Wang and others thanked Qi Gong and went to the study room. They called Su Luo and said, "You go to Zhao County Lord's mansion now and tell Madam Zhao what just happened."

  Su Luo led the way, wearing wooden clogs as she walked out of the second gate.

  County Magistrate Zhao is named Zhao Zhen, with the courtesy name Duanfeng. His ancestral home is in Chaoyang, and he has been serving as County Magistrate of Qinghe for three years, with his term ending at the end of this year.

  Zhao Zhen's integrity as an official is unknown, but he gives the impression of being easy-going. His wife follows him to his post and, due to her kindness and tact, has won the favor of the other women. The prominent families in the county all have some private connection with the Zhao family. Mrs. Zhao often gathers with the other wives in the county to drink tea and admire flowers, and because she is skilled at flower arrangement, a trend of flower arranging has been popular in the county for the past two years.

  Xie Wan stood in front of the window of the pavilion, stroking the three tea flowers inserted in the flower holder on the piano case.

  The rain outside has stopped, Chunhui and Qiubrow are carrying water to clean the muddy corridor with the old ladies. Accidentally, Chunhui kicks over the bucket of water, Qiubrow bursts into loud laughter, and the old ladies scold loudly, breaking the gloom that had settled in the courtyard due to the rain.

  Xie Wan left the window and went back to her room to put on a cloak, then went out alone towards the outside of the courtyard.

  The yard was also roughly the same scene, last year's withered leaves and winter flowers were all washed away by the heavy rain into the mud and ditches, there weren't many people walking under the corridor, on a day like this, most of them stayed indoors.

  Xie Wan entered the Fengfeng Courtyard, where Qie Mama was in the corridor having someone sweep the hall. The Yuanxiao Festival was approaching, although they didn't make a big fuss about it, they still had to clean up a bit.

  Xie Wan appeared alone at the door, and Qi Nian's mother hurried over with a soft cry, clasping her small hands: "My young lady, on such a cold day, how did you also come? You didn't even bring someone to serve you."

  "A voice came from inside the room, 'Who's there?'"

  "Here comes Third Sister!"

  The door creaked open and, in the blink of an eye, Huang's wife, wearing a snow-white rabbit fur coat, walked out with a smile, "Hurry up and come in! Be careful not to catch a chill."

  Xie Wan followed her into the house obediently. Once inside, Qiu Xue helped her remove her hood, and Yin Shuang poured her a cup of ginger date tea. Huang Shi took her hand and placed it on the brazier, examining her complexion while asking: "What's wrong? You look so down in the dumps. What happened?"

  Xie Wan's eyes reddened, "I was wrong."

  "What's wrong?" Huang said with a smile.

  She bit her lip, "At Wutou Village, I beat up Li Ershun who used to be a servant in the second house."

  Huang's eyes flickered, and she calmed her mind. As for the affairs of the main house, as long as they weren't deliberately hidden from prying ears, there was nothing she didn't know about. There was no need to keep it from her either, so she said: "It's just a beating, what's the big deal? He's just a slave, and he even dared to say such disrespectful things. You teaching him a lesson on behalf of Master and Mistress is all the same."

  Xie Wan shed tears: "But I still have something I didn't dare say in front of Master."

  Huang's eyes widened in surprise, "What did you say?"

  She pursed her lips and bowed her head, saying: "Li Ershun also said that the madam wants to marry big sister to Zhao's young master."

  Zhao family's young master was sixteen years old. At the age of two, he had a high fever that damaged his brain. To this day, the corners of his mouth still drool.

  Huang's eyes flashed with a spark, and her body also paused for a moment. But soon, she stroked her head and laughed: "Foolish child. It can be seen that Li Ershun was just talking nonsense. With Zhao Dafu's attitude, he wouldn't even marry a daughter from a commoner's family, let alone Aunt Mei, whom Madam loves so much. How could she marry him? You actually believed it."

  At this point, she still had confidence. Although Wang was biased, he wouldn't be so cruel to the third house. Thinking of this, her gaze at Xie Wan became a little more gentle.

  Xie Wan raised her head, "But Mrs. Zhao already has the birth date of my elder sister, and it was matched by Liu Banshen on the street. My elder sister is such a noble person, how can she be matched with that foolish young master?"

  Huang's eyebrows finally furrowed: "How did you know?"

  "Liu Banshan was setting up a stall in Li Zihutong, and our shop's apprentice saw it with his own eyes," she said anxiously.

  Huang's eyebrows were furrowed and tightly knitted together.

  But she shook her head, "It's impossible, they must have made a mistake. There's no reason for the mistress to do such a thing."

  Xie Wan said dejectedly: "I don't know either. Maybe only the madam knows. I'm so worried that Master will blame it on Brother."

  She looked up with a face full of grievances.

  Huang said with a smile: "What's this, Brother Guan?"

  She didn't think that at her age, she would have thought that Xie Qigong would finally let Xie Cang take responsibility for the sake of peace. But now that she has shifted her focus from Xie Wei to Xie Cang, this has instead made her even more concerned.

  Xie Wan opened her eyes wide and said: "Because this matter was caused by me substituting for my brother to go to Huangshi Town to look at the shop! My brother had already found a suitable shop in Huangshi Town, he planned to take over the shop in Liu Ye Hutong as well. The two shops in Qingyuan Prefecture will also be opened this year. On that day, when I heard that we were going to Wutou Village, he instructed me and Wu Xing to go and check the location. Now that it's mentioned, isn't it related to my brother?"

  Huang was stunned and followed her rhythm, "You want to open so many shops?"

  Xie Wan said: "Yes, he said that having money in hand makes things easier to handle. Opening a few more shops and having money on hand gives one the confidence to speak and act."

  Huang's family stared at her in a daze, speechless.

  Xie Wan stayed behind and drank a hot bowl before returning to her room.

  Huang's family waited for a long time after she left before calling in Qie Mama.

  "How true is what you're saying?"

  Qie said: "Is it about Yu's sister?" She thought for a moment and said: "It's not very likely, even if the lady is trying to curry favor with County Magistrate Zhao, she won't sacrifice her eldest daughter. Even if she agrees, it still depends on our master's opinion! I think it's probably Li Ershun talking nonsense, and San Gu Niang believed it."

  "Huang said with a sigh: 'I also feel that it won't happen. But the second house suddenly opened so many shops, and it's hard to guarantee that she won't do it!'"

  Madam Qi thought for a moment and then exclaimed: "You mean to say that..."

  "Huang looked at her and said, 'Lang Ge wants to open a shop to make money. Let's not talk about whether he can afford such a big show or not. Just say that he is so high-profile and flamboyant, how can the lady feel comfortable in her heart? Even if nothing happens, she will still stir up some trouble to make him anxious. Now it just so happens that Lang's sister has beaten Li Ershun, and naturally she wants to use this opportunity to make a big deal out of it.'"

  Qian's wife listened and nodded, "What grandma said is not wrong. This Li Ershun was originally someone we had seen before, to put it bluntly, he was a useless good-for-nothing. The Zhao County Magistrate's family is an official household, how could they have let Li Ershun climb up without any reason? And coincidentally, he also managed to provoke the Zhao County Magistrate into coming to make things difficult for the second wife..."

  "Huang coldly smiled: 'That's why, without a huge temptation, the Zhao family wouldn't be able to help her out of this predicament. The Xie family can't help him in his official career, and as for money, Madame is not capable of giving out large sums of silver privately. So they have no choice but to rely on me to solve their problems! She's come up with a good idea, wanting to marry my sister off to that fool!'"

  By the end of it, she had clenched her fists and her voice was trembling.

  "Grandma, speak softly, Eldest Sister's temper is quite arrogant. If she hears this conversation, who knows what kind of tantrum she'll throw? Fortunately, we've just gotten a lead, and it's not too late for us to respond. Even if the mistress can suppress you, grandma, we still have Third Master, who has a soft spot for his daughter. In any case, we absolutely cannot let them succeed!"

  Huang took a deep breath, propped her hands against her forehead and shook her head: "As soon as I think that my water lily-like sister is going to be paired with that fool, I..." She let out a sigh, calmed down for a moment, lifted her head and said: "This matter may end up being a stone that hits our own foot. Zhuan's words can't be fully trusted after all, you go to the street first to ask around, and finally go find Liu Bànxiān."

  "Right away!" said Mrs. Chai hurriedly.

  Xie Wan returned to her room and handed over the cloak to Yu Xue who came to greet her, asking: "Have Luo Ju and Shen Tian returned to the shop?"

  Yu Xue nodded: "Back then. Li Ershun also sent back to the Zhao Mansion, all according to what the young lady said, went down as instructed."

  Xie Wan nodded and sat down on the embroidered cushion.

  Yu Xue looked at her expression from the side and carefully said: "Nothing unexpected will happen, right?"

  "She shook her head: 'No. A coward is always a coward.'"

  She still had a good grasp of Li Ershun, even if he wasn't scared enough this time, wouldn't he be afraid to fall into her hands again next time? After all, are the wealthy and powerful people in the world taking advantage of each other, can the Zhao family protect him every time just because of Wang Shi?

  She leaned against her cheek and said: "I just wonder why Wang wanted to marry Wang Anmei to Zhao's foolish son?"

  Wang Anmei was the eldest daughter of Wang Ge, a nephew of the Wang family. The condition agreed upon by the Wangs and Madam Zhao was not to marry in Eldest Sister, as Xie Wan had said, but rather Wang Anmei.

  Although the Wang family is not a wealthy one, they own more than 20 mu of land in the county and have a mistress like Mrs. Wang, which is not common among ordinary families. Wang Anmei should be able to find a relatively good match from an average family. Since Mr. Wang dared to make decisions for Wang Anmei, he must have consulted with the Wang family members, so why did they compromise in this way?

  This matter has little to do with the second house, but since there is a doubt, it cannot be ignored.

  "Perhaps it was because Wang Anmei's appearance had some shortcomings."

  Yu Xue said.

  It's not impossible. But if they gave a few more taels of silver as dowry, even if she was ugly, at least she could marry a tenant with a decent face and a healthy mind? Why would they push their daughter into the arms of an idiot like a torn rag? Marrying an idiot would ruin her life! On the other hand, it's not like the king's daughter is also an idiot.

  Xie Wan couldn't think it through.

  "Why don't we let Luo Ju go and ask around again?" Yu Xue suggested.

  "She waved her hand and said: 'Of course you can ask around. But it's not the right time now. Let's get through this first.'"

  Just then, Yufang rushed in and said, "Miss, Luo Ju has returned!"

  Luo Ju hastily walked in from outside and said in a low, urgent voice: "Miss, I've brought the thing back!" As he spoke, he handed over an envelope from his hand.