After having lunch at the lady's house and returning home, Zhen Jie'er followed Shiyi Niang into the main house with some hesitation.

Seeing that she looked like she had something to say to her, Eleventh Lady asked Luyun and Hongxiu to make the bed and serve Xu Lingyi for his nap, while she and Zhen Jie'er went to the east room.

"What's wrong?" she asked Zhen Jie'er with a smile.

Zhen Jie'er hesitated for a moment before saying, "Mother, I want to spend the New Year with my second aunt."

Eleventh Lady was slightly stunned.

Zhen Jieer said hurriedly: "Second Aunt is alone in Xishan... There are my eldest brother, second brother, third brother and Zhun brother at home... And I am a girl..."

That means, she is not too much of a help in the family, and she is not too little of a help in the family. The second wife is alone, and she can be a companion.

The idea is good.

But she is the eldest daughter of the Xu family after all. If she doesn't stay at home to watch the New Year, I'm afraid it won't work for the first lady.

Looking at the attentive and considerate Zhen Jie'er, Shiyi Niang took a step back.

"I'll talk to your father about it. Let's see what he says."

Zhen Jie'er also knew that her request was too unbelievable, but when she thought of her second aunt's cold expression and lonely figure, she couldn't help but speak out her thoughts. Now hearing that Eleventh Lady was willing to help her, she smiled brightly: "Thank you, mother!"

Seeing her smile as bright as the spring sunshine in May, Eleventh Lady changed her usual cautiousness and became worried that she had spoken too loudly - if she failed to do it, wouldn't Zhen Jie'er be doubly disappointed?

"Don't be too happy yet." She poured cold water on Zhen Jie'er in advance, "We don't know whether your father will agree or not."

Zhen Jie'er didn't care, and her smile was still bright: "Whether she agrees or not, mother is willing to help me speak to father."

Eleventh Lady was slightly moved.

She had never met a child who was more grateful than Zhen Jie'er.

Back in the room, Xu Lingyi was leaning on the big pillow in the bedroom reading a book. He looked at her and said, "Sister Zhen, what does she want to talk to you about?"

He asked proactively, there was no better opportunity than this.

Eleventh Lady smiled and told Sister Zhen what she meant: "...From the tone of Third Sister-in-law, she will send someone to give Second Sister-in-law gifts for the New Year tomorrow. If Sister Zhen can go with her, Second Sister-in-law will be so happy!"

Xu Lingyi thought for a moment and said, "I'll discuss this with my mother later."

If he is willing to come forward, then things will be 90% certain.

Eleventh Lady breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to ask about the Second Wife: "...Why don't you adopt or foster a child? This way, you can not only continue the Second Wife's family line, but also save the Second Wife's loneliness."

A trace of sadness flashed in Xu Lingyi's eyes, and after a while he said, "My second sister-in-law doesn't want to. It's not easy to force her." Then he put down the book and lay down, "I'll take a rest." He turned over and went to sleep as if he didn't want to talk any more.

Eleventh Lady was very surprised, but thinking that this was his family affair after all, she did not ask too much. She tucked in the quilt for him and went to the warm room in the east wing to sleep for a while.

When he got up, Xu Lingyi was gone.

"Seeing that the lady was still asleep, the Marquis went to Banyuepan." Luyun answered cautiously while observing Shiyi Niang's expression.

Eleventh Lady nodded, and seeing that it was still early, she told her to move the embroidery frame to the large kang by the window in the inner room: "...the progress is too slow."

"I have already embroidered one and a half characters." Luyun smiled and went to move the embroidery frame with Hongxiu. "You are really too busy."

As he was talking, Amber came in: "Liu Yuanrui's family is here."

The New Year is just around the corner, and if you come here at this time, I'm afraid there must be something urgent.

Eleventh Lady hurriedly asked Amber to bring her in.

This time she was wearing a lilac-colored muslin jacket, her hair was combed neatly and shiny, and she looked very energetic.

Kneeling down to pay respect to Eleventh Lady, she smiled and said, "New Year is coming soon. Although we are far away, I also want to come and pay my respects to Madam. I also thought that Madam might be busy entertaining those wives of officials in the next few days, and it would not be good to come and quarrel with you at this time. Everyone pushed me to come forward and ask Madam to give us a few 'Fu' characters to paste, so that we can also share in Madam's blessings."

You really know how to talk.

Wan Daxian was the only maidservant of hers who worked in the mansion. He would be able to pay New Year's greetings to Xu Lingyi along with the housekeepers. Others lived far away. Even if they hurried over to pay New Year's greetings, they would look shabby among the maids and servants in the Xu family and other branches. If it was only Shiyi Niang's family, it would be fine. But the Xu family had several branches living together. In comparison, there would definitely be people who would take advantage of the situation and make gossips, which would embarrass Shiyi Niang. It would be better for her not to come.

Eleventh Lady was not afraid of being laughed at by others. She felt that it was too cold to come all the way here just to pay respects to her. After hearing what Liu Yuanrui's wife said, she asked Luyun to help with the writing and asked Hongxiu to cut a square of red paper with gold sprinkled on it. She wrote seven or eight "Fu" characters in one breath in the warm room in the east.

Liu Yuanrui's wife kept shouting "good" at the side. After she finished writing, she watched Luyun and Hongxiu take the gold-thread paper to the hall to dry, and then she went forward diligently to help Shiyi Niang to the big kang in the west room.

"…Madam, your handwriting is so beautiful that the Wan Yi Zong family must be sighing when they see it." She carefully looked at Shiyi Niang's expression and smiled, "You don't know. Wan Yi Zong knew that you intended to marry the one next to you to their boy, so he came to my place every day, either bringing ribs or pork kidneys to our house. It made me laugh so hard."

He was trying to find out her mood!

Eleventh Lady just smiled and said nothing, and only talked to her about other things.

Liu Yuanrui's wife was able to keep her composure and followed her wishes, never mentioning the name Wan Yi Zong again.

Eleventh Lady looked at him and nodded secretly, and the topic turned to some social etiquette and the affairs of the household.

Liu Yuanrui's family had already found out that the current head of the Xu family was the Third Lady. Some people felt that although Eleventh Lady would be the head of the family sooner or later, firstly, she was young and it was unknown when she would be able to take over. Secondly, there were many people in the mansion and she was not the companion of Eleventh Lady. Even if there were good jobs in the future, it would not be her turn. It would be better to take advantage of the opportunity of the Third Lady's replacement to occupy a position. Eleventh Lady could not replace everyone when she was the head of the family, right? Maybe she would be lucky enough to take the position securely.

She originally thought that if it were her turn, she would probably do the same. But after several contacts with Shiyi Niang, she changed her mind.

Although the fourth lady was young, she was not young at heart and acted prudently. Even someone who had lived for more than twenty years like her might not be able to do that. I also heard that she had won the favor of the dowager lady when she entered the mansion, and even the marquis treated her politely. She quickly put away her indifference and flattered her with all her heart.

Hearing Eleventh Lady asking about the housekeeper's affairs, she thought she was preparing to be in charge of the household affairs in the future, so she did not dare to be careless. She told her everything she knew, and also told her what she heard from others about things she didn't know. She laughed and talked very happily.

Seeing that Liu Yuanrui's wife was not only good at observing people's expressions and having a quick mind, but also spoke frankly without exaggerating, and had her own way of dealing with interpersonal relationships and household affairs, Eleventh Lady was very satisfied and listened more and asked less questions.

As he was talking, a maid came in and reported, "Manager Bai sent someone to bring a fine gauze curtain."

So fast.

Eleventh Lady was stunned and ordered Luyun to bring it in.

Liu Yuanrui's wife quickly dropped the topic and accompanied Shiyi Niang to look at the tents.

He brought five hats in one go. Two were plain, one was embroidered with Cordyceps sinensis, one was woven with broken branches and flowers, and one was five blessings holding clouds. They were all very exquisite. Especially the plain one, which was as light and soft as smoke. It was obvious that it was not an ordinary item. Shiyi Niang liked it very much.

"Butler Bai said that if the madam is not satisfied, she can just tell him the style and ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to help make it."

"No need." It's okay to do it occasionally, but it's too conspicuous to trouble the Ministry of Internal Affairs frequently. "This is good enough."

The little maidservant responded and reported to the steward Bai. Eleventh Lady picked out a plain one and asked Amber to replace the original bright red curtains.

Liu Yuanrui's family watched with their eyes wide open.

I thought to myself, no wonder the people from the Luo family are so envious when they talk about the Xu family.

He smiled and went forward to help, but he only dared to change the bright red silk curtain and did not dare to hang the plain fine gauze curtain.

Before she finished, Hongxiu brought over the Chinese character for blessing, which had dried ink on it. Another maid came to report that the three concubines had arrived.

Liu Yuanrui's wife cleverly took the word "Fu" and thanked Shiyi Niang, then was led out of the door by a maid.

Eleventh Lady went to the east room and sat on the big kang by the window. The three concubines sat around the kang. The maid brought tea. Eleventh Lady asked Hubo to read the list of things that were distributed to the four rooms for the New Year to the three concubines.

Aunt Qin was full of surprise, and Aunt Wen was shocked at first, then showed a clear expression. Qiao Lianfang sat aside drinking tea with a cold look, as if these things had nothing to do with her.

After Amber finished reading, Madam Wen immediately said, "Sister, you are the mistress of the family, so you have the final say in family affairs. It is not our turn to interfere!"

Aunt Qin didn't understand Shiyi Niang's intention, but she understood what Aunt Wen said, and hurriedly said, "Madam, Aunt Wen and I have the same idea. I will do whatever you say."

Qiao Lianfang sneered at what she heard.

What the public received was just money, candies and food for the New Year, not dividends from the shop, so Eleventh Lady was naturally happy to be generous.

Seeing that Qiao Lianfang didn't say anything and ignored her, Shiyi Niang smiled and said, "It's fate that we can be together. I don't have any other intentions. There aren't many things, so everyone can divide them according to the number of people in their respective rooms and have a good New Year. This is also my intention." She smiled again, "If you think the things are too few, I really can't give you more."

"How can you think it's too little!" Aunt Qin said innocently, "This year we have 200 more taels of silver than in previous years."

Eleventh Lady's heart skipped a beat, but she smiled calmly and said, "That's good!" Then she drew up a list of how much each of Xu Siyu, Zhen Jie'er, Zhun Ge and the three concubines should get and distributed it to each of them, "Send the key maid to Amber to collect the things later!"

Aunt Qin responded respectfully; Aunt Wen thanked Eleventh Lady with a smile, as if Eleventh Lady had given her some treasure, and was very attentive. Qiao Lianfang just nodded coldly.

Eleventh Lady started talking about the duty matters: "...From what the Marquis said, there will be fireworks during the New Year. There will be banquets and operas at home, so each of you should arrange the duty personnel in your room. Otherwise, someone will take things away or accidentally knock over a candle when no one is in the room. Starting from tomorrow until the Lantern Festival, each room should arrange the people who will be on duty during the day and at night, and make a list and give it to Amber."

All three of them were stunned.

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I can go back tomorrow...(*^__^*) Hehe...