With tens of thousands of taels of head noodles and six jars of good wine of a thousand taels, that’s 16,000 taels of silver. Remembering the 15,000 taels she had brought with her, Grandma Song’s smile fell.
When Meng looked at her, she knew that she did not have that much silver and felt even more sorry for her daughter, who had suffered so much over the years.
She gave a wink to Sister Wu, who understood, turned and went out, but a moment later brought in 20,000 taels of silver and gave them to Meng, who got up and handed them to Grandma Song herself, “Mother, take these silver cheques and use them first.
“No, no need.”
She still had the 50,000 taels that Master Gu had given to Gu Yi, which she had wanted to give to Gu Yi when she arrived that day, but Gu Yi had said that she didn’t need it, so she had kept it with her.
Meng insisted on giving it.
Xu smiled and persuaded, “Mother should take the silver cheque back, we really have it.”
Meng glared at her, blaming her for still being polite with her own mother.
“Yes, we really have it, the family is running several businesses now, we have quite a lot of money coming in every month, we don’t need any more silver now.”
Meng’s heart throbbed with pain, her daughter had grown up in gold and gold clothes, she should have stayed that way, but she had been sent to the countryside for so many years.
“Consider it a token of my appreciation.”
Meng still insisted on giving the silver cheque to Grandma Song and held down her hand to prevent her from returning it, “If you don’t want it, give it to Yue’er, just consider it as her pocket money.”
“Alright then.”
Seeing that Meng was sincere, Grandma Song didn’t push her luck any further, “I’ll take it for Yue’er and give it to her later.”
Only then did Meng feel relieved and sat back down, thinking for a moment before opening her mouth, “My in-laws’ mother, can you give me a message for my aunt, asking him to come to the capital?”
She had asked Wan’er, saying that Song Lin could not come for a while because the family business needed someone to look after it, but she was eager to see what kind of person her aunt, whom she had not met for many years, really was.
Xu opened her mouth, and when the Second Lady saw that and gently patted her hand, Xu had to swallow her words back.
“I’m planning to do the same, I’ll have someone send a message when I get back later, he’ll be here in seven or eight days.”
Grandma Song said.
“Thank you very much, in-laws’ mother.”
……
At noon, the Xu family hosted a feast, and as long as they were underlings of the family, whether they were maids, servants, mothers or janitors, they were all allowed to sit down and eat, and the old man was even happy to reward each of them with two taels of silver.
The servants were so happy that they walked with the wind in their sails.
The entire Xu household was in a state of joy, except for Mr. Big and Huo’s house, which was silent.
Knowing that Xu Qingyuan had not regained her memory, Huo’s heart settled down, treating it as a hilarious event at an outsider’s house. She personally cooked some of Mr. Big’s favourite dishes for him.
Mr. Big also ignored it and let his subordinates speculate, eating with aplomb and praising him every now and then.
Just as the two of them were eating happily, the servant came to report, “Master, Madam, Young Master Wen is here.”
Huo put down her chopsticks, “Let him in.”
The servant wanted to say something, but then Huo remembered that Meng was now in charge of the house. Meng had given an order long ago not to allow Wen Zhong to come in.
Huo didn’t get annoyed and let Mr. Big eat first. She went to meet Wen Zhong at the entrance of the house and didn’t avoid suspicion, just stood there at the entrance of the house for people coming and going to see.
“Mother ……”
Wen Zhong had an urgent look on his face, Huo shook her head slightly at him and deliberately raised her voice, “Since sister won’t let you come to the door, you shouldn’t come in the future, just have the underlings come over and say if there’s anything.”
After saying that, to the watchman, he quickly said four words with only his mouth open without making a sound, “There is no recovery.”
Wen Zhong read and understood, his eager and restless heart instantly settled down, and also raised his voice, “If I don’t come over for such a big happy event in Xu House, I would be out of etiquette, since the First Lady doesn’t like it, I won’t go in, and I also ask Mother to help me say happy to the First Lady.”
Huo nodded, and Wen Zhong turned to leave.
The bustle at the Xu residence continued until the end of the day, when the First Lady’s body could not hold out any longer and she went to her room to rest, while Xu Qingwan and Song Wangyue saw Grandma Song and Song Si out.
Xu repeatedly instructed, “Mother, take your time on the road.”
“Don’t worry, you are stepping down to accompany your mother, no need to worry about us.”
Grandma Song finished with a smile and got into the carriage, waiting for the carriage to go a long way out, the smile on her face fell and she let out a long sigh.
“Grandma is worried that eldest uncle will panic when he finds out, right?”
Grandma Song nodded and shook her head, today she had seen what she understood at the Xu residence, even the underlings in the Xu family carried a bit of bookishness, both in terms of etiquette and rules, better than them country folk, not to mention Meng and the old man. She felt inferior even this day, let alone Song Lin, who was afraid that even when he walked into the house, he would shiver in his heart.
“With Eldest Aunt here, Eldest Uncle won’t think anything of it even if he comes.”
Grandma Song sighed again, “Let’s hope so.”
The two of them had just arrived at the doorstep of the house when Liu Cui Lan and Song Shu greeted them from the courtyard, the two of them had come out several times to look and had been worried as they had not seen Grandma Song’s figure.
Gu Yi followed them out, and when he didn’t see Song Wan Yue’s figure, he knew that she had stayed at the Xu home and silently withdrew his gaze.
“Mother, how is the Xu residence?”
After entering the house and sitting down, Liu Cui Lan asked curiously.
Song Shu also pricked up his ears, he had only been to that old man Zhang’s house to deliver spicy hotpot in his life, the first time he saw a rich man’s mansion, the Xu family was a great Confucian family, it must be even more grand than the Zhang family.
Grandma Song described it to them, and the two of them listened with amazement, imagining what the mansion would look like.
Gu Yi returned to the house and sat at the table, tapping his fingers on the tabletop, “Order it down, we’re going out for the night.”
Xiao Si answered.
……
At night, as Granny Song and the others fell into sleep, Gu Yi, dressed in black, came out of the house and swept off in the direction of King Qin’s residence with Xiao Si and the four servants, who were also dressed in black.
The last time they had alerted the snake, they had caught the Emperor’s attention and sent Lord Ding to investigate the matter. Knowing that it was him, Lord Ding did not investigate Avray, but made a show of placing people around the Qinwang Mansion.
This time Gu Yi and his men did not go through the main gate, but leapt in through the side wall and headed straight for the overgrown main courtyard.
The weeds in the main courtyard were taller than a man.
The four boys cut the weeds at the entrance of the main courtyard and took out the prepared burning paper and lit it.
Outside King Qin’s Mansion.
Two soldiers with lanterns yawned as they walked towards the Qinwang Mansion from a short distance away. They changed shifts every hour and were woken up while they were sleeping, complaining.
One of them said, “It’s been so long, and we haven’t even seen a hair on the ground.
The other one yawned and was about to reply to him when he suddenly grabbed his hand, “Listen, is there a cry?”