Chapter 85: Qu Shi Bumps Into Li Qiongzhu?

Miss, you don't know, that old fogey over there has become a grand matriarch! I heard her pomp and circumstance are even greater than our Old Lady's!

Pah, I truly despise sharing a surname with that old servant!

Li Qingluo: "Your surname sounds more affectionate than hers. Could it be that, sharing the same surname as Li Kechuan, I also have to burst into tears?"

Deng Mama was instantly comforted, and then she let out a "haha" laugh.

Li Qingluo: "Looks, this Deng old auntie is truly not someone easy to handle. Have you told Grandmother about this?"

Deng Mama: "I've said it. The Old Lady said she has a way to deal with her!"

Li Qingluo smiled; Grandmother surely has a solution.

If we can get a handle on Deng Shi and the Li family estate, then any demons and monsters in this household could be caught!

Thinking this, Li Qingluo lifted her skirt and stood up: "Let's go, I should also go pay my respects to my mother properly."

One doesn't go to the Three Treasures Hall without cause; Li Qingluo's visit to Qu Shi has a single purpose.

She wants her to accompany her tomorrow to Wangchun Lou.

Qu Shi originally wanted to ease relations with Li Qingluo; seeing her come voluntarily to pay respects and even say she wants to go to Wangchun Lou to see things, she naturally happily agreed.

"Good, good, good, go, go, go. You can go wherever you like."

"It's just Wangchun Lou; tomorrow you go pick a few pieces of jewelry you like, Mother will give them to you, okay? And have two sets of headpieces made to fill your chest!"

Li Qingluo rarely smiled in front of Qu Shi: "Yes, Luo'er will first thank Mother."

After she left, Qu Shi still excitedly grabbed Chang Mama's hand: "Is she willing to reconcile with me properly? That day at the Zhongyi Hou Fu, my words were too harsh..."

"What the master said is right; even if I still miss Zhu'er in my heart, she has already passed away... If she knows in the afterlife, she would surely understand me."

"The current state of the Jiangjun Fu indeed requires us to rally and move forward."

Chang Mama: "Madam, you still care a lot about the Second Miss. Although the Second Miss is now indifferent toward you, you are still mother and daughter, so someday you'll become affectionate like the Eldest Miss."

Qu Shi: "Is that so…?"

But she harbored worries, yet she did not feel that way.

In her heart, the daughter she holds dearest and cannot let go of is only Zhu'er.

As for Luo'er, she ultimately still feels a distance…

The next day.

After Li Qingluo took leave from the female teacher, she brought Li Qinghuan together to Spring-in-Hall.

Seeing that the concubine-born daughter actually also wanted to follow, Qu Shi furrowed her brows: "What is she going to do?"

Li Qingluo: "Mother, Huan Jieer doesn't even have a decent piece of jewelry. As her older sister, I naturally need to bring her to pick out two items. Mother, rest assured, I have my own silver."

Li Qingluo's words caused Qu Shi's face to stiffen first.

As the mistress, she indeed hadn't been particularly thorough, completely neglecting the daily expenses of the concubine-born daughter after she returned to the household.

When Qu Shi was in a bad mood, she would still summon Lou Shi to attend her, or find an opportunity to scold her.

Kneeling for half a day was also a common occurrence.

Lou Shi thus dared not ask for anything; after returning to the household, all her expenses were still paid from her own savings.

Seeing that her savings were about to be depleted, Li Qingluo couldn't stand it, so today she specially brought Li Qinghuan over.

Qu Shi could not fail to understand that Li Qingluo bringing this concubine-born daughter today was deliberately pointing at her.

Her complexion was not good, yet she still said lightly: "Since she is our household's Third Miss, why would you need to spend any silver? Having come, let's go together."

Wangchun Lou.

Li Qingluo and her party went early, and being ladies of the Jiangjun Fu, they were directly ushered upstairs and settled in a spacious elegant room.

Rows of newly arrived jewelry, gold, silver, and jade items were all displayed before them, allowing them to first appraise and select.

After Li Qingluo looked around, she was not satisfied.

"I heard your Wangchun Lou is the biggest and best jewelry house in all of Jinling; why is the merchandise like this? Could it be that you randomly took some most ordinary styles to fool us?"

The attendant steward nearby hurriedly wiped the sweat beads from his forehead.

"It's not just hearsay; the Second Miss of the Jiangjun Fu is extremely unfavored, right?"

"How come today the Jiangjun Fu's lady herself is personally accompanying them to pick out goods?"

"Even though she is an unfavored legitimate daughter, the steward naturally wouldn't dare to offend her casually; he hurriedly apologized, saying he didn't dare, and then brought out another batch."

Qu Shi originally thought, what could she possibly discern about good or bad?

"It's not that I look down on her as my own daughter; rather, Li Qingluo has grown up in the mountains since childhood, and before returning to Jinling City she might never have even seen silver, so how could she understand these jewelry pieces at all?"

But the newly replaced batch of goods truly is better than the previous one.

Qu Shi's face instantly darkened: "Well done, Manager Cheng! I usually look after your Wangchun Lou business; I didn't expect you to really be fooling me? Could it be that I don't even deserve the best things from your Wangchun Lou?"

Qu Shi flew into a rage, while Li Qingluo on the side added fuel, saying: "Mother, don't be angry. I think these might not actually be the current best items from your Wangchun Lou. Steward, what do you say?"

She was obviously just nitpicking.

Let her look; every piece looks nice.

Moreover, just now she also picked out three or four items for Li Qinghuan.

But she still said she was not satisfied.

Because she knew the steward definitely had hidden stash.

Indeed, the steward, startled, immediately admitted: "Madam, please forgive me; I did not intentionally neglect, but rather, our Wangchun Lou has already been pre-booked today, and we must reserve the very best and most valuable items for a distinguished guest to select first."

"Or... you two wait a little longer, half an hour? That young lady will also arrive soon; after she finishes picking, if there's anything left..."

Qu Shi slapped the table with one palm: "Outrageous! The mistress actually has to wait her turn to get others' leftovers? Well done, Manager Cheng; I see you don't want to do business with the mistress..."

Qu Shi's anger hadn't fully subsided when a waiter knocked and burst in.

"Manager, that young lady has arrived."

Manager Cheng hurriedly gave a half-hearted farewell to Qu Shi: "Jiangjun Fu's lady, please forgive me; I'll go and come right back!"

The shopkeeper ran off; Qu Shi's anger had nowhere to go, so she naturally held a bellyful of anger.

Li Qingluo: "Mother, forget it. Lu'er will just pick a few things at random; besides... Lu'er doesn't understand these. Mother, how about this one? Lu'er thinks it's quite suitable for Mother."

Li Qingluo, being very sensible, picked and chose among the remaining items, finally picking up a hairpin and presenting it to Qu Shi.

Qu Shi felt a sudden pang of pain in her heart.

When Zhu'er was young, whatever she wanted she got; which of these wasn't the best at Wangchun Lou?

Today I brought Lu'er here for the first time, and yet the treatment is like this!

At this moment, even Qu Shi herself felt she couldn't lose face.

She immediately turned and walked out, saying: "I'd like to see just which lady's daughter this is, to have such a grand entourage!"

Qu Shi came to the corridor, looked around, and upon turning a corner she happened to see Shopkeeper Cheng fawningly accompanying a lady and a retinue of maids and guards walking ahead.

Qu Shi shouted: "Shopkeeper Cheng! I don't know which family this young lady belongs to; why don't you introduce her to me, madam?"