Listening to her daughter's heartfelt words, the pregnant Lady Hou went on a killing spree.

"Let him in."

After a few days of waiting, the other party should be getting impatient.

When Lin Yuxue, who was waiting outside the courtyard, heard the old woman say that she could go in, her tense body and mind, which had been strained for days, relaxed.

As soon as she entered the courtyard and looked up, she saw a man's figure turn around the eaves. She raised her hand to rub her eyes but found nothing there. Could it be that she was seeing things?

Xiao Ce didn't know what he was thinking. He had many ways to make Lin Yuxue unable to see him, but he subconsciously slowed down a lot when he was hiding. Otherwise, how could Lin Yuxue possibly see him?

Seeing Ji Yueru leisurely reclining on a deck chair to rest during her pregnancy, a hint of jealousy flashed in Lin Yuxue's eyes, but she quickly lowered her head to hide it.

"Sister-in-law."

If she remembered correctly, Lin Yuxue had always addressed her as Madam Ji before, and this was the first time she had called her "elder sister-in-law" since marrying into the Marquis of Anshun's mansion.

"What's up?"

"My wedding day is in a few days, and my dowry..."

I haven't seen any movement from the manor these past few days, otherwise I wouldn't have kept coming to Qinghe Courtyard to seek attention.

"Why are you in such a hurry? I will prepare a generous dowry for you when you get married."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuxue was overjoyed, though she herself didn't know what had happened between her elder brother and Ji Yueru.

Marquis Anshun would never talk about his relationship with Ji Yueru with Lin Yuxue, who is his sister.

This led to Lin Yuxue believing Ji Shi's words without question.

"Then, sister-in-law, don't you think we should also make preparations in the mansion? After all, I am the eldest daughter of the family, and my wedding cannot be too shabby."

Which family doesn't start preparations almost a month in advance for their daughter's wedding? But now there's not a trace of joy in the house, so she has to remind them.

[To be honest, Lin Yuxue is really stupid. She didn't even bother to find out about her reputation before planning such a big event. Does she think her reputation isn't bad enough already?]

Ji Yue Ru heard An An's extremely sarcastic voice in her ears, and she thought the same thing.

"We don't plan to have a big wedding ceremony for you. We'll just have a sedan chair to carry you to the Yang residence."

"How can this be? I am the eldest daughter of the family."

Ji Yueru scoffed coldly.

"Have you forgotten your reputation? It hasn't even been a month since you caught the adulterer in the teahouse, yet the people of the capital haven't forgotten."

"Are you trying to remind the people of the capital to come and watch you with such a grand celebration?"

Almost as soon as Ji Yueru finished speaking, Lin Yuxue's mind flashed back to the scene when she looked up, with pairs of wolf-like eyes staring at her.

She was so frightened that she shivered.

"I'll listen to my sister-in-law, we don't need to have a big celebration."

"Go back if you have nothing else to do, and focus on embroidering your wedding dress."

I really don't know how you ended up choosing a poor family after all that picking and choosing. Although the Marquis said your wedding with the Yang family would be on the fifteenth.

But look at it now, the Yang family hasn't even sent the betrothal gifts.

You're probably the first person in the entire capital to marry without accepting a dowry and even paying for it yourself.

Lin Yuxue couldn't bear it and raised her hand to cover her chest.

In her previous life, she and Lin Yuxue were sisters-in-law for most of their lives, so she knew that what Lin Yuxue cared about most was wanting to marry into a higher social class. Now she was going to put her face on the ground and trample on it.

"I'll head back now, sister-in-law, you go ahead with your work."

Lin Yuxue practically fled Qinghe Courtyard, returning to her room and bolting the door from the inside. She didn't dare to get angry like before, and could only silently shout with her mouth open in the room, not daring to make a sound even when she was angry.

Suddenly, she felt incredibly sad. How could she, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anshun, have fallen to such a state?

[Mother, what do you plan to prepare for Lin Yuxue's dowry?]

"I've already entrusted it to Zhiyi. I'll give you a surprise later."

[You gave it to Sister Zhiyi, how come I didn't know?]

"If I let you know, how can it be called a surprise? While Marquis Anshun isn't in the manor right now, where do you want to go? Mother will take you."

Ji Yueru now knows that An'an is unusually quiet every night in the latter half of the night, and An'an says she is resting.

If she wanted to surprise An'an, she would instruct her maid to do so in the middle of the night.

"It's not safe outside the city, Mother, so let's not go. How about we go to Yingyue Lake instead?"

There is a lake called Yingyue in the west of the city. The surrounding scenery is quite nice. In her previous life, when she was still a spirit, she would occasionally wander around Yingyue Lake and met several lonely ghosts there.

Now that her mother has asked, she does want to see her old friends from her previous life.

"Let's prepare today and go tomorrow, okay? It's already noon today, and it might be too late if we go now."

【All right. 】

Ji Yueru gave instructions to Shuyi, who then went to make the arrangements.

Early the next morning, the master and his servants boarded a carriage and headed west of the city, carrying plenty of food and drink.

"Madam, we've arrived."

Zhiyi turned around and helped his wife down from the carriage. There were far fewer people coming to the lake in the dead of winter than in spring and summer.

Fortunately, the lake hadn't frozen over yet, so yesterday Shuyi arranged for someone to rent a pleasure boat by the lake.

Not far away, a small pleasure boat was moored. When they got closer, Shuyi stepped forward and said a few words. The people on the pleasure boat lowered a plank, and the master and servants boarded the boat directly.

In the first few years after returning to the Ji family, she rarely went out. After marrying into the Anshun Marquis's family, she had even fewer opportunities to go out unless she was attending a banquet.

So, having lived two lives, this was Ji Yue Ru's first time sitting on a painted boat.

After touring the first floor with two maids, the master and his servants went up to the second floor.

The painted boat wasn't large, but it was filled with burning charcoal and had windproof gauze curtains on all four sides, allowing light to pass through while blocking the wind. Ji Yueru thought it was really nice.

"An'an, isn't this pleasure boat nice? After you're born, Mommy will bring you here to play often, okay?"

"Okay, Mother, shall we invite some dancers to come and dance?"

Having been reborn, Ji Yue Ru has let go of many of the rules she followed in her previous life.

Since my daughter wants to see it, let's call a few over.

"Shuyi, go and make arrangements to invite a few dancers up to liven things up."

"Yes, madam."

The pleasure boat hasn't opened yet. When Shuyi made the reservation yesterday, she didn't mention the dancers. Now she's spoken to the boat manager, who immediately went to make arrangements.

"So that the young lady may know that dancers also have different prices: first-class is one hundred taels, second-class is eighty taels, third-class is fifty taels, and the lowest-class is ten taels. I wonder which class the young lady would like to choose?"

Shuyi looked at the steward.

"My wife will naturally choose the best."

"Yes, I'll go and make the arrangements right away."

Before long, five dancers boarded the painted boat and were led to the second floor by the manager. The boat then sailed away from the shore toward the center of the lake.

The five dancers were dressed scantily in the dead of winter, and I initially thought they were ordered by some young masters.

To my surprise, when I got to the second floor of the painted boat, I found out that the person sitting there was a woman, and a pregnant woman at that.

Zhiyi stepped forward.

"Just dance what you're good at."

After a moment of stunned silence, the five people bowed respectfully. One played the zither, another the pipa, and the three began to dance gracefully in the room.