Su Xiaoqi hid her thoughts and asked calmly about the identity of the beautiful girl in front of her.
"Where are you from, Miss Mei Xin?"
"I, I'm from the capital." Mei Xin looked up slightly at Su Xiaoqi.
The woman in front of her was refined and delicate in appearance. What was most rare was her demeanor, which was not intentionally cultivated but possessed a nobility that discouraged underestimation.
It was as if she was born noble.
Thinking of her own noble background, but due to her family's troubles, her life had become so miserable.
Mei Xin felt a pang of pain in her heart, and a flicker of jealousy flashed in her eyes before quickly passing.
Su Xiaoqi, however, had been paying attention to her and noticed it, becoming even more wary of her.
She still couldn't understand what Mei Xin, such a beautiful woman, could be jealous of her for.
Putting aside everything else, just her appearance was enough to captivate people with a single outing.
"Oh, which alley do you live in, Miss Mei? I'll have someone escort you back!"
"No, no need. I, my home is long gone, long gone." Mei Xin seemed to recall her family's experiences and covered her face, bursting into tears.
Su Xiaoqi looked at her delicate appearance and how easily she cried, feeling a pang of pity, but still asked if she had any remaining family.
"Family..." Mei Xin hesitated. Did her stepmother and stepsister, who had sold her into that place to save themselves, count?
Su Xiaoqi couldn't help but frown. Alright, such a stunningly beautiful young lady, with no home and no family.
But how did she return with Zhang Lei? And how did she know Shen Yun?
That's right, since Miss Mei Xin had already tied up her hair, she hadn't mentioned her husband at all. Could it be...
Su Xiaoqi's rich imagination began to work.
And indeed, it did not disappoint. Through her probing questions and Zhang Yu's rough explanations, Su Xiaoqi finally learned about Miss Mei Xin's relationship with Shen Yun.
Childhood sweethearts.
The kind of relationship where "the boy rode a bamboo horse, circling the bed, playing with the green plums."
This time, when Shen Yun went south to Jiangning Prefecture on business, he happened to see her at a weaving factory. Coincidentally, she knew many secrets of the weaving factory.
Because they knew she was coming to the capital, Jiangning Prefecture sent many people to intercept them.
Shen Yun was injured while saving her.
"Is Brother Yun's injury okay? I originally said I would take care of him on the way, but Brother Yun, worried about my safety, disagreed...
Actually, actually I have studied some medicine and can take care of Brother Yun. How about I take care of him?"
Mei Xin said, shedding tears, and sincerely requested.
She was delicate and beautiful, and with her tears, she looked utterly pitiful.
Even Zhang Lei looked pained.
He gruffly comforted her, "Miss Mei, please rest assured. My master is very capable, and those people are no match for him.
Besides, my madam has excellent medical skills and will surely heal the master."
"Zhang Lei, you've traveled all the way north, dusty and tired. You should go back and rest." Su Xiaoqi had Zhang Yu escort him to the front courtyard.
Her central and rear courtyards had been converted into hot spring gardens, where men were strictly prohibited from entering.
Therefore, even she herself had moved to the main building in the front courtyard.
Fortunately, the estate was large enough, and they were not many people, so they could accommodate themselves.
Mei Xin looked at Su Xiaoqi in surprise upon hearing this.
She knew medicine too? Was she better than her?
With this, she no longer had a reason to take care of Shen Yun.
Su Xiaoqi was very displeased with Mei Xin's portrayal of her relationship with Shen Yun as so intimate.
She frowned and said, "Miss Mei Xin doesn't need to worry. Zhang Yu, take Miss Mei Xin to the nearby post station to stay."
"Oh, no, Shen Madam, you don't know, I, I have many secrets that Brother Yun wants to know.
If I go out, someone will want to kill me. I, I'm scared." Mei Xin said, whimpering.
With things said to this point, what else could Su Xiaoqi say?
She then settled her in the furthest annexe from the main building, specially assigning the most reliable Zicao to serve her.
In fact, it was to keep an eye on her.
Looking at this person, she felt an ominous premonition, though she didn't know why. She felt uneasy, always feeling that her arrival would stir up trouble.
After arranging Mei Xin, Su Xiaoqi did not go to the main building.
She received many noble ladies who came to patronize her in the Liuyuan Garden in the central courtyard.
Some of them had already purchased membership cards.
While others had newly applied.
The reason they came was that they knew Su Xiaoqi was the one who saved them on the Dragon Boat Festival.
It so happened that they heard from the stewardesses in the manor that she was here, so they invited her to meet.
"Oh, Madam Shen, you are indeed here." Su Xiaoqi glanced at her. Wasn't this Wen Ruohua?
She was wearing a fragrant concubine colored long dress with lapels, embroidered with magnolias, making her look particularly refreshing.
She was very happy to see Su Xiaoqi and immediately stepped forward to greet her.
"Madam He!" Su Xiaoqi bowed.
However, before she could even squat down, Wen Ruohua stopped her, supporting her arm and preventing her from performing the courtesy.
"No need for so much ceremony. You saved my life and the lives of my two children; you are our savior.
My husband should have brought the family to thank you in person, but my husband said that Scholar Shen is in Jiangnan these days, so he said he would go a few days later, only preparing some customary gifts to send over, and I hope you won't mind."
This was true.
A few days ago, Granny Zhao had told her that the household had received many gifts from various families in the capital.
Some families had also come to visit her with their entire families to express their gratitude.
At that time, she hadn't really paid attention to it.
Therefore, she accepted the gifts they sent.
But at the same time, she asked Granny Zhao to open the storeroom and send back gifts in return.
What she returned were basically products from her own estate.
Such as lotus root powder, white fungus, and jelly.
Granny Zhao, having done her homework beforehand, knew which ladies and lords liked to eat chili peppers and prepared a bottle of chili paste.
This was the real local specialty.
Perhaps Wen Ruohua felt that her return gifts were too generous and was worried that she might be displeased with her own gifts being less valuable.
When Su Xiaoqi instructed Granny Zhao to prepare the return gifts, she had also been reminded by Granny Zhao.
But she thought that while these things might seem very valuable to others, she had a lot of them in her space, so it was a waste not to use them.
She felt a bit embarrassed that she had caused a misunderstanding.
She quickly said that she liked the cured sausages from the Bashu region that she sent.
So she also sent her some produce from her own estate.
"Produce from the estate?" A lady wearing a crimson short jacket and a pomegranate long skirt nearby heard this and looked surprised.
"Your estate can also produce chili peppers? I don't mean anything else; my husband particularly likes spicy food."
Su Xiaoqi looked at her. She was well-maintained, looking only in her thirties, with firm skin, but with a few small red pimples on her cheeks.
Having stayed in Bashu, Su Xiaoqi could tell at a glance that she had developed these pimples from eating spicy food.
Seeing her like this, she seemed very interested in chili peppers.
She remembered Zhong Lique, Shen Yun's superior in the Hanlin Academy.
Shen Yun had mentioned that Zhong Lique was very fond of spicy food, so on his first day in office, he had given Zhong Lique chili paste.
She guessed this was his wife, Madam Xu.
Indeed, Wen Ruohua, standing beside her, fearing she wouldn't recognize her, quietly reminded her, "This is the wife of the Scholar of the Hanlin Academy."
Su Xiaoqi curtsied, knowing it was Madam Xu, and the matter became easier to handle.
She nodded and said that the land behind her estate was growing chili peppers, which were now flowering and bearing fruit.
"Oh, chili peppers. I heard about this thing just a month ago, and I said where in the capital could I find it. So it turns out it's here with you."
At this moment, another woman in autumn brocade also spoke.
Su Xiaoqi recognized this person; she was Madam Yu, the wife of Li Hui, a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy.
While they were talking, Wen Ruohua introduced the remaining ladies.
Su Xiaoqi noticed that they were either wives of officials from the Hanlin Academy or from the Imperial College.
It seemed that birds of a feather flock together.
Among the wives of these intellectuals, there would certainly not be the wife of a military general.
Of course, the highest-ranking among them was Madam Wen Ruohua, the Libationer of the Imperial College.
However, the most renowned was Madam Xu, who came from a scholarly family.
She herself was also a talented woman.
But there was one person who was the most difficult to get along with.
She had remained silent, standing aside and looking at Su Xiaoqi with disdain in her eyes.