The concubine, Qian Duoduo, sat in the carriage watching the couple leave. She glanced at the group of women from Linjia Village heading towards the woods, and her eyes lit up instantly, a charming smile appearing on her face.
Qian Duoduo opened the bundle beside her and took out a hollow gold bracelet, which she then put on her wrist.
She asked the maid to fetch a basket, and after taking the basket, she headed towards the place where the woman was digging for wild vegetables.
After walking a few steps, I caught a glimpse of a maid following closely behind me.
"You go back, I'm going to wander around over there."
The maid didn't say much, and quickly bowed her head in agreement.
Before even entering the woods, the rainwater on the leaves and weeds had soaked Qian Duoduo's clothes, and her delicate embroidered shoes were covered in mud. She grimaced in disgust, but having already walked halfway, she could only bear it and continue.
Seeing her suddenly appear, the women looked at each other in surprise, and for a moment they were completely silent.
"We're out of vegetables at home, so I'd like to dig some wild vegetables with my sisters," Qian Duoduo said with a shy smile, sounding a little reserved.
They had traveled together for a few days, and the women recognized her as the concubine of the merchant Wu Xingwang. However, at that time, she sat in the carriage all day and rarely showed herself except when resting.
After a long silence, Aunt Li stepped in to smooth things over, taking out two common vegetables from her basket.
“These are dandelions and shepherd’s purse. Just dig up these two.”
Aunt Li kindly gave her a sharpened wooden stick.
Qian Duoduo smiled and thanked her, "Thank you, sister."
Aunt Li waved to her, picked up her basket and walked away, leaving the space to her. Seeing this, the other women also tactfully walked away.
Wu Xingwang had helped the village buy grain, so they wouldn't offend his family, much less approach them, because the Wu family were merchants.
Qian Duoduo looked at the woman who had been exposed in the blink of an eye, as if she were some kind of jackal or tiger, and was both amused and exasperated.
She looked around and saw that there was only one woman left in the open space, engrossed in digging for wild vegetables, ignoring her.
Aunt Li and the others tactfully left, and Yu Suqin pretended not to understand the other women's hints.
She would not have come out to dig for wild vegetables if it weren't to save some food after walking all day. Why should she give up this spot close to the camp to a merchant's concubine? She didn't buy food from Wu Xingwang, so she didn't owe him any favors and there was no need for her to be so modest.
Qian Duoduo carried the basket up and squatted down in front of the woman, using the wooden stick given to her by Aunt Li to dig up the tender shepherd's purse.
She picked up the wild vegetables she had dug up and handed them to the woman, her bright gold bracelet on her wrist quite eye-catching.
"Sister, do you think I dug up the right one?"
With the other party standing right in front of her and talking to her, Yu Suqin couldn't keep up the act any longer. As she looked up, a golden light pierced her eyes.
Yu Suqin was stunned, her eyes fixed on the gold bracelet on Qian Duoduo's hand.
She had never seen such a big gold bracelet in her entire life!
Seeing this, Qian Duoduo's smile deepened. Noticing that there were only the two of them around, she quickly took off the gold bracelet on her wrist and stuffed it into Yu Suqin's arms.
"Since it's our first meeting, and you like this bracelet, I'll give it to you as a gift."
The gold bracelet felt like it was burning her hand, and Yu Suqin quickly returned it to Qian Duoduo, saying, "No, no, it's too precious."
"It's my good fortune to meet you, sister. Please don't be so polite! Our master is so poor that all he has left is money. This bracelet is nothing to him."
"Although they didn't say it explicitly, I could tell that they looked down on my status as a concubine."
Yu Suqin thought to herself, "They not only despise you for being a concubine, but also for being a merchant's concubine."
With money, beauty, and sweet talk, Yu Suqin couldn't resist. After a few exchanges, she secretly hid the gold bracelet in her bosom, intending to save it for Hui'er's future marriage.
Because of the gold bracelet, Yu Suqin was much more enthusiastic towards Qian Duoduo and even shared half of the wild vegetables she had painstakingly dug with her.
Clearly, Qian Duoduo's mind wasn't on digging for wild vegetables.
"Sister Yu, what was that all about when I saw a lot of people gathered around a carriage the other day?"
"Hey, isn't it all because Young Master Yun is trying to curry favor with that little bitch Lin Yinan?" Yu Suqin sneered, her tone sour.
Qian Duoduo casually remarked, "By the way, Miss Lin seemed perfectly fine before, how come her belly suddenly got so big?"
"Who knows when they secretly got pregnant?"
"It seems that Young Master Yun values his wife quite a bit." Qian Duoduo's tone was full of envy.
"Pah, she's just a two-faced scumbag."
"..."
In the evening, Wu Xingwang's family sat around the fire, the couple chatting with Qian Duoduo about the information they had gathered during the day.
Wu Xingwang sighed, "Judging from the attitude of the Yun brothers towards us today, it seems they don't want to get too close to us. The Su family of Jiancheng is quite famous. Su Kunliang is too arrogant as a scholar and looks down on us. I heard that they have also moved south with their entire clan. As for that old fox, the Lin family patriarch, he talked for a long time, but it was as if he didn't say anything at all."
Madam Wu frowned. "One branch of the Yun family is a prominent family in the south. If we can get on the good side of the Yun family, our Wu family's path will be much smoother."
"Both of the Yun family's sons are married, and the youngest son has just turned fourteen. Miss Yun doesn't even need to think about it..."
Qian Duoduo glanced at Wu Yao and said with a coquettish smile, "Master, you are overthinking it. Madam Yun has given birth less than three months ago and cannot take care of Young Master Yun at the moment. Miss is in the prime of her life. If she can win Young Master Yun's favor, what do we have to worry about?"
Madam Wu had previously favored Yun Mo. "Didn't you say that Young Master Yun was unmarried? How come a Madam has suddenly appeared?"
Qian Duoduo told everyone the information she had obtained from Yu Suqin.
Wu Xingwang smiled and praised Qian Duoduo, "You're so thorough in handling things."
Madam Wu's face stiffened for a moment, but she quickly returned to normal.
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