Qing Yuan didn't care about the first wife's reaction.

On the surface, the first master's family and the third master's family are at peace, but in fact, they are at loggerheads with each other. Moreover, this is what the first wife is willing to believe. As someone in the third master's family, even if she flatters the first wife, she will not only not appreciate it, but will also think that the third master owes the first master and is trying to please them. Why should she give the third master's face to the first wife?

Qing Yuan and Hu Xing discussed the matter of fresh fruits: "It is the season when everything comes back to life. Cherries are out of season, but wild water chestnuts should be on the market soon, right? In any case, you should find a way to send some over. When the Third Elder comes back, I will have something to say to him."

"Of course." Hu Xing was shocked, but at the same time, he felt a little proud in his heart.

He has always been courteous to the Yu family, so this move was the right one.

"Don't worry." He assured Qing Yuan, "Except for the few old Ans, there is Miss Yu here. No one can be without Miss Yu."

Qing Yuan thought about it and said, "That doesn't have to be the case. Miss Yu is younger than me, and it would be bad if we treat her too well and attract other people's attention."

Hu Xing smiled and said, "Why should you worry about me doing this? I guarantee that no one will notice or say anything."

Qing Yuan nodded with satisfaction.

Hu Xing is one of the three stewards in the palace. If he doesn't have this kind of vision and ability, the position of steward should be replaced.

She carried half a basket of apples back to Yu Tang's place and cut a plate of fresh fruit and brought it in.

Yu Tang learned from Liu Gongquan, while Miss Xu learned from Madam Wei. Yu Tang's handwriting is more aggressive, while Miss Xu's is much softer. But Miss Xu's handwriting is obviously better than Yu Tang's.

Qing Yuan remained calm, moved the pen holder between them, and said with a smile: "Eat the fruit before copying! Otherwise, the fruit will turn black soon."

Miss Xu was just killing time, but now she had other things to do, so she immediately dropped her pen and pulled Yu Tang to eat apples, saying, "The cherries were delicious yesterday! Are there no cherries today? I'll ask Ah Fu to give you some change and send a servant to buy some."

Qing Yuan personally served tea to the two of them, and said with a smile: "The cherries here in Lin'an are not big and are rather sour. The cherries yesterday were sent over from Shandong at full speed. They are big and sweet. We didn't expect that the two young ladies like to eat cherries from Shandong. I will give the order now, but I'm afraid they won't be able to come today. We have to wait for a day or two. Otherwise, send someone to buy some local cherries first? If the two young ladies think they are too sour, you can add rock sugar or honey to make jam and drink it with water. It's also very delicious."

Miss Xu couldn't help but look at Qing Yuan with admiration and said with a smile: "Your method is often used in our family. When did you enter the mansion? Have you ever been to the capital with the Third Elder?"

The climate in Beijing is dry, with lots of wind and sand, so fruits are not easy to store and are usually made into jam.

Qing Yuan smiled and said, "My family is a family of servants. I entered the palace when I was five years old. I used to serve in the house of Old An. When I was eight years old, I started to serve the Third Elder. When the Third Elder went to the capital, I followed him."

That is to say, she first entered the mansion and learned the rules in Old An's house.

He is a true confidant and servant of the world.

Miss Xu nodded secretly.

Yu Tang also noticed that Qing Yuan was different, but she felt that she was just a passer-by in Pei Mansion. As long as Qing Yuan treated her with courtesy, she should respect Qing Yuan. There was no need to inquire about other things. Knowing too much was not a good thing.

The three of them chatted and laughed, and soon it was lunchtime.

Mrs. Yang San, who lived next door, felt very disgusted when she saw the eldest wife sitting opposite her drinking tea calmly.

The words have been made very clear. The Yin family has few members, and they value both sons and daughters. It is impossible for them to marry their daughters to Pei Fei. Does the eldest wife of the Pei family really not understand? Or is she pretending to be confused?

Mrs. Yang San no longer wanted to talk to her, and even less did she want to annoy herself by inviting her to have lunch.

She brought the tea and said with a smile, "I still need to take medicine, so I won't keep you here. We can have a good chat now that we have some free time."

The eldest wife was very disappointed.

She thought that Madam Yang San must be very bored since she was refusing visitors with the door closed, and would welcome her, an old friend from Beijing. However, she did not expect that Madam Yang San was still as annoying as before, and every word she said was full of thorns. The two of them could not even sit at the same table.

But she would fight for her second son's marriage no matter what and would not let the Pei family decide.

It’s just a pity that there is no girl of the same age as the second son in her family, otherwise why would she go so far away?

The first wife was not a shameless person. She had been able to hold on until now because of her motherly love. Now that she had been rejected so blatantly by Mrs. Yang San, she could no longer hold on.

She stood up and said goodbye with a grim face.

Mrs. Yang San personally saw her out.

When he went out, he saw an old woman from his room holding a large blue and white porcelain plate and talking to someone at the door.

Seeing Mrs. Yang San and Mrs. Pei Da, they immediately stood aside with their hands down.

They would have been fine if they just walked over, but the first wife wanted to show her tolerance and magnanimity, so she smiled and asked, "What are you doing?"

The maid in Mrs. Yang San's room said hurriedly, "Miss Yu sent a large plate of vegetarian food over, and I'm thanking her right now."

When the eldest wife saw that the unfamiliar old woman was holding a snack box in her hand, she did not take it seriously. She exchanged a few words with Mrs. Yang San and returned to her quiet room.

Who would have thought that as soon as I sat down after entering the room, I heard the little maid say that Mrs. Yang had been wronged today.

The eldest wife frowned and called Mrs. Yang over to question her.

Mrs. Yang looked patient and said gently, "It's not a big deal. Didn't you say yesterday that you would give Bai Zhi a few vegetarian buns and let her take them out to her relatives to taste? Today, she went to get the buns, but Miss Yu thought they were delicious and took a big plate, so there was no share for her. I wanted to go to the kitchen and ask someone to make an extra portion. The kitchen had never encountered such a thing before, so I didn't know what to do. I thought it was not worth it to embarrass someone else's stove for such a thing, and we will have to eat other people's food in the future, so I told them to save a portion for us tomorrow, which can be regarded as making up for today's matter."

The eldest wife thought of the scene she had just seen.

She couldn't help but sneer and said, "So you want to curry favor with Madam Yang San. I don't know what good you can get from currying favor like this."

But she was even more aware in her heart that she couldn't bring any benefits to others in Pei's house, and she felt that life was becoming more and more difficult, and she couldn't get through it even for a moment.

Lin'an is the eldest wife's in-laws' home after all, but Mrs. Yang is completely unfamiliar with the place. Her son is still working for the Yang family, and the longer she stays there, the more uncomfortable she will feel. She wishes she could return to the capital as soon as possible.

She asked, "When will the eldest son go to Hangzhou?"

Lin'an Pei family is the only one in power. Even if she calls her son to help Pei Tong and Pei Fei, her son will have to find a place to use his talents. But Hangzhou is different. The four major surnames in Jiangnan have clans settled there. The Pei family can't have the final say and control everything, right?

The eldest wife smiled and said, "No hurry. My uncle-in-law came over and specially called Atong over to test her homework. They must be very satisfied. Even if we are not anxious for Atong's business, they will be anxious."

Otherwise, why would she choose Gu Xi as her daughter-in-law?

Still the eldest son and daughter-in-law!

Back then, the Gu family even looked up to someone like Li Duan, let alone her son.

"However, Atong is still young and doesn't care much about social interactions." The first wife pondered, "You should prepare some gifts and ask Atong to visit her uncle-in-law more often whenever she has time. Our uncle-in-law is not an ordinary scholar. When the eldest master was alive, he praised him more than once and said that there were no girls in our family, otherwise he would definitely find a way to marry him."

At this point, she thought of the scene when her husband was talking to her, and she couldn't help but smile.

Mrs. Yang was extremely sad.

If the eldest master was still alive, why would the eldest wife have to worry about all these things?

But the eldest master's illness came too suddenly. He died without even a word...

She lowered her head and quietly wiped the corners of her eyes.

The eldest wife now looked at Yu Tang. She asked Mrs. Yang, "Who is that Miss Yu? If I remember correctly, Miss Gu even mentioned her to me."

Because of the vegetarian buns, Mrs. Yang had already inquired about Yu Tang and knew that she was from a humble family, so she dared to complain to the first wife. Upon hearing this, she quickly told the first wife everything she knew: "... because her father is a scholar, and has a personal relationship with Tong Da, the shopkeeper, the third master has met her several times and asked her to come to the mansion to accompany Old An... and she also plays with several young ladies, and even made some incense recipe and gave it to Ku'an Temple to make Buddhist incense... During this lecture, their family also became famous..."

In the eyes of the first wife, Yu Tang was just a freeloader.

She said disdainfully, "Don't worry about her. I've seen many people like this. They play some tricks and think they can manipulate others. Then they won't even know how they died. The most urgent thing is to find a way to make Atong win Gu Chaoyang's favor. Other things can be dealt with later."

Living in Pei's house, they had long nights and a lot of nothing to do. Whenever there was nothing to do, it would not be too late to deal with those blind people.

Mrs. Yang lowered her head and replied "yes", and the eldest wife began to discuss with her what gift to give to Gu Chaoyang.

At noon, Gu Xi and Miss Wu had lunch together and took a detour to pass by Yu Tang's door.

The bright red doors of the Ruyi Gate were tightly closed, and pink wisteria hung down from the wall. The wind blew gently, making a rustling sound. There was a hint of sweetness in the silence, as beautiful as a painting.

Gu Xi stood there for a while before going to Miss Xu.

Who knew that Miss Xu was not at home, but at Yu Tang's place.

She didn't want to stay any longer, and didn't want to see Yu Tang, so she simply went back to her room.

In the afternoon, when she arrived at the Dharma Hall, the Second Wife was talking to Mr. Pei.

She walked forward and greeted him with a smile.

Mrs. Pei seemed to be in a good mood. She smiled and asked the maid to give her a handful of melon seeds. She continued to listen to what the second wife said: "I also tried it. The craftsmanship is really good. Miss Yu said that when she goes to pay her respects to you in the evening, she wants to bring Mrs. Shi with her. I think it's not bad."

"Then bring her here." Pei Laoan said with a smile to the other Laoan people around him, "If she is really good, it would be nice to invite her to your house from time to time."

Several old An people also smiled and nodded.