Mad Queen Leaves the Palace

As soon as Xiao Lan returned to the courtyard, she quickly called Yue'er over, "Yue'er, hurry up and make me something delicious. I'm exhausted. Also, have them prepare water for me later. I need to go to bed early after my bath today."

"Miss, weren't you chatting with the General's wife in the room the whole time? Why do you look more tired than the nannies working in the kitchen?" Yue'er asked, puzzled.

"Yue'er, your young lady will teach you one thing today: using your brain isn't necessarily easier than doing physical labor," Xiao Lan said knowingly, looking at Yue'er's confused eyes. She thought to herself, this girl is still so naive. In her previous life, she was schemed against and only had time to send Yue'er out of the palace; she didn't have time to arrange anything else. Although she has changed many things in this life, she still needs to prepare for the worst. It seems she'll have to go see Granny Qian before leaving.

After a good meal and a bath, Xiao Lan told Yue'er to go and rest, and then went to bed and had a wonderful sleep. She slept soundly all night.

After breakfast, Xiao Lan asked someone to fetch Granny Qian. Granny Qian entered, bowed, and then looked at Yue'er standing beside Xiao Lan, somewhat flustered. She quickly said, "Miss Lan, what happened with Miss Yue'er last time was all a misunderstanding. I didn't dare to really lay a hand on her then; I just pushed her a few times."

“Granny, don’t worry. I called you here today not because I wanted to make things difficult for you about what happened before. It was just that I, your maid, was ignorant and didn’t ask clearly before we had a conflict.” She then gave Yue’er a meaningful look. Yue’er quickly went to Granny Qian, bowed respectfully, and said, “Granny, I’m sorry I was in such a hurry that day and went to the kitchen to find you without asking clearly. Fortunately, the misunderstanding was cleared up, and those who deserved punishment received their lesson. But I didn’t have time to apologize to you then, so please forgive me.” She then bowed again to Granny Qian. Granny Qian quickly helped Yue’er up, saying, “Miss Yue’er, you’re too kind. I was also wrong that day; please don’t blame me.”

Granny Qian thought to herself that it was obvious to everyone that day that the little maid was deliberately trying to escalate the situation. But as the saying goes, one doesn't hit a smiling face; since the maid had taken the initiative to reconcile, she should just accept it. Besides, Miss Lan was the Madam's darling, and she didn't need to offend her. However, that day the little maid had only been pulling at her hair and clothes, looking disheveled, but her face and body hadn't been touched at all. She probably wasn't there to cause trouble. Reassured, she asked Xiao Lan, "Then, may I ask what brings you here, Miss? Is the food not to your liking?"

"Don't be nervous, Granny. The food is all good. Thank you for your trouble. The reason I called you here is because I heard that you have a piece of land in the mountains that you want to sell. I wonder what the situation is about that land? Do you have a land deed?" Xiao Lan had already asked Yue'er to find out. Granny Qian's parents-in-law's ancestral house was on the mountain. Although the house itself wasn't valuable, the land they owned was large.

Granny Qian thought to herself, "This Miss Lan is strange. Why is she so concerned about that dilapidated house on the mountain? If it weren't for the large plot of land nearby that could grow a lot of grain, probably no one would even live there." But since she had asked, she answered truthfully: "My parents-in-law fled here forty years ago due to famine. Because of the war at the time, they hid in Phoenix Mountain, built a thatched hut, and cultivated the land to grow grain. Later, one year, the late emperor granted a general amnesty, allowing refugees to register their households. Since the mountain was unclaimed land and ordinary people didn't like going there, my parents-in-law paid taxes to register the land and their households together, registering a total of twelve mu. A few years ago, after my parents-in-law passed away, my husband and I both worked at the Jiang family's residence and had no time to take care of the house, so we rented it to a beekeeper. It's just that this year, my son is getting married and we urgently need money, so we thought of selling the house to give more dowry to our in-laws."

"Oh, beekeeper, are there any flower fields or fruit trees nearby?"

“Replying to Miss, the town of Shaxi is located at the foot of the mountain, where there are large groves of lychee trees. It’s about an incense stick’s time’s walk from the foot of the mountain to the land where my ancestral home is located. Wildflowers grow everywhere along the way.”

Xiao Lan was delighted to hear this. If this house were in modern times, it would definitely be a "mountain villa". She could buy it and have someone rebuild it according to her own preferences.

"Since there's a land deed, how much silver is Granny Qian planning to sell it for? If the price is right, I can buy it. Isn't Granny also in urgent need of the money?"

“Miss, my house sells for thirty taels of silver, but it’s located halfway up a mountain,” Granny Qian thought to herself, wondering why this delicate young lady would want to buy a house in the mountains.

"Don't worry about what I use it for, Granny," Xiao Lan suddenly stopped smiling and gave Yue'er a wink. Yue'er then handed the thirty-tael silver note to Granny Qian. "I heard that you're selling for thirty taels but haven't been able to find a suitable buyer. I won't haggle with you. Keep the thirty taels safe, Granny."

Seeing that Granny Qian had accepted the silver notes from Yue'er, Xiao Lan continued, "Granny, now that you've received the money, you and Yue'er should go to the government office these next two days to finalize the land deed. But there's one thing, Granny, please remember: I don't want a fourth person to know that your land was sold to me. Do you understand?"

Granny Qian quickly suppressed her curiosity, bowed to Xiao Lan, and said, "Miss, don't worry, I understand and will keep my mouth shut. I just happened to take half a day off tomorrow to prepare the betrothal gifts, so why don't you let Miss Yue'er come with me to the government office to get the documents approved?"

"That's good. Tomorrow I'll have Yue'er go find Granny Qian early. Granny, if you're not busy, go ahead and do your work. I'll have the kitchen send over some more pastries later." After saying that, Xiao Lan waved her hand, dismissing Granny Qian. Turning to Yue'er, she instructed, "After you finish going over the paperwork with Granny Qian tomorrow, go to the escort agency and find Uncle Lin. Tell him that I've bought the land I mentioned last time, and ask him to arrange for someone to fence it off and guard it. I'll discuss the details with him at the escort agency the day after tomorrow."

"Yes, Miss. I understand. By the way, Miss, did you not like the breakfast? Why did you send the kitchen to send pastries? There's still more than an hour before we have to go to the main hall to have lunch with the old lady."

"Don't forget, we're having a guest coming later today." Xiao Lan smiled at Yue'er, this little girl, who, at such a young age, acted like a housekeeper.

"Guest? Who is it?" Yue'er looked at Xiao Lan with suspicion.

"You forgot? I made an appointment with Dr. Cui three days ago. He was supposed to come over after examining Yu'er."

After hearing what her young mistress had said, Yue'er realized she was referring to Cui Sumu. But then she thought for a moment and said, "Miss, didn't he say he needed to discuss it with his family? Besides, you told him to come only after he's finished discussing it. What if his family doesn't agree? He won't come."

"Regardless of their negotiations, even if I mention signing a long-term contract to him later, making him hesitant, someone like Cui Sumu will come to give me an explanation today, whether he likes it or not. So he'll definitely come after his consultation. As long as he comes, he'll agree to the terms I offer after seeing them." With that, Xiao Lan picked up the three contracts she had already written on the table. She thought to herself: No matter what excuse Cui Sumu makes later, as long as I present the contracts, anyone who isn't a fool will sign them. Having experience running restaurants and teahouses in her past life, managing the waiters is a piece of cake. So she said to Yue'er: "Go brew a pot of good tea and bring it to the front hall. Also, bring the pastries to the front hall later. Let's go to the front hall and wait for this guest."

As Xiao Lan spoke, she packed the three contracts into a cloth bag and walked towards the outer courtyard.

"Yes, Miss, I'll go make some tea right away," Yue'er replied as she followed Xiao Lan outside, thinking to herself that her young lady was really amazing, as if she had everything under control.