Thinking this way, Liu Shi’s expression also turned ugly.

The servant woman had usually received many benefits from Liu Shi, so seeing her like this, she thought for a moment and still said: “How about this servant goes in to ask Old Madam for you? Maybe she wants to see you now?”

Liu Shi nodded: “Good, go ask Old Madam.”

The servant woman quickly agreed and went in.

Old Madam Fang had indeed been unwell recently and was currently listlessly half-reclining on a soft couch to rest.

When the servant woman came in to report, some phrase must have irritated Old Madam Fang, because she immediately sat up straight and pointed at the servant woman while scolding: “Didn’t I say I wouldn’t see anyone! Whose person are you exactly? Someone come, drag her down and give her fifty beatings to teach her a lesson!”

The servant woman hadn’t seen Old Madam Fang this angry in a long time. When Old Madam Fang was young, beating and killing people was an everyday occurrence, especially right after Old Master Fang died, when she had been particularly harsh with the concubines she already found displeasing. However, in recent years, perhaps because she had taken up Buddhism, Old Madam’s temper had improved considerably. So this servant woman had almost forgotten Old Madam Fang’s true nature and was now trembling all over with fright.

“Old Madam, spare my life! Old Madam, spare my life! This servant only saw that the Fourth Madam had come several times, so I came to report for her. Old Madam, please spare this servant!”

Old Madam Fang was in a foul mood and couldn’t control her anger. Just as she was about to call for someone to drag this servant woman out, a maid who was half-kneeling beside the soft couch, massaging Old Madam Fang’s legs, quickly tugged at Old Madam Fang’s sleeve and gave her a meaningful look.

Old Madam Fang seemed to remember something and reluctantly controlled her temper, waving her hand: “Fine, I’ll spare you this time. If there’s a next time, go receive your punishment yourself! Get out! Tell those outside that I won’t see anyone!”

The servant woman scrambled out, rolling and crawling.

Liu Shi was waiting outside for the servant woman to go in and report. After waiting a short while, she saw the servant woman running out, covered in sweat. She couldn’t help but be surprised: “What happened?”

The servant woman quickly said: “Fourth Madam, please return. Old Madam said she won’t see anyone.”

Hearing this, Liu Shi wanted to ask more, but the servant woman kept her head down and wouldn’t say another word. Liu Shi found this puzzling but could only leave first.

After returning, she had someone deliver a calling card to the household of the Fang family’s eldest miss, Fang Yahui’s husband’s family, wanting to visit Fang Yahui tomorrow.

Meanwhile, after the servant woman left, Old Madam Fang sneered coldly: “Come to see me? She’s come to see when I’ll die! If I died, the Fang family would fall into their hands. These ungrateful beasts with their wolfish ambitions think I don’t know anything!”

The maid massaging Old Madam Fang’s legs quickly said, “Old Madam, don’t get angry first. If you anger yourself into illness, others won’t feel sorry, but our eldest miss will feel sorry – after all, she’s your daughter.”

Old Madam Fang took a deep breath and lay back down on the couch. She glanced at the maid who was rubbing the acupoints on her feet: “You’re right. In this lifetime, I only have Hui’er and Cun’er as my flesh and blood. No matter how wholeheartedly others treat them, they can still dig out your heart and eat your flesh behind your back. This time I’ve figured it out – I’d rather destroy the Fang family than hand it over to those heartless wolves! Ouch…”

Seeing Old Madam Fang cry out in pain, the maid immediately stopped: “This servant deserves death!”

Old Madam Fang waved her hand: “It’s fine, your massage feels very comfortable. Continue. By the way, where did she find such a thoughtful maid like you?”

The maid lowered her head and continued massaging gently, smiling as she said: “In response to Old Madam, this servant was found by Eldest Miss through the Qin family’s young madam. This servant’s ancestors were once imperial physicians in the palace, so the family passed down skills in acupuncture and pressure point massage. Eldest Miss saw that this servant’s acupoint massage work was passable and, thinking that you always complained of aching hands and feet recently, had this servant come serve you. Eldest Miss is so filial-she always thinks of you.”

Old Madam Fang nodded with satisfaction: “I didn’t love her for nothing.”

The maid smiled: “That’s right. Not only our Eldest Miss, but also Young Miss and Young Master often think of you. When this servant came to the Fang family, they even asked this servant to send you their regards.”

The gloomy expression on Old Madam Fang’s face was finally lightened considerably, but thinking of her lively and adorable grandchildren, she couldn’t help but think of her son’s inability to have children, and ultimately still felt dissatisfied: “Didn’t your ancestors serve as imperial physicians? Tell me, is there still any possibility for First Master to have children with his condition?”

Because this maid was someone Fang Yahui had sent back to serve Old Madam Fang, and she had been serving Old Madam Fang quite comfortably these days while also being able to chat with her about her daughter and grandchildren’s amusing stories, Old Madam Fang trusted her even more than her own room’s senior maids.

The maid thought for a moment and sighed: “Actually, when Eldest Miss discovered that First Master had been secretly given sterilization drugs that caused his infertility, she specifically called this servant over to ask about this matter. Unfortunately, First Master was drugged early on and for several years continuously. Now, if we wanted to treat it… I’m afraid it’s already too late.”

Although Old Madam Fang already knew the answer in her heart, hearing it still disappointed her greatly.

Seeing this, the maid quickly consoled: “Old Madam, although there’s little hope of curing First Master, you could still seek out some famous physicians to try. At least now we know where the problem lies, right? You’re still keeping Ninth Master’s child by your side to teach. Ninth Master is not going to make it, and Ninth Madam wholeheartedly wants to enter a nunnery to become a nun. Adopting Young Master to First Master and helping raise and teach him by your side – when Young Master grows up, he’ll only be grateful to you and filial to you. Even if First Master’s illness is cured later and he has his children, this child can still serve as his right-hand man.”

Hearing this, Old Madam Fang couldn’t help but nod. Finally, she asked: “Did Hui’er have you tell me all this?”

Hearing this, the maid smiled: “Eldest Miss always thinks of what’s good for her natal family. She was originally very close to Fourth Master and Fourth Madam and always spoke well of them before you. Who would have thought she would inadvertently learn the truth about First Master’s inability to have children… It’s really… sigh! Eldest Miss feels truly terrible about it.”

“How could this be blamed on Hui’er? Not just her – even I was deceived by them! If it weren’t for the fact that more than half of the Fang family has unknowingly fallen into his hands and he’s gained some power, I wouldn’t need to swallow my anger to stabilize them now, and I couldn’t even take revenge! I should have anticipated this earlier. When their concubine mother was alive, she knew how to make medicinal cuisine and used that to climb into the Old Master’s bed. I just didn’t expect they would poison Cun’er to seize the Fang family property!”

By the end, Old Madam Fang was almost grinding her teeth with hatred.

When she learned from her daughter that her only son’s inability to have children was because someone had given him sterilization powder for several years when he was young, and that the poisoner was very likely Fang Yaru, Fang Yacun, and their concubine mother, Old Madam Fang, wanted to tear them to pieces.

But this time her daughter seemed smarter, telling her to first stabilize the Fang Yacun couple and wait until all necessary arrangements were made before breaking with Fang Yacun. Although Old Madam Fang was very unwilling in her heart, she knew her daughter was right. Otherwise, Fang Yacun might strike first and take the opportunity to completely control the Fang family.

She just really didn’t want to see Fang Yacun and Liu Shi anymore, so she could only feign illness to avoid them while secretly gathering some respected elders from the clan, wanting to first adopt the Ninth Master’s child and then drive Fang Yacun out of the Fang family.

But the person Liu Shi sent to deliver the calling card to Fang Yahui came back reporting that Eldest Miss was also not feeling well recently and didn’t want to see outside visitors, asking Liu Shi to visit another day.

Fang Yahui was someone without much scheming and had always been very friendly to Liu Shi. Liu Shi had never been turned away at Fang Yahui’s place before, so Liu Shi realized this matter was indeed somewhat related to Fang Yahui.

In the afternoon, Ninth Master’s child was indeed brought over, but Liu Shi didn’t even get to see the child before he was taken to Old Madam Fang. Several wet nurses came with the child as well, and Liu Shi later learned that these wet nurses had also been found by Old Madam through Fang Yahui.

Because Old Madam had done her secret work well beforehand, the adoption had already been arranged in advance. As soon as the child was brought in, he was recorded in the family genealogy without even alerting Fang Yacun. By the time Fang Yacun knew, it was a fait accompli.

Afterward, Fang Yacun was both shocked and furious. He was the future head of the Fang family, the future clan leader of the Fang clan. He had originally thought that after years of management, more than half of the Fang family was under his control, but after the adoption incident, Fang Yacun began to have doubts.

He felt things weren’t so simple. This incident wasn’t just Old Madam Fang alone causing trouble behind the scenes. She alone couldn’t have accomplished this while keeping it from him. Fang Yacun thought there must be other families involved, and he believed this participating family should be Fang Yahui’s husband’s family, the Qin family.

Liu Shi comforted Fang Yacun: “Although the child has been adopted into the main branch, he’s only a few months old after all. It will be at least ten years before he grows up. The Fang family can’t wait for him to become the head, can they?”

Only then did Fang Yacun’s heart calm down somewhat, but he paid even more attention to clan affairs, fearing Old Madam Fang would pull more tricks.

Sure enough, after just a few days, Old Madam Fang suddenly invited several Fang family elders who had long since retired from management into the residence, saying she wanted to open the ancestral hall and clean house.

And the target of this cleaning was the next family head, Fang Yacun! Fang Yacun’s crime was that he, along with his sister and their concubine mother, had conspired to secretly poison Fang Yaxun to seize the Fang family property.