Chapter 432: Crossroads (Part 2)
The Second Lady had indeed considered everything, but Eleventh Lady was still a little worried about Xu Siyu's reaction after he found out.
No matter what, Xu Siyu was just a 14-year-old boy, not to mention that it involved his biological mother.
She said ambiguously: "I will talk to you when you come back."
Seeing that she was speaking in a perfunctory manner, the Second Lady smiled, took the teacup and drank a sip of tea leisurely: "Yes, it's always right to discuss it with the Marquis!"
As they were talking, a little maid came in and said, "Fourth Madam, the eldest, third and fifth young masters are here to see the fourth young master!"
In the morning, he told the children that Xu Sizhen was ill. Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian were more sensible, but they lived in the outer courtyard. Although Xu Sizhen lived in the inner courtyard, he was young and ignorant. In addition, Xu Sizhen had been weak and sick since childhood, so the three children did not suspect anything. But Xu Sizhen, Xu Sizhen had always treated him well, and he did not notice it at ordinary times. But now that Xu Sizhen was ill, he felt a little lonely.
"Mother, when will my fourth brother get better?"
Eleventh Lady was afraid that they would notice something was wrong, so she took Xu Siqin and a few others to take a look at Xu Sizhen and then led him out of the inner room. Seeing Xu Sizhen's worried look, she smiled and touched her head: "Grandmother, second aunt, and mother, are all here to take care of Brother Xu. Brother Xu will get better soon!"
Xu Siyi nodded and said obediently, "Mother, I won't bother you. I won't bother my fourth brother either. I will just sleep with Mother Nan obediently."
Eleventh Lady gave him a big hug.
Xu Siqi smiled, his face full of joy.
The second wife couldn't help but look sideways.
Eleventh Lady sent the three brothers out and said, "Wait a few days, then you brothers can have a good reunion."
Xu Siqin and Xu Sijian agreed with a smile, and Xu Siqin even said, "Auntie Si, don't worry about my fifth brother. My third brother and I will take a good look at him."
"As long as you brothers are united, I have nothing to worry about." Eleventh Lady smiled and watched them leave.
A small oil truck with a green curtain came rushing over and passed by the three Xu Siqin brothers.
Xu Siqin couldn't help but take a look.
Then Xu Sizhen's wet nurse jumped off the carriage without waiting for the old woman following the carriage to put down the footstool.
"Fourth Madam." Her eyes were red, obviously she had been crying, "How is the Fourth Young Master?"
How could I not have feelings for her when I was drinking her milk, from the time I was swaddled to the time I learned to babble and take my first steps?
"It's OK."
Standing at the gate of the lady's courtyard, with maids and old women coming and going, Shiyi Niang pretended to be calm and said, "I'll ask you to come over and help take care of her for a few days."
The wet nurse breathed a sigh of relief and followed Eleventh Lady into the house.
When she saw Xu Sizhen, the nurse's heart, which had just calmed down, began to relax again, and she couldn't help but shed tears.
The Second Lady thought the nurse was too emotional and frowned. Eleventh Lady was afraid that she would wake up Xu Sizhen, so she reminded her quietly, "Brother Xu Sizhen has just gone to bed."
The nurse covered her mouth and cried silently for a while before she asked, "Fourth Madam, what did the doctor say?"
"He said he was frightened!" Eleventh Lady did not hide the truth from her, "People are a little confused nowadays. Mommy brought him up since he was a child, and she knows him very well, so she specially asked you to come and comfort An'er."
"Don't worry, Madam Fourth," the nurse said, and asked the maid to find her a clean coat of Madam Du's. Then she sat down on the kang and told the maid to get her some hot water to wash her hands. Then she touched Xu Sizhen's forehead and said, "Leave the boy to me!"
Seeing that she was very considerate, Eleventh Lady felt relieved and asked Second Lady to sit in the side room: "Second Sister-in-law has been working hard for the whole morning, take a rest now!"
The second wife was thinking about the old lady, so the two of them went to her place.
The lady had just gotten up and was washing up when she heard that Xu Sizhen's wet nurse had come. She hurried over to take a look and saw that the wet nurse was carefully guarding beside her. She gave a few instructions and asked Madam Du to arrange a place for the wet nurse to rest: "Help take care of her for a few days."
The wet nurse was very willing, bowed and said yes, and said something like "please rest assured, madam."
The fifth lady came to visit Xu Siyan.
"Are you feeling better now?" Seeing Xu Sizhen's wet nurse there, she smiled and said, "Mom should come over quickly." Seeing that Xu Sizhen was not awake, she comforted the lady again.
Seeing that it was getting late, the lady-in-waiting invited the fifth lady to have lunch and asked the maid to ask Xu Lingyi where he was having lunch.
The little maidservant was gone for almost an incense stick of time before she came back: "Madam, the Marquis has gone out."
Going out in this situation?
Eleventh Lady was a little surprised.
The lady pondered and said, "Then let's set the table!"
The little maidservant left immediately.
The Second Lady, accompanied by the Dowager Lady, followed by the Eleventh Lady and the Fifth Lady, went to the East Room to have lunch.
After dinner, everyone went to see Xu Sizhen. Seeing that he was still asleep, the Fifth Lady returned to her own courtyard, while the Second Lady and the Eleventh Lady sat with the Grand Lady.
Doctor Liu is here.
The Second Lady and Eleventh Lady took refuge in the warm chamber, with the Dowager Lady by their side.
Doctor Liu was surprised to see that Xu Sizhen had not yet woken up.
The Second Lady woke Xu Sizhen up once, avoiding the lattice fan, and told Doctor Liu in detail what happened. Then she said, "I saw that the Fourth Young Master was sleeping restlessly, so I lit the homemade sleeping incense."
Doctor Liu couldn't help wiping his sweat and whispered, "I can't prescribe medicine without seeing the Fourth Young Master's illness with my own eyes." The Second Madam was actually making things worse.
She cried out, "Oh my!" and said hurriedly, "Please don't be offended, Master Physician." She quickly told the maid to put out the incense burner and said, "The fourth young master should be able to wake up in a few minutes."
How could Doctor Liu have the nerve to sit opposite the Madam? He stood up and said, "Then I'll stand in the yard first and wait for the Fourth Young Master to wake up. The Madam can then send someone to call me in!"
The lady also wanted to keep Dr. Liu, so she asked someone to see him off.
Several people waited like this for Xu Sizhen to wake up.
Amber from Eleventh Lady's side came over and said, "Madam, Second Madam, Fourth Madam, Yi Yi was clamoring to see the Marquis, but the maids wouldn't let her. She was trying to kill herself and said that if the maids didn't report it, don't blame her for saying anything. The maids were afraid that they wouldn't be able to report it, so they held her down and gagged her." She glanced at the Madam, "When the Marquis left, he specifically told us to keep a good eye on Yi Yi Yi and not let anything happen to her. It would be hard to report to the Third Master. The maids took the wrong path and specifically asked me to report to the Madam, Second Madam, and Fourth Madam. Please tell the Madam, what should we do about this matter?"
The lady listened and snorted coldly, saying, "What's the problem? Just gag her, tie her up and throw her in the room. As long as the letter from the third master comes back and she's still breathing, that'll be enough."
Amber said "yes" respectfully and stepped back.
The lady called Mother Du and said, "Go and ask Manager Bai in person when there will be a reply to the letter you wrote to Shanyang. Get this done quickly to avoid unnecessary trouble." Her tone became colder and colder.
Xu Sizhen's wet nurse felt that there was something fishy going on and did not dare to make any further trouble. She lowered her head to look at Xu Sizhen, pretending not to hear anything. However, she found that Xu Sizhen had a frown on his brows and was mumbling uneasily in his sleep.
She was startled and called out "Fourth Young Master" in a slightly higher tone than usual, attracting the Dowager, the Second Madam and the Eleventh Lady.
Just as the second wife had said, Xu Sizhe gradually woke up, and his wet nurse held him and kept comforting him.
Or maybe it was the warm memory hidden deep in his heart since he was a baby. He was held by the nurse. Although he was still confused, he did not struggle as hard as before. Doctor Liu felt relieved when he saw him: "Don't worry, don't worry. With someone close to you by your side, you will get better gradually." Then he prescribed some tranquilizers and told the nurse a folk remedy, asking her to rub the index fingers of Xu Sizhen's left and right hands near the thumbs 128 times with her thumbs at noon, "to help the Fourth Young Master circulate his Qi."
The wet nurse learned from Dr. Liu very seriously.
The lady went into the warm room and spoke to Eleventh Lady: "I think we should sort out the family affairs quickly and ask Jining to help calm the nerves and perform rituals."
The matter of Wu Gu is of great importance. If we don't sort it out, it will be disastrous if outsiders find out something.
"I will discuss it with the Marquis as soon as he comes back." This matter was handled by Xu Lingyi. It was hard for Eleventh Lady to say what the situation was now.
The lady thought that Xu Lingyi was still missing and couldn't help but feel a little angry: "I don't know where this child has gone. There is a lot of trouble waiting for him at home!"
Eleventh Lady was not sure what to say. She was just about to say something to comfort the Lady Tai when the Second Lady beside her whispered, "It's probably about dealing with Zhu Dao Po's matter. It's not easy to delegate this matter to others."
The lady's expression lightened up after hearing this, but Eleventh Lady's heart began to beat wildly.
I don't know how this matter will end...
Xu Lingyi came back very late.
He looked calm and there was nothing unusual about him.
Eleventh Lady couldn't help but ask, "Master Hou, have you seen Zhu Dao Po?"
Xu Lingyi did not deny it and whispered, "Don't worry, there is no trace left." Then, with a look of unwillingness to talk more, he gently stroked her abdomen and asked, "Did I bother you today?"
Shiyi Niang knew that this method was necessary, but she still felt a little sad. Seeing that Xu Lingyi changed the subject, she simply put the feelings in her heart behind her.
"He's pretty well behaved," she said with a smile, "he was just a little naughty during lunch."
"Oh!" Xu Lingyi raised his eyebrows with interest.
Eleventh Lady smiled and said, "Mother was afraid that I couldn't stand the smell of fish, so she specifically told me not to cook fish and made a dish of freshly-cooked cold-mixed radish. I usually like to eat it, but who knew that I would feel particularly uncomfortable after smelling it today."
Xu Lingyi laughed when he heard this.
Eleventh Lady took the opportunity to talk to him about Xu Sizhen: "... Doctor Liu just said that he will get better slowly." Then she talked about Xu Siyu, "According to Second Sister-in-law's suggestion, it would be better to tell Yu'er about this matter openly..." She told Xu Lingyi exactly what Second Lady had said.
Xu Lingyi pondered for a while and said, "What do you mean?"
"My idea," Shiyi Niang pondered, "is that instead of writing a letter, it's better to ask Yu Ge'er to come back. If there is anything, we can discuss it behind closed doors as a family."
Xu Lingyi nodded slightly: "Then let him come back. It will also be a good opportunity for him to meet Qin."