Although Ma Po was the Marquis's woman's person, she did not dare to openly disobey Xiao Yunrou's orders. She could only secretly signal Aunt Liu and quietly retreat.
Only after Ma Po walked away did Aunt Liu heave a sigh of relief and said to Xiao Yunrou in embarrassment:
"Don't blame me, Madam. I am not favored by the prince, but I thought that having the second young master by my side would give me something to think about in the future. But Madam Hou..."
Aunt Liu sighed, her face not looking very happy.
"I have no intention of competing with the Crown Prince's wife for the Crown Prince, but I am only a concubine, and my father holds a low position. I dare not disobey the Marquis's wife's wishes. I hope the Crown Prince's wife will not misunderstand me because I followed her here this time."
Aunt Liu spoke with great emotion, and exuded a strong sense of helplessness and powerlessness. Xiao Yunrou listened to her heartfelt words quietly and just smiled faintly.
"Mother naturally hopes that the prince will have many children, but in the end it all depends on the prince's own wishes. You are a concubine brought into the mansion in a proper manner, and you are also the daughter of an official, so the mansion will certainly not treat you badly."
Aunt Liu felt a little uneasy when she saw Xiao Yunrou didn't respond to her words, but when she saw that calm face, she silently swallowed what she wanted to say, picked up the teacup and took a sip, but she was the only one who knew the mixed feelings in her heart.
Aunt Liu sat for a while and then left. Nanny Xu then brought people to help Xiao Yunrou take a bath.
"Can the wife of the Crown Prince trust Aunt Liu's words?"
Xiao Yunrou said calmly, "It doesn't matter whether I believe it or not. As long as she doesn't touch my bottom line, it doesn't matter if she leans towards the Marquis' wife. If the prince wants to go, can I still tie him up and not let him go?"
Xiao Yunrou now feels very strange about Pei Lingfeng. If he went to any concubine's room in the past, she would not care, but now, she feels a little depressed at the thought.
"Instead of staring at Madam Liu, it's better to look more at Zhining Garden. There are few people in the Marquis' Mansion now, and the only one who wants to set a trap for me is that person."
"Also, Hongzhuang is getting married soon, so I won't let her come back to serve me like Lvyi did. I'll let her go outside the mansion to help me manage the shop and get some information. Then I'll promote two of the second-class maids."
Nanny Xu responded in a low voice, thought about the temperaments of the six second-class maids, and decided on the one.
After staying in the manor for a few days, everyone set out for Beijing. As soon as she came back, Xiao Yunrou became busy. The reason was simple: her eldest cousin Su Qingmo was getting married.
Even if Su Qingmo was not her cousin, Meng Tian, who married him, was still her close friend, so Xiao Yunrou would still go and put on makeup.
On the seventh day of the eleventh month, the day before the wedding of the Su and Meng families, Xiao Yunrou asked her sister to go to the Meng family. The Meng family was very festive with lanterns and decorations. When Xiao Yunrou walked into Meng Tian's room, many daughters who were good friends with Meng Tian had already gathered there.
Xiao Yunrou presented a set of jade headpieces, while Xiao Yunya presented a jade ruyi. Both of them presented extraordinary items, which made others envious. In addition, the Xiao and Su families were in-laws, and the fact that the Xiao sisters presented a valuable gift today meant that Meng Tian was valued by the Su family, which made her even more envious.
"Is Yun Ya's jade ruyi from Fenghua Pavilion?" Meng Lan, the daughter of the second branch of the Meng family, looked at it for a while and asked tentatively.
Seeing Yun Ya admit it, she covered her mouth and teased, "I saw this jade ruyi in Fenghua Pavilion before, and the shopkeeper offered six hundred taels of silver. I really liked it, but I had no money, so I could only look at it. Yun Ya, you are so generous in buying makeup today, and if Madam Xiao finds a husband for you tomorrow, Sister Tian will be broke. But Yun Ya, when I get married, you can't give Sister Tian anything worse than what I gave you."
Meng Tian rolled her eyes at her cousin who was obsessed with money, carefully accepted the gift from the Xiao sisters and said with a smile:
"Wait until someone wants it. Then I will give you a silver hairpin, and you will have to thank me profusely."
Meng Lan's eyes widened when she heard this and she reached out for Meng Tian's waist.
"Stingy, look at my claws!!"
The room was filled with laughter from the two sisters, which diluted Meng Tian's nervousness about getting married.
After leaving the Meng Mansion, Xiao Yunrou thought that she hadn't seen her sister for a long time and wanted to stroll around. The two hit it off and went directly to the most prosperous street in the capital.
The two of them always have clothes and jewelry delivered to their door, so today they were just strolling around to see something new, but they didn't buy anything.
After walking around for a while, the two felt tired and prepared to sit in a teahouse nearby. Although the largest wine house in Beijing is the Guanxing Tower, it is not bad to open a wine house on East Street. As soon as the two entered, an enthusiastic waiter took them to the second floor. Because there was no private room, they could only find a seat by the window separated by a screen.
Not long after the two sat down, they heard a commotion, and a moment later a group of people surrounded one person and sat next to the two sisters.
"Brother Du is now very successful. Concubine Li in the palace is favored by the emperor, and Lord Du has also been promoted. When Brother Du wins the first prize in the imperial examination next year, Brother Du's future will be bright. I just hope that Brother Du will not forget me, his brother..."
The speaker was very fawning, and the man called Brother Du was also very proud.
"That's fine! My sister is young, beautiful and favored by the emperor. A few days ago, my mother went to the palace and met Concubine Wan and was scolded. The emperor punished her that day."
Du Rui's tone was full of pride. Xiao Yunrou heard Concubine Wan raise her eyebrows slightly, Lipin, how come she didn't know about this kind of person?
Xiao Yunrou thought about it. She was not sure whether there was such a person as Lipin in the palace in her previous life, but she seemed to have never heard of a Du family becoming the new nobles in the capital.
Xiao Yunrou lowered her eyes. In this life, there were many variables in the palace. Unfortunately, the harem was not a place she could interfere in. However, the Xiao family was a centuries-old clan, and they had more or less connections in the palace. But those were in the hands of Xiao's father. As a daughter who had married out, she went to ask her father for the connections in the palace, but she couldn't get her father to tell her when she asked.
"When my sister gives birth to another heir, he can at least be promoted to Zhaoyi."
"Brother Du, you are so humble. With Concubine Li's current favor, if she really gives birth to a prince, she will at least be a concubine."
"That's right, Brother Du, please give us more support in the future!"
Du Rui felt more and more proud as everyone echoed his words, and he immediately ordered all the signature dishes of the restaurant.
"Lipin? I heard about this person at the He family's banquet a few days ago. It seems that she was originally a seventh-rank official in her family. She got a sixth-rank idle position in the Ministry of Revenue a few days ago. Is this something they should be happy about?"
Xiao Yunya spoke quietly to Xiao Yunrou about the Du family, and Xiao Yunrou just nodded slightly.
"Once you gain power, there will always be people like this. But Concubine Wan has been by the emperor's side for many years and has a prince. The emperor was able to punish Concubine Wan for Concubine Li. He must have some skills."
"The Concubine Wan has the Zhong family behind her, and Commander Zhong is deeply trusted by the Emperor. How can a Lipin shake that? But because Concubine Wan suffered from the Zhong family's useless brother, and there was the flood, didn't they release Zhong Gelao now? I'm sure the Emperor won't ignore her for too long. But since the Du family is so prominent, Lipin won't be around for too long either."
Xiao Yunya said a few words and let the matter go. After all, how much trouble could Concubine Du and the Du family cause in this capital city full of nobles?
However, Xiao Yunrou took it to heart and decided to send someone to inquire about the Du family as soon as she returned. After all, she was happy to do anything that could cause trouble for Concubine Wan and make the Zhong family unhappy.
Speaking of the Zhong family, Xiao Yunrou thought of Shen Qingqing, who was a concubine in the Zhong family. She was already pregnant at that time. Calculating the date, she should be pregnant after the Chinese New Year. Xiao Yunrou still admired Shen Qingqing. Although Zhong Hao did not marry a wife, he had more than 20 concubines. She was able to get the Zhong family to ignore the rules and allow her to give birth to a child before the wife married. Xiao Yunrou didn't know what to say.
But one thing is certain, the Zhong family hates Shen Qingqing, but they must care about the child in her belly. Xiao Yunrou lowered her eyes. Although she was kind to others, the Zhong family was the culprit of the tragedy in the previous life. Although the child who had nothing to do with the previous life was innocent, she was still of the Zhong family.
"Isn't it?" Xiao Yunrou smiled faintly and had a plan in mind.
As evening approached, Xiao Yunrou sent Xiao Yunya back to the Xiao Mansion and then returned to Zhenyuanhou Mansion.
After washing up, Xiao Yunrou called Lu Yi over and instructed:
"When you return, go find out about the Du family, the Du family of Lipin in the palace. The young master of the Du family will take the imperial examination next spring, so make sure to find out more about him."
The Du family? It seems that I have never heard of them. Lu Yi didn't understand why Xiao Yunrou wanted to ask about them, but she agreed.
The next morning, after Xiao Yunrou arranged the affairs in the mansion, she went to Su Mansion with Shen and Zhuang. Pei Lingfeng and Pei Lingzhi also rode along on horseback.
With the reputation of Mr. Su in front and Su Qingmo's success in the imperial examination behind, the Su family held a lively wedding. The carriages outside the Su mansion were crowded together, and the male and female guests entered from two doors respectively. As soon as Xiao Yunrou came in, she saw the first and second wives of Su who were busy as hell.
"Rou'er is here." Madam Su came forward to greet her.
"Aunt." Xiao Yunrou bowed, but seeing that there were people coming and going, she stopped talking.
"I'm familiar with the Su Mansion. I'll just take my sister-in-law in. Auntie, there's no need to greet me."
Mrs. Su was not shy, so Xiao Yunrou and Zhuang walked in. Although Zhuang had attended many banquets in the past year, there were few such grand banquets, which surprised the Su family.
"Sister-in-law, there are too many people."
Xiao Yunrou smiled and said:
"Normally, you only go to tea parties hosted by the wives of various families. Since only the women attend, the ceremony is naturally much smaller. Today, not only the women came, but also the ministers of the court and some of your grandfather's students came, so there are more people. However, all the families with some respectability in the capital have such a ceremony when they marry their wives and daughters. There are almost no grand banquets in the capital this year. You will get used to it in the future."
Zhuang nodded and followed Xiao Yunrou closely. This was her first time to see such a big scene. Although she had learned most of the rules in the capital, she was still a little nervous about this scene. She felt much more at ease when she was with Xiao Yunrou.
The author has something to say: It's been a long time since I last updated. Thank you to all the readers who have never given up!!