In the summer, on the centuries-old acacia tree in Jihou's mansion, the cicadas were anxious.

Mrs. Hou woke up from the couch and frowned and scolded her subordinates.

"Are they all dead? Don't stick to those annoying things yet. ”

"Yes" Yahe, the little girl at the bottom, hurriedly took the little girl with her and picked up the bamboo pole to stick the cicada.

At this time, Mama Yuan hurriedly entered the door and whispered in the ear of the eldest lady for a moment.

"Go down, all of you," said the eldest lady

"Oh? Those people ran away with the money in print. The eldest lady raised her eyebrows, and then said, "Then isn't she bloodless?" ”

"Yes, eldest lady, I heard that this time Sanfang took out all the stickers over the years to put this seal money, who knew that what I met was a bunch of scoundrels, and I ran away with the seal money, and I heard that some went to the barracks, and it would be more like looking for a needle in a haystack if you want to recover it." Grandma Yuan said in a low voice.

"Oh, you deserve it! Over the years, the Hou Ye has rewarded a lot of good things to this fox, and he is still so delicate at such an age, and he is not too stumbling. The eldest lady scoffed.

"Our Indian money, there's no problem, right?" The eldest lady suddenly smiled and said nervously: "I must send someone to take a good look, and I can't make mistakes!" ”

"Yes! The old slave saved. ”

"Also, this matter must be done in secret, and no one else must be allowed to catch it."

"This matter was done by the third son himself, and the eldest lady can rest assured." Grandma Yuan said.

The third son is her son, who follows the big housekeeper in the outer courtyard, and now her family is working for the Hou Mansion.

Her man Cao Qin is in the Zhuangzi outside, he is the chief steward, in addition to the son of the third son, she also has a daughter, who serves by the side of Miss Yun in the fourth room.

The eldest lady nodded, and asked again, "How is the West Courtyard?" ”

"If you go back to the eldest lady, the Gui family is still familiar, and the few maids and women who were sent there also stayed, and they look soft." Grandma Yuan said.

"Soft?" The eldest lady sneered: "If she was soft, she would not have grabbed that idea of dowry and refused to rush into the public school." ”

Speaking of those dowries, the eldest lady has seen those dowry lists here, which is really jaw-dropping.

"After all these days, is there any movement in her stomach?" Mrs. Ji asked again.

Grandma Yuan shook her head and said hesitantly: "It shouldn't be no, the West Courtyard has always been like an iron bucket, airtight." ”

With a "snap", Mrs. Ji put down the teacup, lowered her face, and said, "There are so many maids and women who have entered, are they all waste?" I can't even inquire about such a simple thing as whether I am pregnant or not, this is really 'soft'! ”

Let's say that the west courtyard of Jihou Mansion is the courtyard where Ji Yunyi, the eldest son of the concubine, is located, and Ji Yunyi almost didn't live in the mansion before, and they all lived in the courtyard of Bianliang City.

Since marrying, he seems to have realized a lot, as long as he gets off the court, he will return home on time, and he will no longer go out to eat and drink and listen to the drama and fight crickets.

"When will you be able to send these people?" Ji Yunyi said with patience.

Those maids given by the eldest lady, in addition to Hongluan and Qingxiu, there are a few more Ling'er, Mei'er and the like, dangling in front of his eyes every day, and he just wants to be angry.

"I can't help it," Gui Mingyue smiled and poured him a cup of tea to clear the heat and relieve the fire, and then said: "How can I resign from the reward of the eldest lady?" ”

"With your ability, you can't quit how many maids," Ji Yunyi snorted angrily and said, "I think you just deliberately kept me disgusting." Thinking about those women with fat and powdery faces, Ji Yunyi shuddered.

Gui Mingyue bent the corners of her lips and looked out the window in a daze, now that the days of canaries like this made her more and more unenergetic. In this Hou Mansion deep house, in addition to watching the gang of aunts in the main courtyard around Ji Hou Ye like bees every day, I just watched the girls in front of me circling around Ji Yunyi like flies......

At night, waiting for Gui Mingyue to fall asleep, Ji Yunyi, who was resting in the study, quietly entered the bedroom again.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at this person who was still frowning when he was sleeping, Ji Yunyi sighed, there was pity and confusion in his eyes, and there was frustration, after a long time, he stood up and left.

Early in the morning, Gui Mingyue got up and went to the eldest lady's room in the main courtyard to say goodbye.

On the way, I met the fourth aunt's wife and Ji Yun.

"Sister-in-law, it's so early," Ji Yun greeted from afar: "Let's go together." ”

"Sister Yun, the fourth aunt is early." Gui Mingyue followed unhurriedly.

The fourth aunt nodded slightly, her face was gentle and calm.

Along the way, Ji Yun kept chattering and asking: "Sister-in-law, is my eldest brother good to you?" What do you do on a typical day? Can I go play with you? ”

Gui Mingyue nodded with a smile and said, "Naturally, whatever you want to eat, I will make it for you to eat." "Jin Qi'er's cooking skills have increased dramatically in recent years, and with her teaching, in addition to those traditional dim sum, such as fruit egg rolls, nougat, and crab soup buns...... These favorite snacks in Gui Mingyue's previous life are also decent.

"Okay, okay," Ji Yun immediately responded happily.

"Thank you, Grandma," the fourth aunt said softly, smiling like a spring breeze.

"Hmph, what's the matter, people have their own mother-in-law, and they really think they're a green onion." While speaking, a fragrant wind struck, and the third aunt's wife, who was swaying lightly, walked over from another path.

"I said grandma, the days are not short, and this stomach hasn't moved yet?" The third aunt's wife leaned closer to Gui Mingyue's ear and whispered, "If this continues, Master Hou and Mrs. should also be in a hurry." ”

Ji Yun, who was closest to Gui Mingyue, couldn't help blushing when she heard the faceless words of the three rooms, and glared at her fiercely, she was shameless, and people wanted it.

"Third aunt early," Gui Mingyue didn't annoy or answer, as if she said that she had nothing to do with others and herself, and was indifferent.

"Third sister, why is your face so bad today, but you are not feeling well?" The fourth aunt asked softly.

"Fourth, what do you mean?" The third aunt suddenly jumped to her feet and said hatefully: "Okay, you can be proud, see how long you can be proud." "The matter of putting the money in the seal by himself must have been said by this woman who is used to being on the surface and behind the scenes, and she was scolded by Hou Ye yesterday.

Gui Mingyue had no intention of getting involved in the fight between them, but the face of the three rooms was much worse than in the past, as if she was many years old, and the thick incense powder couldn't cover the dry wrinkles and haggard at the corners of her eyes.

After everyone asked for peace, they spoke for a while, and Gui Mingyue was desperately holding back her yawn, when she heard the soft and timid voice of the second aunt's wife above her head.

"Grandma, can you please let Lang'er come back......

"Yes, it's a young master of the Hou Mansion, how can he have been living in a merchant's house for a long time, and it's spread out, where should we put our faces?" Mrs. Ji took over and said.

Although he didn't name which merchant this merchant was, who was present didn't know that Young Master Ji Yunlang Ji had been living in Gui Mingyue's maiden house for more than a year.

The eldest lady was not merciful when she said this, and directly put her contempt for Gui Mingyue on her face. The third room watched the upright Gui Mingyue who was sitting upright, and the fourth room was talking softly to Ji Yun beside him as if he hadn't heard it.

Only the Lian family beside Mrs. Ji looked uneasy, bowed his head and said nothing.

"Yes, eldest lady, my daughter-in-law will go and invite the fourth young master back to the Hou Mansion today." Gui Mingyue said respectfully, as if she hadn't heard the words of contempt and disparagement for the merchants.

That's it? Shh I know that this Gui is the same straw bag as the second room, and now in addition to Lian's, there is another her, and let Mrs. Ji rub the edges and rub it round. The third aunt and wife were bored with contempt.

"It's good that you understand," the eldest lady was satisfied with her obedient attitude, and then said to the others: "It's time for breakfast, I won't keep you, you stay and eat with me." ”

"Yes," the concubines and ladies commanded.

Previously, in order to establish rules for the newly married Gui Mingyue, he ate at the same table with his wife and concubine for some time. Who knew that Gui Mingyue was a dull and rough lady who was not happy at all, plus as the main room, looking at the delicate warblers and Yanyan on the table, and from time to time throwing a wink at Hou Ye or something, it was really disturbing to look at it, who could still have a good meal?

So after a few days, I resumed the habit of going back to each room to eat by myself.

Gui Mingyue came to the dining table.

"Don't be restrained, sit down and eat." Mrs. Ji suddenly became kind again.

"There are no outsiders here, just one of us in total, don't be restrained, just eat." Saying that, Mrs. Ji sandwiched a red bean soft bag for Lian and Gui Mingyue.

Lian hurriedly thanked his mother-in-law flattered, and Mrs. Ji nodded lightly.

Gui Mingyue didn't have much appetite, only took a small bite, and her face was still gentle and obedient, even a little woody, and she didn't show too much enthusiasm.

The three of them had breakfast with their own thoughts.

"This is the new tea before the rain this year, try it." Mrs. Ji didn't mean to let Gui Mingyue go, but invited her to taste new tea.

"How?"

"Well, it's good, it's delicious." Gui Mingyue said vaguely, as in the past, this would have been a long time ago for me to go back to the beautiful Huilongjue, and now I was forced to listen to the nonsense of the morning, and ate a greasy breakfast, and now even if it is a good stubble before the rain, Longjing doesn't care, not to mention that this tea is not the tender tea of the first stubble.

Mrs. Ji took a dumb sip of tea, and a trace of disdain flashed in her eyes, after all, a merchant is a merchant, no matter how much she has a lot of money, the daughter she raised is also a soil bun, and she is only worthy of drinking some Longjing tea.

"Since it's your own family," Mrs. Ji cleared her throat and said softly: "I won't be polite to you, your dowry should also be smoothed out, your western courtyard itself has few houses, your parents pity you, and the dowry is indeed a lot, so you should find a proper place to settle it." You don't understand these things when you're young, so let's do it, Lian's will help your sister-in-law put those things in place instead of your mother. ”

After finishing speaking, Mrs. Ji confidently recruited Grandma Yuan and a few girls who could calculate with her.

While despising Gui Mingyue's merchant status, he coveted her money.

Gui Mingyue, who was still wilting just now, immediately woke up with a stirring spirit as soon as she heard the dowry. Where is there still a trace of wood in her eyes, I saw her Yingying get up, and said in a manic voice.

"Look at what you said, how can these things bother the princess and grandmother Yuan, don't forget that I was a businesswoman before I got married, and I can't taste the Longjing tea of the first stubble and the second stubble...... That's the account, the pen and the pen are all settled. Gui Mingyue said: "Although the West Courtyard is not big, but my idea of dowry has already been properly placed, don't believe it, you can ask your husband a question?" ”

Hmph, bring me the money? What is not good to mention, you have to mention money!

In the past few days, Gui Mingyue, who has wilted, immediately entered a combat state covered in chicken blood.

Mrs. Ji was a little dumbfounded by her words, she was just a concubine, not as good as the princess, and the dowry must be included in the treasury. Their daughters-in-law have the right to keep their dowry in their own yards.

Mrs. Ji's face was cold, and the grandmother next to her opened her mouth and said: "Grandma Da Shao, it's not appropriate for you to do this, the second room is accompanied by dozens of people from the master's subordinates, although the Hou Mansion is powerful, but it is not possible to raise so many idlers in vain." ”