Chapter 71: Past Events (Part 2)

  Old Lady Tao returned to the Millennium Residence and sat down in a chair, watching as the maidservants bustled about. Rui Qing brought over a cup of hot tea, which Old Lady Tao took a sip of.

  Is she old or something? Why can't people around her see clearly? What's wrong with this kid anyway.

  The old lady Tao sat for a while, and then asked Rui Qing to take out the things that Yao Hua had left behind to look at. There were letter papers, embroidered handkerchiefs, and small trinkets made by Yao Hua.

  Yao Hua's handwriting was elegant and beautiful, although she wasn't particularly skilled with a needle and thread. However, the things she embroidered were as delicate and refined as she was herself. The old lady picked up the new sachet again to smell it, and the fragrance was so captivating that it touched her heart.

  Rui Qing understood Old Lady Tao's thoughts and stepped forward, saying: "If the old lady is thinking of Second Miss, then call Second Miss over." In case there was some misunderstanding here, it would be better to clear it up, how could they hurt the relationship between grandmother and grandson? As for what Second Miss had in her heart towards Eldest Lady, Rui Qing believed it, but towards Old Lady Tao, Second Miss was truly filial to this grandmother, without any pretence.

  The old lady thought for a moment and shook her head, "Forget it, it's already late today, let's talk about it tomorrow!"

  The old lady tossed and turned all night, her mind preoccupied with something, and she didn't fall asleep until dawn.

  The next day, Yao Hua came over early to pay her respects. Old Lady Tao had not yet gotten out of bed. Yao Hua stood outside the thick curtains and asked Rui Qing, "Why hasn't Grandmother gotten up yet? Is she feeling unwell?"

  Rui Qing knew the reason, but didn't say anything, just smiled and said: "It's probably because of Big Sister, Old Lady couldn't sleep all night yesterday, and only fell asleep when dawn broke."

  Yao Hua nodded, "Then I'll just sit aside for a while."

  Old Lady Tao opened her eyes in the inner room and listened carefully to the movements outside. Rui Qing lifted the curtain, saw that Old Lady Tao was awake but didn't make a sound, and quietly retreated again.

  Rui Qing lifted the curtain and Old Lady Tao saw from the gap of the curtain that Yao Hua was wearing a pair of exquisite embroidered shoes.

  Yao Hua sat down quietly outside. Old Lady Tao knew in her heart that if someone else came to visit, they would find her house dull and uninteresting, and if they heard she hadn't gotten out of bed, they wouldn't hesitate to use it as an excuse to leave. Only Yao Hua had come with genuine intentions to ask after her well-being, so she sat patiently waiting for her to get up.

  Yao Hua sat down and carefully asked the old lady about her daily life with Ya Tou.

  The old lady sighed secretly, all these years, their grandmother and grandson had always been so close, Yao Hua was also considerate of her, how could there be any falsehood in the affection that had accumulated over the years?

  Old Mrs. Tao called out loudly to Rui Qing, "Bring some tea over."

  Rui Qing hurriedly went to brew tea, walked to Yao Hua's side, Yao Hua stretched out her hand to take it, then lifted the curtain and personally sent it to Old Lady Tao's bedside.

  Old Lady Tao leaned against the pillow, smiling at Yao Hua, "You came so early."

  Yao Hua's eyes were puffy, her lips dry and cracked, looking like she had cried all night.

  Old Lady Tao stared at Yao Hua for a long time without making any noise or expression.

  Yao Hua suddenly realized something and raised her head to meet Old Lady Tao's gaze. "Grandmother, what's wrong?"

  The old lady took over the tea and drank a mouthful, saying lovingly: "You're heartbroken for your sister again?"

  Yao Hua lowered her eyelids and covered them with her hands, "No."

  The old lady smiled and said: "You child is the most kind and compassionate, whoever has difficulties in the house you always want to lend a helping hand, I like this point of yours the most."

  Yao Hua smiled subtly.

  "Yesterday, I remembered the books you used to read when you were young, so I had the maids bring them out for me to take a look. Those books were all taught by me, your grandmother may not have read many books, but she learned the basic principles of being a person, and over the years, although she has experienced many ups and downs, she can't say that she is ashamed of herself, and it's also not too bad. Pointing to the table outside, "Those are all the books you used to read when you were young, I looked through them all last night, those books have always been kept by me for you, today you can take them back, if you think they're good, keep them as a memento, if not, do whatever you want with them."

  Yao Hua's face changed, "Grandmother, what are you talking about? These things are precious and we can't even keep them properly."

  The old lady smiled and said, "What's inside, you only need to remember one or two things in your daily life, whether it's stored or not is irrelevant, it's just an object."

  Mrs. Tao had never said such a thing before, and Yao Hua's face stiffened.

  Old Lady Tao seemed to have a deeper meaning, "That maid named Chuxiao by your side, isn't she getting old too?"

  Yao Hua raised her head and was stunned for a moment, "Chu Xiao has always followed me, never making any big mistakes. Mother has already ordered someone to beat Chu Xiao, Chu Xiao has been taught a lesson and next time she will definitely not dare to speak out of turn..."

  The old lady Tao smiled and said, "Which servant doesn't go out and talk nonsense, this is nothing."

  Yao Hua looked at Old Lady Tao with a puzzled expression, not understanding the meaning behind her words.

  "Only I'm afraid that if you go out and say something with ulterior motives, it will ruin your reputation in the future. You should know that as an unmarried young lady, your reputation is the most precious thing. If you take one wrong step, your whole life will be over."

  Yao Hua's eyes turned red but she still wanted to speak.

  The old lady lay down again, waving her hand, "You go back first, I want to rest for a while."

  Yao Hua saw Old Lady Tao close her eyes and ignore her, so she could only get up and come out of the inner room. She saw Rui Qing awkwardly say: "Grandmother is tired, go to sleep." After saying that, she turned her head and took a look back before taking Xiang Zhu with her and leaving.

  Yao Hua had just walked to the door when she ran into Rong Hua who was accompanied by Jin Xiu.

  Two people met, Rong Hua smiled first: "Second sister is also here to pay respects to the old lady?"

  Yao Hua smiled slightly and said softly, "Yes, grandma didn't sleep well last night and is still resting."

  Rong Hua still said: "I'll go in and pay my respects."

  The two people then went their separate ways in different directions.

  Entering the house, Old Lady Tao was indeed asleep. Rong Hua and Rui Qing spoke a couple of words outside, then asked Jin Xiu to hand over the small jar in her hands to Rui Qing, "This is a jar of yellow plum made by Sister Jin Xiu, it was delivered today through someone, this jar is for Old Lady Tao."

  Rui Qing smiled and took it, "This yellow plum is not easy to make, it's not just a matter of saying something good, ten steams and nine suns, one plum in several months." The conversation had reached this point, Rui Qing couldn't help but ask about Jinxiu and her husband.

  Jinxiu said: "Since there was a difference in the village, the days have passed much better. This is all due to the kindness of the master of the mansion, and only then did we have today."

  Rong Hua sat for a while and then came out of the old lady's house. Rui Qing had not yet sent him out of the yard when a little maid hurried over. The maid greeted Rong Hua, then whispered something in Rui Qing's ear.

  Rui Qing's expression changed, and he smiled at Rong Hua and said: "There are still some trivial matters in the house, Eighth Miss, slow down, I won't see you off."

  "Go and attend to your own business quickly!"

  Coming out of Qian Xi's residence, Jinxiu whispered: "I'll go take a look."

  Ronghua shook her head, looking at the maid's appearance, and didn't need to ask around, "It should be Fourth Aunt." With something like this happening, Eldest Madam was even more unwilling to let Fourth Aunt live.

  As soon as Fourth Aunt died, everything would be dead and gone without any evidence. Although this matter wouldn't be exposed, it was inevitable that someone would know the true situation inside.

  Today, looking at Yao Hua's appearance, she won't be too relaxed either, and it's inevitable that there will be some shortcomings. In the future, we must be more cautious and prudent.

  Ronghua raised her head to gaze at the vast clear sky. As soon as Eldest Sister entered the door, she went to interrogate Fourth Aunt, and in the end, Fourth Aunt died, and Chuxiao was beaten with a board. The atmosphere in the entire manor was tense like this.

  After thinking about it over and over again, I realized that's the only thing that would make sense.

  Big sister must have known about the past between Fifth Miss and Zhao Xuanhuan... otherwise, she didn't do anything wrong, why would Shuhua's attitude towards her change so drastically?

  These past few days, the mansion has been abuzz with rumors that Fourth Madame is already bedridden and unable to speak. It was only by taking advantage of this that Yao Hua was able to shift all the blame onto Fourth Madame's head.

  Ronghua went to pay respects to Madame again. Madame was not in her room, so Ronghua hurriedly went to the eldest sister's courtyard.

  Ronghua entered the house and saw that Second Mistress Wang, Seventh Miss, Ninth Miss, Tenth Miss, and Eleventh Miss were all sitting in Big Sister's room, even Liao Shi, who usually sat with Little Yueliang, had arrived.

  She is already early enough, others are earlier than her.

  The second lady was extremely enthusiastic in talking to the third lady Liao, but Liao seemed a bit distracted and tired of responding. The second lady Wang didn't seem to notice this and continued to talk non-stop. Lady Wang had always been known for her good temper, and she was even more willing to listen to and obey the old master and mistress, never having any complaints.

  Rong Hua stepped forward and paid his respects.

  The second lady said a few polite words, and the third lady Liao exhaled a breath of relief, revealing a smile on her face. She pulled Ronghua over, and tenth miss Jinghua quickly gave up her seat to Ronghua, who sat down beside Liao. Jinghua sat at Ronghua's right hand.

  Liao said: "I was just telling your aunt that we will be moving to Sanmiao Hutong in a few days."

  Ronghua's eyes lit up, "Third Aunt is moving to Beijing?"

  Liao said: "Yes, your third uncle will take part in the autumn examination next year, it's more convenient this way."

  Ronghua looked at Jinghua, and a smile appeared on Jinghua's face.

  Ronghua and Liao's side were chatting, the second lady looked at Ronghua with a probing gaze, then smiled dismissively.

  Ronghua understood Erniang's meaning. Although she was born to the first wife, she was a concubine-born daughter and even if she was close to Sanfang, she didn't have the qualifications to compete.

  The second lady looked towards the inner room again, furrowed her brow anxiously and said, "One after another of these doctors have come, but I don't know what they've diagnosed."

  The second lady's appearance was clearly unable to sit still.

  As expected, the second wife stood up and said: "I'll go take a look."

  Rong Hua smiled secretly. They were all from the Tao family, and intermarriage didn't necessarily have to be chosen from the main house; the few misses of the second house were also suitable in age. Previously, it was just sending them over as concubines, but if Eldest Sister's body really couldn't handle it, then they wouldn't need to choose a concubine.

  Yao Hua has already settled the marriage of Wu Mu Hou, leaving only her and Yan Hua, two concubine daughters. The second madam naturally saw hope in this.

  In a little while the second mistress came out from the inner chamber, and indeed did not bring back any useful message. The elder mistress was cautious in doing things, and would not reveal the truth until everything had been decided.

  The young masters were all sent away from the house, and Madame Wang came out from inside, forcing a smile when she saw everyone.

  The second lady went forward and asked, "What did those gentlemen say?"

  The old lady said: "What the doctor said is all the same, it's a woman's illness, it can't be rushed, and it will get better with slow nursing."

  The second lady sat up straight and said, "Although this woman's illness is difficult to cure, it won't be too serious."

  Just as they were talking, Chen's mother came in and whispered a couple of sentences into Madame Zhang's ear.

  The old lady frowned and asked: "What's going on? Have you called a doctor?"

  "Looked at it and said nothing."

  The old lady asked again: "Has the prescription been opened?"

  "Where would he dare prescribe a prescription? He just said it's useless."

  "What's wrong?"

  The old lady's expression was somewhat sorrowful. "Fourth Aunt is seriously ill," she said, without saying anything else, and hurriedly got up to say: "I'll go take a look."

  As soon as the lady left, everyone couldn't sit still anymore. They chatted while walking out and only parted ways at the Moon Gate.

  Ronghua had just passed through the Moon Gate and was walking forward when a figure suddenly emerged, startling her. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Hongge.

  Hong Ge smiled and walked over, pulling Rong Hua's hand, "Sister, come here and talk."

  Ronghua walked aside and asked Hongge, "Is everything settled?"

  "Brother nodded and said in a very low voice, 'Sister, rest assured, I'll take care of this matter.' He then took out a bracelet from his body and handed it back to Rong Hua, saying, 'Sister, please keep this well.'"

  Ronghua suddenly looked suspicious, "Wasn't it you who pawned it? How did you bring it back?" This was the bangle that Seventh Aunt had left her, which she normally kept carefully hidden away, and no one else had ever seen. Even if she had pawned it, no one would have known, but this time she needed money...

  "Brother Hong said, "Sister, don't worry, I've already thought of a way." He paused and smiled, "I was going to go there again tomorrow, but who knew I'd run into that Ma Dao today? She saw the jade pendant on my waist, so I took it off and gave it to her. It's actually saved us some trouble."

  That person is insatiably greedy.

  Hong said, "She promised me that she would bring the thing to me in two days and also said she wanted to help me... Let's see how she will wriggle out of it then."

  Rong Hua said: "If she regrets it, what about your jade pendant?"

  "Brother Hong smiled and said, 'Sister, don't worry, I've already promised her that after the matter is settled, I'll give her a good deal. If she really regrets it, I'll just say the jade pendant is lost, at most I'll get scolded.'"

  This is also a good idea, previously she was worried that in the future when facing the old lady, the old lady would ask about the silver money given by Hong Ge to Ma Dao Po and Hong Ge would have no way to explain.

  Ronghua looked at Hongge, the younger brother who used to only hide behind her, and now he could also help her. Thinking of this, she smiled slightly, "Be careful, can't let her find out anything, otherwise all our efforts will be in vain."

  The child cried while looking for me, whoever held him would cry, and he finally fell asleep after being coaxed.

  Having children is really not easy, there's no time for oneself at all.