Hongye chuckled and said, "Aren't you a smart person? I like you, but I've made a mistake."
Qin Yuan laughed as well: "Hehua and Yang'er might not be unintelligent people. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Have you made all the arrangements for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Hongye said, "Everything else is arranged, but the gifts for the two in-law families haven't been decided yet."
Qin Yuan paused for a moment, then said, "The Xu family can proceed according to the old custom, and the Lin family..."
Qin Wan is pregnant, so it is only right to send her some things to help with the pregnancy.
But thinking of the other party's temperament, Qin Yuan was worried that she would do a lot of work for nothing, so she said, "Add a portion of the pastries, cakes, cold melons and long lotus roots that were sent to Renhetang, and also select a few pieces of fine brocade, a few books of poetry and travelogues and the like."
Hongye asked, "Should we add some gold, silver, or jade ornaments?"
Qin Yuan shook her head, "Forget it, sending it there will only upset her."
Madam Yu is a troublesome woman. Now that she's officially serving Lin Ziqi, she can't have children but her status depends on her son. She has to put a lot of effort into influencing Lin's mother. Sending her more gifts is fine, but it only attracts covetousness.
In her previous life, she suffered a miscarriage, and Qin Wan had someone send her a bunch of tonics so she could recover properly.
Lin's mother picked and chose, taking away a lot of good things, and kept saying that miscarriage was not a serious illness and there was no need to eat so well, which made her very angry.
Lin Ziqi also said that his mother was thrifty and hardworking, which was also for their own good.
In this life, Qin Wan finally had her own child, so she didn't want to cause any trouble. With Baihe and Baihe's mother looking after her, Cui Shi would take good care of everything.
Hongye said, "But... won't people say we're shabby?"
Qin Yuan said, "It's alright. Choose fashionable and high-quality brocade, and select colors suitable for young women. We can send the rest after the baby is born. If the gift is too extravagant, it will be difficult for the recipient to reciprocate."
She disliked Qin Wan, and even more so the other three members of the Lin family, and didn't want to give them any benefits whatsoever.
Hongye glanced at Qin Yuan and said, "Miss is more attentive to the Second Miss than before."
Qin Yuan smiled and said, "We are all daughters of the Qin family. Her competitive nature and spoiled temper are no longer a problem for us since we are far away. Perhaps life in the Marquis's mansion is too comfortable for me to bother with. If she is better off, Mother won't be angry and Father won't be in a difficult position. If I had nothing to do, I might even be happy to watch her make a fool of herself. But now there are so many things going on inside and outside the mansion, I just hope she will stop causing me trouble."
The three of them decided on all the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts and wrote them down on paper. Qin Yuan said, "We'll ask the old lady and the marquis to take a look tomorrow, and then we can finalize it."
"What are you looking at?"
Lord Gu's voice rang out from outside the door, and in the blink of an eye, he had entered the room.
Qin Yuan glanced at Lord Gu's expression before gracefully rising to greet him, and said softly, "We were talking about the Mid-Autumn Festival gift list. I wonder what we should send to my sister's family and the Xu family."
Cuiming then brought over a change of clothes. Qin Yuan helped Lord Gu change into his everyday clothes. Seeing that the gloom between his brows had lessened slightly, she said, "I said I would send some rare food to my sister, and also send a few bolts of fine fabric, all of which are currently fashionable. Hongye said she was afraid they would be a bit too thin."
Lord Gu laughed and said, "His family is in a complete mess, so you can give him whatever you want."
Qin Yuan said, "I think so too. Lin Juren's cousin and his mother are both difficult to deal with. If the gifts are too good, it might cause trouble. Besides, their family is not well-off. If the gifts are too expensive, it might be difficult to return them. They might even have to squeeze the second sister's dowry."
Lord Gu's heart stirred, and he remembered something. He said, "I heard from Sixteen that Xu Tang slipped out of the palace and played football with your brother. He also went to the Lin family's house twice. He hasn't even been back to the Xu family these days."
Qin Yuan sighed.
"Heng-ge'er is a troublemaker. I even sent a letter to Dad, telling him to keep him away from Xu Tang, but he insisted that nothing ventured, nothing gained. He said that you only find out what Xu Tang is up to once you get close."
Lord Gu laughed and said, "When I have some free time tomorrow, I'll have Eighteen go to the Imperial Academy to invite him to come to my house for a horse ride, so we can have a chat together."
Qin Yuan said, "The Qin family only has one legitimate son, but his intelligence doesn't lie in his studies. He will inevitably be in charge of household affairs in the future. It will be beneficial for him to see all kinds of people, but I'm afraid he will be led astray and his temperament will be hard to change. He admires you the most and is willing to listen to you. It would be good if you could teach him."
Lord Gu changed his clothes, took a few steps to the table, and said with a smile, "I am his brother-in-law. If I don't care about him, who will? I only hope that my father-in-law will not push me too hard on my studies for this reason."
Qin Yuan smiled and said, "I'm afraid my father will feel he has no way to repay you, so he can only urge you to make progress. Congratulations, Marquis, and congratulations to my husband. You are destined to be a scholar-general in the future."
After the couple chatted for a while, Lord Gu's expression gradually softened, and he asked Qin Yuan, "How are the profits from your dowry shop these days? I heard from Sixteen that you're starting to stockpile pepper. Do you have enough money? If not, just let Sixteen take as much as you need from my private treasury."
Qin Yuan smiled and said, "Manager Leng just brought over the account books. The incense pills have been selling well lately. The other dowry shops are planning to make a big profit by swapping their inventory for the Empress Dowager's birthday. Shen Changle and Manager Leng are helping to come up with ideas. Oh, and there's also Accountant Wan. Shen Changle is really amazing. It hasn't been long, and she's already on good terms with Accountant Wan again. Although the poetry collection is selling well, there hasn't been much income yet. Once we collect money from all over the place at the end of the year, there should be quite a bit."
The implication was that there was no need for Lord Gu's private treasury for the time being.
Lord Gu asked again, "Didn't Baozhu say she was coming to Wutong Garden to talk to you about collecting pepper? Where is she?"
Qin Yuan said, "They left a long time ago. They were walking as fast as they could. At this hour, they still sent someone to the Duke's mansion to deliver a letter. Perhaps they were going to talk to Miss You."
Lord Gu frowned.
"The matter you mentioned... could it be that You Da is using us to send a portrait to the Crown Prince?"
With a "pfft," Qin Yuan laughed out loud: "She's just a perfectly nice girl, but you siblings have turned her into some kind of brute."
Lord Gu twitched the corner of his lips.
Qin Yuan said, "I've heard Baozhu mention it a few times. Miss You and the Ninth Princess are close, and Miss You even acted as an intermediary, trying to get a death warrant for the Ninth Princess. After Baozhu refused, I thought they would think of another way, but after the hostage residence caught fire, there was no further news."
Lord Gu narrowed his long, narrow eyes slightly: "Are you guessing that they've changed their tactics again to set us up?"
Qin Yuan said, "I'm just taking precautions. If this picture gets out, and the Crown Prince uses it as a pretext to ask the Emperor to arrange a marriage, it's hard to say what the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers will think. Whatever her intentions are, it's best to wait until the position of Crown Princess is decided before discussing it."
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