Surprise

But the first madam was smiling, and her gaze as she looked at Xu Xi was quite kind, with no trace of displeasure. The second madam, on the other hand, looked astonished, and the gaze she turned on Xu Xi had become decidedly unfriendly.

The two of them seemed to have swapped places.

"I'm giving Miss Xi this set of jewelry, first because she suffered a great deal while she was away, and second because the child has done us proud and been admitted to the Women's Academy in Beining County. Though it's a county academy, she can still learn some useful skills there. Perhaps next year, Miss Xi will even be able to enter the Women's Academy in the capital. When she goes out, she represents our marquis household. She can't be dressed too shabbily."

These words gave everyone another surprise.

No one was more surprised than Zhao Ruyu.

Ever since she followed Zhao Ruxin to the courtyard gate and saw Xu Xi, she had been questioning her life.

Though it had happened in her previous life, she still remembered that when Xu Xi was brought back to the marquis household, she had not changed clothes at all. She had worn the half-worn fine-cloth dress she wore at the Xu Family home, with only a silver hairpin in her hair. Her attire was so shabby that she looked worse than even a third-rank maid in the household.

What made people look down on her most was not just her clothing, but also her manner.

At all times, she kept her head lowered and clutched a handkerchief tightly, trembling with fear, as though she had come not to the marquis household to meet her family, but to a dragon's pool and a tiger's den. Even her voice was as faint as a mosquito's whine.

Naturally, the old madam and the first madam had not treated her as they did now, either. Not only had the first madam not gone to receive her in person, but even the second madam had not gone. The old madam liked straightforward, capable people, and seeing the person they had brought back acting so shy and awkward, unfit to be seen in public, she too had taken a dislike to her. She had casually given her a pair of ordinary-quality jade bracelets and sent her on her way.

The people of the marquis household were experts at trampling on the lowly and currying favor with the powerful. Since the old madam had acted that way, everyone else naturally followed suit. They all sent her off with gifts of little value and treated her coolly, without much warmth. The third madam, Lady Su, who was at odds with Lady Wei, had even made a few sarcastic remarks to Xu Xi, leaving her even more ashamed.

But the Xu Xi they had brought back now was not only wearing a new, finely made dress, but also had valuable jewelry in her hair and on her hands. She carried herself with poise, neither servile nor overbearing; no one could find fault with her.

That was not what surprised Zhao Ruyu most. What surprised her was that Xu Xi had actually been admitted to the Women's Academy. That had never happened in their previous lives. Not only her, but none of the young ladies in the marquis household had managed to get into the Women's Academy.

Could it be that Xu Xi really had been reborn, just like her?

Suspecting it last night was one thing. But now that she was certain, Zhao Ruyu still felt a chill spread through her entire body.

Though she had done nothing specifically to target Xu Xi in her previous life, her own brilliance and all her glory had thrown Xu Xi's incompetence and dullness into sharp relief. The two of them had been like a pair of contrasting examples. Now that Xu Xi had started over, would she have sworn to trample Zhao Ruyu underfoot in this life?

Zhao Ruyu's thoughts twisted and turned. Meanwhile, the old madam took Xu Xi's hand and continued, "The sisters of your generation all have 'Ru' in their names. 'Xi' is a good character, so from now on, you'll be called Zhao Ruxi. Among the sisters, you rank fifth."

In the story, Xu Xi had also been renamed Zhao Ruxi after entering the household. Xu Xi thought a name was merely a label and did not care about it. Since she was willing to return to the marquis household, she had already prepared herself to be called Zhao Ruxi instead.

Her household registration, however, was still under the Xu Family, and the name written on it was still "Xu Xi." Presumably, "Zhao Ruxi" would only be used occasionally by the people of the marquis household. Besides, if she grew unhappy staying here, she could simply leave and still be "Xu Xi." Because of her household registration, there would be nothing the marquis household could do about it. She could just listen to what the old madam said; there was no need to take it too seriously.

She curtsied to the old madam. "Thank you for bestowing a name on me, Old Madam."

Next, Matron Ruan led Xu Xi around to pay her respects to the elders in the room one by one.

The gift from the old marchioness was a weather vane. If her gift was lavish, the others' gifts would be lavish too, and vice versa. Thus, after bending in a few curtsies, Xu Xi came away with several fairly valuable pieces of jewelry and other items.

What Lady Zhu had Matron Ruan dress Xu Xi in counted as a gift from the marquis household. She herself gave her another set of gold jewelry with clustered floral designs and large pearls. Naturally, it had fewer pieces than the old madam's gift: just a pair of bracelets, a hairpin, a pearl flower ornament, and a pair of earrings. The pearls on them, however, were quite large.

Xu Xi had no knowledge of the luxury goods in this world, but by her reckoning, those pieces of jewelry were not cheap.

There had been no secrecy about what the old madam and Lady Zhu planned to give Xu Xi as meeting gifts. The maids from each branch of the household had all made inquiries beforehand. Since the two of them were giving such generous gifts, Lady Wei, as Xu Xi's mother, naturally had to bring out something good as well. She gave her a collar ornament of gold-mounted jade with chi dragons, worked in folded wire and set with pearls, jewels, and coral pendants. Its value was comparable to Lady Zhu's gift.

Lady Su was not from a distinguished family, being a merchant's daughter, but she was not short of money. As an aunt, however, no matter how much money she had, it would not do to outshine the others who had given gifts before her, nor was there any need to. So she gave only a pair of jade bracelets and a jade hairpin. The jade was of good quality, but the gifts were worth less than Lady Zhu's and Lady Wei's.