After getting Binju's confirmation, Shiyi Niang went to the old lady and told her that she wanted to ask Binju to teach Zhenjie and Errenhong.

"How is Binju's needlework? How is Zhenjie'er doing? No one knows better than you." The lady smiled and said, "Just make the decision."

In this way, it was decided that Binju would enter the mansion.

Back in the house, Mother Song came over and replied, "Mrs. Zhou said she wants to go to Ciyuan Temple to burn incense tomorrow."

Eleventh Lady stood up again and went to the lady dowager's side.

The lady heard this and said, "Then bring a few more people with you tomorrow."

Eleventh Lady agreed and asked Mother Song to arrange the trip for tomorrow.

Zhun Ge came home from school with a small green bamboo flute in his hand.

"Grandmother! Mother!" He bowed, then raised the bamboo flute in his hand to show it to Madam Tai and Shiyi Niang, "Mr. Zhao made it for me."

The lady took a casual look and laughed, "What a beautiful job!" She didn't want to pour cold water on Zhun Ge's happiness.

Zhun Ge was very proud of what he heard, and then he played a few notes on the flute horizontally: "Grandma, does it sound good?"

The lady nodded quickly: "It sounds good, it sounds good!"

Zhun Ge was even happier after hearing this and said, "Mr. Zhao said that if you learn a little bit every day and persevere, you will be able to play beautiful music."

"That makes sense, that makes sense." The lady agreed, "We will just wait for our Zhun Ge'er to play a nice song for us then!"

Zhun Ge nodded repeatedly: "Mr. Zhao said that I learn very quickly. In two days, I will be able to play music for my grandmother and mother."

He calls Mr. Zhao all the time, and it's obvious that he likes Mr. Zhao very much.

The lady saw this and nodded slightly. After Zhun Ge went downstairs to change his clothes, she pulled Shiyi Niang's hand and sighed, "Luckily, we have our uncle. Otherwise, how could we have such a gentleman as our host at home?"

As they were talking, a maid came in and reported, "My aunt from Gongxian Hutong is here."

The lady heard this and said hurriedly, "Please come in, please come in!"

Eleventh Lady went to welcome Grandma Luo in.

"…I came to give our Eleventh Aunt a round fan and a bamboo mat."

When a girl gets married, the custom in the south is to give her a round fan and a bamboo mat in the first year. The Xu family had everything, so the Luo family symbolically gave them five round fans and five bamboo mats.

After hearing this, the lady told Mama Du to pick up the things, invite Grandma Luo to have dinner, and asked Wei Zi to ask her brother to come out and meet her aunt. It was a lively scene.

Grandma Luo took the opportunity to tell Shiyi Niang the good news: "Your fourth sister-in-law diagnosed a pregnancy."

The lady was overjoyed when she heard this: "That's good, that's good! She is also a very smart and capable person." The old lady had a very good impression of the fourth grandmother.

Eleventh Lady thought of Di Jin...but quickly suppressed the thought and asked about Fourth Grandma Luo's situation.

"Everything is fine." Grandma Luo responded with a smile, and the group of people went to the east room.

After lunch, the lady took a rest and Grandma Luo went to see Eleventh Lady.

Sister Zhen has already returned to the Second Lady, while Madam Wen and Amber are still reconciling the accounts.

Grandma Luo was stunned.

Eleventh Lady looked at him and smiled, "You can't get fat by eating one bite. Madam Wen, have lunch and take a nap. It won't be too late to discuss it later this afternoon." She then formally introduced Madam Wen to Grandma Luo.

Madam Wen originally wanted to finish the unfinished business on hand first, but when she saw that Eleventh Lady had a guest, she smiled, bent her knees, bowed to Madam Luo, and withdrew.

Grandma Luo asked her in a low voice: "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Eleventh Lady smiled, "Let Madam Wen help with the accounting."

"Don't be confused." Grandma Luo disagreed, "How can I let her know the family accounts?"

"It's okay!" Eleventh Lady said, "This is her forte. It's easy for me and she'll like it if I find something for her to do." Not wanting to talk more with Grandma Luo, she smiled and changed the subject: "How is Fifth Aunt these days? Last time when I went to deliver the festival gifts, I asked Mother Song to pay her respects to Aunt. I heard that she's pregnant. With two pregnant women in the family, it's really hard for the eldest sister-in-law!"

"It's not that hard!" Grandma Luo said with a smile, "Your aunt is taken care of by the Sixth Aunt, and your Fourth Sister-in-law has her own mother and maid." Then she said, "I came here this time because I have something to tell you."

Seeing her serious expression, Eleventh Lady invited Mrs. Luo to sit in the inner room.

"Dad meant to go back to Yuhang after the summer," she said, "by then, except for me and Brother Xiu, everyone else will go back to Yuhang."

Although she had been prepared, she still couldn't hide her surprise when she heard the news: "Mother is still sick in bed, and my aunt and fourth sister-in-law are both pregnant, how can father..."

Grandma Luo thought for a moment and said frankly, "When Dad was in office, we didn't care about the monks' appearances, and the business was booming. But in recent years, the income has been less than the expenditure. It's too expensive for a family to live like this in Yanjing. Besides, Dad has figured it out now. When Elder Liu was in the cabinet, he suppressed Elder Chen and Elder Liang. If he wants to enter the government, he must have Elder Chen and Elder Liang. Elder Chen is not even fifty this year, and Elder Liang is only a few years older than Elder Chen. I don't know how long he has to wait. So he decided to return home."

Eleventh Lady didn't quite understand these things. She pondered and said, "Should we discuss this with the Marquis?"

"No need!" Grandma Luo said, "Dad asked me to say this to you because he was afraid that you would ask the Marquis to come forward." As she spoke, her face blushed slightly, "Dad meant that instead of worrying about him, it would be better to let the Marquis help your eldest brother find a good job. In the future, you and Brother Zhun will have someone to rely on."

Master Luo probably wanted to sacrifice his pawns to save his king. And if Master Luo continued to serve as an official, it might affect Luo Zhenxing's promotion.

Eleventh Lady hurriedly said, "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I will tell the Marquis about this matter."

Grandma Luo said what she needed to say, then served the tea with a smile, chatted with Eleventh Lady for a few minutes, and then left.

In the afternoon, Madam Wen came over on time. Eleventh Lady asked her, "Can you and Amber handle this? Do you want to ask a maid to come over and help?"

Madam Wen thought for a moment and said with a smile, "It would be best if we could ask a maid to come and help. If there is no suitable one at the moment, it may take two more days. I just don't know if Madam is in a hurry? If she is, please ask Miss Amber to work harder and look through the account books with me in the evening. We can catch up with the progress of the past two days!"

Eleventh Lady liked Madam Wen's attitude very much. She said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Pick any maid from my yard. Don't complain to me that you don't have enough manpower later!"

Madam Wen looked surprised.

Eleventh Lady smiled and called Zhu Xiang in: "Accompany Madam Wen to pick a maid!" She got up and went to the inner room to sleep.

Madam Wen looked at her back thoughtfully.

When Shiyi Niang woke up, it was already the beginning of the afternoon. Knowing that Binju was accompanying Zhenjie to embroider in the waterside pavilion, Madam Wen chose Xiulan to help. She nodded slightly and picked clothes with Zhuxiang for the incense burning at Ciyuan Temple tomorrow.

Early the next morning, she combed her hair into a high bun, wore a pearl headband, a plain green Hangzhou silk shirt, a foot-wide white Hangzhou silk skirt with golden grass insect pecking patterns, and a pearl bracelet that the old lady had given her earlier. She went to pay her respects to the old lady first, and then took Amber, Luyun, and seven or eight maids and old women to Ciyuen Temple.

The Zhou family had sealed the door behind the main hall long ago. Although the Xu family's carriage was inconspicuous, the driver and the accompanying maid held their heads high and chests puffed out, which was unusual. They hurried forward to ask. Knowing that it was the Xu family's carriage, a steward-like person took the reins and led them to a small courtyard in the back mountain and stopped.

The yard was full of jasmine flowers. Since it was not in bloom yet, the lush green was very attractive.

Madam Zhou prepared some golden stem dew and asked her to sit on the black lacquered Arhat chair which was covered with a bright red forging mat.

"I'm afraid they won't be here until the afternoon. It's a rare opportunity to have some free time, so let's take a break." The red lacquered and gold-painted storage box on the small table contained pickled goose feet, fried whitebait, smoked duck breast, braised pork elbow, chopped pork and other side dishes. There were also two pairs of ebony chopsticks and two small bell-shaped cups with golden lotus leaves.

She personally poured a glass for Eleventh Lady.

Eleventh Lady thanked him and said with a smile, "I can't drink much. I have to meet people later, so I dare not drink too much."

Mrs. Zhou laughed and said, "This wine is not very strong. It's not as good as Jinhua wine. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to serve it to you." She raised the glass and drank it all.

Eleventh Lady smiled and took a sip.

Mrs. Zhou did not force her and talked to her about the Wang family.

Eleventh Lady then realized that the Wang family now had six branches, with more than 200 people living together. Madam Zhou's mother had passed away, and her eldest sister-in-law was in poor health and had been bedridden for years. Madam Zhou's brother, the son of the Marquis of Zhennan, was the one who handled all the visits between relatives.

No wonder I have never seen the women of the Zhennan Marquis family.

The two chatted for a long time. Madam Zhou drank seven or eight cups of wine, and Eleventh Lady still had seven or eight points left in her cup. Madam Zhou was just laughing at her for being too cautious when a maid came in and said, "Young Master Sixteen and Young Master Nineteen came to Ciyuan Temple to burn incense. They heard that Madam was here, so they wanted to come and pay their respects to Madam."

"Let them in!" Madam Zhou asked her maid to clean the table while complaining to Shiyi Niang, "Why are they here so early?"

The maidservant beside Madam Zhou was very clever. She smiled and said, "I guess you are anxious, right?"

Mrs. Zhou laughed when she heard this.

Eleventh Lady hid behind the screen behind the Luohan bed.

After a while, two young men's voices came from outside: "Nephew Wang Yuan and nephew Wang Ze want to see their aunt."

"Come in!" Mrs. Zhou said in a gentle voice.

Eleventh Lady looked out through the crack in the screen.

The two men who saluted Madam Zhou were one wearing a honey-colored silk gown, about 17 or 18 years old, and the other wearing a royal blue silk gown, about 15 or 16 years old. They were both of medium build, handsome and tall, with facial features vaguely similar to Madam Zhou, but the former was very calm in his gestures, while the latter was gentle and reserved.

Although it was an appointment, we still had to go through the motions.

Mrs. Zhou asked about the situation at home.

The younger one spoke briefly and sparingly, while the older one was gentle and polite, and responded with words. Not only that, when the younger one was speechless, he could also smile and talk to Madam Zhou to liven up the atmosphere. This left a deep impression on Eleventh Lady.

After the two said goodbye, Eleventh Lady asked, "Which one is Wang Yuan? Which one is Wang Ze?"

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After reading the comments from the sisters in the comment section, I will explain it in the next updated article after the revision.

⊙﹏⊙bSweat!

Please forgive me for wanting to turn a watermelon-sized mistake into a sesame seed so that you can’t see it…