Eleventh Lady hesitated for a moment: "No!"

Shi Niang lowered her head and said nothing.

Eleventh Lady looked at Wang Chengzu, who was tugging at her clothes with a nervous look in his eyes, and said thoughtfully, "How about you and the child go back first! I'll let you know if there's anything."

Shi Niang said nothing and walked out holding Wang Chengzu's hand.

Everyone who saw her avoided her.

Eleventh Lady sighed and went into the inner room.

In the middle of the night, the eldest wife passed away.

The next day, an official document came down from the Ministry of Rites, declaring Wang Chengzu the Duke of Maoguo.

* * * * * *

The funeral was very lively. Scholars from the Shilin School came for Master Luo and Luo Zhenxing, nobles and generals came for Xu Lingyi, and people from the Luo family, Xu family, and even Yu Yiqing and Qian Ming were all busy with the funeral. Only people from the Jiang family attended the ceremony of Wang Chengzu's succession to the title.

The eldest wife's funeral caused a sensation in half of Yanjing City. Several months later, people in Yanjing were still talking about the funeral.

The eldest master seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. After the seventh day of the eldest wife's death, the Luo family began to pack up and prepare to return to Yuhang.

Luo Zhenxing came once during this period. He asked Shiyi Niang, "Am I not taking good care of her?" His eyes were full of hesitation and uncertainty.

Eleventh Lady had no way to answer.

The sweet-scented osmanthus flowers were in full bloom in early September, and the fragrance was a little pungent. The sky was clear and the weather was refreshing. However, Luo Zhenxing's steps were a little unsteady.

Eleventh Lady had already put away her hairpins and changed into plain clothes.

She quietly looked at Luo Zhenxing's receding figure, took a deep breath of the slightly cool air, and then turned back to the house.

Xu Lingyi was sitting on the kang reading a book. When he saw her come in, he put down the book in his hand and asked, "Is Zhenxing gone?"

Eleventh Lady nodded and sat opposite him: "She said that she would entrust the house in Beijing to Third Brother to take care of. Don't worry, he will take good care of Fifth Lady and Seventh Brother."

Xu Lingyi nodded: "Zhenxing is a man of his word. He will definitely do what he says."

When the first wife got into trouble, Luo Zhensheng would just stand there in a daze. If Luo Zhenxing was still like the first wife, only knowing how to suppress the illegitimate children, by the time Brother Xiu came of age, there would probably not even be anyone standing there in a daze.

Eleventh Lady didn't want to talk about these unhappy things with Xu Lingyi.

With the passing of the first wife, there are some grudges that should be let go if possible!

"It's just that the Marquis finally got to celebrate his birthday at home but couldn't organize a good celebration. I feel a little uneasy." She changed the subject.

The third day of September is Xu Lingyi's birthday. In the past few years, he was either in the army or on official business and was not in Yanjing. His family had not celebrated his birthday for many years.

"Why would I want to celebrate my parents' birthday when I already have them?" Xu Lingyi said disapprovingly, "Besides, you got up early in the morning and made me longevity noodles."

Thinking of the fact that he had eaten three bowls of longevity noodles, Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "If the Marquis likes it, I will make longevity noodles for him every year."

Xu Lingyi smiled and said nothing.

From then on, Eleventh Lady declined all invitations to banquets and focused on managing the household chores. She asked Master Jian for advice on needlework and occasionally visited Madam Gan.

When the Luo family left Beijing, she accompanied them all the way to the Xuanwu Gate.

Looking at the Luo family's carriage going further and further away, Eleventh Lady thought that her little sadness would pass in a moment, but her tears kept falling on their own and she couldn't stop them.

I don’t know when I will be able to see Fifth Aunt again and the baby in the cradle. By then, I’m afraid that everything will have changed and the scene will be completely different.

It was the first time Xu Lingyi saw her cry like this.

She turned her face away, and even though her tears were falling like rain, she held back her tears.

He sighed softly, held Eleventh Lady in his arms, and gently stroked her back, as if comforting a wounded animal, his movements were gentle and filled with some affection.

In the warm embrace and with the monotonous sound of the windlass, Eleventh Lady fell into a deep sleep while crying.

When I got home, it was already the beginning of the You period.

Zhu Anping and Qi Niang came to say goodbye: "The autumn harvest is about to begin, we have to go back and take a look!"

"Then you..." Eleventh Lady looked at Seventh Lady.

Qinnan glanced at Zhu Anping, blushed slightly and lowered her head.

Zhu Anping looked at her and laughed, "I asked her to stay in Yanjing. She wanted to go back to Gaoqing with me. Anyway, I prescribed a lot of medicine, so she can go back! We'll come back in a few days." Then he glanced at Qiniang and said, "She has become much more cheerful in Yanjing."

Qi Niang pouted after hearing this and asked if the Fifth Madam was at home: "...I need to tell her!"

"At home!" Eleventh Lady and Seventh Lady went to the Fifth Lady, leaving Zhu Anping and Xu Lingyi to talk.

When Mrs. Wu heard that Qi Niang was leaving, she held her hand and said, "When will you come back? I went back to my parents' home two days ago and asked my father to lend me the villa over at Chashihai. I want to go there to play ice skating with you in the future!" She asked her anxiously, "When will you come back? Are you going back to Yanjing?"

Even before she left, she was already anxious to see him next time. This kind of Fifth Lady surprised Eleventh Lady a little.

"Zhu Anping said that if I still don't make any progress, I should come to Yanjing after the spring sowing." Qi Niang said, suddenly excited, "How about you go to our Gaoqing to play? Our Gaoqing is also very fun. There are Dingzu Mountain, Niu Mountain, and many rivers. Oh, these two days are the time to pick grapes and apples, why don't you go to Gaoqing with us to play for a few days."

Madam Wu listened with fascination, but her eyes soon dimmed: "If I leave, what will happen to Sister Xin?"

Is it because the courtyard is too deep and you can't travel far away at will?

Qiniang knew it very well.

She knew that she had made a vague suggestion and smiled awkwardly.

Madam Wu asked about Qi Niang's itinerary: "When will you leave?"

"We'll leave the day after tomorrow." Qi Niang said with a smile, "I've asked my third brother to take care of the house. This way, we'll have a place to stay when we come to Yanjing in the future."

The Fifth Lady nodded, and after chatting for a while, they went to the Grand Lady's place.

When the lady heard that Qi Niang was leaving, she invited her to have dinner. Xu Lingyi entertained Zhu Anping in the outer courtyard. Before she left, he gave Qi Niang a lot of food and small items given by the palace and asked her to take them back: "Take them back and give them to relatives and friends."

Qi Niang thanked her, and Wu Furen and Shiyi Niang sent her to Chuihua Gate.

The Madam Tai instructed the Fifth Madam: "You should go and see her off when the time comes. Sister Xin has not had any asthma attacks these days, and she hasn't even coughed."

The Fifth Lady smiled and said, "I was just worried that you wouldn't allow me to do that." Then she smiled again, "If she had been two days late, I wouldn't have been able to send her off even if I wanted to."

The eldest prince was to be married two days later. According to custom, on the third day after the wedding, all officials would come to congratulate him, and the ladies of honor would go to the Empress Dowager and the Empress to congratulate him and give him a banquet.

"...Now that the weather is getting cooler, you might want to put on a cloak."

"That's easy," the lady looked at Eleventh Lady, "We need to prepare some food for everyone to eat in the car."

Eleventh Lady agreed and prepared food a day in advance. She was in mourning and could not enter the palace. After seeing off the lady and others, she went to Master Jian.

Master Jian was wearing glasses while embroidering a door curtain. When he saw her come in, he took off his glasses and said, "This is a great gift you gave me. It shows every detail."

Eleventh Lady smiled and took the glasses to look at them: "I will draw a picture and ask the master of Duobao Pavilion to help make it and see if it can be hung on the ears. It is too difficult to clamp it on the bridge of the nose."

"You always have a lot of ideas." Master Jian said, Qiu Ju brought up the tea, "Madam, calm down."

Eleventh Lady looked at the flower petals, which were as pure as jade and the stamens as yellow as gold, and said with a smile, "Was it a gift from the Second Madam?"

When the second wife heard that Master Jian had come, she came to visit him specially. Master Jian gave her a double-sided embroidered table screen with the pattern of "clouds, mountains and mist", which she liked very much and often came to sit with Master Jian.

Qiu Ju nodded with a smile: "It is said to be the Hangbai chrysanthemum from Tongxiang."

Eleventh Lady sat down and drank tea with Master Jian.

"Why did you think of embroidering door curtains?" She looked at the bright red silk gathered aside, which looked like a dowry for someone. "Your eyesight is not good. If you can't refuse, tell me. I will come out to stop you."

Eleventh Lady was afraid that someone would mistake Master Jian for an embroiderer.

"It wasn't someone else's job." Master Jian smiled, "I embroidered it myself."

Eleventh Lady was slightly stunned.

"I see Bin Ju's embroidered door curtains are selling well, but they take too much time." Master Jian said slowly, "So I thought about changing the technique to see if I can shorten the time. Now it seems that the effect is not bad." Master Jian said, and showed the door curtain to Shiyi Niang, "Look at this painting of magpies climbing branches. This place used to be embroidered with overlapping stitches, but I used cross stitches, which is much faster. The effect is even lighter than the ordinary overlapping stitches." She pulled out another painting and pointed it to Shiyi Niang, "Look at this painting of Man Chi Jiao. It used to be embroidered with cross stitches, but I left it blank and just outlined the edges. Doesn't it look beautiful?

The more Eleventh Lady listened, the more she felt something was wrong.

Embroidery is a science. Master Jian's specialty is double-sided embroidery and thread-tying. Logically, at Master Jian's level, she should think about how to make breakthroughs in double-sided embroidery and thread-tying, and pursue the merits that have never been done before and will never be done again. She couldn't calm down to study because of her difficult life. Now she is a guest in Yongping Marquis. She has fabrics and colored threads. Why doesn't she study what she is best at? Instead, she works hard on these ordinary auspicious patterns. Even if there are some changes, as Master Jian said, such changes only bring speed, and good embroidery is never about speed.

Master Jian knew her very well. Seeing that she remained silent, he smiled and said, "Don't guess. I'll tell you the truth. I want to open an embroidery workshop!"

Eleventh Lady was shocked: "Master?"

Master Jian refused to accept the invitations from Xianling Pavilion and suggestions from many wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan. Why did he suddenly want to open an embroidery workshop?

Master Jian supported Qiu Ju, who was dividing the lines on the side.

"I used to be alone, and my family was well fed. Now I have Qiuju by my side. I can't let her be like me, wandering around the world, embroidering until she is old and blurry and can't move, and then end up in the charity cemetery with a broken body, right?"

Master Jian has always been a self-reliant person. This is why she did not think of bringing Master Jian here after arriving in Yanjing. But opening an embroidery workshop, especially for a woman, is not an easy task.

She pondered and said, "Master, where are you going to open the store? If you haven't decided yet, why not open it in Yanjing?"

"That's exactly what I meant." Master Jian said with a smile, "Not only do I want to open an embroidery workshop in Yanjing, but I also want to drag you into it and make you our major shareholder."

This is Master Jian.

Open and generous.

"It seems like you've already had an idea." Eleventh Lady supported her face with her elbows and looked at Master Jian with a smile.

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New life, new beginning... ask for a new pink ticket!

O(∩_∩)O Haha~