Old Madam Sheng got confused.

Old Madam He wanted to have another sip of the tea which was already cold. Seeing that, Old Madam Sheng grabbed the cup from her immediately and told the maid to change it to the warm tea. Then Old Madam He held up the cup and used the tea to moist her lips, saying, "Hongwen said that he was willing to take care of his cousin Cao Jinxiu and would let her live in a prospering life in her whole life. However, he still has a condition... He could help the people of Cao Family to cope with emergencies but he won't recognize the people of Cao Family as his relatives anymore. His aunt got furious and slapped on Hongwen's face right away at that moment!"

With a light flashing in her eyes, Old Madam Sheng straightened up instantly and eased her wrinkled eyebrows, saying, "Hongwen is such a brave boy!"

Maybe He Hongwen just didn't want his wife to have to bear a tough aunt. After he married Cao Jinxiu, the relationship between his mother and his wife would be so delicate. And the family issues would be hard to deal with. However, Old Madam He had sensed something else in his words.

Old Madam He said in a low voice, "Though he sounded ruthless, I still found his words reasonable. A concubine who couldn't have a child will definitely bias her original family. By then if the people of Cao family still seek gratuitous help from us as our relatives, He family will never have a single day of peace. No matter who Hongwen will marry, he has to make it clear with Cao Family that He family won't give endless aids to them. Otherwise marrying Cao Jinxiu is no different from planting a bomb at home. Hearing Hongwen's words, I asked him to write all the things down on the paper. And Cao Jinxiu could only get into the He's mansion the moment Cao Family signed and stamped on the paper!"

After her long speech, Minglan and Old Madam Sheng were both lost in thoughts. Once the note was signed, He family wouldn't have any other worries behind. Actually, the problems with Cao family was not hard to handle.

Seeing Old Madam Sheng's attitude soften obviously, Old Madam He wasn't in a hurry to have a response. After they had chatted for a while, Old Madam He stood up and took her leave. After that, Minglan opened the curtain and walked out from the inner room drawlingly. As she sat by her grandmother's side, they fell silent with each other. After a good while, Old Madam Sheng sighed, "Hongwen..." And she just couldn't continue. So she asked, "Minglan, what do you think?"

"... I don't know, grandma, what do you say?" Minglan replied that while holding the arms of her grandma.

Old Madam Sheng looked at Minglan's pretty face and felt no one deserved her adorable granddaughter. Having made some careful thoughts, she spoke cautiously, "This is the best situation."

Suddenly, there were tons of pictures springing to Minglan's mind, such as the sorrow which was hidden under the corner of Hualan's eyes, the forced laughter on Molan's face, the sign of relief from Hai shi when she saw Yanghao drinking the soup for contraception after sleeping with Sheng Changbai, all the struggles Wang shi had made all these years, let alone all the intrigues among her siblings... Then Minglan nodded slowly.

The thing Minglan and Old Madam Sheng valued the most was not the wealth of He family but the harmonious atmosphere in their family. If Minglan married in a rich family in which she met a tough mother-in-law, some difficult sisters-in-law and a husband who might not support her all along, she wouldn't feel any happiness there even if that was the palace of the emperor. Meanwhile, the condition of He family...

During these years' acquaintance, Minglan found that Madam He was a gentle and easy-going person. Moreover, Madam He had been seriously ill these years and was hardly able to move. If Minglan married into their family, she could take charge of all the household affairs right away. The first and second sub-families of He family were even wealthier than them so Minglan wouldn't need to worry about dealing with clingy relatives. And He Hongwen, the husband, was not only from a well-off family but also had the ability to support a family by himself. He was devoted, responsible, thoughtful and obviously fond of Minglan. When Old Master He resigned and left the capital, Minglan and Hongwen could live in their own house. They could close their door and live their cozy life while doing their own business.

There was no need to adapt to the mother-in-law's disposition or deal with complex relatives coming from everywhere. Also, she could have the economic independence and act on her own. That was so valuable! After having Cao Jinxiu who couldn't be pregnant as a concubine, Madam He would treat Minglan even nicer due to her guilt. Speaking immorally, Madam He didn't have so much time to live.

Under these 'advantages', it seemed that the existence of Cao Jinxiu could be neglected. Perhaps... When He Hongwen went to work, she could call that woebegone Cao Jinxiu to play leaf card with her. Maybe Cao Jinxiu would be able to forget her miserable past after winning a few times. Perfect!

...

There were a few times Minglan doubted that the eight characters of Rulan and hers were not matched. Every time she had something to be happy about, Rulan would get bad luck.

This day, Minglan thought that the weather was getting cooler and cooler and the water in the pool would be firmly frozen. So she brought the super strong girl Xiaotao to go fishing in the pool with fish pole and weel on her shoulders after greeting Old Madam Sheng and Wang shi. It was probably because the weather was too cold that day, all the fish in the pool moved dully. Thus Minglan managed to catch seven or eight fat fish without any efforts. When she left the pool, she was still smiling to the water while saying, "Have a nice winter vacation. I'll play with you guys after the winter."

She brought the fish to the kitchen and asked the cook to make thick broad-bean sauce fish in crock with three out-sized fish and tomato juice fish slice with two lively ones. As for the other fish, she instructed to cut them in slices and roast them into green onion flavor salty dried fish slice. And the fish heads were collected to make the ginger fish soup. Xiaotao put thirty coins into Aunt An's arms with a grin while expressing her thanks to Aunt An's effort. Meanwhile Aunt An, having finally taken the money with a beaming smile after several rounds of polite refusal, guaranteed Minglan and Xiaotao that the dishes would be extremely delicious.

Right at this moment, Xique who was from Rulan's room rushed in. It was strange to see a person sweating profusely in such a cold weather. After seeing Minglan there, Xique asked her to go to the House of Carefree anxiously.

Aunt An was going to chop the fish right now, so Minglan wanted to approach and see if there were any fish roe or tallow in the fish's belly. Hearing Xique's words, she frowned, "What are you doing here? Does my fifth sister want to embroider again? Go back and tell her that I am stewing the fish soup for her now. Eating fish could improve acuity of vision, she can make the embroidery afterwards!"

Xique nearly cried there. She kept saying no constantly but couldn't tell the reason why she needed Minglan to go with her. Then Minglan also detected that something must be wrong. So she followed Xique out. However, Minglan still went back to her own room first. After using the soap to wash off the fishy smell on her, she put on a piece of neat clothes and went to the House of Carefree.

As Minglan arrived there, she opened the brocade cotton curtain and found Rulan was crying on the table without any maids in the room. She had already stopped wailing and only sobbed with a handkerchief in her hands. But Minglan's arrival managed to provoke her into tears again. She rushed to Minglan and grabbed her arms while crying loudly. Minglan was shocked. Then she pressed Rulan to the side of the brick bed and asked immediately, "What's wrong with you, fifth sister? What made you cry like this? Tell me... Xique, fetch a basin of warm water to wash your lady's face!"

Xique got a bit relieved right now. She answered to Minglan's request and went out. After that, Rulan rubbed her nose which had turned red because of her crying and started to talk with intermittent sob. It turned out that Hualan had come to Sheng's mansion just now and invited Old Madam Sheng and Wang shi to discuss something. She had also called Rulan over and proposed to let Rulan betroth Gu Tingye!

Her Second Uncle who was determined to marry a legal daughter now would become her brother-in-law?! Minglan opened her mouth widely due to the shocking news. It seemed that she could always discover something beyond her imagination in ancient times. The changes in this world were just too hard for her to catch up with.