Chapter 116: Past Events (Part 2)

Amber smiled and said, "Later, the eldest aunt sent Qiu Luo to Banyuepan to serve the Marquis, which was considered as a sign of submission. The two gradually reconciled." When she said this, a hint of hesitation appeared between her brows.

"I asked you to go for questioning, but I didn't ask you to tell half and keep the other half!" Eleventh Lady looked at him with a frown.

Amber explained hurriedly, "I just heard it from Aunt Xiang. I don't know if it's true or not, but I think it's a little strange, so I don't know if I should tell you or not." As she spoke, her voice lowered, "Aunt Xiang said that Qiu Luo looked about 50% similar to the deceased Aunt Tong. She also said that people in the mansion were saying that the eldest aunt killed Aunt Tong, and now she lost Qiu Luo who looked almost the same as Aunt Tong. Only then did the Marquis calm down."

Would Xu Lingyi be angry because of a concubine and his wife?

Thinking of his cold expression, Shiyi Niang couldn't help but laugh: "Do you believe this?

Amber said hesitantly, "Of course I don't believe it."

If you don't believe it, why bother with so much hesitation?

Even someone as insightful as Amber felt that the Marquis valued Tong very much, let alone others?

Eleventh Lady smiled slightly and changed the subject: "After Aunt Tong died, what did the Madam say?"

"The Madam said nothing." Amber said, "But the Second Madam asked Aunt Qin to serve in the Madam's room. I heard from the old woman that before the Second Young Master was born, Aunt Qin and the Second Madam ate and slept together, went in and out together, and the eldest aunt even went to the Second Madam for this matter, but I don't know what the Second Madam said, and Aunt Qin stayed in the Madam's room to take care of the baby."

No wonder people in the mansion spread the rumor that Tong was killed by Yuanniang...

Eleventh Lady asked in surprise: "Do you know how Qiu Luo died?"

"I had a hemorrhage when I gave birth!"

"How did the child die?"

Amber's voice lowered. "She said that the child was not born properly. My aunt invited the three doctors who were best at treating young children in the Imperial Hospital to live at home and treat the child, but they still couldn't save the child."

"Aren't Madam Tai and Lord Hou very sad?"

The Great Zhou Dynasty had a practice of "removing the title if there was no son". If the title was to be passed on, the emperor's special permission was required. Therefore, for the Duke's family, having a son was not just a simple offspring...

"I heard that the Marquis didn't sleep all night." Amber said, "Not only was the Marquis sad, but the eldest aunt was also sad - the eldest aunt was originally planning to raise Qiu Luo as a child. Because of this incident, the two of them lived together again."

Eleventh Lady was slightly distracted while listening.

Is it true that suffering makes people more tolerant?

Seeing that Shiyi Niang was in a low mood, Amber smiled and said, "Madam, I also found out something that I'm sure you will be happy to hear!"

"Oh!" Eleventh Lady stopped thinking about those boring past events and smiled, "What good news did you hear?"

Amber smiled and said, "Tell the mother-in-law that when the family was divided, each branch had already taken its share. The fifth master was young, so his share was managed by the dowager. Later, the family needed money urgently, and the second wife and the fifth master both took out their own shares. So when the fifth master got married, the marquis not only gave him what he was supposed to have before, but also bought him 70,000 to 80,000 taels of silver in land, acres, and shops. A few years ago, the eldest aunt and the marquis fought over the property under the name of the second wife. , the second wife asked her chambermaid to take over the business managed by the Marquis. The Marquis still manages the daily expenses of the family just like the old Marquis did when he was alive. Therefore, the money in the public treasury is actually our Marquis's money, and the Huichu has to take care of our gifts. We just need to write a note and Zhao, the manager of the Huichu, will arrange the corresponding gift money for people to go as gifts according to the custom. We just need to go or not depending on the depth of our relationship. Madam, do you think this is good news?"

This coincides with what Mother Tao said.

Eleventh Lady pondered and said, "But the last time my father went back to Yuhang, the gifts from each branch to my fourth brother, including the gifts from the Marquis, were all given to me to take over. I thought each branch was responsible for its own interpersonal relations and interactions... At that time, I was wondering why things at home were so chaotic and there was no order. I didn't expect that I had misunderstood!"

Amber covered her mouth and smiled: "Thanks to Mrs. Xiang for helping us clean the house!"

Eleventh Lady also laughed.

"We can write a letter to ask for the fifty taels of silver from Fifth Aunt..."

"That fifty taels of silver was given to Fifth Aunt privately by me. It's not a public matter. I can't write a note to ask for it." Eleventh Lady shook her head. "Besides, these interpersonal relationships all have old rules to follow. Some are followed, and some are not. You still have to ask around. If Fifth Sister opens a shop, Xu Mansion can go and give a gift. If she meets someone from the Wucheng Bingmasi or Shuntian Prefecture, they will look up to her."

Amber smiled and said, "I'll go find out now." She added, "Although Fifth Auntie still has to pay, Seventh Miss should follow suit!"

"Then I'll only give it as a gift to Third Uncle. We'll have to take out Seventh Sister's gift box ourselves!" Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "We can just pick out some expensive jewelry when the time comes."

As the two were talking, a little maid ran over and said, "Madam, the Marquis is back!"

Eleventh Lady stood up to greet her.

Xu Lingyi had already lifted the curtain and walked in.

Xia Yi helped her change her clothes, and Shiyi Niang went to make tea herself.

Xu Lingyi sat on the kang and took a sip, then said, "Zichun is going to open a dried fruit shop on West Street. Did you know that?"

"The last time I went back to my parents' home, Fifth Sister mentioned this to me." Seeing that his tone was very calm, Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "At that time, I was invited to invest, but I asked my eldest sister-in-law to politely decline. After that, there was no follow-up. I didn't expect Fifth Sister and her friends to act so quickly and have already started contacting the store that opened the shop." She asked him again, "How did Lord Hou know about this?"

Xu Lingyi asked, "Why did you politely refuse?"

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "When doing business together, it is inevitable that there will be disagreements. We are all relatives, so why should we create rifts over such things? So I politely declined."

Xu Lingyi nodded slightly and said, "Zichun wanted to rent Prince Shun's shop. Prince Shun specifically told me about this today, and I just found out about it now."

I think that should be the case.

Although Qian Ming was utilitarian in his work, he had his own attitude and would not ask Xu Lingyi for help casually. In other words, there was no need to ask Xu Lingyi in person for this kind of thing. As long as he and Xu Lingyi were brothers-in-law, others would naturally be more polite to him. And Prince Shun was only concerned about Qian Ming for Xu Lingyi's sake, so he must have told Xu Lingyi about it.

"Since Prince Shun has told you so, he must have agreed to rent the shop to Brother-in-law Five." Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "We should send someone to find out when Brother-in-law Five's dried fruit shop will open. We will have to congratulate him then!"

"You are very smart." Xu Lingyi laughed after hearing this, "You know that Prince Shun agreed to rent the shop to Qian Ming."

Eleventh Lady laughed and said, "How could I not hear the Marquis's words when he let me know that?"

"Oh?" Xu Lingyi raised his eyebrows. "I don't even know what I'm telling you."

"If Prince Shun hadn't agreed, you would have definitely said to me, 'I specifically explained this to you.' Since you said, 'I specifically told you this to you,' you definitely agreed."

Xu Lingyi looked at her smiling face and smiled.

Why are you in such a good mood today?

Eleventh Lady watched and muttered secretly in her heart.

Could it be that something happened in the temple that made him happy?

Xu Lingyi was indeed very happy.

The matter of Fan Weigang was finally confirmed to be the Emperor's frustration with his failure to fulfill his promise...

"According to tradition, we don't give gifts when opening a shop." His expression was somewhat pleasant, and his face looked warm and bright. "But since we are sisters, it would be inappropriate to go empty-handed. I think we can pay a gift of 40 taels ourselves, and then you can give them another 100 taels of silver privately as our congratulations."

There's no need for Amber to ask, Xu Lingyi has already made it very clear, there is no precedent for gifts for opening a shop!

But if I took the 100 taels of silver with me, wouldn't that make things difficult for my sister-in-law?

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "Two days ago, my eldest sister-in-law came to discuss this with me. She said that if Fifth Sister opened a dried fruit shop, we would each give fifty taels as a token of friendship between sisters."

"I'm glad you know these things!" Xu Lingyi smiled and said, "Then fifty taels will be fine!" Then he and Shiyi Niang went to the lady's place without mentioning where the ninety taels of silver came from.

Eleventh Lady thought that she still had 100 taels of silver in her hand, so she decided to get through this difficult time first.

Amber whispered to Eleventh Lady: "Should we talk to Grandma...We should make ends meet for a month first."

"No need." Eleventh Lady said, "She helped arrange Fifth Sister's wedding, and Tenth Lady's wedding as well. If she had been interested, she would have asked long ago."

Amber's eyes darkened when she heard this.

"Did Ji Ting reply?" Eleventh Lady was taught that if a woman wants to be spiritually independent, she must be financially independent. Although the big problem of the gift-giving gift has been solved now, she still wants to make a living.

"Yes." Amber said, "It is possible to plant them, but it requires a greenhouse that big enough."

This involves the issue of cost!

"Tell Jiang Bingzheng a message and ask him to go to the streets and see what the price of flower dew is."

Amber left immediately. Chief Eunuch Bai asked for a meeting and sent her some silver: "...The Marquis said it would be useful to you in private, so he asked me to transfer this one thousand taels from the office to you."

Eleventh Lady didn't know what Xu Lingyi meant, and she couldn't say in front of Chief Steward Bai that she didn't know. She took it with a smile, and when Xu Lingyi came back, she handed him the 1,000-liang silver note: "You said you wanted to use it privately, so you sent it to me and I'll keep it first."

Xu Lingyi didn't even look at the banknotes, and said calmly: "If Zichun encounters something like this again in the future, you can use these to pay for it!"

When Manager Bai gave her the banknote, Shiyi Niang already had a premonition. Now that her premonition had come true, she felt very complicated.

Although Xu Lingyi is taciturn, he is tall, handsome, thoughtful, gentle and considerate... He is exactly the kind of man she admires. Unfortunately, due to their different education, they are destined to have their own persistence and can never become lovers.

This slight regret in her heart was faithfully reflected in her body - when he entered her body, she broke out in cold sweat and felt even more uncomfortable than the first time.

Xu Lingyi whispered in her ear and caressed her gently.

But she just felt that the process was too long and hoped it would end sooner...