Chapter Thirty-One: Far Thought

  "Mother."

  "Huh?"

  "You must be careful and cannot be alone with your cousin."

  "Your cousin is unreasonable, Yao'er, Mother has never taken her seriously."

  Shu Yao rolled over to the bed, pulling the quilt and not knowing what to say. The mysterious space was a secret that couldn't be told to her mother. But Shu Yao worried that Li Qian would get angry and throw her mother into the space. Her own portable space couldn't hold people, but she couldn't guarantee that Li Qian's space couldn't either. Only now did Shu Yao realize that a portable space capable of holding people was a deadly tool for plotting wealth and murder. Without anyone noticing, someone would disappear, and no one would be able to find them or suspect anything.

  Gua Lijia smiled and watched her daughter Shu Yao lazily rolling around on the bed, with two curved eyebrows seemingly troubled and furrowed. Shu Yao's skin was as white as snow, and her eyebrows and eyes were not as delicate as Li Zhiqing's, but she was extremely pleasing to the eye and made people feel close to her.

  "Yao'er, Mother promised you, beware of Li Ziqing."

  Shu Yao rolled into Gual Jia's arms, lazily curling up like a sleepy kitten. Gual Jia loved Shu Yao dearly and stroked her daughter's cheek, "Sleep now, Mother is here with you."

  Shu Yao fell asleep peacefully, her small white hand grasping Gual Jia's finger. Since crossing over, life had been too leisurely and sweet. Shu Yao's behavior had clearly regressed to that of a child at the same age, fully making up for the regret of not being able to act spoiled with her mother in her previous life. Shu Yao only let her guard down in front of her closest relatives, and in her eyes, there were only two kinds of people: outsiders and those closest to her.

  "Madam."

  Madam Wang poked her head out, Guan Jia's wife had just settled their sleeping daughter and handed the fan to Taozi before walking out of the east suite. Although the entire courtyard was far from Rongshou Hall and located in a remote area of the Duke's mansion, it was very clean and spacious, with five main rooms, wing rooms, and ear rooms all intact. The courtyard also had a pond, which Guan Jia's wife planned to have filled in to create a small flower garden for planting peonies, as everyone who had served her for a long time knew that she loved the king of flowers the most.

  Gua Erjia arranged for her two sons to have their own places, the eldest son Shu Xuan's study had to be bigger than his bedroom, it had to be spacious and comfortable. When Shu Xuan got tired of reading, he could rest directly in his study. Gua Erjia was also very helpless, but who made her give birth to a book-loving son? The second son, Shu Yi, didn't have any special hobbies, he would take care of himself early on, and Gua Erjia felt at ease, no one would take advantage of Shu Yi.

  Lady Guan was very fond of her daughter Shuyao, and she couldn't bear to be away from her, so she had Shuyao live in the east suite, which was closest to Lady Guan's own quarters. As Zhirong didn't have a concubine or a separate bedroom, it saved space, and the whole courtyard was left for Lady Guan to plan, immediately revealing its vitality, with a thick and majestic atmosphere. "Madam, I've found an embroiderer for you," said Wang Nai Nai, supporting Lady Guan as she sat in a round rosewood chair. "Would you like to see her?"

  "These two days have been busy, so I won't see you off. You arrange for her to stay here instead. Shu Yao's needlework and embroidery skills can't be practiced anymore, and I don't want her to suffer either. Let them make a few more embroidered pouches, and at the same time help Shu Yao with her dowry embroidery."

  The old lady was taken aback, and the mistress ordered the needlework woman to come and embroider a purse for the young girl's dowry. "Mistress, isn't it a bit too early? The young girl is only eight years old."

  "What kind of temperament does Shu Yao have that you don't know? The noble ladies of the Eight Banners are to be selected for marriage, and isn't the selection based on family background? Master is currently a third-rank official, and if nothing unexpected happens, by the time Shu Yao's selection comes around, he will at least be a second-rank official. Shu Yao has no physical disabilities, so she won't be eliminated in the initial selection. The re-examination is said to test needlework and embroidery, let the seamstresses practice their skills first, and then have Shu Yao bring them in later, just don't make it too exquisite, or it will be obvious."

  Guarjia said it was ordinary, but Wang's nanny was cold sweat, with the girl's embroidery level, the embroiderer had to practice, and she had to go bad. "It will take at least five years for the girl to select the show, how can the embroiderer practice?"

  Guarjia said: "Shu Yao was born well, at the age of 14 she was selected for the imperial harem, and must be at least 15 to get married. It's just right, not early or late. If allowed, I will keep Shu Yao until she is 16."

  The lady thinks far ahead.

  "How could I not think more, and I gave birth to a daughter Shuyao." Gualjia felt regretful that the Qing dynasty was not the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, girls had to go through the selection of concubines, and Gualjia was very disdainful of this custom. If it were in the Tang Dynasty, the sons of aristocratic families would have competed for her daughter Shuyao's hand in marriage. Who would dare not marry her? She could have gone to their door with a whip in hand. Thinking back to when she rode horses through Chang'an, and danced with abandon at the Mingtang Palace, paying respects to Empress Wu Zetian... what freedom! But now... she was confined within the inner chambers. It was still okay in Huizhou, but in the Duke's mansion, Gualjia couldn't move freely now. "Damn societal etiquette! Hmph, aren't men just afraid of not being able to compete with women? Starving to death is a small matter, losing face is a big deal? Nonsense, pure nonsense."

  The queen glanced around and saw that they were all her own people, so if Xiu Yao was awake, she would definitely praise Gua Erjia as a feminist.

  "Let's talk about the young lady's marriage instead." Wang's nanny felt that discussing Shu Yao's marriage now was not surprising, and indeed it was a good comparison.

  Guarjia let out a sigh and said slowly: "If we calculate carefully, we should start preparing from now on, otherwise it will be too late. Wang Niangniang, don't think I'm worrying for nothing. Think about Yao's temperament, is it easy to find a good son-in-law like mine?"

  The old lady nodded in understanding. If there was anything difficult about the Guaerjia family, it was Shu Yao. "There are many noble families in the capital, and the young lady should be able to marry well." Yao'er isn't someone who can't get married, but rather someone who needs to marry well. The old lady raised an eyebrow, and Wang Nainai patted her mouth with a smile, changing the subject: "Which noble family's son has the good fortune to marry our young lady?"

  "A high-ranking family's daughter marrying into a lower-ranking family, I couldn't bear to hear this. The wife of Shu Xuan and Shu Yi must be a noble lady from a prestigious family, not necessarily the daughter of a high-ranking official or a red sash holder. What's most important is the family's background and aristocratic demeanor. A woman brought up in such a family would be knowledgeable, understand etiquette, manage household chores well, and support her husband. As a mother-in-law, I wouldn't use our family's social status to bully my daughter-in-law, that would be useless."

  Guaerjia's ideal daughter-in-law is like this: after experiencing the strictness of Ming and Qing etiquette, the demeanor of a noble lady gradually disappeared. It was not easy for Guaerjia to choose a daughter-in-law, even if they had experienced selection, it was not certain that Shuxuan and Shuyi would be chosen. Was Guaerjia thinking about whether she should first set a target, secretly make a pact, and then cultivate her daughter-in-law?

  "Li Ziqing wants to marry well, becoming a concubine of a noble family is like flying up to become a phoenix. I would never stoop to selling myself for a life of luxury. Shu Yao can't marry into a family with many brothers, or one where the mother-in-law is strict and often makes things difficult for the daughter-in-law, or one where the man has no ambition, or one that values only book learning and noble birth..."

  The queen carefully counted again, silently sighed, and said: "It's really not easy for a young lady to get married. Madam, you should start looking for a son-in-law from now on."