The kitchen maid and the servant woman saw Zhou Xuan, quickly got up from their seats, and smiled flatteringly: "Young master, I'm back. My 80-year-old mother is seriously ill, so I had to hurry back to take care of her for a few days. Thinking that there's no one in the mansion to cook or take care of Old Madam and Young Master's meals, I was so anxious that I couldn't eat or sleep, so I hurried back."

  Lai Fu angrily said: "Don't try to talk your way out of this, you two were paid when you left, get out, the Qin Manor won't want people like you who forget favors and betray righteousness again."

  Zhou Xuan smiled and remained silent.

  The kitchen maid thought Zhou Xuan was easier to talk to, and had even given them gifts before. She glared at Lai Fu and said provocatively: "Is the Qin Manor ruled by a single servant like you? The young master hasn't driven us away yet, has he, young master?"

  Zhou Xuan said: "We have already invited the cook and the servant woman, what can be done about it?"

  The kitchen maid quickly said: "Just fire them, the old master and young lady of the house have cheap tastes, I'm most familiar with their preferences, others' cooking is definitely not to their liking."

  Zhou Xuan said: "Lai Fu, go and invite Old Madam over, let's see what she has to say."

  Madam Qin was just feeling anxious about the servants running away the day before, and couldn't vent her frustration. When she heard that some of the maids and servant women had returned, she came over in high spirits. But this excitement wasn't because the old servants were back, it was a kind of vengeful, triumphant joy. Zhou Xuan's husband really knew how to handle things, he knew these selfish guys would come crawling back.

  Zhou Xuan smiled and walked in, one could imagine the mother-in-law's joyful mood when scolding her former servant.

  The wine and dishes were served at noon, although they were home-cooked dishes, but very delicious. Madam Wu's culinary skills were indeed good, and everyone in the Qin Mansion was full of praise.

  Dr. Qin is today an old man who talks about his youthful recklessness, dissatisfied with the sweet rice wine brewed at home, wanting to drink Jiangzhou's strong liquor, and even Mrs. Qin makes an exception to indulge him. Zhou Xuan did not expect that her father-in-law, who usually does not drink, would be a formidable drinker once he started, leaving Liao Yin and Hu Tong's old man in the dust. Zhou Xuan relies on his youth and good liver to hold his own.

  Just as the two men were clinking cups and drinking merrily, the thoughts of the two lovely girls in the inner courtyard rose and fell like a great tide, worrying and fretting, their tender hearts turning over a hundred times.

  Xian Zhen sat silently on her embroidery stool in her own room, staring blankly at a half-finished delicate blue floral women's spring shirt on the low table.

  Her godfather returned safely, and naturally, she was very happy. However, when her brother-in-law Lu An left, a kind of invisible pressure began to weigh heavily on her heart. In fact, she had known the outcome would be like this all along. She thought: "Sister Que Er can no longer marry Brother-in-law Lu An; she can only marry Zhou Xuan. I can tell that Sister Que Er has already taken a liking to Zhou Xuan - just look at the way he's been gazing at her, completely different from when I first arrived. As for Zhou Xuan, there's no need to say it, he must be fond of Sister Que Er too. Just now, when they came in, they even held hands briefly. The two of them are going to turn their fake marriage into a real one... so what am I supposed to do?"

  That night, Qin Que and Zhen Zhen talked about the sister's marriage, Zhen Zhen secretly cried for not being able to make her own decisions. But afterwards, she felt more and more that Zhou Xuan was a good person. In just a few days, the young girl's heart had already been tied to that man with thick eyebrows and fine eyes, who always smiled. Now, sister swapping is no longer possible. Just now, Mother called Que'er into the room for a secret talk, definitely about Zhou Xuan.

  The needle was getting anxious, got up and walked back and forth in the room. Marriage and fate were going to be controlled by others again, it was really hard to bear. There was one thing she had been hiding in her heart. The day before yesterday, when she went to see Feng Ah Monitor to plead for her father's sake, Feng Ah Monitor sensed from her words that this older palace maid had a crush on Zhou Xuan, the fake marriage case. Feng Ah Monitor also had a good impression of Zhou Xuan. The two sentences "have a loving couple" were truly touching. Feng Ah Monitor had seen everything in the palace for many years, including cruel and ruthless things. At the time, she said to settle the case once and for all, sentence Zhou Xuan and Qin Que to divorce, so that Zhou Xuan could marry Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen was shocked, begged Feng Ah Monitor not to do this, otherwise, she would never be at peace for the rest of her life. Feng Ah Monitor then said, "Let Zhou Xuan marry both of you." Zhenzhen was speechless with shame.

  Afternoon sunlight pours in through the window, tree shadows sway gently, small patches of light dance on the ground, and a cicada with limited days left sings loudly from the tall trees in the courtyard.

  The needle suddenly remembered that two days ago, Xiao Huixiang mentioned that there was a peculiar style of cowboy pants in Zhou Xuan's house, and also said that her brother-in-law had said that the woman who suited wearing those cowboy pants would be his future wife.

  Her fingers itched to go and take a look at what kind of jeans they were, whether they would be difficult to put on. Why would they be difficult to put on?

  Xu Zhen wanted to get Xiao Huixiang to go to Zhou Xuan's room and bring back those jeans for a look. She walked to the door and called out twice, "Xiao Huixiang, Xiao Huixiang." No one responded, probably because she was in the inner courtyard's small hall drinking sweet rice wine - this little servant girl loved that sweet wine.

  The wooden door of Qin's wife's room on one side of the courtyard was tightly closed.

  She lifted the hem of her skirt and quickly walked through the small courtyard to the door of Zhou Xuan's bedroom. The doors of each room in the inner courtyard were not locked, but only had an old-fashioned latch. With a light pull on the rope on the door, the wooden bolt rose up, and the door opened.

  Zhou's brother-in-law won't be coming in now, he's having a good drink. With this thought, she pulled the door open and immediately saw that strange bag hanging from the hook on the carved flower embroidered bed with three sides of railing. The woman painted on the bag was charming and flirtatious, her buttocks were raised like that, oh dear, how embarrassing.

  She picked up that light blue jeans, oh, similar to Hu clothing horse pants, low waist, narrow pant legs, and a shiny gold belt.

  She held up the jeans and tried them on herself, it seemed to fit, now she's wearing them to try, no need to take them back to her room, in case she has to put them back again later.

  She locked the door with a latch that had no bolt inside. This kind of latch was a bit stubborn and hard to open when it was closed, but she just tried on her jeans quickly as she would be leaving soon.

  The needle fell off the embroidered shoe, stood on the big bed, first lifted up the long skirt, tucked it into her waist, revealing the pink "knee cover" above her knees, two small legs white and tender, slender feet wearing cloth socks.

  She picked up her needle and lifted her left foot to put on the jeans, with great difficulty letting her foot squeeze out of the narrow pant leg, then putting on the other one.

  *********************

  Madam Qin leaned back in her large rosewood chair, while Qin Que stood behind her, massaging her shoulders and neck.

  Madam Qin asked: "Sparrow, what are you really thinking? Speak up."

  Qin Que's face turned red again and again, but she still didn't make a sound, her hands rubbing incessantly.

  Madam Qin sighed: "Little Lu and you don't have a husband-and-wife fate, this marriage thing really requires predestined affinity. This Zhou Xuan is the husband star in your fate, mysteriously appearing out of nowhere. Can you still not marry him now?"

  Qin Que still didn't make a sound.

  Madam Qin said: "However, what about the marriage of Xing Zhen now? Why don't we just forget about the past and find a suitable young man to marry her off?"

  "How can that be!" Qin Que spoke up: "Sister Yu Xian also likes him."

  Madam Qin smiled: "Also likes him - who else besides her likes him?"

  Qin Que heard her mother drawling out the word "ye" with such a long tone, obviously teasing her. She twisted her body like a little girl and said in a spoiled tone: "Mother is making fun of Que'er, Que'er will go back to her room."

  "Qin's wife gently patted the back of Qin Que's hand on her shoulder: "Que, don't be embarrassed. Are you willing to serve the same husband with Xian Zhen? Xian Zhen is also my adopted daughter, and she can't marry Zhou Xuan as a concubine. You and Xian Zhen will only be considered equal wives. Think carefully, oh, having two mistresses in the house will cause a lot of trouble later on."

  Qin Que's face turned red again, and she didn't say anything else.