CHAPTER 351: CHAPTER 345: I AM THE MARQUIS MANSION DOWAGER

"Prince Kang."

Song Jingman exclaimed in surprise, "How did you come across Prince Kang?"

Jiang Baoshu could keep her composure very well; not a hint of surprise showed on her face. Nonetheless, she was still very eager to hear what Xu Wan had to say.

Xu Wan was rather displeased with Song Jingman’s shrieks and shouts.

"Ran into him just means ran into him. How would I know why? If you really want to know, go ask Brother Rong."

Not for the life of her would Song Jingman go to look for Tang Rong.

In her heart, Tang Rong was nothing more than a worthless man without responsibility and unfit to be seen in public, she dreaded that spending a few more words with Tang Rong would lead him to stick to her, so how could she be willing to find him.

Song Jingman laughed awkwardly, "I-I’m just very surprised. I haven’t even seen what the Prince looks like."

Xu Wan lowered her lashes, "He’s just an outsider, nothing to be curious about."

Song Jingman, seeing Xu Wan was so serene, thought that probably nothing untoward had happened with Prince Kang, so she was relieved.

Jiang Baoshu knew Xu Wan must be upset, so she got up to take her leave, "Miss Xu must be tired; you should rest early, I’ll be leaving first."

Xu Wan got up to see her out, but Jiang Baoshu quickly waved her off: "We’re not strangers, no need to stand on ceremony. Please stay where you are."

After Jiang Baoshu left, Song Jingman didn’t see much point in staying either, so she got up to leave as well.

She went back to her room, but little did she know that Jiang Baoshu did not go home at all but made a detour to see Zhang Feng’er.

When she arrived, Zhang Feng’er had just finished dinner, and upon hearing that Jiang Baoshu was there, she hurriedly got up to welcome her, "Cousin, what brings you here?"

Jiang Baoshu smiled, "I came to see how Sister is feeling, Mother said to ask Sister to take care of herself, and if you lack anything, tell me, and our shop will have it delivered to you promptly, Sister Feng."

Zhang Feng’er’s smile was on her face, "That’s very kind of you, I won’t be polite then, I’ll certainly ask my aunty if I crave anything."

Jiang Baoshu sat for a while, and after playing with Zhang Feng’er’s eldest daughter for a bit, she left.

As soon as she left, Tang Tao entered.

Tang Tao looked at Jiang Baoshu’s retreating back, "Why did Cousin Jiang come here?"

Zhang Feng’er curled her lips in a shallow smile, "She said she came to visit. I think Cousin is probably waiting for me to play matchmaker for her."

Speaking up to this point, Zhang Feng’er’s laugh carried a hint of scorn, "Our Old Dowager is so keen on finding a noble lady for Rong, first having her eyes on Miss Xu from the Xu Family, and now perhaps she has taken a shine to Miss Song from the Song Family. Second Mrs. probably fancies Cousin Jiang; however, both cousins don’t seem to fancy their precious grandson and son."

Tang Tao sat down on the bed, took Zhang Feng’er’s hand, asked how she felt today, whether she was tired, and after inquiring, he said, "You’re with child and already laboring; you don’t have the energy to seek out a husband for her. Besides, even if you did, you wouldn’t ignore your own sister and take care of a cousin instead."

Zhang Feng’er laughed, "It’s just a guess of mine; she didn’t say it expressly. Oh well, let’s not bother with all that, I’d rather enjoy some peace and quiet while I can."

It wasn’t only Tang Tao and Zhang Feng’er from the Duke Zhongyong’s Mansion who noticed that Jiang Baoshu and Song Jingman looked down on Tang Rong; Mrs. Song had also noticed it.

And because she noticed, Mrs. Song was almost furious to death.

In her heart, Tang Rong was naturally all good traits combined and worthy even of a Princess.

But, regrettably, Song Jingman, an orphan girl, looked down upon him, and out of frustration, Mrs. Song thought of sending Song Jingman back to the Song Family and washing her hands of her forever.

But how could Song Jingman be willing?

If she left the Tang Family, where could she go to meet someone like Prince Kang?

Besides, she had it easy in the Tang Family; life would not be the same when she went back to the Song Family. The Song Family was short on money and living poorly these days; she would have to work alongside her two aunts, which she was not willing to endure at all.

Song Jingman refused to leave, running to Mrs. Song and making a scene, crying about the rare few days of ease she had, and insisting she wouldn’t go back even though Mrs. Song was cold-hearted enough to send her away.

Later, Song Jingman sought out Tang Rong, asking him to put in a good word for her.

Tang Rong, being tender-hearted and having grown up with Song Jingman since they were young, seeing her cry so miserably, approached Mrs. Song, suggesting that Song Jingman should be allowed to stay for a few more days.

This only made Mrs. Song angrier, and in her anger, she even fell ill for several days.

Anning did not pay any attention to Song Jingman at all. She spent every day teaching Xu Wan.

Of course, Anning did not teach Xu Wan about poetry, songs, calligraphy, painting, and the like. Xu Wan could learn these slowly in the future. What Anning taught her was about human relationships and stewardship.

She wanted to take this time before entering the palace to teach Xu Wan well, to prevent the girl from indulging in foolish sentiments in the future and degrading her own health.

After Mrs. Li found out, she sent Tang Yi to learn together with them.

Tang Qin and Tang Yi got along quite well, and knowing that Tang Yi was learning stewardship from Anning, she too sought Anning to learn together.

Anning thought that whether it was herding one sheep or two, it didn’t matter; they were all her kin, so she taught them all together.

Tang Yi was acceptable, as she had Mrs. Li, her biological mother, planning for her and often teaching her various things. She knew quite a bit about stewardship.

But Xu Wan was a step behind.

After all, she was young and, with Tang Xu bedridden and not in the right state of mind to teach her, she wasn’t very clear about some social conventions.

And Tang Qin was even more so behind.

She was younger than Xu Wan, and her mother being only a concubine, Ms. Zhang only cared about the superficial relationship with this concubine-born daughter, raising her for fun as one might raise a pet cat or dog, and never willing to really teach her anything.

Anning noticed the uneven progress among the three girls and began to tailor her teaching to each individually.

For Tang Yi, Anning had her start by managing some of the affairs of the main house.

With Xu Wan, Anning began with storytelling, sharing many tales of happenings in the marketplace so that she could understand how to handle human relationships.

And for the youngest, Tang Qin, Anning started from the beginning, teaching her arithmetic, how to read account books, and how to maximize the potential of people.

In just a short period of time, these three girls underwent considerable changes.

Tang Yi was already adept at handling household affairs, Xu Wan had shed her previous aloofness from the world, and Tang Qin had also become much more composed.

These three girls took advantage of the time to learn eagerly from Anning.

Yet, Song Jingman and Jiang Baoshu had no interest in learning these things.

Jiang Baoshu thought that since she had lived through two lifetimes, there was no need for her to learn about stewardship.

Song Jingman thought, what’s there to learn about ancient stewardship? It was nothing more than bookkeeping, managing accounts, and organizing staff - all of which she believed she could handle without learning, and even better than the ancients.

However, these two never considered how frequently situations in the world can change.

For Song Jingman, the thought patterns and behavior of ancient people were very different from those of modern people. Not understanding this, she was bound to stumble.

And what sort of household had Song Jingman managed in her previous life?

In terms of stewardship ability, she probably couldn’t even compare to Zhang Feng’er.

Moreover, having been raised in a merchant family, the rules of such a household were different from those of scholarly or official aristocratic families, and what Anning was teaching Xu Wan and the others was not just simple financial management.

Anning also taught the three girls about the network of relationships in Capital, the marital ties between noble and official families, including the likes and dislikes of various ladies, and even the backgrounds and origins of nobles in the palace, which families were on good terms, which were hostile, and which were sworn enemies.

These matters were not even fully understood by Mrs. Song, let alone Jiang Baoshu, a young girl from the inner court who actually had not seen much of the world.