Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich

Chapter 98: Chapter 97 Gathering Information

Yesterday, Meng Zhaojun encouraged her mother to have a maid send a visitation card to Lady Tang of the Tang Mansion, and at the same time, discreetly inquire about what Tang Shunyan was doing at home.

The person who went to deliver the visitation card was very attentive and took the opportunity to ask about Young Master Tang Shunyan of the Tang Mansion, if he was at the mansion today, and what he was up to.

Meng Zhaojun was practicing calligraphy and playing the zither in her boudoir, doing almost the same things every day, with the sole exception of needlework, which she did not master well.

It wasn’t that she was too dull at needlework, after all, she was only two years old, lacking two months to three, and her other skills were excellent. It wasn’t because she was particularly clever in this life or a genius child, it was thanks to the memories brought over from her past life.

These memories had completely become her Golden Finger, which allowed her to be doted on by her family and also enabled her to use this advantage to lead a comfortable life in an authoritative household in ancient times.

Feeling that she no longer needed to study so much of the Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting as well as calligraphy, because she utilized the memories from her past life, and her talents were already quite good.

She then devoted more time to husband cultivation and paid more attention to Tang Shunyan.

She would visit the Tang Mansion every two or three days and had even bribed spies in the mansion to monitor Meng Zhaojun’s every move.

Before noon, the person sent to deliver the visitation card returned and reported the activities of Young Master Tang of the Tang Mansion to the maid, who then entered the room to inform Meng Zhaojun.

“Miss, the person we sent to the Tang Mansion has reported back that Young Master Tang Shunyan went to the countryside with his wet nurse and has not yet returned to the mansion,” said the maid.

Meng Zhaojun was in the middle of writing a piece of calligraphy. Her young age meant that even with her calligraphy skills, her strokes lacked strength and she couldn’t write very large characters. Hearing what the maid said, her hand, which was in the middle of practice, trembled, causing the character she was writing to slant and spoiling the entire piece.

Meng Zhaojun was very confident; she also had a female teacher come to teach her at home, who assigned her homework every day. However, because of her talents, her learning was relatively free, and she could take leaves whenever she didn’t wish to study.

The female teacher, having received Mrs. Meng’s approval, would let Meng Zhaojun relax appropriately and would agree whenever Meng Zhaojun asked her for leave.

Besides practicing calligraphy, Meng Zhaojun would also practice Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting every day and of course, would learn needlework.

In her past life memories, needlework was her weakest point; not to mention embroidery, she didn’t even know how to make or mend clothes, and ladies like her didn’t need to make their own clothes.

Yet everyone was required to learn needlework and embroidery; mastering this skill was necessary even if it wouldn’t be used in the future, to become the perfect talented woman.

After all, in ancient times, many women made their bridal gowns themselves, along with their undergarments, and sometimes they had to help in making some of their husband’s clothing. Embroidery items like wallets, sachets, and handkerchiefs were also essential skills to learn.

Since she was confident in her abilities in Qin, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting, Meng Zhaojun devoted more time to learning needlework and embroidery.

Whether it was a lack of innate talent or that her young age meant her concentration was not fine enough, her needlework was quite bumpy and was the only skill that didn’t earn the teacher’s praise.

Upon hearing the maid’s report, Meng Zhaojun put down the anxious look on her face and said to the maid,

“Investigate, go quickly and find out about Tang Shunyan’s wet nurse’s background, where her family lives, who is in her family, what background they have, and what her family members do in Longquan.”

“Miss, the person we sent is very clever; knowing you would definitely ask about Mrs. Li, the wet nurse who is with Young Master Tang, he already found out the information when he returned,” said the maid.

The maid paused for a moment here.

Meng Zhaojun said anxiously, “Since you’ve already found out, tell me quickly!”

“Lady, do not rush, let me relay it slowly.”

“Fine, speak…” Meng Zhaojun sat down on a chair beside her.

The maid brought her a cup of tea. Looking at this little lady who was just over two years old, approaching three, and seeing how eager she was, with a sharpness and thoughtfulness in her speech and thoughts that certainly did not resemble that of a two or three-year-old child, it always felt like the little lady they were facing was a peer.

This feeling was not new. Since the little lady was born, the maid had always been by the elder sister’s side, and it wasn’t until she began to speak that it slowly became evident that her behavior and actions were incredibly abnormal, defying nature.

Such a bewitching little lady — those close to her had been instructed by the family not to spread word of her peculiarities. The people around the little lady were bound by strict contracts; they could only be loyal to their master.

“Little lady, the wet nurse from the Tang Family, Mrs. Li, comes from Bushen Village. Her husband and father-in-law are carpenters and they own two acres of thin farmland. She has three younger sisters, two of whom are yet to be married. One is about to be married off to a small shop in their town to become a daughter-in-law,

while one of the sisters has married within the village and has given birth to a boy. Mrs. Li has five daughters herself; the youngest was just over a month old when Mrs. Li came to work in Tang Mansion and should be over four months old now, right?”

Meng Zhaojun, upon hearing that Mrs. Li had five daughters, paid no mind to the other details. With her keen intuition, she always felt that among Mrs. Li’s five daughters, perhaps one could pose a threat to the upbringing of her future husband.

“How old are Mrs. Li’s five daughters?”

“Lady, according to the report, Mrs. Li’s eldest daughter is eight years old, then every two to three years there’s another, with the second daughter nearly six, the third nearly five, the fourth nearly three, and the youngest over four months old.”

After listening to the maid’s words, Meng Zhaojun felt that in ancient times, relationships between older women and younger men were somewhat difficult. Generally, the men married when they were a bit older and the girls would find a family to marry into by the age of 15. If they were not married by 18, they were considered old maids.

Thus, the only threats to her were Mrs. Li’s two youngest daughters.

“What do Mrs. Li’s daughters look like?”

“It’s said that the oldest three work in the fields all day long and do not eat well, which has affected their appearance, with yellowish hair and sallow complexions. The fourth daughter looks a bit better than the other three. The most notable one is the youngest daughter, who is exquisite despite the harsh conditions. She has grown up well even though she lost access to breastmilk after just over a month and only had porridge to drink; it’s truly fortunate.”

Meng Zhaojun’s womanly intuition made her feel that the fourth daughter posed a threat, and perhaps the youngest, over four months old, might pose an even greater threat to her.

Feeling restless, she tossed and turned and could not fall asleep until the sky brightened.

Yesterday she had instructed the maid to wake her early. Serving under the maid’s care, with sleepy eyes, she forcibly perked up and went to her mother’s courtyard to have breakfast.

Mrs. Meng was very concerned about her youngest daughter and seeing her still sleepy, she told her to eat her breakfast well, and if she felt listless, to go back to sleep. Mrs. Meng offered that she could visit the Tang Family on her own.

Meng Zhaojun refused her mother’s kindness, insisting on visiting the Tang Family herself and personally seeing Tang Shunyan.

After the mother and daughter had breakfast and arrived at Tang Mansion, they were guests in Young Madam Tang’s courtyard, and a maid had already been sent to fetch Tang Shun.

Not long after, the maid by Young Madam Tang’s side returned to report that the young master would come to Young Madam Tang’s courtyard to meet the guests after his class ended.