This was Wan Xueying's first time being invited to a banquet hosted by someone else's family (aside from the times she attended banquets in the village with her parents as a child). Despite her lack of experience, Wan Xueying changed into new clothes, donned some jewelry, and, after a brief makeover, headed to the banquet accompanied by her wife, Xue's wife.
"Xueying!" Cui Mingzhu, who had been waiting outside the Cui family's old lady's courtyard, greeted her from a distance upon seeing her. Then, she quickly stepped forward, took her hand, and said, "Come on, I'll take you to see Grandmother."
Wan Xueying was not used to other people's enthusiasm. Even though she felt awkward, she did not force her hand back and let Cui Mingzhu drag her in front of Mrs. Cui.
"Grandma, this is Xueying. It was she and her friends who saved me earlier." Cui Mingzhu was not stupid. She had long realized that Shen Yu was not Wan Xueying's servant.
"Greetings, Madam Cui!" Wan Xueying greeted Madam Cui, who was seated at the main seat. She then bowed to a middle-aged woman in elegant attire sitting to the side. "Greetings, Madam!" She then nodded slightly to the two younger women sitting below her. "Greetings, Young Madams!"
On the way here, Sister Xue had already told her that in addition to the eldest lady, the two young ladies of the Cui family would also be attending the banquet.
"Stop being so polite!" The old lady looked at Wan Xueying with a loving expression. "I've heard that a goddess has appeared in Dayan for a long time. Seeing her today, I'm sure her reputation is well-deserved."
"Old Madam, you are really embarrassing me! This talk about a goddess or not is just a rumor."
"Whether it's true or not, I find you particularly pleasing to the eye. Don't stand around, Mingzhu. Take Miss Cui and sit down over there. We can talk."
"Okay, Grandma!"
Cui Mingzhu turned around and pulled Wan Xueying to sit opposite the eldest lady, facing the seats of the eldest and second young masters' wives.
That was a guest house. Although Cui Mingzhu was the eldest daughter of the Cui family, she was already married, and when she returned to her parents' home she was a guest.
The women in the Cui family were all very talkative. Even though they didn't know each other well and didn't speak the same language, their conversations often revolved around Wan Xueying, allowing her to feel involved and not feel particularly awkward. This really taught Wan Xueying a lesson.
Everyone was chatting animatedly when a servant reported that a banquet had been set up in a side hall. Madam Cui then invited everyone to move to the side hall to eat and chat.
The Cui family also did a particularly good job of this. Instead of everyone sitting around a single table to eat, each person had a small table filled with small portions of food and wine, and everyone ate individually on mats. Since the weather was cold, they also thoughtfully placed a small, well-lit charcoal stove next to each mat.
During the meal, everyone ate and chatted, continuing the previous enthusiasm. Xue Sao still acted as an interpreter for both parties and stood behind Wan Xueying.
But they had only eaten halfway when a servant came hurriedly to report that the little boy, who had been brought by the eldest young lady to be close to Old Madam Cui, had choked on something he had eaten.
"What? Choked?" Mrs. Cui stood up in shock.
"Yes! I wonder what the young master ate?" the servant reported.
"Then what are you waiting for? Everyone, hurry over and take a look."
After saying this, Mrs. Cui hurried to the next room with the help of her maid, and Wan Xueying followed.
What I never expected was that before I even reached the next door, I heard bursts of sobbing coming from inside the house.
Old Madam Cui stopped and stroked her chest. The eldest lady of the Cui family signaled a maid beside her to go in first to find out what was going on.
As soon as the old woman entered the room, she shouted angrily at everyone: "Cry, cry, cry, why are you crying?"
"Madame Wang, the young master just passed away." Someone answered with sobs.
"What nonsense!" Nanny Wang became even more angry upon hearing this. "How could the young master just disappear like that?"
"The young master really died just now." The person cried even louder, and it was unclear whether it was for the young master of the Cui family or for herself.
Before Nanny Wang could get angry, Old Lady Cui, who had just walked to the door, closed her eyes and fainted after hearing what was said.
"Mother! What's wrong with you?" Madam Cui, who was closest to her, helped the old woman and then called out loudly to Madam Cui.
"Grandma!" The second young master's wife and Cui Mingzhu also hurried forward to check.
Only the eldest young lady of the Cui family ignored her filial duty and rushed to the bedside. Seeing the little boy lying on the bed, his face purple and lifeless, she shouted, "Brother! Wake up! Come and see mother!" While shouting, she held the little boy in her arms and shook him hard.
Thinking that saving the child was the most important thing, Wan Xueying followed the Cui family's eldest young lady to the bedside. Seeing her desperately shaking the little boy, she quickly stopped her, "Madam, please don't shake the child like that." She then said, "If you trust me, hand him over to me and let me try to save him."
Xue Sao, who came to the bedside with Wan Xueying, saw the eldest young lady of the Cui family raise her head and look at Wan Xueying blankly, and hurriedly translated what Wan Xueying had just said.
The Cui family's eldest young lady felt like she had grabbed a lifeline. She quickly put the child down and begged Wan Xueying, "Please save my brother. If you can save him, I will do anything for you."
Not to mention that Wan Xueying didn't understand what she said, even if she did, she wouldn't take it seriously.
Time waits for no one, so she hurriedly sat on the bed and placed Cui Chengqian upside down on her knees. She used her left hand to hold his head down and then quickly patted his back with her right hand. After three or five times, with a "cough", a whole peanut came out of Cui Chengqian's mouth.
Then Cui Chengqian, who was frightened, burst into tears.
"Be good, don't cry." Wan Xueying clumsily held the little guy in her arms and comforted him softly, then handed him over to the eldest lady of the Cui family, who smiled and cried as if he had found a rare treasure.
"Thank you! Thank you!" After the eldest lady of the Cui family took Cui Chengqian over, she thanked him repeatedly in her poor Dayan dialect.
"You should comfort the child. He must be scared." Wan Xueying gave instructions and hurried to check on Mrs. Cui.
"Mother, my brother is fine now, please wake up!" The eldest lady of the Cui family felt relieved when she heard Cui Chengqian's crying, but the old lady of the Cui family had not woken up yet, and her heart was lifted again.
"If you believe me, I have something for you to try giving to the old lady?" As she spoke, Wan Xueying disguised herself and took out a string of beads from the space. She took one out and handed it to the eldest lady of the Cui family.
"Xinxin, of course we believe you." Wan Xueying had just saved Cui Chengqian, so how could the Cui family's eldest lady not believe her? She excitedly took the medicinal fragrance beads and stuffed them into the Cui family's old lady's mouth. She then asked Nanny Wang to pour a glass of water and stroked the Cui family's old lady's chest to help her swallow the medicinal fragrance beads.
Under Wan Xueying's command, everyone put Old Madam Cui on the bed. It was only after Wan Xueying reminded the eldest lady of the Cui family that she asked the servants to find a doctor.
Fortunately, Cui Chengqian had choked earlier and someone had already called a doctor, who arrived after a while.
After he gave Mrs. Cui acupuncture, the old lady of the Cui family slowly woke up and asked, "How is my brother?" After hearing the reply that Cui Chengqian was fine, she closed her eyes again with peace of mind.
"Mother, how is grandma?" Cui Jinhuan asked the eldest lady of the Cui family anxiously after rushing over.
Because the Cui family was so large, when he and his brother Cui Yincheng received the news and rushed over, a long time had passed since the incident.
"Your grandmother should be fine after some rest." Cui's doctor said with gratitude and relief, "Speaking of which, it's all thanks to you for inviting Miss Wan to our home." At this moment, Wan Xueying had been sent back to the guest room by Cui Mingzhu to rest.
"Was it Miss Wan who saved my grandmother?" Cui Jinhuan didn't know Wan Xueying and had never dealt with her. It was Cui Yincheng who asked this question.
"Yes! Not only did she save your grandmother and your brother, she also saved Mingzhu earlier. You must thank her very much."
"That's for sure. But what on earth is going on?" Cui Jinhuan asked.
"It's a long story. My mind is in a mess right now. I'll let Mingzhu tell you later."
"Okay, we'll ask Mingzhu later."
When Cui Jinhuan saw that his only son was fine and heard Cui Mingzhu talk about Wan Xueying's rescue, he asked someone to re-arrange guest rooms for Wan Xueying and Shen Yu, and took Cui Yincheng and Cui Mingzhu to give Wan Xueying a brocade box to express his gratitude.
Wan Xueying opened the brocade box and found a stack of banknotes inside. She wanted to refuse, but Cui Jinhuan said, "This is just a small token of my appreciation. My grandmother, father, and mother may have gifts of thanks later. You must accept it."
"But this is too much." Wan Xueying didn't want to be a good person in vain, but a stack of paper with silver notes worth one thousand taels each was definitely not a small amount.
"You saved the lives of several members of our Cui family. This is really nothing." In order not to give Wan Xueying a chance to refuse, Cui Jinhuan thanked her again, left Cui Mingzhu behind, and left with Cui Yincheng.
Cui Mingzhu stayed and persuaded Wan Xueying to accept the banknotes, saying that the money was really nothing to the Cui family. Wan Xueying could only reluctantly accept it, but she was very happy in her heart and accepted the banknotes.
It is indeed as Cui Jinhuan said, this is just the beginning.
In the following days, Wan Xueying received various thank-you gifts from the head of the Cui family, the eldest master of the Cui family, Cui Hao, the father of Cui Jinhuan and Cui Yincheng, as well as Mrs. Cui, the eldest lady of the Cui family, and the wife of the eldest son of the Cui family.
As a gift of reciprocity, Wan Xueying gave each member of the Cui family a medicinal fragrance bead to save the old lady of the Cui family. Of course, it was not the same kind that was used to save Shen Yu, but it also used high-quality medicinal materials and a small amount of juice from the leaves of the tree of life.
This was made in advance to support her mother's health. She originally wanted to take it to Xijiang Country to see if there was a market for it, but she found that the prices here were not as good as in Dayan. She was also afraid that people here would not know the value of it, so she kept it until now and gave it to the Cui family.
If she had just arrived at the Cui family and given the Medicinal Fragrance Beads to someone, the Cui family might not have taken them seriously. But after seeing her abilities and hearing that wearing the Medicinal Fragrance Beads regularly was beneficial to the body and could potentially save the life of the old lady in a critical moment, as it had done this time, the Cui family began to treat the Medicinal Fragrance Beads as treasures, carrying them with them at all times.
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