Meet Xu Lingyi in the evening.

Xu Lingyi was quite disappointed: "Old Zhuo and I have a special relationship. If it works out, it would be a good thing. But I think that boy has a handsome appearance but is not smart enough. He is not a good match for our sister Zhen."

"What should we do then?" asked Eleventh Lady.

"I didn't refuse outright." Xu Lingyi said, "I mentioned it briefly during the dinner, saying that Zhen Jie grew up under my mother's lap, and her marriage would most likely require my mother's approval."

Eleventh Lady pondered: "That's the best way to put it. We have some room to maneuver." Then she told Xu Lingyi what the lady had said, "We should find out more about the young master of the Wang family."

"I thought so too." Xu Lingyi said, "I sent someone to inquire this afternoon. There should be a reply tomorrow." He added, "In a few days, the youngest son of Chen Ge Lao will get married, and the Shun Wang family has a newborn boy and wants to invite him to a full-month gift. Keep an eye out when you go."

Eleventh Lady agreed, but was also curious about the marriage of the youngest son of Chen Ge Lao's family: "... Which girl did he get engaged to?"

Xu Lingyi looked at her with a half-smile in his eyes: "She is engaged to be the eldest daughter of Wan Chun, the governor of Gansu."

Eleventh Lady was slightly stunned, then thought of the first time she heard the name Wanchun... Her face blushed.

Xu Lingyi came over and laughed softly, "I wonder who the eldest daughter of Jinhua prefect Wanchun is engaged to?"

Eleventh Lady glared at him and said, "What does other people's family affairs have to do with us?"

Xu Lingyi laughed loudly, hugged her horizontally, and whispered in her ear: "Since we have nothing to do, let's discuss it!"

Suddenly, the voice of a little maid came from outside the door: "My Lord, Madam, Lin Bo is here!"

"Let him come back tomorrow!" Xu Lingyi strode towards the bed.

Eleventh Lady gently pushed him: "It's so late, Lin Bo must have come to see you for something urgent. You should meet him first!"

Xu Lingyi hesitated.

Eleventh Lady struggled to get down: "My Lord, you should go and take a look!"

Xu Lingyi put her on the bed and whispered, "Wait for me!"

Eleventh Lady nodded slightly, watched Xu Lingyi leave the inner room, and thought of his previous teasing.

Yesterday’s lovemaking was undoubtedly wonderful. Xu Lingyi should have felt it as well, right?

Life experience taught her that only by working hard can you seize opportunities when they come... Then, she seized the opportunity and was rewarded. So in this lonely time and space, she followed her previous successful experience - working hard to recover; working hard to become a chess piece that the eldest wife can use; working hard to marry into the Yongping Marquis's Mansion; working hard to be liked by the old lady; working hard to be recognized by Xu Lingyi; working hard to become a good wife and mother in line with the mainstream of society!

But she forgot that her heart has its own ideas.

In this environment where she had to work hard to fit in, when the bustle of the day was over and she had to expose herself to the man who was a complete stranger to her, the effort became so embarrassing! She instinctively began to struggle...she only asked the person holding her to give her some respect.

Eleventh Lady gazed at the fine gauze curtain that looked like light smoke.

Yesterday, I was able to accept it calmly because I felt respected.

What about Xu Lingyi?

He was teasing himself like a child a few days ago.

While he was thinking, Xu Lingyi walked in.

He looked unhappy.

"What happened?" Eleventh Lady calmed down and asked him.

Xu Lingyi sat down beside the bed, was silent for a moment, and said, "Eleventh Lady, I have to go to Zhangqiu early tomorrow morning!"

"Zhangqiu?" Eleventh Lady looked at Xu Lingyi with some surprise.

Zhangqiu is a county in Shandong, which she had read about in "Records of the Nine Regions of the Great Zhou Dynasty".

What was he doing in Zhangqiu?

Xu Lingyi seemed to find it difficult to speak.

Eleventh Lady did not ask further questions, and said, "How many days will you be gone? I can also prepare some clothes for you to change into."

"I'll probably be gone for seven or eight days!" Xu Lingyi said, and after thinking for a moment, he added, "I'll be back before your coming-of-age ceremony!"

Eleventh Lady has always felt that birthday parties and birthday gifts are just icing on the cake, and she values ​​the friendship of helping others in times of need more.

"My lord, don't worry about my coming-of-age ceremony. It's better for you to handle things calmly." As she spoke, she called Luyun in to help Xu Lingyi pack his clothes and opened the medicine box. "The weather is getting hotter. Bring some Huoqi Zhengxiang Pills and Sangju Drink." She also earnestly reminded him to be careful on the road, that it was cold in the morning and evening, so he shouldn't be bothered and should remember to add or take off clothes according to the weather.

Xu Lingyi nodded, but suddenly said: "Zhangqiu is my second sister-in-law's in-laws' home!" His voice sounded a little disappointed.

The second wife's in-laws' family? What was Xu Lingyi doing there? Even if something happened to the second wife's in-laws' family, it should be Lord Xiang who stepped in. If Xu Lingyi was dragged into it, something must have happened!

Eleventh Lady thought about it and immediately sent the servants away. She whispered to Xu Lingyi, "What happened? My Lord, please tell me so that I can at least have an idea. I don't have to think of a plan when the time comes!"

Seeing that Eleventh Lady was facing a great enemy, Xu Lingyi hurriedly said, "It's not that something happened..." He paused for a long time before speaking a little unnaturally, "When my second sister-in-law got married, she had a lot of land as a dowry from the old lady of the Xiang family, and she asked my second sister-in-law to keep it with her. There was a period of time when the family was in financial difficulty, so my second sister-in-law sold the land privately to supplement the family..." He said with an embarrassed look, "Although I later returned the proceeds from the sale of the land to my second sister-in-law, I thought that the farm was originally the dowry of the old lady of the Xiang family, and my second sister-in-law sold it privately. Not only was she in a hurry to sell it, but the price was also low, less than three-fifths of the market price. I felt very uneasy. I wanted to buy back some of the land to make up for my second sister-in-law's deficit. I have been asking people nearby to help watch it. This time I went to Zhangqiu because I heard that some of the people who bought the land wanted to sell the land..."

Eleventh Lady was very surprised.

Didn't Mother Tao say that the second wife's dowry was very shabby? How did a piece of land suddenly appear? And from Xu Lingyi's tone, he asked someone to keep an eye on it and was afraid that it would not work out and he would have to go there himself... Was it because the seller of the land was not afraid of Xu Lingyi's power and knew that he was eager to buy the land back, so he deliberately raised the price? Or was it because other powerful families also took a fancy to this piece of land, and sent people like the steward to buy the land smoothly without confidence?

She was a little confused and said casually, "Who is the person selling the land? Can you find a connection with him? Then talk to him and give him more money. He is going to sell it anyway, so it shouldn't be a big deal."

Xu Lingyi smiled bitterly: "It's not that easy!"

Eleventh Lady was puzzled.

Xu Lingyi said, "That piece of land is more than 6,000 acres, all of which are good farmland, and they are connected. My second sister-in-law's family also spent a lot of effort to buy this property. At that time, no one in Zhangqiu could afford it all at once, so the land was divided into dozens of pieces and sold one by one. It was easy when it was sold, but now I want to buy it back..." He sighed, "So many years have passed, and the people who bought the land back then have different experiences. Some are getting more and more prosperous, while others are in poverty. Those who are in poverty can easily be dealt with by just giving more money, but those who are doing well, how can they sell such good land? It is impossible even if there is money."

The only thing that echoed in Eleventh Lady's mind was "As much as six thousand acres, all fertile land."

"Why are there so many?" She heard her own voice stuttering.

Xu Lingyi said tactfully: "This is Second Sister-in-law's family affair, we can't ask too much!"

Eleventh Lady thought of the tense relationship between the Second Lady and Madam Xiang...she felt that there might be some story behind this, so she didn't ask too much. "Have you recovered some of the land now?"

"We have taken back more than 800 mu of land." Xu Lingyi said, "My second sister-in-law refused to take it. She said that when the old lady of the Xiang family gave her the land, she also hoped that the land could help my second sister-in-law in case of emergency. Now that she has used it to solve the urgent needs of the Xu family, it can be said that it is well spent. Moreover, I gave her the money from the sale of the land. She refused to take it anyway. The land deed has been kept by mother." He added, "The total land to be sold this time is more than 400 mu. Most people in Zhangqiu know that I want to buy back this land, and there are some idle gangs who use fraudulent means to trick the landlords into selling the land. So I will rush to Zhangqiu early tomorrow morning, so as not to fail to buy the land but get a reputation of forced buying and selling."

Does this count as going there even though you know there is a tiger there?

"In this case, Lord, you'd better think about it carefully," Eleventh Lady advised him, "lest you be impeached by the censor and become another big issue. It would be even worse if the news came out that the Xu family sold their daughter-in-law's property!"

"I know that!" Xu Lingyi said helplessly, "So I have only bought back more than 800 acres over the years. This time I went there to see the situation. If I can buy it, I will buy it. If not, I will have to look for another opportunity." He added, "But the longer the time goes, the more the land will change. I'm afraid it will be more difficult to buy it." It was a pity.

Eleventh Lady could understand Xu Lingyi's feelings, but she was more concerned about the relationship between the thirty-six dowries and the six thousand acres of prime farmland.

The next day, after sending Xu Lingyi away, she immediately called Mother Song to ask about it.

"I heard from Madam Tao that when the Second Madam married, the Madam Tai helped to add to the dowry. Is that true?"

"Yes!" Mother Song smiled, then leaned close to Eleventh Lady's ear and whispered, "Sir Xiang, he is an adopted son." Then she straightened up and smiled, "When the Second Lady married in, she brought several carts of books. The old lady of the Xiang family said that in order to avoid disputes in the future, these things would not be included in the gift list. The Tai Madam felt bad, so she gave the Second Lady a pair of one-foot-long mutton-fat jade ruyi that she had brought as a dowry, as well as some precious jewelry. The old lady of the Xiang family liked it very much and said that our Tai Madam was straightforward and open-minded. So when the Second Lady married in, she used the pair of jade ruyi given by the Tai Madam to make the first one. When the Third Lady first married in, she was angry with the Third Master for this matter!"

Not on the gift list, that means, all these books were given to the Xu family!

"Does my sister know about this?" Eleventh Lady pondered.

"You should know!" Mother Song was a little uncertain. "The books that the Second Madam moved over are placed in Shaohua Courtyard. When the Fourth Madam first got married, she once borrowed books from the Second Madam!"

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Sorry, I'll post the draft first and catch some bugs later!

sweat……