No wonder when the witchcraft incident happened, Xu Lingyi dealt with all the people involved without asking any questions.

If you keep checking, everything will fall like dominoes.

This again involves Madam Wen.

"Fourth Madam," Aunt Yi was afraid that Eleventh Lady would not believe her, so she spoke louder and louder, "Aunt Qin has been harboring ulterior motives for a long time. All these years, she has been obsessed with how to make the second young master she gave birth to ascend to the throne of the prince. Inviting Zhu Dao Po and making the villain were all her doings. I really have nothing to do with it. I am also a victim." As she spoke, she knelt on the ground with a plop, "Fourth Madam, I have no grudge against you recently or in the past. What good will it do me to harm the fourth young master? But Aunt Qin is different. If the fourth young master has any problem, although it has nothing to do with you, as a stepmother, you can't help but make mistakes. People are sitting in the room, and suddenly such a natural disaster falls from the sky, you are No matter how broad-minded you are, you will be furious after such an injustice. Under normal circumstances, you can just lie down for two or three days, take some medicine to regulate your qi, and talk to your personal maid, and the matter will gradually pass. But you are pregnant, and you are not feeling well, and the fetus is not in an stable position. Can you bear this? Can the unborn Sixth Young Master bear this? If the Sixth Young Master in your belly makes a fuss because of this... " She paused and kowtowed, "Fourth Madam, from the beginning to the end, it was Concubine Qin who got away with it. You must open your eyes and see it clearly. Don't let your loved ones be sad and your enemies be happy, and let those villains get away with it in vain!"

Amber, who was listening nearby, had her heart pounding.

What Aunt Yi said makes sense.

Everyone knows that the Fourth Young Master is weak, and he would be sick for several days if he was held in the air by the Fifth Young Master twice. If he died of shock or was in a trance and could not serve as the Crown Prince, I am afraid that Eleventh Lady would be responsible for her negligence. If Eleventh Lady was so anxious and angry that she had a miscarriage...

Thinking of this, she suddenly remembered that Aunt Qin had always asked about Eleventh Lady's health for no reason a few days ago.

Could it be that Aunt Qin had planned this since then?

Amber looked at Eleventh Lady worriedly.

"Madam Yi, please stand up and talk!" Eleventh Lady's expression was a little solemn. "I understand what you mean. I will tell the Marquis about this matter. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first. The Fourth Young Master will rest for some time, and I have to go back to take care of him." After saying that, she winked at Amber, turned around and left the room.

"Fourth Madam, please listen to me..." Aunt Yi's unwilling voice followed closely. Eleventh Lady whispered to the servant who was walking towards her quickly, "Don't let Aunt Yi talk nonsense." Then she quickly walked out of the yard with Amber.

The sun has risen, shining warmly on the camphor tree as thick as a bowl beside the backyard steps, and the unique fragrance of the camphor tree is baked to be even more intense.

Eleventh Lady stood still on the steps, the mottled sunlight shining through the gaps in the camphor tree leaves quietly falling on her moon-white dress, which was clean and tidy, and the air was even a little cooler.

Amber, who was following behind her, didn't know why she stopped here. She stood on tiptoe and looked in the direction her gaze fell, and her gaze happened to fall on the green trumpet creeper vine climbing on the pink wall.

Inside the pink wall lives Madam Wen.

"Madam," Amber guessed what was on Eleven Niang's mind, "Should we go to Madam Wen's place? Speaking of which, you haven't given Qiuhong the extra box yet? Better today than tomorrow, I think, let's go today!"

Eleventh Lady thought for a moment and said, "Go open my mirror case and put the pair of red gold lilac hairpins in a lotus leaf package as a gift for Qiuhong!"

Amber nodded and trotted to the main house.

A breeze blew by, and the entire East Courtyard became quiet.

The door of Aunt Qin's courtyard was closed, while that of Aunt Qiao and Yang was half-open. Two little maids were playing with sandbags under a big tree between the two courtyards. One of them seemed to have heard something. She jumped up suddenly, said something hurriedly to the other, and flashed into Yang's courtyard. The door slammed shut with a creak.

Another little maid slowly stood up and walked dejectedly into Aunt Qiao's yard.

Eleventh Lady smiled slightly.

Amber came back and said, "Madam, the things are packed!" Then she handed the purse to Eleventh Lady to see.

Eleventh Lady did not open it, nodded, and went to Madam Wen's yard with Amber.

Madam Wen was counting Qiuhong's dowry. There were things on the table, on the chairs, on the coffee table... everywhere.

"Let's sit in the inner room!" Eleventh Lady smiled and went to the inner room.

The inner room was not much better. On the east side of the big kang near the window, there were more than a dozen pieces of silk and satin neatly stacked.

Madam Wen hurriedly moved Eleventh Lady to the west side of the big kang, pushed the cloth inward, and half-sat on the east side.

"Madam, is there anything I can help you with?" She took the teacup from Donghong's hand with a smile and placed it respectfully in front of Shiyi Niang.

"I've been busy these days," Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "and I'm not in the mood to come and sit with you." As she spoke, she motioned to Amber to give the items in the box to Madam Wen.

Madam Wen naturally thanked her again and again, and then called Qiuhong out to kowtow three times to Eleventh Lady.

Eleventh Lady accepted it with a smile, picked up the teacup and sipped the tea carefully.

Madam Wen was a smart woman. She signaled the servants in the room to leave.

Eleventh Lady asked her softly, "I heard that when Madam Wen first came into the family, she lived in the west wing of the backyard of the old residence of the Marquis, in the same courtyard as Madam Qin and Madam Tong?"

Madam Wen's smile faded slightly and she sighed secretly in her heart.

There are some things that you can’t avoid no matter how hard you try!

But it's okay this way.

Instead of always bearing this in his heart, he might as well tell Shiyi Niang and let her find out what happened. Then he can sleep peacefully.

She nodded, "My family never thought that I would become a concubine in the Marquis' Mansion. The dowry that was originally prepared is no longer needed. However, I am reluctant to let go of the maids and old women who serve me. Also, because I married from the south to the north, my living habits are different. My family talked to the Madam Tai about it, and she agreed to let me bring the people I am used to. She also arranged maids and old women for me according to the custom of the mansion. Since I have many people around me, I live in the west wing alone. Aunt Tong and Aunt Qin were assigned two maids and two old women who did rough work. Since they were short of manpower, they lived in the east wing."

According to convention, a concubine should have a third-class maid, two young maids, and two old women around her...

"Why weren't maids and old women assigned to Concubine Tong and Concubine Qin as per custom?" Eleventh Lady put down the teacup in her hand.

The faint sound of porcelain tapping is crisp and clear.

"The family was not very stable at that time. Today or tomorrow, there were always people leaving. The Madam was ill, and the Third Madam was pregnant, and they both needed help. The Second Madam had to take care of the Madam and help her manage the outer courtyard. The First Madam had just taken charge of the household affairs, so it was inevitable that she would not be able to take good care of things. So we had to let the people in our own room suffer for the time being. So we transferred a few newcomers from the outer courtyard to serve in the rooms of Aunt Tong and Aunt Qin."

Madam Wen had a clear gaze and a frank attitude, which was very different from her usual expression of distance and wariness when she was laughing.

Eleventh Lady knew that she was speaking in private at this time, so she did not beat around the bush and said frankly, "Although I have only met the eldest sister a few times, I feel that she is a shrewd, capable and smart woman. Normally, let alone during the precarious times of the Marquis' Mansion, even in normal times, when the concubines are pregnant and need to be carefully taken care of, how could they be allowed to make rules? I wonder what kind of rules these are?"

"The late Madam set rules for us, which were nothing more than visiting her in the morning and evening, setting the table and placing chopsticks, serving soup, sewing, and so on." Madam Wen said, "It's just that I'm new here, and I'm used to being the eldest daughter at home, so I couldn't change it for a while. In addition, I got pregnant not long after entering the mansion, and it wasn't easy to be pregnant, so I only served the late Madam for a few days. Unlike Madam Tong and Madam Qin, they have been used to it since childhood, and they were a little at a loss when they were asked to take a break. Also, seeing that the late Madam was busy day and night, and seeing that she was not in any serious condition, I went to serve the Fourth Madam in her room." She paused and said, "After the Marquis left, he handed over the affairs of the outer courtyard to Chief Steward Bai. But at that time, the outer courtyard was under the care of the chief steward. People in the city said that the Yongping Marquis's Mansion was going to be in trouble. Several stewards in the outer courtyard gradually became restless when they saw that the main master of the Xu family was not there and there were only women and children. They managed their own business very well, hoping that they could leave when the Xu family fell into decline. Butler Bai was a newly promoted steward. Some of these restless stewards had worked for the old marquis before, so steward Bai gradually became unable to control them. The old lady had to drag her sick body out to manage the affairs. The second lady, who was taking care of the old lady, was good at arithmetic, so she occasionally helped with the small accounts when the old lady was not in good spirits. Later, the old lady's illness became more and more serious, and some matters in the outer courtyard were handed over to the second lady and steward Bai.

"The housekeepers in the inner courtyard saw the situation in the outer courtyard, and some of the senior ones became disloyal. Sometimes they said they had to add more incense sticks, and sometimes they said they had to buy broken things. They kept asking for money every day, but they couldn't pay. Some of them were originally favored by the second wife, but suddenly changed their master and behaved completely differently. They thought that they didn't know if they could keep this job for long, so they just did their job. Some of them just watched the fun from the side, and didn't ask for credit for anything they were asked to do, but only wanted to avoid mistakes. They dragged their feet. The first wife pressed one and another floated up, and ten fingers were not enough. After a long time, she couldn't help but feel anxious. When she was in the hands of the second wife, everything in the mansion went smoothly, but why couldn't she turn it around when she was in her hands? She didn't tell anyone, for fear that others would know the joke. She held her breath and fought with the housekeepers, and went back to the room and lay down to sleep, unwilling to say more. She didn't go to the old lady very often, so how could she have the energy to take care of us? All the things in the room were entrusted to Mother Tao!"

Eleventh Lady was a little surprised.

Somehow, I thought of the first wife.

"So how did Mother Tao treat you?"

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Make up for the extra update on March 6th.

O(∩_∩)O~

I'll post a draft first and fix the bugs tomorrow!