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

Mrs. Wang waited outside for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before she was invited in.

She only got to the eldest daughter's courtyard, where the eldest daughter greeted her from the corridor; she didn't even have a chance to go inside the house.

"Greetings to the young lady. Your wedding is approaching, and my daughter has specially sent this old servant to add to your dowry." After saying this, Wang Mama handed the box to the maid beside her.

The maid took the box, walked up to the young lady, and opened it for her to see.

The young woman saw that the bracelets were of decent quality and was about to touch them when she suddenly pulled her hand back, as if she had thought of something.

“I appreciate your kind gesture, Miss. Please ask this lady to thank you on my behalf.” The eldest daughter would never say that she had invited her cousin to come and sit down.

When my cousin first arrived, she stopped attending school because her wedding was approaching.

Speaking of this mansion, she and the newly arrived cousin each stayed in their own courtyards. Two young girls of the same age should have a lot to talk about.

As the hostess, she should have taken the initiative to invite her cousin to sit in the courtyard.

At the very least, she could go to Qingwu Courtyard and talk to Hua Sirong.

But she simply looked down on him and never took the initiative to invite him out even once. Even when they met on ordinary days, she would rarely exchange a word, for fear of being tainted by bad luck.

This is the perfect time for her to get married, so it's even less likely that she'd invite some unlucky guy into her life, lest it affect her luck after marriage.

When Wang's mother came to deliver the gift, she didn't even get a cup of tea; instead, she returned to Qingwu Courtyard full of anger.

When she got back, she complained to her daughter, "I presented the bracelet to her, and she looked at me like that. She liked it, but she wouldn't take it, as if it were dirty."

Hua Sirong's smiling face visibly paused, then she casually said to Wang's mother, "It's understandable that she's superstitious about these things."

Fortunately, you brought the bracelet back yesterday, and I only glanced at it without touching it. I think it should be fine to give it to the young lady.

We've already given the gift; as long as it's polite, that's fine. We don't care if she likes it or not. Good mother, since the gift has already been given, let's not worry about it anymore.

What could Wang Mama do? She was just a servant; she couldn't just tell the proper mistress of the house that she looked down on people and that she didn't care about the gifts they sent, and demand that she return them to her.

He could only sulk in silence.

But she didn't know that there was something even more infuriating.

"Miss, should this bracelet be included with the other dowry items?" Xiaoyue came out to serve again after Wang Mama left.

It's not that she doesn't know how to shirk her responsibilities, but rather that she knows that if she tries to avoid it, she'll lose face.

The young woman first looked at Xiaoyue's face, which was obviously covered in rouge. It was hard to tell unless you looked closely. "I told you I was careful with my touch. Look at your face. It looked scary just now, but it was fine in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

"Yes, Miss cherishes me, how could you have really hurt me?" Her head was lowered, concealing the resentment in her eyes.

"Yes, you're so sensible. Don't worry, I'll definitely take you with me when I get married. Serve me and my future son-in-law well, and I'll reward you accordingly." Xiaoyue didn't see the fleeting look of jealousy on the eldest daughter's face.

Then she said, "I don't know where this bracelet came from. What if that cousin wore it? Wouldn't that be bad luck?"

Xiaoyue didn't dare to say much, but she knew that the gift her cousin had sent was newly bought. You could tell at a glance by looking at the box and the bracelet. But she would never argue with her cousin over such a trivial matter again.

"Then this servant will put this bracelet in the storeroom, and it will go with the young lady's dowry."

"You don't believe me when I say you're not very bright and only have a face that's barely presentable. You want to go with my dowry? Just because this stuff has passed through my cousin's hands, I wouldn't dare to trust it so easily."

Xiaoyue, come here. I'm telling you, secretly take this bracelet outside and pawn it at a pawnshop. Get the money back. The young lady doesn't have many good things; they're all from her allowance.

Her aunt was not favored when she was alive, and died of illness when she was just over twelve years old.

The eldest daughter originally thought she would have the opportunity to be raised by her stepmother, but her stepmother made the excuse that she was too old and it would be fine for her to live in a separate courtyard.

Moreover, all the children of the Marquis in the family were her children. Whether they were raised by her or not, they were taught the same way. Because of this, the eldest daughter forgot her own aunt who had given birth to and raised her.

The matter was dropped, and the young woman began her wild growth, developing the outwardly strong but inwardly weak personality she has today.

Although the young lady didn't have a large personal fortune, she still had a good eye and naturally realized that the bracelet was worth a few taels of silver.

She absolutely refused to wear it, but she couldn't bear to give it away as a gift.

After much deliberation, I decided that exchanging it for silver would be the most appropriate option.

The eldest daughter thought she was being discreet, but in reality, if anything happened in her courtyard, Lady Shen would immediately receive the news.

She held it in and didn't lash out. She was just a concubine's daughter who was about to get married, and she didn't want to cause any trouble at this critical juncture. After she went to her husband's family, there would be ancestors to teach her how to behave.

However, for the sake of the family's reputation, she secretly arranged for the steward to redeem the bracelet quietly, making sure the Marquis's residence was not exposed.

However, in Aunt Shui's courtyard, she used this incident to educate her sixth daughter.

"Don't be like your eldest sister, she's so shallow. She's only acting because she's the Marquis's first daughter, otherwise you'd see how much trouble the Madam can cause her."

The sixth daughter was a good girl who listened to her aunt, but she still asked, "But that cousin from the main wife's family really shouldn't have added to the eldest sister's dowry, it's so unlucky."

If she gets married, she doesn't want to receive something like this; who knows if it's a blessing or a curse?

"Sixth Miss, why do you think like that? Putting aside everything else, in our aristocratic families, when does someone not die? Even the servants who serve us have people who die in their families, but they only get two or three days off to go back and mourn."

The next day, they were still serving their master as usual. If we followed the eldest young lady's taboo, all the servants around us would have been replaced time and time again.

The sixth sister was shocked. She had never thought of this before. "But, but servants are our property. They are not considered people, so there is no need for them to observe mourning."

Yes, that's it. Sixth Sister felt she had finally found a reason to refute her aunt.

Aunt Shui was truly distressed this time. She quickly dismissed the servants who were attending to her. In the past, she had always taught the Sixth Miss in front of them, but this time she regretted it.

Seeing that her aunt's expression had turned sour, the sixth girl stammered softly, "Aunt, did I say something wrong?"