"I……"
Mu Yurou was too embarrassed to continue, so Xiaoqing could only speak up: "Miss Xu, it's all because of the Empress! Last time, the Empress's name was always very low on the list. My young lady has no family or background, so if she wanted to enter the palace, she could only donate more things. It almost emptied out her entire family's savings."
"My master even borrowed some money to help Miss enter the palace, so..."
Xu Lingyi sighed. She hadn't expected these lowly merchant girls to be so reckless. They were truly... short-sighted.
Did they think entering the palace was such a simple matter?
"Oh dear, Sister Mu, why didn't you meet me sooner? If we had known each other earlier, I would have told you what to do!"
"Last time, Her Majesty the Empress set up a competition for donations to enter the palace, but do you know what the real key to this kind of competition is?"
Mu Yurou looked completely bewildered; she didn't know, and no one had ever told her.
"Sister Mu, let me put it this way to you: entering the palace is just the threshold; the more crucial part is what follows."
"Think about it, once you enter the palace, no matter what rank you are given, you'll always have a lot of people serving you, right? Do you think these underworld people are useless? If you don't take good care of them, will they work wholeheartedly for you?"
Mu Yurou's face turned pale. In fact, even if she had been selected last time, she wouldn't have received any money for bribes in the palace.
"And what do you want to do after entering the palace? Do you want to gain the Emperor's favor? Do you think the rouge and powder provided in the palace are enough? If you want something better, you'll have to ask someone to buy it for you outside the palace, which will be another considerable expense! Do you want to know where the Emperor is? Don't you need to inquire about information? The eunuchs and maids around the Emperor, although they are all servants, can sometimes be very useful. All of these require money!"
"But it's no use saying all this now. Actually, every woman has to get married sooner or later. I don't think your father will treat you badly. You should just get married obediently!"
Mu Yurou had been listening with great interest, but when she was suddenly asked to marry him off, her face turned dark!
“Miss Xu, the man my master found for your young lady… is too old, even older than my master himself. How can my young lady accept this!”
Fortunately, Xiaoqing was quick-witted and knew to speak up for her at this moment.
"This..." Xu Lingyi chuckled inwardly. Wasn't this woman quite formidable in the past?
The last time she went on a spending spree, she wasn't this careful!
"Miss Xu, please help my young lady!" Xiaoqing pleaded.
Xu Lingyi frowned: "How can I help your young lady? Do you expect me to go to your master?"
"That's not appropriate. How can I, a young woman who hasn't even married yet, meddle in other people's family affairs?"
Mu Yurou's expression changed. What was wrong with Xu Lingyi? If she wasn't going to help, she wasn't going to help, but she even said she was going to find her father.
Is she upset that her father doesn't know she's in the capital?
“Sister Xu, you don’t actually need to go looking for my father. The reason I ran away from this arranged marriage to the capital was to find a way out for myself. Sister Xu, you know a lot of people, do you know anyone suitable?”
Xu Lingyi then realized that Mu Yurou had come to ask him to help her find a man. Heh, how ridiculous.
She hasn't even finished worrying about her own marriage, how could she have time to worry about others?
"Well... I don't really know either, but I can ask my mother later. Maybe she has a reliable candidate!"
Xu Lingyi lost the will to continue speaking. After Mu Yurou left, she couldn't help but burst into laughter: "These lowly businesswoman girls, they're all shameless! I thought she had a lot of money, but it turns out she emptied her entire fortune last time and even borrowed money from outside! Heh, how ridiculous!"
Her maid was also covering her mouth and chuckling to herself. This country bumpkin was obviously unsophisticated.
"Miss, she still wants to find a rich and powerful young master in the capital. Doesn't she even consider what she has now?"
In general, these aristocratic families place great importance on matching social status with one's spouse. Even if someone of Mu Yurou's status wanted to become a concubine, they would need to have the qualities to be a concubine.
She must be rolling in money and have a generous dowry; otherwise, who would want a powerless and penniless businesswoman like her?
Right now, Mu Yurou clearly has nothing.
"Yeah, it's really ridiculous! I used to think she was smart and clever, but now it seems she's just a fool!"
Xu Lingyi sneered disdainfully. The little maid asked curiously, "Miss, will you still ask her for her?"
Xu Lingyi shook his head: "It's fine to tell Mother as a joke, but let's not ask her about it! I don't want to harm others with a woman like that!"
...
"Madam Han, did you own this entire villa?"
When the group arrived at the villa, it was the first time Wang Yan had ever seen such a villa.
They parked their carriages and other belongings, and then went up the mountain in a very simple manner.
Although the weather is a bit chilly now, there are still quite a few people coming to climb the mountain and enjoy the scenery.
Everyone had a great time, especially playing on the fruit trees laden with fruit.
I've eaten fruit in the capital before, but nothing compares to the freshness of fruit picked from the tree.
Especially in recent years, people have not even had enough food to eat, let alone fruit.
Only wealthy and powerful families and extremely rich merchants would be willing to buy it to eat once or twice. And it was never fresh.
Picking fruit directly from the tree is something they've never experienced before.
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