When Nanny Fu heard the coughing sound, she was first startled, then her eyes suddenly blazed with delighted light. She quickly stepped forward, keeping her voice as low as possible to avoid disturbing Qin Shuying: “Miss, Miss, you’re awake? Miss, how do you feel? Is there anywhere uncomfortable? Are you hungry? Would you like to eat something?”

The young girl on the bed seemed not to hear Nanny Fu’s words at all. In her clear eyes flashed a brilliant light, cold as hard ice arrows, the sharp arrowheads seeming to cluster with cold blue flames.

Nanny Fu was stunned for a moment. The young miss’s eyes were swollen like ripe peaches, clearly having wept bitterly.

Then Nanny Fu turned around to wipe her eyes. The young miss was always like this, missing the master and madam, often crying secretly. How could this continue? Sigh…

“Nanny Fu, is Miss really awake?”

A girl with an ugly appearance rushed in from outside. She looked about fourteen or fifteen years old, with her sleeves rolled up high and water stains on her hands—she had apparently been washing something. She hurried forward and knelt beside the bed, her face full of excitement. Without waiting for Nanny Fu’s instruction, she said: “Nanny, I’ll go get water!”

She was indeed a quick-witted girl, but half her face bore faint scars from burns, making her face quite ugly. In her memory, this girl called Lu Ye was someone Qin Shuying had encountered when she was with Qin Yongzhou in the South. At that time, Lu Ye was selling herself to bury her father and was about to starve to death. The kind-hearted Qin Shuying had bought her.

Qin Shuying was the apple of Qin Yongzhou and his wife’s eyes. Her original life had been too smooth, and she didn’t understand the demons and monsters in large households. Moreover, her personality was gentle and compliant. After arriving at the Qin Manor, she treated everyone from the First Branch as the closest people to her in this world, with absolutely no guard against them.

The First Branch’s Qin Yongtao was sanctimonious, and Xu Shi was hypocritically vicious, single-mindedly eyeing Qin Shuying’s family wealth. Under their deception, Qin Shuying completely trusted them. Not only that, but she also listened to their words, saying she wanted to copy sutras to pray for her deceased father and mother’s souls, actively distancing herself from her only support in the Qin Manor—Old Madam Qin.

Nanny Fu had reminded her both openly and subtly many times, but Qin Shuying didn’t take it to heart. With Xu Shi’s deliberate instigation, Qin Shuying gradually distanced herself from this wet nurse who wholeheartedly planned for her.

Now, those maids and matrons who had been brought from the South and were loyal to her had all been sent away by Xu Shi under various pretexts—some sold, some sent to the manor farms. Only Nanny Fu and Lu Ye had not yet been dealt with.

Before his death, Qin Yongzhou had bought Nanny Fu’s freedom, so she was now a free person. Xu Shi, mindful of her reputation, didn’t do anything to Nanny Fu directly, but instead instigated Qin Shuying to deal with Nanny Fu herself. As for Lu Ye, she was too humble and slow-witted for Xu Shi to consider her worth attention.

If not for Xu Shi’s concern for her reputation and her fear of Old Madam Qin, Qin Shuying probably wouldn’t even have these two devoted people, Nanny Fu and Lu Ye, by her side now.

Lu Ye poured water at the table. Qin Shuying was supported by Nanny Fu while Lu Ye carefully fed her water.

After drinking a few sips of water, the bitter taste in her mouth faded. Qin Shuying caught her breath, cleared her throat, and said, “I want to drink porridge.” She then closed her eyes to rest.

This body was really too weak. She had only eaten one pastry earlier, and it was still undigested in her stomach.

Nanny Fu was delighted to hear this, and Lu Ye had already taken up the conversation: “There is some. This servant will go heat it up—it will be ready immediately.”

Nanny Fu said: “Lu Ye, you stay with Miss. I’ll have Hui Qin go, and I’ll also report to Old Madam and ask a physician to come examine Miss…”

Upon hearing about calling a physician, Qin Shuying couldn’t care about her weakness and quickly stopped Nanny Fu: “No need to call a physician. I want porridge.”

“Miss, your body is weak. How can you not see a physician? I’ll go to Xuan Hall to petition Old Madam to have Physician Chen come treat you… Miss, ah, I’m being muddled. How could Physician Chen come to treat Miss? But that Physician Liu is Xu Shi’s person—this old servant doesn’t trust him!”

Physician Chen had excellent medical skills and moved among noble families, always only treating the head of households. In the Qin Manor, only Old Madam Qin and the Xu Shi couple could summon her. How could Qin Shuying trouble Physician Chen to treat her personally? It had always been Physician Liu who treated the young ladies of the manor. So Nanny Fu regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth, knowing this was inappropriate.

These past few days, Xu Shi had naturally called Physician Liu to treat Qin Shuying. Physician Liu, as usual, said that Qin Shuying’s constitution was weak and needed quiet rest.

Qin Shuying’s expression was calm, but there was a hint of determination in her eyes. Nanny Fu hesitated, and Qin Shuying again said in an unquestionable tone: “Porridge.”

Nanny Fu thought that Miss was no longer of the same heart with her, felt desolate, and could only give Lu Ye a few instructions before stepping away.

Watching Nanny Fu’s slightly hunched body and hurried steps, the corner of Qin Shuying’s mouth curved up slightly, revealing a mocking smile: Xu Shi, this divide-and-conquer strategy was truly used to perfection!

According to the original’s memory, Nanny Fu treated Qin Shuying like her own daughter, wholeheartedly planning for her. Although she was a free person, she had always refused to leave Qin Shuying. And Xu Shi had actually managed, through several incidents, to make Qin Shuying develop an impression of Nanny Fu as someone who interfered and sowed discord, gradually coming to detest Nanny Fu.

“Miss, this servant, this servant will go call Hui Qin…”

Lu Ye stood beside the bed, appearing very worried about her, but her expression was also very constrained, and her speech wasn’t very smooth either. The cleverness she had shown earlier had completely vanished.

Lu Ye’s appearance was due to her ruined face—she was only a third-class maid in the courtyard and naturally had no qualification to serve closely. But she was genuinely worried about her, which was why she had rushed in earlier without regard for anything.

In the original Qin Shuying’s memory, although Hui Qin was her personal maid, she rarely did things with her own hands and was actually more precious than the young miss herself.

Qin Shuying nodded. Lu Ye went out to call someone, but after quite a while, no one came.

“Miss, Hui Qin isn’t here,” Lu Ye returned, her voice low as she replied, looking uneasy.

Qin Shuying said: “Then you do it.”

Lu Ye seemed not to believe it, then was overjoyed and hurried to fetch water to wash her hands. She was indeed meticulous and proper, calm and steady.

Nanny Fu quickly brought the porridge. Qin Shuying drank it at a leisurely pace and felt her strength slowly returning. She had Nanny Fu and Lu Ye go out to keep watch. Qin Shuying lay down, and tears unknowingly streamed down her cheeks. Her sobbing grew louder and louder. She pulled up the quilt to cover her head, biting down hard on her finger.

Nanny Fu and Lu Ye weren’t too surprised to see that she had been crying.

The original in Qin Shuying’s memory was sentimental and would shed tears at the slightest breeze. It seemed that her current uncontrollable grief and despair could temporarily pass without arousing others’ suspicion. Even so, she still needed to quickly adapt to the current situation and control her emotions. Otherwise, how could she fight the battles ahead?