Several people surrounded the delicate and pretty baby girl, all showing worried expressions.
Faced with her frail granddaughter, Wang was at a loss and said angrily, "You are a doctor, and you are helpless. What else can I do?"
The court physician, Fang Sheng, cleared his throat, his face filled with embarrassment. He asked tentatively, "How about telling the Second Master or Madam about this? Let's hear what the girl's parents think."
"Honglei is busy! Fighting on the battlefield is full of dangers. We can't let him worry. My family always reports good news, not bad news." Wang thought for a moment and said helplessly, "It seems I should tell Yushu and let the child's mother make the decision. As a grandmother, I'm really worried. Sigh."
Fang Sheng closed the medicine box and examined the baby girl's complexion for the umpteenth time. He said solemnly, "At over four months old, the twin boy can lift his head, roll over, and is quite mobile. But the girl still can't roll over and doesn't even have the strength to lift her head. And yet she's already taking medicine while still nursing."
"It's only been autumn now, and she's already been sick three times. Whenever she's sick, she won't breastfeed. By the time winter arrives, I'm afraid she'll be even worse—" Fang Sheng paused, not daring to speak directly. "Well, I just think she's weak, and we should take better care of her."
Wang sighed and reached out to touch her granddaughter's forehead, feeling worried about the burn. "I often tell the wet nurse and the maids, worried they won't be attentive. Just as my three grandsons have food, clothing, and daily necessities, my granddaughter must also have them, and even get the most. I thought she would grow stronger over time, but who knew this girl would get sick one after another and not gain any weight at all."
"I'm so worried," the grandmother sighed in annoyance, urging, "The child has had recurring fevers and refused to breastfeed for days. You better think of a solution!"
Fang Sheng gritted his teeth and replied, "I'll think about it." After a pause, he solemnly suggested, "If it really doesn't work, we'll have to do it like before and ask the imperial physician to come in."
"This..." Wang frowned and said hesitantly, "Imperial Physician Guan is still serving his sentence in Tuning Guard. It's too much trouble to ask him to see a patient."
Fang Sheng persuaded him sternly, "The girl's body is worth a fortune, and she is a treasure in the hearts of the elders. As long as she can recover, no matter how much trouble it takes, it will be worth it!"
Wang's eyelids drooped as she twirled the jade bracelet on her wrist. She sighed, "Of course. Honglei loves his daughter dearly and often writes to show concern, fearing that she's in trouble." She was at her wit's end. Turning back, she ordered, "Tell Ah Zhe to write to Tu Ning immediately. Remember, don't tell Honglei about this yet. Tell his sister-in-law first and let her know what Yushu has to say."
"Yes." The maid took the order and hurried to find Guo Hongzhe.
Then, Wang stood up and instructed, "Be sure to serve the young lady well and report any problems at any time."
The wet nurse and the maidservants all responded "yes".
A moment later
Surrounded and supported by servants, Wang returned to her own residence. After changing her clothes and washing up, she smiled and walked into the side room, looking at it with satisfaction:
"Brother, come here, come quickly!" Guo Ye sat in a corner of the low couch and clapped his hands, calling out, "Crawl over here!"
However, Guo Jiong was only four months old and couldn't crawl yet. The baby rolled over onto his stomach, supporting his upper body firmly with his elbows, looked up at his brother, and instinctively tried to move using his hands and feet.
"Hahaha~" Guo Ye said in a baby voice, scratching his face with his index finger to mock his brother, and said articulately: "Look, my brother is drooling again, shame, shame, shame!"
Guo Jiong was naive, blinking his eyes and staring at his brother curiously. He was white and plump, with chubby cheeks that bulged out in an arc, which pleased his grandmother and gave his wet nurse a sense of accomplishment.
The wet nurses and maids watched with amusement, "Don't be ashamed, don't be ashamed, your brother is still young, when he grows up, he will stop drooling."
"Come on, wipe it clean!"
Wang came closer, sat down on the edge of the couch, and said with a loving smile, "Ye'er, you are the older brother, you can't make fun of your younger brother. When you were a child, you drooled too, more than your younger brother."
"No, no! I didn't!" Guo Ye stood up and ran to the old woman, throwing himself into his grandmother's arms and acting like a spoiled child. "My brother is shameless. He drools, but I don't."
Everyone couldn't help laughing.
Wang smiled broadly, hugged her grandson and rubbed him for a while, "Good, good, good! You've grown up and you really don't drool anymore."
"Ahhh——" Guo Jiong, wearing a tiger-head hat and a thin red coat, smacked his lips and drooled.
Wang responded happily, leaning over to stroke her grandson's head and coaxing him, "Be good, good boy, no one will laugh at you. Grow up quickly, and no one will laugh at you drooling."
The next moment, Guo Yu, who had just finished school, came running over and shouted from afar, "Grandfather?"
"Here!"
After a while, Wang looked at her three healthy, plump grandchildren, smiling from ear to ear. While playing with them, she kindly asked, "Yu'er, what did you learn today?"
"Still memorizing." Guo Yu took off his shoes and sat on the couch, playing with his little cousin. He said distressedly: "Alas, the Book of Songs is too complicated, with hundreds of poems. I guess it will take me a long time to memorize it all."
Wang immediately encouraged him, saying earnestly, "Focus on it, day after day, and you will eventually memorize it thoroughly! You must study hard, otherwise, when your second uncle comes home—"
"Oh, I know, I know." Guo Yu was tired of being nagged, so he interrupted as if begging for mercy, saying with a bitter face: "I will study hard, I will definitely study hard!" He pinched his little cousin's cheek, suddenly remembered something, and asked with concern:
"Just now I passed by Second Aunt's house and wanted to see my sister, but was stopped again. The maid kept saying 'no visits for the time being'. How is my sister's condition?"
Wang's smile faded, and she replied seriously, "She hasn't recovered yet and is recuperating, so we must disturb her as little as possible. Even Xiao Jiong has to move out. Alas, I'm already worried sick about my granddaughter. If you three brothers get sick too, life will be unbearable!"
Guo Yu was worried and couldn't help asking: "Is my sister seriously ill? Will she, will she die like my mother?"
All the adults' expressions changed and they shook their heads vigorously. Wang quickly replied, "How is that possible? Silly child, don't talk nonsense!"
"Xiaoyan...will recover." In fact, Wang had no idea at all.
After lunch, the four generations of grandparents and grandchildren all have the habit of taking a nap.
The maid helped Wang lie down, "Old Madam, go slowly."
"Are the children asleep?"
The maid replied with a smile: "The young masters have all gone back to their rooms to rest."
Wang lay on her back, closing her eyes to rest. Suddenly, she sighed in annoyance and murmured, "Xiaoyan, that little girl, is weak and sickly, and hard to raise. Perhaps... Alas, she is not a blessed one."
The trusted maidservant and the servant girl looked at each other, some of them lowered the curtains, some tucked in the quilt, and no one dared to speak.
Guo Xiaoyan's parents were busy with official duties and lived far away in Tuning, Yongzhou. Although they were worried about their daughter, they were separated by distance and found it difficult to meet. They could only express their love and care through letters.
Today, Jiang Yushu was on patrol for the first time and encountered villagers who were blocking the road to protest for justice. She took the opportunity to go to the fields to investigate and estimate the crop yield.
More than a hundred people crowded around an open space. Jiang Yushu slowly scanned the area.
In the middle of the vast crop fields on the plain farmland, a patch of potatoes had been pulled out and the plants were scattered in disorder. There were several cloth bags on the ground, and dozens of potatoes rolled out of the bags, the largest of which was no bigger than half a fist.
The middle-aged man squatted down, picked up a small potato, held it high, and said with great sorrow: "Sir, look, the potato was growing, but before it was ripe, it was destroyed by the thief."
The old woman blurted out, "Who are you scolding? This is my family's land! Humph, you must have thought my family was extinct, so you took advantage of the chaos and easily gained thirty acres. You are so happy, but you pity me, an orphan and a widow. I have no food to eat and I am almost starving to death."
"Bullshit! The land may be yours, but we grew the crops." The middle-aged man's wife, unable to bear it any longer, choked with sobs and cursed, "I've carefully calculated. So far, we've compensated your family with 1,500 kilograms of grain and two taels of silver, plus when we helped build the house, and you haven't even offered a meal in thanks. Isn't that enough?"
"Be greedy and waste food, or you'll be struck by lightning!"
"Bah! You bully others by taking advantage of your power and bullying orphans and widows. Be careful of retribution!"
The yamen runners had dark faces and shouted impatiently, "What are you arguing about? Shut up!"
"You were yelling and shouting in front of the magistrate. You don't know the rules at all."
Jiang Yushu was concentrating on observing the scattered plants and potatoes, and ordered the guards to dig up a few on the spot, examine the ridges, and silently estimate the harvest.
Li Qigong finally squeezed in beside her, holding a potato in his hand. He plucked a potato and said, "Alas, it's too small, and it's not yet ripe. Now it's being stolen, which is really a waste of food." After speaking, he asked tentatively, "Your Excellency is so focused, have you found evidence of theft?"
"Evidence? I haven't found any yet. I just wanted to see what Tuning's potatoes looked like." Jiang Yushu didn't even look up as she instructed, "Since the plaintiff claims to have eyewitnesses, Li Dianshi, you should carefully question the villagers nearby. There's no need to bring this case to court; once we have a clear understanding, we can make a judgment."
"Yes." Li Qigong had no choice but to stand up and said, "I will go and interrogate him immediately!"
Jiang Yushu worked for a long time, not caring about the dust on the hem of her official robe. She clapped her hands in satisfaction and praised, "Look, the ridges are straight, evenly spaced, and there are few weeds. The plaintiff's family has taken good care of their crops. This autumn's harvest should be good!"
The middle-aged man couldn't help but smile, and then he said respectfully, "This piece of land was allowed to be cultivated by the government, and the seeds were distributed by the government. I dare not neglect to cultivate it carefully, and I have no intention of usurping it. It's just that I have a large family and a lot of food, so I have to work hard to get it."
At this time, Li Qigong returned to report: "Your Excellency, I have interrogated and found out that three villagers witnessed the defendant and his grandson stealing the plaintiff's crops, and this happened more than once."
"Yes! This is the fourth time today," the middle-aged man said angrily. "Your Excellency, you don't know. She is greedy and shameless. She takes advantage of her age and bullies us honest people and steals things openly."
"You, you are talking nonsense." The old woman was speechless. The whole family blushed, shrank back, and were annoyed and panicked.
Cuimei handed over the handkerchief, and Jiang Yushu took it, slowly wiping her hands. She thought to herself: "The Daigen Order, though well-intentioned, is too crude. The regulations weren't rigorous enough, and problems arose as soon as they were implemented. Ultimately, it was the government's fault."
She thought for a moment, then asked seriously, "Defendant, three villagers have testified that you stole the plaintiff's crops multiple times. Do you admit this? If you insist you didn't steal, then we can only go to court to argue."
"I, I—" The old woman's knees gave way, and she fell to her knees, her face pale as she sobbed, "I have no choice. My grandson is starving and crying. I can't just watch them starve to death. If you want to punish me, please only punish me. It's all my fault. For the sake of the children, I had no choice but to take some food from his family."
People tend to sympathize with the weak. Seeing this, the onlookers murmured, "Ah, she's old, and it's not easy for her to steal food to feed her grandchildren."
"Yeah, her family has had a hard time."
"As long as she doesn't steal again in the future, it's better to forget it."
"You can't write two 'Jing' characters with one stroke. We are from the same village, so we shouldn't quarrel with each other."
…
The middle-aged man and his family gnashed their teeth, but amidst the sympathetic looks and comments of many villagers, they suppressed their anger and did not continue to scold.
Before becoming an official, Jiang Yushu was very disgusted with the government's practice of "giving each party fifty lashes and trying to smooth things over", but after becoming an official, she became more and more aware of the following:
Not to mention the county magistrate, even the prefect, the governor, the princes and nobles... and even the emperor, when governing or upholding justice, must not only consider his own ideas, but should put the overall situation first, weigh all aspects, and choose the most appropriate decision.
She looked at the plaintiff, then at the defendant, and said sternly, "So, you admit that you did commit theft. According to the law, I must punish you to uphold justice."
"ah?"
"Oh, it's over, she's probably going to be beaten." The onlookers, who had just sympathized with the plaintiff, now felt pity for the defendant and whispered: This female magistrate is so cruel!
"Sir, I know I was wrong. I really didn't steal on purpose. Please forgive me this time!" The old woman knelt in the field and kowtowed continuously, and her family members also begged bitterly.
Jiang Yushu stood solemnly, pondering in silence.
Li Qigong leaned closer and whispered, "Well, it's not appropriate to punish an old woman in public. In my humble opinion, it would be better to order her son to take the blame on her behalf, to make an example of her. What do you think, Your Excellency?"
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