Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

"Mother will definitely take you back to the Shen Mansion." Xiangxue said firmly.

"But I don't want to go back to the Shen Mansion." Shen Jingwan was a little impatient. She didn't know why her mother was so obsessed with returning to the Shen Mansion. What she said before about returning to the Shen Mansion to be a concubine was understandable. After all, her mother came from a humble background, and having the opportunity to be a concubine in a big family was a huge fortune. But now she would rather be a concubine than return to the Shen Mansion, which was something she couldn't understand.

According to her understanding, the status of concubines in the Yong Dynasty was very low, sometimes even lower than the well-known maids around the mistress. Moreover, once you became a concubine, there would be no possibility of being promoted to the main wife in this life.

"Why don't you want to go back to the Shen Mansion? You'll be eleven soon, and in a few years you'll be old enough to get married. The in-laws you can find in the Shen Mansion are completely different from those in Ganhua Hutong."

"But if I go back to the Shen Mansion, I will just be a concubine's daughter. How can I talk about a good in-law family?" Shen Jingwan stomped her feet and said.

"What's wrong with being a concubine's daughter? Isn't Qin Qimei also a concubine's daughter? She still married your father as his wife." Xiangxue said indifferently.

But Xiangxue had never thought that even though Qin Qimei was a concubine's daughter and a concubine's daughter of the Duke's Mansion, she married the incompetent third son of the Duke's uncle's mansion. Even with such a marriage, she was still despised by her in-laws, while the legitimate daughter of the Duke's Mansion married into the palace and became an imperial concubine.

It can be seen how big the difference can be between the marriage of a legitimate daughter and a concubine's daughter.

"Mom, but I don't want to get married anyway. How about we find a place far away from the capital and live on our own?"

"Don't want to get married? Do you want me to be stabbed to death in the back or drowned in your spit? Live away from the capital? How can we live away from the capital? We are now living on the silver your father sends every month. If you leave like this, you can't even pay Fuzi's monthly allowance. Now that Mrs. Liu is dead, do you want me to do the laundry and cooking?" Xiangxue exploded with anger when she heard Shen Jingwan asking her to stay away from the capital. Even returning to the Shen Mansion as a concubine would be a thousand times better than suffering outside.

"Why can't I live? Since I can earn five taels of silver every month from Wanbaoxuan, I can earn more money from other places. I have a lot of new ideas in my head. Now I just lack the start-up capital. Once I have the start-up capital, I will take my mother to eat and drink delicious food."

Shen Jingwan was still trying to persuade Xiangxue. She didn't want to go back to the Shen Mansion at all. The big families in TV dramas had too many rules. You couldn't go out of the main door or the second door. She was thinking that she had finally traveled through time and space and wanted to make a lot of money by using the information gap to reach the peak of her life. How could she let herself be trapped in this small piece of land?

"Don't try to trick me. I won't go with you, and you shouldn't go either." Xiangxue didn't even consider Shen Jingwan's proposal. Even if Shen Jingwan could really make money, it wouldn't be possible for the two women to keep the money. They would be even worse off than they are now.

Shen Jingwan pretended to agree to Xiangxue, but in fact she had already made up her mind and was ready to run away early the next morning.

She and Xiangxue didn't have a deep relationship. She had tried to persuade her and wanted to lead a good life with Xiangxue, but Xiangxue didn't listen.

Shen Jingwan thought that Xiangxue had secretly taken the money she earned, so she could consider it as repaying the favor of occupying this body.

Shen Jingwan called Fuzi to her side and asked if he wanted to go with her early tomorrow morning. After all, Fuzi was bought by her, and he was efficient and easy to use.

This question made Fuzi feel troubled. After all, the person who arranged her here told her to stay in Ganhua Hutong and look after the mother and daughter. But now the mother and daughter are separated, who should she follow?

"The young lady bought me, and I will follow you." Fuzi thought about it and immediately expressed her loyalty.

After all, if she stayed, Xiangxue would only blame her for not keeping an eye on Shen Jingwan, but if she followed Shen Jingwan, her position in Shen Jingwan's heart would be different.

But Fuzi was not completely inactive. After Shen Jingwan fell asleep, she secretly took out Shen Jingwan's household registration and travel permit from her bag and placed them in Xiangxue's jewelry box.

……

In the small Buddhist hall of Songhe Hall in the Shen Mansion.

Old Madam Shen took three incense sticks, lit them on the candle next to her, fanned them gently with her hand, and inserted them into the incense burner in front of the Guanyin statue.

When Old Madam Shen woke up this morning, her heart was pounding violently. Only in this small Buddhist temple could she have a moment of peace.

"Madam, it's bad, something big has happened." Qixia shouted and ran towards the small Buddhist temple in panic.

Aunt Gui stopped Qixia at the entrance of the small Buddhist temple and scolded her in a low voice, "No matter how serious the matter is, you can't shout in the small Buddhist temple."

Qixia ran out of breath, "Mammy, something bad has happened in Ganhua Hutong."

When Aunt Gui heard that something happened in Ganhua Hutong, she immediately calmed down. Just as she was about to go in and report, she heard a voice from the small Buddhist hall, "Come in."

Old Madam Shen knelt on the cushion in front of the table with her eyes closed, spinning a string of Buddhist beads in her hands, but the beads were spinning faster and faster in her hands.

"What happened in Ganhua Hutong?" Old Madam Shen asked with her eyes closed.

Qixia knelt on the ground with a plop and kowtowed. "Forgive me, Madam. I took people to Ganhua Hutong early this morning to pick up Xiangxue and Miss Jingwan, but... but Xiangxue was the only one left in Ganhua Hutong."

Qixia has been very shocked these days. A few days ago, there was a rumor in the capital that the third master had a mistress. She didn't take it seriously, thinking that the Shen family had strict rules and such a thing would never happen.

But yesterday, Butler Shen went to the government to deal with some matters, and heard that the mother and daughter who were rescued were the third master's concubine and illegitimate daughter.

I thought the old lady would be extremely angry when she heard about this, but who would have thought that the old lady had known about this for a long time. The mistress was none other than Xiangxue, the head maid in the Third Master's original mansion. It was because Xiangxue and the Third Master had an affair that the old lady did not allow maids to be kept in the rooms of the young masters.

When the incident happened, it was said that Xiangxue was sold, but unexpectedly, the Third Master actually kept her outside. The old lady tacitly approved of this matter, and even planned to marry Xiangxue back home as his concubine after she gave birth to a son.

Last night, the old lady asked her to arrange for someone to send Xiangxue and her daughter out of the city, but she thought that the city gates would be closed by then, so it would be better to take people there early this morning. Unexpectedly, when they arrived at Ganhua Hutong early this morning, Xiangxue was the only one left in the entire yard.

After hearing what Qixia said, Mrs. Shen accidentally broke the Buddhist beads with her hand. The beads fell to the ground with a crackling sound. Qixia and Nanny Gui didn't dare to move.

"Why is there only one person left?"