In Jiayin's dream, she always slept on a small boat, drifting gently on the sea.
Moonlight spills across the sea, and colorful little fish leap about, creating a beautiful and magical scene...
Even after waking up in the morning, she stared at the roof beams, still thinking about the dream, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.
Shui Ling stood guard to the side. Seeing that her young mistress had woken up, she asked softly, "Miss, shall we get up and wash up? Dinner is about to be served!"
Jiayin sat up abruptly and saw that her parents' bedding was neatly folded, leaving only her alone, so she quickly nodded.
Shuiling brought over a basin of warm water. He Mama He heard the noise and came in, then put a wet cloth over the young lady to wipe her face and hands, comb her hair, and change her clothes.
After getting ready, Tao Hongying came in from outside, hugged her daughter and said with a smile, "Little lazy pig, you're awake? Mom made you scallion rolls and pumpkin millet porridge. Eat more later."
Jiayin stared blankly at the dark circles under her mother's eyes for a moment, then understood everything.
How blissful her dream was last night, while her mother suffered so much!
"Mother!" Jiayin hugged her mother's neck, lowering her head to hide her red-rimmed eyes.
She didn't want to say thank you, because a mother's love can't be repaid with just a word of thanks!
Tao Hongying thought her daughter's hand hurt, so she quickly tried to distract her.
"Come on, let's go eat with Mom. Be careful, or your brothers will have all the scallion rolls by the time we're late."
The mother and daughter went out the door and walked a few steps into the main room.
As expected, the Li family was all there, except for the Marquis, who had left early in the morning and hadn't come for breakfast.
As Jiayin entered, everyone's eyes fell on her hand holding the zongzi (sticky rice dumpling).
Jiayin grinned, showing her white teeth, and waved her zongzi-shaped hand, smiling brightly.
Everyone immediately felt relieved.
"Come here, Fu Niu'er, let Grandma hold you!" The old lady took her granddaughter and let her sit in her lap to eat.
Jiayin ate a scallion roll, half a bowl of porridge, and half a salted egg yolk with great effort, her little belly round and full.
With everyone watching, they felt more at ease eating.
Soon, the table was cleared away, and everyone went about their business, leaving the old lady and Tao Hongying to coax Jiayin to drink the medicine soup.
Jiayin almost vomited from the bitterness, but worried that her mother and grandmother would get a sore throat, she endured it and drank it down.
Cat Brother stood guard to the side. Seeing his little sister's face scrunched up, he quickly stuffed the candied fruit he was holding into her mouth.
He didn't forget to comfort his sister, "Fu Niu'er is really amazing, she's not afraid of hardship! Grandpa Zhang said that in three more days, she won't have to drink bitter medicine anymore."
Jia'an and Jiaxi nodded in agreement, "Just now, when Uncle went out, we asked him to buy more sesame candy and candied fruit. If my sister eats more sugar, she won't be afraid of bitterness."
With a candied fruit in her mouth, Jiayin's round face looked like a cute little squirrel.
She smiled and nodded, giving a vague reply, "I'll eat with my brother."
Jia'an, Jiaxi, and Maoge'er all laughed and carried their little sister to play in the yard.
This time, they dared not let their sister do it.
They dug out the seashells and brought them to their sister, letting her choose whichever she wanted!
When Aunt Li brought the baby over with Granny He and Shuiyun, she saw Jiayin holding her tightly wrapped little hands and squatting by the sand pile playing. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief and straightened her back a bit.
As soon as she entered, she hugged her daughter and bowed, greeting the old lady and Tao Hongying as warmly as usual.
"Auntie, I'm so sorry. Yesterday, my daughter hurt Fu Niu'er because she wasn't careful. I scolded her several times last night. Look, her eyes are all swollen from crying!"
Grandma Li and Tao Hongying looked displeased. What did it matter if her eyes were swollen from crying? Fu Niu'er would have horizontal lines on her hands for the rest of her life.
There's an old saying that women with horizontal lines on their foreheads are ruthless and have a miserable life.
Families with even a modicum of sense would be unwilling to marry such a woman, for fear of bringing trouble to the family.
Although the Li family is not afraid of this statement, they can simply raise their daughter for the rest of their lives.
But who can take away the suffering my daughter has endured!
The last bit of soft-heartedness that Old Lady Li had because of Madam Sun had completely vanished.
She sneered, "So, a little girl's eyes are swollen from crying, and she's pitiful? What about our lucky girl who bled half a bowl and has a two-inch-long scar on her hand? Surely that's not lucky?"
"If it's not your own child, you just don't care!" Tao Hongying retorted sarcastically. "But when our children are injured like this, we can't even get angry, otherwise we'd be ungrateful wretches!"
Feeling guilty, Sister Li quickly knelt down. "Auntie... no, Madam, Fourth Madam, it was my fault for being ignorant. Please forgive me."
“Miss Nannan is still young. Before, she lived with our madam at her uncle's house. Her older cousins often took her things. If she didn't fight back, she wouldn't get anything to eat or use, which is why she's developed a bit of a temper…”
Tao Hongying didn't have the patience to listen to her explanations and just wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.
So she waved her hand, signaling to Granny He to bring the things up.
There were two packages in total, one large and one small.
The large package contained four sets of clothes: two sets for Sister Li and two sets for Nannan.
It's not silk or gauze, just fine cloth, about 80-90% new, the kind you can take out and wash anytime.
It even included undergarments and shoes and socks, making it quite complete.
Inside the small package was a wooden box with two layers.
On the upper level was a red gold necklace with a longevity lock hanging from it.
On the lower level, twenty silver ingots, each worth five taels, were neatly stacked, along with several silver notes.
When Sister-in-law Li recognized the gold necklace as the one Madam had given to the Li family, her face turned even paler, and she felt extremely flustered.
Is the Li family trying to repay all the favors they owed them back then, and then completely sever ties?
That won't do!
Even if she and her mistress seek refuge with relatives, they still need someone to back them up.
What if Wang's uncle comes looking for her and takes her back?
If we can't rely on the Li family, are we supposed to rely on the Sun family?
I'm afraid that if the Sun family knew she had so much money, they would be the first to get rid of her and then take all the windfall for themselves...
Cold sweat dripped down her forehead in a rapid, stinging motion.
"No, no, Madam, Fourth Madam, please don't do this. I know I was wrong! No, Miss knows she was wrong too!"
Sister-in-law Li kowtowed frantically, even pressing down on Nannan's head and slamming it to the ground with her.
My daughter is still young, and she was locked in the side room last night and didn't sleep well at all.
This morning she only ate half a bowl of porridge and was a little irritable.
Suddenly subjected to this ordeal, she burst into tears.
The little girl's cries were so shrill and sharp that they gave both Grandma Li and Tao Hongying a headache.
Thinking about it carefully, Fu Niu'er has hardly cried since birth, but she often laughs and drools.
Even Hui Niang's son and daughter, when they were hungry or needed to urinate, would at most whimper a few times.
They really haven't experienced the torment of a child's wailing...
"Alright!" the old lady called out to Li's wife, and said in a deep voice, "Listen to the situation of the Sun family first, and then we'll talk about other things."
Hearing this, Sister Li seemed to think there was still room for maneuver, so she quickly hugged the little girl and comforted her.
Tao Hongying rubbed her temples and then recounted the events that had happened in the homes of the two Mr. Suns.
Sister-in-law Li immediately wanted to choose the side of her paternal uncle, Sun Siyuan, because his wife had occasionally spoken to him when she was alive.
My husband wasn't close to his eldest brother, but he was very close to a cousin, who did indeed live near Kyoto.
So, this must be the patriarch.
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