“How is my own mother’s affair a trivial matter?” Yue Xingchen frowned, his gaze settling on Feng Jiu’er.

“A man who doesn’t even care about his own mother’s happiness hardly deserves to be called a man — wouldn’t you agree, Miss Long?”

“Besides, I’m certain Miss Long has the ability to cure Grandfather’s illness.”

Yue Xingchen reluctantly looked away from Feng Jiu’er and turned back toward Tang Xiaohua.

“Mother, I know full well that what worries you most is still Grandfather’s illness. I shouldn’t have mixed the two matters together.”

“But if Miss Long can help, once Grandfather recovers, Father’s misunderstanding of you might be resolved too — wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

“That woman with the surname Yang knew you weren’t one to explain yourself, and that’s exactly why she’s been putting on such a show in front of Father, driving the two of you apart.”

“Her intentions toward Grandfather’s treatment were never genuine, and she doesn’t have the ability to cure him anyway. Her real goal is the position of Madam Yue — haven’t you seen that?”

Tang Xiaohua glanced at Yue Xingchen and shook her head. “You’re embarrassing us in front of Miss Long and Miss Xiao.”

“This one usually doesn’t talk so much — I don’t know what’s gotten into him today.”

“Go on now.” Tang Xiaohua looked at Yue Xingchen and waved a hand. “Your father’s been gone for several days — don’t you have things to do?”

“Don’t dawdle here interrupting our conversation. A man should attend to a man’s business — go!”

Tang Xiaohua’s final word, “go,” carried a noticeably sharper edge.

Yue Xingchen looked at her, then at Feng Jiu’er, then back at Tang Xiaohua, before finally rising to his feet.

“Mother, I’ll go think of a way. We finally managed to bring Miss Long here — I won’t let her leave empty-handed.”

“You all wait here. Once I’ve drawn Yang Yan away, I’ll have someone come let you know.”

“Miss Long.” Standing now, Yue Xingchen looked at Feng Jiu’er. “I’ll see you shortly.”

With that, he turned and strode off.

Feng Jiu’er withdrew her hand from Tang Xiaohua’s wrist.

“Madam Yue, this woman with the surname Yang that your husband and your son keep mentioning — what exactly is going on with her? Does she have anything to do with the old master’s illness?”

“Madam Yue, please don’t take offense — I only wish to understand the situation, with no ill intent.”

“And, as the young master said, since I’ve already come all this way, I’d rather not leave empty-handed.”

“I may not necessarily have the ability to help the old master, but saving lives is my duty. Now that I’m here, I don’t wish to simply walk away — do you understand what I mean?”

Tang Xiaohua looked at Feng Jiu’er and smiled faintly — different somehow from how she’d carried herself the night before.

Then again, that made sense. A married woman visiting her parents’ home would naturally choose her words carefully, to avoid worrying the elders there.

But once she returned to her own household, the things she had to face were still waiting for her.

And today, in front of outsiders, even a mere steward had been able to shut the door on her — a married lady of standing.

Feng Jiu’er could understand, at least to some degree, how Madam Yue must be feeling right now.

“Miss Long, I won’t be embarrassed to say it — if you don’t mind, I might as well tell you everything.” Tang Xiaohua still wore a faint smile.

But the smile on her face made it easy to see that it had been carefully constructed.

Her mood was clearly not as good as it appeared.

“I’d be glad to hear it.” Feng Jiu’er held Tang Xiaohua’s gaze and nodded politely.

Tang Xiaohua nodded and sighed softly.

[Translator’s note: a garbled watermark line, “⑻ВｏOk.CОｍ,” has been omitted as unrelated to the text.]

“It all started a little over half a year ago. That day, I accompanied the old master out to practice archery, and he had an accident and fell from his horse.”

“From that fall, he simply couldn’t sit up on his own anymore.”

“My husband never blamed me for it. In the days that followed, he kept searching for physicians for the old master — until Yang Hong appeared.”

“Yang Hong — I don’t even know where she’s from. I never bothered to look into it specifically.”

“About half a month after the old master became paralyzed, she showed up.”

“She gave the old master acupuncture, and for the first couple of days, the results were remarkably good. My husband was truly grateful to her.”

“Not just my husband — our entire family was grateful to her.”

Tang Xiaohua kept her gaze fixed on a distant fruit tree, her expression growing somewhat heavier.

“A few days later, my husband had Yang Hong move into the Yue residence, specifically to treat the old master.”

“At first, I didn’t notice anything wrong. But after Yang Hong moved in, the relationship between my husband and me grew more and more strained.”

“We’d never been the type to quarrel — even when we disagreed before, a single argument would settle it.”

“He didn’t blame me outright, but his attitude toward me changed — he’d often have a dark look on his face and say nothing.”

“After being together this long, how could I not sense his change? I assumed it was because the old master had fallen ill and he was simply in low spirits, so I didn’t think much of it.”

“Then one day, he confronted me, demanding to know exactly what I’d fed his father — and that’s when I realized things weren’t as simple as I’d thought.”

“What happened after that?” Feng Jiu’er looked at Tang Xiaohua’s profile and frowned slightly.

“After that…” Tang Xiaohua sighed softly, gazing up at the sky, shaking her head.

“After that, he and Yang Hong came to confront me, holding the tonic herbs I’d given the old master.”

“Yang Hong claimed there was an ingredient in the herbs that had harmed the old master, and my husband — he must have believed her.”

“Those were herbs I gave my father-in-law to strengthen his body. He didn’t need much — one or two doses a month was good for him.”

“The formula came from an old physician I once sought out, and we’d been using it for years with good results.”

“What mattered most was that the particular ingredient Yang Hong claimed was in there wasn’t even part of the formula at all.”

“I don’t know medicine, so I confronted the people at the pharmacy. They insisted they’d filled the prescription exactly as written, with no such ingredient included.”

“But unfortunately, in the three remaining packets of herbs at the residence, that very ingredient was found in all of them.”

“At my parents’ home, there were still two packets left — and they contained no trace of what Yang Hong described. Same shop, same prescription, yet two different sets of herbs came out of it.”

At this point, Tang Xiaohua smiled faintly again, but now there was a bitterness to it.

“Master Yue doesn’t believe you?” Feng Jiu’er asked in a low voice.

Tang Xiaohua shook her head. “If I were him, I wouldn’t believe me either.”

“Why not? I’m certain you’d never harm your own father-in-law.” Though they weren’t well acquainted, Xiao Yingtao felt a real pang of sympathy for Tang Xiaohua in that moment.

“Why not?” Tang Xiaohua brought her gaze back, looking at the two young women before her.

“Because that ingredient was found in herbs that came from my own household — herbs I personally brought back myself.”

“So you see, even I don’t trust myself in this. If I had even a bit of knowledge about herbs, like the two of you, this never would have happened.”

“Madam, why did you have that particular herb? Was that from Yang Hong as well?” Feng Jiu’er asked with a slight frown.

“No.” Tang Xiaohua met Feng Jiu’er’s gaze and shook her head. “From a woman even more treacherous than Yang Hong, perhaps.”