Qin's father, Qin Wanru's grandfather, had been the prime minister since the reign of the late emperor. He resigned from office due to illness a few years ago and lived out his life in retirement.
When he was in office, the Qin family had three thousand guests and was always crowded with people. After he resigned, the younger generations in the family were relatively mediocre and had no great achievements, so the Qin family gradually declined.
Qin Wanru is Qin's biological niece. She has been close to her since childhood and often comes to the mansion to play with her three cousins. Over time, she and her cousin Zhao Jingping develop some ambiguous feelings for each other.
Qin naturally also hoped that Qin Wanru could marry in and become her daughter-in-law. This would not only bring honor to her natal family, but also save her the trouble of the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. If the aunt and niece worked together, they would be the unshakable head of the family in the rear house of the marquis's mansion.
Unfortunately, this was just her wishful thinking. Marquis Dingyuan was not optimistic about this marriage and strongly opposed Qin Wanru marrying into the marquis's family.
Because he felt that Qin Wanru was scheming, narrow-minded, fond of luxury, and unstable, and was not the best candidate to be the Crown Prince's wife.
For this reason, Qin and Marquis Dingyuan had quarreled more than once, but Marquis Dingyuan was determined not to give in.
He said, the women in your Qin family are all the same at heart. I have suffered from this myself, and I will never push my son into the fire pit again.
Qin almost died of anger over this sentence, but at this time she no longer had her father, the Prime Minister, to support her, and it was impossible for her to ask the emperor to be a peacemaker, so she had to grit her teeth and swallow the humiliation.
Since she couldn't convince the Marquis, she decided to take an unconventional approach and create more opportunities for Qin Wanru and Zhao Jingping so that they could get married with a baby.
Unfortunately, before her plan could be implemented, the imperial decree granting marriage came down.
Xie Nanjia married into the family and became the Crown Prince's wife, shattering the dreams of the aunt and niece.
Qin felt deeply sorry for her niece, so she let her live in her mansion and promised to find her a better in-law family than the Marquis' Mansion.
However, once a girl falls in love, she will not easily look at others. Zhao Jingping is suave and amorous. Qin Wanru has long been deeply in love with him and would rather die than marry anyone else.
But her identity was there. As the granddaughter of the former prime minister, she could not lower her status to become someone's concubine, even if he was the prince of a marquisate.
So we have lived there in this awkward situation until today.
Qin was quite troubled by this, and was ridiculed by Marquis Dingyuan for saying that it was easier to invite gods than to send them away.
Zhao Jingping didn't care. In his opinion, all girls were beautiful and lovely. He liked every young girl equally. It didn't matter who was the principal wife. His love was equal anyway.
His cousin was staying at home and didn't want to leave, but he didn't think it was a big deal. It was just one more mouth to feed, and the mansion could afford to support him. Besides, his cousin was more beautiful than a flower, so even if they couldn't be husband and wife, it was a pleasure to look at her every day.
But Qin Wanru was unwilling to accept this. It was not as if she had seen through the world, so how could she be willing to stay here for her cousin to watch? She could not change the status quo, so she transferred all her resentment to Xie Nanjia and provoked her whenever she got the chance.
However, Xie Nanjia had no feelings for Zhao Jingping, and was indifferent to her provocation. He let her jump around happily without even giving her a glance.
Qin Wanru was so angry that she wished Xie Nanjia would get a strange disease and die so that there would be room for her.
Xie Nanjia thought about the past and looked at Qin Wanru again. The more she looked, the more she looked like a murderer.
But the voice that day was too strange, and she was not sure if it was Qin Wanru's voice.
While he was thinking, Yunyan came over and told him that he could go in and pay his respects.
Everyone responded and walked into the hall with the sound of jingling jewelry.
Xie Nanjia put his thoughts aside and helped Fourth Aunt into the hall.
Qin was sitting in the middle, with delicate makeup and a face as gloomy as water. Because of her anger, she finally became as sharp as the main wife. Her eyes accurately found the Fourth Aunt among the flowers. She wished she could turn her gaze into a sharp blade to scratch the Fourth Aunt's face first and then cut her neck.
But the Fourth Aunt pretended to be completely unaware and walked forward to greet him shyly. The two blushes on her face made Qin's eyes hurt.
"I heard that you rested in the front yard last night?" she asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, madam." The fourth concubine knelt on the ground, but she felt that she was much taller than Qin who was sitting on the chair. "I wanted to go back to Qingfeng Courtyard, but the Marquis said it was too late and he was afraid that the road would be unsafe, so he asked me to sleep at his place until dawn before returning. Please forgive me, madam!"
Even a deaf person could hear the boasting and complacency in these words.
Yesterday she called herself a slave, but after sleeping with the Marquis, she became a concubine. Qin's face darkened when she heard this: "You serve the Marquis wholeheartedly, so you have done nothing wrong. But I still want to remind you that the Marquis is very busy with official duties, so no matter which of you is called to serve, you must know the limits and not just save face for yourself and forget your own status."
"We will keep Madam's teachings in mind." The three concubines answered in unison.
The second and third concubines were very depressed. They were not the ones who had a night of passion with the Marquis, yet they had to be punished as well. It was outrageous!
Qin was too lazy to say more. The more she talked, the angrier she would get. It was not worth it to make herself angry, so she ignored the Fourth Aunt and called a few young ladies over with a smile. She asked about their diet, daily life and homework yesterday, and reminded them to take care of their health in the hot weather and not to seek coolness.
After questioning the young ladies, she took on the airs of a mother-in-law and lectured Zhao Jingping's concubine, telling everyone that tomorrow was the fifteenth day of the lunar month and they should not forget to pay their respects to the old lady. Then she asked her daughter and niece to stay for dinner on the pretext of setting up a meal and asked everyone else to leave.
The old lady is old and doesn't like noise. She only allows people to pay her respects on the first and fifteenth days of the month, and no one is allowed to disturb her at other times.
Xie Nanjia and the fourth aunt returned to Qingfengyuan, and all the way they were thinking about the possibility that Qin Wanru was the murderer.
Seeing that she had been silent, the Fourth Aunt thought that she was overwhelmed by the scene of the greetings today, so she said with a smile: "You have never seen the world, and you are frightened by just a few people. When you go to pay respects to the old lady tomorrow, everyone from the second and third rooms will come, and that will be a lively scene!"
Xie Nanjia said perfunctorily, "Yes, the Marquis's Mansion is really huge. There are more people than on our farm."
The fourth concubine taught her: "No matter how many people there are, there is only one person in charge. As long as we serve the Marquis well, we will not be afraid of more people."
Xie Nanjia was educated: "What Auntie said makes sense."
Back at Qingfeng Courtyard, the four maids and old women were still the same as before. Sumei was looking at herself in the mirror, admiring herself. The two old women were sitting with their hands in their sleeves, each lazier than the other. The only one who was working was Suju, who had prepared breakfast and was cleaning the yard.
The fourth concubine looked down on these people and said to Xie Nanjia, "Look, this is the person that Madam picked for me."
Xie Nanjia said: "The division of labor is still unclear. Once the division is completed, let them do their respective duties."
The fourth concubine said nonchalantly, "I'm hungry, let's eat first. The Marquis said he would arrange two useful people for me. It won't be too late to divide them after everyone arrives."
As soon as these words were spoken, the three people except Su Ju all panicked. They changed their previous indifferent attitude and rushed forward to show their courtesy to the Fourth Aunt, pushing Xie Nanjia away.
Xie Nanjia was too lazy to serve, so he asked Suju to go to the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks to set the table.
Su Ju followed her obediently.
Xie Nanjia asked, "When did you enter the palace, and where did you work before?"
Su Ju answered timidly, "I just came in last month. Before I came here, I was helping in the kitchen."
"Oh, no wonder you cook so well." Xie Nanjia said.
Su Ju was suddenly praised, her face turned red, and she said shyly, "Thank you, Sister Xiu'er, for the compliment."
Xie Nanjia laughed: "You call me sister, how old are you?"
Su Ju said, "I'm thirteen."
"Then you really have to call her sister." Xie Nanjia smiled and asked, "Have you ever heard of a maid named Luliu or Hualou in the mansion?"
Su Ju looked confused, thought for a long time, and shook her head: "I haven't heard of it."
Xie Nanjia was very disappointed and did not ask any more questions. She asked her to bring the food to the living room. She thought to herself, could it be that Lvliu and Hualou had gone back to the general's mansion
If this is true, she would rather find out the truth herself in a difficult way, and she hopes that they will be safe.
While the Fourth Aunt was having her meal, Su Mei was always by her side, serving her attentively. Her little mouth was as clever as a thrush, and she only said nice things.
The Fourth Aunt enjoyed it very much, and Xie Nanjia was also happy to have less worries, but the two old women rolled their eyes.
After breakfast, the second steward of the mansion brought over a maid and a stewardess, saying that the marquis had assigned them to the fourth concubine to serve.
As a result, Qingfengyuan and Xie Nanjia had four maids, a housekeeper, and two maids.
The small yard suddenly became lively.
The Fourth Aunt was pleased and looked up to the people sent by the Marquis, so she asked the new maids Yunxia and Xie Nanjia to serve her personally. Sumei had been trying to please them for the whole morning, but in the end she ended up being a cleaning maid like Suju. She was so angry that her mouth pouted.
Two old women were in charge of the kitchen work, and the new housekeeper became their leader.
The Fourth Aunt was afraid that Xie Nanjia would feel dissatisfied, so she told her privately that Madam Liu was the wife of the Second Steward, equivalent to Madam Cao beside Qin, and was also a reward from the Marquis, so it would not be easy to treat her badly.
Xie Nanjia didn't care. She had no ambitions in this small courtyard, so naturally she wouldn't care about who was superior or inferior. As long as she wasn't provoked or hindered, she would wish to have some free time so that she would have time to plan her own affairs.
The fourth concubine said again: "Su Mei is clever, but she is too cunning. I'm afraid she won't be content. You have to be careful in the future. When the Marquis comes, don't let Su Mei get close to him."
Xie Nanjia agreed to all of them, but in fact she didn't take them seriously at all. She knew the twists and turns in Fourth Aunt's mind better than anyone else. Anyone with a little bit of beauty was her imaginary enemy. Only someone like Su Ju could make her feel at ease.
But Suju was too honest and difficult to command, so she could only do the cleaning outside.
After arranging all this, Fourth Aunt said that she had eaten too much for breakfast and wanted to take a walk in the garden, so she asked Xie Nanjia and Yunxia to accompany her.
Xie Nanjia knew in her heart that she had not eaten too much, she was just looking for an excuse to show off.
Yunxia was new and wanted to show off in front of the Fourth Aunt, so she took the initiative to hold an umbrella for the Fourth Aunt to block the sun.
Xie Nanjia had nothing to do, so he just followed along.
It was midsummer, the garden was full of lush vegetation, colorful flowers, and pleasant scenery everywhere.
The three of them walked slowly along the stone-paved green path. Perhaps because the weather was too hot, they didn't meet anyone along the way.
The fourth concubine's desire to show off was not satisfied, which made her feel a little regretful.
I walked straight to the pavilion on the east side of the garden, and finally saw a few brightly dressed girls talking there.
The fourth aunt suddenly perked up and took the two of them over there.
Walking closer, she deliberately cleared her throat and said in a tender voice, "The scenery is so pleasant that I can't help but want to sing a few songs. You newcomers don't know that the Marquis likes to listen to my singing the most."
When the girls heard the sound, they all looked over here.
The beauty who was surrounded by people in the middle slightly raised the corners of her lips and revealed a sarcastic smile.
When Xie Nanjia saw her face, she was so shocked that she almost shouted out her name.
(End of this chapter)