She patted her granddaughter even more gently, feeling incredibly at ease.
Before they knew it, seven or eight days had passed since the Li family boarded the ship.
They each performed their duties diligently and never slacked off, which earned them the respect and kindness of the Sun family, who treated them with utmost respect and without any embarrassment or mistreatment.
Jiayin's task was to play with Miss Sun every day.
The seven-month-old baby girl didn't say anything; she just kept babbling along.
Occasionally, she would spit out a few bubbles and dance around, which would make Miss Sun very happy and also make Mrs. Sun smile.
That day, Madam Sun looked at the little hat that Zhao Yuru had sewn for Jiayin, and the pattern was very similar to that of her hometown.
She suddenly became interested, so she put the two children in the inner room where the wet nurse would take care of them, and then led Old Lady Li to the outer room to look at the pattern book she had saved.
As soon as Madam Sun left, the wet nurse started yawning.
The boat rocked violently last night, and she barely slept a wink. She's incredibly sleepy right now.
The wet nurse, taking a shortcut, put the young lady in a small wooden bed with railings, and since Jiayin couldn't turn over, she just left her lying on the bed.
Jiayin turned her head and looked at Miss Sun through the gap in the fence. The little girl was lying in the crib, playing with her fingers out of boredom, and then she turned over and sat up.
Jiayin was afraid she would fall, so she made two "ah ah" sounds to try to get her to lie down again.
But when Miss Sun heard the noise, she stood up while holding onto the railing.
Then, I was drawn to a plate of snacks on a table outside the fence.
It was a plate of brown walnut cookies, each piece about the size of a child's palm, fragrant and very tempting.
Children are naturally curious, so Miss Sun completely forgot about Jiayin and reached out with her short arms to grab the walnut pastry.
At this moment, the wet nurse had already fallen asleep by the bedside.
Jiayin was a little anxious. Before she could think of a way to remind the nanny, Miss Sun had already grabbed a piece of walnut pastry and stuffed it directly into her mouth!
"Ugh..." The walnut shortbread was dry and stuffed full into Miss Sun's little mouth, but she couldn't spit it out.
When she wanted to cry, some bits of something were sucked into her trachea, and she quickly turned red from holding her breath.
Jiayin desperately wanted to jump up and run to save the baby, but unfortunately, the baby was not free to move around.
All she could do was scream and cry for help, "Waaah, waaah!"
"What's wrong, Fu Niu'er? Grandma's here, Grandma's here!" Old Mrs. Li was the first to run in.
Madam Sun was initially worried that her daughter would be frightened, but then she saw that her daughter's face had turned purple.
"My dear girl!" Madam Sun was so frightened that her soul almost left her body and her limbs went weak.
Grandma Li, however, was experienced. She quickly picked up Miss Sun, removed the walnut pastry from her mouth, and then had her lie on her arm while she patted her back forcefully.
Miss Sun coughed and cried, finally managing to spit out the walnut pastry.
The wet nurse had already woken up and was so frightened that she huddled at the foot of the bed, trembling like a quail.
Madam Sun hugged her daughter tightly. Hearing her daughter cry, she finally came to her senses and vented all her anger on the wet nurse.
"How could you be watching Miss like that!" the wet nurse quickly begged for forgiveness. "I didn't mean to, Madam. I was just so sleepy, I was thinking of taking a nap, I didn't expect Miss to get up for snacks!"
"You mean you want to blame Miss, and that it has nothing to do with you?"
Madam Sun questioned her sternly, her face flushed red. If it weren't for her status, she would have hit her.
The wet nurse pressed her forehead to the ground, weeping bitterly.
"No, no, Madam, it's all my fault. Please forgive me this time, I promise I will never do it again..."
Seeing how pitifully she was crying, with dark circles under her eyes, Old Lady Li felt a pang of sympathy and tentatively said something.
"Madam, I noticed that Sister Li takes very good care of Miss. I heard that she was so anxious because she didn't have enough breast milk for Miss that she got so stressed that she still has a string of blisters on her lips."
"Your eyes are all dark right now, you must not have slept well last night, and you were so tired that you made such a big mistake."
Madam Sun glanced at the wet nurse, and her expression softened slightly.
Grandma Li gently patted Jiayin, who had stopped crying, her tone even softer.
“Madam is away from home, and even if she gets angry for a moment and wants to replace someone, I'm afraid she won't find anyone she likes. Besides, this wet nurse is truly devoted to Miss and knows she has made a grave mistake. If you are magnanimous and forgive her this time, she will surely remember your kindness and take even better care of Miss in the future. Wouldn't that be better?”
The wet nurse was extremely grateful to Old Lady Li and nodded repeatedly.
Madam Sun also thought this made sense. Seeing that her daughter had already started playing with the pearl string hanging on her clothes, it was clear that she was not seriously injured.
She said, "It's alright. Luckily, Fu Niu was there today, otherwise Nannan wouldn't have been hurt. It's all thanks to God's blessing. Otherwise, you couldn't make up for your mistake even with a hundred lives!"
The wet nurse had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Madam Sun say something else.
"But we can't just let this go. We'll deduct your pay for this month so you'll learn your lesson."
"Yes, yes, thank you for your forgiveness, Madam. I will take good care of you from now on and will never make the same mistake again."
The wet nurse almost killed the young lady; it's already a miracle that she wasn't resold or beaten half to death by her master.
She would gladly accept being deducted even for several months, let alone a month's salary.
"Get up." Madam Sun still felt some anger, and after saying that, she stopped looking at her.
The wet nurse quickly got up and then secretly gave Old Lady Li a grateful look.
"Aunt Li, we really have to thank Fu Niu'er today. If it weren't for her, who knows what other suffering our little girl would have endured..."
When Madam Sun saw Jiayin, who was well-behaved and quiet, in Old Madam Li's arms, her eyes were filled with deep gratitude.
Old Mrs. Li quickly waved her hand, "Madam, you're too kind. It's just a coincidence that the child is crying. Our young lady is so lucky; she can always turn danger into safety."
Madam Sun was pleased to hear this and loudly instructed her maid.
"Open the chest and take out the fine brocades I brought from the manor. Make some nice dresses for Fu Niu'er."
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Li quickly waved her hand.
"Madam, this is unacceptable! Our poor children have no need for silk clothes."
Madam Sun paused for a moment, then realized that she had only thought about giving Fu Niu some nice things, without considering whether these things were what Fu Niu needed.
But if not silk, what else can we give as a gift?
Madam Sun was in a dilemma.
The wet nurse looked at Jiayin's chubby little hands sticking out of the swaddling clothes, and an idea came to her mind. She whispered a suggestion.
“Madam, the Li family can’t wear brocade, and besides, sewing clothes is too much trouble. Why not find some old clothes made of fine cloth? They can wear them immediately and won’t attract attention. I saw yesterday that Sister-in-law Li’s cuffs were patched.”
These words reminded Madam Sun, who immediately nodded in praise.
"Yes, that's a good idea. Go and tell Chun'er to find more old clothes from the trunk!"
Grandma Li wanted to refuse, but Jiayin reached out her little hand and tugged at her clothes, "Eeya..."
Grandma Li thought her granddaughter was hungry or needed to urinate, so she looked down to check, but the wet nurse went out.
Madam Sun took out a silver note and two silver ingots from a small box on the inside of the bed.
“Auntie, since your family is staying with relatives, it’s always good to have some money on hand. Keep this hundred-tael silver note safe; consider it a dowry for Niu Niu’er when she gets married.”
After saying that, she pushed the silver ingots over, saying, "Keep these ten taels outside; you can use them occasionally."
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