An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

Sang Ling calmly returned to Marquis Mu Wu's mansion and first asked Wei Chu to inquire about Madam Zhao Yu's current whereabouts. After getting a reply, he went straight to the Hall of Right and Wrong.

Master Nie and Madam Zhaoyu were both there, and there was a stranger answering the conversation. Judging from his clothes, he should be from the palace. She waited by the door and listened along.

"Grandpa and Madam, don't worry too much. The Marquis led a group of soldiers into the mountains to scout out the enemy. Panyu is full of mountains and hills. In addition, it's been hot recently. They are probably trapped in the forest. It's not necessarily..." He knew to avoid prophecy, so he didn't say the word "death". He just said, "The soldiers who followed have already entered the mountains."

"Thank you, Minister." After Master Nie finished speaking, the man stepped out. Seeing Sang Ling at the door, he seemed to recognize her. He nodded and said, "Hello, Madam Marquis." Sang Ling responded silently.

The conversation outside was heard in the room. Madam Zhaoyu looked over and called her. Sang Ling went in to talk without hesitation.

It was impossible for the whole family to feel completely at ease. Everyone's brows were gloomy, and the atmosphere in the room was so depressing that even the servants did not dare to move around easily.

"This kind of news has been received by our family before."

After Grandpa Nie finished speaking, there was silence. Madam Zhaoyu understood what was going on. Sang Ling glanced around, and although no one explained it to her, she guessed something. The "news" that the old man mentioned - it should be the years when Nie Ce was in the northwest. The most famous thing was that he saved the prefect of Zhangye. Outsiders only heard the result, and it should have been quite difficult and dangerous at that time - it is possible that the Nie family had already received a letter saying that his life or death was uncertain.

"Dad, you haven't had dinner yet, go and have a bite." Madam Zhaoyu did not continue his words.

Although the old man still looked solemn, he nodded and went to the back room after sitting for a while. Madam Zhaoyu raised her hand to call the servants to serve, and then looked at Sang Ling, "My wife should go back and wait for news. There is no need to worry too much."

Otherwise, they would not be able to do anything in Chang'an, thousands of miles away, and it would be impossible for them to extend a long hand to help Nie Ce.

Sang Ling kept thinking as he walked back from the Right and Wrong Hall to the Noon Garden, and he kept thinking from day till night.

The copper lamp was filled with a few spoonfuls of oil until midnight, when Old Madam Cheng came over to urge, "It's the second watch, Madam, please go to bed."

She was actually very sleepy, but she was afraid to fall asleep in case she received any more news.

"Mrs. Cheng, you said he had been out before, but it's only been a short time since he left. How come he just..."

Old Mother Cheng couldn't answer either. She just didn't understand what was going on here anymore. She lowered her head and thought for a long time, but still didn't know what to say.

Sang Ling had a feeling that he would not die. After all, he was just lost in the woods. Who knows, one day he might get news that he had been found... Thinking about this, he became so tired that he fell asleep.

The next day, she opened her eyes at dawn. Yan Yao and Xiao Yuan Xing had not arrived yet. The bedroom was so quiet that she could only listen to her own heartbeat. She turned her head and saw the poplar shadow blade that he often took out to show off was on the dagger rack beside the couch. She didn't know how long she had been looking at it until someone came into the room.

Yan Yao opened the window and lit mosquito repellent incense. Xiao Yuanxing prepared a copper basin and a handkerchief beside her. They thought that she was still asleep in the tent. Both of them moved very quietly. After a while, Cheng Lao came over. She gave the two children some instructions, held her hands and waited in the side room for a while. Then she walked over and gently lifted the gauze curtain. "Is the young lady awake?"

"I woke up early, but I just didn't want to get up." Her tone was full of fatigue, but she had a nightmare all night.

But when I opened my eyes, I couldn't remember what I dreamed about.

"The Madam called you over to talk. She said there's no rush. After breakfast, accompany the young lady. You can go when you're free, or you can go in the afternoon."

Sang Ling is not allowed to interfere in any family affairs now, so what is the point of not having time? This is the first time that Madam Zhaoyu has been so polite when she called her over. She got up from the couch, smoothed her hair and said, "Go after you've packed up."

Even if Madam Zhaoyu didn't call her over today, she would find a way to get out. She couldn't stay in Wuyuan. When she looked up, she would see that guy's things everywhere.

If this was an information age, she might not torture herself like this - just holding her phone to check the wartime dynamics. But now the news is too slow to transmit, the war report must be delivered to the palace first, and then passed to the mansion by the palace servants - sitting there is too easy to think too much, it is better to go out for a walk.

Madam Zhaoyu asked her to go over today to reconcile the accounts.

Since she took back the reins of the Shen family, she had a bunch of bad and wrong accounts to settle out of nowhere. Madam Zhaoyu also lost Xing Yu under her command. In addition, yesterday's news gave her a headache. She was bedridden again not long after she got up this morning.

Therefore, this matter has to be entrusted to Sang Ling to sort out.

After Fang Madam explained what she wanted to say to the eldest lady, she went back.

Sang Ling and Zong Xiang also reached a tacit understanding on this matter. They nodded slightly and started working silently. It was still Mother Cheng who kept muttering, "Grandpa doesn't allow us to interfere in household affairs. He will come back to find us."

Sang Ling now believes that more and more. The eighty-year-old grandmother chants Buddhist scriptures and keeps nagging. It seems that Old Lady Cheng has only started to do this in the past two years. When she was in the Gao family, she rarely complained.

I couldn't help but ask, "How old is Cheng this year?"

"Sixty-eight."

After the other party answered, Sang Ling forgot his anxiety for a moment, spread out the bamboo slips and laughed, "No wonder you like to talk so much."

Only then did Cheng Lao react, "Young Madam is talking about this old slave."

"how come?"

Zong Xiang and Wei Chu also laughed quietly. Wei Chu was grinding ink, Zong Xiang handed the pen to Sang Ling first, and when Old Mother Cheng saw that they were busy, she stopped talking.

The bamboo scrolls on the desk have been piled up into a small mountain. I don't know how the West Mansion got into such a mess. It's only been a short time since he took over the family, but it's already become such a mess.

Half a minute later, Aunt Shi brought several accountants from the mansion to help. It took them until the evening to sort out all these things. They would have to go to the manor the next day or the day after tomorrow to let the young lady Sang Ling show herself in front of the manor owners.

The deeper meaning behind this was actually already explained by Madam Zhaoyu a long time ago - the power to manage the family will gradually be handed over to Sang Ling.

Originally, there was Nie Chengyong who could help take care of it, but now he has to recuperate. The work here is really not easy, and it needs to be done by someone younger and more energetic.

Who else could this person be other than Sang Ling, her only daughter-in-law?

Now, due to the concerns of the Right and Wrong Hall, the handover is not being carried out openly and in a high-profile manner.

Madam Zhaoyu's consideration was to let her do it first.

But the mother-in-law didn't say it clearly, so how could Sang Ling, the daughter-in-law, know it?

She really thought that Madam Zhaoyu was suffering from the sequelae of the epidemic and asked her to help temporarily.

It was a long time later that I fully understood my mother-in-law's intentions.