Shi Ting took the chestnut and found nothing unusual at a glance.
“Chestnuts and beef are both fine on their own, but when eaten together, they can cause prolonged vomiting. An adult who eats them may not have a serious reaction, but if the effect passes into the milk and an infant drinks it, it can trigger a series of symptoms.” Yan Qing looked toward the cook. “This dish of braised beef with chestnuts — who told you to make it?”
Upon hearing that chestnuts and beef eaten together could cause adverse reactions, the cook was immediately frightened to a deathly pallor. “I — I only overheard some servants talking among themselves, saying that beef and chestnuts could help increase a nursing mother’s milk supply, so I made this dish. Seventh Young Mistress, I did not mean any harm.”
The cook had simply wanted to prepare the food well, hoping the two wet nurses’ milk supply would be abundant and thereby earn herself a reward. After hearing that the dish was said to be beneficial, she had made it for the wet nurses to eat. She was not certain whether the supposed remedy actually worked, but she reasoned that both chestnuts and beef were nourishing foods — even if they could not increase milk supply, eating them could do no harm. She had never imagined that something passed around among the servants as folk knowledge would turn out to be something harmful.
“How long have you been making this dish?”
“About three days.”
Yan Qing said, “Three days is about right — just long enough for Jing’er’s symptoms to emerge.”
Shi Ting asked the cook, “Do you still remember who first spread this information?”
“There were a lot of people talking at the time, and I only caught a bit of it in passing. I cannot recall exactly who said it.” The cook was filled with bitter regret — regret for having acted on a single overheard remark and prepared this dish.
After exchanging a glance, Shi Ting and Yan Qing left the kitchen together without a word.
The physician had by now arrived, and Jing’er’s crying had gradually subsided. The child had been crying for so long that he had no strength left.
“If it really was Shi Yutong who had someone spread that rumor, then this time she was actually rather clever,” Yan Qing thought to herself. It was a rare occasion indeed.
“I do not think it is that simple,” Shi Ting said. “What if the cook had not believed what she heard and never made the braised beef with chestnuts? Then all of Shi Yutong’s scheming would have been wasted.”
“Could it be that she has a backup plan as well?”
“Her target is Qian Lan. If the cook made a mistake, Qian Lan would still bear responsibility for inadequate supervision — but everyone has lapses in attention, and the Commander would not hold it against her.”
At that moment, a sharp scream suddenly came from inside the room, and the two of them immediately quickened their pace and went in.
“Jing’er — Jing’er, what is wrong?” Du Linghua’s shrill voice rang out. “Jing’er, do not frighten me.”
Yan Qing pushed through the crowd and hurried inside. Jing’er lay there, his little mouth open, gasping for breath in great gulps, his face drained to an ashen white.
The physician beside him was sweating with anxiety, at a complete loss as to the origin of these symptoms.
Yan Qing stepped forward and lifted Jing’er’s small hand. She could see that his arms and body were covered in a dense rash of red welts. He was too small to scratch at them.
“It is an allergic reaction — he needs to be taken to the hospital immediately,” Yan Qing said urgently.
The Commander had no time to think further and immediately stepped forward to take Jing’er into his arms. The entire group, thrown into frantic disarray, rushed toward the door. The Old Madam was even more desperate with worry, clutching the prayer beads in her hands and murmuring an unceasing stream of appeals to the Buddha for his protection.
After Jing’er was taken to the hospital, the doctors confirmed it was an allergic reaction. In such a small child, a sudden allergy attack could easily lead to respiratory failure. Fortunately, they had arrived in time, and after emergency treatment, Jing’er was no longer in danger.
When they brought him back from the hospital, the child had been exhausted into sleep by all the ordeal. The injections and medicine had been administered, and the symptoms had slowly begun to subside.
Jing’er had finally stopped crying — but a cloud of menace continued to hang over the inner household of the Shi Mansion.
“First the cook prepared food that caused prolonged vomiting. Then an allergic reaction followed hard on its heels. If we had not gotten to the hospital in time, Jing’er would be dead by now.” Shi Yutong fixed her gaze on Qian Lan, her eyes like those of a person ready to devour another alive. “You claimed you had Jing’er’s best interests at heart every step of the way — and this is how you show it? You wanted to harm him, didn’t you.”
“I did not.” Qian Lan was so distressed that tears kept falling. “I had absolutely no idea that chestnuts and beef eaten together could cause prolonged vomiting, and I had no idea whatsoever that Jing’er was allergic to anything. He was perfectly fine those first few days after he came.”
“Oh, you did not know?” Shi Yutong gave a cold laugh, then turned and strode to stand before the Old Madam. “Grandmother, on the day Jing’er was taken away, Mother and I told her everything about him down to the last detail — including the fact that Jing’er is allergic to sesame.”
Qian Lan’s eyes flew open wide. “Yutong, are you mistaken? You never told me any such thing.”
Shi Yutong turned toward San Yitai. “Mother, did you not personally tell her this yourself? Jing’er and I are alike — we have both been allergic to sesame since birth. He cannot eat or come into contact with anything containing sesame. When I was small, I nearly died after accidentally ingesting sesame. The Commander and Grandmother should both still remember this.”
Du Linghua had no idea that Jing’er was allergic to sesame. She had only ever known that Shi Yutong was, but catching the look Shi Yutong threw at her, mother and daughter immediately shared a wordless understanding.
“Mistress, how could you have forgotten so quickly?” Du Linghua wore an expression of great shock. “When you took Jing’er away, I made it absolutely clear — that Jing’er is allergic to all sesame products, and that it must never be allowed near him under any circumstances, for it could cost him his life.”
Qian Lan felt at that moment much as though she had swallowed a fly. Nanny Liu also argued in her defense. “San Yitai, you never told us any such thing.”
“Nanny Liu, do you think that is possible?” Du Linghua looked entirely incredulous. “For a matter this important — one that concerns Jing’er’s life and death — how could I not have told you? I am not that careless.”
At this, the Old Madam tapped her walking stick and spoke. “I believe San Yitai would not have omitted a matter so important. The question now is: from where did Jing’er come into contact with sesame? Who gave him sesame to ingest?”
From the Old Madam’s tone, it was clear she had already accepted Du Linghua’s account. Yet Qian Lan felt herself to be completely wronged, for Du Linghua had said no such thing to her at all.
“In response to the Old Madam,” Nanny Liu said, “the Eighth Young Master is still so small — we would never directly feed him sesame. And neither of the wet nurses has consumed any sesame products. Both the wet nurses and the cook can testify to this.”
The wet nurse and the cook, who had been standing to one side already trembling with fright, nodded their heads in unison.
Shi Yutong gave a scornful laugh. “How absurd. The cook and the wet nurses are all her people — of course they will say whatever she tells them to. How can their testimony mean anything?”
“Eighth Miss, we truly have not consumed any sesame products — this is the absolute truth,” said the wet nurse, her face creased with misery. “Please, Commander, Old Madam, believe us.”
“I believe Lan’er would not do this,” the Commander said. Seeing Qian Lan’s distressed and anxious expression, his heart ached for her, and he instinctively took her hand. “If Lan’er already knew Jing’er was allergic to sesame, how could she possibly allow the wet nurses to consume it? Doing so would make her guilt far too obvious.”
The Old Madam heard this and could not help but knit her brows. There was a measure of logic in the Commander’s words — given Qian Lan’s intelligence, how could she have done something so blatant, so easily traceable back to her?
“Have the procurement stewards called in. Ask them whether any sesame has been purchased recently.” Shi Ting, who had said nothing until now, called out toward the door with the instruction.
The Old Madam quickly agreed. “Yes, yes — have all the procurement stewards called in.”
Soon, the Shi Mansion’s several procurement stewards filed in one after another. After their accounts were compared against the ledgers, it was confirmed that no sesame had been purchased for the entire Shi Mansion in the past month. With no sesame purchased, no sesame products could have been made.
Both Nanny Liu and the Commander exhaled with relief, but Qian Lan’s heart remained strung high with tension. She could not shake the feeling that things could not be resolved so easily.
Yan Qing glanced over at Shi Yutong. The girl wore an expression of serene confidence, as though everything were going exactly as planned. Yan Qing had a growing suspicion that Shi Yutong had already arranged everything in the shadows beforehand.
“Everyone has seen it now — the Shi Mansion has not purchased any sesame recently, so naturally the wet nurses have not eaten any either,” Nanny Liu said. “We ask the Commander and the Old Madam to look into this clearly.”
The Old Madam shifted her gaze toward San Yitai. “San Yitai, you have seen it for yourself — Qian Lan did not knowingly allow the wet nurses to consume sesame products despite knowing about Jing’er’s allergy.”
Just as Du Linghua was at a loss for what to say next, Shi Yutong cut in before the Old Madam could continue. “Grandmother, a sesame allergy does not require eating sesame — contact with sesame can also trigger it.”
“He is such a young child — how could he come into contact with sesame? No one could possibly give him sesame to play with,” the Commander said. Already deeply angered by Shi Yutong’s relentless targeting of Qian Lan, his temper was flaring rapidly.
“Commander, contact with sesame does not require treating it as a toy. What if sesame were placed inside Jing’er’s everyday belongings?”
Nanny Liu, suppressing the fire rising in her chest, said in a measured tone, “Eighth Miss, the Mistress has never wronged or offended you in any way. Why do you press her so relentlessly? With so much witness testimony before your eyes that you refuse to acknowledge, you still insist on claiming that the Mistress deliberately intended to harm the Eighth Young Master. Our Mistress is virtuous, kind, and compassionate — how could she do something so cruel and heartless?”
“And who gave a lowly servant the right to speak here?” Shi Yutong glared at Nanny Liu.
Nanny Liu was not intimidated. She had accompanied Qian Lan here from the Qian family as a personal attendant, and her loyalty was entirely with Qian Lan. Moreover, with Qian Lan backed by the Qian family’s resources and currently favored by the Commander, Nanny Liu had no reason to be cowed by Shi Yutong.
“If the Eighth Miss suspects that we have placed sesame among the Eighth Young Master’s belongings,” Nanny Liu said, “then by all means have this entire Zhuoxin Garden turned inside out and searched. Let us see whether you find what you are looking for.”
Shi Yutong had been waiting precisely for those words, and so she let out a cold laugh. “Good. You said it yourself.”
She then looked toward the Commander. “Commander, then let someone search this place from top to bottom. If she truly had no intention of harming Jing’er, then surely no evidence of wrongdoing will be found. On the other hand, if she harbors malicious intent toward the Shi Family’s descendants, no matter how deeply she has hidden it, she can be rooted out.”
Before the Commander could speak, the Old Madam voiced her agreement as well. “Qian Lan, since you are innocent, allow a search to be conducted to establish your innocence. We in the Shi Family uphold principles and reason — we will not wrongly accuse a good person.”
Qian Lan’s mind was already churning with turbulent thoughts. She knew that if Shi Yutong dared to say this, she must have made thorough preparations. If she truly permitted a search, something incriminating would certainly be found.
Yet the Old Madam had already spoken. To refuse now would only make her look as though she had something to hide.
Qian Lan, who was normally composed and assured, now felt cold sweat soaking through the back of her garment.
—