Bai Suyan was already 16 years old this year. Naturally, her bones couldn't be compared to a toddler's. Other than that, she only had one year to prepare.
The Hall Master of Qinglong Hall looked like a middle-aged scholar. He spoke slowly, "If you want to speed things up, it's not impossible to use medicine. However, if you want to speed things up, you have to pay a price. After 30 years old, every time it rains, your joints will feel a piercing pain. After 40 years old, your bones will become loose. After 50 years old, you can only lie in bed. Of course, if you take good care of yourself, you won't be paralyzed."
After he finished speaking, the Hall Master of Qinglong Hall looked at the pale Bai Suyan. "Think carefully about what to do. I'll give you two days."
Bai Suyan didn't walk too far away from Qinglong Hall. She just walked slowly along the wall, but her mind drifted far away.
From the situation last time, Mu Province's management was as strict as the Imperial Palace. How many Đại Việt rebels had infiltrated? Even the people sent by the Raccoon had lost 70 to 80% of their manpower. The remaining people were in remote positions and couldn't be found out much.
Originally, there was one person who endured for more than 10 years and finally became Lady Mu's personal maid. Unexpectedly, she was found out. Before she died, she spread an important piece of news — Mu Province was colluding with the Đại Việt rebels.
More importantly, there would be an unavoidable consort selection four years later. This year, Luoshuanga's father had just passed away for less than a year. It was time for her to observe mourning for her father. It wasn't appropriate for her to wantonly enrich the harem, so she didn't participate in the consort selection. However, there was no reason for her to participate in the selection four years later. Four years later, Mu Guiyi would be 16 years old and would be selected.
The imperial court and the imperial harem had always been closely intertwined. Mu Province was the country's founding hero, Lin Mao's descendant. For some reason, the Lim Clan had always had difficulty in having children. When it came to Old Master Lin's generation, the two brothers actually didn't have a single son. Only Lady Mu had a drop of blood. The closest relatives in the father's generation had either died or lost contact.
Mu Jiahua was the only one who could not do anything about it. The Lim Clan was, after all, the descendants of meritorious officials. His family's only legitimate daughter was participating in the election. Even if this only daughter was not outstanding, as long as she did not make any big mistakes, she should still be selected or married into the imperial family. Moreover, this only daughter was a talented girl who was outstanding in all aspects.
There was no news in Mu Province, so their knowledge of the situation was limited. However, was this Mu Guiyi the original "Mu Guiyi"? Could it be that Đại Việt had already switched the crown prince? Could it be that Đại Việt's royal bloodline was naturally sent to the Da Qing Emperor's side?
Other than entering the palace with the women to pay their respects during festivals, Mu Guiyi only secretly came to visit the siblings last time. It could be said that she usually lived in a small courtyard, isolated from the rest of the world. If she was switched, who would be able to detect it?
If Đại Việt could send one Princess Tumi to infiltrate the House of Bai, who knew if there wouldn't be another one?
"You don't have to take the risk for this kind of thing." After walking around again, Bai Suyan raised her head. Even though she was wearing a mask, she could still feel her brother's worry.
"Brother, you and I both know that there are many people in" Raccoon "who will do this." Bai Suyan looked down at her hands that were clasped together and slowly tightened, "But I want to do this. This is an opportunity that Cang Huang has given me, an opportunity for the House of Bai, and perhaps also an opportunity for Gui Yi."
When their mother was still alive, she had a good relationship with Lady Mu. The two families visited each other frequently, so the siblings had more opportunities to see Mu Guiyi than others. Their feelings towards Mu Guiyi were also complicated.
Mu Guiyi was strictly controlled and there were few people in the capital who could get along well with her. The first time she saw the little girl, she was a cute and round doll sitting in the corridor, staring blankly at the sky. At such a young age, she actually revealed a bit of loneliness and loneliness.
At that time, Bai Luoyan went up to her with a smile, "Where did this little fairy come from? She's so cute."
She turned around. There was no caution or fear in her eyes when she saw a stranger. Instead, there was the joy of finally seeing an old friend. She said, "Brother, I'm Gui Yi. We've met in your dreams before!"
One year later.
Da Qing experienced the first natural disaster since the new Emperor ascended the throne. Su City was in a drought for a long time and there was a famine. Fortunately, the government had enough surplus food and immediately took measures to relieve the disaster. However, there were still many families that were torn apart. One of them, a little girl named Sanya, became an orphan in the disaster. With the help of her neighbors, she buried her relatives and went alone to the capital to look for them.
This little girl named Sanya had an aunt. Her surname was Lin and her name was Dong Jin. She had been working in Mu Province for more than 40 years. She was originally Old Lady Yun's maidservant, but later became Lady Mu's wet nurse. Her husband's surname was Li and he was the household's steward.
Dong Jin's elder sister, Xia Shi, was originally Old Lady Yun's maidservant and was also given a position as the household's steward. However, the old mother of the steward missed her hometown and made a fuss about going back. The couple had no choice but to resign from the main family and return to their hometown to look after their old mother.
Old Master Lin and Old Lady Yun were kind and agreed. They even kept the couple's positions. Unexpectedly, it was seven years later.
When the news of the disaster in Su City reached the capital, Dong Jin sent people to look for her elder sister's family. When they came back, they said that her elder sister's family had all gone except for one little girl. She couldn't catch her breath and directly fainted.
When she woke up, she found out that her niece had gone alone to look for her relatives and there was no news of her at all. She immediately felt sad and wailed. She had only seen this child when she was young. Now that she had grown up, she was afraid that she wouldn't recognize her even if she saw her on the road and missed her.
She was also afraid that when the child reached the capital, her family would not be there. With Mu Laoye's personality, he would definitely not let strangers into the residence. Wasn't this forcing the child onto the road of no return? For a moment, her heart was in a mess.
Dong Jin and her husband discussed and then went to look for Lady Mu and Mu Laoye one after another.
Looking at Dong Jin, who was kneeling and crying, Lady Mu also felt pity for her. She hurriedly instructed the maidservant beside her to help her up and comforted her, "Nanny, don't worry. I'll inform Master and instruct the servants to inform you as soon as they have news. Is that alright?"
Hearing her mistress's agreement, Dong Jin immediately knelt and kowtowed again and again, "Thank you, Madam! Thank you, Madam! Thank you, Madam! "
On the other side, Mu Laoye and Mu Jiahua did not allow it, "It's been seven years. How do you know if that's your niece or if someone deliberately impersonated her?"
Steward Li knelt on the ground and kowtowed again and again, "Please, Master. Seeing that our family has been trembling in fear, we have worked hard even if we didn't have any merits. Now that the girl is here, we will arrange for her to do some cleaning work in the outer courtyard. We will not let her come near the inner courtyard."
Mu Jiahua snorted coldly, "How can you control someone who has an ulterior motive? Don't mention it again. You're dismissed! "
"Master …" Steward Li wanted to say more, but was stopped by Mu Jiahua's fierce gaze. Thinking about the fate of his colleagues, he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger and retreat.
When the husband and wife met, one was happy and the other was sad. They were sad and happy at the same time and did not know what to do.
Mu Jiahua turned and returned to the inner courtyard. When Lady Mu mentioned it again during dinner, his face instantly darkened.
Seeing her husband's unhappy expression, Lady Mu was very puzzled and joked, "It's just taking in an orphan girl. Why is Master so troubled? Could it be that our family is already broke and can't afford to raise a little maid?"
Who knew that Mu Jiahua would actually smash his bowl and chopsticks, "Just an orphan girl? Madam, how do you know if the person who came was really an orphan girl? What if it was arranged by someone with ulterior motives … "
"Listen to what Master is saying. As long as this child comes to our fu, it's fate." Lady Mu's beautiful brows knitted together and interrupted him, "As long as you are upright, you don't need to be afraid of slandering. Master, tell me honestly. What kind of shameful things did you do outside that made you so afraid of being schemed against?"
"You!" For a moment, Mu Jiahua was speechless. He could only snort coldly and leave with a flick of his sleeve.
When he was gone, the toughness on Lady Mu's face gradually faded away. It was replaced by 30% grievance and 70% exhaustion. Her eyes reddened, but she didn't cry. After all, she was no longer the naive daughter of a boudoir who didn't know any better.
Lady Mu's head maidservant, Foliage, poured a cup of tea and handed it to her. Seeing her master's troubled appearance, she felt bad for her master and secretly scolded Mu Jiahua for being petty. Madam had never asked Master for anything. This time, if it wasn't for the wet nurse's pleading, Madam would have been soft-hearted. However, Master was too heartless to ask the fu to take in someone!
Lady Mu slowly sipped the tea, and her mood gradually calmed down, "Maoye, go and inform the guards. Tell them that if an orphan girl comes to seek refuge, they must keep her."
Maoye acknowledged and left. After a while, Lady Mu sighed, "Foliage, go and see Master. Also, bring these dishes with you. They're all Master's favorite."
After she gave the order, she saw that Foliage was motionless with her head down. Lady Mu was very irritated, and her tone became stern, "What's wrong? Didn't you hear me? Or do I already have no power to order you all around?"
Foliage stomped her feet and knelt in front of her. When she raised her head, her face was full of tears. Lady Mu was shocked, "What's wrong with you?"
Foliage bit her lower lip hard until it bled. Then, she gathered her courage and said, "Madam, why are you always the one to admit defeat? You clearly didn't do anything wrong. Master should be the one to admit defeat and comfort you. If it wasn't for Madam, Master would just be a student who sells calligraphy and paintings on the street! "
"Shut up!" Lady Mu slammed the teacup on the table. Foliage fell to the ground and kowtowed heavily. Her shoulders trembled with sobs.
After angrily rebuking, Lady Mu felt tired all over. She was so tired that she didn't want to move at all. When did this start? When did she start to live like this?
She used to be a proud daughter of heaven. When she got angry, everyone revolved around her. She was also a rich young lady who needed everyone to coax and make her happy.
But ever since she met this man, he knew that she didn't like arrogant women, so he began to suppress himself. Later, she even forgot that she was a person with a temper.
Lady Mu said tiredly, "Forget it. You can leave. I want to rest!"
Lady Mu gave the order to the gatekeeper, and Mu Laoye immediately sent someone to pass on a message: If anyone dares to let anyone in, their entire family will be driven out of the capital.
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