The Duke's Daughter is Reborn

An Xiaoyi, a toad, wanted to eat swan meat, but ended up angering the old lady. After the spring, he would take An Xiaoqiu back to the northwest in disgrace. This matter immediately spread in the Duke's Mansion, and An Xiaoqiu's status in the mansion became worse and worse. The general maids and servants did not have a good face for An Xiaoqiu.

Fangfei Pavilion, inside An Xiaoqiu's house.

It snowed heavily again today, and the cold wind was blowing fiercely outside. But not only was there no heating in the house, but there was only a charcoal fire.

An Xiaoqiu, Qiqiao and Bazhen could only sit around the charcoal fire. An Xiaoqiu was better off and could sit on a soft chair, covered with a quilt.

But the only charcoal fire was still charcoal, so it burned out very quickly and produced a lot of smoke. It was cold outside, so the windows were not open, which kept the smoke inside.

An Xiaoqiu was originally sitting in a soft chair reading a book, but the smoke smoked her eyes and throat, and she was coughing all over.

Bazhen took the book from the young lady and said, "Miss, it's getting dark now. Reading hurts your eyes. You should read later."

An Xiaoqiu coughed for a while before he recovered: "It's snowing now, it's time to get bright."

Then, An Xiaoqiu looked at Qiqiao who was busy doing needlework at the side and said, "Qiqiao, you should take a break. The smoke is very thick now. Wait until the smoke clears before you do the embroidery."

Qi Qiao's embroidery has always been the most delicate among those around An Xiaoqiu. All of An Xiaoqiu's items are made by Qi Qiao, except for the embroiderers in the mansion.

Qi Qiao put down the embroidery basket and pointed at the charcoal basin on the ground: "Miss, the people in this mansion are always so mean that they use such charcoal fire to fool us. Now the maids in the lady's room don't use this charcoal fire. Miss, don't worry, I will go to the road to buy some charcoal when the snow stops."

An Xiaoqiu hurriedly stopped him: "It's not that we're short of money for buying charcoal, but everyone in the mansion is staring at my brother and me, so let's not make things more complicated." Ever since her brother did those ugly things, the old lady and even my aunt haven't liked them for some time. Now the housekeeper in the mansion is skimping on them even on small matters like charcoal.

Bazhen whispered, "Miss, if he really went back to the northwest, I'm afraid it's the master's side..."

An Xiaoqiu and Qiqiao both knew what Bazhen meant. It was nothing more than that she had failed to complete the master's task of marrying into a wealthy family and finding new support for the An family. If she really returned home like this, the young lady and the concubine would probably have a hard time.

When An Xiaoqiu thought of this, she couldn't stop crying. She had a miserable life. She had been abused by her wife and brother since she was a child. Her aunt was a aunt in name, but her status in the mansion was not as good as that of the maidservant beside her wife.

Since childhood, An Xiaoqiu has used every opportunity to study, and studied hard to raise her own status, so that her father can pay more attention to her. But why is it so difficult for her? Song Yangjing was born and raised by her aunt. Whether in the mansion or outside, she was surrounded by good people.

Only you, only you have to accumulate and complete all things bit by bit by yourself.

Qi Qiao lost her composure when she saw An Xiaoqiu crying, and hurriedly looked at Bazhen. At this time, only Bazhen could comfort the young lady.

Bazhen sighed in her heart and whispered, "Miss, things will always get better."

Here, An Xiaoqiu was thinking about how to make up for the bad impression of her brother, while there, An Xiaoyi was scratching his cheek anxiously because he couldn't see the beauty.

The old lady said that An Xiaoyi was not allowed to enter the backyard, and An Shi did not dare to openly oppose the old lady, so An Xiaoyi could only walk in the front yard. This made An Xiaoyi very anxious, and he wanted to climb over the wall in the middle of the night to see the beauty in his heart.

Knowing that An Xiaoyi had been going up and down the mansion and spending a lot of money to find out about Yang Lan, Yang Qi couldn't help but laugh: "He is really a fool."

Could it be that An Xiaoyi couldn't see that the old lady and An Shi disliked him? Didn't he react at all? He hadn't even seen the Duke of Guo once during all the time he was in the Duke's Mansion? You know, when Song Hongwen found out that Yang Lan, whom he had raised with great difficulty, was favored by that bastard An Xiaoyi, his expression was very interesting.

However, Song Hongwen's reason finally overcame his impulse. Although the Duke's Mansion is not afraid of the An family's small power, it is better to have more friends than more enemies. Besides, An has become his legal wife. There is no benefit in having conflicts with the An family except for causing troubles for himself. Such a thing is something that Song Hongwen would never do!

Yang Qi was looking forward to Yang Lan's next move. After so many years together, Yang Qi knew very well that Yang Lan was a person who would cut off the source of trouble. An Xiaoyi was jumping around so happily in the mansion now, compared to Yang Lan, who already had a set of rules.

The New Year is coming soon, and Yang Qi wrapped herself up tightly before daring to go out to check the herbs.

When he returned to the house, Yang Qi found that his face was a little red from the cold.

Mother He handed over a hot towel and a hand warmer and said, "Miss, according to outside news, my cousin has recently made friends with a jade dealer from Yunnan, and it seems that they want to do business together."

Yang Qi paused: "Is the deal almost done?"

Mother He nodded and said, "This cousin started going in and out of the major underground gambling houses in Beijing yesterday. He followed the young lady's instructions and did not inquire about the background of the jade dealer. He just watched from the side."

Yang Qi nodded. The waters of Beijing are deep. Since Yang Lan has already started, he must have set up a perfect trap. This jade dealer must be genuine, and his background and identity can withstand investigation. However, the more this is the case, the deeper the pit Yang Lan has dug for An Xiaoyi.

In this matter, Yang Qi was happy to watch the fun and also wanted to see Yang Lan's methods. He just wanted to know how An Xiaoyi fell into the trap step by step. He would never waste his manpower and resources on these things.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, things in the mansion become increasingly chaotic. Some time ago, because An was too slow to react, many maids and servants in the mansion broke their feet and were unable to work. However, it happened to be the busiest festival of the year, and there were not enough people in the mansion.

With fewer people and more work, the precision and efficiency of the work have declined a lot. These days, there are always messy things like the embroiderer delivering lunch boxes, the old woman cleaning the backyard and lighting the fire.

The old lady couldn't bear to watch this and wanted to ask Xu to assist An, but thinking of Xu's straightforward character, she swallowed the words back.

Because of Yang Qi's matter and An's narrow-mindedness, Xu had always been dissatisfied with An. If the old lady spoke at this time, Xu would probably be unwilling to help. In addition, according to An's personality, An would think that the old lady looked down on her and cause trouble again.

In fact, if the housekeeper in the mansion was willing to say a few words, many problems could have been avoided by An. But as soon as An took over the housekeeper's key, she removed many of the people she thought were Xu's.

The relationships in the Duke's Mansion were complicated, and the nanny that An removed from the warehouse was the cousin of the nanny who was in charge of cleaning the backyard. An's actions secretly affected the interests of many people.