Mu Guiyi was still a little worried, "Mother, why don't I transfer Jing Jing over to serve you? This way, I can be more at ease."
Lady Mu felt very comfortable in her heart, but she still shook her head, "Although there are not many people in the ancestral hall, you can still find someone to serve you. You don't have to worry. But in the future, you have to visit your grandmother more often and listen to her in everything."
Mu Guiyi said, "Daughter knows."
Lady Mu got up and pulled her daughter out of the room. She looked back at her mother's room and saw Nanny Yue, who had watched her grow up, standing there, seemingly sighing.
If there were any old traces in this mansion, it would be the Lim Clan's ancestral hall. The entire ancestral hall was simple and unadorned. It was somewhat old-fashioned and completely incompatible with the new Mu Province.
The ancestral hall was guarded by generations of old servants, Lin Ruan and the Lin Ruan family. When Madam Ma saw the mother and daughter come without warning, and Lady Mu was preparing to stay here for a long time, she was a little flustered and hurried to see them.
Madam Ma said carefully, "Madam, this place has always been simple. I'm afraid that Madam will be wronged. Why don't we prepare tomorrow and invite Madam over?"
Madam Mu laughed bitterly, "Now even Nanny Ma dislikes me for coming?"
Madam Ma hurriedly said that she didn't dare. Lady Mu sighed and said, "It was Mother who ordered me to come here and recite scriptures to pray for Yaohua."
When she heard that it was Old Lady Yun's order, Madam Ma didn't breathe a sigh of relief. Instead, she became more nervous. After a while, she stammered, "Then … then the Old Slave … the Old Slave will take people to prepare. Madam … if Madam needs anything, just tell the Old Slave's daughter."
Lin Ruan and Madam Ma's daughter had the double name Wan Lan. She originally thought that it would be a son. She didn't want to give birth to a quiet daughter who didn't match the prepared name. But on second thought, this was fate. She didn't think of anything else and simply called her Lin Wan Lan.
Lady Mu looked at the young woman with a madam's bun and said, "Wanlan is already so old. From the looks of it, she's already engaged. Which family's boy is he?"
Lin Wanlan didn't say anything and lowered her eyes. Lin Ruan was a little hard of hearing and couldn't hear clearly outside the door. She greeted Lady Mu loudly.
Ma said awkwardly, "This child is unlucky. Her husband passed away early. Now she can only come back to live and do some work in the kitchen of the ancestral hall. Madam, don't worry. The Old Slave knows what to do with the tribute, so she didn't touch it."
Lady Mu was also a little embarrassed. Logically speaking, as the mistress of the house, she should be the one to ask about these matters regarding the servant girls. But now, she didn't even know that the daughter of the old man in the manor had already married and even returned to be a widow.
Mu Guiyi stepped forward and waved her hand, saying, "Nanny, don't worry. Mu Province won't wrong Sister Wanlan. Yan Yan, tell the accountant to give Sister Wanlan her monthly allowance according to the steward's."
Ma pulled Wanlan aside and thanked her, then went out to tidy up the side room that Lady Mu was going to live in. Mu Guiyi also had Bai Suyan wait outside and then began to talk with Lady Mu.
Bai Suyan stood outside the door for a while. Seeing that they wouldn't finish talking for a while, she thought about the oleander and quietly walked away. She walked along the corridor and stopped from time to time, looking around as if she was admiring the scenery.
This ancestral hall was dedicated to seven generations of the Lim Clan. The area wasn't small, so Bai Suyan didn't dare to wander around, afraid that she would get lost.
Walking along the winding corridor for a while, she saw that the ancestral hall's plants were well maintained, but most of them were evergreen pine trees.
Passing through an arched door, she saw a small courtyard. Ma and Lin Wanlan were instructing the workers to plant short pine trees in a pit. Ma's complaints came with the wind, "Since the son-in-law came, he has become more and more mean. The 30 taels per month that he originally gave us has now been reduced by half. We can't even afford the red sandalwood incense every day."
Lin Wanlan remained silent and listened to Ma's long-winded words. She turned around and saw Bai Suyan standing not far away. Being seen by her, Bai Suyan didn't hide. Instead, she gracefully walked forward and bowed, "Sorry to disturb nanny and aunt."
Lin Wanlan had already been married, so it was appropriate for her to call her aunt.
Ma was startled by her and subconsciously covered her mouth to stare at her. Lin Wanlan calmly asked, "You came with Miss, right? Why did you come out? Did you get lost?"
Bai Suyan said, "It's like this. In the morning, a muddle-headed servant said that she had plucked oleanders from here and offered them to us. Miss was angry and took the servant girl away. That servant girl insisted that it was here. Miss was afraid that she had been wronged, so she accompanied Madam here and asked me to come and ask."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ma's sharp voice not only startled Lin Wanlan and the workers, but also Bai Suyan.
Lin Wanlan quickly calmed down and tugged at Ma's sleeve, saying, "Our family has been guarding the ancestral hall for several generations. Every blade of grass and tree inside has been carefully checked and planted by us. There are no oleanders like you said."
Bai Suyan didn't pester her too much, "I naturally believe Aunt's words. It's probably that servant girl's excuse. Sorry to disturb you."
Lin Wanlan nodded and said, "It's fine. After such a thing happened, we should be more careful."
Before Bai Suyan left, she glanced at Ma's unnatural expression and then at the pit that they had almost filled. When she returned to the front, Mu Guiyi was still talking to Lady Mu.
After Lady Mu settled down, Mu Guiyi went to see Old Lady Yun again. After dinner, she took Bai Suyan back to the small courtyard where she lived. Zhaozhao was sweeping the path with a broom. When she saw them, she curtsied.
Mu Guiyi was really tired today and ignored her. She went back to her boudoir and fell on the small couch. Jing Jing went forward and put two pillows behind her back. She poured tea and asked, "What happened today? Miss was gone for so long. Sir came and sat for a while. He didn't see Miss, so he left."
Bai Suyan raised her hand to signal Jing Jing to stop asking. She advised in a low voice, "Miss, you're tired today. Do you want to rest early?"
Mu Guiyi only tilted for a while before sitting up again, "No, there's nothing going on in the courtyard today, right?"
Jing Jing thought for a while and said, "Just Master sent someone to send an invitation. He said that Miss must go tomorrow."
Mu Guiyi pursed her lips, "What kind of poetry club is it? A group of women chattering. What else can they do other than compete?"
Jing Jing didn't dare to say more and added, "It was initiated by the second miss of the Yun family."
"The Yun family?" Mu Guiyi remembered that Old Lady Yun said that she would take her back to the Yun family to meet the girls of her grandfather's family. She thought for a while and opened her hand to signal Jing Jing to take the invitation. She carefully read the invitation twice. The invitation only said that there were fresh crabs and that they were invited to enjoy chrysanthemums and eat crabs together.
Bai Suyan knew her concerns, "Miss, don't you want to tell old madam that you'll go with her tomorrow?"
Mu Guiyi didn't answer and asked her instead, "Yan Yan, did you find anything wrong in the ancestral hall?"
Bai Suyan had completely overturned her previous impression of Mu Guiyi. She didn't dare to look down on this young girl who was only fourteen years old. She immediately took out a few flower petals wrapped in a handkerchief from a secret pocket and held them in front of her.
"Miss, this servant remembered old madam's words and acted without permission in the ancestral hall today. I found that Madam Ma and the others were planting quilts in a small courtyard on the west side. This servant carefully searched outside their courtyard and found these flower petals in a ditch. It seems that Zhaozhao went to pick them this morning and was discovered. Their family was afraid of being implicated, so they quickly moved them away."
Mu Guiyi picked up a flower petal and waved it at the faint light in the west through the window, asking, "Then who did Lin Wanlan marry?"
Bai Suyan hadn't been in the fu for long, so she didn't know. Jing Jing, who had grown up here, quickly responded, "This servant has never heard of Sister Wanlan getting married. If she really got married, wouldn't she invite this servant's parents to drink wine?"
Mu Guiyi played with the flower petal and sneered, "It's fine if she's short-sighted, but she's also acting recklessly."
Jing Jing had never seen her lose her temper, so she subconsciously shrunk her shoulders. Bai Suyan held the flower petal in silence.
In the evening, after helping Mu Guiyi bathe, Bai Suyan wiped her hair until it was half dry, then carefully moved the incense burner over and lit the incense. It was easiest to absorb the incense after washing up, so the fragrance on the body could last longer.
However, Mu Guiyi didn't like the incense very much, so she waved her hand to extinguish the incense burner in less than a quarter of an hour.
After everything was done, before going to bed, Mu Guiyi instructed, "We're going to the poetry meet tomorrow. You guys should also go down and prepare."
Jing Jing, who had originally been a bit scared by Mu Guiyi and had been timid all night, immediately beamed with joy when she heard this. "Miss is really taking us out?"
Mu Guiyi chuckled and said, "Hey, are you having fun? Go. "
"Okay!" Jing Jing eagerly helped Mu Guiyi to sleep. She pinched the corners of the quilt, lit the candle, and covered it with a glass lampshade. Then, she pulled Bai Suyan downstairs to prepare the clothes to wear tomorrow.
After returning to her room, Jing Jing began to rummage through her suitcase, which only had two or three pieces of clothing. She changed them over and over again, looking at herself in the mirror again and again. She also constantly pulled Bai Suyan to ask her which one was good.
Bai Suyan was still thinking about what happened during the day, and her thoughts unconsciously drifted off. She nodded when she was asked and thought about how she could leak some news tomorrow.
It had only been two or three months since they arrived in Mu Province. Under the seemingly calm surface, there were turbulent waves, and there was a sense of strangeness everywhere.
The people in Mu Province had already been replaced. Among the old people who stayed, they were either people like Dong Jin who wouldn't interfere unless it was absolutely necessary, or people like Old Lin's family in the ancestral hall who were obviously on Mu Jiahua's side.
What kind of place was the Lim Clan's ancestral hall? Without the permission of their masters, how would they dare to plant oleanders? The answer was self-evident as to who among the masters in Mu Province would allow them to plant oleanders.
After planting them, who would they harm? Would it be Old Lady Yun or Lady Mu? Thinking about it this way, Old Master Lin's visit back then was also strange.
"Older Sister Yan Yan, Older Sister Yan Yan, pay attention to me!"
Bai Suyan came back to her senses. She looked at the clothes in her left hand and right hand and said with a smile, "We're not the main character of the poetry gathering. Even if we're lucky enough to stand there, we're just looking at the elegance of the young ladies. It's fine as long as we pick something simple in color and material that doesn't embarrass Mu Province."
When Jing Jing heard this, she felt that it was reasonable. She put away the clothes, washed up quickly, and blew out the oil lamp. However, she still felt excited lying on the bed and tossing and turning for half the night.
The next morning, when Mu Guiyi went to pay his respects to Old Lady Yun, he mentioned about the Yun family's poetry gathering.
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