Tianliangyuan

Chapter 284 Jinxiu Garden

Xie Zheng's birth mother died early, and Xie Xiaolin is far away in Jizhou, so there is no proper elder in the eldest branch of the family now.

As for the concubine Jia, who remained, she was given to Xie Xiaolin by Xie Zheng's mother before her death, but because of her low status, she could only be a concubine.

Xie Zheng's birth mother, Madam Song, also came from a prestigious family. Before her death, she arranged for Xie Xiaolin to take two concubines. One of them was Madam Jia, who stayed here, and the other was a concubine's daughter from a collateral branch of the Song family, who was always referred to as Little Madam Song by the old lady in the mansion.

This young lady surnamed Song was far away in Jizhou, where she stayed to help Xie Xiaolin manage some affairs. Both young lady surnamed Song and lady surnamed Jia had only daughters and no sons.

Therefore, the eldest son's branch consists only of Xie Zheng's lineage.

Although Madam Song was far away in Jizhou, her daughter Xie Juan remained in the Duke's mansion.

Lady Jia, along with her sixth daughter Xie Chan and Lady Song's daughter Xie Juan, stood at the back. Due to their low status, Xu Zhaozhao had not noticed them at all.

Moreover, according to the rules, neither Jia nor Xiao Song should be entitled to a single bow from Xu Zhaozhao.

After Xie Zheng and Xu Zhaozhao had exchanged greetings with the elders, they began to present the gifts they had prepared to the younger generation.

Everyone, regardless of gender, had a small jar of osmanthus black tea, including Jia and her two half-sisters.

Although the Xie family was not particularly sexist, because they came from a family of military generals, they valued their sons highly. Since women could not go to the battlefield to make contributions, they were naturally neglected.

Especially for illegitimate daughters like Xie Chan and Xie Juan, they were even less valued.

Xu Zhaozhao noticed that their attire was indeed inferior to Xie Yun and Xie Qiao's.

This is normal, even though they are the eldest daughters of the main branch, being born out of wedlock still lowers their status.

After all the tea-serving and gift-giving, Xu Zhaozhao was truly exhausted.

Moreover, Madam Xie was also struggling to hold on, so she waved for everyone to disperse and go home.

Originally, according to the rules, lunch was supposed to be eaten together today, but I don't know what Xie Zheng said to the old lady beforehand, so it was changed to the evening, and it was just a meal together in the flower hall, with no other arrangements.

When Xu Zhaozhao was married into the family yesterday, she was hiding her face with a fan and her phoenix crown had a beaded curtain, so she had no idea how to get there.

Today, Xie Zheng led me on a walk, admiring the scenery along the way, and occasionally he would emphasize which people lived in which courtyard.

Xie Zheng's courtyard was located on the east side of the Duke's mansion and was very close to the main courtyard.

In terms of size alone, Xie Zheng's courtyard was second only to the main courtyard, and it had a nice and straightforward name: Jinxiu Garden.

This garden is probably even larger than the Purple Garden where Xu Zhaozhao used to live.

After all, one was a Marquis's residence and the other was a Duke's residence, so the size of these houses was also regulated.

Xie Zheng, however, is the heir apparent and the future successor of the Duke's mansion, so he is naturally different.

"Go back and rest first. In the afternoon, we'll meet with the stewards from various places so they all know who their mistress is. After that, I'll take you on a tour of the garden."

"it is good."

At noon, Xie Zheng and Xu Zhaozhao had lunch together.

Xu Zhaozhao was quite satisfied with this arrangement, because she really didn't have the energy to deal with those relatives anymore.

After a half-hour nap in the afternoon, I felt much more refreshed.

After that, Xie Zheng accompanied her to the hall to give her a speech.

There were more than thirty stewards, big and small, which made Xu Zhaozhao curious. How could the Duke's mansion have so many stewards?

After these managers introduced themselves, Xu Zhaozhao realized that some of them were managers of Xie Zheng's businesses, such as the estate manager, the shopkeeper, the accountant, and so on.

No wonder so many people came.

Xu Zhaozhao didn't expect to remember all of them at once. After giving them a lecture and rewarding them, she let them go back to work in peace.

"You're only the heir apparent, how come you have so many properties?"

Xu Zhaozhao looked at the thick stack of account books on the table, and then at the box that had been pushed in front of her, which was filled with land deeds, house deeds, and so on.

“A large part of this came from my mother’s dowry. After my mother passed away early, all her properties were taken over by my father’s arrangement. He even kept the dowry list from back then. Last year, I took over a portion of it, and after we set our wedding date this year, my father had the rest sent over.”

"I see. The Duke is indeed a very meticulous person."

Xie Zheng scoffed, "What makes him so meticulous? If he were truly that shrewd, how come he couldn't save my mother back then?"

This sounds like there's more to Song's death than meets the eye?

However, seeing that Xie Zheng was no longer willing to say anything, Xu Zhaozhao did not press him further.

"Are you going to leave all of this to me to manage?"

"Well, you can handle it. I still have some, but I can't trouble you with all of it. I also have two estates, but they're not in the capital, so it's inconvenient to hand them over to you. I'll arrange for someone to check on them regularly."

"That's good."

Xu Zhaozhao already knew that Xie Zheng was not short of money.

But I never expected that she had so many properties, and that was only part of her mother-in-law's dowry. Tsk tsk, how rich the Song family is!

"By the way, what are your plans for your two half-sisters?"

“I’m not familiar with them, but they’ve been quite well-behaved since I returned to the capital. Our second aunt has always been in charge of the household, but the kitchen was handed over to the fourth aunt last year. I have the same attitude towards everyone in this household: as long as they don’t cause trouble, we can live a peaceful life.”

Xu Zhaozhao understood.

Because Xie Zheng left home at a young age, he didn't have a deep emotional connection to this family. Perhaps it was also because his birth mother died here, so he might have some resistance in his heart.

"I see that both of my younger sisters are dressed rather poorly today. Although they are daughters of concubines, they are still daughters of the eldest son's family, so they are different."

Xie Zheng raised an eyebrow and stared intently into her eyes.

Xu Zhaozhao chuckled lightly. This kind of thing naturally didn't need explanation, so how could Xie Zheng not understand?

The Duke's mansion is now inhabited by three families, but the eldest son's concubine daughter is naturally different from the concubine daughters of the second and fourth sons.

Because the eldest son's family is the one who has inherited the title, in other words, if we really talk about it, only the eldest son's family can be considered as members of the Duke's mansion. The others are only separated because the old lady is still alive.

“From now on, you will be their sister-in-law, so you can handle things as you see fit. If you want to manage the household affairs, I will speak to Grandmother later. If you don’t want to manage them, then just manage our Jinxiu Garden. We’ll see what you plan to do.”

Xu Zhaozhao felt overwhelmed at the thought of managing the household affairs. She wasn't stupid and had no intention of taking on such a huge responsibility!

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