Chapter 22: Calm Seas and Gentle Breeze

  Nanny Zhou heard Xu Mingjin denying her in a pretentious manner, and she was about to get angry when Xu Mingjin said: "Regardless of whether I called out for my mother or not, Nanny Zhou's words are all pearls of wisdom. Jing'er has learned from them." Nanny Zhou felt a bit better after hearing this. At that moment, the three nannies beside her urged that it was getting late and they needed to hurry up and get on the road, otherwise they wouldn't be able to find an inn to stay in for the night. Madame Fan nodded, holding onto Xu Mingxuan with her left hand, and stretching out her right hand to pull Xu Mingjin, but saw her shaking her head and saying to Nanny Zhou: "Nanny, you don't need to bother keeping that rental agreement safe, I'll take it back to the capital myself and give it to my mother!"

  Nanny Zhou had already secretly tucked the lease into her sleeve, planning to find an opportunity to destroy it and then claim she had never seen it. No matter how eloquently they spoke, they wouldn't be able to clear up the situation! Nanny Zhou had already quietly grasped one corner of the lease, but hadn't expected this dead girl to be so vigilant, and her plan fell through again! Nanny Zhou resentfully let go of the lease, pretending that she had only just remembered it thanks to Xu Mingjin's reminder. She patted her hand, exclaiming in a pretended realization: "Oh dear, look at my memory! I forgot about the lease! Luckily Miss has a good memory!"

  After returning the lease to Xu Mingjin, Nanny Zhou secretly became vigilant. Today's repeated failures were all due to this young girl's doing. She was so young yet so cunning; it seemed that she needed to report to Madam about this.

  A large group of people finally emerged from the mansion, and at this time, the horse-drawn carriage carrying their luggage had already gone ahead.

  Everyone's expression was unclear, only Xu Mingjin's pretended innocent smile and Mingxuan's curious eyes that didn't know anything had a bit of vitality. When they got on the carriage, Xu Mingjin listened to Chun Xing telling her about the situation: "The first car is for the madam," Xu Mingjin interrupted her: "Do you need to tell me this? I'm the one who helped my mother get on the carriage, don't I know? Do I need you to say it? And don't call me 'madam' again! Unless you're tired of living! You should call me Auntie, got it?" Chun Xing stuck out her tongue and thought: When did Miss's mood turn bad again? Originally, Xu Mingjin's genuine smile fell as soon as she got on the carriage.

  You also call your wife "niang", don't you? Chun Xing was secretly resentful, but didn't have the guts to provoke Xu Mingjin.

  "Go on! I'm still waiting to hear."

  Chun Xiang saw Xu Mingjin's impatient expression and quickly continued, "The second carriage has Miss in it." She saw Xu Mingjin showing signs of getting angry again and quickly said, "The third carriage has Young Master Mingxuan, the fourth carriage has those four wet nurses, and the servants are all following on horseback." Chun Xiang finished speaking in one breath, not giving Xu Mingjin a chance to interrupt, and continued, "When boarding the carriages, the four wet nurses originally wanted to take care of Madame, Miss, and Young Master under the pretext of taking care of them, but were rejected by Madame!"

  Xu Mingjin rolled her eyes and said, "You're really stubborn! I've told you to call me Auntie." Chun Xiang suddenly pleaded, "Miss, I know you're doing this for my own good, afraid that if I call you Madame, those people will hear it and my life will be in danger. But, Miss, please let me call you Madame a few more times on the way! Because once we arrive in the capital, I won't be able to say these two words again!"

  As soon as Xu Mingjin was spoken to by Chun Xing, she also became sentimental. How could she be willing to call Fan Furen "Auntie"? But that's just how the world is. She could only reluctantly follow along. The carriage fell silent for a moment, and both Permitted Auntie and Autumn Cloud Purple were quiet. After who knows how long, Xu Mingjin suddenly said: "Did Zhang Shuo come with us?"

  Chun Xing saw that Xu Mingjin's expression had improved, and only then did he smile and say: "Follow him! This horse-drawn carriage is the one he's driving. Xiao Dongzi is in Master Mingxuan's carriage."

  Xu Mingjin listened and finally didn't have a gloomy face. The few people started chatting and laughing again. Time flew by quickly, and before they knew it, they had already arrived at the entrance of Liu City. Xu Mingjin slightly lifted the curtain to take a peek, and indeed, Fan Yicheng was standing by the side of the road, meeting her gaze. He smiled slightly and made a "take care" gesture with his mouth. Xu Mingjin also responded with a "take care" gesture, and the carriage had already driven past that spot, unless she turned her head to look back.

  Xu Mingjin didn't look back, she pulled down the curtain and sat steadily.

  Don't give the enemy any excuse. Who knows if those few maids are staring at every move in front of them on the carriage behind, it's better to be careful.

  Xu Mingjin reached out and touched the embroidered pouch with orchids that she had brought with her, inside which were the six million taels of silver notes sent by Fan Yicheng to Zhang Shouzhi. Xu Mingjin thought to herself, this was all her family's wealth now. What would she do after returning to the capital?

  Xu Mingjin thought for a moment, then shared her idea with Madam Xu and the others. Everyone was very supportive, except for Madam Xu, who hesitated: "Miss, isn't it unbecoming to engage in such merchant activities so openly?" Xu Mingjin smiled and said: "Madam Xu, when have I ever been so open and forthright?" Madam Xu replied: "Didn't you go to the opening of the embroidery shop?" Xu Mingjin laughed and said: "Madam Xu, that day I went there as a guest. So many ladies and young misses were there that day. You can't take away my right to visit the embroidery shop, can you? Besides, who knows now that I'm the owner of Jinxiu Embroidery Shop?"

  Xu Mingjin's words left Xu Nian's mother speechless.

  After a while, she reluctantly said: "Miss is eloquent, and the old slave can't argue with Miss." Xu Mingjin smiled slightly and said: "Nanny, you also think what I said makes sense, right?" Nanny Xu said: "Alright, whatever Miss does, the old slave will support her, isn't that enough?" Xu Mingjin said: "This is my good nanny."

  The sound of laughter and chatter continued all the way, and Xu Mingjin gradually stopped thinking about those annoying things in such an atmosphere.

  At noon, the carriage stopped at an inn for a rest.

  Xu Mingjin, who had been sitting in the carriage for a whole morning, had just sat down in the private room when Chun Xiang rushed in, panting and shouting: "Miss, those old goods! They don't take Madame and Miss seriously at all!" Xu Mingjin saw that she couldn't bear her excited appearance, and slightly furrowed his brow. Autumn Cloud quickly pulled Chun Xiang back and gave her a warning look, and only then did Chun Xiang come to her senses and stand respectfully aside.

  "What's going on?" asked Mrs. Fan gently.

  "Madam, I just came from outside and heard that Zhou Ayi and the others are serving us the same dishes they eat. Spring Apricot said indignantly: 'They actually let Madam, Miss, and Young Master eat the leftovers of the servants!'"

  Xu Mingjin felt very indignant, but she knew that those few maids themselves could not be so blatant in bullying people. This must have been instigated by Mrs. Xu behind their backs. Xu Mingjin took a deep breath and did not speak. This Mrs. Xu was always designing and probing everywhere. If they had a tough attitude, Mrs. Xu would let them know what it meant to be low-key and reserved. If they had a soft attitude, she would beat them down to the dust. Mrs. Xu just wanted to use these few slaves to openly humiliate them! And make them speechless! This move was too ruthless! No matter how they did it, it was all wrong.

  Xu Mingjin found that this was really difficult to handle. She would have been willing to pay for her own food and lodging, but she absolutely refused to let those people sent by Mrs. Xu support her as well.

  At this moment, the door of the room was knocked. Chun Xing ran to open the door and saw Zhou Niang standing outside with a smile on her face: "Greetings to Master, greetings to Miss, greetings to Madam Fan." She said hello, but her body remained still, standing straight as a pen. Xu Mingjin looked at her with ridicule, thinking that this Zhou Niang must be very obedient in front of Mrs. Xu, like a dog sticking to the ground. She couldn't help but smile. When she raised her head and saw Zhou Niang looking over, she quickly put on a big smile.

  "The old slave has already ordered the meal as soon as he entered the inn, it's ready now, let me serve you young master and miss!" said Zhou Mama.

  "No need, how dare I trouble you, you're the madam's favorite!" When Zhou heard Xu Mingjin say this, she was initially delighted, but then saw a servant next to her flash a sarcastic smile. She thought to herself, if she were indeed the madam's favorite, why would she be assigned such a distant and unprofitable task? Wasn't Xu Mingjin just mocking her? Zhou's expression turned unpleasant.

  Originally, Xu Mingjin's words were unintentional. When she saw Zhou Yanyan change her expression, she guessed the situation. She secretly regretted her quick mouth and unexpectedly offended someone. However, for the time being, she also had no way to turn the situation around.

  The old woman snorted and said, "Since the young lady doesn't need me, I won't bother her anymore. I'll take my leave." She turned around and walked out, followed by the other maids and servants who were carrying dishes, each one placing them on the table before retreating.

  Xu Mingjin thought this was also good, saving himself from wasting his breath to drive them away. He lowered his head and saw that the dishes on the table had a variety of flavors, both meat and vegetarian, and the aroma of rice filled his nostrils, and the presentation was not bad either. So he turned his head suspiciously towards Chun Xiang, who innocently said: "They also eat like this?"

  Xu Mingjin was speechless, she thought it was some hard-to-swallow food. She felt that this was fine, at least they didn't serve them pig feed-like food. If so, she would definitely let those few maids see her anger. Madame Fan also didn't say anything, the few people silently ate their meal, Chun Xing was still indignant, but Xu Mingjin didn't want to bother with her anymore, and sent them all down to eat. She had a fairly pleasant lunch with Madame Fan and Xu Mingxuan.

  "Mother, are your legs still numb?" Xu Mingjin was originally sitting next to Lady Fan, she turned her body and helped Lady Fan massage her legs. Lady Fan smiled slightly, and on the other side, Xu Mingxuan also imitated her and helped Lady Fan massage her legs.

  Madam Fan gazed at her clever and obedient children, a relieved smile spreading across her face.

  After a short rest, the carriage started on its way again.

  Xu Mingjin felt a bit sleepy and spent the whole afternoon dozing off in the carriage.

  At night, Xu Mingjin stayed in the inn, but he couldn't sleep.