Minglan was not bragging about her generosity, but if she could get rid of those annoying relatives of Gu Tingye, she really was willing to give up the ancestral property of the Gu"s family. Money could be made again, but those relatives were the troubles she found it hard to dump.

This day, Minglan went to give obeisance to Old Madam Qin in Daylily Garden as usual. As they were chatting, they mentioned combining the two mansions together. Old Madam Qin had thought that Minglan would beat around the bush, but to her surprise, the latter agreed directly and even started to talk about the progress of the construction.

“This Taoist Zhang was recommended by Madam Geng. He has done fortune-telling a lot of times. She said that this Taoist is an honest man and never leaks secrets. He"s different from the unprofessional Taoists who always swindle others.”

Zhu shi, the pregnant woman, chimed in, “I"ve also heard of Taoist Zhang. That year when my parents expanded two manors, they also invited him to do the fortune-telling. They said that he is a very efficient Taoist and could guarantee the prosperity and good fortune in the family.”

Old Madam Qin was glad to hear that, so she said, “Have you already found the group of masons?”

Minglan answered with a smile, “Luckily, First Madam Zheng has recommended a group for me. Before New Year"s Eve when our Empress"s sister married into the Zheng"s family, they renovated half of the mansion by strengthening the walls and beams of the rooms and making the heated brick bed well-ventilated. Now the Second Madam of that family also said she lives very comfortably there. Those masons are not only skillful but very dependable. Never have they proposed a fake price on the materials. I already sent someone to invite them with the recommendation letter from the Zheng"s family. The leader of the masons has already agreed to work for us. A few days later, they would come here to measure the land and make a drawing first.”

Old Madam Qin suddenly stopped fiddling with the teacup lid, saying, “… We just talked about starting the construction the day before yesterday, you already made full preparations for everything. You truly have acted fast. But, is it OK to let so many strangers get into the mansion?”

Seeing the look on Old Madam Qin"s face, Shao shi asked gently, “Mother, is there anything wrong?”

“Nothing could be wrong with the people who are recommended by the Zheng family, it"s just…” Old Madam Qin put down the tea cup and stroked the Buddha beads, “Minglan, you haven"t married into our family for too long, so perhaps you don"t know that there is a group of masons who often worked for our family when your father-in-law was alive. I have planned to send Steward Mo to tell you this.”

Minglan, with a shocked and awkward look on her face, covered her mouth and said, “Oh my, I really don"t know that. What can I do now? I"ve already told First Madam Zheng about this; it"ll be inappropriate to change the masons now.”

Old Madam Qin stared at Minglan for a long while and then said slowly, “They all said that you are young and inexperienced, but I don"t think that"s true. Tingye is busy with his business and has no time to deal with the construction affairs now. I have thought that a young madam like you would have difficulties in handling such a great matter. Never did I know that you didn"t ask any of the elders in the family and finished everything all by yourself. The young generation really should be respected…”

Minglan pretended that she didn"t understand those words, followed w.a.n.g shi"s behavior in front of Old Madam Sheng (Only that w.a.n.g shi truly couldn"t understand Old Madam Sheng"s words) and said with an innocent smile, “Thanks to you, mother.”

Minglan now finally understood why Old Madam Sheng became more and more straightforward when scolding w.a.n.g shi. An idiotic sister-in-law who couldn"t be driven away truly was able to drive her mother-in-law who used to be a lady of a n.o.ble family into a fiery woman.

Shao shi seemed not comfortable with an atmosphere like this and turned her head slightly. Zhu shi lowered her head and touched her belly. Gu Tingye was a young and powerful man who had grudges against his stepmother. Then, how could his wife be obedient to Old Madam Qin?

Old Madam Qin also knew that it was not wise to turn against Minglan right now, so she just played dumb, thinking that she could wait until her daughter got married.

In this case, Minglan wouldn"t ask for troubles either. These days she had been quite busy. Now only did she have to handle her family affairs, but she had to take care of the construction work in the family. Between Marquis Ningyuan"s mansion and the Cheng Manor, there was an idle small yard and a mountain forest. The primary job should be demolishing most of the walls and fences which stood between the two mansions and connecting the bounding walls to surround the empty rooms and the mountain forest in the middle.

That was not a difficult thing to do, but the labor cost would be quite large. The barren mountain and forest needed to be planned. Some places should be surrounded, and some pieces of land should be bulldozed in order to plant some trees or flowers. After the roads were paved, the rest of the land would be utilized to build pavilions, terraces and towers.

"Just take it easy." Minglan wasn"t in a hurry to do the work and planned to finish the construction slowly. "Do according to one"s abilities and the money one has." That was Minglan"s principle.

As a woman, it was still inappropriate for Minglan to show up too often. Therefore, Hao Dacheng, the head of the stewards, could only run in and out of the mansion dozens of times a day. Minglan felt parched due to the long speech she had to give. However, as the master of the mansion, Gu Tingye had only inspected the construction site twice (on the way back home), leafed through the drawings three times and uttered some useless words like "Make the door smaller". After that, he left and continued to serve the country.

Life had to continue, and the construction work was also carried on at a steady pace.

Autumn was the crab season. The royal family presented pastries, sweet potatoes, chestnuts and chrysanthemums to all the n.o.ble families to show the infinite royal graciousness. The families which were favored by the emperor all received other presents besides those.

Minglan received six pots of chrysanthemums in dark green, golden yellow, bright purple, pink red and plain red as well as ten baskets of fresh crabs. Because of the plentiful prizes, she needed to go to the Royal Palace to express her thanks to the royal family.

No matter whether the people of the royal family wanted to meet her or not, she still had to follow the etiquettes, otherwise she would be regarded as a disrespectful person. The next day after her request of going to the Royal Palace had been permitted by the Imperial Household Department (which was such a pity), she got up early in the morning. After she had dressed herself, she went to the Royal Palace in sedan.

After she went through the imperial inner gate, she had to get off the sedan. With the heavy headwear and an empty belly, she still had to walk a long way in the imperial city while making sure that the look on her face remained scared and joyful the whole time—That really was very torturing.

Minglan would rather be rewarded less.

With the guide of the imperial servant, she finally entered an imperial room. There were already two n.o.ble ladies in first-rank madam"s clothes sitting inside. One was around forty years old with a fair and delicate face whom Minglan didn"t know. The other one was Zhang shi, the wife of the Empress"s brother. It had been quite a while since Minglan saw her.

The two women seemed close to each other and also looked the same.

Minglan tried her best to give a polite smile to them and then moved to a seat at the highest speed which was allowed by the imperial rules. After that, she raised her head elegantly and smiled to the n.o.ble lady in front of her. No sooner had she chatted with Zhang shi than a maid walked into the room and announced loudly, “Please move to the Palace of Tranquility.”

Minglan felt her heart sinking, because Palace of Tranquility was the place where Empress Dowager lived. The three of them stood up right away. Before they left, Zhang shi smiled to Minglan, “This is my mother.” Actually, Minglan had already guessed it out. Then she gave her obeisance to Zhang shi"s mother right away, “d.u.c.h.ess Ying, it"s an honor to meet you.”

“Likewise.” d.u.c.h.ess Ying held Minglan"s hand gracefully. While she was walking, she measured Minglan with her eyes and chuckled gently, “You really are beautiful. They all said that Tingye has married a great woman. Only today do I know that those words are true.”

Minglan then had to utter some modest words with a red face.

It was not appropriate to talk much in the Royal Palace. Then they followed the maid silently. After a short while, they arrived at the Palace of Tranquility. After the maid reported their arrival, they entered the palace in succession. They knelt down, gave obeisance, and then stood aside in silence.