Chapter 108: Her? She Has the Scheming Heart of a Turtle [Grateful Thanks for Reader Support! A Second Bow of Gratitude]

Nurse Liu, clutching her handkerchief, stood to the side and continued, "Da Da Niangzi, the Lantern Festival passed several days ago; the Yuan family is already on their way to our Yang Zhou. Our household must make proper purchases and prepare with care! When all the official families of Yang Zhou Prefecture come to our home, if we fail to host them properly and become a laughingstock, it will be the face of both our Wang family and our Sheng family that is lost."

"Moreover, you have just provoked the Old Lady until she fainted; you must absolutely not do anything else."

At the mere mention of 'face,' Wang Shi could bear it no longer; she slapped her hand on the table and declared:

"Hmph, what face, what laughingstock? I am the laughingstock! For these past few years, I have been suppressed by a concubine, a lowly slave."

Nurse Liu advised, "Da Da Niangzi, but in these past few years, throughout all of Yang Zhou, the marriage arrangement for our Eldest Miss is unique! So what if those official families laugh? Can any of them secure a marriage as good as ours?"

Wang Shi, her expression full of disdain, scoffed, "Tch, they certainly wish they could."

Knowing her mistress needed to be stroked the right way, Nurse Liu continued, "Exactly; once our Eldest Miss's betrothal banquet is held in splendor, if they speak such words again, you simply ask them where their daughters are married off to, and to what official."

Seeming to envision the future scene of triumph and vindication, Wang Shi's face lit up with pride as she said, "That would surely choke them to death."

"Furthermore, with our Eldest Miss attending to the Old Lady, she will surely untangle the knot in the Old Lady's heart; after all, none of us knew about this matter, so it was truly an unintentional mistake."

"Yes! I did not know it would turn out this way! Fortunately, the Old Lady is unharmed!"

Nurse Liu sighed, speaking with deep worry, "However, the Physician just mentioned that the Old Lady wishes to raise a child by her side... There are three young ladies in the household; if the one from Lin Qin's pavilion were sent over..."

"Her? That lowly slave's daughter cannot go; do you not know that even the lowly slave herself cannot enter the gates of Shou'an Hall?"

"Da Da Niangzi, but what if the Master insists? Nowadays, the Master decides most of the household affairs," Nurse Liu said solemnly.

Wang Shi fell silent; in recent years, when she and her husband went to Shou'an Hall to pay respects, she had noticed that Sheng Hong consulted the Old Lady on more and more household matters, yet the Old Lady always told Sheng Hong to make the decisions himself.

The Old Lady was voluntarily relinquishing power and confining herself to this courtyard of Shou'an Hall.

As the Master, if Sheng Hong were to make a strong demand, the Old Lady would certainly have to consider it.

Wang Shi curled her lip and let out a cold laugh, saying, "Is there not still one in the side courtyard? We bought her in, yet she is useless for anything, knowing only to shrink within her own courtyard."

Nurse Liu said nothing; back then, when she was still at the Wang household, Wang Shi had not requested her as part of her dowry upon marriage, but had instead chosen Nurse Du Qian, who had a sweet mouth and knew how to curry favor.

As it turned out, Nurse Du Qian had nothing but a sweet mouth and was incapable of anything else; she was defeated step by step by Lin Lin Qinshuang, actually allowing a concubine to bear a son!

Wang Shi wrote to the Wang family weeping her grievances, prompting the Old Lady Wang to send Nurse Liu over; originally intending to buy a seductive concubine to split Lin Lin Qinshuang's favor, Wang Shi seemed to have developed a psychological shadow regarding seductive women and directly refused to let any such woman through the gate.

Unable to persuade her, the Old Lady Wang could only buy the daughter of a ruined scholarly family and send her over.

Upon seeing that Lady Wei was honest and would not cause trouble, Wang Shi simply pushed her onto Sheng Hong's bed.

Truly, she wanted the horse to run fast yet expected the horse to eat little.

Nevertheless, the effect was achieved, and Nurse Liu stabilized the situation, but alas, her own Da Da Niangzi was too prone to making trouble; every time she formed a group, she failed to grasp the key point, though her ability to miss the focus was heaven-defying.

Lin Lin Qinshuang escaped with a sliver of health several times, turning the tide from a thread of blood.

Nurse Liu could only do her best to patch things up.

Nurse Liu said, "The one in the side courtyard is still effective. Da Da Niangzi, since you cannot bear to part with Miss Ru, if there were no Sixth Miss, the Old Lady would have to take Mo Lan; in my view, that Little Lady Wei is also scheming, and perhaps she can compete for a spot before the Old Lady."

"Her? Hmph! A useless thing! She has the scheming heart of a turtle!"

The Sheng Family

The Main Kitchen,

A black, stout woman said, "Miss Sister Xiaodie, this is all the food currently in the kitchen; this is truly all the charcoal there is; I am giving it all to you."

Wei Wei Shuyi's maid, Sister Xiaodie, argued, "Nurse Guan, this charcoal does not even amount to one jin, the meals are not sufficient, and not a bit of the ingredients for pounded tea is given; how can you deduct so much! And how am I supposed to sign and seal under such conditions!"

The black, stout woman replied, "Then I apologize, Miss Sister Xiaodie, but you must sign and seal to receive your allotted food; without a signature and seal, you cannot take a single item of these goods away."

"You!" Sister Xiaodie puffed with anger, wanting nothing more than to slap the woman.

But one must bow one's head when under another's eaves, and before coming, Wei Wei Shuyi had instructed her not to clash with others, so she could only forcibly swallow this grievance.

Gritting her teeth, Sister Xiaodie nodded and said, "Very well, I will sign."

After signing and sealing, Sister Xiaodie, still Liu Fuming with anger, hugged the items and left the place.

A while later, Zhou Zhou Xueniang walked over with her hands folded before her abdomen, clutching a handkerchief; upon seeing her, Nurse Guan hurriedly scurried over.

Walking slowly, Zhou Zhou Xueniang asked in a low voice, "Did she sign and seal?"

"Replying to Zhou Da Niangzi, she signed," came the response.

"That is good then."

Nurse Guan asked cautiously, "Zhou Da Niangzi, what use can this possibly be?"

Zhou Zhou Xueniang held her head high with her chin lifted; one could vaguely discern Lin Lin Qinshuang's figure in her bearing as she glanced contemptuously at Nurse Guan from the corner of her eye and said softly:

"Fool! These items either go into their bellies or into the charcoal basins; if she claims she never received them, can she find any proof? Yet on our ledger, it is written in black and white, with signatures and seals."

Currying favor, Nurse Guan said, "Zhou Da Niangzi speaks the truth; they have no evidence, while our hands are full of fingerprints and seals; she has nowhere to lodge a complaint."

"Hmph, what sort of goods are they, daring to fight against our Little Lady! Tomorrow, not a single piece of charcoal shall enter their courtyard."

Nurse Guan hurriedly agreed.

Facing the north wind,

Sister Xiaodie, carrying the collected items, arrived at the side courtyard; fortunately, she wore a padded jacket stuffed with cotton, so little of the cold wind penetrated.

Lifting the curtain to enter the room, though it was high noon, the absence of sunlight inside made it even colder than outside.

With the wind blowing today, embroidery could not be done outdoors.

Beneath the window, Wei Wei Shuyi stitched a few times before hastily bringing her hands to her mouth to breathe warm air onto them.

"Little Lady, this is all that was brought back."

Minglan and Xiao Xiao Xiaotao, standing to the side and looking at the items in the basket, complained, "Why is there so little!"

After setting out the meal, Minglan used her chopsticks to pick out the few bits of meat from the bowl and placed them into Wei Wei Shuyi's bowl, saying, "Mother, you eat the meat."

"You eat it; Mother is not hungry," Wei Wei Shuyi said, before directly giving the rice from her own bowl to Minglan.

Then, Wei Wei Shuyi instructed, "Sister Xiaodie, this afternoon you must sell this handkerchief, gather three taels of silver, and send it to my younger sister."

Sister Xiaodie hesitated, saying, "Yes, Little Lady, but what of our room? Should we not keep one tael of silver?"

Pulling a hairpin from her bun, Wei Wei Shuyi said, "There are still other items; take them and sell them as well."

"Little—"

"You won't listen to anything I say?" Wei Wei Shuyi said.

"But without this hairpin, your dowry will be gone," Sister Sister Xiaodie said gloomily.

"There's more! Go."

"Yes, Wei Xiaoniang."

Minglan, with her hair tied in two topknots earning her the nickname Little Chirp, came to her mother's side, lifted open her cotton-padded robe, and said:

"Mother, stick your hand inside to warm up; this down-filled garment is very warm!"

Xiao Xiao Xiaotao also leaned over: "Wei Xiaoniang, it's warm over here too."

"Good children, go fetch a hot-water bottle," Wei Wei Shuyi said.

Minglan and Xiao Xiao Xiaotao exchanged a glance, their eyes lighting up.

"That's right! How could I forget the hot-water bottle!"

In the courtyard.

Sister Sister Xiaodie crossed lanes and alleys to the side gate of the Sheng Manor; seeing the Sheng family servants standing at the entrance, she signed her name on the register according to protocol.

Behind her, several gazes followed her figure until it vanished beyond the gate.

Updating one chapter first; I cannot guarantee the time for the next chapter, but I will do my best to update four chapters today!

The fourth chapter counts as an extra update for monthly votes.

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(End of Chapter)