Li Lianniang had initially worried that her mother-in-law moving into Yunzhu Yuan was meant to make things difficult for her. But after spending these days together, having her mother-in-law around had turned out to be the most comfortable period she had ever experienced.
Her mother-in-law, who used to love lecturing her the most, hadn’t uttered a single word of reprimand these days, nor had she criticized anything about her.
Instead, she had arranged for a midwife to care for her, had a small kitchen built to prepare medicinal meals, and gifted her fabrics, gold, and silver jewelry.
She even said that Li Lianniang had worked hard bearing a child for Jiang Jia.
It was the first time Li Lianniang had heard such words—at least, she never had in the Li family.
Since Xiu Jie’er was a daughter, she had also worried that her mother-in-law would scold her.
“Mother, your daughter-in-law never imagined you would personally come to care for me during my confinement.”
Zhao Xian didn’t take credit: “Our family has servants and a female physician; why would I need to do it myself? It’s just that Yunzhu Yuan is far from Haitang Ju. If something happens, the servants would have to report to me first before going out—how troublesome. Last time, when the maid said you had heavy bleeding, it really frightened me. If it weren’t for Wei’er angering you, I wouldn’t have done something that could invite gossip—a mother-in-law living in her daughter-in-law’s quarters sounds terrible.”
Li Lianniang hesitated, then after a long pause, said, “Mother, you’ve worked hard. The female physician checks my pulse daily and says I’m already fine. You don’t need to toil in Yunzhu Yuan every day…”
Zhao Xian sensed something off. “Are these words your own thoughts, or did Jiang Wei tell you to say them?”
Li Lianniang’s lips trembled, and she glanced to the left, avoiding Zhao Xian’s gaze. “It’s… it’s because your daughter-in-law doesn’t want you to bear more criticism for my sake.”
Understood. That scoundrel Jiang Wei made her say it.
There were many such incidents in the book. When Jiang Wei didn’t want the concubines his original wife tried to push on him, he wouldn’t speak up himself but would instruct Li Lianniang to refuse.
It seemed Jiang Wei’s recent display of being a virtuous husband and loving father was all an act.
Wow…
A baby’s loud cry rang out from outside the room.
Li Lianniang instantly threw off the covers to get out of bed, while the maid Chilan knelt to help her put on her shoes.
“It’s normal for babies to cry. Don’t worry, I’ll go see what’s wrong.”
As Zhao Xian comforted Li Lianniang, she stood up and went to the outer room.
There, she saw a second-class maid carrying a swaddled baby into the room. The wet nurse quickly reached out to take the baby, soothing her for a while, but Xiu Jie’er kept crying nonstop.
“Let me hold her.” Zhao Xian reached out and took Xiu Jie’er. The little baby seemed even more aggrieved upon seeing her, tears streaming down, though her cries softened a bit.
Whether it was an illusion or not, she felt as if the little baby had suffered some immense injustice.
“Where is the eldest young master?”
He was the one who took the baby out, but now that the baby was crying, it was a second-class maid who brought her back.
The second-class maid, named Cui Ya, knelt upon hearing this and said, “Qing Fan from the eldest young master’s side came to report that Miss Cui fainted…”
Before the maid could finish speaking, a sound came from behind—a small bottle on the shelf had been knocked over.
Chilan reacted swiftly and caught it before it could shatter on the ground.
Holding Jiang Shuxiu, Zhao Xian turned and saw Li Lianniang’s heartbroken expression and unsteady stance. She quickly said, “Hurry and help the eldest young mistress back to bed.”
Chilan and Danruo promptly assisted Li Lianniang back to the inner chamber.
Zhao Xian turned and handed Jiang Shuxiu to the wet nurse. “Xiu Jie’er must be hungry. Take her away.”
With a loud cry, Jiang Shuxiu started wailing as soon as she was in the wet nurse’s arms, but Zhao Xian didn’t take her back. Instead, she waved her hand, signaling the wet nurse to leave.
Half a month—Zhao Xian could confidently pat her chest and say she had also put great effort into nursing the tragic heroine, attending to every aspect.
Yet, when Jiang Wei left because Cui Tingyue fainted, her expression instantly turned bitter.
The vitality she had so carefully nurtured seemed like a punctured balloon, deflating in an instant.
Zhao Xian felt a bit weary. Biting her lip, she thought she still hadn’t done enough. She should have made Li Lianniang realize earlier that love and affection are the least significant things in a person’s life.
“Miss Cui has always been frail. These past few days, Liu Nüyi has been staying at Yunzhu Yuan. I suppose her pills have run out. I’ll go check on her too.” Zhao Xian patted Li Lianniang’s hand. “You rest well. Since you’re still in your confinement month, there’s no need to worry about Miss Cui’s illness. Have the maids come in and read to you. Listen for a while, then get some sleep.”
Leaving the inner chamber, Zhao Xian pondered having the servants buy some storybooks.
She wondered if there were any storybooks that could make people renounce love and affection.
She arrived at Zhuqin Yuan by sedan chair.
Helped down from the sedan chair by Nanny He, she heard Jiang Wei’s cold reprimand as soon as she entered the courtyard.
“Tingyue can’t see blood. How are you serving her? Get out now.”
Not long after, a maid came out with her hand wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief, still stained with spots of blood.
Seeing Zhao Xian, she hurriedly bowed. “Your servant greets the Madam.”
Zhao Xian’s gaze fell on a dustpan beside the steps, filled with shattered porcelain, the edges stained with blood.
“What happened?”
The maid with the injured hand was named Xiyu, originally a second-tier maid serving the original host.
When Cui Tingyue first arrived at the Jiang residence, Jiang Wei had asked for her, saying that since she was unfamiliar with the place and had no maid from the household to assist, he was worried she might be bullied.
Xiyu tightened her other hand, wrapped in a silk handkerchief, and knelt. “Replying to Madam, the eldest young master sent Miss Cui a kitten to relieve her boredom. While playing, the kitten knocked over a porcelain vase on the flower stand. When Dong’er and I went to clean up, I accidentally cut my hand, causing Miss Cui to faint at the sight of blood.”
Fainted at the sight of blood?
In the book, Li Lianniang was often blamed, leading to depression and a tendency to vomit blood. Cui Tingyue frequently fainted, and Jiang Wei always blamed Li Lianniang.
So, the three of you are creating a closed loop for the sake of the plot.
Zhao Xian waved at Xiyu. “Go bandage and apply medicine to your wound. Don’t let it scar.”
“Thank you, Madam.” Xiyu stood up and left.
Entering the room.
Jiang Wei was waiting in the outer chamber, not rashly intruding into an unmarried woman’s boudoir.
Seeing Zhao Xian, Jiang Wei was somewhat surprised. “Mother, why are you here?”
“Miss Cui’s father and brother saved your life. Since she’s living alone in our residence, how could I not come when something happens?” Through the beaded curtain screen, Zhao Xian looked toward the inner chamber and asked, “Is Miss Cui seriously ill? Has a physician been called?”
“Liu Nüyi is currently taking Tingyue’s pulse.”
Hearing this, Zhao Xian raised an eyebrow. He didn’t have time to turn back into the room to inform her and Li Lianniang, nor to hand the child to the wet nurse, but he had time to summon the female physician.
Did he really have no romantic feelings for Cui Tingyue? He was never this anxious about his own wife.
“Meow~”
A pure white cat appeared at Zhao Xian’s feet, circling her and meowing.
“What’s its name?”
“Chuxue. Tingyue named it.”
Bending down to pick up the cat, Zhao Xian sat on a stool, gently stroking its head. “I heard from the servants that you gave this cat to Miss Cui to relieve her boredom?”
Jiang Wei nodded. “Tingyue has been feeling rather stifled in the mansion. Having a cat to keep her company will keep her from overthinking.”
“…”
Zhao Xian now truly felt it was unfair to Li Lianniang. Who said he was a clueless man who didn’t know how to give gifts? Look at what he gave Cui Tingyue—wasn’t he quite good at making people happy?
With a man like this, how could he possibly succeed in the “Chasing Wife Crematorium” in the end?
Shouldn’t he have been dumped directly?
“Madam, Eldest Young Master, Miss Cui has awakened.”
Liu Nüyi came out to report.
Zhao Xian grabbed Jiang Wei’s wrist, stopping him from heading toward the inner chamber. “A lady’s private quarters—what are you doing?”
She shoved the cat into Jiang Wei’s arms and entered the inner chamber.
Although Cui Tingyue had regained consciousness, her complexion was still poor. She struggled to sit up. “Madam.”
“Lie down quickly.” Zhao Xian had no resistance to beauties and couldn’t bring herself to be angry.
Besides, could this be blamed on Cui Tingyue? No.
Her own ending hadn’t been favorable either.
The root of the problem lay entirely with Jiang Wei—a scoundrel of a man who had ruined two good girls.
Zhao Xian turned to the mansion’s female physician. “Is Miss Cui seriously unwell?”
The female physician replied while packing away her cloth pouch of silver needles, “In reply to Madam, Miss Cui is not in serious condition for now. She will recover with some rest.”
Turning to the maid Dong’er, the physician added, “Your young lady’s hemophobia is not congenital. In the future, you must take more care to avoid such incidents from happening again.”
“If it occurs too often, she may inevitably injure herself from falls during fainting spells.”
Dong’er nodded repeatedly.
After confirming that Cui Tingyue was not in serious condition and leaving the female physician to attend to her, Zhao Xian took Jiang Wei away.
If not for her firm stance, Jiang Wei likely would not have wanted to leave.
He showed no urgency when his own wife was in labor, nor did he show any heartache after causing her to bleed from anger, yet here he was putting on a show for Cui Tingyue.
It was a complete reversal of priorities.
If not for her knowledge of the book’s plot, Zhao Xian would have wanted to ask him when he planned to take Cui Tingyue into his household as a concubine.
With behavior like this, he still claimed to treat Cui Tingyue only as a younger sister.
A biological younger sister or a romantic one?
“Xiu Jie’er changes day by day. Since you’re idle at home anyway, after copying the Buddhist scriptures, paint some portraits of Xiu Jie’er. They’ll be filled with memories to look back on in the future.”
In ancient times, without cameras, this was indeed a method, and it would also give Jiang Wei something to do.
In the book, Jiang Wei was cold and indifferent toward his own daughter, simply because they spent too little time together.
Affection grows from time spent together.
However, Cui Tingyue remained the important female character standing between the tragic romance’s male and female leads, driving the plot of their anguished love.
Jiang Wei thought of how he had asked Lianniang to persuade his mother to move back to Haitang Ju. Yet, when the two returned to Yunzhu Yuan, there was no sign of the servants taking action, and Li Lianniang had already retired for the night and would not see him.
Jiang Wei originally intended to return to his study, but in the end, he changed direction and went to see his daughter.
The wet nurse brought the child out. “Greetings, Eldest Young Master.”
“Ah ah ah ah…” Jiang Shuxiu wailed without tears—she did not want this father to hold her.
Jiang Shuxiu resisted with her entire being, but she was still just a nursing infant.
In the end, she still ended up in Jiang Wei’s arms.
Previously, after listening to her grandmother, Jiang Shuxiu would reward Jiang Wei with a smile when he held her. Today, however, her face was sullen. If not for her grandmother saying that her father was a man and holding her wouldn’t tire him out, she would have really wanted to burst into tears.
What kind of father was this? In her past life, he had only revolved around that Cui Tingyue, breaking her mother’s heart. In this life, it was still the same—upon hearing that Cui Tingyue had fainted, he abandoned her and ran off.
No, she must make her mother seek a divorce sooner. This father was not worth keeping.
Unaware of his daughter’s thoughts, Jiang Wei only watched as the child cried “ah ah ah” without tears, almost as if she were speaking to him.
The usually icy face seemed to soften at this moment.
“Daddy will draw a picture for Xiu Jie’er.”
Earlier, when his mother had suggested he paint Xiu Jie’er, he had been unwilling, thinking what could possibly be worth painting about such a young child. But now, he felt an itch to do so.
Jiang Shuxiu was left bewildered by her father’s sudden gesture, but as she was still a nursing infant, she soon grew drowsy and did not get to see the portrait her father had painted of her.
The next day, when Li Lianniang heard about this, the stifling heaviness in her heart eased considerably.
Unrolling the album Jiang Wei had sent over the previous day, she gazed at her daughter’s soft, adorable face, which reminded her of the portraits Jiang Wei had painted for her when she was young.
All her resentment toward Jiang Wei vanished entirely.
After dealing with the accumulated account books, Zhao Xian finally managed to seize a moment of leisure.
Nanny He brought in another stack of invitation cards.
Zhao Xian felt her temples throb as she looked at them. Nanny He opened the cards, sorting those for birthday banquets, hundred-day celebrations, and wedding feasts to one side, and those for tea parties and flower-viewing gatherings to another. She also arranged them in order based on the status of the host families.
Once everything was organized, Nanny He remarked with a hint of confusion, “Madam, we’ve received far more invitations for Shanghua Yan and tea-tasting parties than usual.”
Zhao Xian casually flipped through two of the cards, and a sudden thought crossed her mind.
What if she took Cui Tingyue out to socialize and arranged a marriage for her…