When leaving, Jiang Xuening thought for a moment and said: “Father, there’s one more matter. Your daughter will be in the palace for the next half year, and calculating it out, I’ll only return home once every ten days or so. The time I spend in the residence really won’t be long. But my rooms are staffed with a whole group of maids and older servants. Although daily cleaning requires people, we don’t need so many. Why don’t I reduce the number by a few later? The two maids Tang’er and Lian’er have been quite loyal to me. I wonder if the stewardess of the household could take them to learn to examine account books, or perhaps if there are any estates or properties in the countryside, could she take them to broaden their experience and see more?”
Jiang Boyou was still immersed in the relief and complexity of his second daughter finally becoming sensible. Hearing these words suddenly, he was somewhat puzzled: “It’s fine to dismiss half the maids and servants if they’re not needed, but why do your two head maids need to learn to examine account books and manage properties?”
Jiang Xuening felt the timing couldn’t be better.
She spoke carefully: “Since Father already understands what happened in the palace, you should know what perilous circumstances your daughter was in, and what great fortune it took to avoid this disaster. Your daughter was raised in the countryside by my aunt since childhood. When I first entered the capital, I truly felt that everything in the capital was prosperous, different from the casual life in the countryside. But now, having experienced these events, I feel that though the capital is indeed prosperous, it may not truly be as carefree as the countryside. Your daughter’s thoughts are immature—please don’t laugh, Father—but I’m thinking that after the companion reading ends, I could leave the capital and go back to live at a country estate for a while.”
Jiang Boyou was stunned.
He only felt that Ningning’s words were shockingly unconventional, completely unexpected. Yet carefully considering the reasons she described, he felt that if a person had such experiences, they might indeed develop the same thoughts as her.
At this moment, his guilt became even more irrepressible.
He opened his mouth, and after a while said: “A young girl like you hasn’t even married yet—what’s this talk of going away? Though you and Yan Lin have affinity but no destiny, in the future you may not fail to meet someone as good as Yan Lin, or even better to you. Even if you want to leave the capital, it’s best to find a good family to entrust yourself to. Don’t worry, Father knows your heart is suffering. But your mother, she, she, alas…”
He wanted to say a few words in Meng Shi’s defense.
But when the words reached his lips, facing Jiang Xuening’s beautiful eyes, clear black and white, he fell silent. In the end, it could only become a sigh.
Jiang Boyou patted her shoulder and only said: “You’re tired too. In the palace, you probably couldn’t even sleep well, could you? Go back to your room and rest properly. As for the two maids Tang’er and Lian’er, since you want this, I’ll instruct the steward later and do everything as you said.”
Jiang Xuening had chosen this moment to bring it up only to lay some groundwork first, to avoid having the family find it completely unacceptable when she suddenly proposed leaving the capital half a year later. So Jiang Boyou not directly agreeing was also within expectations.
She neither argued nor refuted.
Instead, she obediently nodded, bowed in courtesy to take her leave, and left the study.
After chatting with Jiang Boyou for quite a while, Tang’er and Lian’er had both returned from gathering information and were waiting under the corridor. Seeing her emerge, they followed behind her, lowering their voices to whisper: “This is serious! The servants from Qingyuan Earl Residence said that after Fangyin offended Miss You Yue last time, she was locked up for a full six or seven days before being released. But she hadn’t even settled down for a few days when Miss You Yue returned from the palace. Who knows how she’ll torment her now!”
You Yue had no time to torment You Fangyin right now. Sitting in her own room, after hearing what the servants and old woman reported, both her eyes lit up: “Are you saying this is really true?”
The old woman was still somewhat confused, not knowing why she cared so much about this.
But since the young miss cared, it proved this matter was important. So she spoke even more confidently: “It’s all true. That Ren Weizhi is staying at the Shuxiang Inn in the capital, telling everyone every day that he’s researched some new contraption that can drill deeper wells. But everyone sees he’s just a down-and-out fellow asking for too much money, so no one dares invest any shares. When we went to inquire on Miss’s orders, the innkeeper was demanding room payment from him, saying if he didn’t pay, he’d be thrown out. These days, how are there even swindlers like this?”
It seemed this Ren Weizhi was having quite a difficult time now.
But if that self-flowing brine well was real…
You Yue stood up and paced back and forth, looking outside. Seeing the day was still early, she only said: “I’m only out of the palace for a few days at most. If I miss this opportunity, where will I find another later? Stop your nonsense and immediately have someone prepare a carriage for me. I’m going out.”
The old woman was startled: “Where are you going?”
You Yue looked at her with disgust, obviously finding her insufficiently clever and too talkative. She said impatiently: “To Shuxiang Inn, of course!”
After speaking, she thought of You Fangyin and asked: “Is that little tramp behaving herself these days?”
The old woman said: “Only giving her one meal a day—she’s very obedient.”
You Yue’s eyes rolled as she pondered: “This young miss is of noble birth—how could I show my face in public like those lowly breeds? That little tramp obviously went sneaking around the marketplace before to know this information. You go, bring that lowborn wretch, change her into cleaner clothes, and have her accompany me out.”
The old woman was extremely surprised.
She truly couldn’t understand what her young miss wanted to do. She wanted to ask more questions but feared being punished, so she could only go to the woodshed full of doubts to fetch the person.
After winter arrived and the weather turned cold, the woodshed was damp, cold, and drafty, with only one cotton quilt provided.
You Fangyin hugged her knees, curled up in the corner of the wall.
Her hair was disheveled, her clothes dirty and soiled. Because she was always hungry and cold, she couldn’t sleep well at night. Both eyes were full of bloodshot veins, with dark circles beneath her eyelids. Her whole person looked haggard beyond measure compared to ten days ago.
When the old woman entered from outside, she lifted her head to look, but saw double images.
Only after hearing the voice did she react.
When she spoke, her throat was dry and her voice hoarse: “Is Second Sister letting me out?”
The old woman didn’t dare act this way toward You Yue, but toward her, she raised her nose and snorted lightly, not even answering her question. She only had the rough servant girl beside her place a bucket of cold water on the ground, then threw down a cloth skirt worn by servants, saying: “Hurry up and clean yourself. You’ll be going out with the Second Miss shortly.”
After speaking with a huff, she left.
You Fangyin sat stunned in the corner for quite a while before reacting. She suddenly stood up, but felt blood rushing to her head, everything spinning, nearly falling down. Fortunately, she quickly grabbed the woodpile beside her and slowly recovered.
Second Sister had never looked favorably upon her, yet now she wanted her to change into clean clothes and go out together…
Was it for the matter of the Ziliujing salt field?
In You Fangyin’s mind, the expression on Jiang Xuening’s face when telling her this story gradually surfaced again. She also recalled her lowered brows and eyes when unwilling to mention being bullied in the palace. She only felt that these ten days of torment had suddenly been rewarded, and the oppressive dark sky that had pressed down on her until she couldn’t breathe seemed to brighten somewhat.
She clenched her teeth, forcibly enduring the cold that made her tremble. In this woodshed, she removed her dirty clothes and used the ice-cold water without any warmth in the wooden bucket to wipe her body covered in old and new wounds.
Then she put on that simple cloth skirt.
After re-pinning her hair, with a bare face, she walked out from the woodshed.
You Yue had been waiting impatiently in the carriage outside the side gate. Seeing You Fangyin following the old woman over looking like a consumptive ghost, she mocked her: “Look at this pitiful appearance—just like your wretched mother with her cheap life. What, don’t have the strength to talk back now?”
You Fangyin bowed: “Greetings to Second Sister.”
You Yue rolled her eyes and directly lowered the carriage curtain, saying: “You sit outside on the driver’s bench. Don’t come inside and dirty my carriage.”
You Fangyin still didn’t quite understand: “Where is Second Sister going, and why bring me?”
You Yue only said: “Giving you a chance to atone for your crimes. Now this young miss is going to Shuxiang Inn to meet that Ren Weizhi. If you can help this young miss handle this matter well, next time this young miss enters the palace, I won’t punish you in the woodshed and will even let you out to offer incense to your dead mother!”
You Fangyin’s heart suddenly trembled.
But You Yue had already sneered in warning: “But you’d better not play any tricks, or there are plenty of ways to deal with you!”
You Fangyin had already realized an excellent opportunity had come. Having grown up amid others’ contempt and beatings since childhood, she had no particular reaction to You Yue’s vicious words and had astonishing endurance.
She meekly responded: “Yes.”
Then she obediently climbed onto the driver’s bench, gripping it tightly in fear. As the driver looked at her with sympathy and cracked his whip, the carriage drove out of Qingyuan Earl Residence toward Shuxiang Inn.
Hearing the reports from Tang’er and Lian’er, Jiang Xuening only felt her head was as big as a barrel.
Though You Fangyin was obedient, pitiful, and willing to work hard, how difficult was it to exercise one’s abilities within the inner quarters? She didn’t even have the freedom to leave the residence, was constantly confined by You Yue every day, had no ability to resist at all—it was truly worrying.
She sighed while eating lunch.
Tang’er kept comforting her: “That it was your good fortune to help Miss You is already a rare blessing. All women in the world listen to their parents at home. She can’t escape this situation for the time being. When you eat, just eat—please don’t keep sighing. Listening to it makes us servants worried too.”
Lian’er also wore a bitter expression: “Yes, we can’t think of any solution either.”
Jiang Xuening put down her chopsticks and simply stopped eating, only saying: “Who says there’s no solution? It depends on whether one dares to do it or not.”
In her previous life, not long after You Fangyin earned her “first bucket of gold,” she found an opportunity that no one in the residence noticed, escaped from the You residence, found people she knew among the various trades to buy travel documents, and using connections along commercial routes, left the capital decisively, simply leaving her hometown to develop her territory in Jiangnan.
As for Qingyuan Earl Residence?
It was merely losing an insignificant concubine-born daughter. After reporting it to the authorities, they just treated it as if she’d been kidnapped by human traffickers and didn’t care further. It wasn’t until several years later when You Fangyin became immensely wealthy and returned to the capital in a new guise that the people of Qingyuan Earl Residence recognized her. But by then, the Earl residence had already declined, and moreover, You Fangyin’s money could move gods—she wasn’t the least bit afraid of a small Earl residence, so there was no trouble at all.
However, the You Fangyin of this life was somewhat weak. Moreover, in her previous life, You Fangyin’s kind of decisiveness in leaving the Earl residence alone to venture across the world—even she herself might not possess it. How could she dare expect this life’s You Fangyin to do the same?
So Jiang Xuening was truly worried.
She thought left and right but couldn’t think of a good way to help You Fangyin escape her predicament. She simply set it aside temporarily and instead said: “Continue listening for news from Fangyin’s side. First, prepare the carriage—we’re going to Shuxiang Inn.”
Jiang Xuening hadn’t yet met that legendary Ren Weizhi.
Although she wasn’t prepared to make a move now, if she could meet the person first, she would at least have a better idea in her heart.
However, she didn’t expect that the carriage had barely left the residence when, still a full two streets away from Shuxiang Inn in the west of the city, Lian’er, who was quietly looking outside from inside the carriage, suddenly widened her eyes. With a face full of surprise, she tugged at her and pointed outside: “Miss, Miss! Look, are my eyes deceiving me? Isn’t that Miss Fangyin?”
Jiang Xuening didn’t believe it: “What?”
She quickly leaned forward and looked in the direction Lian’er was pointing: diagonally ahead not far away, a carriage was turning around. On the driver’s bench, besides a coachman, there was actually also seated a girl with delicate features. Though she looked much thinner and more haggard, wasn’t that appearance exactly You Fangyin, whom she had just been thinking of seeing?
Jiang Xuening was stunned: “That’s a carriage from the You residence?”
Lian’er nodded repeatedly: “Yes, it’s the You residence carriage. This is too strange!”
She didn’t know if she meant it was strange that You Fangyin could come out, or strange that she was sitting on the driver’s bench.
Or perhaps both.
Jiang Xuening stared in that direction for a long time, then suddenly laughed and only said: “Tell the driver to follow from a distance, not too close. I see their direction is the same as ours. Why don’t we slow down and see what they’re going to do.”
Tang’er hesitated: “But weren’t you going to find that Ren Weizhi to invest in shares?”
If someone else got there first…
Jiang Xuening observed You Fangyin for a long time, confirming that though she looked haggard, her body seemed to have no major problems, before slowly lowering the carriage curtain and only saying: “This matter isn’t urgent.”
Tang’er was extremely surprised: “How can it not be urgent?”
Jiang Xuening couldn’t explain the intricacies involved. She only suddenly recalled a certain term from her previous life that had left a deep impression on her, so she smiled and said: “Have you heard of ‘stock speculation’?”
It wasn’t that whoever entered the market first would win.