Chapter 3 Chapter 3 The Heroine in the Dream
"Ah ...
After waking up in the morning, Jiang Wu's nose was itchy and she sneezed several times. She thought it must be because she wrote too much to Shun Zhuer yesterday and was tired.
There wasn't much left anyway, so she could write it tomorrow since her eyelids were so sleepy that they felt like they were covered in glutinous rice paste.
In the end, he said something like, "Do today's work today, don't put it off until tomorrow." This forced her to continue writing miserably, and while writing, she couldn't forget to curse him in her heart.
Juan'er, who was guarding the outer room, heard the noise and pulled aside the beaded curtain to step into the inner room. "Is the Madam awake?"
Jiang Wu, whose head was still dizzy, listened to the voice and responded vaguely a few times. Then, the maids came in one after another with trays and toiletries to help her wash up.
Jiang Wu soaked her hands in the flower petal water. She looked at her hands. Since she came to the mansion, she would soak her hands in milk before going to bed at night. Then she would mash the Trichosanthes root and almonds into a paste, add honey and mix well before applying it on her hands and face. Now her hands are no longer as rough as they were at the beginning. They are so white and tender that they are completely different from her previous hands.
But Jiang Wu felt depressed when she thought that she would not be able to live such a wealthy life in the near future.
It is said that it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. This is what she is like now.
No, she still had to get more money as soon as possible. Otherwise, without any money, who knew if he would turn against her and kick her out the next day.
"Juan'er, how much is your monthly salary?"
Juan'er, who was combing the lady's hair, replied, "My monthly salary is three taels of silver."
The maid gets three taels of silver a month, and she is the lady, so her monthly salary should be more. It has been so long, why hasn't she seen a penny?
Could it be that he is corrupt and feels that he is not worthy of spending his money and only the heroine can spend it?
"My husband, my maid earns three taels of silver a month, so shouldn't I get five taels?" Because she was going to attend the banquet, Jiang Wu chose a mud-gold and scarlet silk jacket, paired with a moon-white peony silk bodice and large sleeves of plain crepe satin dyed with light gold tea.
Juan'er skillfully made a peony bun for her and pinned a peony flower on it, with gold and jade hairpins on the edge. She was very satisfied and liked it very much.
Xie Ji, who was waiting for her to eat in the hall, looked up when he heard the voice. The latter inevitably tugged at her sleeves nervously, looking a little embarrassed, "But what's wrong with my clothes and hair accessories?" Or did she say that five taels of silver was too much, when in fact she only had four taels of silver.
Because this was Jiang Wu's first time going out to a banquet with him, and she was even more afraid that she would embarrass herself and end up in the same situation as in her dream, so she asked Juan'er to dress her up before dawn this morning.
He didn't say anything because he thought her clothes were too bright and vulgar.
Or is it too plain? Is it embarrassing for him?
"No." Xie Ji pursed his lips and withdrew his gaze from her, then raised his hand lightly towards the housekeeper beside him.
At this time, the maids came in one after another carrying breakfast. The pastries were exquisite and small, with both savory and sweet styles.
Jiang Wu thought he had forgotten about the monthly salary and was about to remind him of it again in a subtle way, but the housekeeper had already entered with an ebony tray in his hand.
In addition to the butler's token and warehouse key, there were also several account books on the tray.
Xie Ji gestured for the butler to come forward and hand her the things on the tray. "I originally thought that since you just married me, you don't need to be so tired. Since you have taken the initiative to bring it up, the housekeeper's power will be handed over to you from now on. If you have any questions, you can ask the butler or come to me."
"Ah?" Jiang Wu, who was about to take a sip of the longan, red dates and goat milk, whose lips turned white, had his pupils widened in disbelief.
Although she hadn't been educated much, she knew that the steward's power meant controlling the family's money. So, was he going to hand over all his money to her to manage? Jiang Wu secretly pinched her thigh, the pain so severe that she wanted to grimace and hug the steward's token and kiss it madly.
She remembered that in her dream, she had never even smelled the power of housekeeper when she was driven away. Now that it was suddenly given to her, could it be a trick?
Xie Ji's finger tapped the table lightly, reminding her to come back to her senses. "From now on, in addition to the twenty large characters you write every day, you must study housekeeping with the housekeeper in the afternoon. I will check your homework at night."
Jiang Wu, who was happily thinking about taking away all his money without anyone knowing so that he could become impoverished, almost threw away the housekeeper keys in his hand when he heard his words.
She no longer felt that the butler token was worth anything. It was like a hot potato that she wanted to throw away quickly. She gritted her teeth and stammered, "I've only just learned to write my own name, and you trust me so much? Why don't you just take it back? Once I learn a few more words, I can slowly get the hang of it."
The main thing is that she won't take on more work when she's already tired.
"You are my wife. Sooner or later, the power of housekeeper will be handed over to you. It's just a matter of time."
"You gave it to me so easily, aren't you afraid that I will steal everything in your warehouse?" Jiang Wu realized after she said that what she said was very stupid. She was so embarrassed that she just wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
After we finished eating, a pitch-black carriage had been waiting outside the gate for a long time.
Xie Ji got on the carriage first. He didn't get in right away, but held out his hand to her, motioning her to place her hand in his palm. "Get in."
The sunlight was too glaring. Jiang Wu half-closed her eyes and looked at the hand reaching out to her. It was slender, white, with distinct joints, and looked like a piece of translucent mutton-fat jade in the sunlight.
She just felt that the weather was so hot today that even her heart skipped a beat.
After Jiang Wu got on the carriage, he noticed that there was another person in the carriage. His heart skipped a beat and he felt terrified.
"Cousin, cousin." Song Jin, who was sitting in the corner, also smiled obediently, revealing two dimples. Anyone who saw him would think he was harmless.
"Why are you here too?"
Song Jinye's smile froze on his face, and he looked at her with grievance, "Does my cousin-in-law not welcome me?"
Realizing what he had said, Jiang Wu quickly pursed his lips and denied it, "No, how could that be."
How could she forget the most important point, that Song Jinye was the most petty and vindictive person.
Hiding the disgust in his eyes, Song Jin fiddled with the sachet on his waist with his fingers. His eyes casually swept over the new sachet Jiang Wu had put on her waist today, and the corners of his lips curled slightly, "The sachet my cousin is wearing today is very unique, especially the pattern on it, which matches your skirt today very well."
"You think it looks good too, right?" Jiang Wu patted the sachet on her waist in an unromantic manner, and raised her chin proudly. "I spent a long time choosing this today, and Juan'er still said it's not pretty. It's obvious that she has no taste."
Since the day after Jiang Wu had that dream, he has been racking his brains to think of how to break the deadlock.
The first thing that came to her mind was to use the beauty trap to make them fall in love with her and then become enemies. She touched her face and found that she could be called a beauty, but even if she was a beauty, all they had in their hearts was Bai Yueguang.
This method will definitely not work.
The second thing that came to my mind was to cater to her preferences, but she had no money at all, so why should I spend money on a cheap man?
Finally, when he was taken to the study room because he couldn't write big characters for several days, Jiang Wu, facing the knowledge of his school exam, simply gave up and asked him, "How can we make these people who used to have a good relationship quarrel among themselves, preferably become enemies?"
Xie Ji pondered for a moment and asked her, "What's the reason for the internal strife? Beauty, money, power?"
Jiang Wu found that she couldn't answer his question for a moment.
Beauty? They only have Bai Yueguang in their hearts, and even set up a trap to seduce Bai Yueguang, a married woman, and make her cheat on him.
Power, they have.
I am afraid that I will never lack money.
"If there are no conditions, then create them." Xie Ji came to her desk, took out a purple bamboo wolf-hair brush from the pen holder, held her hand, and wrote a "阋" on her blank rice paper with the brush in his hand.
阋, often seen in quarrels between brothers, also refers to internal quarrels.
"As long as they are human, even fathers and sons, brothers can become enemies over trivial matters, let alone the friendship between brothers."
"So what's the reason for all this dirty work? It's nothing more than money, power, sex, and fame. What you need to do is find their weaknesses and exploit them one by one. Everyone has their own unique characteristics, so you need to use different tactics to deal with different people."
His words that day made Jiang Wu suddenly realize. She thought that she had narrowed the path from the beginning. What she wanted was not for them to fall in love with her, but to drain their money, counter their moves, and return all the calculations they had placed on themselves.
So we need to use different personalities for these three despicable men.
Ji Xiao is arrogant and conceited. In fact, such a person has no brains and is impulsive and irritable. He likes to be admired and admired by others and does not allow others to disobey him.
And she has to play a woman who is obsessed with him but also timid and cowardly.
Song Jin is also a hypocrite, scheming and loves to pretend to be pitiful and play word traps. She is just a piece of wood who doesn't understand romance.
As for the other one, Jiang Wu hasn't thought about it yet.
It wasn't until the carriage was about to stop that Jiang Wu realized they were here to attend the eldest princess's granddaughter's hundred-day banquet. She was so nervous that she stretched out two fingers and tugged at his sleeve, "I don't have any gifts prepared, what should I do?"
Although Jiang Wu knew that he hated her very much, he even married her in order to sever the relationship between him and the heroine, which was a master-disciple relationship that should not be tolerated in the world.
But here, he is the only person she knows and can rely on.
In the past, the highest-ranking official she had ever met in the countryside was only a county magistrate, but the one she was about to meet was a princess who could kill nine generations of a family with just one word.
"I've already had the housekeeper prepare your gift in advance." Xie Ji, with his narrow eyes half-closed and a small shadow cast, raised his hand to pat the back of her hand that was tugging at his sleeve and said soothingly, "Just come over for a simple meal today. If anything really happens or you encounter a problem, you can send a maid to find me."
Thinking that this was her first time attending these banquets, Xie Ji did not follow the servant to the male guests after entering the Princess's Mansion, but asked the maid to look for someone from the female guests.
After a while, the person the maid was looking for arrived. She was a gentle-looking woman.
Madam Lan leaned forward, folded her hands in greeting, and then smiled at Jiang Wu beside her. "I guess this must be Madam Xie. She is indeed as beautiful as I imagined."
Xie Ji introduced Jiang Wu, saying, "She is the wife of Censor Liu. You can just call her Madam Lan." He then added, "This is my wife's first time attending these banquets. I'm afraid she doesn't have a good understanding of the ladies and young ladies in the capital. I hope Madam Lan will take good care of my wife on my behalf."
"That's natural, don't worry, Lord."
Xie Ji stood there and watched her figure disappear into the dense flowers and trees under the guidance of the maid, and then went to the male guests under the guidance of the servant.
"The Prime Minister is so kind to his wife. This is the first time I've seen the Prime Minister so worried about someone."
Jiang Wu just laughed dryly in agreement with Madam Lan's envious words. If he really cared about her, why would he be so ignorant of the world and get together with the heroine before divorcing him? In order to make room for the heroine, he would let others tarnish her reputation.
In fact, as long as he said he wanted a divorce, she wouldn't be the type to cling to him.
When she was about to step into Cuihua Garden, a maid suddenly bumped into her. Seeing that the wine on the tray was about to spill on her, Jiang Wu's eyebrows jumped and she jumped away nimbly.
"Didn't you see that the maid was about to fall? Why didn't you lend a hand to help her?" Someone unexpectedly scolded her for her behavior.
Jiang Wu looked in the direction of the voice, and just one glance made him shocked and his pupils constricted.
Because she saw the heroine, Shen Tingxue!
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