Chapter 374: Chapter 375: Leaving

With a grim expression, Gu Lehuan said nothing. He ignored the bewildered Dazhuang and rushed off.

Dazhuang watched the retreating figure with disappointment and sighed inwardly. ’I wonder if the Master has any other solution for this crisis?’

Gu Lehuan ran all the way back to the Gu Mansion. The gatekeeper told him the masters hadn’t returned yet, so he could only retreat to his own courtyard in disappointment.

Over on her side, Xu Nuo heard Dazhuang’s report upon his return and was lost in a daze for a moment.

’Was I right to be so stubborn back then? If I had just gone along with my mother’s arrangements, would my situation be completely different now?’

She shook her head. ’What’s the point of thinking about this now? Being trapped in the rear courtyard and relying on servants for shopping isn’t a viable long-term plan.’

Only then did she realize just how naive she had been. ’If this keeps up,’ she thought, ’I’ll have no choice but to take the last resort.’

＆

Jin Qianqian spent the better part of the day shopping with Li Cuicui, only deciding to head back to the mansion when she saw the exhaustion on her mother-in-law’s face.

"We should have headed back long ago." After leaving each shop, Li Cuicui would clutch her chest in anguish. ’This daughter-in-law of mine is such a spendthrift! The Silver just keeps flowing out, one sum after another. It breaks my heart, but I can’t even criticize her.’

"These things are nice, they’re just too expensive." Li Cuicui knew she shouldn’t be nagging, especially since her daughter-in-law was buying everything for her, but she couldn’t help muttering, "It’s best to be frugal, to save for a rainy day."

Jin Qianqian helped her onto the carriage. "Please don’t worry, Mother. I can afford this. Besides, we can’t skimp on these things. You’re the matriarch of an official family now; you need to maintain a certain standard."

’The old madam didn’t bring any of her own people this time,’ Jin Qianqian realized. ’She must have kept her entourage small to save us money.’

And while they had assigned a serving woman and a maid to attend her yesterday, she probably wasn’t entirely comfortable with them.

Recalling that her mother-in-law only had Granny Song for personal attendance back home, Jin Qianqian decided it was necessary to get her more help.

"Mother, there’s a brokerage with a good reputation just ahead. Let’s stop there and pick out a couple of people to wait on you."

Li Cuicui turned to look at Jin Qianqian. "We have serving women here, and your sisters-in-law already send staff from the manor to help with daily chores. We don’t need to hire more people."

Jin Qianqian said, "That’s not very convenient, though. And Granny Song can’t possibly manage everything by herself. We’ll all rest easier knowing you have more people looking after you."

"What’s there to worry about? I lived perfectly fine before without any servants.

Life isn’t easy for you two out here; you don’t need to be so concerned about us." Li Cuicui was truly starting to understand. Living in this city, it felt like you spent Silver the moment you stepped out the door.

’When we were buying all those things earlier, the Seventh Wife kept stopping me from spending my own Silver, which made me feel even worse. This trip has really been a burden on the kids.’

Jin Qianqian, unaware of her mother-in-law’s thoughts, sat down beside her and affectionately linked her arm. "Mother, life was difficult in the past, and we couldn’t properly honor you. But now that your son has finally made something of himself, we can’t let you keep living a hard life like you used to.

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Besides, you’re the matriarch of an official family now. Your other sons and daughters-in-law aren’t doing poorly either. We have the means, so of course we should live as comfortably as we can."

Li Cuicui understood the logic, of course. It was just that after a lifetime of hard work, she wasn’t quite used to suddenly living a life of comfort.

"Life now is immeasurably better than it was before. I know that all of this is because of you two.

Let me make myself clear: you’ve done more than enough for this family. From now on, you just need to worry about your own little household. If any of the others dare to show up and cause you trouble, I’ll be the one to deal with them."

Li Cuicui then thought of Gu Yuanshui, who had come with them. "And that goes for your Fourth Brother, too. If he’s not a bother, let him try to make his way here on his own. But if he gets in your way, I’ll personally drag him straight back home."

Jin Qianqian had always known her mother-in-law was a woman of strong principles. Hearing her say this, the last bit of dissatisfaction Jin Qianqian felt toward Gu Yuanshui vanished.

"Shangjing is full of opportunities," Jin Qianqian said, soothingly. "With Fourth Brother’s cleverness, he might just be able to sort things out himself." She added a few more comforting words, successfully coaxing her mother-in-law to go to the brokerage and pick out two serving women.

Jin Qianqian noticed she skipped over the young maids, choosing two stout, strong-looking serving women instead. She asked curiously, "Weren’t the young maids nice?"

Li Cuicui shook her head. "They were all perfectly fine, pretty as flowers. It’s just that they wouldn’t be suitable for our home."

For some reason, an image of Gu Dashishi flashed through Jin Qianqian’s mind. ’She’s doing this to guard against him,’ she thought.

But she couldn’t possibly voice such a suspicion. Instead, she picked out two clever-looking young male servants.

"Doesn’t the mansion have plenty of people already? Are they not enough?" Li Cuicui asked casually, though she was inwardly stunned. ’This is far too extravagant.’

Jin Qianqian replied, "I just asked. Both of them grew up in Shangjing, so they know their way around.

I thought I’d assign one to Fourth Brother and one to Le Huan to run errands for them. It’ll be more convenient for them whenever they need to go out or get something done."

’As for the other staff in the mansion, most were people she and Ancient Wen Heng had painstakingly trained over the years. Every one of them had a specific purpose, and Jin Qianqian was reluctant to give any of them away so easily.’

"Why waste the money on that?" Li Cuicui could justify accepting two serving women for herself, but she couldn’t let Jin Qianqian spend money on her brother-in-law and nephew. "Your Fourth Brother has plenty of his own men; he just didn’t bring them with him this time.

And as for Le Huan... well, you know what his mother, your Second Sister-in-law, is like. There’s no need to go to the trouble for them."

It wasn’t that she didn’t care for her grandson. She just knew her second daughter-in-law’s character all too well; if they assigned a servant to Le Huan, Wang Caiyue would dare to turn around and sell them. She didn’t want their two families to have a falling out over such a trivial matter down the line.

Jin Qianqian said, "But here in Shangjing, they really need someone who knows their way around to run errands. If Fourth Brother and Le Huan don’t find them suitable, they can just leave the servants with me when they go. I don’t mind having extra hands."

Since the Seventh Wife had put it that way, Li Cuicui didn’t object further. She only regretted her earlier decision once more. ’Why did I ever think bringing fewer people would be easier? If I had known, we would have brought our own serving women and long-term followers.’

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law returned laden with their purchases. Upon arriving at the mansion, they learned that Gu Yuanshui had not yet returned, but Gu Lehuan had been back for some time.

"The boy said he was coming to find someone. Did he not succeed?" Li Cuicui turned to Jin Qianqian. "When you ran into them earlier, did you notice anything unusual about him?"

Jin Qianqian shook her head. "They didn’t mention anything to me."

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