The reborn girl always wants to escape, but the abstinent marquis hugs her and coaxes her!

Chapter 153: Plotting for Her Housekeeper Rights

Xu Yaoyao was a little bit unbelievable. His father was obviously so angry with Xu Rongrong after listening to his story.

But how come the momentum changed in the blink of an eye?

He actually asked him to pick up the gift list that that bitch had thrown on the ground?

Why!

Seeing that his second daughter hadn't moved, Xu Chaoqian became a little impatient: "What are you standing there for? Why don't you pick it up and give it to your eldest sister?"

Xu Yaoyao gritted his teeth and controlled his temper.

She put on a weak look, walked over, squatted down, picked up the dropped gift list, and said respectfully: "Please take a look, elder sister." "Thank you, second sister." Xu Rongrong took it leisurely, ignoring Xu Yaoyao's appearance as a sickly beauty.

She read it over from beginning to end. This was indeed the list of gifts sent out by the Xu family to various places. So she asked, "This is indeed the New Year gift arranged by my daughter. Does father think there is anything wrong with it?"

"That's ridiculous!" Xu Chaoqian frowned coldly, "Why are you sending New Year gifts to Lord Lu's residence?"

“Why can’t you send it?”

"Eldest sister, you don't know." Xu Yaoyao said from the side, "A few years ago, when mother was in charge of the household affairs, she told us sisters about the etiquette of gift-giving in the capital when she arranged the annual gifts to be sent to various places."

"Among colleagues in the officialdom, exchanging annual gifts is only permitted between peers. Giving gifts to superiors will be seen as an act of currying favor. Lord Lu is the Minister of Works, my father's immediate superior. Your elder sister is now in charge of the household affairs, so I shouldn't have questioned her. However, you acted rashly today and broke the rules, which has brought shame upon my father."

As he spoke, Xu Yaoyao put on a look of deep sorrow. Xu Rongrong found it funny: "Of course I am not as good as my second sister. I don't have Madam to teach me how to manage the household."

This sentence made Xu Chaoqian feel a little embarrassed.

When Xu Liu was in charge of the household, a colleague had reminded him that since his eldest daughter had reached marriage age, she needed to learn some housekeeping skills. Otherwise, if she didn't know how to manage the household after marriage, wouldn't her parents be ridiculed for not raising her properly? He had briefly mentioned this to Xu Liu a few times, but each time she would just lash out and the matter was dropped.

Afterwards, he thought that since his daughter didn't say anything, it was better to mind her own business and never mentioned it again.

Now that Xu Rongrong said this, he felt guilty and interrupted her quickly.

He slammed the table hard to hide the embarrassment on his face: "Don't talk about the past. I just want to ask you, why didn't you discuss the matter of sending the New Year gift to Lord Lu today with me!?"

"Father, don't be so quick to get angry." Xu Rongrong handed over the gift list and sneered, "Please take a closer look. Whose name is this gift list in?"

Xu Chaoqian snatched the gift list and after looking through it carefully, he found that the New Year gifts in Lu Zhi and Xiao Pingyang's mansion were not from the public treasury, but were sent from Xu Rongrong's private treasury.

"It was you who gave it to them." Xu Chaoqian looked puzzled. "Why would you give them a New Year's gift for no reason?"

"For no reason?" Xu Rongrong looked at him coldly. "Father, have you forgotten that before the Qixi Festival banquet, if Lord Lu hadn't sent the palace doctor to treat your daughter, I'm afraid I would have died of illness in the backyard! Moreover, that day, Madam sent someone to poison your father. If it weren't for the palace doctor's intervention, I'm afraid you wouldn't be standing here talking to your daughter right now. Every single thing is a favor from Lord Lu. Shouldn't the Xu family express their gratitude?"

Xu Chaoqian blushed: "This..."

Xu Rongrong continued, "Father, don't forget that I am now the Princess of Ping'an, personally appointed by His Majesty. As a Princess, I am sending two annual gifts to the court officials. I also want to know who dares to interfere." "In that case, it is true..." Xu Chaoqian's expression eased slightly, and he was about to nod, but was interrupted by another voice:

"What my eldest sister said does make sense. But the gifts were sent from our house after all. How could outsiders tell whether they were the county lady's annual gift or my father's?" Xu Yaoyao naturally couldn't let Xu Rongrong just brush this off. She glanced at Xu Chaoqian, hinting, "After all, it's my father who's being talked about in the end."

Xu Rongrong sneered, "If what my second sister said is true, then if I want to protect my father's reputation, I'm afraid I'll have to find another place to live."

"Nonsense! How can you, an unmarried girl, live in another house?" Xu Chaoqian naturally would not agree to his eldest daughter moving out. He is a living father, but his daughter wants to find another place to live. What will others say about him?

What's more, his eldest daughter is the princess of a county, and he will not allow this honor to fall into anyone else's hands.

However, even though she was the county lady, he still had to act like the head of the family! So he said, "But what Second Sister said makes sense. After all, you can't write two Xu characters with one stroke. Since the New Year gifts were sent from our house, I, your father, will inevitably bear the blame. You are young and inexperienced. To avoid such mistakes from happening again, let Second Sister help you manage the household expenses."

It turned out that after all the trouble, they actually wanted to divide her power.

Xu Rongrong sneered in her heart. She didn't care about the Xu family's finances in the first place, so she felt relieved even if she let go.

But she can let it go herself, but it is absolutely not allowed for others to snatch it away.

So she narrowed her eyes and said, "It turns out that my second sister wants to take charge of the family."

Xu Yaoyao seemed a little scared. She stole a glance at Xu Chaoqian and whispered, "Sister, please don't misunderstand. This is all father's intention..."

"Then I wonder which part Second Sister wants to take charge of?"

"From what happened today, it seems that my elder sister is not very good at maintaining relationships in the capital. If you trust me, I will let her handle similar matters in the future."

You have a pretty big heart.

Xu Rongrong smiled faintly. "Of course I trust Second Sister, but... I wonder what identity you plan to assume when interacting with others? Is it the daughter of the Xu family's second wife? Or the sister of the county lady?"

Xu Yaoyao: "..."

She looked at Xu Chaoqian helplessly, about to cry.

Seeing this, the latter immediately put on his father's authority and said, "Second sister is just trying to help you. Why do you, as her elder sister, have to use your status to suppress her?"

Xu Rongrong smiled. "Father, are you so sure that your daughter handled the matter of Lord Lu inappropriately?"

"I've called you ignorant, yet you refuse to admit it! Just wait and see, tomorrow you'll make me the laughing stock of the entire Ministry of Industry!"

Just as Xu Chaoqian was stiffening his neck and angrily lashing out at Xu Rongrong, Butler Xu came back from outside the study, reporting, "Master, Miss, the return gifts from the various mansions have arrived one after another."

Xu Chaoqian frowned and replied, "Let's take them to the front hall first!"

After saying that, he glared at Xu Rongrong and said, "Go back to your yard first. You don't have to worry about this matter. Your father will remedy it himself. Second sister, please follow me to the front hall."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yaoyao looked at Xu Rongrong timidly, then followed Xu Chaoqian.