Xu Qinhui could hardly believe the scene before her eyes. She looked up and saw a rosewood screen with carved crabapple embroidery. She remembered this screen. Before she got married, it was placed in the west wing of the third room in the Marquis Dechang's Mansion. She liked to rest for a while in the west wing every day at noon. She also remembered the white fox fur coat under her body. Her mother knew that she did not like to rest on the bed at noon, but liked to rest on the imperial concubine's couch, so she bought it at a high price so that she could lie down more comfortably.

But, wasn't she dead? How come she was back in the Dechang Marquis's Mansion in the blink of an eye?

She remembered clearly the fear and panic that penetrated her bones before his death. She also remembered vividly the cold and sullen face of King Shu, no, the new emperor. The upper half of his face was bloody, stained by the fact that he had killed half of the palace. Only his eyes were clean, but there was not a single emotion in those clean eyes. When she met those light-colored eyes, they did not look like human eyes at all, but more like the eyes of a ferocious wild bird.

At that time, the new emperor was holding a sword, the blade was blood red, and drops of blood were dripping along the blade and the tip of the sword.

At that time, she was trembling all over as she watched the new emperor walking towards them step by step.

In her ears was the terrified cry of her husband, Emperor Sheng Yuan, "Fourth, fourth brother, I, I am willing to give up this throne to you, can you please let me live? It was not me who wanted to poison my father, it was, it was Empress Dowager Fu, my mother, not me. I have no interest in this throne at all, fourth brother, please let me..."

Emperor Sheng Yuan's voice suddenly stopped, and a flash of blood filled her eyes. Emperor Sheng Yuan's head fell to the ground. Before she could scream, a sword flashed, and the last scene was her seeing her headless neck and blood gushing out.

The new emperor didn't even give her a chance to speak before he chopped off her head.

Xu Qinhui panted violently, holding her neck tightly. So what was going on now? She had clearly died under Pei Weixuan's sword, so why was she now in Dechang Marquis's Mansion?

Is it a dream before death?

Xu Qinhui pinched her thigh subconsciously, and the pain in her thigh made her scream.

The maid Ping'er's voice was heard outside, "Young lady? Are you awake? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Ping'er, come in!"

Xu Qinhui immediately called the maid in.

Ping'er was the head maid beside her.

The door of the chamber was pushed open, and a round-faced maid walked in. Seeing Xu Qinhui's pale face, she asked worriedly, "Did the young lady have a nightmare? I'll ask the kitchen to make some spirit-removing soup for her to drink."

"No need." Xu Qinhui stepped forward and grabbed Ping'er's hand, and asked her in a trembling voice, "Ping'er, what day is today?"

Ping'er's face turned pale and she whispered, "Miss, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me. This year is the first year of Yuanqi, the first year of Emperor Shengyuan's accession to the throne."

Xu Qinhui was stunned.

Could it be that entering the palace and becoming a concubine of Emperor Sheng Yuan is just a pipe dream?

No, definitely not, those scenes are too real.

So it wasn't a dream, but after she experienced such a massacre, God gave her another chance to start over.

This time, she will never make the wrong choice again!

Thinking of something, Xu Qinhui asked excitedly, "Ping'er, where is my second sister now?" If her second sister had not married Prince Shu yet, she could have married her.

She didn't know what day it was exactly. In her previous life, she was engaged to Prince Shu, who was then the Fourth Prince. However, in the dispute between the First Prince and the Second Prince, the First Prince was not as ruthless as the Second Prince and the Imperial Concubine. The First Prince's family had no real power, and the Empress Wen had no means and was too soft-hearted. The Duke of Anping was of little use and could only say a few words in the court.

In fact, during the party struggle at that time, the eldest prince had the louder voice in the court.

The eldest prince is a capable man and can lead troops.

In the end, he was defeated by the cruelty of the Second Prince and Concubine Fu Guifei. They poisoned the late emperor with a cup of poisoned wine and put the blame on the First Prince. They did not give the court officials a chance to investigate and directly kidnapped the First Prince. Although the First Prince was a skilled martial artist, he was besieged by hundreds of eunuchs and guards and ended up in a miserable defeat.

The eldest prince was directly charged with conspiracy to murder and usurp the throne and was beheaded on the spot.

What followed naturally was the second prince ascending the throne as emperor.

The fourth prince, the seventh prince, and the sixth princess, who were brothers of the eldest prince, were all exiled to the southwest.

Of course, these were things she gradually learned after she entered the palace and became a concubine of Emperor Sheng Yuan, and the whole world knew about them.

Because Pei Weixuan did not plot a rebellion to assail the new emperor and ascend the throne. He had every right to attack the tyrant and the queen mother.

Before the late emperor was poisoned to death, he had actually drafted an edict to appoint the eldest prince as the crown prince.

The Second Prince and Concubine Fu must have learned of the imperial edict accidentally, which is why they couldn't wait to poison the late emperor and kill the eldest prince.

But later, this edict was somehow found by Pei Weixuan. She remembered that after she entered the palace as a concubine, Emperor Sheng Yuan and Empress Dowager Fu had been looking for this edict.

At that time, she knew that she was the fiancée of the Fourth Prince and was afraid that she would be exiled with him. She was at a loss and begged her father, mother, grandmother and grandfather to save her.

After her grandmother learned about the disaster, she hugged her and cried, and finally came up with an idea for her.

My grandmother was an old acquaintance of an old concubine in the palace, and she took the opportunity to ask for an audience with the old concubine to allow her to meet the new emperor.

My grandmother said that she was beautiful and the new emperor would show sympathy and love to her whenever he saw her.

Later, she entered the palace and met the new emperor, crying. The new emperor took pity on her and wanted to issue an imperial decree to exempt her from her marriage to Prince Shu. He also planned to grant amnesty to the country so that she would not have to go into exile.

But she was worried about bringing disaster to the reputation of the Marquis's Mansion, so she spoke hesitantly and added that her second sister Xu Qinyu in the mansion had not yet married.

At that time, she was indeed worried about the reputation of the mansion and was afraid that outsiders would say that she was ungrateful. She did not think too much about it and just felt that it was worth sacrificing one person to preserve the reputation of everyone in the mansion.

As expected, the new emperor took the bait and issued an imperial edict to have Xu Qinyu, the second daughter of Marquis Dechang's mansion, engaged to Prince Shu, and to be exiled together with him.

Later, my second sister was sent to Prince Shu’s palace in a small sedan chair by my grandmother, and was exiled to the southwest along with Prince Shu’s lineage.

Who knew that Prince Shu was such a ruthless character. After enduring for ten years, he actually broke into the palace and killed the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu. No, he should have slaughtered half of the people in the harem.

Thinking of this, Xu Qinhui couldn't help but shudder.

But fortunately, there was still time for everything. She started over again and did not yet enter the palace to become the new emperor's concubine.

But she couldn't remember whether her second sister had married her into Prince Shu's palace.

Ping Er said, "Miss, how could you have forgotten that the second young lady had already been exiled to the southwest with the Shu Wang family two months ago."

Was it two months ago?

Xu Qinhui frowned slightly.

But there was still time, as there were still ten years left, and her second sister was weak. She remembered that she had died of illness on the way to exile.

Afterwards, it seemed that a mudslide occurred on the way to exile, and only King Shu and Wen survived from King Shu's lineage.

Then now only King Shu and Wen should be alive.

Speaking of it, Wen was really lucky. She became the empress as a concubine's daughter of a baron's mansion. Even though she was later exiled and her entire family died, leaving only her and her son. However, this son was a promising man and won the position of empress dowager back for her.

She vaguely remembered that when Pei Weixuan chopped off her head, she saw Wen wearing a cloak, wrapped tightly and standing far away in front of the main hall, surrounded by Pei Weixuan's black-armored guards.

But at that time, Wen was hunched over, and after ten years of exile, her body was broken. But so what? Before her death, she returned to the pinnacle of power in this world.

Xu Qinhui thought again of the scene in which Prince Shu massacred the harem and beheaded her. Her face turned pale and her stomach churned.

Fortunately, there are still ten years left. Even if her second sister died, she still had to make some plans. She had to go see her grandmother and get her grandmother's consent to let her go to the southwest and marry King Shu.

Even though the southwest was poor, she could bring more money, tens of thousands of taels of silver. Her mother had money, and she could continue to ask people to bring her money every year. She could buy a big house in the southwest and bring a dozen maids and servants with her. It was not impossible for her to live alone with Wen and King Shu. At most, the southwest would not be as prosperous as the capital, and she would not have exquisite clothes, jewelry, delicious snacks or anything else. No, she would have to bring a cook and enough beautiful clothes and jewelry.

Xu Qinhui thought about this and said, "Since my second sister is in trouble, I will go and talk to my grandmother."

Ping Er subconsciously said, "Nothing has happened to the Second Miss. Just now, an official who was exiling the Second Miss to the southwest came to the mansion to deliver a message saying that the Second Miss and Prince Shu had arrived safely in the southwest, so they should have been settled down."

"What did you say?" Xu Qinhui's relaxed expression came to an abrupt end.

Her face was filled with disbelief. How could it be possible? Her second sister had clearly died of illness on the way to exile. She would not have remembered it wrongly. When her second aunt found out later, she spat out a mouthful of blood. After that, her second aunt had been bedridden, but she didn't last long. She passed away in more than half a year.

After that, the second uncle also became disheartened. He made a mistake in the officialdom and was reported to his superiors.

If she hadn't pleaded with Emperor Sheng Yuan, Second Uncle would have lost even that official position.

She would never remember it wrongly, but Ping'er now told her that her second sister was not dead?

"Help me change my clothes. I want to go see my grandmother."

She still didn't believe it.

Xu Qinhui changed her clothes and went to Old Madam Xu's courtyard. Old Madam Xu had just been mad at Ma Liu, and was now complaining to Nanny Feng beside her about the Second House's faults. She felt that it was all the Second House's fault. Why did they send the official to deliver the letter and humiliate her like that? Especially the Second Girl, who could be exiled to the southwest if she wanted to, but now that she had become the wife of a rebel, she still wanted to have anything to do with their Marquis' Mansion.

Seeing Xu Qinhui, Mrs. Xu felt better.

Xu Qinhui called out "Grandma" and asked about her health and how her meals were going recently.

Seeing her favorite granddaughter, Mrs. Xu felt much better.

Xu Qinhui pretended to care about her second sister and mentioned whether she had gone to the southwest.

Madam Xu immediately told her everything about the official who had just delivered the letter.

Xu Qinhui was completely speechless.

What went wrong? If her second sister hadn't died, how could she escape her fate in her previous life? How could she marry the Shu King? She didn't want to have her head chopped off again.

As for the fact that Prince Shu would later find the imperial edict of the previous emperor and eventually launch an uprising and kill people in the capital, she did not dare to tell the new emperor and Empress Dowager Fu at all.

Otherwise, that crazy woman, Empress Dowager Fu, might regard the Marquis' Mansion as a member of Prince Shu's accomplice and kill them all together.

So what should she do?

…

Xu Qinhui was worried in Duxun City, while Xu Qinyu in the southwest was living as usual.

The snow has been lighter these days, but her roujiamo is still selling well. Each person is limited to buying two, which is enough for the people on two merchant ships.

But the two of them were never full and could only satisfy their hunger. Every day they asked Xu Qinyu to do more. Xu Qinyu really couldn't do much. She would wait until she rested for a few months and got better in health. She was still thin and didn't have much flesh on her body.

In addition to setting up a stall at the pier, she also planned to set up evening food stalls in the east and west of the city.

But if she went to set up a snack stall in the east or west of the city, she didn't plan to sell meat buns, and she was going to change to something else.

She hasn't decided yet what kind of evening food stall to set up.

There is no night market in the town. Usually, all shops are closed at 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening. She plans to make some money in the future and go to the iron shop to make a big iron pot and a big iron bucket. With the big iron pot, she will not have to stew the fish in three or four pots. In this way, she can stew it all at once and put it in the iron bucket, which will be much faster and more relaxed for her. Then she can let her fourth brother stay at home, or let her mother come back early, and sell the braised fish at home for dinner.

Anyway, the fish she stewed would only be sold to the neighbors in Guihua Lane for the time being. She would just tell everyone and let them come to buy it when the time came.

Even if the braised fish becomes famous in the future and people from other alleys want to buy it, they can just come to her house and buy it. She and her fourth brother don't have to push the cart to set up a stall. She can set up a stall in the east and west of the city by herself.

If that's the case, the house definitely needs a big dog to guard the house.

When the family was having dinner in the evening, Xu Qinyu asked, "Fourth brother, when can we get a puppy that can guard the house and protect the owner?" It would be impossible to just catch the stray dogs on the roadside, as they were used to running around. She needed to find a puppy that could guard the house and protect the owner, and would rush forward when it saw its owner being bullied!

Pei Weixuan thought for a moment and said, "Maybe tomorrow. I'm going out tomorrow and I have to go up the mountain to look for something."

"Will it not snow tomorrow?" Xu Qinyu knew that her husband was good at observing the sky. "If it's unsafe to go up the mountain when it snows, why did Fourth Brother go up the mountain?"

The snow has been light these past two days, and she had been planning to ask her fourth brother whether it would continue to snow heavily.

Pei Weixuan said: "There will be light snow in the next two days, and then heavy snow in a few days."

It was like there was no end to it. Xu Qinyu was worried. Would it really be a disaster if it snowed like this? She couldn't help but ask about her worries. Pei Weixuan glanced at her and said slowly, "It won't be a disaster in the southwest." That is to say, there is a possibility of disaster in other places.

After hearing this, Xu Qinyu was still worried.

When Wen heard this, he became a little worried and didn't want his son to go up the mountain. It was winter and it was snowing, so it would be even more dangerous to go up the mountain. It was cold and the ferocious beasts in the mountains found it difficult to hunt as they were all hungry. What would happen if he encountered such a ferocious beast?

After Wen said a few words, Pei Weixuan said, "Don't worry, mother. I'm going to the mountains to look for a medicinal herb that only appears after snowfall. It's related to my illness."

He was poisoned, so the herbs we went to find could cure the poison.

Wen shut up, but still looked worried and gloomy.

…

The next day, Pei Weixuan went out before dawn. That morning, Xu Qinyu made fried pancakes and eggs by herself at the stall.

Along the way, Xu Qin was quite worried about him. Although she vaguely knew that her cheap husband was not as weak as he appeared and had some pretty good martial arts skills, it was dangerous to go into the mountains in winter. Even ordinary old hunters would not choose to go into the mountains in winter, but he had to go.

Come to think of it, she also wanted to go up the mountain because she hadn't eaten mushrooms for a long time.

People here don't eat mushrooms, so naturally there's no one selling them. The town is still some distance from the mountain. Even if the weather gets warmer in the future, it will take her an hour to walk down the mountain by herself, which is a bit far.

After selling breakfast, Xu Qinyu went to buy some pig offal and herring. Today she also bought a lot of lard.

The lard I bought previously has been eaten up, and this time I bought a lot of lard, enough to fill two large jars.

There is a lot of lard, so there are naturally a lot of oil residues. She plans to use the oil residue and radishes to make dumplings.

Oil residue and radish filling is the best match, because the oil residue is oily and the radish is sweet and can absorb the excess oil in the oil residue.

After returning, she did not prepare the ingredients first, but went to the east and west of the city to see what kind of business most of the stalls here were doing.

There are two relatively busy streets in the east and west of the city, and there are still many people even when it snows.

There are several big restaurants in front of the market, and various shops and stalls are basically fixed in the back alley of the market, which is considered a tile market. They sell all kinds of food and ingredients. There are also stalls selling sundries and other things. It is more lively than the wharf, which is only lively when there are many merchant ships.

The food sold in the tile markets in the east and west of the city are basically common.

Xu Qinyu looked around and had a rough idea in her mind. She planned to think about it after returning home.

After returning to Osmanthus Lane, Xu Qinyu began to get busy.

Wen had not gone out to work these few days. She was worried that Old Lady Luo would come to her house again and bully the children. However, since she had not seen Old Lady Luo for several days, Wen planned to wait for her son to come back in the evening and continue to work at her employer's house tomorrow.

Wen was at home in the afternoon and had already helped Xu Qinyu scrape off the scales of the herring.

She did not help to open the fish's belly because Yu Niang said that there was fish gall in the fish's belly and the fish would taste bitter if not handled properly.

Xu Qinyu prepared the fish, washed and marinated the fish offal in the fish's belly, then added some ginger slices and stuffed them back into the fish's belly before cooking it together.

After cooking the fish, Mrs. Wen saw how hard her daughter-in-law worked and offered to help her set up a stall in the alley to sell fish.

Xu Qinyu was naturally willing, and she also had to make dumplings with pork fat.

Wen's stall was running smoothly and he sold all the fish in a short while. When he came back, he gave the money bag to Yu Niang.

Xu Qinyu also refined the lard and started making dumplings.

To make pork lard dumplings, you need to chop the lard into small pieces and mince some pork belly into puree. Cut the radish into shreds and add some salt to drain the water. Stir the drained radish shreds, chopped lard and meat filling in one direction, then add an egg, and finally add a little soy sauce, salt and five-spice powder and continue stirring.

The only special feature of pork fat and radish dumplings is that they are delicious!

It doesn't have a prominent umami or other flavors, it just has a fragrance that fills your mouth with flavor.

Xu Qinyu also prepared a sauce.

Use soy sauce, vinegar, and a little chili oil.

The chili oil was naturally made by her using dogwood.

Even Ning Jie'er just focused on eating without pausing for a moment.

Pei Weixuan didn't cook Xu Qinyu's portion yet, planning to cook it when he came back in the evening.

However, she didn't expect that by the time she had finished salting the pig intestines, her fourth brother had not returned yet, so Wen didn't dare to sleep. After waiting for another half an hour, he still hadn't returned. Everyone was a little restless. Wen asked Ning Jie'er to take the two children to bed first, and asked Xu Qinyu to wash up and go to bed first.

Xu Qinyu thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, mother. Fourth brother has said that if it's fast, he can be back tonight, if it's slow, it may take two or three days. Fourth brother also brought food to the mountain. If we are not completely sure, Fourth brother will not go into the mountain."

Wen was still worried, but was finally persuaded by Xu Qinyu to go to sleep.

Xu Qinyu also slept uneasily, worried about her fourth brother.

I had several dreams at night. Some of them were about my past life, and some of them were about my original self interacting with his family. It was a mess.

At the morning hour, she woke up on time and went to the kitchen as usual to light the oil lamp and start the fire.

Just as she lit the fire on the stove, she heard some movement in the yard. She ran out to see where her fourth brother was standing. It looked like he had jumped in from the wall. The gate was not even open. She said in surprise, "Fourth brother, you're back."

Pei Weixuan nodded and went into the kitchen carrying a cloth bag of things.

Xu Qinyu also followed in happily.

Seeing him return safely, she finally felt relieved.

Pei Weixuan entered the kitchen and put down the cloth bag. Xu Qinyu asked curiously, "Fourth brother, are the herbs you are looking for in the bag?"

"No." His voice was clear and cold. "You will know if you open it and take a look."

Just as Xu Qinyu was about to open the cloth bag, a scent of fresh mushrooms wafted into her nostrils.

She was slightly stunned, bent down and couldn't wait to open the cloth bag. There was indeed a big bag of mushrooms inside. She was a little shocked and said, "Fourth brother can tell the difference between poisonous and non-toxic mushrooms?" After she said this, she realized that something was wrong. Fourth brother knew medicine, so it was not surprising that he could tell the difference between poisonous and non-toxic mushrooms.

Xu Qinyu touched the tip of her nose, glanced at her fourth brother, and then poured out all the mushrooms in the bag.

After the mushroom came out, a bright red fruit and a plump ginseng fell out.

This fruit is not a mushroom, it should be the medicine that Fourth Brother mentioned. When she saw the plump ginseng, she was also stunned.

Pei Weixuan picked up the red fruits and fat ginseng on the ground, and finally put the fruits in his palm and handed the ginseng to Xu Qinyu, "Return the money to Yu Niang."

Xu Qinyu just remembered that when she was still in Raozhou City, her fourth brother borrowed one or two taels of silver from her to buy medicine to make ointment.

She waved her hands hastily, "It's only one or two taels of silver, how can it be worth a ginseng? Besides, Fourth Brother borrowed money to buy medicine in order to make frostbite ointment for us."

This wild ginseng is obviously of good quality, even the whiskers have been dug out, and it is plump, so it must be very valuable. She thinks that her fourth brother has poison in his body, so he might need this ginseng even more.

"Fourth brother, why don't you not sell this ginseng for now? It may save your life in the future, or you can make a decision when there is an emergency. Our family is not short of money now, so it is better to keep it."

Pei Weixuan nodded, "Okay, I'll prepare it tomorrow."

Xu Qinyu knew that medicinal materials needed to be processed in order to be stored for a long time.

She squatted down and briefly flipped through the mushrooms. Sure enough, they were all non-toxic. She was thinking about stir-frying them in the morning when she heard her fourth brother's slow voice, "Yu Niang, didn't you ask me to find you someone who can look after the house and protect the master? I found it."

Xu Qinyu was stunned when she heard this.

I thought to myself, I didn’t see Fourth Brother bring back the puppies either.