An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

The next morning, as usual, the whole family greeted each other in the hall and then went their separate ways.

Madam Zhaoyu took several of her servants to the farm and took away Aunt Shi and Aunt Xing. Sang Ling went to Yunyue Pavilion again, looked through two new volumes of accounts, and then planned to return to Wuyuan.

On a whim, I went to Jingyuan again.

The sun was shining brightly. Zhang leaned against the beauty chair in the front yard and caught a glimpse of Sang Ling at the gate of the garden. She stood up warmly and said, "I've been missing you for a few days."

"How's your study going?"

During this period of time, the whole family came to greet each other and chatted back and forth. Basically, everyone in the two mansions knew that Sang Ling, the second young master's wife, was learning how to keep accounts.

"I finally have some free time today, so I thought I'd come over and sit with you. Aunt Fourth, are you busy?" Sang Ling pulled casually.

"When have I ever been busy?" Zhang had already taken her hand and walked into the house, smiling and saying, "Shall we continue the game we left behind last month today?"

If we talk about the smiling but treacherous people in the mansion, the second aunt is probably ranked behind the fourth aunt. If we hadn't learned the story behind the "poisoning case" from Nie Ce, who would have known that the person behind the scenes would be Zhang?

And there is her lover Nie Guang.

Forget about the eldest son of the West Mansion. Anyway, the two sides are not that close. In the past, they didn't interact much unless they greeted each other good morning.

But this Zhang family is really well hidden.

The two chatted casually for a few words and spent the whole day on the play. Sang Ling was different from the past. Later, Zhang wanted to invite her to dinner as a courtesy, and she accepted.

He took Cheng Ai and Zong Xiang and stayed in Jingyuan without coming out.

Zhang had done a good job of keeping a straight face, without showing any sign of abnormality. She took her to the main hall halfway through the trip, and they chatted about the news in the capital.

After dinner, the two of them went back to the side room to continue playing Ge Go. After each of them won a few rounds, it was getting dark and Sang Ling still had no intention of getting up. Only then did Zhang's smile fade away a little.

At the end of the afternoon, Fourth Uncle came back and came over to greet him politely. Zhang Shi took the opportunity to say a few words of groaning.

This meant that they were going to drive the guests away. Sang Ling then smiled and said, "Today is finally a good day, Fourth Aunt, let's have another good fight later."

The ultimate purpose of staying here was to wait for that servant.

"Okay." Zhang was just hoping that she would leave quickly.

Who would have thought that Sang Ling could stay so long today?

So the two of them looked at each other across the chess table, and bowed to each other with their own thoughts hidden.

The one-day gathering ended like this.

When Sang Ling returned to Wuyuan, two figures were already waiting at the end of the main hallway. Cheng Lao understood and quickly dismissed the remaining servants in the courtyard.

By the time Sang Ling knelt down in the house, Zong Xiang had already skillfully served him honey water, and the two people on the corridor entered the house one after another.

The one leading the group was Wei Chu, and the one following behind was A Zeng.

"In reply to Young Madam, we have found out that the man is called... Wang Xun."

After employing people for several days in a row, the attitude of this family's son became a little more generous than before.

"Did you hear anything else?" Sang Ling asked.

After all, I live in the third courtyard, so it shouldn't be too difficult for me to find out some other news.

"Yes, but I'm not sure—" Ah Zeng replied, "This man doesn't interact much with the people in the side courtyard. Brother Yin said that he was sent here two months ago. He was in the West Palace before. I heard that he worked in Ruyi Pavilion. Later, he followed the carpenter to learn for a few days. Although he lives in the East Palace now, he often goes back to the West Palace."

Sang Ling also knew this Brother Yin. He was Ah Zeng's roommate after he moved into the side courtyard. Cheng Auntie had said to him before: He is a kind-hearted person. Wait and see. Maybe he can be recruited to work for them in the future.

So he lowered his eyes and thought for a while, and recalled what Zhang had said before - a servant from the West Palace, running between the two palaces, with no fixed place to stay.

It is true that there is chaos in the use of personnel here.

After she thought about it, she waved to Ah Zeng to leave, but the people in the hall did not move for a long time. She looked over and saw the child silently touching his cheek.

The room was quiet for a moment, and Cheng Mu also cast a curious look over.

"What's wrong?" Sang Ling asked. When someone outside came in, he would reply, "The Marquis is back."

The meeting in the main house thus ended.

*

Before winter comes, Nie Ce will make a trip to Ping County. He did not reveal what he was going to do there, nor did he know how long he would be gone.

Since he didn't say anything, Sang Ling naturally wouldn't ask any more questions.

Nowadays, most of his official business is sudden, and he often only notifies her that he is going out when the time comes, so she was too lazy to ask more questions.

He left the next day. When Sang Ling woke up, Cheng Lao was lighting an oil lamp in the corner and recounting the scene when Nie Ce left. The general idea was that he was a marquis, and in order not to wake up his wife, he moved very tiptoe. How could he look like the usual majestic general with a breeze in his steps?

Sang Ling was not fully awake yet. He listened to the old woman's implicit praise with an expressionless face, but he did not feel very happy about it.

This is really a normal thing.

It is also in this era that a man's simple action can easily be labeled as sacred, making him seem very condescending, and taking care of a woman's little thing is like a huge injustice.

In fact, his wife was not awake yet, so he should have been more careful and moved more gently.

Just like Nie Ce had not woken up yet, Sang Ling would naturally slow down his movements.

When Old Madam Cheng finished her long-winded talk, it was already light outside. Two or three servants came in to tidy up, and the maid brought the morning toiletries. When Sang Ling got up to put on his clothes, he heard Old Madam Cheng talking about Yunyue Pavilion again.

"Mrs. Fang said that the eldest lady has chosen another family for Shen Huajun."

"This time, the Fu family is also in Beijing. They are not a very prominent family. They only have some relatives who are minor officials. Fu Jialang himself does business in the Jingzhao area and his family is very wealthy. After the niece of the Shen family marries him, she will not be able to escape a life of wealth and glory."

Sang Ling listened silently and nodded.

I just don't know how Second Aunt will get away with this matter this time.

But putting aside these individual family matters, she herself was still busy. She spent most of her time in Yunyue Pavilion during the day, and occasionally went back to Wuyuan to listen to Cheng's report: how many people they had found in each courtyard, and how many people they could subdue.

A few days passed by in a flash. When you are busy, the time always goes by quickly.

Old Mother Cheng has always been well-informed. Even though she follows Sang Ling around, she still has the news of the two governments at her fingertips.

"Someone from the Fu family came yesterday." She put down her needlework and started gossiping, "I heard that they went directly to the Hall of Justice to talk. The second wife and the niece of the Shen family also went there and stayed there for a while."

"It seems like this matter has been settled."

Sang Ling couldn't help but tease, "Oh? Second Aunt agreed this time?"

The son of the previous governor Luo's family was able to withdraw, so this time a mere merchant would give in? This is not like the Shen family's style of doing things.

The candlelight in front of the hall flickered. Cheng Lao lowered her eyebrows and smiled, then leaned over to explain, "It was Grandpa who approved it. How can the West Mansion refute what the old man has decided?"

It's no wonder that the head of the family is the one who insists on doing it. Not to mention Shen's opinion, I guess even the second uncle will have to step in, and it will be even harder for these women to say anything - Sang Ling then smiled and just nodded.

She had long understood the matter of Shen Huajun getting married, so she just let Shen and Madam Zhaoyu, the two sisters-in-law, fight among themselves.