I'm a humble concubine. My acting skills are off the charts. You can check my performance.

Zhao Fangyu's words made Zhao Fangjin amazed. He even wanted to open Zhao Fangyu's head to see what kind of idiot he was who didn't want the money that was given to him!

From childhood to adulthood, no one has ever been able to snatch anything from her. No matter how jealous the concubines were or how much they persuaded her, the eldest lady always kept the things given to her carefully and never let others touch them.

But on second thought, Zhao Fangjin could understand why Zhao Fangyu was not happy but worried.

Zhao Fangyu is not like Fangwei and Fanglan, who have a concubine to take care of him.

She was just a flower cut from the garden. How she grew up depended entirely on her mother's mood. She had no one to rely on, and there was not even someone who was truly willing to work for her.

That's why she tried to please the eldest lady in every way and didn't dare to compete for the first place.

Zhao Fangjin watched Zhao Fangyu go to Zhao Minshan's study, then turned back to talk to the eldest lady.

Unexpectedly, the eldest lady actually praised: "She is smart."

Zhao Fangjin nodded, indicating that he understood: "After all, I have no one to rely on, so I dare not show off."

The eldest lady shook her head and asked Zhao Fangjin to think about it again.

Zhao Fangjin thought for a moment and gradually understood.

"She returned the dowry because she didn't want the others in her family to resent her. After all, the dowry in her hands originally belonged to them. The more Fang Yu took, the more distressed they would feel.

Secondly, I was also afraid that among the dowry that my father moved, there would be things that he had prepared for me. I was afraid that if he moved my things, my mother would be unhappy.

Thirdly, if she really pleases Daddy, he will decide when the time comes and find her a disciple with a bright future. She will have a lot of flowers and be surrounded by flowers for the rest of her life. Because she is Daddy's disciple, she can also get a dowry from him and come home from time to time."

The eldest lady nodded, but did not stop.

Half a minute later, Zhao Fangjin still couldn't figure it out, so he took the initiative to beg for mercy from the eldest lady.

The eldest lady patted her hands to smell the scent of the incense, and reached out to hug Zhao Fangjin tightly: "My son, you just said that she is helpless, why don't you think that if she is liked by your father, your father will be her support?"

"She is smarter than Fangwei. Fangwei only knows how to be submissive. Compared with Fangyu, she is much inferior."

"Fang Wei is good at needlework, but think about Fang Yu? She can write beautifully, and is academically superior to Fang Lan. She has always been willing to work hard, and if she studies embroidery seriously, she may not be inferior to Fang Wei. She doesn't want to be an enemy of Fang Wei, and she has figured out how to make incense on her own. She often asks your second brother to buy incense materials, and then she becomes familiar with your second brother, giving him gifts in triplicate. All three brothers treat her well. She was born with an abacus in her head, and can calculate accounts faster than you, but she never shows it. She hides her shortcomings, but also reveals a just right edge."

"Unlike Fang Wei, who is completely harmless. She is much more useful than Fang Wei. Just the fact that your father took the initiative to say that he wanted to give her an additional dowry from his private room that day shows how he thinks of Fang Yu and the others."

"Your father never liked Fangyu's cowardly behavior. Now that she has become a good person, your father has finally remembered a little bit of the father-daughter relationship. Outsiders may think that your father values Fangyu so much that he gave her so much."

"In fact, it was just perfunctory. Once he gave me the gold and silver, he became the most loving father in the world."

The eldest lady patted Zhao Fangjin's arm gently, her eyes full of love.

"There was a set of black lacquer and mother-of-pearl furniture in her book. It was originally prepared by your father for you, but later I found a better one and said I would leave that one to Fang Wei. I didn't expect that it would be given to Fang Yu in the end."

The eldest lady and Mother Cui looked at each other, with some sigh in their eyes. A little girl of six or seven years old could calculate people's hearts step by step.

But even though they knew she was plotting, the First Lady and Mother Cui did not feel much disgust towards her.

"It's just my fate to meet an aunt like that. If I were a little dumber, I would have really died in that drowning."

Zhao Fangjin thought about it and realized that no matter what, in her mother's eyes, she would always be the best.

In fact, if you compare them carefully, Zhao Fangyu's talent may not be worse than hers, but she cannot and dare not perform better than a legitimate daughter, so she suppresses herself.

"Why bother? I'm not a hindrance. If I don't work hard myself, I won't allow others to work hard. Mother said that a family of people with the same spirit and energy should work together for the prosperity of the family."

"Let's not worry about other places for now, but we in Qingping Court must stick together to keep out the water and the oil and fire."

"Since our fourth sister is favored by our father, she has someone to rely on, and mother can worry less. It would be best if we could bring our father to our Qingping Courtyard, so that the people from Yuelanxuan don't have to show off every day."

The eldest lady smiled and gently tidied up the hair around Zhao Fangjin's ears: "You don't understand. At your mother's age, your father's condition is no longer important. You should also remember that a man, no matter how good he is, is only a human being."

"Everyone has desires. With desires, they want power. With power, they indulge themselves. No one remains unchanged, but the dowry is not. The dowry is yours, and no one can take it away. Your parents cannot keep you company for the rest of your life, but your dowry is the biggest confidence for you to marry into your husband's family in the future."

"So-called talent, whether it's needlework or poetry, is just icing on the cake. The most important things are power and money. Only when you get these two, you will get the real benefits."

"Look at Yuelanxuan and Pingboyuan. Have they ever come to my place to make trouble?"

"They don't dare. If they really piss me off, I'll just sell them off and it will be justified."

"The power of the backyard of the family belongs to me. Even your father cannot ignore my ideas and my unwillingness."

Zhao Fangjin nodded, and the mother and daughter took a nap in the main room peacefully. On the other side, Zhao Fangyu went to the outer courtyard with trepidation.

The scenery of the outer courtyard was completely different from that of the inner courtyard, but Zhao Fangyu had something on his mind and had no intention of seeing it.

There were many stewards outside the study. One or two of them were also startled when they saw Zhao Fangyu waiting outside the door, and they all came forward to pay their respects.

A middle-aged man in gray fine cloth clothes walked out of the crowd and led Zhao Fangyu to the tea room next to the study, asking Zhao Fangyu to wait.

"Just now, the fourth young lady sent someone to say that she wanted to thank the master. This was originally arranged, but something happened suddenly, so she called a few stewards over temporarily."

"My name is Zhao Sanhai. If you have anything to say, just call me. I'm just outside the door. Don't worry."

While Zhao Fangyu nodded, Zhao Shan had already brought the tea to her. It was the Longjing tea that she often drank in Qingping Courtyard, but it was much better than what she drank. It was clearer, and it filled her mouth with fragrance and had a long aftertaste, as if a faint orchid fragrance was flowing on her tongue.

Zhao Fangyu didn't wait long. The people outside spoke in low voices, so Zhao Fangyu didn't hear anything he shouldn't have heard.

When he entered, Zhao Minshan was wearing a brown uniform with bat and cloud patterns, leaning on the couch by the window reading a book. Zhao Fangyu lowered his head to encourage himself, then slowly walked to Zhao Minshan. Before he opened his mouth, he heard him ask:

"I heard that you want to return the things?"

Zhao Fangyu's body suddenly stiffened, her head drooped motionless, the expression in her eyes was unpredictable, but she regained her composure after a moment, and replied in a trembling manner: "Yes, my daughter wants to return the things to Dad."