Nanny Su and others had to pinch and pat Madam Xie before she recovered.

“You wretched girl are really tired of living,” Nanny Su said with an iron-blue face, furious.

The little maid had already been frightened into kneeling on the ground, trembling, kowtowing to beg forgiveness.

“Enough, what does it have to do with her,” Madam Xie said slowly, waving her hand, “It’s me… who’s useless…”

A’Luan quickly led the maids out.

“Madam, this can’t continue like this,” Nanny Su said urgently.

Madam Xie’s face was somber, seeming to be in a daze.

“Second Madam was right. A man and woman alone together, and the Lord has such a straightforward nature, while that woman is cunning. Now they’re living in the same room. Although they haven’t… but they are husband and wife after all. If somehow they… it would be normal… If a man tastes that woman’s body, then…” Nanny Su said in a low voice.

“Stop talking,” Madam Xie cut her off sharply. She couldn’t even imagine such things…

Nanny Su lowered her head and stopped speaking.

“I will never… let this woman… serve incense offerings to my sister and me as a daughter-in-law…” Madam Xie said viciously, her hands on her knees gripping her horse-face skirt tightly, crumpling it into a ball, “That old witch killed my sister. I absolutely cannot let my sister suffer such humiliation even after death!”

Nanny Su nodded, her expression also sorrowful and angry.

“Go call him here for me,” Madam Xie said coldly.

Nanny Su hesitated.

“When the Lord comes, Madam, you must speak to him properly…” knowing her mistress’s temper, she quickly said in a low voice.

Madam Xie laughed coldly.

“He calls me mother, what can’t I say directly? Am I supposed to coax him? Then what would I become?” She slapped the table, “Call him here. Don’t let him come in to see me – make him kneel outside.”

Nanny Su was startled, not daring to persuade further, and hurried out.

Chang Yuncheng flicked the quill pen in his hand.

“Hey, hey, don’t shake it around,” Qi Yue on the other side quickly raised her hand to block, but still got splattered with a few drops of ink.

Chang Yuncheng looked at the dots on her face and smiled.

“Go play somewhere else, will you? I’m busy,” Qi Yue glared at him.

Chang Yuncheng threw down the quill pen, looking over with disdain.

“Busy?” he said, “What could you possibly be busy with?”

Qi Yue felt somewhat frustrated and crumpled the paper into a ball, throwing it out with a basketball shooting motion.

“How can I make gloves?” she rubbed her face in distress.

Chang Yuncheng glanced at the scattered papers on the table, which had drawings of palms, arms, and similar shapes.

“Gloves? Make them with leather,” he said.

“What leather – it’s rubber,” Qi Yue sighed. She had been thinking all night about how rubber was made, but apart from remembering that sap flowed out when you cut a tree, she knew nothing else.

Would the sap become usable just by drying after flowing out?

“Aren’t they just protective gloves? Sheepskin is best, deerskin is also good,” Chang Yuncheng said.

Qi Yue suddenly lifted her head to look at him.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“Sheepskin, deerskin…” Chang Yuncheng said.

“Not that. The sentence before,” Qi Yue stared at him intently.

“Protective…” Chang Yuncheng was somewhat puzzled by her stare.

Qi Yue slapped the table.

With a bang, A’Ru and Qiu Xiang standing outside were startled and exchanged glances.

Were they about to fight again…

They couldn’t help but move closer, but didn’t hear any other sounds of things breaking, nor Chang Yuncheng’s angry shouts. Instead, Qi Yue’s joyful voice rang out.

“I’m so stupid, I was thinking about it wrong,” Qi Yue smiled, beaming, “I was always thinking about surgical gloves, but forgot the original purpose of gloves. They can’t perform surgery right away anyway. The key is protection! As long as they can provide isolation and prevent infection, any gloves will do. Why was I obsessing over rubber!”

Chang Yuncheng couldn’t understand a word, but this woman often said incomprehensible things anyway.

Qi Yue smiled and stood up, patting his arm.

“Thanks. That’s why I say the Lord is a smart person,” she smiled.

Chang Yuncheng coughed from her pat.

Where did this annoying woman learn such behavior… what kind of manners…

“Do we have the sheepskin and deerskin you mentioned at home?” Qi Yue asked again.

The words “our home” slipped past his ears. Chang Yuncheng felt a tingling sensation.

“If we don’t have them, we can buy them,” he said.

“Right, let’s first go see how the things Hu San had that leather craftsman make turned out, then have him make gloves too…” Qi Yue muttered to herself, while calling for A’Ru.

A’Ru responded and hurried in. Qiu Xiang hesitated for a moment before carefully peeking in from outside.

“Do I still have money?” she asked.

A’Ru was somewhat amused by her question, but seeing Chang Yuncheng there, she didn’t dare laugh.

“Yes, although your monthly allowance was always short before, the past few months have all been made up at once. This way it’s actually better – you’ve been saving and have quite a bit,” A’Ru said quietly.

A double entendre.

Chang Yuncheng frowned and glanced at A’Ru.

This woman couldn’t even get her monthly allowance before…

Qi Yue didn’t care about this; she cared about having quite a bit.

“Besides, even without monthly allowance, you don’t lack for this little money,” A’Ru added.

The wealthiest former mistress of this house left almost all her private savings to you…

“Then bring more money. Let’s go to Qianjin Hall to find Hu San,” Qi Yue smiled.

“Going out again?” Chang Yuncheng frowned.

A’Ru, who had been about to turn around, stopped and glanced at Qi Yue.

“You can enjoy comfortable solitude,” Qi Yue smiled and waved at him, urging A’Ru to hurry.

A’Ru no longer looked at Chang Yuncheng and turned to call A’Hao and Que Zhi to come serve Qi Yue in changing clothes.

Chang Yuncheng stood aside, watching as Qi Yue was quickly and efficiently helped to change clothes by the two maids.

“…Should I bring a cloak?”

“…Not this one, it’s too bright…”

“…Should I take a hand warmer…”

The women’s chatter filled the room. Chang Yuncheng watched and listened silently. For the first time, he felt that places with many women weren’t necessarily all noisy and annoying…

That woman said something that made her laugh. Chang Yuncheng looked at her, his mouth corners slowly pursing. The arc grew larger and larger.

“Can you recognize good leather…” he coughed and spoke.

Qi Yue, who was shaking out her cloak, didn’t hear clearly and looked up at him.

“What?” she asked.

“Don’t let people cheat you…” Chang Yuncheng said with a stern face, a flash of nervousness in his eyes.

Having said this much, she would invite him, right?

“It’s fine. Hu San has a trustworthy leather craftsman,” Qi Yue smiled, while raising her head for Que Zhi to tie the strings.

Chang Yuncheng sighed and bit his teeth.

“I…” he opened his mouth to speak.

A maid’s report came from outside.

“Lord, Madam requests your presence.”

Chang Yuncheng swallowed his words.

“You should go quickly,” Qi Yue said, having heard, while smiling at him.

Watching that woman leave with two maids, Chang Yuncheng walked toward Madam Xie’s courtyard. As soon as he entered the courtyard, a maid announced inside, and the door curtain was lifted.

Chang Yuncheng looked over with a smile, but saw Nanny Su standing there with a complicated expression, followed by a little maid.

“Lord,” Nanny Su called to him, saying quietly, “Madam wants you to kneel and reflect on your mistakes.”

Chang Yuncheng was stunned, his gaze falling on the cushion the little maid was holding.

“You should have gone directly to kneel before your mother’s memorial tablet, but…” Madam Xie’s cold gaze swept over his face inch by inch, her eyes growing increasingly angry, “It’s not even spring yet, and your face is already blooming…”

Chang Yuncheng looked at Madam Xie, confusion in his eyes.

“First kneel before my Buddha altar, to remove that smile you brought from that woman from your face, lest you go there and let your mother see it, making her angry enough to die again in the underworld,” Madam Xie said coldly.

Chang Yuncheng’s face instantly turned iron-blue. He looked at Madam Xie, about to say something.

“You don’t need to say anything to me, Yuncheng. You’ve already lied to me once. I don’t want to hear you lie again,” Madam Xie no longer looked at him, taking a long breath, her gaze falling behind the kneeling Chang Yuncheng, “You don’t need to say anything. You know in your heart what you’ve been thinking when looking at that woman these past few days. Don’t try to explain. You’re not good at lying – it’s written all over your face…”

Chang Yuncheng’s expression grew increasingly ugly, his emotions complex.

“Go out and kneel. I don’t want to see you like this, and I won’t let your mother see it either,” Madam Xie said word by word, pointing toward the inner Buddha hall.

Chang Yuncheng kowtowed to her and walked straight in.

After noon, Madam Xie lay in the inner room with her eyes closed, resting, while a little maid gently massaged her legs.

Nanny Su lifted the curtain and entered, hesitating to speak.

“You feel sorry for him – don’t I?” Madam Xie spoke first, saying slowly, “From the time I took his hand for my sister when I was seventeen, I never thought of anything else. I raised him like my own precious jewel, loving him more than my own eyes…”

Nanny Su sighed.

“The Lord has been kneeling for quite a while. The eldest miss’s side is cold, and the ground is freezing. The Lord refuses to use the cushion…” she said quietly.

Madam Xie’s eyes snapped open.

“Wasn’t a cushion provided?” she asked, her eyes full of worry.

“The Lord refuses to use the cushion and just kneels like that,” Nanny Su said, “Madam, he knows he was wrong and is punishing himself. Don’t you know this child? Harsh to others, even harsher to himself.”

Madam Xie’s expression had already softened.

“Madam, Second Madam has arrived,” a maid announced outside.

Both Madam Xie and Nanny Su were startled.

Second Madam came in a sedan chair, surrounded by a group of matrons and maids, with her daughter Chang Yinglan also present.

“Aunt,” she smiled, supporting her mother as they approached.

“Why did you come out in this heavy snow and cold weather?” Madam Xie reached out to grasp Chen Shi’s hand as she entered, holding her ice-cold hand while repeatedly complaining, “If there’s anything, send someone to tell me, or I could come to you. What are all those people being fed for if not for this?”

Chen Shi just smiled gently. Due to the cold, her complexion had an unnatural flush.

“I’ve been feeling much better lately, so I wanted to come out for a walk,” she said, sitting on the heated platform.

Nanny Su directed the maids in a flurry of activity to place charcoal braziers in front of Chen Shi.

“Let me do it,” a slender woman in a dark purple crossed-collar jacket with a concentric knot hairstyle placed a hand warmer in Chen Shi’s hands.

Only then did everyone notice her, with some surprise in their eyes.

This woman was seventeen or eighteen years old, petite, with a silver-plate face, bright eyes, and dignified bearing. Though simply dressed, she couldn’t hide her distinguished family background.

Seeing everyone’s attention, she slightly lowered her head and stood behind Chen Shi.

Chang Yinglan beside her slightly pursed her lips.

“This is my sister’s child,” Chen Shi said with a smile, while taking the woman’s hand, “Yufang, greet the Marchioness.”

Madam Xie was quite surprised to hear this.

“A daughter of the Rao family?” she asked.

Rao Yufang stepped forward a few steps and bowed to Madam Xie.

“Yufang greets Madam,” she said, her voice gentle and pure.