In a medium-sized room in the backyard of Rongqing Hall, Xiaozi helped Du Qiuniang pack her luggage, count the boxes and cages, and after checking over and over again, she still found that three or four items were missing.

Xiao Zi immediately said to Du Qiuniang:

"What's more, the Duke's residence actually did such a despicable thing, and a lot of the young lady's jewelry was touched by them.

Not even the people from Connaught Place before."

Du Qiuniang was sitting on the edge of the bed, rubbing her legs and knees.

She had rarely suffered such a heavy punishment today, and her knees were a little red and swollen.

But there was nothing she could do. Mother Jia and others didn't ask her to get up before, so she could only kneel down obediently and reply.

"See if you packed it away or dropped it somewhere else."

"No way, I checked the carriage before. After entering the house, I was kneeling with the young lady. The old lady asked someone to bring the young lady's packages and boxes in. They must have been touched at that time.

!”

Du Qiuniang sighed: "Just take it away, it's not an important thing."

"I don't feel sorry for those things, but I'm just angry. They clearly despise the young lady, so they dare to do this.

If it were their own master, I wouldn't believe they would dare to steal so blatantly."

Xiao Zi was still angry, but she didn't dare to suspect that Jia Mu had stolen their lady's jewelry.

Are you kidding me? The Duke's wife is a figure that can only exist in legends in Qingzhou.

So she knelt with their lady all afternoon without any complaints.

But being bullied by these servants at home made her very angry.

"When the Lord comes back, I will definitely tell him that the young lady cannot be bullied in vain!"

"Don't..." Du Qiuniang said quickly.

"Why bother saying things that are just empty words? It will make the old lady unhappy because we are in trouble.

We are new here, so we better not cause trouble."

"Oh, those people are so sure of this that they dare to treat the young lady like this."

In the corridor outside the window, Tanchun looked ugly and a little ashamed.

She glanced at the expressionless Jia Baoyu and said in a low voice: "Second brother, it's customary for these people in the family to flatter others and suppress others. Don't worry about such trivial matters. I will tell my sister-in-law later that she can keep her secret."

Just deal with it below.

Otherwise, if we make a scene, the old lady’s face will not look good.”

Jia Baoyu nodded silently, then took two steps forward and stepped into the door.

Yingchun, Tanchun and Xichun looked at each other and followed them into the room.

"My lord is here."

When Du Qiuniang saw Jia Baoyu coming in, she quickly put down her skirt and was about to greet him.

Unfortunately, the move was too hasty and the embroidered shoes were not firmly stepped on, causing them to jiggle.

Jia Baoyu quickly stepped forward and helped her steady.

"Thank you, sir..."

Leaning in Jia Baoyu's arms, Du Qiuniang looked a little timid.

Jia Baoyu smiled slightly and let her go.

With the sisters behind him, he still had to pay attention to the impact.

When Xiao Zi saw Jia Baoyu, she put down what she was packing, bowed to Jia Baoyu, and then walked to the table to pour tea for Jia Baoyu.

However, she immediately saw three girls in a bouquet of flowers coming in. She opened her mouth and didn't know what to call them. In the end, she could only salute and get out of the way.

"Sister Du."

Sanchun and others had listened to Jia Baoyu's instructions, so they knew how to call people.

Jia Baoyu also said to Du Qiuniang: "They are all younger than you, just call them sister."

Du Qiuniang nodded, seeing the love in Jia Baoyu's eyes when introducing her, she knew that these were the sisters whom Jia Baoyu had missed when she was in Shandong, so she walked up to her warmly and said, "Hello, sisters...

..."

After saying this, Du Qiuniang couldn't help but focus on Tanchun.

Tanchun didn't know why, so he looked around.

"This must be Sister Lin. When I was in Qingzhou, I told you about you. You are indeed so beautiful."

After finishing speaking, he seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to say so, and added: "There are two other sisters, adults have also mentioned them, and they are also very beautiful."

Xichun's face turned red after being praised, and Yingchun smiled and tried to explain to Du Qiuniang: "Sister Lin is the second brother's cousin, she is..."

Tanchun suddenly pulled Yingchun, interrupted her, and then smiled at Du Qiuniang:

"Thank you for the compliment, sister, but can you tell me what my second brother said about me when we were in Qingzhou?

I want to know if he is speaking ill of me behind my back!"

As Tanchun spoke, he winked at Jia Baoyu and warned him not to expose her.

Jia Baoyu shook his head funny.

Since Tanchun wants to pretend to be Daiyu for fun, let her have fun.

It's a harmless little thought anyway.

Du Qiuniang thought that Jia Baoyu was helpless because of "Sister Lin"'s cunning and careful thinking, so she smiled knowingly and said:

"My lord, she said you are smart, cute, and thoughtful, but you just love crying..."

In the end, he saved face for Jia Baoyu and only revealed the good ones.

Tanchun nodded as expected: "What the second brother said is quite right, but Sister Lin is not like that."

Seeing Du Qiuniang, she suddenly became enlightened and had a kind heart. She smiled and explained: "She is the second brother's biological sister. Sister Lin has gone back to Yangzhou now and has not come back yet."

Du Qiuniang was startled, and then she realized that she had recognized the wrong person, and her face suddenly turned red with embarrassment.

Jia Baoyu relieved her embarrassment: "Apart from not being a crybaby, she is also good at other things."

Tanchun immediately pouted coquettishly at Jia Baoyu, and then also laughed.

Her bright and hearty smile immediately resolved the awkward atmosphere, and also brought strangers closer to each other invisibly.

Jia Baoyu continued what he said before: "Okay, they followed me here to get the gifts. Please help me take them out."

Du Qiuniang nodded, walked to her box, squatted down, turned around and said:

"I put the things the adults asked me to buy here..."

Jia Baoyu nodded and led the three people forward.

Du Qiuniang opened the box.

Suddenly the jeweled light spread out in all directions.

"Wow, so beautiful..."

Xichun was the youngest and did not have a city, so he was immediately dazzled.

Just because Du Qiuniang's dowry box was filled with all kinds of jewelry of various colors, most of which were gold, the two-foot-square box was almost full.

Tanchun and others were also speechless.

In fact, although their status is noble, they really don't have many expensive jewelry.

Only occasionally during the New Year's Day can the rewards from Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang be obtained.

Otherwise, the pocket allowance of two taels a month is really not enough to buy expensive jewelry.

Jia Baoyu was not surprised. He only really knew what an "oiran" was when he met her before!

After hearing Du Qiuniang say that she only had more than a thousand taels of silver, Jia Baoyu thought that was her net worth, but who knew, it was just a fraction.

The most valuable thing to her is these jewelry...

As far as Jia Baoyu knows, she only started performing on stage when she was fourteen years old. Now she is sixteen. In just two years, she has accumulated so much gold, silver, and jade that Jia Baoyu almost gave birth to her.

The idea of ​​​​his old bank helping him make money...

Fortunately, Jia Baoyu did not express such shameless thoughts.

Du Qiuniang had no intention of showing off at all.

If it weren't for Jia Baoyu's orders, she wouldn't have wanted these guys.

Only those who have stayed in that quagmire for a long time and are used to seeing too much discrimination can understand how much she wants to leave that circle.

Even if she is as dazzling as she is, she will only be in glory for a few years at most. After that, she will be chased and replaced by latecomers, and she will truly fall into the abyss.

She is still young and does not want to sink forever.

Unfolding one of the small bundles wrapped in a brocade handkerchief, Du Qiuniang smiled and said, "All your Lord's things are in here."

Jia Baoyu nodded. What he bought were small pieces of jewelry that didn't take up much space.

He squatted down, picked up one of the boxes, and said with a smile: "I bought a gold hairpin for each of the second sister, the third sister, and the fourth sister. They are a peacock's, a fairy bird's, and a tiger's head."

Then he opened it.

Then, Jia Baoyu's expression suddenly darkened.
Chapter completed!