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

Upon hearing this, Hua Sirong finally understood Granny Zhang's plan, but said, "I have no reason to refuse this."

She casually put the book into the box that Xiangcao had brought, placed it in front of Granny Zhang, and said, "Please take it back, Granny Zhang."

Seeing how easily the task was completed, Granny Zhang beamed with joy. "Miss is so understanding. No wonder Madam treats you with such kindness. Our Madam has not misjudged you."

Hua Sirong smiled sincerely, "My aunt is naturally good to me. I'll trouble Granny to persuade my aunt not to let these worries harm her health."

"Alright, alright. Miss, I'm sorry to have bothered you today. I'll go back and comfort Madam right away." Granny Zhang, holding the box, was overjoyed, bowed, and smiled sincerely.

----

After receiving the book, Granny Zhang felt as if she had wings on her feet as she walked back to Yimei Garden.

"Is that Granny Zhang from the First Madam's courtyard?" Two young maids in the garden were chatting amongst themselves when they spotted Granny Zhang in the distance and quickly hid behind the artificial hill nearby.

"Yes, it's Granny Zhang." The maid who answered was a familiar face; she was Xiangcao, the maid who served the Second Miss. However, she and the other maid had different focuses.

She spotted the box that Granny Zhang was holding, and it looked very familiar. Then, looking in the direction Granny Zhang had come from, she immediately sensed something was wrong.

She no longer cared about avoiding Granny Zhang and ran straight up to her, bumping into her.

The box in Granny Zhang's hand fell out with a thud, and its contents spilled out.

Xiangcao didn't bother to look at the box; she just pulled Zhang Mama to kowtow and admit her guilt. "Zhang Mama? This servant Xiangcao greets Zhang Mama."

"I was walking too fast and accidentally bumped into you. Please, have mercy on me this time."

When Granny Zhang saw that it was the second young lady's maid, she managed to suppress most of her anger.

"Why aren't you serving your master? What are you doing wandering around the garden?"

"Please don't be offended, Granny. The peonies in the garden are in full bloom. The second young lady has to finish her studies this afternoon and prefers peace and quiet. She doesn't want us to serve her closely, so she allowed me to come to the garden to enjoy the flowers for a while."

I was so engrossed in what I was watching that I lost track of time. Looking at the sky now, I realized it was getting late, so I hurried back to serve the Second Young Lady, not realizing I had offended the nanny.

In the meantime, Xiangcao also saw clearly that the book scattered on the ground was the one that had been sent to her cousin.

She crawled to the box on her knees, carefully picked up the book, and only had time to glance at the cover before it was taken by Granny Zhang, who was squatting down, and 'snap' put into the box.

"I'll let it slide since you were in a hurry to serve the second young lady. But if I ever encounter you being so clumsy again, don't blame me for being ruthless and punishing you according to the family rules."

"Yes, yes, thank you, Granny, thank you, Granny." Having escaped a beating, Xiangcao was moved to tears, without arousing the slightest suspicion from Granny Zhang.

Seeing that the book was intact, Granny Zhang ignored Xiangcao and quickly left.

Vanilla was left pacing around in circles. Ever since her daughter had accepted her fate, Vanilla had been looking for an opportunity to go to her cousin's place and exchange the original that had been switched out earlier.

But if the book were to fall into the hands of Yi Mei Garden, it would be an impossible task for her to retrieve it without the girl's knowledge.

Most importantly, she had made a grand promise to Young Master Meng in private, saying she would help him get the book ahead of time.

Young Master Meng treated her so gently, they were already... she was already Young Master Meng's woman, how could she go back on her word?

Xiangcao bit her lip, could only stomp her feet in frustration, and went back to the Second Miss's courtyard first.

"Miss, your servant is back." Xiangcao attentively served He Zhihuan.

He Zhihuan looked Xiangcao up and down. "What's wrong? Didn't you go to the garden to see the flowers? You look like you've been upset somewhere."

Xiangcao quickly knelt down, and when she looked up again, she looked furious. "Miss, I'm not upset. I'm just standing up for you."

"The young lady was kind enough to give Miss Rong a fine book. But... but just now, while I was admiring the flowers in the garden, I saw Granny Zhang from the Lady of the Marquis's courtyard take away the copy that the young lady had personally given to Miss Rong."

"When Mingming gave the book to her, Biao was so fond of it. But who knew she was two-faced, saying one thing to your face and another behind your back. In front of Mingming, she burned incense and took a bath before daring to touch the book."

But in the blink of an eye, less than a few days later, she trampled on the girl's sincere feelings and took the book to curry favor with the Lady of the Marquis.

When He Zhihuan first heard about it, she was shocked. She couldn't believe that Hua Sirong was such a person, and she couldn't believe that she had trusted the wrong person.

After all, it was because of Hua Sirong that she abandoned her previous plan.

Her body trembled slightly. "You personally saw Miss Biao hand the book to Granny Zhang?"

Xiangcao paused for a moment, but still answered truthfully, "I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I saw Granny Zhang carrying that book back to Yimei Garden."

"It's absolutely true. The book that the young lady gave away, along with the box containing it, was taken away intact by Granny Zhang."

He Zhihuan suppressed her embarrassment and said, "Fine, since it's something I gave away, there's no reason to ask for it back. Besides, it already belongs to Cousin Rong, and she has the right to handle it as she sees fit."

Besides, my seventh sister already has an identical copy; I only care what's the point of the one my cousin Rong has.”

Both sides have lost the original value of the unique copy. What does it matter if it ends up in my aunt's hands? It's just a matter of sooner or later.

"Miss!" Xiangcao couldn't believe that her young lady had let her off so easily with just a few words.

What should she do?

If the girl is willing to take the lead, there is still hope of finding her and making up for her previous mistakes.

But the girl remained unmoved. What effect could a mere maidservant achieve if she acted on her own?

Unable to find a breakthrough internally, she could only secretly inquire about the book's whereabouts and, with this information, quietly contact her young master Meng.

A private residence in the western part of the capital city

Vanilla, wearing a veiled hat, entered the house with practiced ease.

"Young Master!" Xiangcao lifted her veil and threw herself into the arms of the gentle and refined man.

A folding fan was placed against her chest, stopping her from taking any further action. "Vanilla, is there something you need?"

With a hint of shyness and annoyance in her eyes, Xiangcao said, "Young master, can't I come to see you if there's nothing wrong?" She felt that she had already crossed that line with Young Master Meng and was even closer to him than to her own mistress.

Meng Silang smiled without saying a word, and Xiangcao felt weak all over under his gaze. "It's my young lady. The rare book that you wanted to see, I could have found for you long ago. But my young lady made a foolish mistake at the last minute."