Chapter 59

◎“Are you secretly in love with the young lady’s concubine?”◎

I heard that Miss is born with a fierce and menacing appearance. Some people say that she is a burly woman with broad shoulders and a thick waist. She was also a dissolute playboy in her youth. I suppose she was also a dissolute person. When Xue Lingyu heard Xin Yan say this, she subconsciously wanted to refuse.

He disliked women like Miss, and was even more afraid of dealing with her.

Seeing Xue Lingyu's reluctant expression, Xinyan patted his hand and teased him, "I was just saying."

Xin Yan carefully examined Xue Lingyu's face. Her skin was indeed like cream, her lips were red and her teeth were white, and her complexion was like a flower in spring. Her slender fingers holding the needle and thread were as delicate as scallions. Just by teasing her with a few words, she was like a little rabbit that had gotten angry. She was extremely cute.

Xue Lingyu, focused on the silver, concentrated all his attention on embroidering the wedding dress. His movements were both smooth and pleasing to the eye, and his lowered eyes were extremely serious. Xin Yan couldn't help but sigh, "Your hands are so skillful and fast. It seems you'll finish embroidering it in a few days."

The Jiang family was granted the title of third-rank nobleman, and all the plaques and other decorations at the entrance had to be renovated. The Emperor himself even wrote an inscription for the Jiang family, a unique honor among the prominent families in the capital, which greatly enhanced the Jiang family's prestige.

The Jiang family's title was allowed to be passed down from generation to generation. The next Duke of Qingping was Jiang He. Her descendants were born into the ducal family and no longer had to suffer the scorn and exclusion from noble families.

Nowadays, it's no exaggeration to say that the line of people in the capital who want to curry favor with Jiang He could stretch all the way to the city walls.

The threshold of the Jiang family was almost worn down by the constant stream of gifts. For several days in a row, no matter the status of the gift-giver, Jiang He accepted them all and ordered his servants to register them. Afterwards, he secretly presented the gifts, along with a memorial, to the Emperor.

Yuange brought in some sweet soup. Through the curtain, she could see Jiang He practicing calligraphy at her desk. She placed the sweet soup on the desk and stepped aside, saying, "Miss, the noble lady has woken up. His Majesty has specially granted permission for the lord to stay until the princess and prince are one month old before leaving the palace."

"I remember that the herbal medicine shop in the business recently received a lot of new tonics. Pick out some of the good ones and send them to the palace." In addition, Jiang He had already ordered the gold shop to make a pair of auspicious peace locks in advance to give to her newborn niece and nephew.

Nowadays, the Jiang family no longer needs to deliberately conceal their gold and silver possessions.

Jiang He held the brush and slowly wrote a silver character on the rice paper.

Her calligraphy is now vigorous and powerful, with the strokes subtly conveying the agility and grandeur of an eagle. Her style is magnificent and imposing, clearly indicating that she is no ordinary person.

Seeing Jiang He put down her pen, Yuan Ge stared at the words she had written thoughtfully and said, "Miss, Young Master Xue has been staying in his room lately and hasn't stepped out of the door even once."

Miss ordered her to secretly keep an eye on Young Master Xue, without letting him notice anything suspicious. However, Young Master Xue hadn't gone out recently, and even his meals were delivered by Xinyan, who was close to him. Yuange couldn't go inside herself, so she could only send someone to keep watch outside the house.

Yuange hesitated for a moment before saying, "Miss, there is something else I'm not sure if I should say."

Jiang He gestured for her to continue.

"I found out that among those who entered the manor with Young Master Xue, almost none of them were willing to take the initiative to contact him. Moreover, they secretly ganged up on him. For example, that Qiu Yu is the most cunning and shrewish, and she once spoke rudely to Young Master Xue."

Yuan Ge spoke softer and softer. You must know that Young Master Xue is the apple of Miss's eye. Now that he has been bullied by these people, Miss will definitely be unhappy.

Before Jiang He could even put her pen down, she slammed it onto the table upon hearing this, leaving a long ink stain on the Xuan paper. She frowned and said, "What kind of work are the people below doing? How could they buy such a wicked servant?"

She managed to control her temper somewhat and didn't get angry on the spot, but she was still quite upset.

Yuan Ge immediately understood Jiang He's meaning and lowered her head, saying, "This servant will go and give Steward Qiao a good talking-to, and tell him to properly discipline this unruly servant."

Manager Qiao never expected that just as he was getting rid of a plague and preparing to recover from his injuries, he would bring about another great disaster because of the purchase of those rough servants.

The young lady sent her most capable maid, Yuange, which made Manager Qiao treat her with great respect, and he became even more curious about Chunyu's identity and background.

Miss, could it be that you have really taken a fancy to Chunyu and want to take her as a concubine?

Manager Qiao had countless guesses in his mind, but unfortunately, he couldn't confirm them.

After being deliberately reprimanded by Yuan Ge, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and sent someone to fetch Qiu Yu.

Qiu Yu thought that Manager Qiao wanted to give him a more relaxed job because he had been working efficiently these past few days, but as soon as he arrived, he was startled by Manager Qiao's dark face.

Sitting next to Manager Qiao was a presentable and capable woman. Before Qiu Yu could guess who she was, Manager Qiao ordered her to kneel down.

With Yuange supervising from the side, Manager Qiao dared not be careless. In just a few words, he made Qiuyu tremble with fear: "You don't work hard. You do these sly and cheating things all day long. You can't even control your mouth and gossip. Our outer courtyard is too small to accommodate a Buddha like you."

Qiu Yu was so frightened by this series of accusations that he was speechless. Although he was a farmer's son, he was also pampered by his parents. If his sister hadn't been addicted to gambling and squandered the family fortune, he wouldn't have had to sell himself into the Jiang family and would never have been spoken to like this before!

Because Jiang He instructed that no trace of interference should be left in the open, Yuan Ge had been observing Manager Qiao's punishment of Qiu Yu.

Actually, Manager Qiao was too kind-hearted. Qiu Yu not only stirred up trouble, but also discussed the affairs of Liushui Xiaozhu and the main courtyard in private. He even felt that Xin Yan had taken his position so that she could enter the main courtyard to serve the master.

Such a wicked servant is not worthy of sympathy. The singer has other things to attend to, so she will not waste her time on this.

Even though Yuange wasn't present, and no matter how much Qiuyu pleaded, Steward Qiao showed no mercy. Leaning on his cane, he shook off Qiuyu's hand and said coldly:

“You have offended the wrong person, and you have offended Miss Jiang. You can no longer stay in the Jiang family mansion.”

Manager Qiao, limping, walked faster than the wind.

Qiu Yu collapsed to the ground, utterly despondent. He couldn't understand who he had offended.

Xue Lingyu stayed up for several nights and finally finished embroidering the wedding dress perfectly. The completion of the task meant that his money would be back soon. With this thought, Xue Lingyu felt that the soreness in his back was nothing.

His craftsmanship is undoubtedly superb. Fang Xiulang even said that if he were to open his own embroidery workshop, he would definitely make a fortune.

Xue Lingyu carefully folded the wedding dress and put it in the package, afraid that if it was even slightly damaged, the female manager of Liushui Xiaozhu would refuse to pay, and his money would be wasted.

Xue Lingyu entered Liushui Xiaozhu as she had the previous two times, and found Jiang He's room by instinct, where she saw Jiang He doing accounts.

Jiang He was checking a general ledger that had just been delivered today. The ledgers were piled up like a small mountain, and Xue Lingyu could only see her head.

The abacus rattled incessantly, but Jiang He remained calm and composed, clearly used to it. When she heard footsteps coming from the doorway, she stopped as if in response and looked up at Xue Lingyu, whose face was filled with astonishment.

Xue Lingyu remembered that she had never seen anyone do accounting before, and she never knew that someone could be so at ease in such a situation. When that hand was manipulating the abacus, it made a sound like beads falling on a jade plate, which was extremely pleasant to the ear.

Xue Lingyu snapped out of her daze, remembered the purpose of her visit, and immediately jogged over to Jiang He.

He stuffed the wedding dress into his cotton-padded coat, and when he took it out, it was still warm from his body. His eyes were as bright as a newborn fawn's. "Here, I've finished embroidering it. You can't go back on your word."

Jiang He looked at him for a while, then used the hand that had just been doing the accounting to take the wedding dress.

It doesn't really matter whether the embroidery is good or not. Xue Lingyu had been preparing this wedding dress since she was a young lady, so that she could dress up in her finest attire on her wedding day and marry the ideal husband she had in her heart.

Concubines are not allowed to wear bright red, so this wedding dress was Xue Lingyu's last wish. When Jiang He saw him secretly embroidering it, she wanted to fulfill his wish.

Although she had taken a concubine, the only husband in her heart who could be her equal was Xue Lingyu.

Jiang He looked at Xue Lingyu's face and fell into memories.

If Xue Lingyu could listen to her explanation and understand her unspoken difficulties, that would be good.

Xue Lingyu waited for a while, just as he was about to happily get his money back, when Jiang He suddenly stopped moving. He mistakenly thought that Jiang He was going to renege on the debt, and his expression immediately changed.

He opened his palm and asked Jiang He with a matter-of-fact air, "Silver!"

Jiang He snapped out of her daze and deftly took out some silver from her pocket, placing it in Xue Lingyu's palm.

Xue Lingyu was initially all smiles, but after carefully examining the silver, she immediately looked miserable, "This isn't the silver I lost."

Xue Lingyu hurriedly explained, "My silver was given to me by a kind lady. It has a special mark on the bottom, and I still remember the pattern on it. This is not my silver!"

He spoke so eloquently that Jiang He couldn't even guarantee she could remember the pattern on the silver.

Jiang He smiled helplessly and took out another silver ingot. Xue Lingyu immediately recognized it: "This is my silver!"

He quickly stuffed the silver into his pocket, afraid of losing it again.

She never expected that the silver she casually tossed aside that night would be so treasured by Xue Lingyu. If she had known that the person was Xue Lingyu, she could have brought him back sooner. With her large family and wealth, Xue Lingyu wouldn't have needed to be so fixated on those few taels of silver. Even if he wanted a mountain of silver, she could find a way to get it.

Jiang He felt a pang of bitterness in her heart, but pretended to be relaxed, asking knowingly, "What kind of young lady would give you money for no reason?"

“Of course she’s a good person. If it weren’t for the money she gave me, I might have starved to death. She’s my savior.” Although he didn’t hear his savior’s voice, he remembered the carriage. If he had the chance to meet it, he would definitely recognize it.

Seeing his innocent and charming appearance, Jiang He couldn't help but smile and murmured, "Save my life, should I repay it with my body?"

Her voice was very soft, and Xue Lingyu didn't hear it. Instead, she took the initiative to ask her, "I want to ask you a question."

Jiang He rested her chin on her hand and said readily, "Go ahead and ask."

Xue Lingyu looked around for a moment, then leaned closer to her and whispered mysteriously, "Do you secretly like Miss's concubine?"

After he returned home, he confirmed many times that the name she called out to him that day was Xue Lingyu.

Could it be that she mistook him for the young lady's beloved concubine and wanted to ease her longing?

He seems to have discovered a shocking secret.

A note from the author:

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 21:00:03 on February 9, 2022 and 23:58:08 on February 10, 2022!

Thank you to the little angels who watered with nutrient solution: Yiheng (10 bottles); 6 bottles; 53046302 (3 bottles); and Bucai (2 bottles);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!

◎Latest Comments:

Hahahaha, so cute!

Is she already pregnant?

Hahahaha

Hahaha, so cute!

[It's already chapter 60, why is the plot different from the synopsis? Is he pregnant and running away?]

[I'm dying of laughter!!! Doesn't this sound like you secretly like me?! ...

[Xiao Xue is so sweet after losing her memory]

[Waaaaah, author, I was literally crying and laughing at the same time. I was listening to some sad songs in the middle of the night, and tears were streaming down my face. Then I saw your update and started laughing. I was acting like a complete idiot, crying and grinning at the same time.]

There's an even more shocking secret, do you want to hear it?

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