♂?，，

  After the spring had passed, the snow melted and didn't accumulate, and the weather gradually warmed up. The distance between Yuxu Pavilion and Antai Courtyard was just a short half incense stick away. Ming Xuan no longer took the soft sedan chair, changed into her guest attire, and followed behind Sheng Jiang's back with a smile, asking, "I wonder if Grandmother has summoned Eighth Sister and Tenth Sister? If so, I'll wait for them to enter together."

  Yan's footsteps paused slightly, she hesitated for a moment, and lowered her voice to say, "It was the wife of the eldest son of the Duke who said that she had not seen Seventh Miss for a long time and wanted to see her."

  Her face showed a kind smile, softly comforting Ming Xuan, "When I came, the old lady had instructed me to let the seventh young lady be as she usually is. This will make things easier, no need to deliberately try to please or deliberately keep her distance. Just pay your respects, say a few words of idle chatter and that's it, don't let you wait for too long."

  Ming Xuan's eyes widened slightly, and a strange feeling flashed through her mind. For a moment, she thought of something, but then felt it was unlikely.

  She could only suppress the doubts in her heart, nodded and said, "Mm, I understand."

  In the east wing of the house, there was a lively scene.

  Madam Zhu and the old princess of Dongping sat together on a soft couch, holding hands. The wife of the heir to the title of Town Duke and several ladies from prominent families who often came and went sat in order on round stools at the lower end, each with her personal maid standing behind her. For a time, the room was filled with the rustling of pearls and the fragrance of flowers.

  Ming Xuan pushed open the pearl curtain and entered the house, and at a glance, she saw a woman sitting on the stool in the lower right corner. She was about 37 or 38 years old, with a round face and slightly plump cheeks. On her head, she wore a five-winged golden phoenix hairpin, and around her neck, a ruby-encrusted necklace hung down to her abdomen, looking very luxurious. Ming Xuan thought to herself that this must be the famous Yang Shi, the wife of the son of the Marquis of Town.

  Madam Zhu saw Ming Xuan approaching and hurriedly smiled, saying, "Xuan sister come over, this is the wife of the son of the Town National Duke, this is the wife of the son of the An Xiang Marquis, this is the wife of Yang Langzhong, the official in charge of the Ministry of War's Arsenal, they are all rarely seen, quickly come and pay your respects."

  Ming Xuan neither humbled nor haughtily greeted each person, thinking of the reminder from Yan's nanny on the way, she didn't say another word. She stood quietly behind Old Lady Zhu, and whenever anyone looked at her, she only smiled faintly.

  Yang saw the situation and smiled, beckoning to her, "So this is Xiang sister, it's been many years since we last met, and she has grown into such a lovely young lady, really charming."

  She took off a sheep fat jade bangle from her hand, pulled Ming Xuan over without any strangeness, and put the bangle on Xuan's sister's hand. "I came in a hurry and didn't bring anything good, this bangle will be a gift for meeting."

  After putting on the bangle, Yang's hand was slow to let go. She subtly grasped Ming Xuan's palm and looked down to see a red scar on her sister's palm that had not yet faded. Her expression changed as if she had confirmed something in her mind. The smile on her face was even more triumphant than before.

  Ming Xuan was extremely surprised, and just then Mrs. An Xianhou and Mr. Yang Langzhong also said they wanted to give her a meeting gift. She took the opportunity to carefully extricate her hand, turned her head to look at Zhu Lao's expression, saw her grandmother slightly nodding in silent consent, and only then did Dan Hong accept it, and bowed down to express her gratitude.

  Dongping Old Lady saw this, and immediately called Ming Xuan to her side, smiling and asking, "I heard that you were not feeling well a few days ago. Are you better now? When I was younger, I often felt unwell like this every other day. It's not very good. Next time the imperial physician comes to take my pulse, let him also leave two prescriptions for me to regulate and adjust."

  Ming Xuan's face turned slightly red as she nodded "Uh-huh, I'll listen to Auntie."

  Although she answered like this, she couldn't help but murmur again. In her heart, she thought that every month, the menstrual water came on time, and there was some pain and discomfort, which was normal. But after being said by her aunt, it seemed as if she had committed some kind of incurable chronic illness, and it sounded strange to hear.

  Madam Zhu saw that she was not quite at ease, and with a sympathetic tone, said, "Xuan's sister, since you're not feeling well, why don't you go back and rest first? The other ladies will understand and won't blame you for being rude or slow."

  Yang and the other two madams hastened to echo in agreement, "That's right, Xiang sister should hurry back and rest."

  Ming Xuan politely bid farewell and was escorted out by Yan's nurse.

  She was filled with suspicion, always feeling that the expression of the wife of the Marquis's son was somewhat abnormal. She had just noticed that the wife's gaze had been fixed on the scar on her palm for a long time, and she thought she would be asked a few questions, but Yang didn't mention it at all, as if she had known about it from the beginning.

  I wanted to ask Yan's nanny a few more questions, but I felt it wasn't quite right, so in the end, all these doubts were still hidden in my heart.

  Ming Xuan returned to the Washing Jade Pavilion when Ming Jue was also there.

  Yu Jin Ge had never been tidied up, so Gu Ming Ju had always stayed in the east wing of Yu Yu Ge. When she saw Ming Huan coming in, she walked forward with a familiar smile and wrapped her arm around Ming Huan's, asking with a grin, "I heard that Grandmother summoned Seventh Sister to meet guests, who all came?"

  Ming Xuan's mouth corners slightly twitched as she said in a low voice, "It was the old lady of Dongping who brought over several madams to sit for a while."

  She couldn't help but feel that her relationship with Qiang Jie wasn't good, and in the past, Qiang Jie had looked down on her with a proud and aloof attitude. But this time, after returning from Nanjiao, Qiang Jie's attitude was surprisingly different, making people feel frightened. At first, she insisted on staying in the Xiyu Pavilion and refused to leave, then she pretended to be close to her, and these days she had even become aggressive, resorting to violence.

  The way Madame Lian's husband did it was also incomprehensible.

  Yu Jin Ge is quite a large place, at first, under the pretext of being afraid of infecting others with dysentery, all the furniture was destroyed and then rearranged, it would take only two or three days to finish, but seventeen or eighteen days have passed, Yu Jin Ge has not been cleaned up yet, Madame Hou not only did not give any explanation, but also allowed Cui sister to make trouble in Xiuyue Pavilion.

  Ming Ji listened and slightly raised an eyebrow, but the smile on her face remained radiant, "So that's how it is."

  She changed the subject and suddenly asked, "The other day I was flipping through a notebook in Seventh Sister's study room, which recorded some insights on poetry and songs. These days I just happen to want to learn how to write poems, can Seventh Sister lend me that notebook for a few days?"

  Ming Xuan was slightly stunned, she didn't know how to write poetry and had never kept a diary. There were many reading notes left by Gu Changping in the study, as well as some notes from Gu Mingrui. She had flipped through them before, but found them uninteresting and stopped reading. Unexpectedly, Qiang Jie loved reading those things.

  Although she felt a bit strange, since Cai Jie had spoken up and said she wanted to borrow it, she couldn't very well refuse, so she nodded and said, "If you're going to use the study, then go take a look."

  This remark was quite clever - if according to Cai Jie's usual temperament, she would have flown into a rage and scolded Ming Xuan for being petty, but this time she didn't. Instead, her expression was very happy and excited. "Seventh sister, don't worry, I won't ruin those letters. I'll copy them down with pen and ink."

  Ming Que turned around and slipped into the study, shutting herself in for a long time without coming out.

  Ming Xuan's study had a collection of books and classics, most of which were already there before. There were also some poems and paintings written by Gu Ming Rong. When she first arrived, not long after, her grandmother was sorting through the belongings left behind by Gu Chang Ping, picking out many of his handwritten manuscripts from his study, putting them in boxes and sending them over to be placed on the bottom shelf of her bookcase.

  She thought there was nothing that couldn't be seen by others, and with the little maid sweeping in the study room beside her, she wasn't afraid of what Cang Jie would do, so she didn't stop her from going in.

  Ke Danhong whispered beside Ming Xuan's ear, "Miss, I always feel that Eighth Miss is a bit off."

  "Ming Xuan's eyebrows jumped, 'What's wrong with her?'"

  Dan Hong thought for a long time, biting her lip before saying, "Since Eighth Miss returned from the villa that day, she has been living in the east wing. Because there is still silver hidden in your room, I was worried and afraid of any mistakes, so I paid attention to her movements every day. Unexpectedly, the more I watched Eighth Miss, the stranger she seemed."

  She glanced around and then said in a low voice, "Miss Eighth came back and turned over your study. I saw her writing quickly with her head down, so I asked Yusi, the maid who was sweeping the floor, to pay attention to what books she was looking at. Yusi told me that Miss Eighth copied all the poems written by Second Miss, and the ones she flipped through were also the ones with notes made by Second Miss. Miss, don't you think it's strange?"

  Ming Xuan's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and although Cai Jie had some poetic talent, she didn't study as diligently as Hong Jie. Moreover, considering the current situation, Cai Jie must be more aware than anyone else after what happened last time. Now wasn't the time for reciting poetry or playing with words; Cai Jie was clever and wouldn't do anything pointless. However, no matter how much Ming Xuan thought about it, she couldn't understand Cai Jie's intentions. She quietly instructed Dan Hong, "Let Yu Si continue to pay attention to Cai Jie's every move. If there's anything unusual, report back to me immediately."

  Dan Hong nodded and said, "In the past, most of the things in the yard were taken care of by Snow Essence sister. Now that she's married and left, only I'm left behind. Sometimes I'm too busy to handle everything alone. Miss, would you like to promote someone from below to help me out?"

  This is true, she has to deal with the complicated affairs of the courtyard, manage the servants and maids, and serve the young lady wholeheartedly. She also needs to take good care of the silver tickets in the house, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

  Ming Xuan thought for a moment and said, "Su Wan is steady in her work, let's promote her to first-class, and then fill Su Xiao into the second-class example. Usually, it was Snow Su who took care of things in this house, now she has gone out to do things for me, and I haven't even mentioned bringing a maid up to help, these days must have been hard on you?"

  She suddenly smiled and scratched her rosy cheek, "From now on, just take care of the silver for me, and let the little maids do everything else."

  Dan Hong pouted and muttered a couple of sentences, causing the master and servant to burst out laughing together.

  At this time, Hu Tao came, "The noble guests at the old lady's place have dispersed. She has something to say to Seventh Miss, please go over."

  Complete works txt download, full text free, e-book, remember 77 reading books