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

"I asked you to interrogate, 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 whether it's true or not. I also think it's a little strange, so I don't know whether I should talk about it 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 has been compensated with Qiu Luo who looks almost the same as Aunt Tong, so the Marquis has calmed down."

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

Eleventh Lady thought of his cold expression and couldn't help laughing: "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 didn't say anything." Amber said, "But the Second Madam asked Aunt Qin to serve in the Madam's room. I heard from the Xiang 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 her pregnancy."

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

Eleventh Lady pondered and said, "Do you know how Qiu Luo died?"

"I had a hemorrhage when giving birth!"

"How did the child die?"

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

"Aren't the Madam and the Marquis very sad?"

The Great Zhou Dynasty had the practice of "removing the title if there was no son". If a son was adopted, the emperor's special permission was required. Therefore, the heirs of the Duke's family were more than just descendants...

"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 had planned to raise Qiu Luo as a child. Because of this incident, the two lived together again."

Eleventh Lady was slightly distracted as she listened.

Does suffering make people more tolerant?

Seeing that Shiyi Niang was in a low mood, Amber smiled and said, "Madam, I have found out something else. You will be happy to hear it!"

"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, when the family needed money, the second lady and the fifth master 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 worth of land, acres, and shops. A few years ago, the eldest aunt and the marquis had a dispute over the property under the name of the second lady, so the second lady asked her companion to take over the property managed by the marquis. The marquis still manages the daily expenses of the family as he did when the old marquis was alive. Therefore, the money in the public treasury is actually our marquis's money, and the registrar has to manage our gifts. As long as we write a note, Zhao Guanshi of the registrar will arrange the corresponding gift money for people to give as gifts according to convention. We just need to go or not depending on the depth of our feelings. 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, each family gave gifts to my fourth brother, including the gifts from the Marquis, to me. I thought each family was responsible for their own interpersonal relations and guests... I was wondering at the time why family affairs were so chaotic and without rules. I didn't expect that I had misunderstood!"

Amber covered her mouth and smiled: "Thanks to Mrs. Xiang for helping us clean up 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 favors and favors are all based on old rules. Some are followed, and some are not. You still have to ask around. If Fifth Sister opens a shop and Xu Mansion can go and give a gift, people from the Wucheng Bingmasi or Shuntian Prefecture will look up to her when they meet them."

Amber smiled and said, "I'll go find out right away." She added, "Although Fifth Auntie still has to pay, Seventh Miss should also give a gift!"

"Then I'll only give the gift to Third Uncle. We'll have to take out Seventh Sister's gift box ourselves!" Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "We'll 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 to change 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 it 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 refuse. 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 stores to open shops." She asked him again, "How did the Marquis know?"

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 create rifts over such things? So I politely declined."

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

I think it should be like this.

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 such a thing. As long as he and Xu Lingyi were brothers-in-law, others would naturally treat him with courtesy. And Prince Shun paid attention to 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 quite 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, "The Marquis let me know such a big secret, how could I not hear it!"

"Oh?" Xu Lingyi raised his eyebrows. "What did I leak to you, but I don't know it myself?"

"If Prince Shun hadn't agreed, you would have said to me, 'Explain this to me on purpose.' Since you said, 'Explain this to me on purpose,' you must have agreed."

Xu Lingyi looked at her face with a faint smile and smiled.

Why are you in such a good mood today?

Eleventh Lady looked at this and muttered secretly in her heart.

Did something happen in the temple that made him happy?

Xu Lingyi was indeed very happy.

The matter of Fan Weigang was finally confirmed to be the result of the emperor's frustration with his ability to make his own achievements...

"According to the old rules, when opening a shop, you don't give gifts." He had a somewhat amused expression, which made his face look warm and bright. "But since we are sisters, it would be inappropriate to go empty-handed. I think we should pay forty taels of silver as a gift, and then you can give them another hundred taels of silver privately as our congratulations."

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

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

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

"It's good that you know these things!" Xu Lingyi said with a smile, "Then fifty taels!" Then he and Shiyi Niang went to the lady dowager's place, without mentioning where the ninety taels of silver came from.

Eleventh Lady thought that she still had one hundred 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 about this... We should start with a month of turnover."

"No need." Eleventh Lady said, "She helped to 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 gift-giving has been solved now, she still wants to make a living.

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

This involves the issue of cost!

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

Amber left as she was told. Butler Bai asked to see her and brought her some silver: "...The Marquis said it would be useful to you in private, so he asked me to take out this thousand taels from the office and give it 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: "He said you needed it privately, so he sent it to me and I'll keep it first."

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

When Manager Bai gave her the banknotes, Eleventh Lady already had a premonition. Now that the 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 boy 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 softly.

She just felt that the process was too long and hoped it would end soon...

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