Yu's mother quickly brought over a few influential mothers who were in charge of things.

  Jade hairpins drooping, she trailed behind them with a dispirited air.

  Yu's mother first scolded Yu Chuan severely in front of everyone, then praised Tuo Niang and asked her a few questions: "What else did she give to Da Qing's wife?"

  Tuo Niang was a straightforward person, and she told everything about the needle and thread. Hai Tang was also adding to it on the side, making Yu Niang's face look more and more unpleasant. After they finished speaking, she was already furious, and ordered a mother surnamed Huo beside her: "You go find Daqing's wife."

  Huo Mama hesitated for a moment before going out the door.

  Yu Daqing's wife was wearing a silk summer shirt, with gilded earrings, and a merchant-like appearance. She took one look at the situation and pushed all the blame onto Yu Chuan: "She said she wanted to acknowledge me as her god-sister. It's common for god-sisters to give each other some small gifts, so I didn't think much of it. Who knew that it was actually Yu Chuan secretly taking things from Fourth Miss behind my back." She said, and then turned to run, "I'll return all the things she gave me right now."

  "Stop right there!" Yu's nanny scolded her coldly, "Seventh Master entrusted the internal affairs of the house to me, that is our dignity as servants. You must not take advantage of being my daughter-in-law and behave recklessly in this mansion..."

  Dong Zhaowu had no intention of listening anymore.

  She just needs to know how Yu Niang handled this matter to understand her attitude towards it.

  Dong Zhaohui returned to the inner chamber.

  Jasmine immediately followed him.

  Dong Zha spread out rice paper to practice calligraphy, while Jasmine ground ink beside him.

  The outside was noisy for a while and then quieted down.

  Tuo Niang and Hai Tang, who was still grumbling, lifted the curtain and entered: "......Yu Chai was only fined two months' worth of silver, according to the rules of the Duan family, someone like her should be beaten with a board and driven out of the mansion in front of everyone. And as for Yu Jie's sister-in-law, she had long been saying that she didn't want to work at the Duan family anymore, now Yu Jie has excused her from her duties and won't let her enter the mansion, perhaps this is exactly what she wanted!"

  "Never mind all that. We just need to take good care of Fourth Miss. And you, be more careful in the future, don't let others take advantage of Fourth Miss again."

  Haitang nodded repeatedly.

  Dòu Zhāo however was listening as the brush paused.

  In her previous life, she used people from Tianzhuang and Cui's family.

  They followed her from Zhending to Jin'ning Houfu. In the end, those who could stand by her side were all loyal and perceptive people.

  In this life, she still plans to use the original old people. She's just young, and hastily gathering these people around her might lead to trouble, so it's better to wait two or three years; if there's anything suspicious about her, a single phrase "early wisdom" can gloss it over.

  She never had any hope for her mother's people, thinking that King Yingxue was her stepmother in her previous life. Cleaning up the backyard and suppressing and winning over were things that every stepmother would do. At that time, she was confused and didn't understand anything, and there was no brother to support her. The people around her mother couldn't see any hope, and after a long time, they had their own plans, which was understandable.

  It's understandable that she can forgive, but it doesn't mean she will pardon.

  So You has a bit of an unbridled flavor.

  As long as everyone can muddle through the next two or three years before she takes over, she is willing to turn a blind eye, considering it a thank you for their service to her mother.

  But now it seems, it was her fault.

  Yu's family is just a servant, so why does Yu Daqing's wife dare to say that she doesn't want to work for the Duan family anymore?

  But it was just taking advantage of helping his mother manage the household chores to fill his own pockets, looking down on this little bit of silver for being a servant in the Duan family.

  A flame of indignation suddenly burned in her heart.

  When her mother passed away, Yu Niang cried so hard that she was almost out of breath. She believed in Yu Niang's feelings for her mother, but thinking about how Yu Niang treated Yuzhen and herself as a daughter-in-law, she also trusted her own judgment.

  It's possible that in her past life, Wang Yingshuo was able to control her mother because she had a hold on Yu Daqing.

  Thinking of this, Duan Zhao put down his pen and ordered Tuo Niang: "You bring over that box with the peony flower drawn on it."

  Tuo Niang went to fetch a box, Du Zhao asked Molly and Haitang: "Can you tell what is beeswax? What is Huang Yu?"

  Two things are yellow.

  Jasmine and Haitang were both somewhat surprised.

  Fourth Miss rarely talks to them.

  After a moment of silence, Jasmine shook her head. Haitang hesitated for a few breaths and also shook her head.

  I knew it!

  Dong Zhaoyu's eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  Her mother died suddenly, the inner house was in disarray, these new little maids didn't get enough guidance, and her age was a fatal injury, she had the heart to use them, they couldn't take on the responsibility, let alone in this family, she only trusted Tuo Niang, who followed her and barely recognized a few words, so Yu Zhu became the only choice for the maid in charge of her room.

  The girl brought over the box.

  Dong Zha took out a stack of gift certificates from the box.

  Her past life experiences had cultivated her bold yet cautious way of doing things, she habitually collected receipts, which came in handy now.

  If wives have ulterior motives, the most direct and effective way is to pretend to obey while secretly disobeying, hiding things without recording them, so that even if they are stolen, no one will know.

  Everything in her house, from food and clothing to daily expenses, was managed by the public. The account book was kept by Third Uncle. Mother's belongings were supervised by Auntie, with one book at Father's place, one at Auntie's hand, and one at Yu Niang's hand. Jade hairpin was the only thing that could be moved in these days, and it was her reward.

  It seems she can only count these rewards by herself.

  It's been over a decade since she last did something like this.

  "Disperse, all of you!" Du Zhao said to Tuo Niang and the others, "Just don't let Yu Chai rush in."

  The girl nodded and went out of the room.

  Hei Tang followed Mo Li and Tuo Niang to the door but stopped in her tracks.

  "Fourth Miss, are you going to take stock of things?" She said nervously, "My grandmother used to serve the old lady, and our family has a few old items that the old lady gave us. My grandmother often takes them out to dust..."

  "Then come over and help!"

  Haitang responded with great enthusiasm and sat down beside him to help Du Zhaoqing tidy up.

  Dong Zhaolüe pointed it out once, and she immediately learned how to distinguish between agate and amber.

  After much practice and exercise, it can be used even if it's just barely sufficient.

  Dong Zhao nodded silently in his heart.

  At this point, a young servant beside Dun Shiying came over to report: "Seventh Master said that he has something to do with Sixth Master for the next few days, and Fourth Miss should practice her calligraphy by herself."

  Dong Zhaoyi didn't want to see his father either, nodded and let Mo Li reward the young servant with a few coppers, continuing to search for things with Tuo Niang and the others.

  By afternoon, it was found that a gold-plated pomegranate-shaped good luck hairpin with inlaid stone and a string of agarwood Buddhist beads were missing.

  Dong Zhaohui told Tuo Niang: "You go and tell Yu Niangniang to get these two things back."

  Tiao Niang was so angry that she jumped up and down, saying: "Yu Chuan's guts are too big. There is only a thief caught after a thousand days, but no one can prevent the thief for a thousand days. I think this matter should be told to Seventh Master..."

  "It's okay," Duan Zhao said, "as long as we get our stuff back."

  Tuo Niang saw Du Zhao say so, had no choice but to let Yu Zhu go, took the gift list and went to Yu's mother in a huff.

  Dong Zuo has other plans.

  Yu Zan's audacity is largely due to her youth, while Yu Niang oversees the internal affairs of the household.

  This matter would at most be settled by Father scolding and caning Yuzhen a few times before chasing her out, he wouldn't think so much of it.

  It seems like all men are like this, as if they can't see those intrigues and struggles within the household.

  She is better off figuring it out herself.

  Dong Shuang was packing up her things when Xiang Cao rushed in.

  As soon as she saw there were only three of them in the house, her face lit up with excitement: "I'm telling you, a fight has broken out at Qixia Temple!"

  Dòu Zhāo was stunned.

  Jasmine and Hawthorn couldn't wait to ask: "What's going on? Rushweed sister, speak quickly!"

  Xiangcao liked to gossip about the East House being long and the West House being short, so Tuan'niang often talked about her. Seeing everyone staring at her with eager eyes, she felt a bit proud and said: "Just now, Wang Niang's older brother and sister-in-law came to pick her up, but she refused to go back. Wang Niang's older brother slapped her in the face, causing half of Wang Niang's face to swell up. Wang Niang's second sister-in-law said that Wang Niang's sister-in-law was cruel and had instigated Wang Niang's older brother to hit Wang Niang. Wang Niang's sister-in-law got angry and quarreled with Wang Niang's second sister-in-law, and Wang Niang hugged Ming'er and wanted to die..." She clicked her tongue and said, "It was quite lively over there. Since Seventh Master wasn't at home, Old Master had to go over to mediate."

  "No way!" Jasmine and Haitang exclaimed in unison, "How did you know?"

  "It's not just me, even Wan'er by Madame Ding's side and Qinghai by Seventh Master's side are hiding there to watch the commotion! Qinghai was even caught red-handed by Old Master, but luckily he was quick-witted and said that Seventh Master had instructed him to go take a look if anything happened at Qixia Courtyard. Old Master was in a hurry to rush to Qixia Courtyard, so Qinghai managed to talk his way out of it and was sent by Old Master to find Seventh Master at the Eastern Residence."

  Dong Zhao was tongue-tied: "Wang's wife quarreled with her own elder brother and sister-in-law in front of the old master?"

  The cattails nodded one after another.

  Dong Zhaoleng coldly smiled.

  I've seen foolish people before, but I've never seen anyone more foolish than Wang Yingshuang.

  In her previous life, why did she take Wang Yingshuo as an opponent?

  She told Xiangcao: "Then go and see if there's anything else exciting."

  This remark hit Xiangcao's weakness, she responded with a sound and ran away quickly.

  It didn't stop until the time of the lantern festival.

  "...... Queen Wang was such a beautiful and gentle person, I didn't expect her to have suffered so much in the past."

  Jasmine and Begonia surrounded her, even Du Zhao made an "oh" sound, extremely interested in listening to her continue.

  Xiangcao told Wang Yingshuai about how she cried and complained about her own pain when the Lei family broke off the engagement, how grateful she was that Dabiao could marry into the Wang family, and how she secretly vowed to herself that even if she had to eat coarse grains and swallow her pride, she would never deprive Dabiao and her nephew of a single mouthful of porridge. She also told them about the hardships she faced while doing business outside... until Wang Zhihan and Gao Shi were left speechless.

  "She's really fierce!" Xiangcao said fearfully, "Not only did she help Wang Niang speak up, but she also scolded Seventh Master and Old Master together. She said something about going to report Seventh Master and Old Master, making it so that Seventh Master can't be an official, and making Old Master lose face... It made Old Master so angry he couldn't even speak. Wang Niang's second sister-in-law even told the servants by her side to call over all of her own brothers from her maiden family, saying she wanted to sue the Duan family!"

  Dong Zhaohaha laughed loudly.

  Pang Yulou has always been so lovely!

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  O(∩_∩)O~

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