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

Shen did most of the talking along the way, and soon they arrived at the old lady's Fu'an Hall.

A sharp-eyed maid had already spotted it and ran in to report, while another maid smiled and lifted the curtain to clear the way.

"Good morning, Madam. This must be Miss Cousin. Please come in. The old lady has been talking about her ever since she got up this morning." Chanjuan, the old lady's head maid, came out to greet them.

Madam Shen accepted the greeting with a clear conscience, but Hua Sirong returned the greeting in a more formal manner. She wasn't a real young lady of this household, while the girl in front of her, though a maid, was the head maidservant of the old Marquis's wife. To put it bluntly, she was far more prestigious than her, a distant cousin.

"Thank you for your concern, Mother. Rong'er just arrived yesterday, and I told her to get a good night's rest so she can be more refreshed when she comes to see you and the sisters in the family today." He said with a smile as he went into the inner room.

When Hua Sirong entered the room, she glanced around and saw that the old lady at the top of the table had a kind face and a smile that made people unconsciously let their guard down.

Unlike her own aunt, who deliberately wore a formal makeup to appear dignified as the lady of the house, especially her eyebrows which looked slightly sharp, making it clear that she was not someone who could be easily fooled.

They didn't seem very close to me.

Ignoring the people sitting on both sides below, the older girls all looked beautiful, and even the two ladies dressed as noblewomen were pleasing to the eye.

Hua Sirong thought to herself, no wonder the elderly love to be surrounded by their children and grandchildren. Even as an outsider, she felt comfortable looking at this room full of spring-like joy.

Everyone present looked with curiosity at the new cousin who had come to the Lady of the Marquis's side. Unlike Hua Sirong, who only glanced at her and kept her head down the whole time, they openly and carefully observed her.

Lady Hou first greeted the old lady, and then pulled Hua Sirong to perform a grand salute to the old lady. A maid had already prepared a cushion.

"Hua Jia Si Rong greets the Old Madam." She was only able to enter the Marquis's residence and even stay there because the Old Madam didn't hold it against her. She kowtowed firmly with a loud 'thud,' making everyone present's hearts skip a beat.

"Oh my, what an honest and good child! Get up and come to this old woman. Look, his forehead is all red from kowtowing." The old lady liked the child very much at first sight.

Being good-looking is definitely an advantage; you'll be popular wherever you go. Because she was frail from a young age, she developed a delicate and graceful charm, and she also had a natural medicinal fragrance that could be smelled from a distance, making her even more endearing and lovable.

Most importantly, this child looks like someone who knows how to repay kindness, and doesn't seem to have the shrewdness that comes from being raised in a merchant's family.

Seeing how much the old lady valued Hua Sirong, Madam Shen was also pleased, as this brought honor to her family.

The old lady pulled Hua Sirong to sit beside her and introduced her to the women in the room, starting with the little girl next to her.

“This is your seventh cousin Zhu’er, and that’s you…” Everyone greeted each other and recognized each other, and the facial recognition process came to an end.

"The daughters from my sister-in-law's family are truly remarkable. The ones I've seen before were already quite outstanding, but I never imagined that Miss Rong would be even more exceptional." The second wife's surname is Zhan, and her family background is far superior to that of Madam Shen. She is a true match for the Marquis of Muqing's family, but unfortunately, she is born out of wedlock.

When the old Marquis was still alive, she harbored the intention of developing a relationship with Madam Shen. However, since the old Marquis passed away, their second husband also lost his official position and returned to the mansion as an idle person. The whole family became dependent on the eldest son's family for their livelihood, and ultimately lacked confidence. Moreover, all the marriages of their sons and daughters in the future would have to rely on the name of the Marquis's mansion.

But she felt resentful about having to be subservient all the time. So, she only dared to make sarcastic remarks and grumble in a few mild ways when the occasion presented it.

The third wife, Madam Jin, was naturally competitive and loved to stir up trouble. How could she not jump out and say something now? "That's right, even our sixth young lady has been outshone."

Jin's background was ordinary, and her husband was not successful. She only had one daughter, the fifth daughter, and after several years without any joy, she had to let her concubine give birth to the son of her third wife.

She probably felt that no one in the mansion looked down on her, so she dared to say anything, making her both loved and hated.

The fifth sister sat next to Jin Shi and subtly tugged at her mother's sleeve. The sisters were studying together and would see each other all the time. Besides, even if the sixth sister was not favored by her eldest aunt, she was still the Marquis's own daughter. At the very least, the sixth sister's mother was the most favored concubine in the Marquis's harem, second only to her eldest aunt in status.

The sixth girl may seem young and shy, but her aunt is a wise woman who always taught her not to compete with her sisters, as there was plenty of time ahead of her.

Therefore, upon hearing Kim's words, they pretended to be deaf and ignorant.

"A woman should take pride in possessing both virtue and beauty, with virtue coming first, which shows that people still value virtue more." The speaker was the second daughter.

After these words were spoken, the elders could no longer bring up her appearance. After all, it was common knowledge in the Marquis's mansion that the second daughter was the most ordinary-looking, having completely avoided inheriting her parents' good looks and making herself look plain.

If it weren't for the noble lineage of the Marquis's family, which instilled in her an air of nobility, she would never have been the first to be noticed in a crowd if she had changed into ordinary clothes.

The old lady watched everything with a smile. She usually didn't care about these petty squabbles. Even if she could suppress them as an elder and only look at the surface peace, the children would eventually marry into other families. If they couldn't even handle the small matters in the mansion, what would they do when they encountered more troublesome things in the future?

As for the two concubines, they are no match for the eldest son's wife, so let's just treat it as a spectacle.

Hua Sirong, on the other hand, was a little uneasy. She had offended almost all the young ladies in the manor on their very first meeting, and her palms were sweating profusely.

The old lady was a kind-hearted woman. She patted Hua Sirong's head and changed the subject, "Sister Rong, have you ever been to school? Girls should read more books so they can become smarter."

Look at her second daughter. Although she is not particularly beautiful, she is the most talented woman in the household. This is her stepping stone to marriage.

Hua Sirong was unaware of the educational level of the young lady from the Marquis's family. She herself had not been very diligent in her studies and felt that she was not up to par, so she answered shyly, "I only know a few characters."

'Pfft—' The third young lady couldn't help but laugh out loud. Originally, she wouldn't dare to neglect her stepmother's niece in front of the whole family, but she still couldn't help it.

The fourth sister was the same age as the third sister. Relying on her status as the legitimate daughter of the second branch, the fourth sister always liked to bicker with the third sister of the first branch. How could she not know what the third sister was thinking? "What are you laughing at, third sister? Are you laughing at the new cousin who only knows how to use an abacus?"

The new niece of the Lady Hou was a merchant's daughter who was observing mourning for her husband; the other branches of the family had already received word of this.