"Silly girl, if your heart stopped beating, that would be terrible," Bai Suihe teased. Having slipped out of the mansion successfully, she was in a wonderful mood. Fortunately, her five-month-pregnant belly could still be concealed under loose, flowing dresses. If she were any further along, she definitely wouldn't have been able to hide it from the older maidservants. "There won't be a next time, but you still need to work on your courage. Just look at how calm Dongmei is."
"Miss, you still want a next time?" Chunxiang panicked. This was far too thrilling for her; she really couldn't handle it.
"Don't worry. Next time, I'll definitely leave the mansion openly and honestly," Bai Suihe chuckled softly.
Chunxiang thought that it wouldn't be that easy. There were no holidays or festivals coming up, and since her young miss was currently pregnant, attending banquets was out of the question. There simply wouldn't be any opportunities to leave the mansion.
"Relax. I naturally have a brilliant plan," Bai Suihe said with absolute confidence.
Chunxiang clearly didn't believe her. If her miss truly had a brilliant plan, she wouldn't have made her risk her neck pretending to be her here.
The master and servant quickly finished tidying up. Over on the other side, Dongmei also returned to the courtyard with two older maidservants, bringing the purchased goods.
Bai Suihe only kept a portion for herself and had Dongmei distribute the rest among the courtyard's servants. This was considered a perk of working for the third branch, which was why everyone maintained a tacit understanding regarding Dongmei and Chunxiang's occasional sneaking out of the mansion.
After running around for half the day, Bai Suihe was so exhausted after dinner that she collapsed onto her bed, unable to move. Within moments, she had fallen fast asleep.
Little did she know, after she dozed off, her body began to emit a faint blue glow. She stretched comfortably and rolled over, continuing to sleep soundly.
While she was sleeping without a care in the world, Mrs. Bai couldn't even stomach her food.
"What exactly is He Er trying to do?" Mrs. Bai was completely baffled. Her daughter had taken out all of her dowry savings—and for what? Just look at what she had bought! Rice, flour, salt, oil, coarse cloth, hemp rope, pots, bowls, ladles, basins, cotton, bolts of fabric, dried meat, sausages...
"With so many things, is she trying to open a general store?" Even for a general store, one wouldn't need this much inventory. With a capital of two thousand taels of silver, one could open a massive one.
"Madam, I've already ordered the servants to get to work. What do you think about this?"
Mrs. Bai shot her a glare. "Since you've already ordered the servants to get to work, can I even stop it?"
Wu Qingshui chuckled. "I only took the liberty of doing it because I knew you would indulge the young miss. However, she seems much more composed than before. Could there be something going on that we don't know about?"
"Are you implying that there might be an upheaval in the capital?" Mrs. Bai asked.
Wu Qingshui shook her head in fright. "I wouldn't dare think such a thing. I just figured that since the young miss is the daughter-in-law of the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, perhaps she has access to information that we don't."
"Now that you mention it, it's not impossible. By the way, did you say He Er wanted me to visit the Gu Mansion when I have time?"
"That's what the young miss said. If you don't have time, she'll figure out a way to return home to visit."
"She's someone else's daughter-in-law now; how could she come out so easily?" Mrs. Bai sighed. If Bai Suihe truly had the freedom to move about, she wouldn't have had to disguise herself as a maid to leave the mansion. "Tomorrow morning, arrange for someone to deliver a calling card to the Gu Mansion. We'll pay them a visit the day after tomorrow. He Er has been pregnant for quite some time now, so as her mother, it's only right that I go see her again."
"Yes, Madam," Wu Qingshui replied. "Would you like to prepare any gifts?"
"Prepare two carriages of generous gifts," Mrs. Bai sighed. Even though they were now in-laws, the Bai Family still had to curry favor with the Gu Mansion. If she was going to visit, she needed to prepare gifts for all the masters and mistresses, regardless of their status.
She drafted a list of gifts and had it sent to the butler to arrange. Only then did she turn back to the rear courtyard to handle the day's trivial matters.
***
Thanks to the resident doctor spreading the word, the entire Gu Mansion believed that Bai Suihe's pregnancy was unstable. Nobody dared to approach her and ask for trouble. If even the slightest mishap occurred, they would be made the scapegoat.
Gu Antong had wandered around the streets with her mother but still hadn't found any jewelry to her liking. Later, upon reflection, she understood why. Even if the jewelry set was part of Suihe's dowry, how many people would still remember it after more than a year?
Besides, one shouldn't refuse a gift from an elder. If Suihe volunteered to give it to her, what could outsiders possibly say?
She had just considered making another trip to ask her grandmother to speak on her behalf, only to receive news that Suihe had collapsed again due to an unstable pregnancy.
Gu Antong could only grit her teeth, no longer daring to bring up the matter.
If the worst happened and her pressuring Suihe for the jewelry set caused a miscarriage, her reputation would be utterly ruined.
"Tong Er, how about we change into a different dress?" Liu Yun also knew this was not the time to ask for trouble. After all, even the Old Madam had excused the third branch from paying daily respects and observing formalities.
If the domineering Old Madam knew to avoid suspicion, their mother-daughter duo certainly shouldn't stick their necks out.
"But Mother, out of all these clothes, this is the only one I fancy." Gu Antong didn't know why, but she firmly believed this dress would bring her good luck. If she could pair it with Suihe's jewelry set, she would easily capture everyone's attention. Her life's destiny hinged on this very moment.
"Child, why are you so stubborn?" Liu Yun glanced at the servants attending to them and dismissed them. Only then did she quietly console her, "Do you think the one in the main courtyard isn't tempted?
"If your grandfather found out about this, even the Old Madam wouldn't be able to protect you.
"Your grandfather set all these rules back then. Whoever dares to be the first to break them will be made an example of.
"The Gu Mansion might seem to have many rules, but it only looks good on the surface.
"Back then, in order to marry your father to a noble lady from a prominent family, your grandfather broadcasted his strict family rules to the entire capital.
"But which of these families in the capital aren't shrewd foxes?
"The Gu Family has a shallow foundation, and there isn't a single person in the entire Gu Family who can offer any support. Otherwise, your maternal grandfather wouldn't have married me to your father."
Liu Yun paused and let out a light chuckle. At the time, her sisters hadn't considered this a good match; they viewed the Gu family as nothing more than upstarts with no real standing.
However, she had married into the family happily. Aside from the fact that a concubine-born daughter like her could never be the legitimate wife in a highly prestigious household, she also valued the rule that the men in this family were forbidden from taking concubines. Sure enough, over all these years, even though she had only given birth to one son and one daughter, Old Master Gu had helped keep the Old Madam in check to protect his reputation, preventing her from breaking the family rules.
Otherwise, given the Old Madam's temperament, who knew how many concubines would have been brought into the mansion by now?
"As for the dowry Ms. Bai brought in, we aren't the only ones green with envy. Even the one in the main courtyard has been dropping open and veiled hints. Who knows if Ms. Bai is truly foolish or just pretending not to understand, but she absolutely refused to let the Old Madam get her way."
Liu Yun sighed. "It's a pity. If the one in the main courtyard had succeeded, we wouldn't be in such a passive position today.
"But you must remember, our branch cannot be the one to start this. Who knows, perhaps the second branch will take the initiative before long."
"Then why did you take me to Grandmother yesterday to ask for it?" Gu Antong questioned.
"That was just testing the waters. The one who actually made the request wasn't me, but your grandmother," Liu Yun said, raising an eyebrow at her daughter. "Besides, we never intended to take it permanently before; we merely wanted to borrow it."
As for what would happen once they borrowed it—well, if they secured it through their own capability, when they returned it would be a matter for another day.