Since Du Haoran said so, this face must be given.

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  Nie Zhongkun saw Zhou Jiru there and said, "Why haven't you left yet?"

  "Yes." Zhou Ji hastily responded and was about to leave.

  Nie Bowen said, "Father, didn't you always say that we want to expand the influence of our Nie family by holding the Jade Carving Competition? I think in order to achieve this goal, from now on, when our Nie family recruits disciples, we should stipulate that they must participate in the Jade Carving Competition and obtain a certain ranking before they can have the opportunity to become a disciple of the Nie family. This way, we can test their true abilities and also have an excuse to reject those relatives and friends who come begging for favors. Especially those relatives and friends, if we refuse them, it would be hurtful, but if we don't refuse them, we would end up accepting all sorts of unsuitable people, which would not be good for our Nie family. If we establish this rule, then no one can say anything about it."

  Nie Zhongkun nodded after a moment of contemplation, "You're right, this is actually a good idea." The Nie family had many distant relatives and acquaintances who wanted to curry favor with them or have a better life. They would often try to find ways to get Nie Zhongkun to accept them as his disciples. This was a source of great annoyance for him. By adopting Nie Bowens' suggestion, he could put an end to this phenomenon. If someone was truly talented, it wouldn't matter if they were accepted as a disciple or not.

  However, he took into account Du Haoran's feelings and asked: "Haoran, what do you think? Otherwise, I'll take this Miss Ye as my apprentice first before announcing this rule?" He still wanted to know Du Haoran's true thoughts about Ye Zhuo.

  At this time, Du Haoran lowered his head again to look at the original stone, as if what they were saying had nothing to do with him. Nie Zhongkun suddenly asked, and he held a piece of original stone and was stunned for a moment before saying: "Bowan's idea is pretty good. As for Ye Niang, as long as you have the ability, I don't think she'll mind participating in another competition."

  Seeing Du Haoran's attitude, Nie Zhongkun felt relieved and said, "Good, then let her participate in the competition." Turning his head to the servant standing beside him, he said, "You go tell Zhou Ji. That Ye girl doesn't need to be invited anymore."

  Ye Zhuo had no idea that his apprenticeship journey would be so bumpy. However, when Yang Jianxiu came back and told him the situation, he didn't hold out much hope. In her past life as a government official's wife, she knew how wealthy families handled gifts from unrelated individuals. Moreover, after the birthday banquet, there was no news from the Nie family, so she had put this matter behind her mind and focused on practicing her carving skills.

  Since the wedding was set for March, Zheng's family also became busy. In addition to embroidering the wedding dress and preparing gifts for the Yang family, she also bought two maidservants to train them, planning to take them along when the time came.

  "Aunt, after I get married, you can move in. This house was originally bought by you. After I get married, it will be empty. Letting this house sit empty while you live in such a small place, how can I be at peace? Besides, if you don't move in, my sister-in-law will never give up. Originally, the money to buy this house was yours, but now it's being occupied by my brother and his wife - what kind of logic is that? Even if I don't agree, they'll keep pestering me. Who knows what kind of trouble will arise later on? So, just move in."

  "As I said, after you get married, you should live in Qingyun Alley. When it was first built, I had my eye on this house and liked it here. Now that we're moving in, isn't it just right? It's so close, we can visit each other often, and it'll be convenient for Zhu'er to come see you." said Guan Shi.

  Zheng smiled wryly: "But this house is in my name. If he moves here, wouldn't that be a reversal of roles? How can that be? So it's still better for you to move over there."

  Zheng's words have been mentioned many times, but Ye Yuqi and Guan firmly disagree. The house in Qingyun Alley was originally bought with the money earned by Ye Zhuo, which was his filial piety to his mother. Regardless of whether Zheng married or not, it should be hers. Moreover, the Ye family has lived in this house for decades and has feelings for it, and they don't want to move out at all. Recently, a neighbor happened to want to sell their house, and they have already negotiated with the other party to buy it. After earning some more money, they plan to rebuild and expand on the basis of the old house.

  Ye Zhuang saw the two of them arguing again, and opened his mouth to say: "Actually, this is easy to handle. As long as you consider the house on Qingyun Lane as part of the dowry, it will be fine. Firstly, adding a property to the dowry makes it much more substantial, which will shut up Yang's stepmother and sisters-in-law. Secondly, after you two live in Wanjia Lane for a while, you can move here."

  "That's best, let's handle it this way." Guan patted his palm heavily, strongly approving.

  Zheng also knew that the Ye family was going to buy the neighbor's house, so she didn't insist on bringing it up again. She nodded and said: "Look, as long as he is willing, then it's naturally good. However, Auntie and you shouldn't mention this matter to him. If he does it out of obligation due to social pressure, then there's no point."

  "This is also true." Guan's ability to get along with Ye Yuxi was related to her good relationship skills. Zheng thought so, which made her feel comforted.

  This also comforted Ye Zhuo a lot. She was most worried that Zheng would repeat the same mistakes due to her personality, but now it seems that after being divorced, Zheng has reflected on her marriage and made some changes in handling her relationship with her husband.

  "Old lady, Aunt has arrived." Qiu Yue came in and reported.

  Miss Guan glanced at Miss Zheng. She knew that Miss Liu often went to Qingyun Alley on the pretext of helping Miss Zheng with her dowry. Miss Zheng had come here today just to avoid her. And every time Miss Liu came, she was lectured by Miss Guan, so she rarely came here now. But for some reason, she showed up today.

  "You hide in your room for a while, I'll get rid of her." said Guan Shi.

  Zheng sighed and got up into the inner room.

  And Autumn Moon also went out and brought the person in.

  "How is Aunt Ye's body?" Liu asked, after greeting Guan twice, then said to Ye Zhuo, "Zhuo'er go back to your room to practice Yu Yiao, I'll talk to your grandmother."

  Ye Zhuo felt strange. Since Zheng's family and Yang Jianxiu's marriage was settled, Liu's attitude towards her had been very warm, often inviting her to play at the Zheng's house; usually coming here would also specially call her out of the room to chat, but why did she rush to drive her away this time?

  Guan also found it strange and wondered what kind of trick Liu was up to. He waved his hand at Ye Zhuo: "Go!"

  Ye Zhuo had no choice but to leave the hall and return to her room.

  After about two cups of tea, Qiuyue came to invite: "Auntie has returned, the old lady is calling for you."

  Ye Zhuo went to the hall, as soon as she entered the door, she saw Guan Shi and Zheng Shi staring at her with a strange expression. She was puzzled, lowered her head and looked at her clothes: "I'm not wrong, am I?"

  Guan didn't say a word, beckoning her to come over and sit down beside him. Only then did he ask, "Zhuo'er, what do you think of your two older male cousins?"

  "Ah?" Ye Zhuo was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted and felt both amused and annoyed in her heart.

  "Uh..." She thought for a moment, "Both of my cousins are quite good, they're diligent and hardworking. What's even more rare is that they're very filial, if their aunt tells them to go east, they won't go west, if she tells them to go south, they absolutely won't go north, they're really good sons to their aunt and uncle."

  Guan and Zheng looked at each other, then Guan suddenly burst out laughing, pointing at Ye Zhuo's forehead with her finger: "You little rascal."

  "What's wrong?" Ye Zhuo blinked, "Why?"

  "Mr. Guan slapped her: 'Stop pretending to be stupid.'"

  Ye Zhuo "heh heh" laughed twice, still staring at Guan Shi and Zheng Shi with wide eyes.

  "It's settled, I wasn't going to keep it from you anyway." Gu's wife looked at her like that and couldn't help but slap her again, saying "Your aunt came to us asking for a marriage arrangement, saying both of her sons are very good, either one is fine as long as you like them."

  "Seeking a marriage?" Ye Zhuo raised an eyebrow. Liu Shi wanted to use this marriage to get closer to Zheng Shi and Yang Jianxiu, but she wouldn't be willing to let her son become a son-in-law in the Ye family, would she?

  "It means that we want you to marry into our Zheng family as a daughter-in-law." Gu said this and glanced at Zheng.

  Zheng's mother looked at her and immediately expressed: "Auntie, don't look at me, in this matter, I will absolutely not stand on the side of the Zheng family."

  Guan smiled contentedly and turned his head to look at Ye Zhuo, waiting for her response.

  "What are you looking at? You don't think I'm going to marry my cousin, do you?" Yu Zhuo blinked.

  Guan's smile faded, and she said seriously: "The reason your aunt came to propose the marriage is that I told her something. As long as you like the person, it doesn't have to be a uxorilocal marriage, you can also marry out. So if you like your cousin, your grandparents won't stop you."

  "I don't like it." Ye Zhuo shook his head.

  Her answer was not unexpected to Gu and Zheng. Just now, Ye Zhuo said that although the two brothers-in-law were good in other aspects, they were too filial, so much so that they were foolishly filial to Liu's family. From their performance when Zheng and Liu quarreled, it can be seen that their filial piety is unprincipled. Although mothers all hope that their sons will be filial to themselves, those who choose daughters-in-law do not like such people. This means that in the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship, his wife will always be the one who suffers.

  Since none of the three people agreed on this matter, there was no need to discuss it further. Zheng returned home, Ye went to practice jade carving, and Guan arranged for the servants to cook - before the New Year, the Ye family had bought a mother and daughter pair, surnamed Yu. Now Yu is in charge of cooking.

  When Ye Yuqi returned, Guan's family had already told him about it. Ye Yuqi wasn't very fond of those two brothers either, so Guan's family asked Wang Pozi to go to the Zheng's house and inform them of the Ye's opinion - originally, Liu's family should have also called a matchmaker to test the waters, so that if the marriage didn't work out, they wouldn't be too embarrassed with each other. Probably Liu's family thought that the Ye's would lose face if she refused, so she didn't follow the usual customs.

  Looking for a few pink base powder door stickers~ (Thank you for your support, it's my biggest motivation.)

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