The old lady was convinced that Ji Yunhuan was putting on an act. She waved her hand and had the gates of the courtyard closed. She shouted sternly, "Come here! Hit her! Twenty times, not one less. I wonder how she can keep pretending to be unconscious."
Qiao Yue protected the young lady tightly, and the maids rushed forward to stop the maids. Screams and the maids' scolding mixed together, and Linlang Garden was in chaos.
With a loud bang, the gate of the courtyard was smashed open from the outside, and a beautiful middle-aged woman rushed in. The gold hairpin on her head was a little crooked. She didn't care about her decency and ran all the way with her skirt held up. Wherever she went, people avoided her and dared not bump into her.
"Huan'er? What happened to my Huan'er?" The beautiful woman rushed in and hugged Ji Yunhuan in her arms. Her precious daughter's body was incredibly hot. She was shocked and angry, but she managed to maintain her composure. "Qiaoyue, tell me, what happened?"
Qiao Yue knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her face. "The young lady has a fever and fainted, but the old lady insisted on spanking her and wouldn't let me go get a doctor. Madam, please save the young lady."
Ji Yunhuan sensed a familiar breath and instinctively snuggled into his mother's arms, murmuring, "Mom, please save him, please save him..."
Zhuo Wei's heart was almost broken. Her precious daughter, whom she had cherished for more than ten years, was bullied like this just when she went out to check the accounts.
"How on earth are you taking care of the young lady? Go get a doctor!"
The old lady stood up from her mahogany chair, her wrinkled face full of majesty. Her sunken eyes swept over the maids in the yard and she shouted angrily, "Let's see who dares to go! Anyone who dares to move today will be kicked out of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Once they fall into the hands of human traffickers, it's hard to say whether they will live or die."
"And you, born into a merchant family, are not worthy of being on the stage. You don't have the virtues of a wife at all. You are arrogant and rebellious, disrespectful to your mother-in-law, and you have corrupted a good child. I am not dead yet, and it is not your turn to make the decisions in the Prime Minister's Mansion!"
Zhuo Wei was so angry that she almost laughed. "Old Madam, what you said is really interesting. When Yueyue asked for money, why didn't you say that you are the head of this mansion? Everything you wear and wear on your head is a gift from me. It doesn't cost you anything to hire a doctor, so why are you so anxious?"
The old lady pointed at Zhuo Wei, her hands shaking with anger. "You... are indeed from a merchant family. You keep talking about money and you reek of copper. I won't argue with you."
"You have failed to behave morally and have failed to discipline the young lady in this mansion. I will have to teach her a lesson. She has always feigned illness to evade punishment, but this time she won't get away with it!"
Qiao Yue had already slipped out to ask for a doctor. With the lady around, she was not afraid of the old lady. Anyway, her bond was in the lady's hands, and the old lady could not sell her out.
Zhuo Wei called two maids to help her daughter into the house, and she stood at the door, stopping the old lady. "Old lady, if you just take a quick look, you will know that Huan'er is really sick. In the final analysis, you don't treat Huan'er as your own granddaughter at all. You just want to use her to control me."
"A few casual words from outsiders provoked you, and you indiscriminately condemned Huan'er. How could you be a grandmother like this? Elders are kind, and the younger generation is filial. Since you don't like her, you don't need to come in."
The doctors arrived quickly. Qiao Yue called several doctors at once. Zhuo Wei opened the door and invited the doctors in, then closed the door to prevent the old lady from coming in.
Ji Yunhuan was lying on the bed, her little face flushed crimson, and she was muttering nonsense, but she was surprisingly strong and held the Persian cat tightly, refusing to let go.
The Persian cat was pure white, except for its belly which was stained with blood. It lay quietly on Ji Yunhuan, and it was unknown whether it was dead or alive.
Zhuo Wei was afraid of hurting her daughter, so she didn't dare to use brute force. She could only coax her softly, "Huan'er, be good and let go, okay? Mommy will take good care of the kitten. Let the doctor check the kitten's injuries, okay?"
Tears flowed from Ji Yunhuan's tightly closed eyes. She loosened her hands and the Persian cat was taken away by Zhuo Wei.
Qiao Yue found Ji Yunhuan's childhood cradle from somewhere, which was just big enough to put the Persian cat in. A young doctor was not on his turn to see patients, so he took another approach and bandaged the kitten.
The young lady of the Prime Minister's Mansion liked this cat very much. If she cured the cat, she would definitely receive a reward.
Several old doctors took turns to feel Ji Yunhuan's pulse, and finally came to the conclusion that the cold had invaded his body. They discussed and wrote a prescription.
Ji Yunhuan was delirious with fever and couldn't open her eyes, but she knew her mother was beside her and she kept crying and saying sorry.
Zhuo Wei held her precious daughter in her arms and put a wet towel on her forehead. She urged impatiently, "Hurry up! You're taking so long to write a prescription! Huan'er is already talking nonsense. If she gets burned, I'll smash your clinic!"
"Don't cry, Huan'er. You haven't wronged mother, it's mother who has wronged you. Grandmother doesn't like me, and I've implicated Huan'er. Grandmother is not kind, so we should just ignore her from now on."
Ji Yunhuan closed her eyes and shook her head, almost throwing the handkerchief off her forehead. She cried even louder, "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Mother, it's all Huan'er's fault that the Ji family was confiscated. Mother, please don't die. Don't leave Huan'er alone..."
Zhuo Wei thought her daughter was confused from the fever and had a nightmare. She patted her daughter's back and soothed her softly, "Huan'er, don't cry. Your father is the Prime Minister. The Ji family will be fine. If things get worse, we will quit our official positions and return to Suzhou as a family. Your grandparents will miss you."
Ji Yunhuan fell asleep while crying. The doctor finally wrote out the prescription. Qiao Yue was boiling the medicine in the corridor. She had to watch over it personally to feel at ease.
Shangguan Ruoxue knelt at the door, her eyes red from crying, and said with a guilty look on her face, "It's all my fault. My cousin is of noble status. What would I do if something happened to her?"
The old lady sat on a chair. She was old and had difficulty walking, so she sat most of the time. She wiped Shangguan Ruoxue's tears distressedly and sighed:
"You are too kindhearted. She pushed you into the water, and you prayed for her. Hurry up and get up. Don't hurt yourself by kneeling like that."
Shangguan Ruoxue rested her head on the old lady's knees. "Fortunately, the old lady loves me. Only my cousin can get better. It's okay for me to kneel down. I'll chant some sutras for my cousin."
As soon as Zhuo Wei went out, she heard Shangguan Ruoxue crying and felt very annoyed. But the old lady liked her this way. It was Huan'er who was sick, but the old lady cared more about a cousin who was a thousand miles away from her.
"Cousin, who are you crying for every day? The Prime Minister's Mansion provides you with food and clothing, and everything is on par with a legitimate daughter. I believe I have never treated you harshly. You are crying here dressed like you are going to a funeral. I don't know if I would think there is a funeral in our mansion. How unlucky!"
Shangguan Ruoxue shrank back, her face pale with fear. "Madam, please don't be angry. I won't dare to do that again. Please don't chase me away."
The old lady glared at Zhuo Wei with dissatisfaction, like a hen protecting her cubs. "Don't scare her. I invited Xue'er into the house. If I don't agree, don't even think about driving her away!"
Zhuo Wei originally had no such intention. She was wealthy, so raising another little girl was nothing. But at this moment, she was provoked to anger and sneered:
"Well, since the old lady is so kind-hearted, I will pay for all of my cousin's expenses from now on. We can't afford to support idlers in this mansion!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com