Rebirth of the Merchant Woman's Revenge

After saying that, she repeated the codeword that only a few of them knew, so that even if the letter they were delivering was intercepted by someone, no one would know what message they were conveying.

After finally seeing her parents off, Gu Xunwei got on the Xie family's carriage again and slowly drove towards the Xie family's house.

"Baizhi, there hasn't been any movement from Dingxiang in the past two days, right?" Gu Xunwei asked casually.

She didn't know when Dingxiang started to betray her, but it was always better to take precautions in advance.

"There are a lot of complaints, but I didn't find anything else." Bai Zhi replied simply while sitting at the car door.

Chen Xiang lowered her head and thought for a while. She knew that the lady was definitely not asking casually, so she hesitated and said,

"When I was at the Gu Mansion before, I saw Ding Xiang twice. It seemed that she was talking to Miss Si'er about something. However, I thought that Miss and Miss Si'er had a close relationship at that time, so I thought that there must be something to be explained, so I did not mention it to the young lady."

She lowered her voice so low that the driver outside the carriage certainly couldn't hear it amid the rumbling noise.

Gu Xunwei's eyes narrowed slightly. Could it be that Ding Xiang had already stood on Gu Qiongsi's side at that time?

Thinking back to the day when she fell into the water, it was Gu Qiongsi who strongly invited her, and Dingxiang just blindly agreed. It was probably as she had guessed.

Gu Xunwei did not speak again, but lifted the car curtain and silently looked at the dim street outside the car. In her previous life, she was really... stupid.

He was so kind to his cousin with all his heart, but in return he received deception and calculation. He ignored the loyal Chenxiang and let Dingxiang do everything. Unfortunately, Dingxiang betrayed him very early.

Just as she was quietly pondering the events of her previous life, a stone wrapped in a piece of paper was thrown in through the carriage window.

Chenxiang was shocked, and Baizhi jumped up and was about to chase after him, but was stopped by Gu Xunwei.

"No need to chase him. He probably means no harm." While comforting Bai Zhi and Chen Xiang, she had already opened the note, which was the title deed to Jinxiu Pavilion that she had been waiting for.

……

Three days passed in a flash, and it was the day when the Xie family moved into their new house. Although Xie Cheng'an's official position was low, the Xie family did not make a big fuss, but Xie Cheng'an's status as the new top scholar was there after all, so many colleagues sent gifts.

However, when the servants who came to deliver the gifts returned and reported to their masters, there was a hint of mockery in their tone, "The layout of the gatehouse in the Xie Mansion alone really opened my eyes, tut tut..."

Xie Cheng'an naturally guessed their ridicule. In such a large Xie Mansion, only the street door of the original owner's house was still visible. The furnishings in the gatehouse and the back house could only be described as shabby.

Although he knew that this was the most money the Xie family could afford to build it, in the eyes of those officials, it was still too simple, not only in style but also in materials.

But what could he say? He had been spending money all these years and he had just entered the court as an official. He had not yet received his first month's salary. How could he have the nerve to make demands?

Similar to Xie Chengan, Qian, who was sitting in the main hall of Rongde Courtyard at this time, also had an ugly look on her face. The furniture arranged in the entire Rongde Courtyard could really be described in a few words.

Except for a set of half-new tables and chairs that were moved in from the old house, the rest of the furniture was pieced together. Some had different styles, and some had different colors if you looked closely.

This doesn't look like the furnishings that an official's family should have at all. It would be worse than not having it.

Gu Xunwei smiled and said to Qian, "Look, mother, I have searched everywhere and finally found a set of furniture for your Rongdeyuan that is suitable for entertaining guests. The rest can only be purchased slowly when I have more money later."

"Wei'er, thank you for your trouble." Qian said gritting her teeth, but in her heart she cursed Gu Xunwei, who was incompetent, no less than a hundred times.

If she had known that there was only so much money in her dowry, she would not have chosen such a big house. In the end, she had no money to buy furniture. She was really just pretending to be rich.

At this time, Mother Wu walked into the main hall holding Gu Rui, and Gu Qiongsi also walked in slowly with a headband on her head.

"Greetings, Madam and Young Madam." Gu Qiongsi greeted the two weakly.

"It's only been a few days since my aunt gave birth. Why don't you just take good care of yourself and take care of yourself instead of running out here?" Gu Xunwei said with concern.

Gu Qiongsi laughed bitterly. Why did she run out? The yard given to her was much bigger than the west wing, but it was cold and damp. She had been smoking with the charcoal brazier for half a day, but there was still no feeling of warmth.

They also told her to take good care of herself during the confinement period, but how could someone who was confinement have to endure a bumpy ride? As luck would have it, the moving carriage broke down on the way, leaving her freezing in the carriage for half an hour before reaching the new house.

"Cousin, you also know that I can't be confined in the house," Gu Qiongsi said to Gu Xunwei with a smile, looking at the furniture in the hall in confusion, and asked in surprise, "I remember that my aunt bought you 64 pieces of dowry, so there is no way she would let Madam use these mismatched furniture."

Here she comes, Gu Xunwei secretly sighed in her heart, her good cousin has finally recovered and is going to help Qian deal with her.

"Oh, aunt, you don't know that when the wedding date was approaching, my husband said that the betrothal gift he gave was not much. If I gave too much gift, it might cause criticism. So I discussed with my mother and only left sixteen loads of dowry. I did it for my husband's face." Gu Xunwei spread her hands and said helplessly.

Qian's heart was bleeding.

Sixty-four loads of dowry were reduced to sixteen. How many good things were lost?

"I think Sanlang's intention is probably just to let you, Wei'er, pretend. Won't all those good things that your aunt has prepared for you be sent to you in the end?" Gu Qiongsi said, covering her mouth with a handkerchief and coughing lightly.

"Aunt, be careful with your words." Gu Xunwei's tone suddenly became fierce, "Your brother is a scholar after all, and he passed the imperial examination. How come Second Aunt has never mentioned to you the duties of an aunt?"

The fake smile on Gu Qiongsi's face froze instantly. She thought that based on the friendship between her and Gu Xunwei since childhood, she would at least give her some face. She didn't expect that she would be so hostile right away.

"Okay, okay, you two have been friends since childhood, so stop arguing over such trivial matters. As for the dowry..." Qian came out to smooth things over and wanted to change the topic to Gu Xunwei's dowry that had been chopped off.

However, Gu Xunwei interrupted her, "Mother, I have already lent out 3,150 taels of silver from the public account. I wonder if Aunt Gu can lend out some as well? Or you can lend me some too. I will naturally ask Muxin Craftsman to make a set of high-quality furniture for you."

Qian followed Gu Xunwei's gaze and looked at Gu Qiongsi, who was sitting on the stool in a daze. Seeing that both of them were looking at her, she had to say, "I...I...I don't have much money."