Noble Lady

"Are you going to the Prince Cheng's Mansion for the Qiqiao Festival?"

This time, because she knew what he meant, Xue Chenyu did not let anyone stop him from entering.

He Minzhi also went straight to the point after entering the room.

"What do you mean, Lord He?" Xue Chenyu held the iced sour plum soup in the bamboo tube, took a big sip, and then looked at He Minzhi who was standing outside the bead curtain.

This man has learned the rules well. Standing outside the bead curtain, those who don't know him would think he is a servant waiting for his master to give orders.

"Take me with you." He Minzhi ordered.

Xue Chenyu puffed out the sour plum soup she had just drunk.

He Minzhi's face turned black.

"Master He, you are really rude. Can't you find where Prince Cheng's Mansion is?"

"Of course I know, but you have already received the invitation from Prince Cheng's Mansion, why can't you take me with you?" He Minzhi lifted the bead curtain in anger and wanted to come in.

Unexpectedly, as soon as his hand touched the bead curtain, Xia He and Qiu Hua pushed him away, one shoulder at a time.

"The girl didn't let you in!"

He Minzhi staggered when they pushed him and was stunned for a while.

"Xue Chenyu, you..."

"I'm sorry, Master He, there haven't been any outsiders in my courtyard for a long time, and my maids are used to it. Please forgive me if I have offended you."

He Minzhi: It was the first time I understood what it meant to swallow one’s anger.

He had to swallow his anger because he needed help from others.

"...My belly isn't that small yet, I won't bother with two girls."

Qiuhua and Xiahe looked at each other and almost laughed out loud.

"Sir He, I will not go to Prince Cheng's Mansion, nor will I attend their Qiqiao Festival banquet. So I can't help you."

Before He Minzhi could say anything unpleasant, she continued, "Didn't you and the old lady say that since I've already married into the He family, I shouldn't rely on my former status as a daughter of the Xue family to curry favor with the rich and powerful, lest I damage the reputation of your He family."

He Minzhi wanted to slap himself at this moment. Why did he say that it was nothing before?

That is Prince Cheng's Mansion. If it weren't for the Xue family's face, he would never be able to enter the gate of Prince Cheng's Mansion in his life.

In other words, the post in Xue Chenyu's hand is his only chance!

"Mrs. Xue...you misunderstood. Mother and I didn't mean that. We never said you couldn't have any contact with anyone related to your mother's family."

Xue Chenyu: Haha.

They say women are fickle, but it's the men who are truly amazing when they change their expressions. He probably forgot all the expressions he had on his face when he said those words to Liu.

"Master He, Prince Cheng has invited someone to host a banquet for his sister, Princess An Ning, who is about to come of age."

"Prince Cheng sent an invitation to the Marquis of Wu'an's mansion because there was also an unmarried girl there. He sent an invitation to me simply because I am the older sister of the unmarried girl from our Xue family, and he wanted me to go over so she could have a companion."

"The Qiqiao Festival is for unmarried girls. Why would a married woman like me join in the fun?"

"Aren't you afraid of being criticized for relying on my status as Marquis Xue's eldest daughter to build connections and pave the way for you? You have no shame, but I still have some."

"Anyway, I've already had someone decline the invitation from Prince Cheng's Mansion. If Lord He wants it, he can go talk to someone at the Cheng Mansion himself. I can't afford to lose face."

After saying this, Xue Chenyu asked Qiuhua and Xiahe to see the guests off.

She finally understood that letting Yuzhu step in to deal with someone like He Minzhi was too gentle.

Qiuhua and Xiahe, the two maids who know martial arts, should kick him out of the door one by one, so that he won't be an eyesore in front of them every few days.

Of course, Qiuhua and Xiahe still politely sent the person out.

If he refuses to cooperate, then let him have a taste of our rude tactics.

"Xue Chenyu, don't think I care about your invitation. Even without you, I can still enter the gate of Prince Cheng's Mansion."

He Minzhi made harsh remarks at the door of Furongju.

Xue Chenyu almost choked on the sour plum soup again.

Now she is even more confused. What was it about this man in her previous life that fascinated her so much?

Those whose families are broken up don't even think about standing up on their own, but are still looking forward to his love.

In his previous life, his brain was probably squeezed by a door, right?

Xue Chenyu wanted to slap herself twice just thinking about it.

Then she decided to eat two crispy noodles to calm her nerves.

"Girl, you've been eating too much of these cold things lately. You already felt uncomfortable during your period last month. If you keep drinking like this, aren't you afraid that you won't be able to handle it when your period comes?"

Just as the crispy mountain was about to be put into his mouth, it was snatched away by Yuzhu.

Xue Chenyu pouted and said, "Good Yuzhu, just let me have a couple of bites. It's not like I need to eat too much. Didn't the doctor prescribe me some medicine? Take it for two days and I won't feel any pain this month."

Yuzhu shook her head, "No. Not even a bite."

She was usually the gentlest towards girls, but now she refused to let go even if she was beaten to death.

Xue Chenyu: "...I've spoiled you. If you don't want to eat, then don't eat."

The girl finally lost for once.

Qiuhua, Xiahe and Yumei couldn't help laughing.

Yuzhu was guarding the door at the moment. Xue Chenyu also had someone build a small hut for her and put a basin of ice in it so that she could guard the gate without being exposed to the wind, sun or rain.

"The letter has arrived." Yuzhu said.

Xue Chenyu sat up straighter, and Qiuhua and the others tactfully retreated.

"How many letters has this been?"

"I write a letter every seven days. This is the third one." Yuzhu handed over the letter and stood aside.

Xue Chenyu looked at the envelope addressed to her personally by the girl and signed by Dongyue, and felt very relieved.

Dongyue wrote letters back all the way south.

After they left Beijing, they encountered many things along the way.

Even though they were escorted by a security agency, they had so many cars and people that they still looked quite conspicuous along the way.

Fortunately, after those people found out that the car was loaded with worthless food and supplies, they lost interest.

There were also some people who were so reckless that they secretly tried to steal their grain carts, but they were caught by the escort agency and sent to the authorities.

Because the goods belonged to Datong Trading Company, the local officials did not dare to ignore them, so these minor incidents were easily resolved.

On Dongyue's journey south, in addition to escorting food and learning business and accounting skills from Mother Li, the most important thing was to investigate the drought conditions in various places along the way.

Due to the different climates between the north and the south, the further south you go, the earlier the grain is harvested.

It is July now, and the crops in the north are not yet fully ripe, but some doctors in the south are already harvesting them.

Dongyue said in the letter he sent back that the drought becomes more severe the further south you go, but the situation in each county is different.

However, the general situation was similar to what Xue Chenyu had heard in her previous life, except that the further south you went, the more serious the situation became.

However, in her previous life, she was trapped in the harem and was not very clear about the specific situation.

When the drought hit, she only heard a single sentence: "The drought in the south was so severe that many places had no crops. Countless people were starving, and the land was littered with corpses of starvation."

At that time, someone was raising funds, and she was worried that He Minzhi and He Liu would say something about her, so she asked Yuzhu to secretly take several thousand taels of silver to raise funds.

This time he or she has the opportunity to do something so as not to let down the family business run by his or her grandparents and mother.

"Yuzhu, please prepare the pen and ink."

Xue Chenyu wrote back to Dongyue, and the letter was sent to Datong Trading Company on their predetermined route. When Dongyue arrived nearby, she would contact the company to pick up the letter.

"Zhushan County, Huaiyuan County, Haicheng County..."

Xue Chenyu wrote down the places that she could still remember that had suffered the most severe disasters in her previous life, and asked her to focus on investigating the situation.

Of course, she couldn't have said in the letter that she knew which places would be most severely affected by drought. She would have to quote from classics and say that she had read various books, saying that the terrain in those places was special and that they had suffered several famines before.

This excuse was also for the future, in case someone became suspicious of her preparation of so much food in advance and investigated, she would have an excuse to cover it up so that no one could easily find fault with her.