Not to mention that Third Madam Huang came, even if Madam Huang came, she would definitely not be so honorable that she would require two people to make tea for her personally!
The third lady suddenly understood what was going on.
Grandma Huang San rushed over in such a hurry, obviously she wanted to talk to the lady about the Yang family being raided.
She silently followed Eleventh Lady out of the house and went to the tea room.
Eleventh Lady sent away the maid who was about to help, and waited for the water to boil by herself. She then flipped through the tea leaves on the shelf and discussed with Third Lady what kind of tea to brew later: "...Longjing is good, but it's a bit ordinary. Wuyi tastes too strong, and white tea tastes too light... I think Tieguanyin is better... But I don't know if Third Lady Huang likes it..."
The Third Madam looked at her and seemed to be looking for trouble. Thinking of her sharp reaction just now, she guessed that she must know the purpose of Third Madam Huang's visit... She stepped forward and took a tea can next to Eleventh Madam, and whispered, "Fourth Sister-in-law, has the Huang family committed a crime?"
The Huang family’s affairs are of great importance and this is not the time to discuss them!
"I'm not sure either," said Eleventh Lady. "But looking at Grandma Huang San's expression, it seemed like she had something to say to mother." She added, "When I pulled you out, didn't mother keep silent?"
It can be seen that there is really something to discuss with the lady!
The Third Madam listened and nodded, her voice lowered a few degrees: "I have heard that the Yang family has made a lot of money by lending money at interest. Do you think the Huang family has borrowed money from the Yang family at interest? Now that the Yang family has been raided, everyone will know about it, and the Huang family will lose all their reputation and wealth!"
Eleventh Lady pretended to be confused: "That shouldn't be the case! I don't think Third Lady Huang's daily expenses are like robbing Peter to pay Paul! Third Sister-in-law is overthinking. Maybe she just saw that the Yang family was raided and felt sympathetic. After all, we all know each other."
The Third Madam disagreed: "Their family was raided, why should we be sad..." At this point, she paused and said hurriedly, "Speaking of which, we still have a concubine Yang in our house! I think you should talk to the Marquis quickly, so as not to implicate our entire family because of her!"
"That's not the least!" Eleventh Lady laughed, "She was given to me as a concubine by the Queen Mother, and the Emperor agreed to it. It's not like we brought her in privately!"
"That's right!" The Third Madam thought about it and felt that she was worrying too much. She smiled and said, "If we talk about worry, the Zhongshan Marquis family is more worried." At this point, she covered her mouth and laughed, "And Elder Liang... I'm afraid he must be regretting it now!"
"The crime does not apply to married women," Eleventh Lady said with a smile, "I think it should not be a big deal, right?" However, the indifference and alienation of Mrs. Tang Si towards Mrs. Liang San came to her mind.
"Oh my!" The Third Lady looked at Eleventh Lady with a look that said "How come you don't understand anything?" "Even if the Emperor doesn't punish her, without the support of her family, this woman will never be able to gain a foothold in her husband's family..."
She was talking rapidly, but Eleventh Lady's thoughts were flying far away.
I wonder if the emperor will keep his promise to Xu Lingyi and just reprimand the Huang family... And the Yang family, will they just confiscate their property? Or will they punish all the women, children, and the elderly in the family? If it's just exile, that's fine, but I'm afraid they will be punished without any support, with the men being made servants and the women being made prostitutes...
Suddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder.
Eleventh Lady was shocked.
"What are you thinking about?" The confused face of the Third Lady came into her sight. "The water is boiling!"
"Oh!" Shiyi Niang hurriedly poured the Tieguanyin in her hand into the teapot, "I'm thinking about the Yang family!"
The Third Lady didn't take it seriously and said, "Anyway, our family and their family are enemies, and everyone knows it. Even if those people from the Dali Temple were to make a mistake, they wouldn't come to our house." At this point, she whispered to Eleventh Lady, "You say, if the Huang family is really implicated, Qin'er's marriage... we can't let this affect his marriage, right?"
The implication is that the matchmaker should be changed!
Eleventh Lady tried hard not to show her anger and said, "The Fang family's dowry gift list has been sent over, and the amount of the betrothal gift has been agreed upon with Madam Liu... I think it's better to let Third Madam Huang take care of it all. Anyway, the Marquis will be invited to officiate at Qin'er's wedding, so you can just invite someone else to be the lucky bride!"
Usually, matchmakers will invite a lucky person to perform at the wedding unless there are special circumstances.
The third lady hesitated after hearing this.
Eleventh Lady was afraid that she would really do such a thing, and added: "We don't know whether the Huang family is involved or not, and even if they are, we don't know what the situation is. If something really happens to the Huang family, and Third Sister-in-law does this, others will inevitably say that we are adding insult to injury, which will damage Qin'er's reputation; if nothing happens, wouldn't it offend the Huang family and make people unhappy for nothing!"
The third lady nodded helplessly.
* * * * * *
After seeing off Grandma Huang San, the lady went to the Buddhist temple accompanied by Mother Du.
Eleventh Lady and Third Lady went their separate ways.
After that, within a short time, the whole household knew that the Yang family had been raided.
Yang's face turned pale, and she shook uncontrollably while holding Yang Mama's hand: "Mom, how could this happen? How could this happen? After all, this is the Empress Dowager's family. Even if there is something wrong, we can just be severely reprimanded... How could our house be ransacked!" As she spoke, tears fell from her eyes, and she was as frightened and helpless as a ten-year-old child.
Although Mother Yang had experienced a lot, this was the first time she had encountered such a thing. She was even more panicked. Seeing that Yang was like this, she had to cheer up and pretend to be calm.
"It's okay, it's okay!" She held Yang tenderly, rocking her gently as if she were a baby in swaddling clothes, "Mom is here! It's okay, it's okay..."
The warm embrace made Yang stay for a while.
Then she slowly sat up.
Nothing? How can it be nothing?
She is not an ignorant child of three or two years old who thinks she will be fine if she hides in the arms of an adult!
"Mom, please get me a basin of water. I want to wash my face!"
This child is very strong even when he is young. Now that something like this has happened and the news came from the third room, I don't know how many people are laughing at him. No matter how uncomfortable he is, he can't go out in a sloppy manner. Otherwise, those mean people who only know clothes but not people will see him and make a fool of him. Getting angry with such people is a degradation of one's status.
Mother Yang nodded and went to fetch water herself.
Yang opened the mirror case and dumped out all the gold and silver jewelry. Then she lifted the red velvet cloth covering the mirror case, took out five silver bills, put them in her sleeve, and put the glittering gold jewelry back into the mirror case. She sat there quietly waiting for Mother Yang to come in.
* * * * * *
When Qiao Lianfang heard the news, she was copying scriptures at her desk and frowned.
"We should stay out of other people's business."
Zhu E retreated awkwardly and met Xiu Li at the door.
"What's wrong?" she asked Zhu'e with a smile.
Years ago, Zhu Rui's parents used the excuse that they had arranged a marriage for Zhu Rui and took her home with the help of Mama Du. Eleventh Lady added a new maid named Yin Qiao to their house. She was very smart, but a little too smart. She once said to Dong Hong, who was beside Madam Wen, "My parents sent me to the mansion just to have a decent background. I will stay here for four or five years and then they will take me back. I don't ask for merit, but I ask for no fault. I will do whatever I am told to do, and I will naturally stay away from things I am not allowed to do."
Girls who have worked as maids for the mistresses of wealthy families are usually found to be more knowledgeable and dignified than some young ladies from wealthy families, and can usually be married off to good families.
When Xiuzhen heard this, she felt a little unhappy with Yinqiao. But she became much closer to Zhu'e, who was sincerely serving Qiao Lianfang.
"Nothing!" Zhu E also felt that she was a little startled, so she smiled and went back to the house to do needlework.
If it was normal, Xiu Li would have had a good talk with her, but today...
Thinking of this, she quickly went to Qiao Lian's room.
"The Third Madam is waiting for you at the back door!"
Qiao Lianfang was shocked and put down her pen: "What's the matter, mother?" As she spoke, she got up and went to the inner room to change clothes.
Xiu Yuan grabbed Qiao Lian Fang's arm and said, "Aunt, you must think twice before doing anything about this!"
Qiao Lianfang disagreed: "Today is the New Year and my mother came to see me. The Marquis and his wife didn't say anything, and his wife even gave me a table of food..."
It has been a long time since the incident and everyone seems to have forgotten the original ban.
Xiu Li pulled on him even tighter: "The Third Madam also asked if the Marquis was home and what he was doing?"
Qiao Lianfang was stunned.
Xiu Li gritted her teeth and said, "Last time I went back, I heard from my mother that the Madam and Madam Yang have been lending money together these days and have made a lot of money. They are very generous. Even the Marquis has a new person around him and she doesn't bother to care about him. She is only thinking about how to make money... Now the news that the Yang family was raided has just spread and the Third Madam is here... You will meet the Third Madam later. You should help if you can, but if you can't, you should also explain to the Third Madam clearly!"
Qiao Lianfang shook her head: "My mother has never begged me. Now that she has come for this matter, she must have no other choice. As long as she asks, I will always give it a try."
* * * * * *
Madam Wen was running around in the room like an ant.
I didn't expect the emperor to act so quickly! He was so ruthless! The empress dowager hadn't even gone through the mourning ceremony, but he just copied her!
Qiuhong pushed the door open and walked in.
"What's the matter?" Madam Wen came forward immediately.
Although Qiuhong, who is six months pregnant, is wearing loose clothes, her bloated figure cannot be concealed.
"My husband said that the Wen family's shops are open as usual. But the managers are not in the shops."
After hearing this, Madam Wen sat down on the armchair next to her.
"Any other news?" She was as pale as paper.
Qiuhong was about to say something when a little maid ran in: "Sister Qiuhong, your maid ran in and said she has something important to tell you."
"Maybe my husband has something to say and asked her to pass it to me." Qiuhong whispered to Madam Wen and invited the little maid to come in.
Seeing that only Qiuhong and Madam Wen were in the room, the little maid boldly said, "The third madam of the Wen family is going to visit our house, and the madam asked the madam to go back quickly to entertain the guests."
Qiuhong looked at Madam Wen.
Madam Wen lowered her head and thought for a long time, then told Qiuhong: "Stay here for a while, I'll go see the lady. If there's anything, we can talk when I come back."
Qiuhong hurriedly responded and called Donghong in to help Madam Wen change her clothes.
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O(∩_∩)O~