Yu Aide froze, stammering for a moment before saying, “Willing, I’m willing. Anything for the child’s good, how could I not be willing?”
Qiuyun’s expression softened. “Let me first get a basic understanding of Yu Heng’s situation. How many people are in Little Heng’s family? Any siblings?”
Yu Aide looked very embarrassed. “At home, at home it’s just her mother, my sister. No other siblings.”
When she learned that Yu Heng’s uncle also shared the surname Yu, Qiuyun had a guess but didn’t press further. She shifted the topic. “How are Little Heng’s grades? How did she do on last semester’s final exams?”
At the mention of grades, Yu Aide finally straightened his back a little. “Good! Our Little Heng’s grades are excellent! Last semester, she got full marks in both Chinese and math, first place in her class!”
Her grades passed muster, and if it was a single-mother household, there likely wouldn’t be any messy family problems causing trouble later on.
Qiuyun said, “Next, I’ll talk to Yu Heng.”
Yu Aide quickly pushed his niece forward.
Upon learning why Sister Qiu was there, Yu Heng seemed a bit shy compared to her earlier cheerful and outgoing demeanor.
Qiuyun patted her back reassuringly and asked, “If the Seventh Miss wanted to do something behind Mr. and Mrs.’s backs that adults wouldn’t allow, would you support her or talk her out of it?”
Seeing his niece unable to answer, Yu Aide wished he could answer for her!
Obvious, right? Talk her out of it! If the master and mistress didn’t want the young lady doing something, what good could it be?
Yu Heng hesitated for a long time before saying nervously, “If it’s something illegal or against the rules, I’d talk her out of it. If it’s not, I wouldn’t.”
Qiuyun nodded, neither confirming nor denying the answer, and continued, “If Mr. and Mrs. asked you about the young lady’s private matters, how would you respond?”
Yu Heng replied, “…Play dumb? I’m just a kid, after all—Mr. and Mrs. probably wouldn’t give me a hard time.”
After a few questions, Yu Heng was no longer as tense as before. She simply said what she truly thought.
As a child herself, she could put herself in the Seventh Miss’s shoes—she definitely wouldn’t want someone by her side to report everything back to her parents.
Qiuyun had found out what she needed to, and she sensed that Little Heng wasn’t just making up answers to get through the interview but genuinely meant them.
“Good, I’ve got it all,” Qiuyun said, standing up. “This should take about a week. No matter the outcome, I’ll come back and let you know.”
Yu Aide rubbed his hands together, wanting to shake hands but feeling his were too greasy. Instead, he wiped them on his clothes. “Thank you for the trouble, Assistant Qiu.”
“No problem.”
Qiuyun called HR and asked them to run a background check on Yu Heng in Rongcheng. If everything she’d said checked out and there were no major issues, the decision could likely be finalized.
She could teach all the trivial tasks and chores involved in the role, but a heart loyal to the young lady—that had to come from within, so in critical moments, the right decision would be made in the young lady’s best interest.
Without Lan Xin and with no new companion assigned yet, Qiuyun had been spending more time with the young miss lately.
Jiang Chuling had finally finished her grueling summer cram school classes, and at the start of August, she got her own heat wave vacation.
“Sister Xiaoqiu, let’s take a break today. Tomorrow we’ll go see Big Brother, and the day after, I’ll go see my brother!”
Qiuyun smiled and agreed. “Sounds great.”
Unlike a nanny who had fixed days off each month, an assistant only got vacation when the boss granted it.
Finally getting time off, despite the scorching heat, Qiuyun was in high spirits. She grabbed her bank card and headed to the antique street she’d been wanting to visit for ages.
Though called a street, the antique area was actually a large marketplace. It housed not only antique shops and auction houses but also stores selling rough jadeite or finished jade jewelry, as well as gold and silverware shops.
She’d come before for business—focused and quick, buying a sandalwood box and leaving.
Now, with plenty of time, she could finally browse properly and maybe even find a bargain.
Qiuyun had recently discovered that this era had a high demand for antique collecting, and with her absolute edge in appraising them, it would be a waste not to try her hand at it.
Given the heat, she wore a Hangzhou-embroidered silk top today and carried a parasol. Instead of browsing the shops on both sides of the street, she lingered around the street vendors.
The vendors saw her young, unfamiliar face and took her for a newbie, eagerly pushing fake goods on her.
But Qiuyun had lived her previous life in a duke’s mansion where real antiques were everyday items. These crudely made fakes—with wrong patina, wrong finish, and wrong everything—were as obvious to her as someone swimming naked.
“Authentic Ru ware has crab claw cracks and diagonal open lines, like crab claws scratching across, unevenly deep and shallow. The cracks have dirt seeped in, deep brown. Yours have straight, uniform dead lines—like they’ve been scratched by a machine—and the cracks are clean, no dirt at all.”
Qiuyun didn’t even pick it up, afraid the vendor would blame her for something. “If you’re going to cheat people in the market, at least bring some high-quality copies or antique copies, right?”
The vendor, stung by her words, jumped up and waved her away. “Shoo, shoo, shoo! What does a clueless little girl know, stirring up trouble here and lecturing me!”
Qiuyun stepped back twice to avoid him but accidentally bumped into a woman.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
Qiuyun quickly apologized. “Sorry, sorry—I didn’t mean to.”
The woman was wearing a cheongsam, and beside her stood a familiar-looking man.
Qiuyun took a closer look—it was none other than Jiang Yifeng, the Fourth Master Jiang.
“Oh! What are you doing here?”
Jiang Yifeng, arm around the woman, greeted her, clearly remembering this assistant who had skillfully handled herself at Old Master Jiang’s birthday banquet two weeks ago.
“Fourth Master Jiang.” Qiuyun quietly stepped aside. “I’m just browsing here—won’t interrupt your fun.”
Just as she was about to leave, Jiang Yifeng called her back with interest. “Wait—hang on a moment.”
With that, he withdrew his hand from the woman’s slender waist. “Something’s come up—you go ahead.”
“Young Master Jiang!?”
The woman couldn’t believe it. She grabbed Jiang Yifeng’s sleeve, trying to hold him back. “You said today you’d come with me to buy a bracelet!”
Jiang Yifeng’s face cooled slightly, though his voice remained gentle. “Next time—I’ll buy you two, okay?”
The woman’s eyes flickered.
Anyone able to get close to Young Master Jiang knew that a little tantrum brought sweetness, but going overboard invited trouble. Seeing the slight coldness in his eyes, she dropped the act quickly and shifted to playing the sympathy card.
“Then Young Master Jiang promises—next time, it’ll be three bracelets.”
“Go on.” Jiang Yifeng smirked. “Take a cab back—bill me for it.”
The woman smiled sweetly. “Thanks, Young Master Jiang!”
Before leaving, she shot a sharp glare at Qiuyun, clearly seeing her as a rival.
“…”
An undeserved curse, for sure.
Still, Qiuyun didn’t think she had that much charm to make Jiang Yifeng, in the middle of having fun, drop the woman just to talk to her.
“Assistant Qiu, let’s go to the teahouse and chat,” Jiang Yifeng said. Today, he wore a light gray shirt with the collar unbuttoned, revealing an elegant collarbone chain—exuding modern urban flair.
