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However, it must be said that as she recalled the figure of that jade fox gentleman at this moment... she felt that he truly resembled Wei Tingyu! If not for the fox mask obscuring his face, based solely on his figure, she might very well have mistaken him for Wei Tingyu himself at first glance!
Lady Li Niang felt a sudden mist in her heart at this thought, and her brows immediately furrowed again. Women are like this; when they don't notice anything unusual, they don't feel anything, but once they grasp a tiny clue, they can immediately recall many details! The jade fox gentleman's clothes were somewhat different from what Wei Tingyu had worn before, but the Marquis had a cloak wrapped around him at the time! She hadn't clearly seen the color of the clothes underneath... And the jade fox gentleman didn't have a cloak, so this point didn't seem to be useful in determining that they were two different people! Wait, wait! What am I thinking about? Given Wang Yingxue's and Wei Tingyu's relationship... how could this be? Lady Li Niang gently shook her head, feeling that she was being a bit overly worried! After all, although Wang Yingxue's personality had always been audacious, she shouldn't dare to do something so shocking, right?!
Of course, she absolutely had to figure out the true identity of that jade fox gentleman! Otherwise, she probably wouldn't be able to sleep soundly in the future! Lady Li Niang thought of this and couldn't help but reach for her waist again; the jade pendant she had picked up earlier was still quietly resting there. She pulled out the jade pendant and carefully examined it under the candlelight. Unfortunately, there was no name inscribed on it!
"Oh?" But upon seeing the jade pendant, Second Daughter Fu Hui's eyes lit up, and she suddenly leaned closer.
"What is it?" Lady Li Niang was startled, looking at Fu Hui and asking, "Do you recognize this jade pendant?"
"Mother! Where did you get this jade pendant?" Fu Hui didn't answer her mother's question, but instead reached out, took the jade pendant from Lady Li Niang's hand, and after examining it carefully, said, "This seems to belong to the Marquis!" The Marquis Fu Hui referred to now was naturally Wei Tingyu!
Lady Li Niang froze in place as if struck by lightning upon hearing this, her pupils even too shocked to constrict! "Did you look carefully?!" It was a while before she reacted, nervously swallowing twice, then staring at Fu Hui with a serious expression and asking, "Don't joke with me, alright?!"
"What's there to joke about?" Fu Hui blinked, looking at Lady Li Niang with a bewildered expression, "It's the Marquis's jade pendant! I'm sure of it!" When she had intimately held hands and whispered with Wei Tingyu in the garden earlier, they were embracing! At that time, Fu Hui felt something pressing against her from the Marquis's waist, and she took a second look to find it was the fan pendant of his folding fan. And now, she realized it was precisely the one in her mother's hand! She was confident that she would absolutely not mistake it! After all, every single detail of Wei Tingyu's body had been deeply etched into her mind!
"..." Lady Li Niang's mouth hung wide open after hearing Fu Hui's words, her jaw almost dropping to the floor! So that means... that jade fox gentleman really is the Marquis of Jining, Wei Tingyu! It seems the face I dreamed of under the mask wasn't just my imagination... but rather, I had already subconsciously recognized him, only I hadn't realized it before!
You, Wang Yingxue! I can't believe you're so bold, even hooking up with the Marquis?! Lady Li Niang's entire face turned into an expression of speechlessness at this thought.
"Mother! How did the Marquis's jade pendant end up with you?" At this moment, Fourth Daughter Hao De blinked and asked directly. And as soon as this question was asked, the chattering women immediately fell silent, then all looked at Lady Li Niang with bewildered expressions. What could Lady Li Niang do? She couldn't possibly tell her daughters what she had personally witnessed today, could she? Not to mention Wang Yingxue's reputation, if her daughters knew about the Marquis Wei's passionate rendezvous with her in the bamboo grove, they might have some strange ideas. After all, given Wei Tingyu's status, it wouldn't be strange for him to have many women around him! Besides having a multitude of wives and concubines, it was also very normal to keep a few external residences! Lady Li Niang could naturally accept this in her heart, but the only thing that made it difficult for her to speak was the unusual relationship between Wang Yingxue and Wei Tingyu! It was practically almost the same as her future relationship with Wei Tingyu! Furthermore, if she married her daughters into the Marquis's Residence in the future, how should she address Wang Yingxue when she met her? From Wei Tingyu's perspective, Wang Yingxue and her own daughters would be sisters under the same roof! Her formerly good friend would thus become two generations apart from her, just thinking about it was awkward!
"Could it be..." At this moment, Eldest Daughter Shou Hua blinked and said, "Has the Marquis already taken a fancy to one of our sisters, and used this jade pendant to make an engagement with Mother?" As Shou Hua's words fell, the ears of all the women immediately perked up! Especially the still unmarried Kang Ning, Hao De, and Le Shan, who wore expressions of inexpressible emotion. After all, this matter concerned one of them! Second Daughter Fu Hui's eyelashes trembled slightly, then she smiled and said, "If so, Mother, quickly tell us who the Marquis has chosen!" Of course, she knew that even if the Marquis had truly made an arrangement with Lady Li Niang to take one of her daughters as a concubine, it certainly wouldn't be her at the moment! After all, she hadn't officially divorced from the Fan family yet! However, Fu Hui had already received Wei Tingyu's personal promise, so she wasn't anxious at this moment. Instead, she was a little curious about which sister would enter the Marquis's Residence with her to serve the Marquis in the future!
"You're thinking too much..." However, Lady Li Niang, seeing the expressions of her five daughters, shook her head helplessly. She had indeed agreed with Dou Zhao to discuss something after the prayers, but her meeting was missed because she went to follow Wang Yingxue! She could only wait for another opportunity later! Although she didn't want to pour cold water on them, she couldn't lie to them now, so she could only say, "I accidentally picked up this pendant while strolling in the temple; who knew it belonged to the Marquis!"
"Next time we see him, we'll return it to the Marquis!"
"Oh! Is that so!" Upon hearing their mother's words, the five daughters all showed expressions of disappointment.
"Alright, alright! Sisters, there's no need to be like this!" Eldest Daughter Shou Hua, seeing the somewhat regretful expressions of her three younger sisters, also smiled and said, "Mother strolled around the vast temple and even picked up the Marquis's lost jade pendant! What does this mean?!"
"It means that the Marquis and our Li family truly have a fated connection! Even the Buddha and Bodhisattvas have clearly indicated it!"
"Perhaps... this jade pendant was a divine intervention by the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, intentionally left there by the Marquis, as an early betrothal gift to one of our sisters!"
"In my opinion! This marriage is already set in stone, impossible to undo!" Shou Hua's comforting words immediately made the atmosphere in the room lively again.
However, Lady Li Niang frowned slightly upon hearing these words, because Shou Hua's words just now indeed contained something that made her feel enlightened. This jade pendant was probably not accidentally dropped by the Marquis; he must have intentionally left it there for her to pick up. So, if that's the case... he discovered that I saw what happened between him and Wang Yingxue! But not only was he not angry, he even left the jade pendant for me... What does this mean? Could it really be as Shou Hua said, that he is expressing his willingness to marry my daughter, in exchange for me keeping silent about his affair with Wang Yingxue? If that's the case, then the Marquis truly underestimates me! Lady Li Niang thought with some indignation! No matter what, she could not expose Wang Yingxue's affair!
Forget it! I won't worry about it! Next time I see the Marquis and Wang Yingxue, I'll just ask them directly! Lady Li Niang's fiery personality suddenly surged in her heart. After all, no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't figure it out, so why bother troubling herself? As for this jade pendant, she would just consider it an early betrothal gift from the Marquis! Although she still didn't know which daughter he intended to marry, preparing a dowry now was always the right thing to do!
However, at this thought, Lady Li Niang's expression immediately became distressed again. The trend of lavish dowries in the capital was very serious! If a daughter couldn't provide a generous dowry, she would always suffer a lot after marrying into her husband's family! Even if the Marquis's Residence was wealthy and didn't care about material possessions, she couldn't let her daughters be looked down upon by other sisters! But Lady Li Niang was helpless now, because she wished to provide a generous dowry, but she was truly short on funds. She only had two hundred guan in assets now; even if she gave it all to one daughter as a dowry, it would be unpresentable in front of the Marquis's Residence! Moreover, if she gave it all to the daughter the Marquis wanted to marry, what about the other daughters? Would they not marry? Lady Li Niang immediately got a headache again at this thought.
"Oh dear! Oh my heavens! Wuwuwu!" The women were all bewildered to see Lady Li Niang suddenly beating her chest and stamping her feet in pain! And only Eldest Daughter Shou Hua understood her mother's feelings best and the reason for her sudden sadness. After all, she had always helped her mother manage the remaining household funds, and she knew much more clearly how much was left compared to her four younger sisters! So, she directly spoke out about the family's current predicament. And upon hearing these words, the four younger daughters, including Fu Hui, fell silent.
"This capital truly isn't a place for us to stay! In my opinion, let's not even dream of marrying into a high-ranking family like the Marquis's Residence!" At this moment, Fourth Daughter Hao De, unable to bear seeing her mother in such pain and sadness, frowned directly and said, "I think we should pack up and go home!"
"The land is already sold! Mother even boasted to the neighbors..." Fifth Daughter Le Shan drained the tea in her cup and then said, "She said we would live in the capital from now on! How can we possibly go back?!"
"That's true!" Qiong Nu, who hadn't spoken until now, also said softly with her head down, "Eldest Cousin Fan beat you up, and he's still lying in bed now!"
"Second Uncle's house's roof beams were also dismantled! We really need to lay low!" As soon as Qiong Nu spoke, all the women present fell into silence. At this moment, they all knew in their hearts that their old home was definitely unreturnable!
"They dared to cut off our irrigation ditches to seize farmland! It dried up our crops!"
"I just wanted to scare him a bit, to kill a chicken to warn the monkeys!"
"If you hadn't stopped me, I would have beaten him half to death!" Fifth Daughter Le Shan still maintained her fiery demeanor, her eyes wide, speaking with a fierce yet adorable expression.
Lady Li Niang sighed even more heavily upon hearing her fifth daughter's words. Could a Marquis like him fancy her? Even if he did, if she were to cause trouble in the Marquis's Residence and make it chaotic in the future, what would she do if he sent her a letter of divorce and returned her? And seeing Lady Li Niang's expression, Fourth Daughter Hao De quickly tugged at her sister's sleeve and whispered, "Fifth Sister! Calm yourself!" Only then did Le Shan realize she had angered her mother again, and she quickly shrank her neck, nodded, and said nothing more.
"I've changed, I've changed!" Third Daughter Kang Ning also quickly said, "Fifth Sister has vowed to cultivate her character and change from now on! Your health is important, Mother!"
"Oh... yes, yes, yes!" Fifth Daughter Le Shan, seeing that she had greatly angered her mother and that her sisters were all looking at her, quickly nodded repeatedly and poured a cup of tea for Lady Li Niang with a dignified and virtuous expression.
"Mother! Dealing with these scoundrel relatives will inevitably be a bit tricky! But we won't need to deal with them anymore!"
"As soon as your daughter sets foot in the capital, she will become a dignified and virtuous lady!"
"Don't worry, Mother! From now on, even if someone spits on my face, I guarantee I won't say or move, I'll just let it dry on its own!"
And upon hearing her fifth daughter Le Shan's words, Lady Li Niang turned her head and rolled her eyes repeatedly. Let alone her, probably no one present would believe these words! They were just to coax herself!
"So, we'll listen to me?" The five Li family daughters plus Qiong Nu gathered around a small table in the adjoining hall, having just completed a drawing of lots ceremony. And Eldest Daughter Shou Hua had good luck, drawing the top lot. According to their family's original rules, when matters couldn't be resolved and everyone had a different opinion, they would draw lots to decide who had the final say!
"We'll all listen to Eldest Sister!" The other sisters smiled faintly, directly accepting this result, and said to Eldest Daughter Shou Hua. To be honest, among the sisters, Shou Hua was the most stable, and it was largely thanks to her suggestions that the sisters trusted her greatly. Now that she had drawn the top lot, they naturally had to listen to her!
"Mother's pain and sadness are simply due to worrying about our Li family daughters' dowries!" Shou Hua slightly waved her hand, and the sisters immediately gathered around, then she whispered her plan, "Now that our family funds are dwindling, just being anxious is useless!"
"We must encourage Mother to cheer up and open a business in the capital!"
"If the whole family works together for a life of ease and comfort, the matter of dowries will naturally be resolved!"
"However, the sisters' marriage matters are Mother's biggest worry!"
"No matter what our personal feelings are, we must speak in a way that pleases her!"
As Shou Hua's words fell, all the women nodded in unison. Truly worthy of being the eldest sister! Her words were indeed insightful! Lady Li Niang was originally still frowning, worried and dazed, but then she saw her five daughters and Qiong Nu walk over together, then joyfully gather around her. She was somewhat surprised and was about to ask her daughters why they were so happy when she saw Shou Hua standing solemnly in front of her and saying, "Mother! Marriage is fated by heaven; how can it be achieved by human effort or wealth?"
"Now the Marquis favors our Li family greatly!"
"Why should we wallow in self-pity here?"
"In these two days, I've seen that Marquis Wei does not care about external possessions!"
"Instead, his wives and concubines are all heroic women, not inferior to men!"
"We might as well strive ourselves, to live a carefree and unrestrained life in this capital, which will make the Marquis look at us in a new light!"
"In the future, no matter which sister enters the Marquis's Residence, she will certainly not be slighted by the Marquis's other wives and concubines!"
Shou Hua's words were quite reasonable, and Lady Li Niang's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing them. That's right! From the women like Zhao Zhangru who offered incense with them today, it's clear that the Marquis doesn't care about money, but rather about these interesting women with distinct personalities! Don't all five of my Li family daughters meet the Marquis's requirements?
"We sisters have discussed it!" Third Daughter Kang Ning said, hugging Lady Li Niang's arm, "Since we are living in the Marquis's courtyard, we naturally cannot keep taking advantage of him for free!"
"Even close in-laws don't follow such a principle!"
"Moreover, we are currently not related by marriage; it would be even more improper to live for free!"
"So, we'll use the remaining two hundred guan to rent a shop and start a business!"
"From now on, we'll give half of the shop's monthly profits to the Marquis, considering it as rent for this residence!"
"This way, we can live quietly and peacefully, and the Marquis will also think highly of us!"
Kang Ning cheerfully rattled off these words, and Lady Li Niang's eyes grew brighter and brighter as she listened, even nodding repeatedly in approval.
"That's right! This way, when I see those noble ladies from the Marquis's Residence again, I can stand tall!" Lady Li Niang chuckled directly at this thought! And seeing their mother's happy expression, the daughters finally breathed a sigh of relief!