The next day, Ye Zhuo indeed exercised her body and arm strength according to her plan. What let Qiuyue unexpected was that she wasn't just a temporary novelty. Although her arms were sore and couldn't be lifted, resulting in not being able to do embroidery for the next few days, or even holding chopsticks was difficult, but she still persisted without giving up. However, the results of the exercise were still very significant. Slowly, after half a month, her arms weren't as sore, her body had energy, and even her complexion was much rosier. And under her pen, she could gradually write out a simple stroke character.

  But it is not known how Chunyu reported to Ye Yuzhang, and on that day when he returned, Ye Yuzhang and Jiangshi did not summon Ye Zhuo to the main hall for a scolding. Seven days later, when Ye Zhuo asked to leave the mansion again, Ye Yuzhang readily agreed. When leaving the main hall, Chunyu followed Ye Zhuo as usual.

  The deceased is gone, and the living must continue to live. Ye Yuqi's body slowly recovered, and Zhao's illness also improved. However, Zhao seemed to have lost her vitality, sitting in the room embroidering, silent and expressionless. Even when Ye Zhuo spoke to her, she only responded faintly, without losing courtesy, but coldly, making it difficult for others to be interested. Ye Zhuo had no choice but to return to the courtyard and chat idly with Ye Yuqi.

  Ye Yiqi didn't mention practicing wrist strength, instead he played with a piece of jade in his hand while chatting with Ye Zhuo about some interesting gossip. It wasn't until Ye Zhuo asked to take a look at the jade that he smiled and handed it over.

  Ye Yuke, as a former jade carver in Nanshan Town, always had some jade materials on hand. However, due to poverty, the materials he had were of poor quality, with insufficient water content and transparency. Fortunately, the colors were very beautiful, and if there was a good design and craftsmanship, using these beautiful colors to carve out intricate patterns could still increase their value significantly.

  Ye Zuan took the stone and gradually looked into it, thinking of various patterns in his mind, infatuated with its beautiful colors.

  "Miss, it's getting late." Qiu Yue reminded Ye Zhuo, who had been staring at the stone for half a day without moving.

  Still have to go see Zheng's family. Ye Zhuo had no choice but to hand the jade material back to Ye Yuqi and bid farewell to the Zheng family.

  Zheng's wound has fully healed, although Liu took away another good dress on the pretext of borrowing it. However, losing money to ward off disaster is not a bad thing, and life is still going well, so there's no need for Ye Zhuo to worry about her. On the contrary, she advised Ye Zhuo: "You're in the mansion with no one to rely on, it's better to go out less often to avoid giving Old Lady excuses to scold people. From now on, come over once every month or two, or let Qiuju come and report your safety, so I can be at ease, that's enough, don't need to run here every day."

  "Good." Ye Zhuo knew that Zheng's family was doing well and also knew that frequent visits here would make Ye Yu Zhang and Jiang's family unhappy, so he agreed.

  In this way, for the next month, Ye Zhuo would practice her embroidery every day after completing a certain amount of work, and then exercise her wrists and body. Every eight or nine days, she would go to the main house to sit for a while. When she went to the main house, she would send Qiuju to run an errand at the Zheng's house to see how Mrs. Zheng was doing and report back that everything was fine. The days passed quite peacefully.

  At that time, Ye Zhuo rushed to the garden and saw that the flower pot that had not moved for a long time had changed its position. Autumn Moon saw it, looked around and found no one, then quickly ran to a corner, flipped out a piece of cloth from under the stone, and hurried back to Biyu Residence with Ye Zhuo.

  "Miss, look what's happened." Entering the bedroom, Autumn Moon handed a strip of cloth to Ye Zhuo.

  Ye Zhuo opened it and took a look, then slightly curled up the corner of his mouth with a mocking arc, handing the cloth strip back to Qiu Yue's hand.

  "Good heavens! This is going too far, isn't it? You're a woman, and you won't be competing with the young master in her belly for family property, does she need to be so vicious?"

  It turned out that on the cloth strip was written: Ye Jiaming sent betrothal gifts to the Gong family, and Miss Gong made a request, which was to demote Ye Zhuo to a concubine daughter.

  "It's not a family, don't enter the same door." Ye Zhuo smiled and sat down to pick up the needle and thread basket. "Although it can't change the fact that she is a stepmother, covering up this fact with one leaf and making herself unaware of it is also happy. Besides, if she gave birth to a daughter instead of a son, I would be embarrassed by her affair. The second lady born to the stepmother, compared to the eldest lady born to the original wife, is a bit lower in status. But if she was the only legitimate daughter, her identity would stand out."

  "What shall we do?" Qiu Yue asked anxiously.

  "If she had asked for a lower price, Old Master Ye would have agreed to it just to maintain good relations with the Gong family. Unfortunately, her asking price was too high and the Ye family wouldn't agree to it, don't worry." Ye Zhuo lowered her head to continue embroidering. This period of time she showed cleverness and efficiency in front of Chun Yu, estimated that this matter would add some points for sure.

  Qiu Yue silently turned around and lit the flint, burning the cloth strip. She sighed: "Even if the old master doesn't agree, the new wife will still resent the young lady. Who knows how she'll treat her after entering the house?"

  Ye Zhuo pulled the needle out of the fabric and smiled: "When soldiers come, we will block them; when water comes, we will dam it. What is there to fear? Don't worry, I will not let myself be humiliated."

  Miss Gong is pregnant with Ye Jiaming's child, the Ye family is not in a hurry, but the Gong family is. So even if Ye Yuzhang ultimately did not agree to demote Ye Zhuo to a concubine, Miss Gong still entered the door with a three-month-old belly, sitting in a large red flower sedan chair.

  Jiang's family was afraid that Ye Zhuo would cause trouble in the marriage, so whether it was preparing for the wedding or holding a banquet, they didn't let Ye Zhuo help at all. They even didn't let her attend the banquet, and only had someone bring a food box with a few dishes to eat alone in the courtyard. Ye Zhuo was naturally happy to have some leisure time.

  Let her go congratulate that ungrateful and ruthless man and the woman who squeezed Zheng's family out of Ye's house on their hundred-year union, she really doesn't have that demeanor.

  However, on the second day after the wedding banquet, even if he didn't want to, Ye Zhuo had no choice but to go and pay his respects to Mrs. Gong. When the time was almost right, guessing that Mrs. Gong should have finished serving tea in the main hall, she took Autumn Moon with her to Xinning Hall where Mrs. Gong lived.

  Through the garden, out of the corridor, and from a distance, Wang Yiniang and Ye Lin, Ye Jue were seen walking towards them. Ye Zhuo deliberately slowed down her pace, waiting for them to enter Xinning Hall before slowly entering the door.

  As they entered, they saw Wang's wife and the others standing in the courtyard, while an old woman stood on the steps, looking up with her head held high and said: "The master and mistress have gone to the main house to pay their respects and haven't returned yet. You all wait for a bit." After finishing speaking, she turned around, swung open the curtain and entered the house.

  Looking at the swaying curtain, Wang's eyes widened in surprise.

  At first, even if Zheng's family was wealthy, because of her beauty, she was extremely favored by Ye Jia Ming. When she entered the house, she still had to give herself face and be polite. How could Gong Shi treat her like this, leaving her in the courtyard, not even allowing her into the house? She is a noble concubine, the old lady's own niece, and the one who gave birth to two daughters for the Ye family! Not showing respect to the Buddha, how could Gong Shi, no matter how she was born as an official's daughter, treat people like this?! Once you enter this door, you are a member of the Ye family. Now, not even giving face to the old lady, it's truly... unreasonable!

  She caught sight of a maid coming out of the side room and heading towards the main house. Wang's wife quickly stepped forward, grabbed the maid's hand and said loudly: "Since Madam doesn't know when she'll be back, you lead us to the side hall, we'll wait there."

  "Hey, what are you doing? You're squeezing my hand to death." The maid, however, ignored her words and struggled hard, trying to free her hand.

  Wang yiniang relied on the old lady's power, even Zhou yiniang had to give her three points of face, where did you see such an impolite servant? Her face suddenly turned red with anger. She grasped the maid's wrist tightly and refused to let go.

  "What is going on here?" a loud shout came from the doorway, it was Ye Jiaming's voice. Immediately after, he walked in with a woman wearing a bright red dress.

  This girl is eighteen or nineteen years old, with a goose egg face, high eyebrows, and a pair of big eyes that are slightly bulging. Her cheekbones are somewhat high, and her lips are extremely thin. At first glance, she seems like someone who is not easy to get along with.

  Is this the Miss Gong that Ye Jiaming cried and yelled to marry? Ye Zhuo stood under a tree not far from the courtyard gate, his eyebrows slightly raised, his eyes scanning Miss Gong's belly.