Eleventh Lady was busy delivering Dragon Boat Festival rice dumplings, realgar wine, and mugwort sachets to every household when news came from Huzhou.

"...What Fang Ji and Fang said are all true." Xu Lingyi's expression showed some satisfaction. "The young master of the Huo family is the only son in three generations. Mrs. Huo became a little crazy because of this. The rumor that Fang was unlucky became more and more intense. Although there were people who did not believe in these weird things, the Fang family either looked down on people for their shallow knowledge or ordinary character. As a result, fewer and fewer people came to propose marriage. Fang's marriage was delayed. When the third sister-in-law went to propose marriage, the people of the Fang family felt that it was not as good as the previous ones. Mrs. Fang was afraid that if she continued to choose, she would not be able to find someone like Qin Ge'er. So she hurriedly agreed to the marriage."

Eleventh Lady breathed a sigh of relief and pulled Xu Lingyi: "Let's go tell Mother."

After hearing this, the lady relaxed completely.

Eleventh Lady suddenly understood - it turned out that the lady also hoped that Fang was not lying.

"In that case, the Dragon Boat Festival is in two days. You can post a message to Sanjing Hutong and ask their whole family to come for a meal."

By then, if the lady gives another hint, given Fang's intelligence, she will probably turn around and pass the message to Fang Ji. Then the elders of the Fang family will bring Fang Ji to apologize, and the matter will be over, and everyone can go about their business.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but ask Xu Lingyi on the way back: "What are the plans for the Third Master?"

"What I mean is, let Third Brother take a break for a while, then visit relatives and explain the reasons for his resignation. Then he can come back to help us with the household affairs." Xu Lingyi smiled bitterly, "Mother disagrees. She says that Third Brother is also a father-in-law who has married our daughter-in-law. Instead of keeping him at home to help with these trivial matters, it would be better to let him open a shop or do some business outside, so that he can have face in front of his daughter-in-law and stand up straight. I thought about it carefully, and mother probably thinks that Third Brother's resignation has brought shame to the Xu family, so she wants to give him the cold shoulder. So she didn't force him." The implication is that she still wants to invite Third Master back to help manage the household affairs after some time.

Eleventh Lady thought for a moment and said with a smile, "My Lord, you think it's boring to deal with these mundane affairs every day!"

"With my salary, I can't even support you, let alone this big family!" Xu Lingyi laughed, "If it weren't for these farms and shops, how could our family survive? I just earn too little."

He tactfully admitted that he was unwilling to manage general affairs.

No wonder he pushed it to the Third Master.

Eleventh Lady pursed her lips and smiled.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, the third master brought his whole family to pay respects to the lady early in the morning.

The lady had just gotten up, and Mother Du invited them to have tea in the hall.

After waiting for a while, Xu Lingkuan and the Fifth Madam arrived with Xin Jie'er and Chen Ge'er.

After everyone exchanged greetings, Fang took out two colorful sachets from her sleeves and said, "My sister-in-law made these for you to wear for fun."

The colorful sachet is not rare, but the one with two small red gold fish hanging from the bottom is a bit rare.

Fortunately, the Fifth Lady had seen the world and could afford to return the gift. She smiled and had it accepted, and asked Xin Jie'er to thank Fang.

The third lady looked unhappy and hesitated to speak. She snorted coldly and turned her face away.

The Third Master was also a little surprised.

Fang had reported that he would give the children a sachet made by Fang himself as a gift. There was more firewood than rice, but life was not enough. Now that he was unemployed at home, he would save as much as he could. He was in favor of it. But he didn't expect that there would be a small red gold fish under the sachet. From the looks of it, even if it was hollow, it would take five cents to make it. If it was solid, it would probably weigh two or three taels. It would be more decent to buy some good wine and give it to them.

The third master shook his head secretly, thinking that Fang was incapable of managing the household.

But Fang had her own plans.

The mother-in-law wanted to go to Yaowang Temple with the lady to serve but was driven back. Today, she invited her family to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. She was thinking that married girls should go back to their parents' home on the Dragon Boat Festival. If the Xu family was still upset about the fact that she was a bad luck to her husband, they could just invite the third master and Xu Siqin to go. Now that she was invited, it meant that the people in Hehuali did not hate her as much as she thought before.

In this case, she should be more respectful to the lotus. However, there are all kinds of things in the lotus. She thought for a long time and remembered that when she was a child, her elders rewarded her with a few small red gold fish. She was so precious at that time that she drew a pattern according to her memory and asked her mother, who was in charge, to go to the silver shop to get them.

She smiled and looked at Xin Jie'er: "They are just some little things, as long as my sister likes them."

The fish was very beautifully made, with its scales and whiskers clearly visible. Xin liked it very much and nodded repeatedly.

Xu Lingyi and Shiyi Niang brought the children over.

Fang followed the third lady in paying her respects and gave each of them a sachet.

"I have one too!" Xu Siyu felt a little embarrassed.

"If they are not married, they are children," Fang said with a smile, "If they are children, they are all children."

The Fifth Lady smiled and covered her mouth, "Our Second Young Master has reached the age to get married." She then said to Fang, "Do you have a sister or relative who is both good-looking and has good character? Please help our Second Young Master find someone who is both beautiful and talented."

Fang smiled modestly and said, "I grew up with my grandmother, so I don't know many girls of my age, let alone those younger than me. I'll ask my eldest brother to help ask when the time comes!"

Speaking of Fang Ji, Madam Wu exclaimed, "Isn't it that Mr. Fang is spending the Dragon Boat Festival alone? How about inviting Mr. Fang to dinner? It will be more lively for everyone!"

Fang was stunned and looked at Eleventh Lady.

Eleventh Lady helped Jing'er take off his clothes: "I've carried him all the way here, how come he is so hot?" She didn't seem to notice their conversation.

Fang's expression darkened, and she was about to politely decline when Madam Du came out and said, "Madam, please come in and take a seat."

The topic was interrupted and everyone went into the inner room one after another.

The lady reached out and hugged the youngest son, Chen Ge'er, and teased the fifth lady with a smile: "You came to greet me so early, are you in a hurry to go back to your mother's home?"

Ever since the Fifth Lady became pregnant with Xin Jie'er, she ended her habit of staying half a day at her own home and half a day at her in-laws' home.

She pouted: "My mother-in-law is getting harder and harder to serve. If I come late, she says I am unfilial. If I come early, she says she wants to go back to her parents' home as soon as possible..."

"How can you talk to your mother-in-law like that?" Before the Fifth Madam could finish her words, Xu Lingkuan glared at her.

"Okay, okay." The lady smiled, "You don't have to defend your wife anymore. I won't say anything about her."

This made Xu Lingkuan laugh and cry.

The fifth lady smiled triumphantly.

When Jing'er saw that the lady-in-waiting was holding Chen'er tightly, he twisted his body and called "Grandma", wanting the lady-in-waiting to hold him too.

The old lady laughed and said, "Good, good, good. One on the left, one on the right. They are both my dearest children."

Jing'er sat on the lady's left leg and finally calmed down.

The lady handed the boy to the fifth lady and said, "You should go early and come back early. I will wait for you to come back for dinner." Then she looked at the third master and the third lady and said, "You should go back too!" Then she looked at Fang with a smile and said, "You and your fourth aunt are both married from Jiangnan. It is not easy for you to go back to your parents' home. Your fourth aunt is also going back to Gongxian Hutong today. Although your eldest brother is in Yanjing, he does not have his own house in Yanjing like your fourth aunt. You should stay with your second aunt and spend the Dragon Boat Festival with me, an old woman!"

Fang was startled, then quickly lowered her head and said "yes".

The voice was a little choked.

The third lady looked at his face, which turned blue and red.

As soon as she called out "mother", the lady waved her hand towards her, signaling her not to say anything more: "You can go back!" She no longer looked at the Third Master and his wife, kissed Jin Ge'er again and again, and told Xu Sizhun: "Come back early to accompany Grandmother."

Xu Sizhun hurriedly responded "yes".

The lady then reluctantly let go of Jing'er.

* * * * * *

When they came back from Gongxian Hutong, Fang, the Second Madam, and Madam Du were playing mahjong with the Madam Dowager.

"Why are you back so soon!" The old lady's eyesight was not very good. She was holding the cards, but the person playing cards was Yuban. She just raised her head and talked to Eleventh Lady.

"Auntie Wang is pregnant." Eleventh Lady said, "It's not good to disturb her. She will be back after lunch."

"Oh!" The lady handed the card to Yuban, "Auntie Wang is pregnant, and Grandma Luo is not in Beijing, you must send some supplements to her."

Eleventh Lady smiled and replied "yes". Except for the older Xu Siyu and Zhen Jie'er, who was becoming more and more stable as her wedding date approached, the other children all threw themselves on the old lady, chattering "Grandma" and making her so happy that she couldn't stop smiling.

As they were talking, the Fifth Lady and her family came back.

"Why are you back so early?"

"I was thinking about you, wasn't I?" Mrs. Wu said coquettishly, "Who knew you were having so much fun!"

When Xin Jieer saw Xu Sizhun leaning on the lady, she followed him and called out "Grandma, Grandma".

The lady smiled and carried Xin Jie to sit on the edge of the kang.

Fang quickly stood up and offered her seat: "Second Aunt and Aunt Du both think I'm too slow in playing cards, so please come sit with me, Aunt!"

As expected, the Fifth Lady went over and pushed Fang aside.

Xu Lingkuan went to pull her back: "As an elder, how can you compete with your nephew's wife for space!"

"Oh, how could I have snatched it? It was the eldest young lady who gave it to me."

Over there, Xin Jie'er and Jing Ge'er were fighting for the embrace of the Madam, one hugged the Madam's waist tightly, and the other hugged the Madam's neck tightly, and the Madam kept crying "Hey, hey". The room was bustling. They sat in the east room again and opened a mahjong table. Several children were running around. There was laughter. When the Third Master and the Third Madam came back, Mother Du had dinner served. The first dish was longevity noodles.

Everyone congratulated Eleventh Lady on her birthday.

The old lady gave a sapphire ring, the second lady gave two bottles of perfume, the third lady gave calligraphy and paintings by Zhang Xu Siqin, the fifth lady gave a red coral hairpin, and the children also gave some miscellaneous things.

Fang was very surprised. She glanced at Xu Siqin and said with a smile, "Aunt, you didn't even tell me. If I had known this would happen, I should have brought something with me." Then she stood up and bowed to Shiyi Niang, "I'll send you the birthday gift tomorrow morning. Please don't mind, Aunt!"

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I'll post a draft first and correct the typos later!

O(∩_∩)O~

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