Chapter 40: Knocking on the Mountain

  Dòu Zhāo watched every move of Jì Shì's family.

  When she first entered the Hou Mansion, she didn't hesitate to give those managing mothers or managers of the Wei family a look.

  A jade hairpin, a little maid who rose to power by chance, how could she withstand such a scene?

  Idle and being put aside, listening to the cold ridicule of Ji's personal maid, looking at the cold eyes of Ji's wife Yu Zhui decided to go find Tuo Niang.

  Unexpectedly, Tuo Niang is not here!

  She saw the maid wearing a green dress living next to Tuo Niang, with a kind face, and asked: "Sister, do you know where Su Xian from Fourth Miss's side went?"

  The maid was facing the dressing mirror and putting on earrings. Upon hearing this, she said: "Yu Chai and Wang Guan Shi have gone to Zhēndìng Prefecture."

  Jade hairpin was stunned.

  The maid put away the makeup mirror, smiled and walked over, saying: "Are you new here? I don't seem to recognize your face. Wang is our madam's attendant, our madam can't get used to the food in Northern Zhili, so Old Lady Ji often lets the Ji family's shop send some things over for Madam. Wang needs to go to the prefecture to pick up something for Madam, Madam saw that Fourth Miss likes Seventh Sister's doll very much, and Su Heng is the one who knows Fourth Miss's preferences best, so she let Su Heng follow Wang to the Ji family's shop in the prefecture to choose one. She should be back tomorrow afternoon."

  Jade hairpin's jealousy made her eyes redden.

  Ji's shop in Zhending Prefecture also sells Western-style trinkets. Daqing's wife went there once and spent over twenty taels of silver on a small, gilded cosmetic box with a painting of a Western beauty on it. She treasured it like a precious gem and only took it out to show off during the New Year's celebration. She also said that if she ever became wealthy, she would definitely go back to browse again.

  Su Xiang unexpectedly got to go shopping at Ji's store with the help of Liu Taotai's maid, and the clerks at Ji's store would definitely treat her with respect because of Liu Taotai's face. Compared to Da Qing's daughter-in-law, she was many times more impressive.

  How did she end up with such bad luck?

  In the end, what can she compare to herself? She's just good at clinging to Fourth Miss and won't let go...

  Yu Xian thought for a moment, and suddenly an idea flashed in her mind.

  Right. Su Xian, that silly and foolish one, was able to win the favor of Fourth Miss, relying on her own cleverness, wasn't Fourth Miss easily captured?

  She thanked the maid and threw her luggage into Tuo's room, washed her face with water, and hurried to the main house.

  Ji Zheng was standing under the tree shade with Dou Zhao. She instructed a young maid to pick some flowers: "…use a small bowl to crush them, add some alum, and soak overnight, tomorrow we can use it to dye Shou Gu's fingernails."

  With baby fat, the small hands were white and tender. The skin was as if it would burst with a blow, the small fingernails were delicate and elegant, spread out, and on the back of the hand appeared several small dimples, Ji's heart felt soft and watery.

  Yu Chai hurried forward to pay her respects to Ji Shi and Dou Zhao: "Sixth Lady, Fourth Miss!"

  "Oh, you've come." Ji's tone was warm and gentle, a stark contrast to her cold demeanor earlier. Yu Chui felt a sense of being favored and hastily responded with a "yes", trying to curry favor by saying: "I saw that Su Huan wasn't in the house, thought that Fourth Miss needed someone by her side, so I dropped everything and rushed over."

  Ji nodded.

  Dòu Zhāo Zé smiled at her in the morning.

  The heart hanging on the jade hairpin finally fell to the ground.

  Everyone says that the sixth lady of Dongfu is kind-hearted. Just now, she might have had something unpleasant happen to her and ran into me by chance.

  A little maid brought over a crystal cup filled with begonias: "Sixth Lady, will this do?"

  Ji's face showed hesitation, as if he was somewhat indecisive.

  Yu Zhuang hastily said: "Sixth Aunt, in the past when our grandmother was around, I often helped pick orchids. While speaking, she went to adjust the orchids in the glass vase, "Look, this one is a bit tender..."

  "It seems you really have a good eye for things." Ji smiled and praised her.

  Jade hairpin heart flower blooming wildly.

  Ji brought Du Zhao back home after they had finished picking flowers.

  Yu Chuan hurriedly followed up.

  Third aunt came over: "Sixth younger brother and sister, busy!"

  Standing at the door and greeting Mr. Ji without going in.

  Ji looked at Dou Zhao for a moment, hesitated for a moment, and ordered the little maid: "Take her to the fourth miss's room." Then she tidied up her hair and smiled as she walked towards Third Aunt.

  Dong Shao and Xiaoyu entered the house with Yuanyan.

  The little maid put the crystal cup on the kang table, smiled at Du Zhao standing by the kang and said: "Fourth Miss, I'll go get the jar with alum. You stand here and don't move." She also entrusted Yu Chuan, "Sister, keep an eye on Fourth Miss."

  "Don't worry, I'm here!" Yu Chuan's face was full of smiles.

  The little maid ran trottingly to the back suite.

  Yu Chuan squatted down and said to Dou Zhao: "Fourth Miss, do you want to go swing on the swings? Let Su Xiang return to the mansion, and I'll take you to swing on the swings. Every day, we can play jump rope and toss sandbags together, okay?"

  Dong Zhaolazy to deal with her.

  Yu Xian talked to herself for half a day, but Du Zhao didn't respond. She was very bored and had been standing for a long time before squatting down. When she stood up, her legs felt a bit soft, so she put her hand on the kang table for support. The kang table suddenly flipped over, and with a "crash" sound, Yu Xian fell onto the kang. The crystal cup that was placed on the kang table rolled off and shattered into several pieces on the ground with a loud "bang". The phoenix fairy flower petals inside also scattered all over the place.

  She was taken aback.

  "What's wrong?" The little maid who heard the noise rushed in with a small blue and white porcelain vase, saw the broken glass cup and was frightened to pale, "How could this be?"

  The maids who were originally standing under the corridor also rushed in.

  Everyone's eyes fell on Yuzhen.

  "It wasn't me, it wasn't me!" Yu Chuan subconsciously denied, her eyes darting to Duan Zhao standing beside her. She suddenly grasped at a lifeline, "It was Fourth Miss... yes, it was Fourth Miss who accidentally knocked it over..." Ji's face turned iron-gray as he ordered Cai Lan: "Go and invite Madame Yu from the West Manor to come over."

  The servants in the house did not dare to make a sound, and when they saw Wang's gesture, they all let out a sigh of relief and retreated in an orderly manner.

  Ji's family was furious: "This jade hairpin is not worth dying for!"

  She first suppressed and then raised, just wanting to let Yuzhuan make a mistake under the guise of being pleased, so as to find an excuse to teach Yuzhuan a lesson. Who knew that before she had even made her move, Yuzhuan had already done something so despicable.

  "No wonder Su Xian and she had a fight." Wang's mother was also quite emotional, but still advised Ji Shi. "Fortunately, it was discovered early, otherwise the fourth miss would not know how much loss she would suffer!"

  Ji thought of Dou Zhao's soft little hands and his eyes reddened slightly as he asked in a low voice: "Where is Shou?"

  "Cai Shu and Cai Lan are accompanying Fourth Miss in the courtyard, picking begonias!" Wang's nanny said with a smile, "They're having so much fun."

  Ji's eyes had a hint of amusement as he hesitated and said: "You say, let's bring Shou Gu to my place. How about that?"

  Wang's eyelid twitched and he said, "Third Aunt is coming over, is it to discuss this matter with you?"

  Ji nodded slightly after a moment of silence.

  Wang Ayi took a deep breath and said: "Can't we just ignore this matter... When Cai Lan was here, Yu Ayi was already at her wit's end.

  The Qixia courtyard was in an uproar, and the people from various families came to demand that the engagement be called off. The members of the Pang family were bullying and ordering others around, but the old master and Seventh Master were nowhere to be found. She was just a female servant, after all; what could she possibly do to take charge? Those in charge, the steward and the steward's wife, dodged and pushed her forward, putting her on the spot. But she had been entrusted with a task by Seventh Master. There was no way to avoid it, so she steeled herself and went forward, placating this person and that, and fortunately nothing untoward happened. Just as things were finally calming down after the old master returned to the manor, Sixth Mistress of the Eastern Manor sent someone to summon her again.

  Others called her and she could make excuses. Fourth Miss is now in the sixth house of the East Mansion, Sixth Madam called her, but she couldn't delay for a moment.

  She stroked her forehead and asked the little maid who came to report: "What did you say was the matter?"

  The little maid shook her head: "Just say let you pass quickly."

  Yu's mother could only entrust a few words to Huo's mother and then left for the East House with two young maids.

  She was greeted by Wang's nanny.

  The king's mother did not take her directly to the main hall, but instead invited her to sit in a side room.

  "Elder sister," she said, pulling Yu Niang's hand, "I know you've been busy lately, and if it weren't for the urgency of the matter, our mistress wouldn't have invited you over." She told Yu Niang about the jade hairpin incident, "...it was just a broken object, at most our mistress would scold her, but she actually framed Fourth Miss, which shows how arrogant she usually is. If not for considering the family's reputation, our mistress would have blown up at her on the spot..."

  Yu's head buzzed before she even finished listening.

  She knew something would go wrong!

  The maids in the mansion, seeing that Da Qing's wife didn't take Fourth Miss seriously, followed suit and started being arrogant too, especially those with shallow eyelids like Yu Chuan, who were simply beyond recognition.

  After all, this is all caused by his son.

  When children grow up, they don't listen to their mothers.

  She was in charge at home, and her son was in charge outside. There were some things that by the time she found out about them, it was already too late. She scolded her son several times, but at first he just listened. Later on, he even started talking back to her: "We are people from a poor background, no matter who marries into the Seventh Master's household, they won't be able to tolerate us. It's better for us to take care of ourselves and leave a way out for the future."

  She knew her son was right, but she had served the Zhao and Dou families for a lifetime. If she left the Zhao and Dou families, where could she go?

  "My son said, 'Don't worry, I won't touch the fourth young lady's things. I'll just use Zhao and Dou's names as a cover, and borrow some money from the fourth young lady to do a few deals. Once we've accumulated some capital and reputation, you can use your age as an excuse, and we'll ask the new madam for a favor, letting us return to our hometown. The new madam will probably be so happy that she'll laugh, and won't stop us.'"

  Now Mrs. Liu is dissatisfied with her, and this matter may not be so easy to handle.

  Yu's aunt grasped Wang's aunt's hand in a somewhat frightened manner: "Ten fingers have different lengths, now I press down this one and float up that one, my head is dizzy, please sister tell me what to do!"

  "Sister is also an old person beside the host, thinking carefully, naturally has a plan." Although saying so, Wang's mother smiled and said, "A maid like Yuzhen I've seen many, she's not thoughtful, staying by her side will be a disaster." Then took her to see Ji Shi.

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