Ye Yunniang thought carefully and realized that she had never helped Qiu Fang in any way.
Qiu Fang recounted what Ye Yunniang had said when the Wang family came to cause trouble.
Despite facing immense difficulties at the time, Ye Yunniang withstood the pressure, beat up the Wang family, and intimidated everyone.
Qiu Fang wondered, what was the significance of her situation?
The marriage between Zhang Er and Xiu Mei was decided by Zhang's mother and Zhang Er. He did not force them to agree with him by threatening them with a knife.
After marriage, she and Zhang Er avoided speaking to each other whenever possible.
Later, to put Xiumei at ease, she and Zhang San moved out to live together.
The main reason Zhang Er and Xiu Mei caused so much trouble was themselves, and it had little to do with her.
After Qiu Fang understood, she couldn't bear it when the Zhang family blamed her. She argued and made a scene with them.
Qiu Fang thought, if she really couldn't go on like this, she would get a divorce. She was still young and wouldn't have trouble finding someone else.
With this mindset, the Zhang family dared not say anything bad about Qiu Fang. The Zhang family's reputation was almost ruined; if Zhang San and Qiu Fang really divorced, it would be extremely difficult for them to find another partner.
Without the complaints of Granny Zhang and the others, Zhang San was able to calmly reflect and realize that he had been wrong recently.
Zhang San apologized to Qiu Fang. Qiu Fang truly had feelings for Zhang San and couldn't bear to part with him.
The couple reconciled. Then came an unexpected surprise: Qiufang became pregnant.
Qiu Fang was only two months pregnant, so she couldn't tell anyone. But Qiu Fang felt she should tell Ye Yunniang.
"Congratulations," Ye Yunniang said to Qiu Fang. Even she, who rarely went out, knew that Qiu Fang and Zhang San had been hoping for a child for the past six years of their marriage.
"Yunniang, thank you so much." Qiufang was very grateful to Ye Yunniang.
"I didn't do anything; it's all the result of your own hard work," Ye Yunniang said, not taking credit for anything.
"If it weren't for what you said, I wouldn't have tried to get pregnant." Qiu Fang firmly believed that her pregnancy was all thanks to Ye Yunniang's good fortune.
Qiu Fang went inside and took out a large oil paper package containing her homemade spicy dried meat for Ye Yunniang to take back and eat.
Unable to refuse, Ye Yunniang carried it home. She thought to herself that there was still a piece of red cotton silk at home, which she could use to make a winter coat for Qiu Fang's unborn child.
Judging by the timing, Qiu Fang gave birth in October or November, when it was cold enough for her to wear a cotton-padded coat.
Cai Damei looked at Ye Yunniang, whose hands were full of items, and asked, "The Wang family gave so many return gifts?"
"No," Ye Yunniang explained, her left hand holding the wedding gifts she had taken to the Wang family. The oil paper package in her right hand was given to her by Qiu Fang, and the cloth bag contained gifts from Baise. Baise had given Ye Yunniang the wedding gifts that the Wang family had returned.
“I don’t like sweets, you can give them to the children.”
Ye Yunniang told Cai Damei what Qiu Fang had said. She also mentioned her own idea of returning the favor.
Cai Damei agreed, "The red jacket with gourd embroidery can be worn by both men and women."
“Okay,” Ye Yunniang agreed.
"How is the Wang family doing?"
"Mother, let's go inside and talk slowly. It's still a bit cold outside," Ye Yunniang said as she and Cai Damei sat down inside.
Ye Yunniang recounted what had happened at the Prince's mansion.
She was conscious after she fainted and heard both sides of Liang Hemiao's story. The trace of guilt in her heart disappeared.
Liang Hemiao opened the door and told the maid to take the noodles to feed the dog, and then to bring a bowl of bird's nest soup.
After dismissing the gatekeeper maid, Liang Hemiao turned and walked towards the bed, reaching out to remove Ye Yunniang's clothes.
With a thud, Liang Hemiao's body landed directly on Ye Yunniang.
Ye Yunniang inwardly cried out, "It hurts." Then she smelled a refreshing scent.
Open your eyes.
As expected, Tong Mo stood by the bed and smiled at Ye Yunniang.
“This is the third time I’ve saved you.” Tong Mo held up three fingers.
"Thank you." Ye Yunniang thanked her this time, pushed Liang Hemiao away forcefully, and got out of bed.
Ye Yunniang moved Liang Hemiao to the bed, deftly removed her flower crown, took off her wedding dress, and covered her with a quilt.
"You're getting more and more skilled," Tong Mo praised from the side.
Ye Yunniang ignored Tong Mo's words, picked up her wedding dress and stuffed it under the bed. After checking that she hadn't forgotten anything, she headed towards the door.
"Are you just going to leave like this?" Tong Mo called out to Ye Yunniang.
Ye Yunniang turned back and smiled at Tong Mo, "I'll leave the rest to you." After saying that, she pushed open the door, looked around to make sure no one was there, and quickly left.
Ye Yunniang carefully avoided people as she made her way to the garden, circled around it, and finally returned to Qunfanglou to talk to Baise.
After that, she went to the new house with everyone to watch the excitement, completely extricating herself from the situation.
After listening, Cai Damei instructed Ye Yunniang, "If Liang Maimiao comes to ask, you must stick to your story. You were in the garden and didn't go anywhere else."
Even if Cai Damei didn't say anything, Ye Yunniang would have done the same.
"Oh, right, Mother, there's one more thing."
Ye Yunniang told Xing Jinxiu about it.
"My Miss Xing is not someone to be trifled with." Ye Yunniang worried that Xing Jinxiu would come after them if she knew about Cai Damei's existence.
Cai Damei didn't care much. She told him to handle Bao Min's matter himself. If he couldn't handle it well, she'd let him live alone with his daughter.
Seeing that Cai Damei was taking it easy, Ye Yunniang didn't say anything more. She then told Cai Damei about the possible drought.
"Let's stock up on more food," Cai Damei thought, considering how to hide the food discreetly.
Cai Damei and Ye Yunniang were discussing how to dig a cellar in the backyard and how to go to buy grain discreetly. Bao Min had already arranged for people to dig the cellar in the backyard of courtyards 3 and 4.
Bao Min also made a list of items to be stored in the cellar.
It contains rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, various beans, dried and cured meats, salt, sugar, oil, and so on.
"Is this drought very serious?" Cai Damei felt uneasy after seeing the quantities on the list.
“I consulted the former director of the Imperial Observatory, and he said it’s a once-in-a-century event.” Bao Min’s expression was grave.
"Isn't the cellar a bit too small? How about we dig another three zhang (approximately 10 meters) down? There are still two months until the summer harvest. Don't sell any of the produce from the farm or the villa; store it all. Also, the wells at home are quite shallow, and in a drought, we probably won't be able to draw water. Let's dig even deeper." Cai Damei was planning the preparations she needed to make.
"I will arrange a city-wide cleanup of the wells." Jiangcheng is under Bao Min's jurisdiction, and he doesn't want people to die of thirst because there is no water to drink.
"After a drought, there is a possibility of severe flooding. Wells need to be cleaned, riverbeds need to be cleared, and river embankments need to be reinforced." Having lived in rural areas for decades, Cai Damei has heard many elderly people talk about droughts and floods.
"After the wells in Jiangcheng were cleared, I arranged for people to clean the riverbed and reinforce the riverbanks." The former director of the Imperial Observatory told Bao Min about the possibility of flooding.
Bao Min grasped Cai Damei's hand. "Madam, please don't be angry about what I'm about to say."
"You go first." Whether Cai Damei gets angry or not depends on what Bao Min says.
"I need to borrow Li Ping for a while."
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