Auntie rubbed her swollen face and sneered: "How should I know how to remedy it?"

Uncle Ba glared at her and said, "Stupid woman, the Bo's Mansion is such a big piece of fat meat and no one is protecting it. You want to miss this opportunity that you finally got?"

"But now that things have come to this, can we still force the prince to marry?"

The Eighth Uncle stroked his chin, his eyes gleaming with greed: "If this way doesn't work, think of another way. You women have a lot of ideas. Old woman, if you can take advantage of this opportunity to manage the family of the Earl's Mansion, then you still have to worry about the boys not being able to marry good wives?"

Auntie sat down, took a few sips of cold tea, and threw her previous fears to the wind: "Let me think about it."

How can she get involved in the affairs of the Bo Mansion? The old man was right. If she missed such a great opportunity, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

Auntie's eyes rolled around as she racked her brains for an idea.

Uncle Ba knew that Aunt Ba had many ideas in this regard, so he drank his tea in silence, staring at Aunt Ba's slightly swollen profile with a bit of annoyance.

It should be lighter.

Auntie Ba suddenly slapped her thigh and said, "Got it!"

"What?" Uncle Ba perked up and put the empty teacup on the table.

A set of delicate white porcelain teacups would cost a lot of money. The expenses for food and drink at the Bo's mansion were incomparable to those at the manor. They lived more carefree than the gods.

When Uncle Ba thought of this, his heart was burning with anger.

The lineage of Earl Yongchang has always been small, with only one son passing down the family line for several generations. Up to now, he has no close relatives in the same clan, and he is several generations away from his eighth uncle and his family.

Fortunately, Uncle Yongchang was a kind man and had taken good care of his fellow tribesmen over the years. Every year he would donate money to the tribe's schools, ancestral halls, etc. Whenever any family in the tribe encountered a natural disaster or man-made calamity, he would lend a helping hand as long as they came to him.

It's a pity that people are greedy. Seeing huge amounts of money coming out of the Earl's Mansion day after day for many years, people like Uncle and Auntie only thought that the Earl of Yongchang's Mansion was made of mountains of gold and silver, and they no longer remembered the kindness of Earl Yongchang and his wife.

In their opinion, the Bo family had money, so it was their duty to take care of the clan members, and they even felt that they had given too little. Now that the head of the Bo family had passed away, how could they leave such a huge family business to a child who was not even an adult to ruin it?

The eighth aunt poked her head out to look, closed the open window, and said in a low voice: "I have seen with cold eyes that the prince is a man with ulterior motives. We should start with that girl."

"What good ideas have you come up with?" Thinking of Xie Qingyao's aggressiveness in the mourning hall, Uncle Ba shook his head, "That girl is not someone you can easily mess with."

Auntie curled her lips and said, "You men don't understand. A barking dog doesn't bite. Those who make a lot of noise are half-baked."

"Okay, tell me what you think."

"If that girl gets sick and there's no elder to take care of her in the mansion, she'll most likely have to go to her grandparents' house to recuperate, right?"

"Who knows, maybe the aunt will stay to take care of me."

The eighth aunt smiled disapprovingly, "Even if the aunt stays, so what? Although they have a say in the prince's marriage, as long as they can't force the girl in, the mansion can't be managed by an outsider, right? This won't work anywhere. If the girl gets sick, we are her same clan, and as the clan leader, isn't it natural for us to take care of the backyard for the mansion? After all, the prince is just a boy, do you think he should be in charge of the trivial matters in the mansion?"

Uncle Ba nodded as he listened.

"As long as we get our hands on the power of stewardship in the Marquis's mansion, even if that girl recovers from her illness, can she still chase us out? It's easier to invite a god than to send him away. Before the Marquis's mansion welcomes a legitimate mistress, we can be the masters of the house. Even if the prince marries in the future, we will have sorted out all the relationships in the mansion by then, and it won't be that easy for anyone to touch us. Old man, don't you think this is the truth?"

"That's true, but even though the girl is sad, I think she's still in good spirits."

Auntie rolled her eyes at Uncle Ba and said, "I'm already old enough to be frightened into hysterics in a funeral hall. How can a delicate little girl like that be frightened into a disease when she encounters something dirty?"

Uncle Ba's eyes lit up: "You mean - pretending to be a ghost?"

Auntie Ba was amused and rather smug: "Just pretend to be a ghost. When night falls, a female ghost with dishevelled hair will appear in front of that girl. I don't think she will be scared to death."

Uncle Ba thought that he was more serious than Aunt Ba in this regard, and offered his opinion: "If you want to pretend to be a ghost and scare people, you have to succeed immediately. But it's not safe to have your hair loose. If you ask me, you should paint your face white so that your facial features can't be seen..."

The two of them were busy studying the details of pretending to be ghosts, and finally smiled at each other.

"That's settled." Uncle Ba poured himself another cup of tea, stroking the delicate white porcelain teacup.

This teacup feels so comfortable, it’s full of money.

Auntie Ba's eyes flickered: "But who will pretend to be the ghost?"

Uncle Ba was stunned by the question.

The Eighth Aunt said to herself: "The people we brought with us are unreliable, and it's too late to buy off the people from the Earl's Mansion temporarily..."

As she spoke, she met Uncle Eight's gaze and read something in his eyes: "Old man, you won't let me come, will you?"

Uncle Eight smiled and said, "Old lady, you are the most suitable. Just like you said, others are worried, so you have to do it yourself."

The aunt opened her mouth, and suddenly thought of the cold hands in the mourning hall and the thunder that almost fell on her, and she couldn't help but shudder: "I can't!"

"Why not?" Uncle Ba glared.

Auntie Ba stared back, not wanting to be outdone: "Why don't you go?"

"I'm a grown man. If I sneak into a girl's house, won't it be easy to be discovered?" Uncle Ba instinctively resisted having anything to do with ghosts and gods.

"If someone sees me dressed as a female ghost, wouldn't it be even more eye-catching?"

Uncle Ba was speechless.

"Most of the servants in the mansion are busy in the mourning shed right now. They are exhausted after a whole day, and they will definitely sleep soundly at night. Besides, if they really see a female ghost, they will be scared away. Who dares to approach it?" Auntie pinched Uncle Ba, "I don't care, I won't go alone anyway!"

Uncle Eight had no choice but to agree to go with them.

By the evening, the rain had stopped and a cool breeze blew in through the window, making the bed curtains flutter back and forth.

"Asi, aren't you asleep yet?" Xie Qingyao asked when he saw Jiang Si standing by the window for a while.

Jiang Si took one last look out the window before closing it and walking back to Xie Qingyao: "Go to sleep."

Erniu should have left here, she didn't smell any scent of him.

However, the heavy rain and strong wind today will affect her judgment.

If Erniu were still here, he would be hungry.

Erniu, who was worried about his hunger by the hostess, ran through the garden towards Xie Qingyao's yard with a fat chicken in his mouth. He stopped at the gate of the yard and hid behind the flowers and trees on the side.

It’s better to finish eating the fat chicken before going in.