Chapter 20 Suffering
"Then why are you sighing and complaining?"
Pei Xing'er touched a handful of dried goji berries and chewed them with a crunching sound.
"Today he's faking illness, tomorrow he might be poisoning me. How can I not worry?"
There are many tricks in the deep courtyards of the mansion. When he was young, he also worked as a doctor in a pharmacy outside the mansion. He was invited to visit those mansions and met all sorts of concubines and young ladies. He has seen a lot of things.
I originally thought the masters of the Xiao family were just suffering from minor headaches, fevers, colds, and flu, but I didn't expect that they would use the trick of faking illness twice in just one month. These young ladies and masters are really troublesome.
"Who's faking illness?" Pei Xing'er stopped chewing goji berries and her gossipy eyes blinked.
In Master Xiao's harem, there is only one wife, Madam Xiao, and no concubines. There are quite a few young masters, though—three sons and two daughters. Are they faking illness? It doesn't seem like something they would do.
"Grandfather, rest assured, I will not let a word of this slip out!"
Doctor Pei only had this one granddaughter who was close to him, so he didn't bother to keep it from her and thought it was better for her to know sooner rather than later.
After listening to Doctor Pei's explanation of the whole story, Pei Xing'er glanced at the silver bracelet on her wrist, her eyes darting around:
"Grandfather, I have a way to definitely stop this bad practice of faking illness!"
Doctor Pei sensed something was wrong, but he still forced her to speak.
Half an hour later, a bowl of dark, thick medicinal soup was brought into Baozhen Courtyard.
Madam Xiao personally fed Xiao Yuyao the medicine, but Xiao Yuyao only took one sip before involuntarily spitting it out.
"It's so bitter..."
This medicine was more bitter than any she had drunk in the previous fourteen years, and it also had an indescribable fishy smell. She couldn't bear it, and even though her tongue was almost numb from crying, she still couldn't swallow it.
Xiao Yuyao frowned, unable to drink a drop.
Madam Xiao, holding the bowl of medicine, immediately thought of how Yu Yao had been like this when she was little, refusing to drink medicine because she found it bitter. She immediately put on a stern face and said:
"Good medicine tastes bitter, but it's good for the disease. Yuyao, you can't be willful!"
She scooped up another spoonful and brought it to Xiao Yuyao's lips.
For some reason, this medicine didn't smell very bitter to others, but once they tasted it, they knew it was definitely not for human consumption; it was so bitter that she just wanted to vomit.
Seeing her resistant expression, Madam Xiao's patience was almost gone. She had originally planned to bring her two daughters, especially Yu Xuan, to make an appearance today. However, because Yu Yao was sick, she had canceled the banquet hosted by the Prime Minister's wife and came to take care of Yu Yao herself. Now, when she was feeding her medicine, Yu Yao complained that it was too bitter and refused to drink it.
You're such a grown-up, yet you're still so willful. How can you get better if you don't take your medicine?
"Mother, it's not that Yuyao doesn't want to drink it, but this medicine is strangely bitter; there must be something wrong with it!"
Now that Xiao Yuyao has completely broken off relations with Xiao Yuxuan, she is quite paranoid and looks at the bowl of medicine with a feeling that it is poison!
Madam Xiao called in the maids: "Was this medicine prescribed by Doctor Pei? Did you keep a close watch on it while it was being brewed?"
The maidservant thought about it carefully and, finding nothing amiss, answered truthfully.
"Impossible! This medicine is so bitter, you try it! How can I possibly drink it!"
The maidservant looked at Madam Xiao, who already understood that Xiao Yuyao didn't want to drink the medicine. Madam Xiao sighed and told the maidservant to leave.
"Yuyao, all medicine is bitter. If you drink it obediently, you will get better as soon as possible. Come on, drink it."
Although Madam Xiao's tone was gentle, her actions were firm and left no room for refusal. Even if Xiao Yuyao didn't want to drink the medicine, she knew that if she continued to talk, Madam Xiao would probably really get angry with her. So, with tears in her eyes, she forced herself to drink it down sip by sip.
After Madam Xiao left, she vomited uncontrollably into the spittoon. Her already pale face, made up with makeup, now looked even more genuinely frail.
Xiao Yuxuan was quite surprised to hear that the patient at Baozhen Hospital recovered completely after drinking medicine for just one day.
Xiao Yuyao's feigned illness was far too perfunctory. Who gets completely cured of an illness in just one day?
What she didn't know was that at the residence of the Xiao family's chief physician, the other two physicians were also consulting with Doctor Pei about why the prescription he had given this time was so effective.
Despite his advanced age and graying hair, Doctor Pei was surrounded by two young men. Although he was not shy, he was still a little embarrassed.
He couldn't very well say that it was all his good granddaughter's dirty trick, replacing the herbs in the tonic with those that tasted extremely bad but didn't affect the efficacy—making them as unpleasant and bitter as possible. He could just let the little girl pretend to be sick and cause trouble for them, the doctors, since she was being naive.
Pei Xing'er hid in her room, watching her grandfather being questioned, stammering and not daring to say anything, and covered her mouth to chuckle.
After dinner, Xiao Yuxuan went for a walk in the garden to digest her food, and that's when she ran into Pei Xing'er, who seemed to be in a very good mood.
"Greetings, Fifth Miss!" Pei Xing'er's mouth stretched from ear to ear, as if she wanted to ask me what good thing had happened.
Xiao Yuxuan smiled and readily asked:
"Miss Pei, what joyous occasion has brought you to be so happy?"
Pei Xing'er approached mysteriously, and after making sure no one else was around, whispered a few words in Xiao Yuxuan's ear.
"..."
Xiao Yuxuan glanced at her, then realized what was going on.
"It's a pity we couldn't be more aggressive. Ideally, we could cure her completely and get her back to her lively self immediately, so that Madam Xiao could take you to the banquet."
Although Pei Xing'er was just a junior doctor, she was popular and loved gossip, so no information could be kept from her. She had already found out what happened this morning.
"It's alright. Even if you hadn't intervened today, I would have made her pay the price for faking illness. Thank you, Miss Pei."
"I didn't do anything, hehe."
To be honest, Xiao Yuyao hadn't actually offended Pei Xing'er. The reason she used a little trick to make Xiao Yuyao take bitter medicine was partly because she was annoyed that Xiao Yuyao was faking illness and didn't cherish her health or respect the doctor, and partly because she felt indignant on Xiao Yuxuan's behalf.
If it weren't for her feigning illness today, Xiao Yuxuan would have been able to show her face to those noble ladies in the capital with Madam Xiao. Pei Xing'er knew exactly what she was up to.
After saying goodbye to Pei Xing'er, Xiao Yuxuan returned to Lanting Pavilion and met Li Mama again.
"Madam sent this old servant to inform you that your uncle and aunt will be visiting you tomorrow. Please be prepared."
Li's mother still had that serious expression, but the mark between her eyebrows had faded a bit.
Xiao Yuxuan's heart skipped a beat; she was finally going to see her uncle.
However, Aunt Wang... She used to be determined to have Xiao Yuyao as her daughter-in-law. Even though she knew that Xiao Yuyao was her own niece, and even after Xiao Yuyao became the fourth prince's wife, Aunt Wang and her second cousin still stood firmly behind Xiao Yuyao to support her and never asked her a single question.
She thought of the first time she met Wang Shi in her previous life, and after a moment's thought, she asked Li Mama:
"Aunt Li, what are your uncle and aunt's preferences? As you know, this is my first time meeting them, and I'm afraid I might do something wrong and displease them."
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