Chapter 23: Adaptation (Part One)

  "Madam has not said that I will be married to the Shangshu Mansion. Besides..." She raised her head, smiled slowly, "Escaping is not the best method, what can be escaped today may not be able to escape a lifetime, until the last moment I cannot give up."

  "Let's calm down and think carefully, is there another way." Although everyone thinks that everything has been settled, in her opinion.

  It is still unknown who will have the last laugh.

  Huang Ge sat down and thought again and again, but he didn't have a single clue.

  The lady had already agreed, who else could change the outcome? Who could speak up in front of her? Just as he thought of this, Brother Hong suddenly opened his eyes wide and whispered: "Sister, aren't you usually close to Second Sister? Why don't you go ask Second Sister for help?"

  Mugun didn't know about Ronghua's past, so Hongge pulled Mugun aside and said: "After you left back then, only Second Sister was heartbroken. Look at her current health - it was from that time that she fell ill. If she knew you were back, she would definitely be willing to help. Besides, in this household, the only one who can make the mistress listen is her."

  "Others can't help." Hong Ge looked at Rong Hua, unmoved, thinking she had other concerns. "If sister doesn't want to say the whole truth, it's also okay..."

  Hong Ge hadn't finished speaking when Rong Hua interrupted him, "How has she treated you all these years?"

  Hong Ge said: "In recent years, she has been recuperating in her courtyard and rarely comes out. However, every year during the New Year's festival, she would send a maid to burn some paper money in the courtyard. I'm very grateful for that, so I'd go over and chat with her." His tone turned indignant at this point, "The others in the mansion don't have such kindness, instead they secretly gossip about your right and wrong."

  Rong Hua listened attentively, "Do Big Sister and Madam often go there?"

  Hong said: "We often go, Father also often goes, we always have to visit the sick."

  "Brother Hong has something on his mind and doesn't want to talk about anything else. 'Sister, have you thought it through? Do you want to go find Second Sister?'"

  Hong Ge hasn't experienced as much as her, so when big things happen, he can't help but be impatient.

  Jade Splendor

  Her closest sister.

  "It's about going to find her... but not now." Rong Hua smiled at Hong Ge and said softly, "I won't give up so easily, I'll think of a way."

  Hong Ge sat for a long time and talked about some things in Zuozongxue.

  Hong's personal attendant, Xia Tao, came over to urge him on. Rong Hua said, "Let's hurry up, if we're late, people will become suspicious."

  Hong Ge glanced outside, "Sister, rest assured, I understand those few girls in my house." Xia Tao, although being the first wife's person, also understood that the best choice was to be on the same page as him, and she would eventually benefit from it.

  Hong Ge still looked worried and asked, "Sister, have you really made up your mind?"

  Rong Hua nodded slightly.

  Big Brother knew his sister's temper, once she made up her mind, there was no room for maneuver. Thinking again about his sister being so calm, he must have had another way, and only then did he reluctantly put down his heart and leave with a lingering attachment.

  Hong Ge said to Mu Yi before leaving: "If anything goes wrong, you can find Xia Tao and let her tell me."

  Mugwort agreed.

  The old lady sent the maid over again to remind her, "The mistress wants you to get some rest early, as you'll need to get up early tomorrow to prepare."

  The maids who were waiting on her to dress and wash came in one after another.

  Ronghua lay down and suddenly thought of it, "Mumu, prepare the clothes I'm going to wear tomorrow."

  "Is it the set that Miss took back from Mrs.?"

  Ronghua shook her head, "That set of clothes is to be kept for when the old lady has a birthday. Take that new one I pressed at the bottom of the trunk."

  Ronghua said up to here, Mugen had already remembered the dress that Ronghua had asked her to retrieve from behind the fake mountain in the garden, and quickly opened the trunk to take it out for Ronghua to see.

  Rong Hua nodded, "Yes, wear it."

  I didn't expect Miss Ba to wear this outfit, what is Miss Ba thinking?

  The girls have all gone down, Ronghua hasn't fallen asleep yet, and heard Mugui say: "Jinxiu girl has arrived."

  "Let her go back and tell her I'm asleep."

  Mugunghwa wanted to say something else, but seeing Yonghwa close his eyes as if he was about to fall asleep, he didn't dare disturb him again. He went out and told Jinxiu, then returned to the room to iron his clothes and prepare the accessories he would wear the next day. Only then did he go to sleep with a knot in his stomach.

  The next day before dawn, the woman outside shouted, and Rong Hua got up, dressed and made herself up without delay.

  Just after dressing up, a maid came in with a message, "The mistress asks you to go over, miss!"

  Ronghua stood up, her temples slightly disheveled, her long hair divided into several strands and styled in a hundred-flower pattern, with a single strand hanging down from the back of her head like a swallow's tail. On her head were three coral hairpins adorned with golden flowers, and she wore a jade pendant wrapped around a twig of osmanthus. She was dressed in a pink stone lotus butterfly-patterned jacket, an autumn-colored hundred-pleated skirt, a pale blue dark-flower crossed-neck apron, and finally, over everything else, a lake-green silver-silk cloak, with the sound of tinkling jade pendants, elegant and refined, like a fairy.

  Ronghua entered the mistress's room, and the mistress took a glance, her gaze fixed on him. She couldn't help but examine him carefully, never expecting that Eighth Miss would look so lovely when dressed up, unlike the time when Yanhua carelessly put on all those sparkling jewels, which was worlds apart.

  Shu Hua was taken aback for a moment, feeling that Rong Hua looked somewhat familiar in this outfit, but couldn't quite put her finger on where she had seen it before. She warmly walked up to Rong Hua, took her hand and turned her around, "This dress looks great on you, I wonder who has such good taste to buy it for you."

  Ronghua smiled faintly and didn't speak, today's outfit was the jewelry rewarded by the madam, the bangle given by the eldest sister, and this set of clothes, Ronghua took a glance at Shuhua.

  Shu Hua didn't know that this dress was made by Zhao Xuan's hands.

  Three years ago when I got this dress, I thought it was incomplete without accessories, but now everything is ready.

  Three years later, if he saw it again...

  The maids brought over the dishes, and the mistress had Shu Hua and Rong Hua sit beside her, "You two come and eat with me."

  After having breakfast, everyone sat for a while, and the Marquis of Yi Cheng's carriage arrived. The old woman came in to report.

  The lady took Dong Wei with her and left Chen Mama at home, giving her detailed instructions before leaving.

  Yan Hua rushed over to send off Madame Dai, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then fixed her gaze on Rong Hua's face.

  Yan Hua's expression was first surprised, and then she smiled coldly with a hint of schadenfreude. Rong Hua walked past her and said hypocritically, "When you're outside, little sister, be careful in everything, don't lose your manners in front of the Marquis' wife."

  Kung Hei Fat Choy.

  Yan Hua's smile grew thicker, and she turned around to instruct Xiang Qiao beside her, "Tell the kitchen to make me another plate of dim sum, I'm hungry again. Today's weather is really nice, it's suitable for a walk in the garden." She said with a flick of her sleeve, pleased with herself, and walked away.

  The Marquis of Yi's mansion sent two four-man sedan chairs and two horse-drawn carriages.

  Shu Hua invited the old lady to get into a four-person sedan chair, but the old lady said: "How can this be done? The sedan chair has its own rules, I dare not overstep them. Your father also only dared to use a four-person sedan chair after leaving the capital."

  Shu Hua said: "There is a sense of justice in the Hou Mansion, you can rest assured."

  The lady still refused, and Shu Hua persuaded her for a while before she agreed to go with Shu Hua in two four-person sedan chairs.

  Ronghua took a carriage with Mu Jin, while the other maids and servants got on the one behind. The Yi Cheng Hou Fu had sent guards to escort them, and Lady Yu had also brought several house guards from home for added safety.

  The sedan chair stopped before arriving at the Hou Manor.

  The lady of the house was just about to ask when someone outside announced, "Someone has gotten off a sedan chair up ahead."

  The madam lifted the curtain and took a look, and saw that there was a sedan chair stopped at the gate of the Hou Mansion. A lady got out of the sedan chair and went into the mansion. The madam didn't get a clear look at who it was, and only asked Shu Hua after she had gotten down from the sedan chair.

  Shu Hua had already figured it out earlier, "It's the aunt of Wang Zhengde, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Chen Shi."

  Madam Wang understood and it was certain that she had been invited by Lady Cai of the Hou family to come and take a look.

  The lady adjusted her collar slightly, "And who else was invited?"

  Shu Hua smiled, "It's nothing more than having a good relationship with the family, they are all relatives of Kyoto officials, some mothers also know them. In recent years, it's different from previous years, these people still come to visit, not to mention holding a grand gathering." There was still a hint of pride in her words.

  The big wife glanced at Shu Hua and said, "Those people are just here for Mrs. Cai, which ones are your close friends?"

  Shu Hua said: "What's difficult about that? Once your son-in-law inherits the title, they will naturally come looking for me."

  "Never think things are too simple, you should also be more mindful. In daily life, what can be grasped should be grasped, and one must not fail to plan for oneself. After all, a husband's family is still his own, only what is held in one's own hands is safe."

  Although Shu Hua has promised now, she will soon forget it. The old lady sighed secretly in her heart, how could she raise such a daughter?

  The lady got down from the carriage, and Mu Ye helped Rong Hua down as well. As they entered the door, a young woman with a high bun, wearing several delicate golden flowers, and a pair of jade-inlaid silver hairpins, dressed in a pale blue embroidered jacket, walked towards them with a smile on her face, looking like a gentle spring breeze.

  The young woman saw the madam and immediately asked for her well-being, "Madam has arrived, our madam was just saying she wanted to come pick you up, and sent me here first, but didn't expect that I also came late."

  The lady smiled and said: "We are all family members, how can we be so polite? But **naai**, you look even more beautiful after not seeing each other for several months."

  Ronghua knew this person must be Zhao Xuanhe's younger brother Zhao Xuande's wife. She went forward and called out, "Auntie."

  She turned her head to look at Rong Hua, and was shocked for a moment. The blood in her body suddenly rushed into her heart, and her heart skipped a beat. Her hands and feet suddenly went soft, and it wasn't until she calmed down that she realized she had mistaken him for someone else.

  The young lady in front of her was not the one she had been thinking of, but rather the eighth miss of the Tao Manor.

  Updated! Don't know what time I'll be typing until today.