Chapter 488 Winning Hearts and Minds
She harbored resentment.
In her opinion, it's just a thousand taels of silver, why should Qiao Qinghe be so petty?
She had heard her in-laws say more than once that Qiao Qinghe had at least several hundred thousand taels of property.
Previously, in order to treat the illness of the little girl named Ajiu by her side, she even spent two or three hundred thousand taels of silver to buy a century-old ginseng.
But she only gave her daughter a thousand taels of silver as a dowry, so how could that be unforgivable?
Now they sold their land and used their daughter's hidden savings to raise a thousand taels to repay Qiao Qinghe. The whole family even came to apologize in a humble manner. But Qiao Qinghe still refused to see them.
Ha, she wanted to see if Qiao Qinghe really had something to do, or if she was deliberately avoiding them.
After seeing Qiao Qinghe leave, Liao reluctantly turned back.
Thinking of the excuse she made when she separated from her family, Liao turned and went out onto the street.
However, once she reached the street, she only glanced at the general store before bumping into someone.
The woman who was hit was a middle-aged woman who looked frail and delicate, and whose beauty astonished Liao.
The beautiful woman was knocked down by Liao and sat on the ground, clutching her chest and crying out, "Ouch, ouch!"
Ms. Liao was startled and quickly went to help him up.
Just then, a maid ran over and helped the beautiful woman up before she could.
"Madam, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Should we see a doctor?"
The maid looked the beautiful woman up and down nervously.
Clutching her pounding heart, Liao stepped forward with a look of fear. "I...I didn't mean to."
Liao kept praying in her heart, hoping that she wouldn't be framed!
She didn't have much money in her pocket.
The beautiful woman smiled and waved her hand, "It's alright, I'm fine. I just need to go back and rest for a bit."
Hearing this, Ms. Liao breathed a sigh of relief.
But the maid insisted, "No, Madam, let's go to the clinic instead."
After saying that, he turned around and glared fiercely at Liao, "You're not allowed to leave. You're the one who bumped into my wife, so you have to pay for the doctor's visit."
Liao's face paled. She was about to be extorted after all!
Just then, the beautiful woman shouted sternly, "Alright, I already said I'm fine, why are you seeing a doctor?"
She hissed in pain as soon as she finished speaking.
Liao's face turned completely pale in an instant.
Just as she was contemplating whether to cheat and run away, the beautiful woman waved to her and said, "Don't be afraid, I won't make you pay. It's my own fault for being weak, don't blame me."
"However, I am in a lot of pain, so I will have to trouble you and my maid to help me back."
Upon hearing that no money was required, Ms. Liao nodded hurriedly and strode forward to help the beautiful woman.
It turned out that the beautiful woman really had no intention of extorting her.
On the contrary, the beautiful woman was kind-hearted. No matter how the maid bullied her, the beautiful woman always protected her and defended her.
By the time Liao escorted the beautiful woman home, they had become quite familiar with each other.
Only then did they learn that the beautiful woman's husband had died, her daughter had married into a good family, and now she lived alone in a large house with two maids and a few rough-working women.
After dropping the beautiful woman off at her destination and preparing to leave, the woman invited her to come visit when she had some free time.
In that instant, Mrs. Liao wondered how there could be such a kind, beautiful, and approachable noblewoman in the world!
She lives alone in a large mansion, with seven or eight servants to attend to her. Yes, she's definitely a noblewoman.
After Liao left, the maid who had been carefully and respectfully supporting the beautiful woman immediately let go of her hand.
The beautiful woman nearly lost her balance and fell to the ground.
However, she didn't dare to say anything.
The maid sneered coldly, "You acted well. I'll prepare an extra meat dish for your lunch today."
The beautiful woman smiled cautiously and said, "Thank you."
A conspiracy against Qiao Qinghe is brewing.
However, Qiao Qinghe was unaware of this at the time.
At this moment, Qiao Qinghe had already met Madam Zheng in the private room she had reserved at Huajiaolou.
"Oh dear, I'm late. Sorry to keep you waiting."
Qiao Qinghe smiled and sat down opposite Madam Zheng.
Madam Zheng glared at Qiao Qinghe, annoyed. "I thought you weren't coming. So, how are you going to make it up to me?"
Qiao Qinghe said generously, "I'll cover all the expenses for today. Whatever kind of opera you want to hear, and whose opera you want to hear, just pick it."
Madam Zheng curled her lip. "You invited me to the opera today, so you should have paid for it. What kind of compensation is this? Humph!"
Qiao Qinghe's lips twitched, she glared at him, and said fiercely, "You've got some nerve, haven't you? I've given you a little leeway, and you want to take advantage of me?"
After saying that, he added a "humph".
After she finished humming, the two old ladies couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Is the play ready?" Qiao Qinghe asked with a smile.
Madam Zheng took a sip of tea. "I've only ordered one play. It should start after this one is over. You can order another one later."
Qiao Qinghe nodded slightly, picked up the comedy catalog on the table, randomly selected a show, and handed it to A Shuang behind her.
Ah Shuang hurriedly went out to choose a play.
"By the way, why are you so late?" Madam Zheng asked casually.
"Something came up and I was held up," Qiao Qinghe replied dismissively.
Seeing that she was in low spirits, Madam Zheng hesitated for a moment before saying, "My daughter-in-law said that something seems to have happened to her uncle's family in the past few days."
Qiao Qinghe stared at Madam Zheng in surprise, "You could have guessed that?"
When Madam Zheng realized that her prediction had come true, she immediately told her what she knew.
It turns out that Yang Honglan had been going to her parents' home every day for the past few days, which caught the eye of a relative of the Gu family who was always looking for her to do something wrong.
So, not only did the relatives gossip and spread rumors, they also bribed Yang Honglan's maid to find out that Yang Honglan had returned the last of the dowry money that came with the Yang family to the Yang family.
This has really stirred up a hornet's nest.
This time, it wasn't just that one relative; other relatives from the clan also came to Yang Honglan's door to criticize her and pressure her to take the money back, or they would divorce her.
This finally angered Gu Juren and his son Gu Yuan.
Originally, they didn't take it to heart because they thought their relatives were just talking and it wasn't too much.
Unexpectedly, the relatives overstepped their bounds and tried to divorce Yang Honglan on their behalf.
This time, the father and son couldn't stand it anymore. They had a big fight with their relatives and drove them out.
The situation became rather ugly, and some people even went to the Duke of Jin's mansion to complain to Madam Bai, hoping that Madam Bai could persuade the Gu family to divorce Yang Honglan.
Bai was always a filial son, so he naturally reported the matter to her immediately.
Sure enough, Madam Zheng came to sound out Qiao Qinghe's opinion.
"Has something happened to the Yang family?"
"It's nothing serious, it's all in the past." Qiao Qinghe asked with a smile, "Do you know how much silver that girl from the Yang family took back to the Yang family?"
After thinking for a moment, Madam Zheng said, "It's probably two or three hundred taels. I don't know the exact amount."
Qiao Qinghe smiled and waved, signaling A Shuang to give three hundred taels of silver to the old woman behind Madam Zheng.
“That girl from the Yang family is a good one. Please take this silver back and give it to Madam Bai, and ask her to send someone to deliver it back to the girl from the Yang family.”
"There's no need to make things unpleasant over such a small amount of money."
Since the decision has been made to use Yang Hongyuan, winning people's hearts and minds is inevitable.
Madam Zheng nodded, gestured for the old woman behind her to take the silver notes, and then said to Qiao Qinghe, "The Yang family is so lucky to have such a good mistress like you!"
Qiao Qinghe smiled but didn't reply.
There was nothing she could do. Although she had gradually forgotten her past life after three years of rebirth, the kindness of Granny Fang in protecting her at all costs in her previous life was still vivid in her mind.
After all, in her tragic past life, apart from Madam Zheng showing her kindness, only Granny Fang was truly loyal to her.
Therefore, it is understandable to be more lenient with the Yang family.
Moreover, she did indeed want to recruit Yang Hongyuan to her side.
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