Volume 1 Chapter 97: Switching Dowry (Part 2)

  Chapter 97: The Switched Dowry (Part 2)

  "It was not the second wife who said that, it was Qiuliu's mother who said it." Murmured Mozi in a low voice, and then yawned.

  Luju didn't hear Mozi's muttering, but saw her gaping mouth and hastily patted her back, "Mozi, be careful not to let others see. We're not at home now, every word and deed will be attributed to the young lady by the mistress of the house."

  Mozi almost choked, coughed twice, and looked at Green Chrysanthemum in surprise. "Wow, you're now like a big girl. Once we enter the palace, if the princess doesn't promote your status, I won't agree, even if I have to kneel on the stone slab to beg for it."

  Green Chrysanthemum could still hear the teasing tone in Mozi's words, and she glared at her, "I see you've learned to be clever from outsiders, trying to have fun with me, a naive girl."

  Mozi glanced around, seeing that no one was paying attention to them, and then raised her index finger to her lips, making a "shh" sound. "Lüjù, it's okay if my yawning looks ugly, but you're as beautiful as an immortal fairy, how can I not touch you? But what you said is something to be extremely careful about, don't say it again in the future."

  That man with the surname Xiao and second in birth order is a master who can hear the wind and see the rain.

  Green Chrysanthemum stuck out her tongue and pouted, indicating that she knew the severity of the situation. Then, she stopped talking nonsense and walked with Mozi to the pavilion. As they were about to arrive, she suddenly exclaimed...

  "And there's another one who is about the same age as our girl, who is it?"

  The purple ink originally looked at the sun to calculate the time, and when the green chrysanthemum asked, it cast its eyes downward.

  The pavilion was a common sight, where pedestrians could rest their feet. It wasn't much to look at, but it was spacious enough to hold ten or so people inside escaping the sun. Apart from Wei Shi and Li Shi, there was also Qiu San Niang, still wearing her red headscarf, as well as three men: Xiao Er Lang, Qiu Xin, and Shi Ke, whose name matched his appearance, plus a young woman. After taking a closer look, it turned out that Mo Zi had met them before.

  That day, in the Autumn Building, Sixth Miss, who was said to be the number one beauty of Luozhou, sat on the left side of Auntie Wei, chatting warmly with her. Apart from the kindness she showed to everyone, there was an extra dose of genuine doting in her expression.

  Mozzie took a look, this Sixth Miss, eight out of ten also surnamed Wei. Not only was she surnamed Wei, but also the two brothers and one younger sister from that day were all surnamed Wei. No wonder her words were arrogant and her attitude haughty. Although they started their business in the same way as the Qiu family, the Wei family had three brothers, with many descendants, and Wei Sanlang entered officialdom, while his sister married Jing Wangye as a concubine, so their influence in Luozhou surpassed that of the Qiu family, which had been established for over a hundred years.

  In that pavilion, about half of them had seen their own male attire. Ink purple quietly called out to the unlucky ones, some of whom were hesitant to move forward.

  Lu Jing didn't know the intricacies, thinking Mo Zi hadn't woken up yet, so she pulled her along, still chattering away about how a personal servant should be diligent.

  They were waiting for them at the stone steps outside the pavilion, where Xiao Yi was already standing.

  "Green chrysanthemum, miss calls you into the pavilion." The theory of serving people is meticulous and thoughtful, absolutely not a small matter.

  It's not that she can't do it, but rather that she doesn't want to. When it's her turn, she does just as well as anyone else.

  Lu Jing was still quite proud, winking at Mo Zi, and went up the steps. She didn't know that Qi San Niang had intentionally left Xiao Yi and Mo Zi outside. The four maidservants, who managed the inner and outer affairs, Qi San Niang was very clever and made sure each person played to their strengths.

  "Xiao Yi, isn't it about time? Few words." Mo Zi had already calculated the timing.

  After a moment of silence, Mozi thought Xiao Yi wasn't going to respond, but suddenly she heard her say two words.

  "He's here."

  It's not silence, but not wasting words.

  In the direction of the North City Gate, a cloud of yellow dust rose. A team of galloping carriages, from afar to near, slowed down when they were less than 100 yards away from the pavilion.

  "Charge at them!" Shi Ke shouted loudly and had already jumped out of the pavilion.

  She covered her ears with her hands, lamenting the bad luck that she had to travel with this stone-cold guy for a month. To think of it, she hadn't had any good fortune up until now.

  "Shi Ke, don't be impulsive, ask clearly before speaking." Xiao Er Lang was relatively calm and stepped down the stone stairs.

  But when Xiao Erlang passed by Mozi's side, she could feel the momentum of his latent power, and apparently his vigilance was no less than that of Shi Kuai.

  "Please, young master... be careful." Once again, she hesitated over the form of address. Mozi's tone was respectful, but she noticed that Xiao Erlang turned around with a movement almost as quick as blinking.

  Xiao Erlang heard the words "wait a minute" and for an instant, he mistakenly thought that the private goods peddler was right behind him, wagging his finger. Wait a minute, wait a minute, that thin, dark-skinned man often sang a different tune with him. However, what he saw was only a slender maid, whose name also had the word "ink" in it. The voice was different, the tone was different, the expression was different, the appearance was different, even the gender was different. He felt a chill run down his face at having such a mistaken impression of himself.

  "What's wrong?"

  Mozi had no idea what Xiao Erlang was thinking, seeing him make a sour face again, she felt inexplicably puzzled, thinking to herself that she wasn't being rude in her speech. In her heart, she was wishing his grandparents well, while on her face, she wore a sweet smile like honey. Having just returned from sailing with a group of big men, don't expect her to be overly refined and courteous.

  "Fair and impartial, that seems to be someone from our Qiu Manor." Mozi no longer raised her eyes to look at Xiao Erlang, maintaining her most standard posture of courtesy, with her head bowed fifteen degrees.

  That humble appearance made Xiao Er Lang even angrier. How could he be so wrong? Had he gone mad?

  "Is it just like that or is it really so? Look carefully before speaking." With anger in his heart, General Xiao's tone was naturally not much better.

  "Mozhui's expression didn't change at all as she asked about his parents, 'Mozhui just saw the people rushing to catch up wearing the Bu Yi Fu family's servant clothes and waist cards, but their faces were unfamiliar. However, there are over a hundred servants in the mansion, Mozhui is just a miscellaneous maid in the girl's courtyard, so it's not surprising that she hasn't seen them before.'"

  Xiao Er Lang remembered that this little girl was talking to Yu Niang on the half mountain of Ci Nian An, with a sharp tongue. Can a servant girl who does chores accompany her master when she gets married? He recalled her clever mouth, and at the same time, he came to his senses and realized that his attitude had been too aggressive. Although it was impossible for him to admit his mistake, his expression softened. After all, he wasn't a bad person.

  "Then come with me and take a look." The voice was no longer overbearing.

  Zi followed Xiao Erlang from a distance.

  At this time, all the horse-drawn carriages stopped by the roadside.

  The man sitting in the first carriage jumped down and came forward to make a bow to Xiao Erlang and Shi Kui, "Thank heaven, thank earth, we've caught up. My surname is Chen, I'm the steward sent by Old Master Qiu."

  Xiao Erlang took a closer look. As Mozi said, the clothes were indeed those of the Qiufu household guards, and the waist plate he saw was also worn by the Qiufu steward, with exactly the same inscription on it. He believed it completely at this point.

  "Lord Qiu, what brings you here?" The words were still sharp despite his trust.

  "It's really laughable when you think about it." The middle-aged man looked at Mozi, "You're the maid Mozi who accompanied Third Young Miss? I've seen you from afar twice."

  "Chen Guan Shi." Mo Zi Fu nodded his body, "But does the old master still have something to entrust to the young lady? The young lady is having tea in the pavilion, I'll take you there."

  "It's nothing, I'm afraid of being scolded by Third Young Miss. Hurry up and finish the task, or I'll be punished when I get back." Chen the steward waved his hand hastily and pointed to the carriage behind him, "The porters who were carrying the dowry made a mistake, they actually loaded the trunks belonging to Sixth and Seventh Young Miss onto the carriage instead of Eldest Young Miss's. Luckily it was discovered in time, Master ordered me to bring the correct ones and exchange them."

  Shi Ke's heart was straightforward and his words were quick, "This dowry is still wrong, it's really strange."

  "So, it's a joke after all." Manager Chen was somewhat embarrassed. "Because the young lady is getting married, Master and Madam prepared the dowry for both Sixth Sister and Seventh Sister at the same time and stored them in the warehouse. The boxes are identical, and with many things to do these days, they didn't open the boxes to check, just loaded them onto the carriage."

  "Is this how things are done? Third Miss is the eldest daughter, her dowry is worth much more than the other two misses. If you hadn't discovered it and rushed over to correct the mistake, the wrong dowry would have been sent all the way to the Wangfu of Shangdu, and when they opened it, they would have thought our household was too shabby."

  "Hey, Mu Zi, keep your voice down, don't let San Gu Niang call me over to ask questions." Chen the steward was flustered.

  "How could this be hidden from Miss?" Mozi refused to give up.

  "I can at least avoid a scolding for now. Escaping one scolding is one less scolding." Chen the manager wiped his sweat with his sleeve, "It's already past noon, and moving things around to switch cars will take up quite some time. Miss Mozi should hurry up and agree, so we can start working."

  "Hurry up," said Mozi impatiently.

  Chen Guanshi let out a sigh of relief and quickly called on the porters from each cart to move the boxes.

  Xiao Erlang didn't make a sound, as if he was coldly watching the commotion from the sidelines. It wasn't until the box was moved over from the sedan chair and another box was brought over from the horse-drawn carriage that he finally spoke up when they were handed over to him.

  "Wait."

  Mozi and Chen Guanshi were stunned, exchanging a glance with each other, not understanding what he meant.

  "Prince?" Mozi almost bit her own tongue. She had no guilt in her heart, it was just that this person often found trouble for her, annoying

  "You said you had never seen him before, is that true or not?" Xiao Erlang was carrying a secret mission and was more on guard against sudden events than usual.

  "... is. Mozi often stays in the girls' dormitory and rarely goes out to the garden." He suspected that there must be some basis for this, if he gets nervous just because of a stranger's face, when can he go out?

  "In that case, let me check the boxes. To avoid real ones being swapped with fake ones, and good ones being swapped with inferior ones. At that time, it would be my fault." With that said, without waiting for Mozi and Chen Guanshi's agreement, he reached out to pull out Shi Lei's sword and pricked the seams of the two boxes separately.

  Shi Ke hurried forward and shouted.

  The trunks that were taken down from the horse carriage, inside were silk fabrics, with deep and light colors, looking like old clothes, but only half full.

  Chen had someone move over a trunk full of large and small brocade boxes.

  "Right, right, it's time to test it out. If I'm wrong again this time, I won't be needed anymore." Manager Chen was very quick-witted and went over to open the brocade boxes one by one.

  Jade Ruyi, jade Buddha statue, jade hand beads, jade screen fan, all are smooth and soft in luster, excellent in texture of jade.

  Chapter 97: The Switched Dowry (Part 2)

  Chapter 97: The Switched Dowry (Part 2)