Exploration

  The ladies all sat down, and the second lady smiled and said: "Old lady, the princess has brought gifts for you and your nephews and nieces from her trip to the south. Each of the masters of the various houses and courtyards has a share. The things from the sea are really novel and interesting! It's opened our eyes!"

  The old lady pointed at her with her finger and laughed: "Look at you, as if you've never seen anything before! What's so great that it's worth getting so excited about?"

  The second lady was smiling mischievously, "Well, I won't tell you, but I'm looking forward to seeing the old lady's good stuff, and it'll be a real eye-opener for me!"

  "Haha! I won't give you any even if it's good, just to make your mouth water!" The old lady chuckled and said with a smile.

  Third Aunt wore a crimson velvet jacket with embroidered pomegranate flowers, light red underskirt, and on her head, a gold hairpin with a ruby gemstone. A pair of gold earrings adorned her ears, and her nails were painted bright red. Her melon-seed-shaped face was quite attractive, except for the sharp nose that gave her an intimidating appearance. With a neutral tone, she sneered: "Oh my! Princess, you must have gained a lot from your trip to Guangdong! I heard the Western palace is magnificent and luxurious! Poor us, struggling at home! Let's wait for Big Brother to help us out!"

  Everyone felt embarrassed by these words. The fourth wife picked up her tea and sipped it slowly, as if the tea was a rare treasure, studying it with a focused expression.

  The second lady was also staring at the handkerchief in her hand, looking at the moon-white embroidered sea peach flowers on her blue satin jacket with a high collar, and she didn't say a word to the third lady's sarcastic remarks.

  Today, Hui Chang Gongzhu wore a pink embroidered with flowers and vines, small standing collar with sleeves, big red peony trimmed with lake-like rolling hair edge round collar jacket, dark cloud patterned skirt, only using one phoenix-shaped gold hairpin with sea-pineapple flower to fix her hair, a pair of gold-trimmed blue gemstone earrings, noble and elegant, with a beautiful bearing.

  He Hui Chang Gong Zhu gave Third Madame a faint glance, her gaze as sharp as a knife's edge, with a mocking smile at the corner of her lips. "Is it that you've earned quite a bit? That was brought back by Master using his wounds and blood, I'm keeping it for my son and daughter, how can Third Madame have an opinion about this?"

  In fact, when they came back, there were indeed several horse-drawn carriages loaded with large and small boxes. When they returned to Guangdong, they had made a lot of money and gave some to each house. They had a good relationship with the second house, so they picked out the most valuable things for them. As for the other houses, naturally, they got less. Besides, those were left for their children, it's not reasonable that we old folks work hard outside just to make it easier for you!

  Third Madame's face stiffened, recalling the princess's dignity, and she said with a pout: "I don't dare, I just said it like that!"

  The old lady said in a cold voice: "If you're not comfortable, you'd better go back home! It's early in the morning and everyone is uncomfortable, can't you find your place?"

  Her face also sank, this old three family is really a head can not be clear, at the beginning of their own is also confused, originally thought that the mother's house niece to do daughter-in-law can help with their own, but now it's not helping and instead causing trouble, thanks to the Buddha!

  One head is pointing at the princess to get a good job for Lao San, and the other head is with the princess, didn't you forget your brain when you went out early? It's really deadly!

  Yang Lan sat on one side, her eyebrows and eyes lowered to gaze at the satin embroidered shoes on her feet, adorned with pearl decorations the size of grains of rice, shining brightly.

  The second girl occasionally whispered a few words to Yang Lan, as if the sharp tongue on this side had nothing to do with them at all, apparently they were already used to it and could handle it with ease.

  After being disturbed by Third Madam, everyone chatted for a few sentences and joked with the old lady before letting her go back.

  Out of Song He Tang, Yang Lan smiled and said to several sisters: "Sisters have time to come to my courtyard to play, I will go back first!"

  Third Sister snorted, glared at Yang Lan with a bad temper, and didn't even bother to acknowledge her. She turned around and walked away, but as she spun around too quickly, she collided with the maid behind her. Without thinking, Third Sister raised her hand and slapped her, creating an extremely loud and jarring sound in the quiet morning courtyard.

  "Blind your dog's eyes! You useless thing! What's the use of you, stupid as a pig!" The third daughter's face turned bright red with anger.

  Her personal maid, Yin Hong, had a clear five-fingered mark on her face, and she hastily knelt down to beg for mercy, "Master spare my life, it was this slave's negligence, please forgive this slave just this once!"

  As she spoke, both hands went up at the same time, and with a loud slapping sound, her face immediately became red and swollen like a pig's head.

  Yin Hong, despite this, still had a look of panic in her eyes, not daring to spare any strength, and was beating herself up mercilessly, as if she had a vendetta against her own face, using all her might.

  Yang Lan raised an eyebrow, seemingly deep in thought, but didn't say a word. This was someone else's maid, and she shouldn't interfere. Besides, this third sister didn't like her, and if she went to plead on the maid's behalf, the maid's fate would only be worse!

  The three girls seemed to have dissipated some of their anger, and with a pleased expression, they swept a glance at Yang Lan, let out a cold snort, "Get up! Scram back to the house, don't let me see you! You're a total buzzkill!"

  After finishing speaking, Yang Lan pouted and glared at her, then lifted her foot to leave.

  He Hui Chang Gong Zhu watched all this, her face sinking like water. She turned to Zhen Yu Yin beside her and said: "It's also my negligence, the children have grown up, it's time to teach them rules. Our family's girls can't afford to make mistakes in etiquette. Starting tomorrow, all the girls will go to Si Xue Tang to learn etiquette. San Er, don't forget tomorrow! Be careful on your way back tonight, don't catch a cold again!"

  The three girls almost fell down, and even the face of the third aunt was a bit embarrassing. This is to teach them a lesson! Just now, I thought that if it didn't work out, I would let my daughter pretend to be ill. But this is good, even the opportunity to pretend to be ill has been blocked.

  The Second and Fourth Sisters bowed their heads in gratitude, "We understand! Thank you, Great Aunt!"

  Unlike the third sister's annoyed and embarrassed face, the second and fourth sisters were extremely happy, especially the fourth and fifth sisters. Their father was a concubine-born son who had never been favored by the old lady, almost like an invisible person. It was not easy for this branch to even ask for a nanny to teach them manners. Now that they could get a nanny from the side of the eldest princess to teach them rules and etiquette, in the future when they got married, no one would dare question their upbringing. This first point already had a guarantee, how could they not be happy?

  As long as there is a stable future ahead, what's the big deal about suffering? What's scary is that even if you want to suffer, there's no place for you to go!

  He Hui Chang Gong Zhu naturally saw the gratitude in the girls' eyes, nodded in satisfaction, and finally there were those who understood, taking Yang Lan with her as she left.