The topic was brushed aside. Just then, the butler brought in the meal.
Since Gu Baijiang was present, today's family banquet was exceptionally lavish.
There was Youxi Duck, Seven-Star Fish Ball Soup, Glazed Zhukang Fish, Dragon Body Phoenix Tail Shrimp, Clear Stewed Whole Chicken, sweet and sour sliced pork, sautéed white mushrooms, Stir-fried Black Mountain Goat, Crispy Braised Pork, and various pastries. The standard was several grades higher than usual.
Moreover, it included dishes from several different culinary traditions, showing that the kitchen definitely had a master chef. It seemed the only ones being treated harshly every day were the people in the third branch. Thinking of the two meat and two vegetable dishes sent to their courtyard every day, the contrast made their usual meals seem far too perfunctory.
Wait, that wasn't right either. When she had served Old Madam in the main courtyard previously to learn the rules, she hadn't seen the old woman eat dishes like these. The hierarchy in this mansion was truly something else...
Since Bai Suihe had been here, it was rare to see so many dishes, and they all looked, smelled, and tasted exquisite. As soon as the two elders picked up their chopsticks, she eagerly joined in.
She was entirely unaware that Xu Huizhen had glared at her several times throughout the meal. Xu Huizhen wondered why Ms. Bai was so oblivious today, not even knowing to stand by and serve according to the rules.
Even knowing that with Gu Baijiang present, such strict rules couldn't be enforced anyway, Ms. Bai's behavior still filled Xu Huizhen with anger. She felt that because of Ms. Bai, nothing was going her way today.
Bai Suihe couldn't care less. She simply felt that the kitchen had been far too dismissive of the third branch. If they had shown even half of this culinary skill before, she wouldn't have needed to send Chun Xiang and the others out to restaurants for food every day.
Her hearty appetite naturally drew sidelong glances from the Gu Family. However, remembering that she was pregnant, they quickly accepted it as normal—after all, pregnant women tended to eat more. As for whether the kitchen should send more food to the third branch from now on, that was none of their concern.
After eating, Gu Baijiang didn't linger. He took his two sons and headed to the study. Old Madam wanted to follow but was dissuaded by a single sharp look from him.
Bai Suihe was just trying to come up with an excuse to slip away when Old Madam called out, making her stay behind with the women of the other two branches.
"Liu Yun, as a daughter of the Liu Family, you know your maternal grandfather's family's temperament. We still need to find a way to arrange this sum of Silver for the mansion.
"The men are busy outside and don't involve themselves in the mansion's domestic affairs. If things really blow up, we women are the ones who will suffer."
Liu Yun looked at Xu Yulan and Bai Suihe, feeling extremely put on the spot. "Mother, I really can't make the decision on this. At most, I can personally chip in ten taels of Silver. Any more is truly beyond my means."
Xu Yulan quickly followed, "Mother, I'll chip in ten taels too."
Bai Suihe hesitated, "...Mother, then..."
"Ms. Bai, I know you are filial. You can cover the remaining two hundred or so taels," Old Madam interjected before Bai Suihe could finish. "I'll have Nanny Zhou go fetch it later."
Playing this kind of trick on her? This was simply shameless, directly dumping the financial burden on her!
"How could I dare to overshadow Liu Yun and Yu Lan?" Bai Suihe replied smoothly. "How about this—I will contribute eight taels."
"Ms. Bai, did you not hear me clearly?"
Bai Suihe widened her eyes in innocent surprise. "There is a distinction between superior and inferior, and an order between older and younger. I wouldn't dare violate the rules of etiquette. If word got out, who knows how outsiders would gossip about our lack of propriety."
"It's just the few of us here. Who would say anything?" Xu Yulan snapped angrily. Seeing her easy windfall slip right through her fingers—how could she possibly swallow this frustration?
"Yu Lan, regardless of whether this spreads or not, I deeply respect Mother and both of you in my heart. I wouldn't dare overstep my bounds even the slightest bit." Bai Suihe remained entirely unmoved. Even giving up those eight taels of Silver made her heart ache. If she threw the money into the water, she'd at least hear a SPLASH, but giving it to them would only earn her a scolding.
"I will have Chun Mei bring it over shortly. My health has been failing lately, and my legs are feeling weak. I shall take my leave now." Bai Suihe was absolutely certain that with Gu Baijiang currently in the mansion, this trio of mother and daughters-in-law wouldn't dare push things too far, no matter what schemes they harbored.
Sure enough, they could only swallow their anger as they watched her walk away. The moment she stepped out the door, Bai Suihe couldn't hold back a soft chuckle. If it weren't for the fact that there were still some days left before the mansion was raided and its assets confiscated, she would have feigned illness right to the very end.
"Preposterous!" a furious curse echoed from behind her, accompanied by the SHATTER of a teacup hitting the floor.
"I will scrape together a bit more on my end. Yu Lan, take fifty taels of Silver back with you tomorrow first."
"But..."
"If it's not enough, tell them to figure it out themselves. When the Gu Family renovated our ancestral hall back then, it only cost a few dozen taels. Could it be that the Xu family expects to build something even grander than the Gu Family?"
The look Old Madam gave Xu Yulan carried a hint of dissatisfaction. She might be old, but she wasn't senile—how could she not know exactly what Xu Yulan was trying to pull?
Feeling a bit guilty, Xu Yulan didn't dare say another word. For now, the matter was temporarily laid to rest.
Back in her own courtyard.
Returning there, Bai Suihe didn't rest immediately. Instead, she took a slow stroll through the backyard. She had already eaten earlier, but since today's meal was so excellent, she had taken a few extra bites and now needed to walk it off.
Feeling the baby kick in her belly, Bai Suihe dismissed her two maids so she could bond with her unborn daughter.
"Mother, are you unhappy?" the baby sensed Bai Suihe's mood. "Is something not going your way?"
"Mother is fine," Bai Suihe replied softly. Hearing the child's worried voice, she remembered a close friend mentioning that a mother's emotions during pregnancy could affect the fetus. She quickly cleared her mind of negative thoughts, hoping her baby would grow up to be bright and cheerful.
"Seeing your grandfather today, looking so upright and righteous, I really can't imagine him embezzling military funds."
Bai Suihe had read the original novel and knew that Gu Baijiang was taking the fall for the Third Prince. However, he wasn't completely innocent either—he had indeed participated in the embezzlement. She hadn't read the book in great detail, though. She only knew that the embezzled Silver eventually became Gu Antong's stepping stone, allowing her to successfully enter the Third Prince's inner court. From there, she helped him strategize and fight evenly against the other Princes.
Yet, it seemed that when the mansion was raided, the authorities hadn't found the money. Where exactly was all that Silver hidden? Life in the Gu Mansion had always been very low-key, giving outsiders the false impression that the father and sons of the Gu Family were honest, impartial, and lived in respectable poverty.
"I don't know either," the baby replied, sounding a little wronged because she couldn't help her mother today.
"It's alright. I was just sighing over how you can't judge a book by its cover. For the entire Gu Mansion to be implicated and exiled—they truly aren't wronged." Bai Suihe recalled that the book's descriptions were somewhat vague. However, when the female lead had entered the storehouse, her eyes had lit up, and it had taken the Third Prince's men an entire night to move everything. Clearly, the amount was astronomical.
"It's just a shame. Such a massive fortune ended up serving as a free stepping stone for the Third Prince."
Five days later.
Early in the morning, magpies chattered brightly on the branches. Before Bai Suihe had even gotten out of bed, bustling activity had already begun outside her courtyard.
Mrs. Bai was visiting the mansion today, and Dong Mei and the other maids were even more invested in the preparations than Bai Suihe was. First thing in the morning, they ordered the older servant women outside to sweep the courtyard and rearrange the potted flowers. They even made a special trip to the main kitchen to give some extra instructions.
By the time Bai Suihe woke up, her two diligent maids had already readied everything. "Mother probably won't arrive this early."
She was quickly proven wrong. Just as she finished her breakfast, word came from the front courtyard that Mrs. Bai had already entered the mansion. She was currently heading to the main courtyard to pay her respects to Old Madam first.
Bai Suihe smoothed out her dress and hurried over to the main courtyard with her maids. This time, everyone in the main courtyard was beaming with joy.