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

"Since my father hates the second branch of the family because of my mother's death, why has he continued to support them all these years?" Hua Sirong no longer wanted to call them "second uncle" or "second aunt." The second branch had never shown any affection to the first branch of the family from beginning to end.

When she was a child, she envied the second wife's large family and wanted to fit in with them. However, she was always bullied by her cousins ​​from the second wife's family. She didn't want to bother her father with these trivial matters, so she became more withdrawn and didn't like to go out and socialize.

"Even my mother doesn't understand the deeper meaning." If the second wife's family had fallen into poverty, they might not have had the chance to harm their daughter now.

The clan still cares about its reputation, and might not be willing to completely break ties with the girl, causing her to leave for a distant place.

"Mom, do you think my father's death might also be related to the second wife's family?" After all, her father was dead, and she was the only woman left in the family. As the closest blood relatives to her family, the second wife's family could easily have the right to take her family's wealth.

Madam Wang was so shocked by Hua Sirong's guess that she was speechless for a long time. If we're talking about who would benefit the most from the master's death, it would definitely be those heartless bastards from the second wife's family.

"But even if it really is a second wife, we don't have any evidence." Wang's mother was a little discouraged. Even though they were still in their hometown in Xishan, several months had passed, and any evidence they had would probably have long since disappeared without a trace.

"Besides, the eldest master and the second master are brothers, surely it's not that serious?" Wang Mama said uncertainly.

"Alright, I'll make a note of this and find a way to investigate it later." The most important thing right now is to stay alive.

Having seemingly relieved most of her worries, Wang's mother noticed that her daughter had become much more cheerful recently, at least no longer forcing her to copy scriptures every day.

"Mom, tomorrow is the beginning of the month. Go to Baiyun Temple and stay overnight. On your way back, visit those two small shops in our capital. If it's convenient for the shopkeepers, bring back the account books for me to see."

"Oh, and when you enter the mansion, be careful to avoid people. Our livelihoods will depend on these two shops from now on."

In fact, she still had many banknotes available for withdrawal at the money exchange. It was after her father's funeral that Manager Ning suddenly approached her privately and handed her two boxes. One box contained the deeds to the shops, estates, and lands that her father had acquired.

The other box contained a small jade radish seal, which she said her father still had money deposited in a money exchange, and that with that seal, he could accumulate as much as three million taels of silver.

When Hua Sirong heard this, she almost forgot the grief of losing her father.

Her father had left her far too much.

Previously, her perception of her father's love was limited, but now, through this huge sum of money, she has a more direct understanding of her father's love and care for her mother and her.

Unfortunately, she is now living under someone else's roof. Even though she has gold bricks, she doesn't dare to use them, and she doesn't have any capable people to make the money work for her. So she has no choice but to give up.

Fortunately, they still have two shops in operation, so they don't have to worry about being strapped for cash.

"Yes, Mother knows. But tomorrow is the first day of the lunar month, and Miss has to go to pay her respects to the Madam and the Old Madam of the mansion. Mother won't be by your side to accompany you. I'm always worried about you taking Chunyan with you."

"Mother is overthinking it. I'm not leaving the manor, so what could possibly happen? I'll just kowtow to the old lady outside; I won't stay any longer."

“But when we went to pay our respects last time, neither of the two wives of the old lady were easy to talk to, and the young ladies from all sides were also not nice to talk to. I’m afraid you’ll be wronged.”

“Mother’s concerns are valid, but alas, we won’t be able to see any of the young masters and ladies in the manor tomorrow.”

"How could that be?" Mrs. Wang frowned.

"Mother forgot that the young masters and ladies in the manor have to go to school every day. The old lady prefers quiet, so she only asks them to go to the old lady's place to pay their respects on their days off."

The family school had a ten-day break.

"If the old lady instructed me to pay my respects that day, it should be on the first or fifteenth of the month, so I won't run into them. And if it's a major holiday, they'll be off work, and I'll be wearing mourning clothes, so I can't attend either. So, Mother, you're really worrying too much."

Wang's mother: ...I wasn't comforted at all; instead, I felt even more upset.

"I thought the old lady was kind and gentle to the young lady, but I never expected... I never expected there to be so many twists and turns in it."

Hua Sirong wiped away Wang's tears and smiled at her to show that she didn't take the matter to heart.

"What about what the old lady said about letting the young lady study with the other young ladies in the manor?" Wang Mama asked again, still unwilling to give up. "Could it have been a joke too?"

Hua Sirong never expected that Wang Mama would have overheard this. "If she really allowed me to study with the young ladies of the manor, why would she have promised to let me pay my respects on the first and fifteenth of the month?"

"My daughter," said Wang's mother, holding her daughter in her arms, "my poor girl."

Hua Sirong patted Wang Mama's trembling body, "Mother, someone of my status is not suitable to go to school with the young ladies of the manor."

Mrs. Wang knew that her daughter was lying when she said she "only knew a few characters".

When they lived in the old house in Xishan, the master was away on business and was often away from home. However, he spent a lot of money to hire tutors to come back and teach the girls. It wasn't that he wanted to produce any famous talented women; it was just that when the lady was still a young lady, she regretted that she hadn't learned enough.

The master remembered these words and was very willing to invest in his only daughter, Hua Sirong.

As for how well his daughter learns, he doesn't care. He only says that she shouldn't end up like her mother, who would regret it for the rest of her life.

Hua Sirong enjoyed top-notch one-on-one teaching and learned a lot. Although she wasn't proficient in many things, she had a wide range of knowledge. Compared with ordinary women who believed that a lack of talent was a virtue, she was quite different.

“Our young lady is no less intelligent than the young ladies of the Marquis’s mansion. Even if she doesn’t go to school, our young lady is still the most intelligent one.” Mama Wang pursed her lips. At this moment, the Marquis’s mansion was still stingy in her eyes. It was a pity that the Hua family had given the Marquis’s mansion so many good things.

"Since Mother has said so, what is there to regret? From now on, let's just live our lives well in Qingwu Courtyard."

"Mother isn't thinking about what the girl will learn in school, but she's worried that the girl hasn't had any close friends since she was little. Now that she's in the capital, she doesn't even have anyone her age to talk to. If she goes to school, at least she can make one or two close friends."

Hua Sirong knew that Wang Mama meant well, but she couldn't tell her directly that the social hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants meant that the young ladies of the Marquis's mansion would look down on her, a merchant's daughter.

The fact that they didn't point their fingers at her and say she was unworthy to be associated with was already a sign of the Marquis's respect and the upbringing of the young lady of the Marquis's household.