Quick Transmigration: The Green Tea Mistress's Guide to Seduction - A Master's Handbook

"Is it just fenced off? Has anyone come in?"

"No, it's just cordoned off, and all the purchasing in the manor is prohibited from leaving." Tingling was initially quite flustered when she heard about this, but seeing that Xie Qingyu wasn't flustered, she calmed down a lot.

"What did the Lady Hou say?" Xie Qingyu quickly washed up.

"Madam must have just received the news, and there's been no response yet," Tingling said.

"The Marquis has returned to his residence," Hongdou suddenly said.

Xie Qingyu was taken aback. She had only met the Marquis a handful of times in all the time she had been in the Marquis's residence, especially after Qin Lingrong's accident, when the Marquis had hardly returned.

How come the timing was so perfect this time? They returned just as the government troops surrounded the mansion.

Or perhaps... it was precisely because he returned that the soldiers surrounded the mansion.

Xie Qingyu wasn't sure which one it was, but she kept in mind Qin Shenzhi's previous instructions.

"Don't go out unless necessary. Tell the people in our compound to keep an eye on the gate," Xie Qingyu instructed.

Hearing this, Tingling felt reassured and hurriedly went out to give instructions to the maids and servants in the courtyard.

Hongdou stepped forward to comb Xie Qingyu's hair.

"What did the second young master say yesterday?" Xie Qingyu asked.

"When the second young master left, he only told you to act as usual," Hongdou replied, head bowed.

As usual...

Before Xie Qingyu could fully grasp the meaning of those words, Tingling rushed in again, followed by a maid from the Lady of the Marquis's courtyard.

"Madam requests the young mistress's presence," the maidservant said, bowing.

Xie Qingyu now understood what it meant to act as usual.

Even if she wanted to stay home, she had to go there now.

Xie Qingyu tidied herself up and went to the Hou Madam's courtyard.

This was the first time Xie Qingyu had ever seen such a lively scene at the Marquis's residence.

Not only Gu Qinglian was there, but almost all the concubines from the backyard were also there, and even the children from the backyard were there.

When Xie Qingyu went in, she heard the sound of several young concubines crying.

"Shut up, all of you!" Madam Hou leaned against the bedside, needing to rest after each sentence.

After two days apart, Lady Hou seems to have become even more ill.

"As long as the Marquis's mansion exists, you'll stay. If the Marquis's mansion falls apart, then go cry somewhere else. Don't get in my way here. Go back to where you belong," the Marquis's wife said impatiently, waving her hand to shoo them away.

After the concubines left, only Gu Qinglian and Xie Qingyu remained in the room.

Lady Hou now had to speak more slowly, "You all know about the situation outside, right?"

"My daughter-in-law just heard about this and is packing to come here. I don't know why..." Xie Qingyu's expression was somewhat uneasy.

"You'll have to ask the Marquis about that. He has returned, but he hasn't come to see me. My health is so poor now that I can't even go to see him." The Marquis's wife has clearly been suffering from her illness these past two days, and even her way of speaking has changed.

"Aunt, don't worry. The Marquis is in the manor and not in a hurry, so there shouldn't be anything serious. If something were wrong, the soldiers would have rushed in by now, not just stayed at the gate," Gu Qinglian comforted her.

"What do you know?" Lady Hou scolded.

"Go and see the Marquis later and ask him what happened," the Marquis's wife said to Xie Qingyu.

Xie Qingyu hadn't expected that the Lady of the Marquis would assign her such a task at this time. "If Father doesn't see me..."

Xie Qingyu appeared somewhat timid at this moment, but Madam Hou, unusually, did not reprimand her.

"Try it and you'll see. He should be willing to see you."

Hearing the Lady Hou's answer, Xie Qingyu basically had the answer in her mind.

Lady Hou had no other choice; the Marquis would not see her, much less Gu Qinglian.

Only Xie Qingyu still has a glimmer of hope.

"Yes, I'll go now." Xie Qingyu didn't want to stay with the Lady of the Marquis for too long; she felt a bit down.

Lady Hou also hoped that she would go there as soon as possible, so she told her to go first.

Only Gu Qinglian was left there.

Xie Qingyu has been mostly in her own yard these past two days and hasn't paid attention to the outside world.

Now, walking through the Marquis's residence, I think I understand why Qin Shenzhi told her to stay in the courtyard as much as possible.

Many of the servants in the Marquis's mansion have left.

Some courtyards even had their gates wide open, and upon closer inspection, all the furnishings inside were gone.

Some servants, with their restless minds, would get wind of things and start having inappropriate thoughts.

The Marquis's mansion didn't have many long-term workers; only some skilled workers were hired from outside and didn't have fixed contracts.

Those are the people who will be leaving the most here.

As for those born into the household, they were in a better position, as their indentures were held by their masters.

Xie Qingyu's courtyard was somewhat better.

Looking at the current situation, Xie Qingyu clearly felt the decline of the Marquis's mansion, which was completely different from the feeling she had at the beginning.

It seemed as if every brick and piece of wood exuded an aura of decay.

The same applies to the Marquis's residence in the front courtyard.

When Xie Qingyu arrived, she was prepared that the Marquis would not see her, so after being turned away, she returned to her own courtyard without any guilt and only sent someone to inform the Marquis's wife.

The chaos that began in the morning and the false calm that followed at noon lasted only half a day.

In the afternoon, the officers and soldiers took action.

Xie Qingyu's courtyard gate was violently opened, and soldiers rushed in.

The chaotic sounds outside proved that such scenes were unfolding in various courtyards of the Marquis's residence.

When Xie Qingyu and her group arrived at the entrance of the Marquis's residence, they met everyone there.

Whether it was the Marquis, the bedridden Madam Marquis, Gu Qinglian and the concubines in the backyard, or even Aunt Zhao, who had no vitality left, standing there.

The officers and soldiers were not rough; at least they did not push or shove. However, their expressions were those of someone apprehending a criminal.

After the headcount was verified, the leading officer waved his hand, and everyone was taken away.

Xie Qingyu never expected that she would be back in prison as a prisoner.

The Lady Hou kept asking the Marquis what trouble he had gotten into outside and how he had been arrested.

The Marquis simply closed his eyes to rest and did not respond to the Marquis's wife.

Fortunately, once in prison, men and women were kept in separate cells, which provided some temporary peace and quiet.

Xie Qingyu looked at the silent Marquis and felt something was off.

Once Lady Hou arrived in prison, she shifted her focus, her gaze sweeping through every cell she passed, and even when she was finally locked in her own cell, her eyes were still looking elsewhere.

"Where is Rong-ge'er locked up?" Lady Hou seemed to only then remember that Xie Qingyu had been here.

“Go forward another dozen or so cells,” Xie Qingyu replied.

Upon hearing this, Lady Hou strained her eyes to look inside, trying to catch a glimpse of Qin Lingrong.

Suddenly her eyes lit up, "Let me see your older brother!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Qingyu looked over and saw Qin Shenzhi enter wearing a Golden Guard uniform with gold-painted crane patterns.

His gaze lingered on Xie Qingyu for a moment before shifting away.

He then looked expressionlessly at the hopeful Lady Hou.