Xiaoji knew that she had gone out, but couldn't find out where she had gone.

The carriage left the city and arrived at Fanghua Temple.

Tan's expression was serious, and she walked into the meditation room with only Mrs. Zhou. After she woke up, she asked Mrs. Zhou to deliver a letter in a tough tone.

So, he will come!

The last time I came here was a long time ago...

The room was still the same as before, with only a few simple pieces of furniture, but each piece was extraordinary. On the table, there was a burning incense... Tan knew that thing, and it was not an exaggeration to say that every inch of incense was worth a fortune. Even she was reluctant to part with it...

Lord Zhou is as extravagant as ever.

The man had his hair tied up with jade hairpins and wore a blue cloth. He had a thin face, single eyelids, and not a single wrinkle.

In front of him was a purple clay tea set made by a famous artist. He ignored Tan when she came in. It seemed that nothing in the world was more important than the tea set in his hand.

Tan sat down and looked at him.

After leaving the Bai family, she always asked herself: What would have happened if she hadn't met him...

…

At that time, at Tan Shuya's request, Mrs. Bai agreed to let her stay.

The mother and daughter first moved into the guest room and washed several large buckets of water. Manager Yao had someone send them new clothes and new shoes.

Her body smelled fragrant and her hair was smooth. For the first time in her life, Tan Yanling looked like a human.

Afterwards, Manager Yao arranged a small courtyard for Tan Shuya in Xi'an and assigned two maids to serve her. He told her that firewood, rice, oil, salt, etc. would be delivered regularly. Every month, there would also be a monthly salary.

Tan Shuya burst into tears again and excitedly told her daughter to serve Mrs. Bai and Mr. Bai well.

At that time, Tan Yanling felt like he had gone to heaven and nodded solemnly in response.

She stayed in the villa, lived in an exquisite courtyard, and was served by maids and old women.

But at that time, she did everything by herself, tidying up the house all day long and cleaning it inside and outside.

There are many girls in the Bai family, and there are countless clothes and shoes that have never been worn. They were all given to her, but she was not used to wearing some of them. The shoes were too soft and the skirts were tangled in her feet...

Every time they put it on, the girls would laugh for a long time.

She didn't understand, she didn't know people were laughing at her, and she just laughed along. But even if she knew, she wouldn't care!

He even licked the plate clean in front of them...

Every day, she would run to Madam Bai's place, and would work with the maids regardless of whether they needed it or not. She praised Madam Bai sincerely and simply...

If Mr. Bai was around, she would talk even more excitedly, often making Mr. Bai laugh out loud.

So, slowly, everyone seemed to like her.

Why would Mrs. Bai need her to serve her? Let her take lessons with the girls and greet the gentlemen: learn as she wishes, and don't ask for too much.

In this class, Tan Yanling's original cleverness and tricks were suddenly of no use.

Because she found that they were useless.

The girl in the Bai family who is older than Bai Yuqing is the five-year-old Bai Yuzi.

He was two years younger than her and had just started learning. However, he could already write all the sisters' names, recite poems, draw pictures, and even speak some words that she couldn't understand at all.

And she...even though she could catch a slippery loach, she couldn't play with a pen...even she herself thought the words she wrote were ugly.

When Mr. Bai is free, he will personally check the sisters' homework, and if they do not do it seriously, he will personally slap their hands.

But when he saw her handwriting, Mr. Bai just smiled, never scolded her, never hit her, and even comforted her: "It can be seen that Xiao Ling'er is working very hard!"

She was very happy and thought: Mr. Bai treated her differently! Many years later, she finally understood: He just didn't have any requirements for her and didn't pay attention to her. He was just encouraging a poor little girl.

The Bai family often holds various banquets, tea parties, flower parties, music parties...

One day, at a concert, Mrs. Bai played the guqin. It turned out that she could play it so beautifully! Mr. Bai listened and watched, fascinated! Tan Yanling, who was still young, didn't know what was wrong with her. Seeing this scene, she was very unhappy.

So, she was determined to practice hard, but even though she worked a hundred times harder than others, the same thing still happened: her handwriting was not formed, her painting was not good, her flute was leaking, her singing was out of tune, and her piano strings were always broken...

In fact, she was not as bad as she thought. She was just too eager and too unlucky to meet the Bai family...

At this moment, she is no longer the silly girl who just arrived.

She pays attention to her dress and manners, and knows how to order the maids around appropriately.

She hopes to become the real master of the Bai family and win the favor of Mr. Bai.

She was very happy, and she found another way to get close to Mr. Bai.

There is a large yard in the villa, where Mr. Bai works. He always makes some inexplicable things...

Sometimes, it needs to be mixed with mud, chopped, cleaned, dried, refined, etc.

Sometimes, the girls from the Bai family would come here too, because there was a kiln at the back where they could burn the pottery they made.

Tan Yanling was adept at the work here, and she was willing to put in some effort, so she quietly surrounded Mr. Bai.

Mr. Bai started by saying, "It's dirty and messy here, Xiao Ling'er go have some tea and chat with the sisters.

Tan Yanling laughed secretly: Haha, how could a poor girl like me have the honor of being their sister?

They look down on me, okay? They even talk to me nicely.

That time, I was just chatting with them about some trivial matters... But, I was severely criticized by them: Talking about others behind their backs is not a gentleman's behavior.

Bah! I'm a woman, why should I pretend to be a gentleman? Aren't you just looking down on my background and looking for reasons to bully me? Why are you pretending?

For example: They never invite me when they entertain guests at home or go out to visit others! And that time: I went to Huichun Pavilion to enjoy the flowers, and it rained, and they asked me to come back with the girl to get an umbrella, and they smiled and said that I ran fast...

Am I not afraid of getting wet in the rain? If you treat me like a slave, just say so!

When they have birthdays with their sisters, they would spend half a day carefully choosing gifts. But on my birthday, they just took whatever they had at hand! They fooled me, sent me away, and looked down on me!

No matter how small the matter is, she will not let it go, and it will settle in her heart and turn into full of hatred.

Now, she could finally be with Mr. Bai, which was exactly what she wanted! Every day, watching Mr. Bai work, she felt an indescribable satisfaction in her heart. She remembered carefully and helped with all her strength. She pushed all the helpers aside.

I don’t know how long it took for all this to become a habit.

"Xiao Ling'er?!" This was Mr. Bai's first words when he arrived. She became his right-hand man!

Here is a place for Mr. Bai to take a temporary nap...

Tan Yanling had long been familiar with the affairs of men and women, and she even secretly looked for books to read in Bai's study... She would sneak into the room when no one was paying attention, lie on his bed, smell the special incense, and wish she could die on it...

Because she was very good at disguising herself, no one in the Bai family knew that she was painfully looking forward to seeing him and hopelessly in love with him.

A few years passed, she was seventeen, and Mrs. Bai invited Tan Shuya to come. When talking about her marriage...

"You're old enough now. You can look at it yourself. If you can't find a matchmaker, you can hire one. Xijing City is a city of outstanding people and has many good young men. It's better to find one early!"

Tan Yanling was shocked when she heard this and stole a glance at Mr. Bai...

Tan Shuya said gently, "I work at home all day, and I really don't know anyone. Madam, could you please help me find a suitable match for her?"

Mr. Bai said, "Hey, I have a good friend who lives in Linshui. He has a son who is not married yet..."

When Tan Yanling heard this, she turned around and ran...

Mr. Bai laughed out loud: "Little girl, you are still shy! You have finally grown up!"

She went back to her room, threw herself on the pillow and burst into tears.

Later, Tan Shuya said to her happily: "Although the madam said that she has no time to take care of your marriage and asked me to find one for you, she will let you take all the things in your room with you. She will also give you one thousand taels of silver as a dowry! Oh my God, big girl..."

"Don't call me big girl! My name is Yanling!" Tan Yanling suddenly became furious.

"Ah! I'm so scared. What happened to you? One thousand taels! At the beginning, your father wanted to sell you to a brothel for thirty taels..."

"Shut up! Are you stupid? How dare you say that? When did that happen? Did you know about it in your previous life?! If this gets out, I won't even be able to marry an outstanding servant, you know? You are so stupid... or do you dare to look down on me? Huh?"

She didn't dare to curse loudly, but she was so angry that she grabbed the teapot on the table and smashed it to the ground.

The old woman outside heard the noise and came in.

But he found Tan Yanling picking it up from the ground... and said with a smile: "Oops, I didn't catch it and it broke!"

Tan Shuya, who was sitting on the side, was completely dumbfounded.

After Mrs. Bai told Tan Shuya about finding a husband for her, she never mentioned it again.

Mr. Bai went out as his friend invited him.

Tan Yanling was in pain and confusion, wandering around Xijing City all day.

One day, she came home and found a note on her body.

The handwriting on it was very handsome: "Li Danniu: I know everything about you and your mother. Let's meet at Qingfeng Teahouse in two days. If you don't come, I will go find Mrs. Bai!"