Eleventh Lady was a little surprised to hear this.

She calculated that Xu Lingyi's trip to Zhangqiu would take about ten days if everything went smoothly. Even if he could find a way to come back, it would be in the evening, but she didn't expect him to arrive in the afternoon.

Grandma Lin was overjoyed: "Speak of the devil, and he will appear. What a coincidence!" She smiled and took Eleventh Lady's hand: "Then I will wait for your good news!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard a noise outside the hanging flower door.

The two of them looked out the door at the same time.

Xu Lingyi, wearing a half-worn blue coarse cloth gown, rode a red horse and slowly stopped in front of the hanging flower gate. Behind him followed a very gorgeous carriage with a colorful glazed canopy and green curtains and a large cart pulling a box cage.

Eleventh Lady was slightly surprised.

The car was parked in front of the hanging flower gate, and it was naturally the women. The noble families were dignified and solemn, and would never ride in such a ostentatious way. Then the people in this car...

She raised her eyebrows slightly and saw Xu Lingyi dismount from his horse.

"Eleventh Lady..." He was very surprised. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Grandma Lin standing beside him. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes again, "Grandma Lin?"

"The Marquis is back!" Eleventh Lady smiled and half-knelt down to bow, saying, "Grandma Lin is here to attend my coming-of-age ceremony!"

Mrs. Lin's eyes had already shifted from the carriage to Eleventh Lady, and then from Eleventh Lady to Xu Lingyi. Seeing this, she immediately explained, "I was just about to leave." She then said to Eleventh Lady, "It's getting late, and you've been busy all day. I'll visit you another day." Then she knelt and bowed to bid farewell to Xu Lingyi and Eleventh Lady.

The Lin family's carriage was already waiting on the side, and the maid accompanying the carriage hurriedly placed a footstool.

Eleventh Lady said polite words and walked Grandma Lin to the carriage.

"Eleventh Lady!" Someone called her name.

Grandma Lin and Shiyi Niang looked in the direction of the voice in astonishment.

Then I saw the curtain of the canopied carriage parked behind me sway, revealing a beautiful face.

Grandma Lin's heart skipped a beat, but Eleventh Lady next to her called out "Seventh Sister" in surprise.

The curtain of the carriage with a canopy was lifted up by the maid accompanying the carriage. The woman in the carriage with unusually gorgeous lingerie was smiling with her hands covering her mouth: "You weren't frightened?"

Who else could be so naughty but Qiniang who married to Shandong?

Eleventh Lady looked at her with both laughter and tears.

"You don't know what a coincidence it is." She laughed as she got off the carriage with the help of the maid, "The Marquis was in a hurry to get back, but his horse broke down on the way. He saw that my horse was good and insisted on buying it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get it."

Eleventh Lady couldn't help but look towards Xu Lingyi.

I didn't look at him carefully just now, but now I realize that although he has a straight posture and bright eyes, his face is dusty and there is a hint of weariness between his brows.

Xu Lingyi smiled faintly and said briefly: "At that time, there was no village in front and no shop behind."

Qi Niang smiled and said, "So I followed the Marquis to see you first!"

She wanted to buy a horse to pull a cart, and she had to buy one... There was a story behind this. Thinking that Grandma Lin was still by her side, Shiyi Niang naturally did not ask too much, and introduced Qi Niang to Grandma Lin: "This is my sister who married far away in Shandong."

Grandma Lin thought about her previous guess... and couldn't help but smile secretly. She greeted Qi Niang, said a few polite words, and took the carriage back to the mansion.

Amber and others stepped forward and saluted Qiniang.

Qiniang gave each of them one or two taels of silver as a reward.

Eleventh Lady welcomed Seventh Lady into the Chuihua Gate.

Xu Lingyi said, "I'm going to Banyuepan, you two sisters can talk!"

Eleventh Lady saw Xu Lingyi off and got on the small oil cart with Seventh Lady.

"Why did you return to Yanjing? And why did you take such a carriage?"

Qi Niang curled her lips after hearing this: "This is the Zhu family's carriage, it's already the shabbiest one!"

Eleventh Lady was speechless. She sat down with her.

She squeezed to the side of Eleventh Lady and said, "Ask the Marquis to help me sell this carriage! Replace it with a black painted one with a flat roof. I have been walking all this way without showing my face, for fear that others would think I was a nouveau riche."

Eleventh Lady laughed: "I'll just pull out a carriage for you to use. No need to sell the carriage, right?"

"Okay, okay!" Qi Niang was delighted, "Then I'll give you this car!"

Eleventh Lady laughed: "What do I need your carriage for?" She thought of the fact that the Laojuntang house where her second uncle lived was not very spacious and could not accommodate two carriages. "You can leave your carriage with me for the time being. You can take it away when you return to Gaoqing!"

Qi Niang's eyes darkened when she heard this: "I won't go back to Gaoqing!" Her voice sounded depressed and lonely.

"What happened?" Eleventh Lady couldn't help but grab her hand tightly.

Qi Niang's tears welled up in her eyes: "Zhu Anping, that bastard, he, he bullied me!"

Eleventh Lady was extremely confused and wanted to ask for details, but the small oil truck stopped.

She thought for a moment and told the maid driving the carriage, "Go to my place first, and wait for Seventh Aunt to wash up before going to pay respects to the Madam."

The woman driving the carriage replied “Yes”, and the carriage slowly drove towards the garden.

Eleventh Lady sat down, and Seventh Lady had already taken out a handkerchief and covered her face with tears.

She didn't ask any further questions and put her arm around Qinnan's shoulders.

Qi Niang leaned on her shoulder and sobbed.

Amid the rumbling sound of the carriage, Eleventh Lady patted her back gently.

Qinnan gradually stopped crying.

"I only brought Mu Fu and two maids with me." She sobbed, "You still need to find a few maids and old women to serve me!"

He still remembered to make these requests, and he seems to be in good mental state.

However, from what she said, she had no intention of returning to Laojuntang Hutong...

"Okay!" Shiyi Niang said with a smile, "Do you have enough money? If not, I'll ask Mu Fu to ask Amber to get some."

"I took a stack of silver bills from his study, and a bag of gold from the storeroom."

Eleventh Lady was surprised.

"He definitely didn't expect me to take the silver." Qi Niang smiled slightly, "He'll probably look for it near Gaoqing." There was a little pride in her smile, "but he didn't expect me to return to Yanjing." Then she pulled Shiyi Niang's sleeve and said, "Don't tell my eldest brother, fourth sister and third brother. If they know I'm in Yanjing, they will definitely tell mother. If Zhu Anping can't find me, he will go to ask mother. By then, he will find Yanjing!"

So many affirmations, so many certainties... Eleventh Lady suddenly realized that her nervousness was totally unnecessary.

"I see." She smiled, "So what are your plans!"

"I'll stay at your house for a few days first." Qi Niang said without thinking, "Since I'm back in Yanjing, I must go to Huguo Temple to eat rice sausage, go to the almond milk store on West Street to buy almond milk, and bring back a few ox horn combs from Yu Ji..."

Didn't you say you wouldn't go back to Gaoqing? Where should I take the ox-horn comb from Yuji?

Eleventh Lady laughed secretly.

Fortunately, the carriage stopped and interrupted Qinnan’s words.

They entered the pavilion.

"Mother!" Zhen Jie'er was leading Xu Sijie to throw sandbags and was slightly stunned when she saw Qiniang.

Eleventh Lady introduced them.

Qi Niang took off the pair of jade bracelets on her wrists and gave them to Zhen Jie'er as a gift, and gave ten one-liang gold ingots to Xu Sijie as a gift. It was obvious that these were not prepared in advance.

Shiyi Niang couldn't help but wonder what happened on the way? Did Qi Niang come to Yanjing with a plan? Or did she do it on impulse because she met Xu Lingyi?

She asked Amber to help Mufu help Qiniang wash and change her clothes, and she went to Banyuepan herself.

Xu Lingyi had changed into a lake-colored Hangzhou silk gown and was sitting on the kang by the window, talking to Lin Bo with a solemn expression. The atmosphere in the room seemed a little solemn. When he saw Shiyi Niang coming in, he stopped talking and asked her with a smile, "Who is the guest of honor at today's coming-of-age ceremony?"

Lin Bo retreated quietly.

"Princess Fucheng!" Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "The one who gave the praise was Madam Gan, and the one who gave the praise was Fifth Brother's wife." Then she pointed to the mutton-fat jade five-bat Ruyi hairpin on her head, "This was a gift from the Empress."

Xu Lingyi was a little surprised.

"It was all arranged by mother." There was a hint of gratitude in Eleventh Lady's smile, "Those invited were all relatives and old friends. It was very grand."

Xu Lingyi smiled and looked at her with a gentle gaze.

"What's wrong?" Eleventh Lady sat on the kang opposite him.

"Nothing!" Xu Lingyi smiled, "Mom likes you very much."

Eleventh Lady smiled and nodded: "I like you, too!"

Xu Lingyi smiled and touched her head.

Eleventh Lady didn't like this action. She leaned back slightly, trying to avoid his hand: "I'm already a 15-year-old..." Before she finished speaking, she felt a lightness on her head, a flash of lightning, and she thought of the hairpin that the Empress had given her... Eleventh Lady was horrified: "Xu Lingyi, Xu Lingyi, my hairpin..."

Xu Lingyi was sitting opposite to Shiyi Niang, and he knew the situation better than her. Just when the hairpin was about to slip off, he pushed the table in front of him away and grabbed the hairpin in his hand. When Shiyi Niang screamed, the two of them were already facing each other, falling on the kang with their mouths facing each other.

The right-fronted shirt with a bright red background embroidered with blue Baoxiang flowers with gold threads was gorgeous and beautiful, setting off her face as pure as a pear blossom. It had a kind of pure and flawless beauty that made his heart beat fast.

"Call me again!" He slowly buried his face in her black hair that exuded a faint rose scent, and whispered in a low voice with an inexplicable desire, "Call me Xu Lingyi again!"

Eleventh Lady was stunned for a moment, then her face turned rosy.

She only called him Xu Lingyi under one circumstance...

The breathing sound beside her ear became heavier and heavier, her earlobe was carefully held in someone's mouth, and a warm big hand stroked her back...a tingling feeling spread along her spine.

She gasped.

Push him: "... Today is my coming-of-age day... and Qi Niang... It's the Dragon Boat Festival... Mom said we should have dinner together..."

He looked up at her with sparkling eyes, then slowly leaned down... to kiss her lips.

Eleventh Lady turned her head away.

Xu Lingyi was stunned.

Lin Bo's voice came from outside: "My Lord, Lu Yun said that Aunt Qi has finished washing up. Ask when Madam will come over!"

As if hearing Buddhist teachings, Eleventh Lady pushed Xu Lingyi away and sat up.

"I'll be there soon!"

But Xu Lingyi hugged her around the waist.

"My Lord..." Eleventh Lady said with some anger.

"Come, sit down." Xu Lingyi's voice was neither too high nor too low, gentle and mellow, "I'll help you put on the hairpin."

* * * * * *

The lady was very happy to see Qi Niang. She took her hand and looked her up and down: "She is really beautiful."

Qi Niang smiled as sweet as honey: "That's because my eleventh sister and I both married well! So we are getting more and more beautiful as we grow older."

"Oh my!" The lady smiled so hard that her eyes narrowed into crescents. "Seventh Aunt is really good at talking."

"Madam, please call me Qi Niang!" Qi Niang said with a smile, "This is what my mother said. She said that girls have a rapeseed fate. If they are born into a good family, they will grow up well, and if they are born into a bad family, they will not grow up well. Others may not know, but I know it. Eleventh sister used to be thin and small, but now she is white and tall. Isn't this exactly the truth?"

The lady laughed.

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The power went out at 6am, so I can't guarantee an update... Please forgive me.

I'll post the draft first!