Chapter 52
Zhang Yunniang was unsure of the woman's intentions, so she politely asked, "Excuse me, who are you? What can I do for you?"
The woman didn't expect the owner of the house to suddenly open the door, and she stood there in a daze for a moment.
"I apologize for the intrusion. I wonder if Miss Zhang Yunniang is at home."
Zhang Yunniang frowned, but seeing that the woman had no ill intentions, she said, "It's me. What can I do for you?"
"I am from the Kangle Earl's Mansion. Our lady is hosting a banquet at Jixiangju and would like to chat with you."
"I need to go out and run something, and time is tight." Zhang Yunniang probably knew what it was about, but she didn't want to make it too complicated and didn't really want to go. She and Wei Yijun had nothing to do with each other, so why did she disturb Madam Wei?
"It won't delay the girl for long."
"Then let's go."
Forget it, what’s the saying? What’s coming cannot be avoided. Zhang Yunniang thought, it’s better to face it directly than to avoid it.
After all, there was really nothing between her and Wei Yijun.
If you are secretive and unwilling to attend, people might misunderstand that there is something unclear between the two of you.
She might as well go meet the lady of the Earl's Mansion and talk it out to avoid future troubles.
Seeing that she was so tactful, the woman became more respectful to her.
Jixiangju was neither far nor near from where they lived. Carriages in the city could not travel in a hurry, so it took about an incense stick of time to get there.
It is also the most prestigious restaurant near where they live.
Zhang Yunniang was taken directly to a private room.
Turning the screen, she saw a gentle and kind lady sitting at the desk. When she saw her coming, she put down her teacup.
The lady waved her hand, and the other people in the room filed out.
"Greetings, Madam." Zhang Yunniang performed the standard greetings. No one had taught her how to do anything more complicated, and she couldn't do it.
She thought that as long as things looked okay on the surface, they wouldn't see each other again anyway.
The lady didn't make things difficult for her. She nodded and let her sit down.
"Miss Zhang, do you know why I came here today?"
"I know."
"Oh?" The lady was a little surprised. It seemed this girl was no ordinary girl. No wonder she could have coaxed her son into such a state of bewilderment.
"I guess Madam is here for Young Master Wei."
"Ziteng is currently preparing for the imperial examinations. Time is tight and the workload is heavy, so his family has neglected his marriage. But he is indeed not young anymore, and it is indeed our negligence. Recently, his father and I have been looking for a girl of suitable family background for him."
Mrs. Kang Lebo looked at Zhang Yunniang, her tone still gentle, but her words revealed the purpose of her visit.
Zhang Yunniang nodded. Even without her saying anything, she understood. As a parent, who doesn't want their children to be well?
She did not feel offended, but instead understood the parents' far-reaching intentions.
"Since Madam has stated her purpose, I have something to say."
"Please speak, young lady." Seeing her neither humble nor arrogant attitude, Mrs. Kang Lebo thought her son had good taste.
It was not what I initially thought, that he was deceived by some girl from a humble family using dirty tricks.
"There is no relationship between me and Young Master Wei. I have no intention of currying favor with the Earl's Mansion. The situation that Madam is worried about will not happen." Zhang Yunniang said frankly.
"You look down on my son?" Mrs. Wei stood up, felt something was wrong, and sat back down.
“…” Madam, is this the point?
Madam Wei coughed to cover up, "But Ziteng doesn't think so."
"What do you think of me, Madam?"
"Miss Zhang, please don't appear next to my son again. I will give you one thousand taels of silver, which is enough for you to live a stable life no matter where you go."
"Shu Yunniang cannot agree to this."
"It seems Miss Zhang isn't sincere. What she said just now was probably a lie to me."
Mrs. Wei's tone became heavy when she was disobeyed. The aura of a superior that she always had carried with her carried a heavy sense of oppression.
"Madam, you can't say that. I am a human being, and I have my own life. Just because Young Master Wei is a son of a noble family and I am just a commoner, I can't give up my life to pave the way for his."
Zhang Yunniang didn't want to cause trouble, so she spoke frankly, but she also had her own principles.
One thousand taels of silver is certainly tempting, but it is not money earned through legitimate means, so she will not accept it.
If she took the one thousand taels of silver and ran away, it would be completely unexplainable.
"Young Master Wei is young, so it's normal for him to be unable to see clearly for a while. But his future is related to his whole life. I am a commoner, without power or influence. I know that we are not a good match, and I don't have the slightest personal feelings for Young Master Wei. If I have the intention to climb up to the status of the Bo family, I will be struck by lightning."
Zhang Yunniang spoke so earnestly that Mrs. Wei was instantly speechless.
This confident look did not seem fake. She had just wondered if Zhang Yunniang was adopting a conciliatory policy.
But now it seems that it is indeed not the case.
He had come here to attack, but in the end, it turned out that his silly son was only too enthusiastic.
"But he is not in the mood for the exam now. He just keeps running outside all day. What should we do?" Mrs. Wei originally thought that it was the little witch outside who seduced her son, which was why he was not in the mood to prepare for the exam.
But she never expected the result to be like this. She was desperate and tried every possible means to help, and even began to ask Zhang Yunniang for strategy.
"Madam, please don't mind if I say something inappropriate. And please don't misunderstand what I mean."
"Young lady, please speak."
"Young Master Wei came here to study with my young master. I haven't had much contact with him. I say this to tell my wife that Young Master Wei is not as uninterested in the imperial examinations as you think and is only interested in having fun."
"However, the Bo Mansion is indeed not close to here, and this back and forth is quite a waste of time. Madam, why don't you change the way you communicate? Just say that you need to establish a family and a career. Without a career, how can you have a family? I believe Master Wei will understand the implication."
"To be completely shameless and flattering, if Young Master Wei truly loves me, and Madam intervenes and I leave, then I will become a memory that he will never be able to shake off. It might even affect the mother-son bond between Madam and him."
"I'm an insignificant person. Madam, you only need to instill in Young Master Wei that women in this world admire those who have achieved success and fame, and he will gradually focus more on the imperial examination. As for the future after the imperial examination, we can talk about it later. Perhaps after a year or two of not seeing each other, he will gradually forget about me."
"Young Master Wei is young after all. He's a teenager, and his feelings come and go quickly."
Mrs. Wei looked at Zhang Yunniang in shock. She was only a teenager, yet she understood these principles so clearly.
The tone of her voice sounded very old-fashioned, which was really inconsistent with her age.
No wonder, no wonder, Wei Yijun was so fascinated by her.
If she hadn't tried to stop him that time, he would have gone straight to the house with the things to propose marriage.
It seems that my son is not short-sighted.
"Miss Zhang, you are a good person, but my son is unlucky."
Madam Wei sighed. The Kangle Marquis' Mansion was now at its peak, and now it had the attention of the new emperor. Its future prospects would be limitless.
It is not difficult for this family to move up a level.
"It's not easy to be the mistress of a baron's house. It's impossible for her to come from a commoner family. I don't deny your talent. If your family background was a little better, I would accept you."
Zhang Yunniang was stunned. What was going on?
Weren't you attacking her just now?
"Thank you, Madam, for your high regard. Yunniang is unworthy of it. I have some things to attend to, so I won't bother you any more."
Zhang Yunniang had said everything she needed to say, and it was none of her business whatsoever.
It is impossible for her to leave her familiar environment for a stranger, if Mrs. Wei can manage Wei Yijun well.
That's perfect, it saves her trouble.
Although she can control her heart and not think about things that do not belong to her, it is troublesome to have someone always hanging around her.
She felt relieved after leaving Jixiangju.
This delayed her for quite a while, and she had to hurry back to cook.
When she returned, she thought that the man was still reading in the study, but she never expected him to be sitting in the yard, facing the gate, motionless, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Seeing her come back, the man moved his mouth and looked a little unhappy.
I guess he's hungry.
"Are you hungry? No more dumplings for lunch. Let's have noodles. Noodles are coming soon."
"What were you doing? What took you so long?"
Under normal circumstances, it would take one stick of incense to buy flour and come back, or at most half an hour at most.
At this time, almost two hours had passed since Zhang Yunniang left the house.
He had a very keen sense of the time when Zhang Yunniang left.
If he doesn't see anyone when he thinks he should come back, he will feel anxious.
Did someone suddenly want to run away, or did he encounter some danger on the road? I knew it was just my own imagination, but I couldn't control my thoughts.
Then he won't be able to do anything.
He couldn't calm down until he saw someone again.
Zhang Yunniang didn't know what to say, so she just said it directly.
"When I went out to buy flour, I ran into someone from the Kangle Marquis's Mansion. She said the Marquis's wife wanted to see me, so I went to the restaurant to chat with her and cleared up those unfounded misunderstandings. Then I hurried off to buy flour."
Jun Qingmo roughly guessed what he would say and was very satisfied with the answer, then he started again.
“Oh, I want to eat dumplings.”
"Have you thought it through? Making dumplings takes a long time. You have to mix the dough, knead it, let it rest, and then chop the filling. You can't eat it in a short time."
"Can we prepare it together? You just want to eat dumplings."
He's been so nervous for so long, and he just wants to be coaxed.
What could Zhang Yunniang do? If the host wanted to eat, how could she refuse to cook?
She washed two fruits, put one in each of them as a cushion, and then started to knead the dough.
Jun Qingmo is now considered an expert in the kitchen and starts to prepare the filling.
He took the kitchen knife and went to the chopping board to chop the stuffing.
They tried a new non-traditional filling and it was delicious.
It was a filling of green pepper, pork and lotus root. It was my first time eating it this way. There was half a lotus root left and it would be out of freshness if I didn’t eat it, so I chopped it up and threw it into the dumpling filling. I never thought it tasted so good.
Zhang Yunniang looked at the person chopping stuffing over there and felt a lot of emotion.
The man was very serious about everything he did, even the simple task of chopping stuffing showed concentration.
Those who don’t know would think he is accomplishing something great.
Well, it is indeed a very great thing.
Isn’t it a very important thing to have enough food to eat?
Jun Qingmo realized that someone was looking at him, so he adjusted his posture and faced Zhang Yunniang from what he thought was the most handsome angle.
Use the corner of your eye to see the person's reaction.
Ah! Table slam!
How could she be like this...
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