The cousin's family is extremely wealthy; she deserves to be a concubine.

She leaned forward and nudged Granny Yan. "Since I helped you leave the palace, at least give me a hint: what brings you to the Marquis's residence?"

Granny Yan glanced at Granny Wu, her entire expression conveying the message, "No comment."

Granny Wu's smiling face never changed. "I guess the young master you want to choose is among those you called out today."

Granny Yan's eyes darted around, but she remained unmoved by Granny Wu's questioning. Only her slower breathing revealed Granny Yan's true thoughts.

However, Granny Wu wasn't like Granny Yan, and knew nothing about any of this.

Based on her own experience, she continued to speculate, "Miss Jin and that Miss Rong are both guests staying at the Marquis's residence, so naturally they are not on our shortlist."

Between the second and third young ladies of the Marquis's mansion whom you mentioned today, which one do you prefer? The third young lady is, after all, the daughter of the Marquis, but the second young lady is known for her talent.

Old Yan, you're not really going to choose one of these two, are you? What you did today has offended these pampered young ladies. Aren't you afraid of making things worse?

It's a pity that the seventh young lady of the manor took leave, otherwise we could have shown her how powerful the two of us are, and let that old hag Li get the first place for nothing.

And that sixth young lady, who unexpectedly has great fortune, actually caught the eye of Consort Bing, who personally assigned her to teach her.

After all this time, the two of us have ended up being just extras.

Granny Yan only slightly lifted her eyelids when Granny Wu mentioned the name of the cousin.

Hearing Wu Mama's last sentence, Yan Mama finally spoke up, "Giving you the chance to choose a master you're satisfied with, isn't that good enough?" Being forced into a situation, and you're still envious?

Granny Wu thought about it and agreed, "You old hag, you have such a pleasant way of speaking. Those three look like they'll have a bright future ahead of them."

But that's where we came from. Are we really going to plunge back in and relive those days of swords and bloodshed?

After saying that, Granny Wu shivered involuntarily. "I'm so grateful that I was able to get out of there alive. Now that I'm an old woman, I don't want to go back."

Upon hearing this, Granny Yan kindly gave Granny Wu a piece of advice: "Then keep your eyes open and carefully choose a powerful patron for the rest of your life."

Granny Wu, as if swatting a snake from a tree, said, "You have a discerning eye, why don't you pick one for me?"

Granny Yan shook off Granny Wu's hand, "Get out of the way."

----

Meanwhile, when Wang Mama picked up Hua Sirong from school, she noticed that all the other masters wanted to stay as far away from their young mistresses as possible. Even the second young lady, with whom she had some affection in the past, had hurriedly disappeared from sight.

Madam Wang said with shame, "If I hadn't acted on my own today, my daughter wouldn't have been isolated by all the young ladies in the school."

Hua Sirong smiled and said, "Mom meant well, what does it have to do with Mom?"

Chunyan chimed in, "If it weren't for that Miss Jin causing trouble, our young lady would definitely have gotten along well with her classmate today."

Madam Wang regretted, "It's all my fault for not being skilled enough and for not considering things thoroughly. If I had made dishes of all kinds, people wouldn't have misunderstood."

Hua Sirong comforted her, "A person who's always looking for trouble will find fault no matter how much we try to avoid them. People like that are destined to never walk the same path as us, so why worry so much, Mom?"

Madam Wang: "But now, because of this matter, even the second young lady is taking her anger out on the young lady."

Chunyan then said, "The Third Miss likes Mother's cooking, doesn't she? We lost the Second Miss, but now we have the Third Miss. Our Miss hasn't lost anything."

Mother Wang slapped Chunyan, "When interacting with people, you don't need to give them your heart and soul?"

The second young lady was the first in the household to extend an olive branch to our young lady. She must be feeling incredibly sad right now, so please don't add fuel to the fire.

Hua Sirong pulled Wang Mama back, "Mama, Chunyan is right, every loss has its gain. Besides, Second Miss isn't going to break off our friendship."

Before Wang Mama could say anything more, Shen sent someone to look for Hua Sirong.

Seeing that Hua Sirong and her maid had gone to Yimei Garden, the young ladies who had been scattered and wandering around earlier now gathered together in twos and threes.

Jin Yaoyao spoke first, "We were always fine when we went to school, how could the teacher catch us in the act?"

Today, that unlucky woman's arrival has disrupted our school's peace and even offended the new nanny, leaving us with a bad impression.

I think some people just lack self-awareness. They know they bring bad luck, yet they still dare to hang around girls.

Eighth Miss He Zhimei is the third wife's illegitimate daughter, and she is only twelve years old this year. Jin Yaoyao, relying on her aunt being her legal mother, stared at He Ba with her eyes, wanting her to speak up and agree.

He Ba, restrained by his stepmother's authority, could only stammer, "Cousin Jin is right."

He Wu couldn't stand it anymore and gently pulled He Ba behind him, saying, "Cousin, be careful what you say. It was the old lady who agreed to let Cousin Rong enter the girls' school."

Jin Yaoyao couldn't bear to see He Wu looking so lifeless, but since she was the proper young lady of the mansion, she could only stomp her feet in frustration.

She could only blame herself for being born into the wrong family; if she had been born into the Jin family, all the wealth and luxury of the entire household would have been hers.

"Hmph! You and I are cousins ​​by blood. Why are you protecting her? Aren't you afraid she'll turn around and bite you back?"

He Wu knew his cousin had a sharp tongue, but she couldn't possibly say that to Xiao Ba's face.

If the rest of the household heard this, wouldn't it be the third branch of the family who would lose face? What face would Jin Shi, the matriarch of the household, lose?

He Wu's face flushed red. "If my cousin has any complaints, she can just go back to Yunyuxuan and complain to my mother."

After saying that, she grabbed He Ba and ran away, leaving Jin Yaoyao with a face full of resentment.

At this moment, the third sister, who had been watching the commotion from the sidelines, said, "Jin Yaoyao, why don't you hurry back? Have you forgotten that you still have a hundred copies of the 'Rules for Women' to copy?"

After saying that, there was a burst of gloating laughter.

Jin Yaoyao disregarded the aura of being the daughter of Marquis He San, glared at her fiercely, and then took her maid to chase after He Wu.

He Si couldn't stand He San's arrogant attitude. "You didn't get anything out of it today, and you still have the mood to ridicule others."

He San grabbed He Si and said, "Mind your own business! I just can't stand her being an outsider, bullying Fifth Sister and Eighth Sister."

He Si frowned slightly, "Third Aunt, who is a mother, just pretends not to see it. We are just nieces from another branch of the family, why are you meddling so much?"

Besides, if Fifth Sister doesn't stand up for herself and just keeps giving in, what's the point of us saying anything more?

Jin Yaoyao's words were harsh, but she was right about one thing: Fifth Sister and Jin Yaoyao were cousins, and Third Aunt always favored her own family. We couldn't control that.

As for Xiao Ba, she only suffered some verbal humiliation; when have you ever actually seen her suffer any real loss?