Rather die of poverty than die on the road with friends

  After circling around, the Fang sisters finally gathered together again. The four sisters arrived at Rumei's residence, and it was indeed worthy of being the powerful and influential Qingchang Hou Mansion. From the entrance to the backyard, their eyes were filled with flying eaves and curved tiles, and the emerald green glazed tiles shone like golden waves under the sunlight, exuding an aura of prosperity and good fortune, a magnificent and beautiful scene of a prosperous era.

  As soon as I walked out of the corridor, I saw a stone wall like a giant dragon winding down to the bottom. The houses in front of me were scattered and connected, after walking for a while, I stood in front of a house, on which there were three black thin gold characters: Huanmei Courtyard.

  "Look at this gate," said Mei, pointing proudly. "This is my courtyard. Everyone come in, it's too hot outside."

  Huanmei Courtyard is a three-entrance courtyard, after entering the gate and passing through a spacious yard, it is the main hall Yingbi Hall. Behind Yingbi Hall, there is a small garden, with east and west wing rooms on both sides, and a small flower hall in the south. The side house of the main house has a front and rear corridor connected to form a quadrangle courtyard.

  Rumei led her sisters to a flower hall in the south, in front of a purple sandalwood carved hibiscus embroidered screen, where a red wooden round table was set up. The sisters sat down at the table, and Rumei hugged Ru Mei's second son, gently teasing him.

  Ru Zhen took a sip of tea, looked around and clicked his tongue in admiration, saying to Ru Mei: "Your place is still the best, this courtyard alone is equivalent to the total of mine."

  Ru Mei knew that Ru Zhen's house was indeed small, and she wanted to show off a bit, but seeing Ru Zhen's clear eyebrows and eyes, she immediately changed her tone, "How can I compare with my elder sister? My elder sister is already the master of the house. And I, am just guarding my own three-point land and passing the days, often still doing things for others." Thinking of her mother-in-law's strictness and nitpicking, Ru Mei felt a bit downhearted.

  "Third sister's husband is not bad, and the difference in status is just right, don't be too greedy." After a pause, she continued: "As for your mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and younger aunts, don't take it to heart either. Which daughter-in-law didn't go through this?"

  Rumei nodded, feeling a bit better. At this time, the girls had already brought out tea and fruit, and were inviting everyone to eat. Like Qing didn't stand on ceremony either, grabbing an iced grape and starting to eat it.

  Rushan was dressed in a fine embroidered brocade robe, and she looked around the room with an air of satisfaction. The house had eight windows, each one open to let in the sweet scent of blooming flowers outside. At the window openings, small copper basins were placed, filled with ice blocks, and the cool breeze blew in from outside, making the interior of the house refreshingly cool.

  She picked up a grape and put it in her mouth, furrowing her brow, "Where did this grape come from? It's so unpalatable?"

  Ru Mei gave her a sideways glance and said discontentedly: "This is from Xinjiang, it was bestowed by the imperial palace. I heard that it was transported back on ice all along the way."

  With a gentle smile, she took out her handkerchief to wipe her dirty hands and said, "This tribute is not bad, but the local officials are all trying to be safe, so they usually only send stable tributes. It's better for our royal family to send someone to pick some fresh ones from Xinjiang."

  As if savoring the grapes, Ru Qing paused for a moment, glanced at Ru Mei's unwell expression and Ru Shan's self-satisfied face, lowered her eyes, and thought, never mind whether it was tributary or not, as long as it tasted good, that was all that mattered.

  Ru Mei's face fell and she looked displeased. She glared at Ru Shan with a cold smile, "Are you saying that the local officials dared to offer inferior goods as tribute?"

  "Good sister," said Yuanyu, "your words are wrong."

  "Who is the owner of this shop? And dare not give face to Yongning Bo's household?"

  As if sensing something, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked around, only to realize that this place was surprisingly familiar. It turned out to be the fabric store of Yongning Bo's estate. She recalled how when she first arrived in the capital, she had entered this very fabric store for the first time and was inexplicably treated like a noble guest by the female shopkeeper. Later, she was cornered by Jiang Yuran in the store and nearly scared half to death, after which she never came back again.

  Unexpectedly, time has passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, four or five years have already passed. It's no wonder that I didn't remember it at first, as the layout inside this shop has changed a lot.

  Only those two women were talking in a low voice, "Who knows, but in recent years, Yongning Bo has become more and more unwell. In order to marry his son, Yongning Bo's wife has done many things that make people angry and offended many noble families. Now many of them don't come to her anymore. Most people in the capital are stepping on each other's feet, it's probably just like that. Now seeing that the fabric store is not doing well either, regretting renting is also a reasonable thing."

  "I find it quite strange, wasn't business going well in previous years? How did it become like this in the past two years?"

  "You're always at home, no wonder you don't know anything about what's going on outside. This fabric store was originally managed by a woman named Zhu, who was very good at her job and had a way with customers. I've dealt with her before, she's great at doing business. But apparently, she offended the new wife of the Jiang family, so she got fired. The new manager is that woman's confidant, but unfortunately, he's useless, one loss after another, now it's finally come to an end, they can't afford to lose any more, so they're having a clearance sale."

  "Unlikely, I've also heard some rumors about the Jiang family's internal affairs. The Jiang family indeed has several concubines, but no matter how favored they are, Madam Jiang is not someone to be trifled with. She wouldn't let the concubines in the house interfere with the business of the shop."

  "Goodness, this news is really not getting through. The aunt I'm talking about is from the Jiang family's eldest son's household, named Ping Aunt, who is the cousin of the Jiang heir and the niece of Madam Jiang. This aunt relies on being Madam Jiang's own niece and is said to be even more domineering than the actual mistress in the manor. And since she has a good belly, having given birth to a boy with a strong arm, Madam Jiang is delighted, so she becomes even more arrogant and unreasonable."

  "...I'm still confused, didn't Jiang Shizi marry the county of Kai'an? The county of a prestigious marquisate like theirs actually allowed a concubine to climb on top?"

  "Kai'an County's health is not good, I heard that now he can't even get out of bed. Moreover, the old princess of Chengguo has also passed away, and his brother from his maternal family is also powerless, how can Kai'an County have a good life in the manor? Furthermore, with his poor health, how can he still manage that favored aunt?"

  Chen Xiang and Ling Long exchanged a glance, both seeing in each other's eyes the utmost sympathy for the opening of An County.

  Ru Qing quietly took the selected materials and walked to a corner aside, digesting the extremely confidential insider information she had just heard.

  It's no wonder that those who don't want to be favored concubines aren't good concubines. My cousin, who rose from being a cousin to becoming the person by my husband's side, is especially someone to guard against. That Jiang family's Ping Concubine must also not be a simple person.

  If she were to think about it, if her future husband also had such a fierce aunt, I reckon she would have no choice but to get angry and furious. With a mother-in-law as a backing and a competitive belly, just these two points alone would make even the most proper daughter-in-law fearful of her.

  Suddenly, I couldn't help but sympathize with the county magistrate of Anping. His own wife had given birth to such an unscrupulous concubine in his house, and she was still being protected by her mother-in-law as a noble concubine. It's likely that even if she had five parts illness, she would be driven to ten parts illness.

  However, based on the idea of "die together as friends, don't die in poverty", although she sympathized with Kai An County's misfortune, she was secretly rejoicing that fortunately Cloud didn't look down on her back then. Fortunately, fortunately!