Qingli busily poured a bowl of warm water and brought it in, smiling at Lin Lao Tai who was lying on the bed: "It's Si Gu Niang, she came with Tao Jia Xiang Tai Tai to bid farewell and thank you for your kindness. Since you were resting, they just paid their respects at the door and left."

  The old lady didn't utter a word.

  She was facing the wall, and Qing Li couldn't see her face clearly, so she tentatively asked: "Old lady, do you want to drink some water?"

  "Don't drink." The old lady slowly and coldly said: "It turns out that she still has me, her grandmother, in her eyes."

  The green pear was speechless for a moment. It turned out that the old lady had been waiting for Lin Jinyong to come and thank her all along, if the fourth girl hadn't come, even if she kowtowed to the old lady in the future, the old lady might not have looked at her with a straight eye. People are just fond of arguing over this one breath.

  Lin Jinrong returned to her own courtyard, and two groups of people came one after another. The first group was Pi Ya, who was beside Lin Jinrong. Pi Ya brought a box of gold and silver ingots that had already been weighed and handed them over to Lin Jinrong, while also conveying the original words of Gui Niangniang: "Third Sister said that she does not approve of what you are doing. Money is just material wealth, but you are her only younger sister. If you insist on it, she will give it to you. If it succeeds, it's good fortune; if not, then consider this a lesson."

  How could it not be? As expected, Lin Jianyin, this steady big sister, still needs to be stimulated in order to succeed. Lin Jianrong smiled and accepted Lin Jianyin's lecture, then personally took the box of gold and silver and rewarded Pihua. Pihua seemed to smile but not quite: "This servant ran this errand as a matter of course, young lady really wants to reward, just wait until you earn money to reward, this servant won't mind more." After a pause, she also kindly reminded: "Third sister's meaning is that it's unnecessary for unimportant people to know, so as not to cause trouble."

  Got it! This girl has always been considerate and thoughtful, her words are also pleasant to hear, she's truly a treasure. No wonder she later became the mistress of the Tao family. Lin Jinrong smiled and instructed Li Zhi to send the pears out, while he himself sat under the lamp to grind ink and prepare paper, writing down how much gold and silver there was, in order to hand it over to Tao Fengtang.

  Guī yǎo yǎo and Guī yuán didn't know what she had just done, but they were curious why she was grinding ink and writing in the middle of the night. They couldn't help but be puzzled: "Miss, what are you doing?" In Guī yuán's heart, countless small paws were scratching, hadn't Sān gūniáng and Sì gūniáng just had a fight? Why did she send over another box of things? Pípá was being mysterious, what was it? What was it?

  Lin Jinyong smiled lightly: "I asked my eldest brother to help me buy some new and interesting things at the market, I'm writing a list now." These two girls were illiterate, easy to coax.

  Osmanthus fragrans also stopped, she thought cleverly that the things in the box were probably the third daughter's gift to her cousin, but she was too embarrassed to speak up and borrowed the fourth daughter's hand.

  Let's not waste words, Lin Jinrong had just set the stage here, and Lychee walked in, saying with a somewhat strange expression: "Miss, you dropped one of your pouches when you paid respects to Third Master earlier, and Nanny Huang personally brought it back for you." Who knows what this sneaky nanny is up to, bringing a maid along under the cover of darkness.

  In the past, Huang Niang also liked to come and do this kind of thing, but Lin Jinrong had never been willing to see her easily, nor did he admit it. Gui Yatou then followed the usual habit and said: "Miss, rest assured, wait for Lao Nu to go out and serve Niang."

  Lin Jinyong put down the pen in his hand and said lightly, "Auntie has a good heart, how can she be so slow to her? Please come in and have some tea, Auntie."

  The old lady Gui still hesitated, but Lin Jinrong had already walked out and was standing in the corridor with a smile, facing Huang Niangniang who was staring at the wind lamp on the eaves: "Niangniang, what's so precious about a handbag? It's late and cold, if someone borrows it or returns it another day, it's all the same. Come in quickly and have a cup of hot tea to warm up." Her gaze paused, focusing on the double-layered black lacquer food box held by Huang Niangniang's personal maid, Zao'er.

  The auntie's face was full of gentle smiles, her eyes following Lin Jingrong's gaze to the black lacquer food box. Her tone was warm and intimate: "Third Master wants to eat osmanthus rice balls, I thought that on a cold and rainy night, it would be good for everyone to have a hot bowl before bed, so I made some extra and sent them to Madame, Third Miss, and Fifth Young Master. Seventh Young Master is too young and can't digest it, so I didn't send any. Fourth Miss lives far away, and I don't trust others to deliver it, so I brought it here myself."

  "Auntie, thank you." Lin Jinrong gave her a slight bow and invited her in, asking Huang Auntie to sit on the couch by the window. Liuliang brought over hot tea.

  Osmanthus wanted to take the food box from Zao'er's hand, but Zao'er suddenly drew back and glanced at Huang Niangniang with a mischievous smile, saying: "It's rare for me to have the chance to serve Fourth Miss, so sister shouldn't fight with younger sister."

  Kuiyuan was furious, both the master and servant were shameless, stepping on each other's noses and faces. The master snatched someone else's husband, and the maid came to snatch a young girl. What kind of logic is this? Just as she was about to mock Zao'er for a couple of sentences, Lin Jiran said: "Kuiyuan, Auntie rarely comes here, I remember we still have some lotus root cake, go heat it up and bring it out to invite Auntie to try some." Looking at the situation, both the handbag and the Osmanthus cake were just an excuse. She really wanted to know what was in the bottom layer of the two-tiered food box. Why not create an opportunity for Huang Ayi?

  Osmanthus did not resent, but did not dare to disobey, had to salute and retreat, Lin Jinrong called Osmanthus again: "Auntie, please help me check the hot water, I blew some cold wind and got rained earlier, I think I'll soak in it."

  "Yes." Guan's wife glanced gloomily at the lychee standing by and quietly retreated.

  At this moment, Zao'er had already opened the first layer of food box, took out a pale green fine porcelain bowl with both hands and handed it to Lin Jinyong's face. The unique sweet fragrance of Osmanthus cake kept drilling into Lin Jinyong's nose, she smiled slightly, without hesitation, took a spoonful of the cake and fed it into her mouth, savoring carefully, sighed: "Auntie is skilled in cooking, only you can make such delicious Osmanthus cakes in this mansion."

  "Madam Huang said with a smile: 'If the young lady likes to eat, just send someone over to say so at any time, even in the middle of the night, and I'll make it for her.'"

  Lin Jinyong smiled slightly and said frankly, "How could I have such good fortune? Wouldn't that be a disaster for me? Father would be the first to blame me, and Fifth Brother would probably resent me for troubling Auntie."

  The aunt was stabbed by her blunt words, but she didn't take it to heart and smiled faintly: "Miss is joking, if it weren't for you, the fifth young master wouldn't have been let off so easily by the old master? I'm rough, but I remember kindness. For half a month now, you haven't been able to go out, and I couldn't come visit either. But my hands didn't stop working, the two pairs of shoes you wanted, one pair is already done, and in a few days, they'll be sent together. If not for third master being ill, today would have brought them together."

  Lin Jinyong nodded and went straight to the point: "I don't know what kind of purse Auntie picked up, can I take a look?" Whether she had dropped her purse or not, she was the clearest about it; whether Huang Yiniang had picked up the purse or not, Huang Yiniang was also the clearest about it.

  Huang Niang's face changed several times in an instant, unpredictable and uncertain, her eyes were also a bit evasive. Suddenly, her gaze fell on the paper on the table that Lin Jing had not yet picked up, her eyes lit up, and she said resolutely: "Fourth Miss, I came here at midnight to ask for something."

  Lin Jinyong's spoon slowly scooped up a smooth osmanthus ball, and the fish was hooked. But she was careless for a moment, and all her hard work and calculations might have been in vain. Steady, steady! She put the osmanthus ball into her mouth, smiled faintly: "Auntie is mistaken, I am still a guilty person now, afraid of not being able to help Auntie."

  "Fourth Miss, I'm not someone who doesn't know how to read the situation. This matter isn't difficult at all. As long as you just lift your hand slightly, it'll be over. It's beneficial for me, for Madame, for you, and even for our three branches."

  "Oh?" Lin Jinyong looked at Huang Niang with a hint of a smile: "I'd like to hear more." It was precisely because Huang Niang was too good at reading the situation, otherwise she wouldn't have set her sights on Huang Niang.

  Huang Yiniang hinted for Zao'er to leave, and Lin Jinyong also let Liuzhi go out.

  The lower layer of the double-layered food box was opened, and inside were some gold and silver ingots of various sizes, not many in number, similar to Lin Jinyong's private house. Huang Niang's fingers were pinched on the edge of the black lacquer food box, somewhat hesitant.

  Lin Jinyong ate another osmanthus cake and smiled faintly: "Auntie, why did you bring all this gold and silver here for no reason?"

  Madam Huang looked up at Lin Jinyong. She saw Lin Jinyong sitting under the lamp, smiling slyly and slightly disdainfully, as if he had seen through her tricks but was pretending to be ignorant. So she gritted her teeth: "I heard that the price of gold and silver in Qingzhou is higher than in Pingzhou."

  Lin Jinyong's smile was retracted, and the spoon was thrown into a small bowl by her, making a crisp "ding-dang" sound. Her voice seemed to be wrapped in a layer of frost: "Auntie's ears are really good. But even so, it has nothing to do with you."

  Fourth Young Mistress, it's not that I'm brave, but rather your kindness, I couldn't bear to disappoint you.

  Lin Jinyong's eyes were filled with cold intent, staring motionlessly at Huang Niang.

  Yes, even if she didn't see it with her own eyes, she knew that some things couldn't be hidden from Huang Niang. For example, taking gold and silver to Qingzhou to exchange for a difference in price - Tao Shi wasn't the first person in this household to do so, nor would she be the last. Such an easy way of making money, how could someone like Huang Niang, who especially needed gold and silver by her side, not know about it? And last night, she deliberately pulled Tao Fengtang into Lin San Lao Ye's courtyard to say those words, despite Lin Jianyin's opposition - originally, she had an ulterior motive.

  She was fishing, fishing for Huang Niangniang this slippery fish. Huang Niangniang and she were both people who especially yearned for money, especially since Huang Niangniang's status was lowly, unable to come and go freely, even if she knew the method, knew that Tao Shi was doing such a thing, it was still impossible to take action, empty and envious but unable. She intentionally told Huang Niangniang about her family's affairs, taking advantage of Huang Niangniang's momentary surge of courage, waiting for Huang Niangniang's bold leap. And at this moment, Huang Niangniang indeed bravely leaped up following her footsteps!

  However, Lin Jinyong did not feel the joy and excitement of impending success. Her mind became increasingly calm and clear. She heard her own voice like a straight line without any ups and downs: "Auntie's words are too profound, I don't understand."

  ——*——*——

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