The prince only allowed me to have a baby, so the pressure is a bit high!

Chapter 14: Dowing

The decree of marriage has been issued, and the matter cannot be changed. Her own princess is the Crown Princess for sure, and at that time, she and Sister Pang will be the Crown Princess's nannies. In just a few months, the sisters' identities have changed drastically, from being dispensable old nannies in the Cining Palace to reliable people around the Crown Princess. Only Nanny Li and Nanny Pang know how she feels.

If they were to say who the two old sisters are most grateful to, it would be Su Malagu, who chose them to be the nanny of Princess Ulanara. It is true that old people are always experienced. She is worthy of being the close friend of the Empress Dowager, and no one can compare to her.

Shi had just been disqualified, and she took advantage of the opportunity to arrange for the two sisters to be the grandson's wife candidates favored by the Empress Dowager. How shrewd! (Su Malagu: I'm not! I didn't!)

If we were to say who the happiest servants in the entire mansion were, it would be Shuang Yaoyuan. Their own princess had become the Crown Princess, and their future status would also rise accordingly. Although not everyone had the opportunity to enter the palace as a dowry, if they had served the Crown Princess, the other servants would look up to them after hearing about it.

After the joyous celebration, the family gathered back at Shou'an Courtyard for dinner. This time the old lady still sat at the head of the table, but Buerhe's position had changed. After several refusals, he finally sat next to the old lady, on the same level as her.

Fei Yanggu and Jueluo then sat in the first seat below Buerhe, followed by the eldest brother Xinghui, the eldest sister-in-law Wang Jia, the second brother Fuchang, the third brother Fucun, and the fourth brother Wuge.

Today's imperial edict clearly stated that the wedding was set for October 13th, this year's Golden Award Festival. While the royal family seemed to have given them ample time, it was actually not enough. Because Manchu daughters' dowries were prepared from birth, Burhe's dowry was sufficient. However, much of the furniture was too late to be made, so the fine wood would have to remain there, waiting to be used by Burhe's future nieces.

When Fei Yanggu returned, he also mentioned that the Emperor had instructed that the Imperial Household Department would be in charge of the wedding, and that they didn't need to prepare anything like furniture or a phoenix corona or robe. As for those who wanted a dowry, that would be a separate matter. The Imperial Household would also prepare sixty loads of dowry, which would be considered the Emperor's gift to Buerhe and would not be included in the betrothal gifts.

Upon hearing this, the old lady and Jueluo also breathed a sigh of relief. This wedding was indeed a bit stressful. If the dowry prepared was not enough, it would be bad if their daughter lost face.

The servants had inquired about it. When the first wife married into the royal family, she was prepared with a dowry of 110 loads. As their daughter was to be the Crown Princess, she must have at least that much. The family had originally prepared a dowry of 120 loads, but after deducting furniture and other things, there were still 70 loads left. Adding the 60 loads from the royal reward, a total of 130 loads was enough. If there were more, it would be too much for the first wife, and it would be easy for outsiders to think that there was discord between the royal wives.

Although her own wife was the Crown Princess and the other party was only the eldest prince's wife, she was the eldest sister-in-law after all because of her seniority, and Burhe would only be the second daughter-in-law after she married into the family, so she still had to do things as nicely as possible.

After hearing about the dowry, the brothers sitting below had something to say. They said that their mother had only favored the eldest sister and always ignored the second sister over the years. The eldest sister was always the first to pick out the delicious food and fun things. The eldest sister was not that caring towards her younger brothers, and the relationship between the brothers and sisters was just that.

But the second sister was different. Although she returned home only a few times a year, whenever there were servants returning from festivals or birthdays, she would always bring some things she had prepared in advance for her brothers, such as date paste cakes she had made herself or newly embroidered purses.

Sometimes, if she got a good inkstone or dagger, she would give it to her, and the gifts were always the favorites of her brothers. It was obvious whether she was sincere or not, so the men in the family all favored the second sister.

In the first half of the year, the eldest sister failed in the talent show. In fact, after the brothers analyzed the situation, they found that with the eldest sister's flamboyant personality, she must have offended someone who should not have been angered, which led to this disaster.

Logically, the eldest sister had already reached the age limit for the last talent show, but she had fallen ill before the show, prompting her father to decline. Later, when her father petitioned the Emperor to grant her an exception and allow her to participate in this year's show, the brothers sensed something was amiss. Sure enough, the eldest sister passed away before the show was even over.

However, until now, these brothers only thought that their eldest sister wanted to enter Kangxi's harem, and they didn't expect there were other reasons. So they guessed that their eldest sister had high aspirations but a fragile life. If they knew that she was originally planning to enter the Fourth Prince's mansion and become the Fourth Prince's wife, their jaws would probably drop to the ground and they would never pick them up again.

The eldest brother Xinghui spoke directly: "Ma, Ama, Mother, as the eldest brother, I also want to add some dowry to my younger sister. I haven't earned much in these years, so I wanted to add four more dowries to my younger sister." These were all discussed by Xinghui and Wang Jia before coming, so when Xinghui said it, Wang Jia's expression did not change.

She knew that the fine Huizhou ink and paperweight in her husband's room, as well as the dagger that she coveted, were all gifts from her sister-in-law. She herself had also received many gifts from her sister-in-law. Now, in the jewelry box, there were two sets of exquisite jewelry given by her sister-in-law.

There were still small clothes and accessories for the unborn child in the room, all of which my younger sister had brought over when she returned home a while ago. Three months into my pregnancy, I was constantly retching and unable to eat. It was my sister-in-law who personally sent me a recipe, along with half a jar of pickled cucumbers, that finally stopped my morning sickness, helped me eat better, and made me feel stronger. Later, I heard from the servants that the pickles were made by my sister-in-law herself. Normally, only the old lady would get some to eat with her meals, and that time, she had donated all her stock.

Afterwards, the sister-in-law was not stingy. Seeing that she had used a lot of incense, she sent her the recipe for pickled cucumbers the next day. During this period, the sister-in-law was the housekeeper, and all the good things were used by the pregnant woman. Even the midwife came to the mansion in advance so that she could choose it herself. I heard that the wet nurse was already looking for a baby and would come to the mansion half a month before the birth.

So the couple discussed it and decided that since they had such a good sister, they, as her brother and sister-in-law, must repay her a little, so they prepared to add four loads of dowry as a token of their love.

After the eldest brother Xinghui finished speaking, the second, third and fourth brothers quickly said that they also wanted to add to the makeup.

As a parent, I am certainly very pleased to see such unity and friendship among my children. However, considering that the second, third and fourth children are not married yet and the family financial resources are not much, it is enough to let the three brothers form two groups.

Seeing that the younger generations had stopped talking, the old lady also spoke: "I only have this one granddaughter now, and she was raised by me. I will definitely give more of my things to Bull and me. Do you have any objections?"

Fei Yanggu quickly stood up with his men: "Mother, what are you talking about? Your things are yours. You can give them to whoever you want. We won't have any doubts. Not to mention that Buerhe has been so outstanding all these years thanks to your education."

After Fei Yanggu finished speaking, he complained in his heart: It's a good thing that Buerhe was raised by his mother. If he was raised by Jueluo, he would probably be like his eldest daughter, always thinking about unrealistic things and always being unreasonable. It's not that Jueluo raised children badly. Several sons were very good under Jueluo's education, but it was just the eldest daughter who couldn't be changed no matter what. He had thought about asking his mother to help change his temper before, but his mother said it was impossible and directly refused. Now that his mother said that she wanted to give Buerhe more money, he had no doubts at all.

With Fei Yanggu's statement, the Jueluo clan and his brothers nodded in agreement. Seeing this, the old lady smiled with satisfaction. It was good for the family to be of one mind. Only in this way could the family prosper. This was what the old man had been striving to see all these years. Now he was looking forward to his grandson's wife giving birth to a great-grandson soon to continue the next generation.

Next, the affairs of the mansion were handed over to the maids accompanying Jueluo. Jueluo had asked the old lady for these two maids, and the old lady also gave Jueluo face and only borrowed them. She did not say that the two maids must be placed by Jueluo's side to help manage the affairs of the mansion.

Buerhe was also very busy during this period. Although she did not need to embroider wedding dresses, she still had to receive embroiderers from the palace who came to measure the size. In addition, the old lady wanted to hand over her connections to her before her granddaughter got married, so she was even busier during this period than when she was learning to be a housekeeper.

Another thing to consider is that although it is a good thing for the maids brought into the palace to be promoted from slaves in the mansion to bondservants, it does not mean that all maids are willing to enter the palace, especially since Buer and the two older maids around him are old enough to get married.

Bu Erhe took some time to ask the two older maids, Qin'er and Qi'er. Qin'er was engaged and was a servant in the mansion, while Qi'er was bought back when she was very young. The two had different experiences.

When Buerhe asked if she was willing to enter the palace together, Qin'er hesitated. Normally, she would be married in two years. If she entered the palace now, she would have to wait until she was twenty-five to leave. Would the family she was engaged to by then still count? Even if she had the princess behind her, how could she not feel uncomfortable if the other family still hadn't married by the time she was almost thirty?

So, after hesitating for a while, Qin'er finally spoke her mind: "I know that my talent is mediocre and I'm not smart enough. If I enter the palace, I might bring trouble to my master. So I'll stay in the mansion!"

As soon as Buerhe heard this, she knew that Qin'er didn't want to enter the palace and wanted to get married as soon as possible in the mansion. However, everyone has their own aspirations, and she was not a mean master. Since Qin'er didn't want to go, then she wouldn't go.

Buerhe said, "Okay, when Mama and Mother arrange for a maid, you can take her with you and serve me until I get married. You can stay in the mansion! Qi'er, I'll give your sister Qin'er fifty taels of silver later. Consider it as a dowry from your master. After all, it's not convenient to leave the palace, and I definitely won't be able to see you get married."

Qin'er was also a smart person. When she heard her master's words, she knew that her master knew her thoughts, but just didn't point them out. She felt guilty about not being able to continue serving her master, and her eyes instantly reddened. "It's my fault. I have failed your kindness and made you worry about me."

Seeing Qin'er like this, Buerhe was also upset. After all, they had been together for almost ten years and their relationship was very deep. Moreover, she was still influenced by modern ideas and always thought that they, the maids, were just hired servants. Therefore, she was very grateful for Qin'er's daily careful care. Then she helped Qin'er, who was still crying, up and said, "Okay, don't cry. The deep palace is full of dangers. It's natural that you don't want to go. I have never blamed you. It's just that you will not be by my side in the future. You have to live a good life. It is inconvenient for me to enter and exit the deep palace, and I will not be able to support you when you encounter problems in the future."

Qin'er will also marry a son born in the Ulanara family in the future, but he will have no chance to enter the palace. Unless Buerhe is allowed to visit his parents, it is not certain that they will meet in the future.

After letting Qin'er go down to wash up, Bu'erhe turned around and asked Qi'er the same question, but Qi'er knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Bu'erhe: "Please don't drive me away, princess. I don't want to stay in the mansion. I want to follow you into the palace and continue to serve you!"

She knew Qi'er's background. She knew that she was bought into the mansion by Mama when she was young. She also heard a few years ago that her relatives found her and recognized her as her biological child. Why was she unwilling to stay today?

Buer and Curious also asked directly, and Qi'er did not hide anything from her master: "I dare not hide it from you, master, so that Gege will know. A few years ago, my parents came to find me and recognized me as their relative. At first, I was happy, but in the past two years, with the death of my parents and the eldest brother and sister-in-law taking charge of the family, the whole situation has changed. When I go back again, they always ask for money. If I don't bring money back, I will definitely be ridiculed. If I stay in the mansion and reach the age, as long as the other party gives enough money, my eldest brother and sister-in-law may find someone to marry me. Since my parents passed away, I have been like a person without relatives in this world. Now, the master is the only one I miss. If the master doesn't want me anymore, then I really have nowhere to go."