The spring of the royal palace, warm and pleasant, the tender-skinned women in the palace often appear under the trees or beside the flowers to enjoy the view. (To be continued, next page.) It is said that those who come to greet the old queen mother form a long queue from dawn till dusk, and there are always soft voices and laughter in her courtyard. It is said that during meals, tender-skinned women often stand behind the queen to serve her. It is said that in the courtyard of the crown prince's wife...

  Jiang Wanruo, this spring was the same as before, on a regular day she would go out of the mansion, usually staying in her own room, at most going to the courtyard to stand for a while, admiring the sprouting tree leaves, watching the ants crawling on the ground, and listening to the idle chatter of the maids in the courtyard. Every morning, two housekeepers would attend the early meeting convened by the young master's wife. At this time, the maids in the courtyard were much more lively than usual, they would do their work while holding their own small meetings.

  At first, they were all a bit wary of Jiang Wanruo and only dared to exchange messages in low voices when they passed each other. As time went on, they realized that as long as they didn't make too much trouble, Jiang Wanruo wouldn't bother with their trivial matters. Their voices gradually grew louder, and later, even in front of Jiang Wanruo, they would mention the gossip they had heard. Standing in the courtyard, Jiang Wanruo listened to the maids' loud conversations, which contained obvious reminders, but she just smiled slightly and listened calmly, her expression as calm as ever.

  The Wang Fu and Lian Hua will become the scenery that she will pass through in her life, no matter how beautiful they are, they cannot be lingered on. The maids gather every morning to discuss the news of those delicate women. For example, the younger sister of the Shizi's wife's cousin, who is exceptionally beautiful and has a gentle temperament, is quite favored by the old Wang Fei. It is said that San Ye has already accompanied her to dinner at the old Wang Fei's place, and San Ye praised the woman as being both talented and beautiful. The maids were saying this when Jiang Wanru was in the courtyard, looking up at the tender green new leaves on the trees.

  The maids saw her calm and collected expression, each of them sighing and lowering their heads to continue with their work. Jiang Wanru thought about the spring rain from a few nights ago as she gazed at the sunrise on this morning, and couldn't help but feel concerned for that nest of ants under the tree. She ran out of her room and squatted down under the tree to search for the nest of ants. Under the tree, there was only scattered warm soil, and no sign of the busy ants moving house. Jiang Wanru sighed as she lowered her head, these days in the Wang Fu were really too dull, she actually had the leisure to worry about the life and death of ants.

  The maidservants coming and going in the courtyard caught sight of Jiang Wanru sighing under the tree, exchanging subtle glances with each other, their eyes gradually filled with joy. They started talking about the younger sister of the second master's wife's cousin, saying that she had a delicate beauty like a flower, a slender figure like a willow branch, and most importantly, she was also skilled in cooking. Every day around noon, she would personally cook two dishes and send them to the old queen and the queen to taste. It is said that after the third master tasted her cooking, he nodded in approval and said "delicious".

  The movements of those delicate ladies are currently the biggest concern in the Wang Mansion. Those ladies initially had a curiosity about Jiang Wan, and would often take the initiative to create opportunities to meet her outside the courtyard.

  Those women took a good look at Jiang Wanru's ordinary and vain heart, and their curiosity was satisfied. They had already seen the handsome husband of the future, and they knew that they should put their efforts on the blade, turning their heads to use their hearts on Old Wangfei and Wangfei. Jiang Wanru stood up from under the tree, and she also returned to her peaceful life with satisfaction.

  The maids in the courtyard looked at Jiang Wanru, who had stood up, with excited eyes, hoping she would look over and ask them about things. Unfortunately, Jiang Wanru walked into her room with a calm expression as before, leaving behind a group of disappointed maids. The maids thought about the pampered guests in the Wang Manor, among whom might be their future mistress. Those women's spoiled behavior made them want to help Jiang Wanru hold onto Master Lian's leg tightly.

  Ji Yan walked to a corner of the courtyard, watching the disappointed little maids who had failed to persuade Jiang Wan. She shook her head and headed towards Jiang Wan's room. Ji Yan entered the room and saw Jiang Wan standing by the desk, with a brush soaking in a water bowl on it. Smiling, she said to Jiang Wan: "Miss, those little maids look so disappointed, but you didn't even ask them about those women." Jiang Wan laughed upon hearing this, thinking that the guests were difficult to get along with privately, which made the little maids panic and hope that they could stay with Lian Hua.

  Jiang Wanru smiled lightly and shook her head, saying: "Third Master doesn't care about anything, two housekeeping women are kind-hearted, spoiling all the little maids in the courtyard. Later when the new mistress comes, it seems that a large number of people in this courtyard will be replaced." Ji Yan added with a smile: "Miss is even more someone who doesn't care about anything." Jiang Wanru just smiled lightly after hearing this, she was only a guest at Wang Fu for three years, why bother to help others manage and offend people.

  Jiang Wanru's expression turned serious as she began to practice her calligraphy. Jiyan closed the door and also shut the open window. She sat down beside Jiang Wanru, taking out a small piece of red fabric that she had brought with her, preparing to embroider it into sachets. Jiyan was now skilled at needlework, and by the time she finished embroidering one sachet, she looked up to see the sweat stains on Jiang Wanru's forehead. She stood up, took a fan and began fanning Jiang Wanru. Perhaps outsiders thought that Jiang Wanru was still as carefree as before, but only Jiyan understood that Jiang Wanru was now working hard in preparation for the future.

  Ji Yan sat down again, picked up the needle and thread, and started working on the sachet according to the pattern given by her sister-in-law. After Fang Zheng got married, his wife directly entered the store to work, responsible for receiving some young female customers. She was knowledgeable, considerate, and meticulous in her interactions, inadvertently taking on some orders for embroidered sachets that were used as gifts for women getting married. When Jiang Wanmu put down her pen, Ji Yan looked up at her, and in Ji Yan's eyes, Jiang Wanmu may have had an ordinary appearance, but after looking at her for a long time, she could see a unique subtle elegance on her body.

  The sound of knocking on the door came from outside, along with the voice of a housekeeper: "Madam, are you available?" Ji Yan saw Jiang Wanyu's slightly furrowed brow and stood up to open the inner door. She walked out and opened the outer door, shaking her head at the housekeeper standing outside: "Miss said that if it's really important, go to the window to talk about it. If it's a small matter, you can handle it yourself." The housekeeper stood frozen in surprise outside the door, thinking that Jiang Wanyu had just been in a bad mood and casually told them something a few days ago. After all, in previous days, Jiang Wanyu had been quite polite to them.

  After the New Year, Jiang Wanru would often lock herself in her room within the Wang estate. Only auspicious words were allowed to enter and exit the room, while others were not permitted to enter. She had explicitly told the two housekeepers: "In recent days, I'm afraid of noise. If you have urgent matters, please speak from outside the window, don't knock on the door and disturb me." It was only on the day when Lian He came to visit that she would allow the housekeepers and maids to enter and exit her room while he was present.

  Jiang Wanru's room, cleaning and sweeping has always been a trivial matter. The two housekeepers at the time listened to her words and didn't think she had said anything out of place. Both thought that Jiang Wanru had long since developed feelings for Lian Hua, but because of Lian Hua's indifference, she had no choice but to hide her true intentions. Now that Lian Hua was getting close to her, she slowly began to reveal her emotions. Who would have known that the Wang household had added some cunning and clever women? Those women were obviously candidates for future mistress of the house. In this situation, Jiang Wanru's resentful tone towards them was completely normal behavior.

  The housekeeper hesitated for a moment, then thought of the miscellaneous things in the yard and still had to report to Jiang Wan. She turned around and walked towards the window, which was now slightly open, with Jiang Wan standing by the window, frowning at the housekeeper. The housekeeper stood under the window and said: "Madam, two big girls have reached the age, their families want to redeem them, what do you think about this?"

  Jiang Wanru stood by the window and heard this kind of thing, she directly told the housekeeper outside the window: "This kind of thing, you handle it yourself. I'll tell you once today, from now on, things in this courtyard, don't come to me again. If there's something you can't handle, Third Master is in the mansion, you can ask him for instructions directly. If Third Master is not in the mansion, you can report directly to the Young Master's wife and let her make the decision."

  Jiang Wanruo completely distanced herself in her words, clearly expressing her intentions. From now on, she would absolutely not interfere with any matters within the manor again. The housekeeper understood Jiang Wanruo's words and stared at her for a moment before nodding and saying, "Madam, I will inform Master about this matter." As the housekeeper retreated, her figure exuded disappointment. However, Jiang Wanruo felt indifferent, as everything in the Wang Manor would soon become insignificant to her.

  Jiang Wanru had been preparing for life after leaving the Wang Manor. Although she had a good plan in mind, she couldn't shake off the feeling of unease about her future days. She vaguely felt that even if she cooperated with the Wang Manor's actions, within a short period of time, the people in the manor would not allow her to leave their sight. Under this hidden worry, she could only work hard to do things and think about earning more silver coins to hold in her hands.

  Not long after the year, she had let Mugen take his parents to Zhongnan first, letting them go ahead and clean up the house, fix the places that needed to be repaired, and plant some vegetables in the yard. She had decided that when the time came, only Fang Zheng and his wife would stay in Beijing, as they were both clever people who knew how to deal with those who were trying to test them. After a few months, when Beijing was still calm, Fang Zheng's parents and Mugen could return first.

  Fang Zheng had heard her arrangement, but he still had worries in his heart. Those worries were exactly what Jiang Wanru was worried about. She wanted to erase all traces of her departure, but this was a very difficult task that Fang Zheng alone could not accomplish. Jiang Wanru hoped that three years later, she would return to the capital as a simple and unassuming Jiang Xiaolan, an identity unrelated to the Wang Manor or the Jiang family.

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