Just as Empress Xu was opening the storeroom, the Empress Dowager also had the same idea.
She also learned that her eldest grandson and only son had died at the hands of Zhou Yunxin and that bastard child, and the old lady fainted on the spot from anger.
After a flurry of activity at Cining Palace to revive the Empress Dowager, she issued an edict to halve the allowances of Consort Zhou and the Ninth Prince, and ordered the Ninth Prince to be confined to his quarters along with Consort Zhou. Then, she went to search the storerooms.
She wanted to find some good things to send to Fuguang.
Yue Fuguang is unaware that she is about to receive a wave of gifts. She is currently sitting in Madam Yu's courtyard waiting for dinner.
After the incident of Yue Fuguang being treated differently, suppressed and neglected by her biological parents, the Yu family head, Yu Chongshan and Madam Yu, realized that they had been neglecting their grandchildren, especially their granddaughter.
They always thought that the child's parents might love their child more and take better care of them than these grandparents.
The Yu family is not short of money, so they can easily spoil their children without any problems. They have never made any mistakes before.
Even though they were illegitimate daughters, their family lived better than other families, and their daughters-in-law were not the kind of stepmothers who tormented illegitimate daughters.
They were a family of civil servants, and as long as their children wanted to improve themselves, regardless of whether they were born of the principal wife or a concubine, they had the same access to educational resources.
Who would have thought that a family of normal people would produce such bizarre parents as the third wife!
They treat their own biological daughters worse than the daughters-in-law of the first and fourth wives treat their illegitimate children.
It's outrageous that someone who doesn't love another person's child is their own child; they'd be considered enemies. Yet they actually raise that child properly!
Therefore, Yu Chongshan decided that on the first and fifteenth of each month, all the masters and servants of the Yu family, as long as they were at home, should attend a family banquet held every two weeks.
In Yue Fuguang's words, it was a family dinner.
These gatherings allowed her to gradually become familiar with the women in the household.
Of the sisters, except for the second sister Yu Ningxuan, who was with her second uncle in his post and whom she had never met, the other sisters all seemed to get along well with Yue Fuguang on the surface.
Of course, the relationship between the Eighth Miss Yu Ningrong and Yue Fuguang was only superficial; their relationship was not as good as that of the Second Sister, who was far away in the south but could still write to Yue Fuguang from time to time.
Yu Ningrong is the same age as Yue Fuguang and is not very good at hiding her preferences. Although she knows that Yue Fuguang is valued by the whole family, she just can't like this so-called older sister who always surpasses her.
She had her own pride and would never fawn over Yue Fuguang, a guy of dubious origin, like her third, fourth, fifth, and ninth sisters, who were all concubine's daughters.
The fourth couple was also helpless in the face of their daughter's awkwardness. Their silly daughter ignored the golden opportunity of the little immortal and instead competed with him at every turn. What should they do?
You tell me, if word got out that there were two celestial sisters in this family, how many people would be envious?
Unfortunately, her daughter didn't appreciate it.
The couple hinted at it many times, but he wouldn't listen. They could only urge the boy in the family to get along well with his older sister/younger sister, Yue Fuguang.
Yue Fuguang didn't care about Yu Ningrong's attitude. She wasn't gold or silver jewelry; she couldn't possibly please everyone.
She wouldn't think that just because someone is younger, she's an adult and doesn't need to argue with them. Instead, she would try to resolve the conflict and create a touching and profound sisterly bond.
Brothers and sisters, if you can get along, great; if not, just treat each other as relatives, neither too close nor too distant.
Anyway, she's usually very busy, and she rarely interacts with her three brothers and one sister, let alone her sisters from other branches of the family.
There's absolutely no need for that. She's always believed that relationships between people depend on how you feel at first sight. Maybe she and Yu Ningrong just don't click, so there's really no need to force a sisterly bond.
She felt things were fine as they were. As long as the other party didn't cause her any trouble, Yue Fuguang could forgive Yu Ningrong for the little things she did to her when she first arrived at the Yu residence.
She treats her sisters and brothers equally, without deliberately showing favoritism or disfavor towards anyone. If she does show favoritism, it's because the other person treats her well in return.
Just like Yu Ningxuan from the second wife, although they had never met, they still received letters and gifts from her when she first returned. At that time, she was still the unloved and inconspicuous seventh young lady of the Yu family.
The two exchanged letters several times over the past two or three months, and their relationship grew stronger. She also learned from the letters that her second uncle, Yu Shuchun, would be returning to Beijing to report on his duties before the end of the year.
Thinking of the prefecture where her second uncle was located... she seemed to have forgotten something important!
Emperor Mingxi had already transferred him to the Ministry of Revenue as a vice minister, which was a direct promotion of half a rank, and it was also a move from the local to the central government.
Anyone with eyes could see that, because of the floating moonlight, Emperor Mingxi was about to heavily rely on his family members.
Yue Fuguang calculated that there were still two months until the Chinese New Year. Her fourth sister and the others would return before the New Year and set off again in a month at the latest.
We will set off in one month...
No wonder the old master and lady have been so happy these past few days, with smiles constantly on their faces, and the servants have even started cleaning and tidying up the second branch's courtyard.
It turned out that their second uncle and his family were coming back, and they wouldn't be leaving again. Their only son, who had been away, was also returning, so the two elders were naturally overjoyed. They were especially grateful to Yue Fuguang, the greatest contributor to their family's success.
Should we tell the old man to let my second uncle set off a few days earlier?
"Fu Guang, try this! This is a dish made by the cook in the new wok we made at home. It's called stir-fry, right? Try it and see if it suits your taste."
Stir-frying did not exist during the Dayan Dynasty, and most pots used were copper or earthenware.
After attending several family dinners, she finally couldn't stand the stewed dishes every time and expressed her request: she wanted stir-fried dishes.
She does have an iron wok in her small kitchen, and she usually cooks stir-fries, but it's not appropriate to cook and bring out food from her small kitchen for family gatherings. It's fine once or twice, but if it happens too often, what about the two elders' reputation?
So Yue Fuguang drew up the blueprints for the iron pot and also sent over various seasonings, explaining that they were a gift from a friend.
As soon as she spoke, the men of the Yu family began to automatically fill in the gaps in her statement.
Yu Chongshan said, "Fu Guang, is this the gift from that wealthy overseas merchant friend who gave you the carriage shock absorbers last time?"
These things from overseas aren't cheap; do you have enough money on you?
As he spoke, he took out a small box from his person. When Yue Fuguang opened it, he found it was full of silver notes of one hundred taels and fifty taels each, totaling a full three thousand taels.
[Master, your grandfather in this life is quite generous; the way he gives you pocket money is quite similar to the grandfather you were reincarnated with in your previous life.]
Yue Fuguang nodded. She also knew about the purchasing power of currency in this world. Ordinary fine rice cost more than thirty coins per catty. Her stack of silver notes was enough for an ordinary family of ten to live comfortably for a lifetime.
She said, "Isn't the old man's birthday right after the emperor's birthday celebration? Remember to help me find a nice gift for him."
Yu Chongshan felt a warm glow inside upon hearing this, never expecting that his granddaughter, who had only recently returned, would remember the birthday of an old man like him.
Yu Chongshan, who originally didn't plan to hold a birthday celebration, suddenly wanted to have a big one.
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