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

The younger generation, thinking about going out to see the lanterns, unknowingly stopped eating. The old lady noticed the children's restlessness, and also made an excuse that she was tired, returning to Fushou Hall.

The three men of the household went to the front yard to continue drinking, leaving their three sisters-in-law and a group of concubines chatting idly in the waterside pavilion.

Around the time when the moon was high in the sky, the gatekeeper came to report that the eldest aunt had returned home.

Madam Shen raised an eyebrow. "Please come quickly. The eldest girl probably came to ask her younger sisters to go out and play, but who knew that the younger ones would run away so fast and have already left first."

Madam Zhan said, "That's right. If you ask me, we should have just gotten the news from the gatekeeper and rushed off to chase after those monkeys. But our eldest daughter is well-mannered by her sister-in-law; she's coming into the mansion to pay her respects to us elders."

As they were talking, He Zhiying was led into the waterside pavilion.

Madam Shen: "Where is the eldest son-in-law?"

He Zhiying bowed respectfully: "We met the siblings from the manor on the street, and my husband is enjoying poetry with my elder brother and the others."

Shen asked curiously, "Then why didn't you play with your sisters? Why did you go back to your parents' home alone?"

He Zhiying's eyes darted around, "I'm already a married woman, how can I be as carefree as my sisters?"

Neither Madam Shen nor Madam Zhan called out the obvious lie, but Madam Jin asked, "Married women rarely return to their parents' home. Did Ying'er inform her husband before returning to the mansion?"

He Zhiying: "Of course I did. When my husband takes my younger siblings back to the mansion later, he will pick me up on the way."

Only then did Madam Shen feel relieved. At least she knew her manners; otherwise, her good reputation as the legitimate mother would have been ruined by this illegitimate daughter.

He Zhiying: "Mother, Aunts, I'll go for a stroll in the garden and won't disturb your moon-viewing any longer."

Madam Shen waved her hand, "Go on, go on, young people can't sit still."

I don't know what's wrong with someone returning home alone. Madam Shen drank some wine today and is a bit tipsy right now, so she doesn't have time to deal with her married illegitimate daughter.

Mrs. Zhan's eyes darkened, but she didn't intend to interfere. Mrs. Jin was still enjoying the osmanthus wine.

As soon as He Zhiying left the waterside pavilion, she immediately put on a cold expression and hurried towards the pavilion where Hua Sirong was.

"Grandma, please slow down. Where are you going?" The maid accompanying her was sweating profusely. This lady was difficult to serve even at home, let alone now that she was married.

He Zhiying then stopped. "You wretched girl, you're really meddling in my affairs! Do you think you can tell me where I'm supposed to go? Do I need your permission, you lowly servant?"

The little girl immediately sensed something was wrong. It was obvious that her great-aunt had come back to cause trouble.

Unfortunately, she was unlucky and was assigned by the head housekeeper to serve her temporarily.

She bowed her head in apology, and then gave a meaningful glance to another maid in the mansion, urging her to slip away in the chaos and find the head maid.

If this old lady goes crazy later, even if she risks her life, she might not be able to stop her.

Hua Sirong heard that things seemed to have quieted down on the other side of the waterside pavilion, so she figured the event was probably over and prepared to return to Qingwu Courtyard.

He had just stood up and hadn't even stepped out of the pavilion when a jeweled woman slapped him across the face.

With a crisp 'smack,' Hua Sirong was stunned.

Fortunately, she reacted quickly, and the slap didn't land entirely on her face; most of the force was absorbed by her arm.

Before the group could react, the woman had already started pulling out Hua Sirong's hair and clothes.

While shouting, he said, "I want you to add makeup, I want you to add makeup. What kind of makeup is that? It's just bad luck!"

With Chunyan's help, Hua Sirong finally escaped the clutches of the evil spirits, only then realizing that the person who came was He Zhiying, the eldest daughter of the Marquis's mansion, whom she had only met a few times.

Hua Sirong had no interest in fixing her makeup, and simply asked, "What's wrong with you, cousin? When did I ever send you any makeup?"

He Zhiying was pulled away by the maids and servants. Although she was the perpetrator, she had been secretly attacked by the fat girl next to Hua Sirong, and she didn't look very good at all.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. Hua Sirong dared to lie through her teeth. She pointed at Wang Mama and said, "You asked this old woman to deliver it, don't you remember?"

Because of the shop incident, Hua Sirong knew that things might not be peaceful in the near future, so being beaten made her feel a little relieved.

"What did I give you? Let me see it, older cousin."

He Zhiying: "A pair of bracelets!"

Hua Sirong: "Can you produce it?" If you produce it, I'll acknowledge it.

He Zhiying: ...

Where did the evidence come from? She glanced at it and then told Xiaoyue to pawn it.

I'm so angry just thinking about it. "It's all your fault. If you hadn't put on that damn makeup and affected my luck, my stepmother wouldn't have let me take away the maid who's served me in the Marquis's mansion since I was a child."

They then hastily bought a few unruly dogs from outside to appease me. This caused me to quarrel with my husband right after our wedding.

And then there's Xiaoyue, who I thought was well-behaved, but she climbed into her son-in-law's bed before anyone else.

He Zhiying glared fiercely at Hua Sirong, venting all the hatred and grievances that had accumulated in her heart over the past few days.

Hua Sirong wanted to roll her eyes. She wasn't going to take the blame. "I won't say anything else, but this Xiaoyue is your trusted maid. She betrayed you like that, which shows that you have more problems. I may have bad luck, but you can't just use me as an excuse."

She couldn't manage her subordinates, which allowed them to take advantage of her, so she tried to pin her husband's betrayal on an outsider like herself. How dare she!

Some of the servants, sensing the situation was not good, slipped out to invite Madam Shen and the others.

The three sisters-in-law of the Shen family rushed over with the help of maids and servants. They first checked on He Zhiying and Hua Sirong, and seeing that they were alright, they urged the servants to fetch water so that the two could wash their faces and do their makeup.

After the two had finished getting ready, they dismissed the bystanders and began the joint trial.

Using the excuse of being drunk, Shen invited Zhan to question him.

Ms. Zhan, understanding her sister-in-law's situation, took on this thankless task.

Madam Zhan: "Could it be that Ying'er deliberately chose today to return to her parents' home?"

Seeing that He Zhiying remained silent, the others understood.

Madam Zhan said, “If Ying’er has been wronged at the Zhuang family’s residence, she should just send someone back to tell her mother. It is indeed improper for her to come to the door in person to cause trouble for the young lady who is staying at the manor.”

He Zhiying retorted, "If it weren't for Hua Sirong's unnecessary actions before my marriage, I wouldn't have had such a troubled marriage!"

Even Jin Shi was now on Hua Sirong's side. "Your own man can't control his legs, and you blame others? Why don't you blame your own bad luck for not being born a princess?"

Madam Zhan's eyes were stern. "Ying'er, although you are a concubine's daughter, you are the eldest concubine's daughter of the Marquis. To put it bluntly, even my Zhen'er doesn't necessarily study at home as well as you do, nor are you as valued by the teacher."

Therefore, regardless of how your sister-in-law taught you, you were taught a great deal at home how to be a qualified head housewife.

You agree with that!