The next morning, it was still Lixia who brought the news: The Heir Apparent had been in the palace all night, only returning to Mingde Hall in the latter half of the night. He hadn’t disturbed Seventh Miss, merely making simple preparations in his own bedroom in the western fifth room, then waking the night-duty Lixia to give her a few instructions before leaving Mingde Hall. Accompanied by several personal guards, he had mounted his horse and departed.

“The Heir Apparent said the matter in Guangzhou is very urgent—he had to leave for Guangzhou immediately. Whatever matters you have, wait until he returns, and don’t be anxious about them,” Lixia said, her brow unable to conceal her resentment. “Leaving for Guangzhou on the second day after the wedding again…”

Seventh Miss couldn’t help but smile.

This extremely busy man truly came and went like the wind—once again leaving home the second day after his wedding.

Somehow, she felt somewhat relieved—at least this time, the pressure to consummate the marriage could be postponed for another three or four months.

She then washed and dressed to pay her respects to the Grand Madam.

The Fifth Young Madam had arrived early, and the Fourth Young Madam wasn’t late either. Seventh Miss arrived almost simultaneously with her, nearly following the Fourth Young Madam’s shadow into Leshan Residence. The Eldest Young Madam came somewhat slower. Upon entering, she immediately apologized, “I’m late today—ah, Dalang had an upset stomach again, which delayed me quite a bit.”

The unmistakable Shanxi accent in her speech seemed to displease Grand Madam Ni greatly. The Grand Madam frowned slightly and responded dismissively, “Zhang Shi, you should still call for a physician—Dalang’s health has never been particularly robust. As his mother, you must care for him more diligently.”

The Eldest Young Madam immediately lowered her eyes submissively. “Yes, Grandmother’s instruction is correct.”

Standing at the back of the group, Seventh Miss observed coldly, feeling that Grand Madam Ni truly lived up to her reputation as a capital noblewoman. Though she wore a smile and her words were beyond reproach, her two different tones alone created a stark distinction between intimacy and distance.

Before long, the men and several unmarried concubine daughters also arrived. The room suddenly became lively. The Grand Madam seemed to find it somewhat noisy. At her slight frown, everyone understood. The Eldest Young Madam was first to rise and take her leave to pay respects to Madam Xu, so Seventh Miss took the opportunity to slip out of Leshan Residence.

Having many people had its advantages. Everyone coming to pay respects to the Grand Madam took half a shichen—how could the Grand Madam have the mind to make things difficult for her?

As Seventh Miss walked along, pondering, she entered Qingping Courtyard only to come up empty: Madam Xu hadn’t slept well last night and was currently in deep sleep. The old matron personally turned everyone away—none of the young madams had been able to enter to visit their mother-in-law.

The Eldest Young Madam had already returned to her Zhishan Hall early. Seventh Miss happened to meet the Eldest Young Master face-to-face. Both smiled cordially, exchanged courtesies, and went their separate ways.

With so many people in the household, even paying respects required several trips—and this was with Duke Pingguo having stayed overnight in the palace and not yet returned to the estate, otherwise there would have been another trip to Menghua Pavilion. Seventh Miss felt that after completing this circuit, her appetite had been thoroughly stimulated. Unusually, she added a snack to her breakfast before recovering enough energy to instruct Lixia, “Gather the stewardess matrons from the eastern wing and have them come see me one by one.”

As the proper mistress of Mingde Hall, it was entirely natural for her to consolidate control over its personnel. Lixia went out to give instructions without a word. In less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the limited number of servants in Mingde Hall had assembled in the western first room.

The western first room was decorated for daily living, furnished with a set of hardstone-inlaid ironwood furniture selected by Grand Madam. The craftsmanship was so exquisite it even surpassed the decorations in Grand Madam’s Suzhou residence. Even Seventh Miss couldn’t help but admiringly examine the figure patterns in jade and mother-of-pearl inlay at the headboard several times before beginning her first interview of her life.

In her previous life at work, it had always been others selecting her, never her selecting others. After arriving at the Yang household, though she had some degree of authority over personnel appointments and dismissals, she ultimately still had to consider Grand Madam’s opinions. But now this small territory of Mingde Hall was genuinely under Seventh Miss’s control: Xu Fengjia had also made it very clear that he was away from home year-round, and Mingde Hall’s affairs would ultimately be managed by Seventh Miss.

Seventh Miss had also formed some vague ideas in her mind. Though her dowry servants were considerable, they weren’t quite enough to fill Mingde Hall’s positions. Besides, she had no intention of using only her own dowry personnel.

All the servants originally assigned to Mingde Hall were currently locked up in a manor from Madam Xu’s dowry. Currently managing the indoor and outdoor cleaning were two middle-aged servant women borrowed from Madam Xu’s courtyard—both honest and measured, articulate in their responses. Though illiterate, they were very capable of managing the four or five menial servant women and five or six young maids under them. These lower positions really didn’t require much attention—as long as they could honestly do their work and weren’t frivolous or flighty, that was sufficient.

Seventh Miss sent someone to ask the old matron’s opinion and accordingly kept these two matrons to continue managing affairs, directly entrusting the eastern wing matters to Matron Hu and Matron Chu. Initially, it was just cleaning the eastern wing thoroughly, washing and airing the original bedding and other items, replacing what needed replacing… and so on—countless trivial matters.

The two stewardess matrons originally from Yuyu Pavilion had also come with Seventh Miss as part of her dowry. After years together, no one understood Seventh Miss’s temperament better than them. Matron Hang and Matron Xiao Wang naturally took over the stewardess duties, except that as the Heir Apparent’s wife, the quota for matrons managing sweeping, welcoming guests, and seeing them off in her courtyard was eight people. Madam Xu’s subordinate stewardess matrons numbered in the dozens. These two matrons couldn’t complete all the tasks.

Seventh Miss had prepared for this early on. She simply invited the old matron and Fifth Young Madam into Mingde Hall, then holding the roster herself, asked the old matron to select four servant women who were usually honest, cautious, and aligned with no particular faction. After asking the Fifth Young Madam on the spot, she directly transferred these four matrons into Mingde Hall.

The Fifth Young Madam wore an expression of quiet compliance, also approving of the old matron’s judgment. “These are all people I’ve found most useful in my daily work—still, Mother’s people have the best discernment.”

When she spoke, her voice was crisp and thin, rather like a little opera performer practicing scales, combined with a Beijing accent—strange yet not strange, not strange yet somewhat strange, making listeners feel all sorts of things.

The old matron glanced at Seventh Miss and simply smiled.

When it came to verbal sparring, Seventh Miss was confident she wouldn’t lose to anyone.

“Fifth Sister-in-law, please don’t take offense.” She smiled slightly, lifting the small lidded cup decorated with children at play to sip some clear tea.

She had been about to mention that after taking charge, she would inevitably need to deal with the stewardess matrons, so gathering these four capable deputies under her command was only proper. But Seventh Miss suddenly recalled Xu Fengjia’s instructions.

She couldn’t help but slightly furrow her delicate brows.

Her original plan was to use taking charge as a pretext immediately after entering the household to rattle the grass and startle the snake, testing the Fifth Young Madam’s reaction.

But Xu Fengjia had solemnly and repeatedly cautioned her not to rashly muddy the waters—perhaps he had his own reasons.

She casually continued, “There are too few usable people in Mingde Hall, yet so many matters. I’m young—surely I can’t lead a bunch of confused soldiers into battle and invite ridicule?”

Her words were amusing. The old matron immediately smiled until her whole face was covered in wrinkles. “Young Madam is so witty. What you’ve said—naturally the stewardess matrons of Mingde Hall must be carefully selected, so that when receiving and entertaining guests in the future, they won’t disgrace the Xu family!”

She was Madam Xu’s most trusted matron, clearly the former grand stewardess of the inner household. Though Madam Xu had been ill for so long that the old matron no longer enjoyed her former prominence, an old tiger’s威风 remained. These few presumptuous words came quite naturally.

The Fifth Young Madam’s eyes flashed. She lowered her gaze with a smile. “It’s just a joke—Sixth Sister-in-law took it seriously. Old Matron, don’t worry, I’ll have them report to Mingde Hall shortly.”

She spoke as if Seventh Miss and the old matron were small-minded and couldn’t take a joke.

The Fifth Young Madam was indeed a typical capital noblewoman—appearing compliant, yet every sentence concealed schemes. A single statement could make one furrow their brow and ponder its meaning for ages.

Seventh Miss dismissed it with a laugh.

That the Fifth Young Madam would be unhappy was inevitable. She had summoned both sides to confront each other, selecting people on one side while demanding them on the other—clearly giving the Fifth Young Madam no time to react and no excuse to delay. Giving or not giving was a matter of a single word, also saving the Fifth Young Madam the effort of consulting with the Grand Madam.

No wonder she kept making cutting remarks, clearly intending to choke Seventh Miss to death.

“Ah, I was just joking too—Fifth Sister-in-law, please don’t take it seriously.” She suddenly covered her mouth with a laugh. “I thought Fifth Sister-in-law had a good sense of humor, so I went along with it, not expecting Fifth Sister-in-law to take it seriously—this misunderstanding is quite interesting!”

She and the Fifth Young Madam exchanged smiles, both revealing shallow smiles, as if this misunderstanding was truly extremely interesting.

The Fifth Young Madam then rose to take her leave. “There are many household matters, and at Leshan Residence there are still quite a few matrons waiting to report…”

Seventh Miss quickly rose to personally escort her to the door. “I’ve delayed Fifth Sister-in-law, but as the old matron said, Mingde Hall’s affairs aren’t just Yang Qi’s personal matters—after all, they relate to the Duke’s household dignity. I had no choice but to presume…”

Sparks flashed in the Fifth Young Madam’s eyes again.

It’s just an heir apparent position—acting as if only the Sixth Branch mattered in the entire Xu household…

She smiled even more amiably. “Not at all, Sixth Sister-in-law makes a good point. When the previous one was alive, we didn’t manage Mingde Hall’s affairs—it’s my oversight. I forgot that with Sixth Sister-in-law entering the household, there would certainly be new developments. I failed to prepare a few stewardess matrons for Mingde Hall. I’ll apologize to you later.”

She swept her gaze over the brilliantly resplendent hardstone-inlaid furnishings in the room, her eyes slightly darkening. “Then I’ll take my leave first.”

Seventh Miss was too lazy to verbally spar with the Fifth Young Madam. Smiling, she saw her out past the threshold before returning with the old matron to talk.

“These four stewardess matrons—their backgrounds are all clean?” she asked the old matron.

Without outsiders present, the old matron put away her amiable expression and replaced it with solemnity.

“All quite clean. The household’s servants come from mixed sources—some are official slaves bestowed by the palace over the years, some privately purchased slaves, some tenant farmer women promoted to service, and some house-born children from servants reproducing among themselves. These several stewardess matrons are all official slaves bestowed by the palace. Because they were mostly already married in their original masters’ households, and their children were sold off elsewhere, they’re now alone in the household with few connections. They’ve all been promoted through genuine ability to do dirty and exhausting work, just earning their keep.”

Seventh Miss frowned slightly.

Though she was already accustomed to the various evils of this society, hearing of people being sold like livestock, causing families to be separated, still pained her somewhat.

However, the old matron’s judgment was indeed very seasoned.

Serving in Mingde Hall was respectable work. These people were essentially alone in the household and could only advance through ability. Working in Mingde Hall, they would naturally be deeply grateful and serve even more diligently. Being alone, even if they were on good terms with anyone, it would only be superficial—they would serve whoever employed them…

Just by selecting these four matrons, she had already understood roughly half of the Fifth Young Madam’s situation in the household—after all, they had worked under the Fifth Young Madam and couldn’t possibly be unaware of some inside information. Seventh Miss had plenty of time to win over their hearts and gradually extract details about the Fifth Branch and even Leshan Residence.

The selection was good, the request even more clever… That the Fifth Young Madam would be displeased was only to be expected.

She praised the old matron, “You’ve experienced so much more after all. In the future for Mingde Hall’s affairs, I’ll still need your guidance. Never mind distant matters—just for the near future, when Silang and Wulang return to the household, I’ll need you to select the people to attend them.”

The old matron’s face was full of deference. “Young Madam is too polite. This old servant’s meager abilities are all due to Madam’s training.”

After more polite exchanges, Seventh Miss wanted to personally see the old matron out, but the old matron was so frightened she repeatedly protested, “Young Madam, please sit, Young Madam, please sit.”

She shuffled backward out of the western first room in small steps, escorted out of Mingde Hall by Lixia.

Seventh Miss then took a seat by the small kang near the window, watching the old matron’s back recede into the distance.

The old matron had seen her in her destitute childhood.

Back then she was merely a small concubine’s daughter—though technically a master, she had little dignity. Meeting the old matron, she would timidly address her as “Matron.”

Though the old matron was kind, she would merely smile and make a token curtsy, and that counted as exchanging courtesies.

Now? Even when she rose to see the old matron off, the woman didn’t dare accept…

And there was the Fifth Young Madam.

With one word of invitation from her, the woman had to set aside her work to come talk at Mingde Hall… If not for her status, would she bother giving such face?

No wonder Xu Fengjia had been so confident back then, thinking she would agree to this marriage. The wife of the Duke’s household heir—this power and position, how could a small concubine’s daughter of those days have imagined it?

Still in these deep courtyards and high walls, yet just by changing status, life now held so many different flavors.

Seventh Miss sat dazed for a long while before slowly exhaling a long breath.

Early the next morning, after paying respects to the Grand Madam and Madam Xu, she brought Lixia and Shangyuan, her two trusted maids, with Matron Hang and Matron Xiao Wang following the carriage. Loading a cart full of return visit gifts, escorted personally by the Eldest Young Master and Seventh Young Master, she returned to the Yang household for the return visit ceremony.

Though Xu Fengjia was absent, the Yang household still held a banquet to entertain relatives and friends. Grand Madam also pulled Seventh Miss inside for a private conversation. Her mood was surprisingly good. She examined Seventh Miss with several glances, then suddenly smiled.

“Why haven’t you consummated the marriage with Fengjia?”

Though she’d anticipated this question, Seventh Miss still couldn’t help feeling somewhat weary: She should have just performed the ceremony that first night to avoid having to explain to everyone.

“That night Cousin drank too much and slept until daylight. The second day before the sun set he entered the palace… then immediately left for Guangzhou.”

Grand Madam couldn’t stop laughing, and even Senior Lady Min couldn’t help but chuckle along. “Really, brother-in-law is just too busy—leaving for Guangzhou on the second day after the wedding. Does he have some special connection with Guangzhou?”

Even Grand Madam was amused to hearty laughter.

She seemed so pleased by Xu Fengjia’s southern journey to Guangzhou that it wasn’t until after the meal that she thought to ask Seventh Miss, “At the Duke’s household… is there anything amiss?”

Seventh Miss shook her head dismissively. “Just arrived—can’t tell anything yet.”

Grand Madam couldn’t help but sigh—naturally she was anxious.

“Fine, fine,” she also sighed. “If it were so easy to investigate, your Third Aunt would have already uncovered everything clearly. How would it be your turn to show your abilities?”

Though she said this, disappointment had already crept into her voice.

Seventh Miss moved her lips but closed her mouth without speaking.

Grand Madam’s coldness—wasn’t she already accustomed to it?

At least Grand Madam still remembered that Silang and Wulang were at Uncle Qin’s estate. After drinking a cup of tea, she remembered to ask, “How is it—can you establish yourself at the Xu household or not? Whatever you lack, just ask Mother!”

Seventh Miss had been waiting for precisely this statement.

“Everything else is fine.” She lowered her eyelids, appearing slightly hesitant. “I just want to borrow someone from Mother.”

She explained, with additions and subtractions, how Mingde Hall was short on servants and how she’d brought four matrons into the staff.

“These four have ability, but after years away from proper duties, their behavior and conduct have many deplorable aspects. I’d like to ask Mother to lend me Matron Liang for a few months to properly train all the personnel inside and outside Mingde Hall.”

Grand Madam agreed without hesitation. “What difficulty is that? Take Matron Liang back with you today!”

Seventh Miss then smiled with delight. “Then many thanks to Mother.”