Moonlight Drying Valley Works The Concubine's Daughter Schemes to Marry the Best King Consort The Concubine's Daughter Schemes to Marry the Best King Consort A Daughter's Thoughts Twenty-Two Charming Young Men

  Sitting in the Yan family's black lacquered, flat-topped carriage, listening to the hubbub of people outside, Jiuniang couldn't help but secretly sketch out in her mind the scene of this prosperous and bustling street.

  Cars and horses are interwoven, shops are lined up, people are surging, and the ancient flavor is overflowing.

  How great it would be if I had the chance to take a look!

  Unfortunately, she never had the chance. Tenth Sister was scolded severely by Third Madam for lifting a curtain, how could she dare?

  The carriage drove for a while longer, turning several times, and finally entered the Jiang family's residence, stopping in front of an intricately carved and beautifully decorated red lacquer gate with hanging flowers.

  The Jiang family is a wealthy merchant family, with tall and exquisite pavilions, halls and courtyards, decorated to the extreme of luxury.

  In addition, the courtyard is planted with some rare and expensive plants that can withstand winter. The eaves of the corridor are also adorned with various potted plants. The lush greenery and vibrant flowers add a touch of beauty and vitality to this winter garden.

  It seems that the Jiang family is more prosperous than the Wen family. The Wen family's large courtyard, due to the winter season, was desolate and cold. According to Aunt Xu, it was because Old Lady couldn't bear to spend money on heating, so she ordered Madame to remove this section.

  "Now the Xu family looks prosperous, but in fact, it's been empty for a long time. Otherwise, Madame Xu wouldn't have arranged such a marriage for Second Master. A fifth-rank official's daughter, and she still has to observe mourning for her grandmother! Isn't it just because the Weaving Bureau is a lucrative position that they're hoping you'll bring more dowry?"

  After hearing this, Jiu didn't have the heart to care about her paternal cousin who only spoke a few words in a year. She had other ideas instead ——

  In this situation, she, a girl born out of wedlock, doesn't know if she'll have a dowry in the future... Uh, of course, at twelve years old, she isn't thinking about marriage yet, but it's a big problem staring her right in the face.

  At this moment, she suddenly thought of this again, and her conviction to get some benefits from the Jiang family with her advanced skills became even stronger...

  "Quickly, Ninth Sister—"

  The ninth sister was thinking for a moment when the wife of the official had already sent someone to bring over several green canopy sedan chairs, and Jiang Shi was urging her.

  "Oh!" She hastily responded and got into the sedan chair with the support of two old women.

  After another incense stick's worth of time, they finally stopped, and Mrs. Yan led a group of maidservants and a stunningly beautiful girl of about 14 or 15 years old to welcome them.

  "My sister has finally arrived, Ying Jie and I have been waiting for half a day."

  Mrs. Yan wore a large red satin cheongsam with golden thread and leaf patterns, her hair adorned with jade pins, exuding an air of wealth and elegance, her pale and gentle face beaming with smiles.

  "Miss Ying has seen her aunt!" The young girl then bowed to Jiang's family.

  Embroidered brocade green peony tight underskirt, imperial red pleated gold begonia flower swallowtail long skirt, plus the distinctive gilt and jade flower basket earrings on both ears, making her look even more slender and elegant, bright and unparalleled.

  Yes, indeed a rare beauty. Ninth sister couldn't help but secretly admire her in her heart, no wonder she could still be so pampered by her family despite being a concubine-born daughter.

  Beauty is also a form of capital!

  "Alright, alright," Jiang hastily pulled Yin Niang and smiled, "What's the point of us aunt and niece being polite? Come on, let me take a look. It's been some time since we last met, has our Yin Jie become even more lovely?"

  "Aunt..." Ying's face turned red.

  The ninth and tenth sisters also paid their respects to Mrs. Yan, and Mrs. Jiang introduced the ninth sister to Yingniang, and the tenth sister also paid her respects to Yingniang.

  "Didn't you want to discuss academic matters with your cousin long ago? Go ahead!" Then Madam Yan nodded at Yingniang.

  Yingniang heard this and immediately smiled as she went to pull the hand of the tenth sister, while Jiangshi spoke with a servant woman beside Old Lady Jiang. In the end, it was naturally Yan Shi who properly took the ninth sister's hand.

  "Jiujie's hands are really well-born, slender and delicate. Hmm, I've heard that people with such hands are the most skilled and dexterous." Yan Shi walked while affectionately grasping Jiujie's hands, examining them closely.

  "Eldest maternal aunt was wrong, Ninth Sister is actually clumsy and not only reads books worse than her sisters, but also does needlework poorly." Ninth Sister hastily said modestly.

  She really can't stand Yan's enthusiasm, it's too cloying!

  "Huh, silly girl, what's the point of that...” As soon as she said this, Yan Shi immediately glanced at Yingniang and Shijie walking in front of her, and chuckled quietly, "What's the use of being well-read? This woman isn't taking the imperial exams, it's enough for her to recognize some characters. And as for embroidery, haha... it's even more useless. Look at any wealthy family, who relies on their wives to do chores? It's all done by the servants."

  Upon hearing this, Jiu Jie'er merely smiled and remained silent.

  I really didn't expect such sincere words from someone like Yan.

  Alas...

  It was actually that year when she worked hard to learn embroidery and saw the experience of Wenjia's sister, who had just arrived in a strange world, that she gave birth to this idea.

  Wen's elder sister, Hou Ye Wen Chong Jiang Shu's eldest daughter, was married off to a concubine-born son of another family because she had never won the heart of her stepmother and father. In the past, they had separated from the family and their life was very difficult. It is said that Wen's elder sister often had to sell embroidered goods to supplement the family income.

  A leopard can't change its spots, so she decided to master the needlework of the female red, fearing that in the future if she falls into this situation, at least she will have a skill to rely on.

  "I like girls like Jiu, who are both clever and kind-hearted. One good deed after another, I wonder why you're not my own daughter." Madam Yan said with sparkling eyes.

  It's quite straightforward and refreshing; Ninth Sister couldn't help but secretly smile in her heart, it seems that Yan Shi isn't bad to get along with either.

  "Oh, right, Auntie, those two days I played with my sisters and came up with a few small things. Later, I'll think about it carefully and write to you in detail, see if they can be of any use." She didn't beat around the bush anymore.

  "Of course it can be useful, Ninth Sister's ideas are always brilliant!" As soon as Yan Shi heard this, her face lit up with joy and she affectionately pulled her hand closer, "Look, Eldest Brother's daughter, why is your arm always so bare? Come, take this pair of bracelets from Big Aunt to play with." While speaking, she quickly removed the bracelets from her own wrist.

  Why is it bangles again?

  The ninth sister couldn't help but roll her eyes inwardly, of course, it was obviously valuable, top-grade Hetian white jade, should be a rare treasure, she still had some knowledge, only this was really not as good as two hundred taels of silver for her.

  "This is too expensive, Xiaojiao can't afford it..." Jiujie naturally quickly pushed back and even took two big steps forward.

  "Eldest sister-in-law, Ninth Sister, what are you two doing, pulling and tugging at each other?" Jiang Shi looked over from where she was walking.

  "It's nothing, Mother. It was just Xiaojiao being a bit reckless and showing off the little tricks she came up with that day with Liu Jie and Mei Mei to Eldest Aunt. As it turned out, Eldest Aunt was very pleased and generous, and actually wanted to reward Xiaojiao with a bracelet. The bracelet looked like it wasn't something ordinary, it must have been worth at least one or two hundred taels. How could Xiaojiao accept it?"

  Jiuniang immediately said to Jiang Shiyi, when she mentioned one or two hundred taels, a pair of bright eyes flashed again.

  For the past two days, she had intentionally asked Xu Niang to make some noise, believing that her uncle's affair would not be able to escape Madam Jiang's notice.

  Jiang listened to this and his eyebrows furrowed slightly, but after glancing at Yan, he quickly smiled again, "Alright, you keep this thing, it's not suitable for a child like you to bring out."

  "I'll take care of rewarding her for you!" After saying that, he looked at Yan Shi again and chuckled, "Hehe, but big sister has to pay."

  Yan's family was taken aback for a moment, then laughed, "Good, good, I like this girl just by looking at her. It's a pity she's not my daughter. Giving some money is also something to be desired..."

  "Opening and closing your mouth is rewarding money, mother, when did you become so generous?" But before Madame Yan's voice had fallen, a clear and melodious male voice came over.

  Everyone was stunned, turned around and looked back, only to see a handsome young man coming from the other side of the corridor...

  ……