"What's wrong with him!" Mrs. Gan laughed, "One third of the ancestral property was sold to buy sacrificial fields. During the two days of the lawsuit, the public income dropped sharply, and part of the property was sold. When the family property was divided, the ancestral property of the Zhongqin Marquis's mansion was only one third of the original. I'm afraid he will wake up in the middle of the night and laugh secretly."

Eleventh Lady was ashamed.

Madam Gan added: "The lawsuit was settled this way because Lan Ting made a lot of efforts in it."

Eleventh Lady was puzzled.

"Lanting is smart and cheerful. She is respected by her husband and liked by her mother-in-law. She gave birth to a son as her first child. She has firmly established herself in the Liang family." Madam Gan put the peeled lotus seeds in a small gold-plated dish and handed it to Shiyi Niang. "It's sweet and refreshing. Try it!"

Eleventh Lady ate one with a toothpick and said: "It's very sweet!"

Madam Gan continued the previous topic: "After the Gan family's uproar, only two people will have a hard time. One is Cao E. I'm afraid she won't even be able to prepare her dowry. The other is Bo Ye. The longer it is delayed, the more gossip there will be, and he will inevitably be seen as a man without moral integrity and incompetence. After all, they and Lan Ting are from the same mother. Lan Ting then asked her father-in-law to come forward and inform the Dali Temple to settle the case as soon as possible."

Eleventh Lady only cares about Cao E: "Then Cao E's dowry..."

"My uncle said it in front of Lanting. He will marry his sister the same way other families marry their daughters." Madam Gan peeled a few more lotus seeds and put them in the small gold-plated dish. "One hundred and twenty-four loads of dowry, make sure it's full, and never let anyone in the Jiang family talk about it."

Eleventh Lady thought of the two mothers of the Jiang family: "...Are there still serving here?"

"Still!" Madam Gan laughed as she spoke, "I used to think Cao'e was gentle and would suffer in silence when encountering such a thing. I didn't expect that although she was too upright in her words and deeds, she was also open-minded and had a strong character, which made the two mothers dare not look down on her and have some respect for her." She sighed softly, "My husband's family looks down on me, and my family has no one to support me. If I don't respect myself anymore, I'm afraid I will end up being a nobody. It's better to be strict and upright and strive for the word 'respect', rather than lowering my status and being looked down upon by others."

Eleventh Lady remained silent.

Before I even entered the door, I had no hope for the future... It's like a flower that has not yet bloomed but is already showing signs of withering.

There was a hint of sadness in the room.

Mrs. Gan smiled and changed the subject, asking about Hui Jie'er's marriage: "...I heard that the first one was carried to East Street, and the last one has not left yet."

"I heard about it, too." Thinking of the noise of the Lin family's gongs and drums, Eleventh Lady smiled, "I didn't go. Zhen Jie'er went to see her off. I specially asked Mother Song to follow her and serve her. Let's see what the scene is like when Hui Jie'er gets married. When the time comes, it would be better if our Zhen Jie'er gets married in a similar way."

Madam Gan nodded repeatedly after hearing this: "Both are daughters of noble families, and both are married to Cangzhou. Although Zhenjie's dowry doesn't have to surpass Huijie's, it can't be worse than hers." She then asked her, "Is Madam Wen helping to prepare it?"

"Yes." Eleventh Lady smiled, "She is very attentive. I see that everything she has prepared is more exquisite and more novel than the last. I'm afraid most of the 20,000 taels of silver given by the Marquis have already been spent. Only half of the dowry has been prepared." She drank a sip of sour plum soup, "I'm planning to settle accounts with Madam Wen in a few days to see if I can get the Marquis to give me some money privately to help out."

Mrs. Gan laughed when she heard this: "You are so good, you don't feel bad about spending other people's money."

Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "Money is earned to be spent. There is a saying that goes, if your descendants are to be successful, what is the point of leaving them money? If they are not successful, leaving them money is also useless. Rather than leaving a large amount of money to harm others, it is better to disperse it early and rely on yourself. At least you will have more wealth than those who come out of poverty with nothing."

Mrs. Gan couldn't help but savor it carefully after hearing it.

"That's right." She pondered, "Look at the Gan family. They were one of the founding fathers back then. They were also one of the few families that had always been favored by the emperor and had never suffered any setbacks. But look at them now. I'm afraid they can't even compare to the Weiyuan Marquisate."

The Weiyuan Marquisate, like the Yongping Marquisate, was stripped of its title in the past. The Xu family at least had a queen and a great general, but the Lin family, through several generations of management, turned a poor family into one of the richest families in Yanjing.

After saying this, he remembered that he had also inherited part of the Gan family's shop, so he stopped talking about this topic and asked with a smile about Eleventh Lady's birthday: "You can't have a birthday banquet this year, so won't it be a little lonely?"

"It's not quiet at all." Eleventh Lady smiled, "Brother Yu had someone bring back a folding fan with his own handwriting, Brother Zhun made a flute for me, Brother Jie gave me a can of his favorite crystal candy, and Sister Zhen made me two pairs of shoes. We all gathered together and happily ate a bowl of longevity noodles. It was very lively."

Mrs. Gan couldn't help showing envy.

She had no children in her life and loved children the most.

"Brother Jie also knows to give you something?"

"Yeah. It was given to him by the Madam before, but he was reluctant to eat it!"

"Bring him here someday so I can see him too." Mrs. Gan said with a smile, "I heard he's very handsome!"

"All the children are beautiful..."

The two of them chatted back and forth about the children for a long time, until the little maid came and asked where the kang table for lunch was placed. Then they stopped talking and went to have lunch.

Just as I put down my chopsticks, Mrs. Gan came to visit.

She just accompanied us to drink tea and chat.

Seeing that she seemed to have something to say, Eleventh Lady made an excuse to go to the purification room.

It’s just that Madam Gan lived in a small place, and the house was very quiet, so she could still hear clearly what she shouldn’t have heard.

"It was a mess a few days ago," Mrs. Gan said with some respect, "I didn't have time to greet you. It was a bit unbecoming. Now that the status has been determined, the original rules must be established. Master Bo wanted me to bring the children to visit you every morning and evening to fulfill my filial duty."

Madam Gan was very surprised to hear this, and after hesitating for a moment, she said, "No need. I'm a widow, so it's better for me to live a quiet and peaceful life."

"You can't say that," Mrs. Gan insisted, "No matter what, you are always our mother."

Mrs. Gan didn't dare to say anything.

Mrs. Gan was anxious and said, "We, as parents, should also set a good example for our children."

Madam Gan suddenly realized and thought for a while before saying, "Then come and ask about your well-being on the first and fifteenth day of every month! We can talk about it after the three-year mourning period is over."

Mrs. Gan breathed a sigh of relief, chatted with Mrs. Gan for a few words, said hello to Eleventh Lady, and stood up to say goodbye.

Mrs. Gan couldn't help but laugh at herself: "After all, I am still of some use!"

Eleventh Lady felt sad and could only comfort her: "No matter what the reason is, since they respect you as an elder, you don't have to be too fussy about it. If you like them, let them come and greet you. If you don't like them, just say you're not feeling well!"

Mrs. Gan laughed and said, "Isn't this a trick your mother-in-law often uses?"

Eleventh Lady naturally didn't want to say anything and just smiled.

Mrs. Gan thought of Shiyi Niang's sudden visit. She said, "You looked so relaxed, and I just wanted to talk to you when I came in. You didn't even say hello, and you just rushed to me like this!"

According to etiquette, before visiting someone, you should ask your mother to make an appointment to avoid the situation where the other party is busy or out of town.

"I was trying to avoid people." Shiyi Niang said calmly, "The wife of Marquis Jianning suddenly sent someone to visit me this morning. I didn't want to see her, so I came to you."

Mrs. Gan was startled when she heard this, and then became a little worried.

"This is not a solution!" she said, "Since the wife of the Marquis of Jianning wants to see you, if she fails this time, there will definitely be another time. Moreover, she and you are both marquis' wives, both royal relatives. Although you two didn't visit each other much in the past, now that Aunt Yang is involved, her visit to you can be said to be a normal courtesy visit between the wives of officials, or it can be said that she is visiting for the sake of Yang. You are avoiding her without even listening to what she has to say, which is a bit petty. If rumors spread that you are fighting with a concubine, people will misunderstand that you don't have the tolerance of a housewife, then it will be even more costly. I think you should meet her. At least listen to what she has to say before making any plans."

"I know all that my sister said." Eleventh Lady said meaningfully, "It's not that I haven't considered it. I'm just showing everyone my attitude." As she spoke, her expression became a little serious, "'Treat the Yang family as formal relatives', although this was said by Princess Fucheng, what the Yang family thinks and how others view it is a matter to be discussed. But if I were to meet the wife of Marquis Jianning without knowing the reason, and someone spread the news that I was 'treating the Yang family as formal relatives', then what would happen to me? What would happen to our Luo family?" At the end of the words, her tone was already stern.

Mrs. Gan thought what she said made sense, and her eyes dimmed: "What if I offend the Yang family because of this..."

"There are some things I can never agree to." Eleventh Lady looked firm.

Yes, if you become a relative of a concubine's family, it is equivalent to giving up your rights as the principal wife.

Lady Gan sighed and stopped trying to persuade her. She told the maid to bring a scented handkerchief and put it next to Eleventh Lady's pillow: "It smells like jasmine. Take a nap. It's not too late to think about those troubles later!"

Eleventh Lady was originally planning to go back at night, so she took a nap on the kang without hesitation. In the afternoon, she talked to Madam Gan about the wedding shop: "...Although we didn't make much money from the patches, we did make some money. Many officials in Yanjing knew that we could embroider patches for the palace, so they found the wedding shop to make patched clothes for us."

"That's great!" Mrs. Gan said with a smile, "One more business means one more income!"

"I think so too." Eleventh Lady smiled, "So let Master Jian make his own decision. If the price is right, there's no problem with the next step."

The two chatted about everything under the sun, and Eleventh Lady had dinner before going back.

※

Fortunately, Zhigong only had a broken collarbone.

Because I need to be hospitalized, updates will be a little late these days.

I am grateful for your caring messages.

Regarding the update problem, I will try my best to overcome it. If I really can't hold on, it's not too late to ask for leave from everyone. As for the extra updates I owe, it may take some time to pay them back. Thank you for your understanding!