Hua Zhi took Hua Ling to the study.
"The scholar who saved you is here too. Did you see him?"
Hua Ling nodded. It was hard not to notice the purple face that appeared among the crowd of gentlemen.
"I had someone send him a portion this morning, but maybe he went out early and missed it." Motioning Hua Ling to sit down, Hua Zhi spread out paper and pen and dipped the pen in ink. The vitality of seafood from the south is no longer strong. If it is not well taken care of, it will not live for more than a few days. The dying ones also need to be dealt with in time to ensure the freshness to the greatest extent. These things really need a person with a strong sense of responsibility to take care of them.
Nanny Chen is an old lady brought by my grandmother from the Qin family. Her son went to the north with her grandfather, and her daughter married the son of a manager in the family. After all, it is a food business, and she would feel more at ease to have someone like this whose entire family, young and old, are in the Hua family in charge of the business.
Hua Ling tried to hold back, but couldn't help but said, "Eldest sister, can I see it?"
"There's nothing you can't see." Hua Zhi didn't even raise her head, and seemed like she really didn't care at all.
Hua Ling happily came over, read the words one by one, and memorized them in her heart. She didn't dare to aspire to be someone like her elder sister, but only wanted to learn more from her.
At this time, a conversation was taking place in the room of Aunt Qin in the eldest house.
Aunt Qin poked her daughter Hua Rong's forehead with an angry look on her face, "You are obviously the eldest lady's biological sister, but now Hua Ling has found an opportunity to curry favor with the eldest lady, and you are willing to accept this?"
Although Hua Rong was not happy in her heart, she had been getting along well with her two sisters for the past six months. She argued, "It's not that the third sister is trying to curry favor with the eldest sister. Auntie, you don't know anything, so don't say anything nonsense!"
"I'm talking nonsense? I'm doing this for you. Now everything in the Hua family is in the hands of the eldest daughter. If you don't make good connections, how can you get the benefits in the future?"
"Eldest sister even protects my cousin from the side branch, how could she treat me, her half-sister, badly? Before Third Sister got into trouble, Eldest sister rarely spoke to her, but once the accident happened, she gave up everything to protect her. I believe that if it was me who got into trouble, Eldest sister would definitely protect me in the same way!"
Aunt Qin was so angry that she almost vomited blood, "Where do you get your confidence from..."
"Just because my last name is Hua, and based on what I've seen and heard during this period!" Hua Rong, who had always been well-behaved, was very aggressive at this moment. "If you do something secretly, you will harm me, auntie, don't do anything under the banner of doing good for me. Think about Hua Yan's fate before you have any evil ideas!"
"Rong'er, I am your mother after all, how could I harm you?"
Hua Rong's heart trembled. Her aunt must be really planning to do something, otherwise she wouldn't say that.
Pressing the tiger's mouth hard, Hua Rong suppressed her panic and asked, "Auntie, can you tell me what you are going to do?"
Aunt Qin looked back, and the maid understood and led the others to retreat.
Aunt Qin walked over and closed the door herself, dragged a round stool and sat next to her daughter. Her expression was filled with suppressed excitement, and she whispered like a thief: "I found a good marriage for you."
"Aunt, I'm still in mourning! Do you want me to be stabbed in the back?"
"Keep your voice down!" Aunt Qin lowered her voice and spoke faster, "I'm not asking you to get married right now, why are you in such a hurry!"
Hua Rong felt a chill in her heart. The one in the family who should be most sincere in mourning for her grandmother was her aunt. She was able to marry into the family and give birth to the eldest son because she had the support of her grandmother. Her stepmother was weak and had never bullied her concubines, and she had never deducted a cent from her, a concubine's daughter. Not to say that she was treated the same as her elder sister in everything, but compared with the concubines of some families, she was already living in a honeypot.
She had also had other thoughts under the instigation of her aunt, but over the past year she had been thankful countless times that she had never really done anything and had always respected her stepmother. Otherwise, she would have suffered a loss without knowing at whose hands she had suffered.
With my elder sister's abilities, it would be very easy to do anything to her.
It was because she knew this that she was so afraid that her aunt would bring disaster upon herself and her.
Pressing the tiger's mouth more firmly, Hua Rong lowered her head and softened her tone, "I wonder which family Auntie is looking for?"
Aunt Qin just thought she was shy and didn't think much about it, "Xie family."
Xie family? Hua Rong quickly thought about it in her mind. There are two Xie families in Beijing. One is comparable to the former Hua family, which should be impossible. The other one is...
"Thank you, Yuanwailang, Ministry of Revenue."
As expected! Hua Rong didn't know much about that family, so it was hard to say whether it was good or bad, but what she wanted to know more was, "I haven't seen my aunt leave the house in the past few days, so how did she get involved with the Xie family?"
"It's not possible that Auntie has a few friends who can stand the test?" Auntie Qin said angrily, and changed the subject again. "Don't underestimate Mr. Xie. He is only a fifth-rank official, but he is only in his early thirties and has a bright future. As soon as the news of his remarriage was released, many people were watching him. If I hadn't had some friendship with an aunt of the Xie family, this good thing might not have fallen on you."
Hua Rong felt a chill in her heart, "Second marriage? A good thing? Auntie, you want me to be someone else's concubine?"
"We are going to go through the formal process of three matchmakers and six betrothal. There is no need to worry about what the young lady will do to you. You are not like Hua Yan, who is eager to become a concubine!"
"Didn't you also rush to be your father's concubine... Bang!"
The crisp sound of the slap seemed particularly loud in the closed room. Hua Rong covered her numb face and did not move. She didn't know how to face her own mother who wanted to send her to be a concubine.
After she calmed down, Aunt Qin came to her senses. She looked at the handprint on her daughter's face and felt regret and hatred. Tears started to fall down her cheeks. "How could you say that to me? I'm your mother!"
"Yes, mother, a mother who wants to send her daughter to be someone's concubine." Hua Rong stood up and walked out without even looking at Aunt Qin.
"Rong'er!" Aunt Qin rushed over and held her, crying, "Anyone would hurt you, but I won't. Why do you prefer to believe that Hua Zhi will treat you well instead of me? I can't watch you miss such a great time!"
Hua Rong turned around and looked at Aunt Qin. "Yesterday, my second sister and I went to accompany my third sister. She said she didn't want to get married and that it was good to be protected by my eldest sister at home. I thought so at the time. Why would I marry someone else and suffer when I have my eldest sister protecting me at home? Aunt, there is no trust that falls from the sky in this world. We trust our eldest sister because she has never let us down. She doesn't say anything, but she keeps doing it."
"But women always have to get married." Aunt Qin said earnestly, "How much choice do you think the Hua family has now? Even though the Xie family is taking in a concubine, the ex-wife only left behind a daughter..."
"I think the Hua family is very good now, very good." Hua Rong bowed slightly, opened the door and left without looking back.