Yan Qing knew that the Shi Family’s Old Madam seldom concerned herself with the household’s daily affairs. For her, reciting sutras and praying to the Buddha was the most important matter in the world.
Yet today she had appeared at the family banquet against all expectation, and had even taken an interest in whether Shi Ting and his young wife had any children. This gave Yan Qing cause to think.
Her gaze drifted almost imperceptibly toward Qian Lan, who sat with eyes lowered in a posture of quiet deference, serving the Commander his food. Meanwhile the Commander was telling her to eat more while placing dishes into her bowl in turn.
The two exchanged such attentions back and forth, their affection entirely on display — which caused Du Linghua, sitting not far away, to flush red with mortification. It was as though her chest were splitting apart, yet she had no choice but to endure it. The effort of endurance made her heart and lungs ache as though they were twisting inside her.
The new Mistress of the Shi Family had barely been married into the household, and yet she had already won the support of every person within it, top to bottom. Even the Shi Old Madam regarded her in a different light.
The Old Madam’s southern courtyard was not normally open to free access by others, yet Qian Lan came and went from it as she pleased.
She spent each day accompanying the Old Madam in prayer and sutra recitation — a portion of time that made up nearly a third of her daily life.
One had to acknowledge that Qian Lan was a person of remarkable patience. On this point alone, Yan Qing privately admitted to herself that she could never manage it.
The Old Madam’s sudden fixation on their household was, Yan Qing suspected, not unconnected to this new Mistress.
“Mistress.”
The banquet had not yet concluded when Nanny Liu suddenly came rushing in. Judging by her haste, she had run the whole way there, and at this moment — heedless of the entire room full of masters — she made directly for the place where Qian Lan sat.
“Mistress, something is very wrong — the Eighth Young Master will not stop vomiting, and nothing has helped.”
“How can this be?” Qian Lan leapt to her feet at once. “Quickly, let us go and see.”
“Lan’er, do not rush — be careful not to fall.” The Commander hurried after her and, as naturally as breathing, took Qian Lan’s hand in his.
At this, no one remaining at the table was in any mood to continue eating — especially Du Linghua, whose heart was already in a panic. And so the entire group swept off together in a great crowd toward Zhuoxin Garden.
Yan Qing and Shi Ting walked at the rear, taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to exchange hushed words.
“Did you see Shi Yutong’s expression just now?” Yan Qing pinched the center of Shi Ting’s palm and asked in a low voice.
“I did.” The moment Nanny Liu had come in, he had taken in every expression in the room at a glance. The fleeting cold gleam that had crossed Shi Yutong’s face had not escaped his notice. “She is the one who did this.”
“To frame Qian Lan, she was willing to use her own blood brother as a weapon.” Yan Qing shook her head with a soft sigh. “Shi Yutong is selfish and domineering. San Yiniang will one day pay the price for the indulgence she has lavished on her.”
“Do you think San Yiniang knows?”
“Looking at her reaction — she does not appear to know. A tiger may be ferocious, but it will not devour its own cubs. I do not believe she would use her own child as a pawn simply to compete for favor.”
Shi Ting gave a sound of agreement. “In the past, San Yiniang was clever and shrewd — she navigated this inner household with ease. Now I see that the reason she was able to flourish so brilliantly came down largely to the depth of the Commander’s favor toward her.”
And now that the favor had departed — could she continue to live in such splendor?
Yan Qing said, “A camel starved to death is still larger than a horse. Until Qian Lan’s true purpose in coming to the Shi Mansion becomes clear, San Yiniang can still serve as a temporary check on her.”
“The grandmother’s sudden appearance today is connected to Qian Lan — I am sure of it. It seems she intends to throw the inner household into complete chaos.”
As they spoke, the two of them had already arrived at the entrance to Zhuoxin Garden.
When Meng Qiu had been here, the Commander had rarely stayed the night. Now, aside from highly confidential matters requiring discussion in the study, the Commander devoted every moment after returning home to Zhuoxin Garden.
Before Yan Qing had even stepped inside, she could hear Jing’er’s cries. The child had been crying for so long that his voice had gone hoarse.
Nanny Liu and two wet nurses held him in their arms, while Qian Lan stood beside them, tears streaming down her face with anxiety.
“He was perfectly fine just a moment ago — how could this have happened so suddenly?” Qian Lan said. “He had only just been fed before I left.”
The Old Madam was also deeply distressed about her precious grandson, and the look she cast in Qian Lan’s direction carried a hint of reproach.
Qian Lan felt the weight of the Old Madam’s gaze and her heart involuntarily tightened.
If Jing’er had fallen ill while still in Du Linghua’s care, it could be explained away. But if he became ill while in her presence, she would be unable to escape responsibility.
“Could there be a problem with the wet nurse’s milk?” Luo Huaimeng, having raised a child herself, was the first to think of the wet nurses.
“There cannot be,” Qian Lan said. “The wet nurses’ three daily meals are prepared separately in the small kitchen on my instructions. Everything they eat and drink is carefully inspected beforehand — there cannot be any problem.”
As she spoke, Jing’er began making retching sounds again. He had already vomited up all the milk in his stomach and there was nothing left to bring up.
Looking at the child’s deathly pale little face, the Commander urgently ordered the guards to send for a physician.
“My child!” Du Linghua stepped forward and tried to take Jing’er into her arms, but Nanny Liu held him protectively close.
“San Yitai, the Eighth Young Master is at an age where he grows wary of strangers. If you hold him, he will only cry harder.”
“What did you just say?” Before Du Linghua could respond, Shi Yutong had already turned on Nanny Liu. “Jing’er is my little brother — he is my mother’s own flesh and blood. And you claim he is wary of strangers? Can a child be wary of his own birth mother? Just because you have looked after Jing’er for a few days does not mean he has changed mothers. If you have the ability, produce a child from your own womb — stop clinging to another woman’s son.”
Shi Yutong’s words sent the atmosphere in the room careening into awkward and strange territory, yet no one made a sound.
Qian Lan’s expression sank the most. For a moment, she did not know what to say.
“What are you talking about?” The Commander’s brow creased into a sharp line as he glared hard at Shi Yutong.
Shi Yutong was in the mood to throw all caution to the wind. She tilted her chin defiantly. “Jing’er was perfectly fine — eating, sleeping, and playing — when he was by Mother’s side. How is it that the moment he came here he fell ill? And in such a severe state, too — it clearly did not come on overnight. She knew all along and did nothing, letting Jing’er’s condition worsen. How could she truly care for him when he is not her own flesh and blood? And these two wet nurses are also suspicious. Who knows whether there is something wrong with what they eat and drink? If someone wanted to harm Jing’er, striking now would be entirely without trace.”
“Eighth Miss.” Nanny Liu replied, her brow furrowed. “Ever since the Mistress brought the Eighth Young Master into her care, she has attended to him with complete devotion — even more attentively than a birth mother would. On the nights when the Eighth Young Master kept choking on his milk these past few days, the Mistress stayed awake through the night watching over him for fear he might choke while vomiting. The Mistress’s eyesight has not been well recently because of all the sutra texts she has been copying out for the Old Madam, yet she still makes small garments for the Eighth Young Master every single day, worried that he is growing too quickly and will not have enough changes of clothing. She refuses to let us servants do it — she insists every piece must be made by her own hand. How the Mistress treats the Eighth Young Master, every one of us here has seen with our own eyes. It is the Eighth Miss who stands here making baseless accusations and wronging a good person.”
“Whether I have wronged her or not, just have someone inspect the wet nurses’ diet and we will know the truth,” Shi Yutong said, her voice rising above Nanny Liu’s. “I am only concerned that my brother may be harmed without anyone knowing why, and it is not wrong of me to be suspicious.”
“The Mistress would never do such a thing,” the Commander said, his voice tight with fury. “How she treats Jing’er — I have seen it all with my own eyes.”
“Commander, in your presence she naturally puts on a perfect show. But what about when you are not here?”
Just as the Commander was about to say more in Qian Lan’s defense, the Old Madam rapped her walking stick sharply against the floor. “Enough — all of you stop. Since Qian Lan is conscientious in her care of Jing’er, she has nothing to fear from an investigation. Come — have someone inspect everything the wet nurses eat and drink.”
Qian Lan looked at the Old Madam, swallowed back the aggrieved tears in her eyes, while the Commander squeezed her hand tightly, comforting her. “Lan’er, it will be all right. Your conscience is clear.”
Qian Lan gave a small nod. Her gaze inadvertently collided with Shi Yutong’s, and the absolute certainty she saw in Shi Yutong’s eyes suddenly filled her with a deep sense of foreboding. Beneath her sleeve, her hand clenched involuntarily.
Soon, several experienced servants made their way to the small kitchen. The Commander was uneasy and looked toward Shi Ting. “Xing Zhi, you and Yan Qing go and take a look as well.”
When Shi Ting and Yan Qing arrived at the small kitchen, everything inside was arranged with impeccable order. It was said that Qian Lan had a talent for managing a household, and just from the tidiness of the Shi Mansion’s various rooms and storerooms, it was easy to see that the praise people heaped upon her was not without cause.
All the fruits and vegetables in the small kitchen were fresh — some still bearing dew — and it was apparent that Qian Lan had put considerable effort into the wet nurses’ diet.
“All of this food is fresh. I have tested it with a silver needle — there is no poison,” said one of the senior servants. “The problem does not appear to lie in the food.”
Shi Ting turned his gaze tenderly toward Yan Qing. “Qing Qing, have you noticed anything?”
Yan Qing picked up several peeled chestnuts and lifted them to her nose to smell.
A servant quickly said, “The shells of these chestnuts are still in the waste bin — they must have been freshly boiled and peeled.”
“What dish were these chestnuts made for?” Yan Qing asked the woman in charge of the small kitchen, Nanny Li.
Nanny Li replied promptly, “They were for braising with beef.”
“Braised beef with chestnuts — that is a common household dish, it surely cannot cause any problem. Is the Seventh Young Mistress not being overly cautious?” The servant responsible for the inspection had always had a favorable impression of Qian Lan and naturally did not want her to be implicated. She was inwardly quite displeased at Yan Qing’s scrutiny, and her tone carried a trace of firmness.
“It is not your place to speak here,” Shi Ting said, directing a glacially cool gaze at her — like the edge of a blade tempered in ice — which instantly caused the servant to flinch and retreat to one side, not daring to utter another word.
Everyone in the Shi Mansion knew that the Seventh Young Master was without limit in his indulgence of his wife. You might dare to offend the Seventh Young Master, but you must never dare to offend the Seventh Young Mistress.
The servant realized she had spoken out of turn and was now consumed with regret. Fortunately, Yan Qing had no interest in stooping to a servant’s level, and instead picked up one of the peeled chestnuts and held it out before Shi Ting.
“The problem may lie right here.”
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