Chapter 251 The Wind Rises
The Huang family was generous, giving the Lin family a large dowry. However, the Lin family only prepared ten sets of dowry for Lin Chuchu, and most of them were worthless items such as cloth, ornaments, and porcelain. They even saved on the silver that was kept at the bottom of the trunk.
After Lin Chuchu was sent back to her parents' home, she remained relatively quiet. Every day, she would sit in her room and diligently do the embroidery work that the nanny had instructed her to do, looking like an honest woman preparing for marriage. Her family thought that she had come to her senses and stopped keeping such close watch on her.
Unexpectedly, on this day, while her nanny was tidying up her dowry in the front yard, Lin Chuchu seized the opportunity and ran out.
She was quite clever; instead of running back to the Marquis's residence, she went straight to the General's Mansion, knelt down on the ground, and was about to begin her performance.
Unfortunately, the nanny sent by the Marquis of Zhenbei's mansion was more experienced and had anticipated Lin Chuchu's prediction, so she made two preparations in advance. Before Lin Chuchu could kneel down and cry out, she was pressed down by the people of the mansion, gagged, and thrown back to be prepared for marriage.
Unexpectedly, even at this point, their daughter would still pull this tactic. Lin's parents were furious. They had already accepted the betrothal gifts. If the marriage couldn't be arranged, wouldn't the Huang family come and smash up their place?
So when Lin Chuchu returned home, she was watched even more closely. Even when she went to the toilet, there was a maidservant watching her intently. Under such strict guard, the auspicious day finally arrived. No matter how unwilling Lin Chuchu was, she could only cry and sob as she got into the bridal sedan chair and left the capital to get married.
The Marquis of Zhenbei's family came to propose marriage again, and this time the General's family agreed without hesitation. Soon the two families exchanged betrothal gifts, and the marriage was settled.
With the marriage arranged, Li Beifeng, the newly minted prospective son-in-law, began to visit every few days.
His reasons were all plausible: he came to pay his respects to Madam Ning; he came to spar with Lu Yunqi; he came at his parents' behest to deliver some local specialties from his hometown, and so on.
Every time they came over, they would linger until mealtime. Old Madam Ning was already very satisfied with this prospective son-in-law, so she naturally wanted to keep him for dinner when it was time to eat.
Furthermore, they never come empty-handed. In addition to precious medicinal herbs and street snacks to show respect to their elders, they always bring some novel items—either exquisite Western gadgets, rare ornaments collected from elsewhere, or even exotic spices and silks that are hard to find—to give to the women in the household.
Yu Qingci accepted these things without hesitation. Apart from those given to the old lady, she had the rest sent to her sister-in-law's courtyard, leaving Lu Yun Chu blushing and at a loss for what to do.
Then, the two "bumped into" each other a few times in the garden.
As the two people's relationship grew stronger day by day, everyone was happy for them.
With the wedding approaching, Yu Qingci, the matriarch of the household, began to busy herself with her sister-in-law's dowry. The dowry that Old Madam Ning had saved up before was not much. After carefully sorting it out, she found that there were still many things missing and some parts needed to be replaced. She also needed to add some more presentable items.
There were also many clothes, fabrics, jewelry, ornaments, bedding, and other odds and ends that needed to be prepared quickly. Yu Qingci was so busy that she didn't even have time to go back to the Earl's Mansion to visit her mother.
Unfortunately, Lu Yunqi has been very busy with official duties lately and has no time to take care of his family. Sometimes he is so busy that he simply stays at the military camp and can only come back once every few days.
As night fell, Yu Qingci was once again sleeping alone on the large canopy bed. She turned over and touched the empty space next to her, finally experiencing what it meant to have a sleepless night alone.
I don't know when it started, but someone has already entered my heart, and I can't let go of them anymore.
I wonder what he's doing now, whether he's asleep or not, or if he's lying in bed thinking the same thing and can't sleep.
Thinking this, Yu Qingci blushed and her heart raced again, making it even harder for her to fall asleep.
After two days of feeling depressed, just as I was about to go to sleep that night, I heard someone knocking on the courtyard gate, followed by hurried footsteps.
Yu Qingci thought it was Lu Yunqi returning, but then she heard Pei Mama's surprised voice:
"Yingge? What brings you here?"
Upon hearing the name, Yu Qingci was startled and immediately sat up in bed.
Yingge is her mother's personal maid. Why is she suddenly coming to the door at this time? Could something have happened?
As soon as Yingge was led in and saw Yu Qingci, she knelt down with a thud, her voice choked with sobs, and said:
"Miss, please save Madam! She can't hold on much longer!"
"What happened to Mother?"
Yu Qingci hurriedly asked.
Yingge: "Madam vomited blood this morning and has been in a daze all day. Unfortunately, the Earl has been away from the manor these days. Madam Qiao said that Madam's illness is likely contagious, so she forbids anyone from Mingyue Residence from entering or leaving and has sent guards to watch over the outside. Liu Mama had no choice but to tell me to sneak out through the dog hole under the cover of darkness."
Upon hearing this, Yu Qingci could no longer contain herself and abruptly stood up, shouting:
"Get in the carriage and head back to the Earl's residence!"
At this hour, the capital was under curfew. The carriage sped through the deserted streets, its sound exceptionally clear, and encountered several patrols of the Imperial Guards along the way.
However, Yu Qingci was prepared and had the driver show the general's mansion's waist token to let them pass.
On the carriage, she carefully inquired about Yingge's mother's condition. It turned out that Su Cheng's mother's illness had been intermittent, and although the imperial physicians had been consulted, they could not find the cause of her illness.
Half a month ago, a flood occurred in the Qi County area in the east. The Earl was ordered to lead a group of people to Qi County for disaster relief. After the Earl left, Su Chengniang's illness suddenly began to worsen.
Upon learning this, Madam Qiao enthusiastically sent someone with the Marquis's invitation to the Imperial Hospital to invite Physician Zhao. Physician Zhao had been prescribing medicine for Su Chengniang for some time, but unfortunately, the medicine was ineffective despite her efforts.
Starting yesterday, his condition suddenly worsened. He couldn't drink any medicine, or even a sip of porridge. If he did manage to drink a little, he would vomit it up immediately and cough violently, looking extremely distressed.
Yu Qingci, filled with anxiety and wishing she could be by her mother's side immediately, asked:
"Why is it Physician Zhao? Didn't Father invite Chief Physician Liu for Mother before?"
Yingge: "It used to be Chief Physician Liu, but when the Lord went to the disaster relief area, an epidemic broke out, so Chief Physician Liu went with him. At that time, the Madam's illness was not serious, and Chief Physician Liu also prescribed a medicine for her, saying that she should take the medicine according to the prescription and take care of herself slowly."
The lady had been taking her medication, but yesterday her condition suddenly worsened, and the medication stopped working.
Granny Liu quickly informed Madam Qiao, who then summoned Physician Zhao to treat her.
Yu Qingci: "Is that Physician Zhao guarding Mother's courtyard right now?"
Yingge shook her head: "No, the imperial physician is guarding her right now. When I secretly ran out, Physician Zhao had already gone back. He said that he had never seen the lady's illness before, and that she was probably infected by something. She has to go back to the Imperial Hospital to discuss it with other physicians."
Physician Zhao also said that the lady's illness might be contagious, and advised everyone not to move around unnecessarily. Madam Qiao immediately ordered the Mingyue Residence to be sealed off.
Granny Liu asked Madam Qiao to send a message to Miss. Madam Qiao said she had already sent someone, but the servants waited all day and Miss still hadn't arrived. Granny Liu sensed something was wrong, so she sent a servant to secretly run out and deliver the message.
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