She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 497 - 495: Having an Idea in Mind

Chapter 497: Chapter 495: Having an Idea in Mind

Madam Liang took a sip of tea and first glared at Liang Qiyuan, "It took us mother and daughter several days to travel here, and to think, getting a warm cup of tea at your place is so difficult."

Liang Qiyuan said uncomfortably, "You know your brother, I’ve never been much of a schemer. Didn’t you just say that you wouldn’t hold a grudge?"

Lady Liu tried to smooth things over for her husband and changed the subject, "How many people did Big Sister bring? I will have someone arrange accommodations."

Madam Liang shook her head, "No need, my lord had already sent people over a day earlier to rent a small inn in the county city. Your place is indeed not spacious, it’s better we stay at the inn."

Weren’t you not angry anymore? Lady Liu felt a bit at a loss, casting a pleading look at Liang Qiyuan.

Liang Qiyuan immediately became frantic, "Big Sister, what do you mean by this? We are siblings from the same womb, and as a brother, I only misspoke a few words, yet you hold it against me. Are you still holding a grudge against what I said earlier, planning to stay at Magistrate Hao’s Residence under false pretenses, but telling me you would stay at an inn?"

"What are you saying?" snapped Madam Liang, "If I were to be unrelenting, why would I make the trip here at all? This time, I brought over twenty people; can your place accommodate us all? You should manage the property well and save up silver to buy back our mansion. When that time comes, I won’t go anywhere else; I’ll stay in the Liang Residence. The inn is not far from here, and it was chosen for the sake of convenience."

Seeing his elder sister get angry, and thinking of the future need to rely on her and his brother-in-law, Liang Qiyuan could only droop and kept silent.

Madam Liang glanced at her daughter with a complex expression and softened her tone, "The wife of the heir of Duke An has come to Yuyuan Prefecture, and even though she didn’t settle in the prefectural city, since we know of her presence, and it’s not that far away, according to convention, we should meet her. Coincidentally, Miss Ye invited Biyao to help her, so I brought Biyao with me."

"Miss Ye invited Biyao to help?" Liang Qiyuan looked at Zhou Biyao with a touch of regret, "What a pity Wanqiu and Miss Ye weren’t able to get along. If at that time she had been with Biyao, now she might have gained the favor of Duke An’s Mansion in the capital, and when discussing marriage, her standing could have been much higher."

Zhou Biyao looked skyward, Your Wanqiu, with those high standards, where would she place Miss Ye and her female cousin?

Madam Liang asked, "I haven’t seen the two children all morning, what’s going on? Are they still looking down on me, their aunt, and avoiding meeting me?"

Lady Liu hurriedly explained, "Big Sister, you think so poorly of us. Wanqiu and Siming went to their maternal grandfather’s home to play and will be back in a couple of days." Given that her daughter had previously held herself in high regard, in today’s terms, those whom Wanqiu once looked down upon could now look down upon her. She could only go to her grandparents’ place and stay with her female cousins.

Lady Liu thought for a moment and tentatively suggested, "How about I bring Wanqiu back and she can help Miss Ye with her work alongside Biyao? What do you think, Big Sister?"

Madam Liang immediately knew what Lady Liu was plotting, "Biyao is helping Miss Ye with the tools for the construction business, dealing with craftsmen. Since she was young, Biyao has been stubborn and impatient with the company of young ladies in women’s quarters. Plus, she has Miss Ye’s invitation; your brother-in-law and I didn’t have a choice. You are doing well, why look for trouble for yourself?"

Lady Liu and her husband looked at Zhou Biyao and thought the same; they wanted to use the reputation of Duke An’s Mansion to arrange a good marriage for Wanqiu. If she spent all day dealing with coarse craftsmen, they feared she might lose even the match-making prospects she had now.

Madam Liang saw the couple’s expressions and silently sighed. She, too, wished to keep Biyao confined in the inner chambers, but her second daughter was not one who could be kept there.

It was also because her and the master’s intentions were not aligned back then, which made her come to Qingyuan County to see if she could have any interactions with Prince Yu. In the end, it allowed the daughter to witness the things Miss Ye did, and now she is even more uncontrollable.

Lady Liu, seeing the complex expression on Madam Liang’s face and the undeniable helplessness in her eyes, also felt contempt deep down. A woman who spends her days with craftsmen who do manual labor has already tarnished her reputation; I’m afraid she won’t be able to find a respectable family to marry into.

Zhou Biyao, noticing that Lady Liu’s gaze kept sweeping over to her side, felt another kind of disdain. These people only know how to stay in the inner courtyards, socializing with other ladies and misses who are just as idle, comparing what they eat, what they wear, and their family backgrounds all day long. But what’s the use of winning those comparisons? Once the family background is gone, they’re left with nothing, just like Wanqiu.

She wants to be a person like the sister of the Ye Family. Even after leaving Duke An’s Mansion, she could still make a living, still survive, and still earn a good life and a good family business for herself and her family.

Look at Wanqiu, who can only depend on her parents, or even just her father, and her father is also not capable of earning a family business. Looking at her uncle’s current desperate state, it’s ridiculous that my aunt still has the audacity to look down on her and the sister of the Ye Family, tsk!

...

The next day, at Si Hour, Madam Liang and her daughter arrived at the second branch of the Qi family.

It was within Ye Xinyan’s expectations for Madam Liang to come to visit Madam Yin. What surprised Ye Xinyan was that Madam Liang would personally send her daughter to work for her.

Her reply to Zhou Biyao was to be delivered to Madam Liang first, then passed on. Ye Xinyan had made it clear in her letter that she and Wong Qiao were going to make two kinds of tools used in the construction industry and needed someone talented and skilled to help. If Zhou Biyao was willing, she could come and try it out.

That is to say, if in the future Zhou Biyao’s romance with Wong Qiao became public, Madam Liang should be well aware. It wasn’t that she had deceived her into coming; it was with the consent of Second Miss Zhou’s parents that she came out to work.

Working together with Wong Qiao made her feel a bit awkward. He and Zhou Biyao were in love, and there she was, an older single woman, mingling with someone’s boyfriend every day, what would that look like?

Furthermore, she had indirectly confessed to him once. In the future, when Zhou Biyao and Wong Qiao got married and this matter came up, being rejected after confessing and then working alone with someone’s boyfriend, she would lose a lot of face.

Zhou Biyao’s plan for this year was still to work for the Qi Family Construction Business, and she had turned down Zhou Biyao’s request to work there. If Zhou Biyao’s romance with Wong Qiao didn’t work out, would she have to bear the reputation of being a love-breaking meddler?

Whether it’s mutual love, unrequited love, or lost love, it’s not easy to forget unless you start a new relationship. Ye Xinyan’s current feelings could be best described by the phrase ’painfully enjoying it.’ Fortunately, after a year of buffering, the painful element had lessened a lot, and the joyful factors had correspondingly increased a lot.

In college, the guy she had a crush on fell in love with her close female classmate, and didn’t she have to get along with that ’loathsome couple’ anyway, even occasionally helping them skip classes in front of the teacher or copying notes for them?

In the main room of the back yard of the second branch family of the Qi family, Madam Yin and Madam Liang were having a very harmonious conversation, with Zhou Biyao sitting next to Ye Xinyan, very pleased.

Madam Liang sighed and said, "My Biyao is also a sensible child, but she is truly stubborn. Here she is, completely uncontrollable, lecturing me and her father on principles all day long, oh, it gives me such a headache. It’s our fault; we found her intelligent and studious and spoiled her."