carriage out of the stable.
The master and servant boarded the carriage, and just as they lowered the curtain, they heard another carriage pass by.
Qiuju casually lifted one side of the curtain and looked out.
The sign with the prominent character "Cui" on it, under the eaves of the carriage that passed by, flashed by.
The curtain on one side of the carriage opposite was blown up by the wind, and Qiuju got a good look at the beautiful profile inside the carriage.
With her young mistress's marriage settled, Qiuju spoke without restraint.
She pursed her lips. "Rumors are circulating that the future empress's position belongs to Cui Yudie. It seems that the rumors are not unfounded. That's why Miss Cui is rushing to the palace to see the emperor."
"It's not necessarily because she's eager to see me. She is, after all, the daughter of the Right Chancellor. It's also possible that the Emperor summoned her." Jiang Shuyue spoke matter-of-factly, as if she were talking about someone who had nothing to do with her.
The Su residence is not far from the palace gate, so there is only one possibility for Cui Yudie's appearance here: she has gone to the palace.
As the carriage drove away, Qiuju lowered the curtain. "This servant sees Miss Cui as well-educated, gentle, and refined, and her speech is not as flamboyant as You Xian'er's."
"If she were empress, she probably wouldn't harbor any malicious intentions towards Sui Sui."
Jiang Shuyue chuckled, "I should show you a few novels about palace intrigue. The Right Prime Minister is such a smart man, of course he wouldn't raise a naive and innocent girl."
"As the saying goes, a dog that bites doesn't bark, and a person who speaks succinctly and considerately is often a deep thinker."
Looking up and seeing Qiuju's worried gaze, Jiang Shuyue gave her a reassuring look, "Don't worry, my son doesn't need to be raised under someone else's roof. If anyone wants to harm him, your young lady is not one to be trifled with."
When the carriage arrived at the Jiang residence, Jiang Shuyue asked Gao Mu to go to Qingyunzhai to buy red paper, gold powder, and ink.
The master and servant spent the entire afternoon writing couplets in the mansion, while people from the mansion delivered New Year's gifts to their door from time to time.
The maids and servants were busy tidying up the courtyard. The skillful embroiderers were in charge of cutting paper-cuts for the windows, and the servants were in charge of pasting them on the windows.
The mansion was filled with joy, and everyone was looking forward to the Lunar New Year's Eve.
Gao Mu and Cang Yun went to the general store and bought fireworks to put in the front hall.
In the days leading up to Lunar New Year's Eve, wealthy families are busy sending New Year's gifts to build and solidify their social connections, while the ladies of the inner quarters are also busy reviewing the account books brought over by the shopkeepers.
Du Mansion.
When the manager of the Women's Shop delivered the account book, he also included a box of bird's nest and some medicinal herbs.
"Aunt, I didn't know you had any friends who were so generous."
Du Yutong was like a leech, sticking to Du Wenru's side all day long.
They ostensibly helped with the account books, but in reality, they were half-reclining on a soft couch, cracking melon seeds and reading storybooks.
Du Wenru opened the box, glanced at it, picked up the name card inside, and quickly stuffed it into her sleeve.
"He's just an acquaintance, not a close friend."
"Tong'er, your mother is going back to your maternal grandparents' house today, and she asked you to go with her, why don't you go?" Du Wenru tried to change the subject.
Du Yutong wasn't about to let her have her way. She reached out and grabbed the gift box, examining it from all angles.
The box is made of wood and coated with a layer of vermilion lacquer. The front of the box is decorated with exquisite patterns.
Du Yutong opened the box, glanced at the medicinal herbs inside, and said with a grin:
“Aunt, this box doesn’t look like something you can buy on the market. It looks more like something from the palace. Look how well the auspicious cloud pattern is painted.”
“Aunt, the tonics inside will be very beneficial to your health. This gift is very thoughtful. What do you plan to give in return? If you don’t have anything decent in your room, I’ll go to the storeroom and pick one out for you.”
Du Yutong saw through it but didn't say anything, pretending not to notice the slight unease on her aunt's face.
Du Wenru pretended to be calm and said, "No need for Tong'er to worry, it has already been delivered."
At Du Wenru's age, receiving a gift wouldn't make her heart flutter.
Seeing that thoughtful gift stirred up ripples in my heart, like a stone thrown into a calm lake.
A few days ago, she was trying out incense at the shop when she happened to run into Lin Miaoshou, who was leaving the palace on business.
The two sat behind the shop and drank a cup of tea. During their conversation, they talked about calming incense and medicinal herbs.
Considering that Lin Miaoshou was the head of the Imperial Medical Academy, his medical skills must have been extraordinary.
Du Wenru, as if possessed, reached out her hand and asked Lin Miaoshou to take her pulse.
Lin Miaoshou said that she was slightly deficient in qi and blood and needed to take appropriate supplements.
Du Wenru never expected that Lin Miaoshou would leave the palace again to specially deliver New Year's gifts to her, and all of them were suitable for her to nourish her body.
People should reciprocate gifts, but Du Wenru was at a loss as to where to send her return gift.
The palace gates are not places that can be entered or exited casually.
...
At the barbecue stall in the north of the city, Caiyan watched as waves of customers came and went.
After closing last night, she and Zhao Wu worked for two hours, cutting two large basins of meat and skewering them before washing up and resting.
Zhao Wu and the hired help were busy as bees, while the old women doing odd jobs kept working non-stop, all with beaming smiles.
Business had been good all month, and Caiyan distributed bonuses to everyone without asking Su Peng's permission, and even specifically told everyone not to tell anyone.
Those who do odd jobs are too happy to care about the tricks of the trade and won't bother with the details of what's going on in their employer's house.
The two old women were experienced women, and they could see the sweetness in Zhao Wu's eyes when he looked at Caiyan.
They had long since realized that the master's maidservant was having an affair with Zhao Wu, and that their relationship was quite close.
Caiyan had just seen off a group of guests, and the two old women in the house had just finished their work.
The two old women had just left when Su Peng arrived, humming a tune.
"The young master has arrived. Please come in and have a seat." Caiyan greeted him discreetly.
Su Peng's eyes darted over Caiyan. "Business was good today, Yan'er. You've worked hard. New Year's Eve is almost here. Starting tonight, Zhao Wu will stay and guard the shop. You can go back to the mansion to spend the night."
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