Chapter 8: Managing the household
She had to bring up this matter over and over again, so that she could completely eliminate the guilt in Lu Hangzhi's heart towards Gu Qingning.
Sure enough, after she finished speaking, Lu Hangzhi's face instantly turned cold.
Because in his opinion, it was Gu Qingning who abandoned him despite their years of friendship!
So, what right did Gu Qingning have to be angry with him!
Just at this moment, a laugh was heard.
Gu Qingning, wearing a lotus-colored silk dress, stepped out and said with a smile, "Don't blame the one who betrayed and married his widowed sister-in-law? Don't blame the one who is greedy and vain and can't keep an empty house? It turns out that whoever wants to save face is to blame."
Both of them had dark faces.
Lu Hangzhi clenched his fists. "Gu Qingning, what nonsense are you talking about! Isn't this the situation you chose?"
Shen Ruoying also said aggrievedly: "Qing Ning, how could you misunderstand me like this? I clearly wanted to become a nun before."
Gu Qingning got on the carriage and had the curtain lowered to block their sight, but the sound still came through.
"Don't be both a leader and a strategist. It's shameful."
The carriage left.
Banxia lowered the curtain, turned around and said to Gu Qingning with a smile: "Master, the second young master and his wife are so angry that their faces are black."
Gu Qingning: "Yes, but from now on, I will have to keep a gloomy face throughout the whole process."
Banxia didn’t understand.
Soon, everything became clear when we arrived at the Marquis of Guangping's Mansion.
The Shen family was naturally very warm and intimate towards Shen Ruoying and Lu Hangzhi, especially after seeing so many return gifts, their smiles deepened.
As for Gu Qingning, they just said some insignificant words lightly.
"Qing Ning, you don't have to go through all this trouble. It's nothing. We won't blame you."
"Qing Ning, look at your little face. How come you have lost so much weight? You look so pitiful. Were you bullied in the Duke's Mansion?"
"Hey, why did you insist on becoming a widow?"
Some people saw such a pitiful return gift and looked at the taciturn Gu Qingning with sympathy, but they did not dare to get too close to her.
Either he was afraid of offending the Marquis's family, or he knew that Gu Qingning was not having a good time in the Duke's Mansion, so he didn't dare to offend anyone in the Duke's Mansion.
In short, Gu Qingning had a miserable time on this return visit day.
This is in stark contrast to Shen Ruoying and her husband.
In the evening, Feng learned what happened in Guangping Marquis' Mansion today and was extremely happy.
When Duke Qin returned to the backyard, the smile on her face had not yet faded.
Duke Qin scolded her immediately, "How did you manage to be a mistress?"
Feng: "Duke, why do you say that?"
Duke Qin: "Today, a colleague passed by the Marquis of Guangping's mansion and saw that Gu looked very pitiful and her return gift was very shabby. On the contrary, Shen's return gift was ten times that of Gu! Did you arrange it this way on purpose?"
Feng's face turned pale. She didn't expect that Duke Qin would know about this immediately.
The corners of her mouth trembled, and she said quickly: "I thought Qing Ning didn't want to return home, after all, she was alone and Jing Yu was not around. She suddenly said she wanted to return home, so the return gift was prepared in a hurry..."
Duke Qin was no fool. He guessed that Feng was deliberately favoring the second son and his wife.
If it were an ordinary time, he wouldn't interfere in what happened in the backyard.
But today all of it was seen by his colleagues, and maybe the censors will report him tomorrow!
Thinking of this, Duke Qin said decisively: "Starting tomorrow, you will take care of the affairs of Duke Qin's mansion with Gu."
Feng was stunned. "My Lord, what do you mean by that?"
Duke Qin: "Why, do you really want the whole capital to know how harshly you criticize the widow Gu? It hasn't even been a year since Jing Yu left! In this way, if you take her with you to manage the household expenses, then outsiders will know that you, as the mistress, are not partial to Gu at all, but rather love her very much."
How could Feng be willing to let Gu Qingning share the power in her hands?
She said tentatively, "But Duke, Chen Fenfang has already let Gu Qingning take care of Jing Yu's properties. She is still young after all. How can she be in charge of the Duke's Mansion?"
Duke Qin: "Gu is now the master of Songtao Pavilion. What's the problem with her taking over the management of Jingyu's industry? Why, you don't want Gu to manage the Duke's Mansion?"
Feng was about to vomit blood, but she quickly calmed down and said, "It's not that I don't want to, I'm just worried that she's too young to do the job well. But since you said so, I'll take her with me to manage the household from tomorrow on."
When Duke Qin heard her say this, the anger between his brows disappeared.
The next day, Gu Qingning knew that Feng had asked someone to call her over, so she packed up and went out.
Granny Liao whispered, "Miss, will the Duke's wife embarrass you again?"
Gu Qingning's lips curved slightly, "No, this should be a good thing."
It was indeed a good thing, because there was a pile of account books in front of Feng, and when she saw Gu Qingning, a smile appeared on her face.
"Qing Ning, I thought you were usually alone in Song Tao Pavilion and had nothing to do, so why don't you help me look at the account books and take care of the household?"
Feng is also a person who hides a sharp edge behind a soft touch.
She was obviously not happy, but there was still a smile on her face.
But she was not willing to do it, so she deliberately bullied Gu Qingning and mocked her for being a widow, lonely and idle.
But Gu Qingning pretended not to hear the sarcasm in her words and said with a smile: "It would be great if I could help my mother share her worries."
The smile on Feng's face almost couldn't be controlled.
Why didn't she realize before that Gu Qingning was so troublesome? Fortunately, Hangzhi didn't marry her!
Gu Qingning stayed at Feng's place for most of the day before leaving. When she left, she asked the servants to carry so many account books.
Not only that, she also went to the warehouse to count things with great fanfare.
Because of Gu Qingning's "high-profile" behavior, Cuiwei Pavilion soon learned about the matter!
Shen Ruoying, who had just had a bath, leaned on the bed, her long hair loose, looking very lazy.
But after hearing the words of her trusted maid, her eyes were filled with disbelief!
Lu Hangzhi came out of the bathroom next door. He straightened his collar and looked at Shen Ruoying curiously.
"Ruoying, what's wrong with you? Why do you look so ugly?"
"Hangzhi, did you know that mother has started to learn how to manage household chores with Qing Ning?"
Lu Hangzhi was stunned for a moment, but didn't take it too seriously.
"Is that so? Oh, maybe mother doesn't want Qing Ning to always be in the spotlight and take care of her brother's shops, so she found something for her to do in the mansion to relieve her boredom."
Shen Ruoying thought it was not that simple.
After all, being in charge of a household's finances is something that only the mistress of a house would do. How can it be a way to kill time?
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