ionless nearby, his anger was quickly suppressed. The guards following in secret remained silent up until now, clearly having already either been subdued or eliminated without them noticing. Furthermo...The Imperial Capital Ode 9. Auntie's Visit

9. Auntie's Visit

Clear Elegance Study

Ye Li leisurely sat in her room, looking at the silver tickets that had just been sent over from Prince Li's mansion. A cold smile flashed across her clear and delicate face. It seemed that this Prince Li and Ye Ying had already hooked up a year ago. In the past year or so, Prince Li had taken away ancient artifacts worth more than 17,000 taels of silver from Cautious Virtue Study without ever giving even one tael of silver.

"Miss, that Prince Li is really shameless!" Qingshuang stood behind Ye Li and said angrily. Originally, Crown Prince Li was a renowned handsome man in the capital city, and Qingshuang had been quite looking forward to him as her future son-in-law. However, she didn't expect that this short-sighted guy actually rejected Miss's proposal, ruining her reputation. Even worse, he dared to take things from their house without compensation. How shameless!

Ye Li turned around and handed a silver bill to Qing霜, chuckling as she said, "Is that something you should say Beware of others overhearing or I won't be able to save you." Qing霜 shamefully stuck out her tongue and hunched her shoulders, saying, "I know Miss would never ignore Qing霜. Besides… who in this courtyard could possibly hear us" Qingyi軒 was the smallest and most remote courtyard in the Ye residence, lacking even a few servants. Apart from a couple of maids for basic chores, only she attended to the lady. Compared to the numerous attendants around Ye Ying, their young Miss seemed poorer than the daughter of a concubine.

"Miss, why were you so lenient with that Lady Wang today" Qing霜 was both relieved and resentful at the thought of Lady Wang's pale face and precarious condition.

Ye Li smiled faintly and said, "Lady Wang is the mother of a palace Concubine Yi, and my fourth sister will be the future wife of Prince Li. Do you really think Grandmother and Father would treat her harshly for my sake"

Pondering over it, Qing霜 dejectedly lowered her head and muttered, "Old Master and Master are too biased." Indeed, even if they made Lady Wang disgorge a few tens of thousands in silver coins, their young Miss saw none of it. Ye Li patted her shoulder and said with a smile, "Don't worry, having those few ten thousand from Lady Wang, I can at least take all the remaining dowry my mother left me. Compared to that, a few ten thousand isn’t much."

Qing霜 nodded, feeling even more disenchanted with the Ye household. The family’s foundation was originally weak; without the support of years of dowries from Lady, where would they have such splendor today But look at what their young Miss had endured over these years—she was truly heartless.

worried that her words might upset Miss, Qing霜 hurriedly changed the subject and said, "Oh right, Miss. Lady Ye mentioned this morning that there are too few people around you. Perhaps we should add a few more, just in case it looks bad when you get married to the Prince Ding’s mansion."

Ye Li frowned. She knew she had very few people around her. In the past, because Ye Li preferred peace and quiet, she didn’t want servants following after her every move; hence, she didn’t mind much. However, if she were to marry soon, it would indeed be a problem. Although she could disregard Lady Wang since she was confident that Lady Wang wouldn’t do anything drastic against her and also because she didn’t plan on living in the Ye family mansion for the rest of her life, things would be different once she moved into Prince Ding’s mansion. She couldn’t be so casual anymore. Massaging her forehead, she thought about it and said, "Tell the head steward that I want a few maids from his courtyard." Qing霜 nodded and asked, “Then what about the ladies’ maids who attend to you…”

"No need to worry about this," Ye Li replied. "Aunt Wang mentioned in the past days that she would send Aunt Lin and Aunt Wei, who were originally by my mother’s side, over here soon." When her mother died years ago, Ye Li had just regained her memories and was extremely ill for a while. During this period, Lady Wang took advantage of the situation to create chaos and beat Su Aunt, her mother’s wet nurse, until she was badly injured before kicking her out of the mansion. By the time Ye Li felt well enough to understand what was going on, all that remained from her mother’s entourage were Lin Aunt and Wei Aunt, who was also Ye Li’s wet nurse. Of course Ye Li knew exactly what Lady Wang had been up to and understood that she couldn’t have protected these people back then, so she found an excuse for sending them back to the Gu family by saying that she was worried about her grandmother being sad when her mother died. In recent years, this household mainly consisted of people who were loyal to Lady Wang; Ye Li had no interest in dealing with them and preferred having as few servants around her as possible.

Qing霜’s eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. "Aunt Wang thinks about everything so thoroughly." She arrived at the mansion later than the other maids, and although she hadn’t met Lin Aunt or Wei Aunt personally before, she had heard Miss mention them occasionally. They were all close aides to Lady Ye, naturally siding with Miss.

Once they sorted out the problems of the maids and ladies’ maids, Qing霜 began happily making plans for Ye Li’s wedding that was two months away. "I don’t think the dowry sent by Lady Ye and Grandma Ye is half as rich as Third Miss’ dowry… We should send over some good things from our shops first, then buy more elsewhere later. Oh yes… there are also Miss’ bridegroom attire and clothing material for her dowry…"

Ye Li sat by the side, smiling as Qing霜acted excitedly while calculating something. Her mind had already wandered to a faraway place. In her previous life, she never dreamed that one day she would be sitting like a lady of a prominent family in her閨房waiting for marriage. Although she knew early on about Prince Ding's various shortcomings, Ye Li didn't pay much attention to them. Marriages in this era were not something women could decide for themselves, and Ye Li had never expected anything from love. Being able to live a peaceful life with mutual respect all her life was also a kind of happiness. However... the Prince Ding Manor… thinking about its unrivaled status in the Great Chu Dynasty, she couldn't help but frown.

"Third Miss, Lady Zhao requests an audience," a young servant girl outside the door reported respectfully.

Ye Li was somewhat surprised by Lady Zhao's sudden visit and nodded. "Please ask her to come in."

A moment later, Lady Zhao swayed gracefully into the room with an elegant walk. She bowed slightly to Ye Li, saying, "I pay my respects to Third Miss."

Ye Li put back the bracelet she was holding and smiled warmly. "Lady Zhao, you needn't be so formal. Is there something that brings you here at this time" She casually observed the alluring woman in front of her. Lady Zhao had been in the household for less than a year but already enjoyed the special favor of Secretary Ye. Otherwise, she wouldn't have dared to speak as she did before the old matriarch today. Seeing Lady Zhao dressed in peach-red robes and white silk sashes around her waist with a simple bun adorned with tassels that gently swayed by her face, every move she made exuded charm. No wonder Secretary Ye favored her so much despite having two daughters and one son already, including the renowned beauty Ye Ying who was said to be the first beauty in the city. It was just unfortunate that Lady Zhao came too late; Madam Wang had long been firmly established in the household. Even more regrettable was her lowly origins.oldly, "Mo Jingqi is such a suspicious person that he makes one shudder. Besides being tricked by Tan Jizhi for nearly ten years, now it’s likely that everyone looks like a traitor to him. Even if som...