Chapter One Hundred: Getting Married (Three)

  Entering June, although all major events were well-prepared, the Xue and Tao estates still appeared exceptionally busy.

  Everyone in the Tao Mansion was beaming with joy, "Our family is really going to produce a noble lady."

  The two maidservants were laughing and chatting, but were scolded by Madam Chen. This conversation was overheard by the mistress, who would not be pleased to hear such gossip. No matter how you listened to it, it seemed to be hinting at the eldest young lady, after all, she had not yet become the official wife.

  After finishing teaching Xiao Yatou, Chen Mama came to Miss Ba's courtyard.

  Ronghua smiled and got up to pay his respects.

  Madam Chen looked over and saw Eighth Miss writing a letter, the handwriting on the letter was still as elegant and neat as it had always been.

  With her wedding just a few days away, Eighth Miss seems completely unflappable, yet in the past she had always seemed timid and easily intimidated.

  "Miss, Madam wants you to go over there."

  Ronghua smiled slightly, "Mother, just sit for a moment, I'll change clothes and go over." She then had Hongying find some clothes and also brought the wooden hairpin.

  Madam Chen waited in the house and saw Rong Hua carrying a wooden pole come out of the inner room, smiling and saying: "Where did Miss Jinxiu go?"

  Ronghua said: "Help me tidy up things in the house."

  Madam Chen smiled and said, "Miss, why don't you also bring Jinxiu along? There are many things prepared over there, and the girls by your side should know about it too."

  Jinxiu was a maid from the mistress's quarters, and before following her to the Xue family, the mistress must have had special instructions. Ronghua nodded, letting Mugui call Jinxiu out, and followed Chen Mama into the mistress's courtyard.

  Ronghua and Chen's mother entered the main room of the mistress, and the mistress immediately put down the tea bowl in her hand and smiled kindly at Ronghua: "Go take a look at the needlework done by the girls and see if you like it. If not, let them redo it."

  Ronghua smiled shyly, Ya Qin pulled Ronghua, Mugen and Jinxiu followed behind, everyone squeezed into the east wing room, the maids were doing needlework on the kang, seeing Eighth Miss come in they put down their things.

  Chun Yao held a embroidered shoe with a pomegranate flower pattern in her hand, and was sewing a package of millet flour. Seeing Rong Hua looking over, she handed the shoe to Rong Hua to look at.

  Seeing the joyful scene in the room, Ronghua's face involuntarily turned red, and she hastily rummaged through the things on the kang, emerging from inside.

  The lady smiled and asked: "How is it?"

  Ronghua smiled and nodded slightly.

  The lady's face became even more gentle, and she got up to let Ronghua accompany her to the warm pavilion to talk.

  The old lady sat down and let Ronghua sit beside her, "Originally wanted to keep you by my side for a while longer, who knew the Hou Mansion was in such a hurry, so it was decided on June. Your father and I discussed giving you more dowry, so that you can live a good life after marriage. After thinking about it, other things are not suitable, silver money is also not long-lasting, only changing it to land is stable. The betrothal gift from the Xue family has also been changed to land, afraid you don't understand how to manage it, I've arranged for people to help you take care of it. Two accompanying rooms will be chosen to go with you, if there's anything you don't understand in the future, just ask them."

  The betrothal gifts from the Xue family were converted into land, which means that the cash left for her was very little. Moreover, who could know how much silver those lands were worth?

  These lands are all managed by people arranged by the big madam, and she is afraid that in the future, she will send two accompanying houses to watch. In other words, nominally it is land given to her as dowry, but in reality it is still controlled by the big madam. In the future, if she wants to use the dowry from her natal family, she must get the approval of the big madam before taking it out for use.

  The lady pinched this point, thinking that in the future when she encountered difficulties in the Xue family, she could only ask for help from the lady, so the lady could use this to make demands on her.

  Ronghua thought to herself, but her face remained expressionless. She had expected this outcome, as someone as astute as the mistress wouldn't give her any benefits for free. However, she hadn't anticipated that the mistress would also have designs on the Xie family's betrothal gifts.

  Ronghua nodded, "As expected of Mother, thinking everything through. I'll listen to whatever you say, Mother."

  The lady heard this and was naturally delighted, "Let's get ready and have Hong Ge follow along."

  Rong Hua's heart was filled with joy.

  Mrs. Dai and Ronghua were talking in the house when Chen's mother came in and said, "Li Mama from Old Mrs. Xue's place has arrived."

  The lady smiled slightly and said, "Please come in quickly."

  Mrs. Li had a round face, slightly dark complexion, and looked very gentle even when she wasn't smiling. When she smiled, her eyes narrowed into two crescent moons. Mrs. Li hastily stepped aside as Ronghua approached to pay respects, then turned to the madam and bowed.

  Mrs. Li smiled and said, "Nothing much, Old Lady is worried that the host's wife will be too busy, so she asked me to come over and see if there's anything I can help with."

  The lady was busy entertaining guests and said, "Then we'll have to trouble Mother to help out and see if there's anything missing."

  Mrs. Li hastily said: "Mother-in-law, this is a polite phrase from your hometown."

  Ronghua didn't want to stay in the house and listen to Mrs. Dai and Li's mother talking, so she sat for a while before finding an excuse to take Jinxiu and Muxin out of Mrs. Dai's courtyard.

  Rong Hua had just entered the house when Hong Ying came up and said: "The second master has arrived."

  These days, Hongge has been going to Zong Xue's house frequently, pestering her and talking nonstop. The maids in her house have already gotten used to it.

  Hong Ge pulled her into the warm pavilion and said, "Sister, just now Madam asked me to go to the Xue family with a dowry."

  Ronghua nodded, thinking that Hongge would be happy, but instead saw his face fall.

  "What's wrong? Don't you want to go?"

  "Brother frowned, 'Sister is leaving, what should I do? It's not fun in this house anymore. Sister, don't go, wait for me to grow up and we'll leave together.'"

  Rong Hua couldn't help but laugh at these childish words, "What kind of talk is this?"

  Hong Ge said: "I really can't bear to let sister leave. I even dreamed that sister ignored me just now."

  Rong Hua smiled and said: "You are my younger brother, how can I not care about you? In the future when you grow up, you can move around freely, and it's the same if you go to the Xue family to see me."

  Ronghua said this, and Hongge was still worried.

  "Master Hou doesn't know about those things from sister's past, can't help sister with her worries, what if he treats sister badly in the future?"

  Rong Hua smiled and said, "It's up to people to make things happen. Didn't you tell me before that the true nature of a person is not necessarily reflected in their appearance? What's going on today?"

  Hong Ge fell silent and stopped talking, half a day later he slowly walked away, out of Rong Hua's courtyard. Xia Tao caught up with him and said: "Did second master talk to eighth miss? Second master was too impulsive, let eighth miss think about it and become what she is now? Besides, even if second master and eighth miss were good before, they would still have to live separately in the future. Isn't it better this way? Eighth miss married into the Hou family, others are envious but can't be like her." Just as he was saying this, he didn't notice that Hong Ge had stopped in front of him, and Xia Tao accidentally bumped into his back.

  Xia Tao's eyes widened in shock, and Hong Ge had already turned to glare at her fiercely. "Mind your own business! Even if I don't get married in the future, what's it to you? My sister won't marry either way. We siblings will always be together."

  Xiatiao was startled by Hongge's gaze and the words she had been about to say were suddenly swallowed back.

  ……

  After Hong Ge left, Jin Xiu quietly approached Rong Hua and said: "Among the people who came from the Xue family, there is a Mrs. Gu, I heard she is in front of Mrs. Xue, so I paid special attention to her and found that Mrs. Gu was inquiring about the marriage of the second young lady."

  Ronghua raised an eyebrow, why did Mrs. Xue suddenly pay attention to Yao Hua's marriage? Besides, since Li Mama from Old Mrs. Xue's side was coming, why did Mrs. Xue also have to invite Gu Mama this time?

  Could it be that she had noticed Gu Ying? With the wedding approaching, would Gu Ying's situation have any impact on her?

  Madam Xue waited until Mrs. Gu returned.

  Gu's mother had just sat down when Mrs. Xue asked, "How is it?"

  "Everything is ready, just waiting for these two days to pass and then we can send over the dowry."

  Mrs. Xue nodded.

  "Listen, it's said that there really is a person named Gu Yan who went to the Tao family to propose, and he proposed to Miss Tao II. Madam should know about this matter. Does madam still remember last time when we sent off Mrs. Tao and her two daughters, someone stopped our carriage? The one who stopped us was indeed that Gu Yan."

  Mrs. Xue's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and she looked up at Mrs. Gu, "Have you inquired clearly?"

  "Alright, Gu Ying has proposed several times and the servants in the Tao household are all aware of it. I heard that if not for Second Miss's poor health, the Gu family would have sent someone to finalize this marriage arrangement long ago. Although things are still uncertain, this match is already 80-90% settled."

  Mrs. Xue's chest felt like it had been violently struck.

  How could this be, with all the precautions in place, yet she still couldn't prevent it. In her dream, Ming Rui's first demotion was due to someone named Gu Ying... If anyone is to blame, it's because she never asked about government affairs, and she didn't know the details of how things went wrong.

  Chu just came back and said that someone under Tao Da Lao Ye had stopped a car, but since it was someone else's business, she didn't ask much about it. Later, she was busy with Ming Rui's wedding... If not for Er Di Mei mentioning it, she wouldn't have let anyone go ask.

  What's the connection between that matter and Gu Yin, anyway? If Gu Yin were to marry into the Tao family, wouldn't this turmoil be even closer to them? Would her dream of being stripped of her title still come true or not?

  "Has Mingrui returned?" Madam Xue's mind was unsettled.

  "Probably hasn't returned yet, otherwise would have come to pay respects to the madam already." Seeing Madame Xue's unusual expression, she tentatively asked, "Otherwise, should I send someone to ask again?"

  Mrs. Xue stood up and said, "Forget it, I'll go wait for him in Mingrui's room." Mother Gu hurriedly followed her.

  Mrs. Xue said, "I'll go myself."

  Mrs. Gu finally stopped in her tracks.

  Madam Xue sat down in Xue Mingrui's house, letting Haiyu accompany her to talk. Wu Mu Hou Xue Mingrui returned to the mansion to pay his respects to his mother and changed into casual clothes before coming out again. He ordered Haiyu to withdraw and spoke with his mother alone.

  Madam Xue frowned, "There are many maids in your house, why didn't you call any of them out to serve?"

  Xue Mingrui said: "No need for so many people."

  Madam Xue sighed and didn't know how to start speaking.

  Xue Mingrui's eyes were deep and profound, his eyebrows slightly raised as he asked, "What is it, Mother?"

  No matter how she said it, her son could guess what she meant, so she might as well not beat around the bush. Mrs. Xue said, "Can't we reconsider the marriage with the Tao family? I always feel that something is not quite right." She then told him about Gu Yan's situation.

  "This matter must be clarified before we can talk about it. What if there's really something to it? I'm not afraid of anything else, just that it might drag you down in the future."

  I've been very busy these two days.

  Celebrating one hundred chapters.

  The first volume has come to an end.

  The child's face has broken out in many more bumps, went to the hospital and said it was eczema, but after several days it didn't get better, instead it got worse. Today I took him to another hospital, they said it was mango rash, caused by eating mangoes and strawberries.

  The baby is still having a fever... it's really frustrating.