(This is Sister Xiao Meng's long review. Thank you for your long review!

Muah!)

As soon as Crown Prince Zheng arrived at the reception hall in the front courtyard, he saw two young men in green robes already sitting and waiting.

He quickly walked over, and the two young men immediately stood up to greet him.

"Crown Prince."

"Hey, there's no need to be so polite. Just call me Tiancheng. Come, sit."

One of the two young men in green robes was handsome beyond compare. It was none other than Xiao Bojian. The other man had a square face and thick eyebrows. He looked very mature. He was Xiao Bojian's roommate, Qi Minhe.

Qi Minhe was from a large clan in Jiangnan. His clan was well-established.

Both of them were top students in the Imperial College.

They were both in their twenties now. It was the time for them to show off their ambitions.

Qi Minhe saw Crown Prince Zheng carefully holding a food box in his hand. He asked curiously, "Tiancheng, what's that in your hand?"

Crown Prince Zheng chuckled and invited the two of them to sit at the table. He then asked a maid to bring a tea set over to boil some tea.

He carefully placed the food box on the table. "These are snacks from Duke Jing 'an's estate."

Qi Minhe was born in a large clan. He was very particular about his food. Moreover, he had been studying in the Imperial College for more than three years. He was very familiar with the delicacies of the various estates in Shengjing.

The snacks from Duke Jing 'an's estate had long been famous, but he had never had the chance to taste them. He was naturally very surprised to hear it now.

Xiao Bojian was stunned for a moment. Duke Jing 'an's estate … was Chu Lian's husband's family.

The young man who was with Chu Lian in the Duke's Mansion flashed through his mind.

He had handsome features and a cold aura. His thin lips were cold. He stood between him and Chu Lian, holding her hand and leaving so that he could not see her again.

Crown Prince Zheng realized that Xiao Bojian was in a daze. "Senior Xiao?"

"Yes. I'm basking in Tiancheng's glory today."

Heir Zheng laughed heartily and opened the cold food box. The food box was specially stuffed with a thick brocade cloth to isolate the hot air from the outside and maintain a trace of coolness inside.

When Crown Prince Zheng saw the snacks inside, he was stunned. "This …"

"Tiancheng, what's wrong?"

Prince Zheng took out the pastries from the food box in shock. "Look."

Even though he had eaten many desserts, and even tasted quite a few from the imperial palace, he had never seen such beautiful and strange desserts.

Xiao Bojian and Qi Minhe were also stunned.

Qi Minhe exclaimed in admiration, "No wonder people say that Duke Jing 'an's estate's pastries are the best among noble clans. Now that I've seen them, they're indeed extraordinary."

The transparent, water-droplet-like desserts supported by the lotus leaves were trembling like dewdrops of a new lotus, overflowing with elegance.

Crown Prince Zheng frowned slightly.

"Tiancheng?" Qi Minhe asked in confusion when he saw the change in his expression.

Crown Prince Zheng raised his head and glanced at the two of them. "To tell you the truth, Seniors, I've eaten the pastries from Duke Jing 'an's estate many times. They are indeed as delicious as the rumors say, but they've always been the same. This is the first time I've seen this kind of pastries."

As he spoke, Crown Prince Zheng recalled his grandmother's casual words when she gave him the desserts.

Her grandmother said that these desserts were made by Count Jing 'an's new daughter-in-law.

Thinking of this, Crown Prince Zheng hurriedly ordered his personal servant to go to the Old Mistress in the backyard and ask her about it.

"Oh?

Could it be that Count Jing 'an's estate has changed their desserts? "Qi Minhe chuckled.

"My grandmother told me that these desserts were made by Count Jing 'an's third young mistress."

Xiao Bojian's body stiffened. The other two didn't notice, but Qi Minhe joked, "Count Jing 'an's third young mistress? Eh?

Isn't this the granddaughter of the old British duke? "

As he spoke, he turned to look at Xiao Bojian. "Bojian, the old British duke is your teacher. Have you seen this skilled third young mistress in the British duke's estate?"

Xiao Bojian's body stiffened for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and said, "Although I'm temporarily staying at the British duke's estate, the backyard of the duke's estate isn't a place that outsiders can casually enter. Tiancheng, please don't joke around."

He had a frank expression and was extremely good-looking, so it was difficult for others to suspect him.

Qi Minhe hurriedly apologized, "I was rude."

As the three of them chatted and watched the maidservants brew tea, the servant who went to the Old Mistress of Duke Zheng's estate also returned.

"How was it?" Crown Prince Zheng asked.

The servant bowed slightly and answered respectfully, "In reply to the Crown Prince, the kitchen maid in Count Jing 'an's estate who was good at making desserts died in a fire two days ago. The desserts that the Old Mistress brought back today were indeed made by the third young mistress of Count Jing' an's estate.

She also told us that these desserts are called letter desserts. "

Crown Prince Zheng was a little shocked. It was a pity that such a kitchen maid was gone just like that.

However, a kitchen maid was just a servant in these aristocratic families. If she was gone, then so be it.

Crown Prince Zheng didn't say anything and waved his hand to dismiss the servant.

"Come, let's not talk about this anymore. I heard that it's not good to keep these desserts for too long. Seniors, try some."

They took out small silver spoons and tasted it. Crown Prince Zheng and Qi Minhe's eyes lit up and they praised it as delicious.

The cool and smooth letter desserts paired with the fried tea had a different flavor.

Only Xiao Bojian felt bitter, and a dark light flashed in the depths of his eyes.

He thought about the woman who had now become the third young mistress of Count Jing 'an's estate. She was delicate, gentle, bold, and meticulous. If it wasn't for this marriage, would she have already washed her hands and cooked for him?

He would be the first person to taste this novel and delicious letter desserts. He would also be the one to show off his virtuous wife in front of his classmates.

Under the cover of his wide sleeves, he clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles turned white.

Meanwhile, Chu Lian, who was eating and sleeping well in Count Jing 'an's estate's Songtao Court, didn't know about this.

In the afternoon, Chu Lian ate some desserts with the maidservants and returned to her bedroom.

There was a small study next to her and He Sanlang's bedroom. It was for her to use on weekdays. It wasn't big, but it was adjacent to the bedroom, so it was very convenient.

Chu Lian spent the afternoon in the small study. On the bookshelves in the small study were some books that she had brought from the British duke's estate, as well as the ones that Count Jing 'an's estate had added. There were quite a few of them, and there were even some rubbings of famous calligraphers in a pear wood box at the bottom.

Although Chu Lian's handwriting wasn't very outstanding in the original text, she still had neat and elegant Hairpin-style Small Regular Script.

Although Chu Lian didn't have any great ambitions, she understood that her current handwriting wasn't very presentable.

In fact, she couldn't even recognize some of the traditional characters in the book … She often made guesses.

Thus, she sent away the maidservants in the afternoon, leaving only Xiyan to stand guard outside the small study. She found a copybook and practiced writing in the small study.

After writing for two hours, she threw the large characters she had practiced into a charcoal brazier and burned them.

Chu Lian's memory was very good. After practicing for two hours, she actually remembered about a hundred characters. She was quite satisfied with her progress.

After practicing, Chu Lian asked Xiyan to take out the boxes that she used to store money and jewelry. She wanted to calculate her current net worth.

Old Servant Gui also watched from the side.

First, it was from the public accounts. After the marriage, the accounts for the third branch's expenses were in Chu Lian's hands. Every month, she would draw a portion from Count Jing 'an's estate's public accounts. Of course, with this drawing, the servants' and servants' salaries would also be drawn from the third branch's public accounts.

Currently, there were less than eighty taels of silver left in the public accounts. This was because the third branch only had one master, He Changdi, and there weren't many servants serving him, so there were a few years left.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, the amount of silver in the public accounts wouldn't be enough, and the masters would need to supplement it themselves.

Chu Lian put down the account book and asked Xiyan to open the box that she usually kept the silver in. It was a large box with several layers, but only the first layer contained a few silver ingots, scattered pieces of silver, and a few strings of copper coins.

In total, there were more than fifty taels of silver.

The remaining money was the five hundred taels of silver banknotes that Eldest Madam Rong gave her on the day of her marriage. She gave Old Servant Gui a hundred taels, so she still had four hundred taels of silver left.

When she was a young lady in the Duke of Ying's Estate, she didn't save much money. In addition, her mother had passed away early, so she didn't have much silver with her.

The total amount of silver she had on her was only about four hundred and fifty taels.

Chu Lian's expression didn't change, but Senior Granny Gui and Xiyan, who were next to her, had expressions of forbearance on their faces.

The young miss had lost her mother a long time ago, and she wasn't favored in the Duke's Estate. Third Madam, the second wife who married into the family, had a death grip on Third Madam's dowry. The young miss was weak, and Third Master wasn't on her side. The estate thought that the Sixth Young Miss had gotten a great bargain by marrying into Count Jing 'an's Estate. The young misses of the second branch were all jealous, so they naturally wouldn't give more dowry to the Sixth Young Miss.

If it weren't for the fact that Duke Jing 'an's estate had given them some help, their dowry would have been a joke.

The pitiful Chu Lian, a daughter of the di family, received less money than a favored concubine's daughter.

Even after marrying over, the Third Young Master still treated the Sixth Young Miss like this.

Fortunately, the Sixth Young Mistress had gotten over it. Otherwise, she would have gotten sick from anger.

Chu Lian didn't care what the nannies and maids thought.

She took the last box.

This was her jewelry box, which she had saved since she was young.

Over ten years, there was only one box.

Seeing this, Chu Lian felt some sympathy for the original owner.

She was the legitimate daughter of the Duke's Estate after all, but her clothes were too shabby.

It was no wonder that the young miss's personality became so twisted and twisted.

Anyone's personality would change in such an environment.

She took out the copper key she kept close to her body and opened the box.

The box was exquisitely made. There were a total of ten layers, and each layer was covered with copper edges. There were also complicated patterns carved on the surface.

The bottom box contained the jewelry she had worn when she was born. According to Senior Servant Gui, the jewelry was worn when she was one to three years old.

When she was a child, she didn't wear much jewelry. There were only a few pairs of pure gold bracelets and anklets, as well as some necklaces and gold pearl flowers. After flipping through the box, there were actually some high-quality jade jewelry.

It was obvious that the original owner of the body had some status in the Duke's Estate when she was born. After all, she was the third master's first child.

The second layer contained jewelry that she had worn after she was three years old.

There were a few more head ornaments, but it was obvious that they weren't as exquisite as they were when she was a child. As she grew older, there were fewer high-quality jewelry. By the time she was ten years old, she hadn't saved a single piece of gold jewelry for an entire year …

Because the jewelry in this box had been used in the past, it couldn't be worn now. Chu Lian picked out a few pieces of commemorative jade jewelry and separated the gold and silver jewelry in the box. She gave it to Senior Servant Gui and told her to melt it into gold and silver pieces so that she could use it in the future.

After sorting it out, Chu Lian looked at the jewelry box that she was currently using.