Aunt Gui saw that the doctor's face had changed. She coughed twice and asked, "Cough, cough, doctor, what's wrong with me? I was caught in a cold by accident a few years ago and have been feeling very uncomfortable ever since. I asked the doctor to see me a few days ago and he said I had caught a cold. I took several prescriptions but it didn't get better. My cough is getting worse. I feel like I'm going to cough my heart out."

After talking for such a long time, Aunt Gui started coughing again. She coughed so hard that she covered her mouth with a handkerchief. When she removed the handkerchief from her mouth, she saw a few spots of blood on it.

Seeing the bloodstains on the handkerchief, the old doctor's forehead was covered with sweat.

Aunt Gui was not too alarmed when she saw the blood on the handkerchief. Her daughter had told her before that after using the ointment, in addition to these symptoms, the teeth would also bleed a little, which was normal. She told her not to worry, and that after returning to the Pei family, the ointment would not be used anymore. She would just have to wait for a few days for the medicinal properties to wear off and everything would be fine.

So the blood on the handkerchief is actually from the teeth.

The girl said that this idea was thought up by Yu Niang, and she asked Xuan Ge'er about it, and Xuan Ge'er also thought it was feasible.

That is, she was asked to pretend to have tuberculosis. Of course, how could she pretend to have tuberculosis? Once the doctor came to take her pulse and look at her symptoms, he would know that it was not her. So she had to have real symptoms of tuberculosis in order to deceive the doctor and the Wen family, and make Old Lady Wen write a letter to let her go.

Xuan Ge'er knows medicine. When she applies the ointments he made under her armpits, she develops symptoms of tuberculosis. However, she does not really have tuberculosis, the symptoms are just the same.

"Doctor?" Aunt Gui held her handkerchief in her hand, looking a little scared. "Cough, cough, why am I coughing up blood?"

"Hey, this..." The old doctor's face was pale and sweaty. "I, I'll go out and talk to your family's owner first, and see if I can get you some medicine."

After the old doctor finished speaking, he picked up the box and ran out. When he came to the yard, the old doctor's face was not very good. The symptoms of the old concubine in the ear room were exactly the same as tuberculosis. Seeing that she lived in the ear room in such a big house, and there were no other servants, and she was still a concubine, it was obvious that she was not liked by the master of the house. She must have often done hard and tiring work, and it was easy to get tuberculosis if she was overworked.

Tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease. Although it is not as terrible as the plague, it is also a disease that doctors are more afraid of.

Aunt Bai was still standing in the courtyard. When she saw the doctor coming out, she hurried over to ask, "Doctor, is my sister okay? She has been coughing for almost a month, and she hasn't gotten better even after taking several prescriptions."

The old doctor whispered a few words, and Aunt Bai's face changed.

After the old doctor went to see the old lady of the Wen family, Aunt Bai went to the ear room without any hesitation. She saw Aunt Gui lying on the bed with a pale and sickly face. Her eyes suddenly turned red.

That's tuberculosis. I'm afraid the old lady and the old lady won't care at all. They might even have Aunt Gui thrown out.

If the Pei family also gives up, what will Aunt Gui do in the future?

Aunt Bai had never interacted with the Pei family, so naturally she didn't believe that the Pei family would take a patient with tuberculosis back home.

Seeing Aunt Bai's expression, Aunt Gui knew that she had already learned from the doctor that she had tuberculosis, but she still came in.

Aunt Gui's eyes also turned red. She looked at Aunt Bai firmly and said, "Sister, don't worry. I'm fine."

Aunt Bai is smart, and she knows that Aunt Bai can understand what she means.

But she couldn't say it clearly, she just asked Aunt Bai not to worry about her.

At this moment, Aunt Bai vaguely understood something. They had been together for more than 30 years and their relationship was better than that of many sisters. They had supported each other for so many years. She roughly knew what Aunt Gui meant, and might not have figured out the key point, but she already knew what to do.

Aunt Bai said, "No matter what, you should take a good rest first. I'll go to the front yard to take a look."

Aunt Gui nodded.

When Aunt Bai left, she slowly walked towards the main courtyard along the nine-turn corridor.

When they arrived at the main courtyard, Old Master Wen and Madam Wen were both there. Their faces were not only ugly, but also shocked, angry and upset. They must have learned about Aunt Gui's illness from the old doctor.

When Old Lady Wen saw Aunt Bai, she immediately asked, "Have you been to see Aunt Gui? How is she?"

Aunt Bai stammered, "Old, old man, the doctor said that my sister had tuberculosis. How could I dare to go into the ear room? I just stood outside and asked a few questions. Aunt Gui kept coughing and didn't say a word. So I came here." Finally, she added, "Don't worry, old man. I haven't visited Aunt Gui in the past few days." The implication was that she would not be infected.

In the past few days, because Aunt Gui had a severe cough, Old Lady Wen was afraid that she would cough saliva into the kitchen while cooking, so she did not allow her to enter the kitchen and stayed in the side room to watch the door.

Old Master Wen was so shocked by Aunt Bai's words.

He couldn't help but ask the doctor, "Is it really tuberculosis?"

The old doctor nodded and said, "The symptoms and pulse are almost the same. If you are still worried, you can find another doctor to take a look at the concubine. I will prescribe some medicine first. You can take it and try it when you get it back."

Mrs. Wen couldn't help but said with a droopy face, "If it's tuberculosis, what's the point of prescribing medicine? Maybe it will spread to everyone in the mansion."

After saying that, she went to see the old lady and said, "Old lady, if this is really tuberculosis, what should we do?"

After hearing that Old Lady Wen said nothing, she sent the doctor away and asked another doctor to come and take Aunt Gui's pulse.

When the doctor came out of the side room, his complexion was similar to that of the previous doctor, and the final diagnosis was also tuberculosis, with similar symptoms and pulse.

Old Lady Wen was completely convinced that Aunt Gui was suffering from tuberculosis. She must have suffered a lot during the exile and did not get enough rest after coming here, so she developed tuberculosis.

Mrs. Wen was extremely anxious, "Old lady, what should we do? We should send Aunt Gui away as soon as possible."

We can't let everyone in the mansion get sick.

"Nonsense." Old Lady Wen was afraid of what others might say, "How can we throw our aunt out of the house just because she is sick? How will others look at us?"

Mrs. Wen was not willing to give in. Old Master Wen was annoyed and finally shouted, "Then go and call the second sister back, and take Aunt Gui to live in the Pei family for a while."

The second sister is Wen, and she is the second daughter of Old Lady Wen.

Old Lady Wen spat on the ground, "Second sister is so cruel. She hasn't come for a while. Before, she often visited her aunt under the pretext of washing clothes in the mansion. Since she knew that her aunt was ill, she has come less often. It's true that there is no filial son in front of a long-term sick bed." She also said to Aunt Bai, "You better be strict with your mouth. When Second Sister comes back later, don't tell her that her aunt has tuberculosis."

Aunt Bai nodded timidly.

Old Madam Wen didn't want people from the first and second houses to go to places like Guihua Lane to call for help, so she asked Wen Shuncheng, the illegitimate grandson of the third house, to run an errand.

Wen Shuncheng didn't want to go, but his grandfather had spoken.

He also asked his grandfather why he was going to look for his aunt, but his grandfather didn't tell him and told him not to worry about it and to quickly go and call his second aunt back.

The Wen family knew that the second sister lived with the Pei family in Guihua Lane.

Wen Shuncheng ran to Osmanthus Alley. He didn't know the exact location of his second aunt's house, but he asked in the alley and the neighbors told him enthusiastically, "Walk toward the inside of the alley. The one with the hot steam coming out of the yard is the one that smells the best."

It was noon, and Xu Qinyu was cooking fish balls in the yard.

Hearing a knock on the door, she went over to check and found a boy who was a teenager. She recognized him as a boy from the third branch of the Wen family, but she was not sure his name.

"Are you from the Wen family?" Xu Qinyu asked.

Wen Shuncheng smelled the fragrance and drooled. "I'm Cheng'er, from the third branch of the Wen family. My grandfather asked me to call my second aunt over. It seems that Aunt Gui is sick."

He is thirteen years old this year, a grown boy. Although the food in the mansion is not tasty, he eats a lot to fill his stomach, but there is not much oil in it, so he feels hungry after eating.

The other two families could often go out to find some food, but the third family had no money. His great aunt would occasionally secretly give him some silver, but not much, probably because she was afraid that his grandparents would find out. So he was hungry most of the time. Since coming to the border, he had never smelled such delicious food.

He controlled himself and didn't look at the big pot in the yard.

Xu Qinyu knew clearly that it was because Aunt Gui's symptoms had appeared that the Wen family had invited a doctor, thinking that Aunt Gui had tuberculosis. Now they were definitely unwilling to let Aunt Gui stay in the Pei family any longer.

But seeing this, I'm afraid he doesn't want to write a letter to release me, and wants Mrs. Wen to take Concubine Gui back first.

She had anticipated these situations and had discussed them with the Wen family long ago.

"Mom, someone from the Wen family is here."

Xu Qinyu turned around and shouted towards the west room.

Mrs. Wen came out of the room. She was sorting out the scraps of fur and cloth.

Last time, the bags she and Ning Jie'er made were actually bought the next day. Each bag was sold for one or two taels of silver, but they were still sold out.

You have to know that these fur scraps are only ten or so cents.

She and Sister Ning are good at needlework. I don't know how the stitches were made, but they are very dense and you can't tell that they are spliced ​​together at all. The inside of the cloth bag is not leather, but a lining made of large pieces of yarn scraps.

The two small fur bags were indeed very beautiful and cute. When they were made, even Ning Jie'er and Xu Qinyu couldn't let them go.

They worked on those two bags for several days, and they took their time to complete the task.

I am planning to make a second bag now.

Each bag is different, and we strive to make it a unique style.

This is also what Xu Qinyu told Wen and Ning Jie'er, that it must be unique.

This time, it was Ning Jie'er who came up with the idea herself. Xu Qinyu saw it and thought it was very cute too.

Wen came out and saw Wen Shuncheng and said, "Brother Cheng, why are you here?"

Wen Shuncheng briefly explained, and Wen frowned and said, "I have work to do myself. Okay, I'll go with you to take a look."

When they arrived at the Wen family, Mrs. Wen was also a little anxious. "Father, mother, why did you call me back? There is a lot of work to do at home. I have to go back quickly."

Old Lady Wen coughed and said, "It's like this, Second Sister, your aunt isn't feeling well and misses you, so I was thinking, why don't you take your aunt back to live with you for a while."

Mrs. Wen frowned, "But my family only has a shabby yard, crammed with six people, where is the place for Auntie to live? And what is wrong with Auntie? She seemed to have a cough before the New Year? Father, have you asked a doctor? What did the doctor say?"

"It's just that I have a cold, plus a heart disease, that's why I haven't been feeling well. It's probably because I missed you too much." Old Lady Wen avoided her gaze.

He had just told the two legitimate sons of the first and second wives about Aunt Gui's tuberculosis, and the third wife was still keeping it a secret. He also warned Aunt Bai not to tell anyone else, not even Aunt Gui.

Wen said, "Then I'll go see my aunt first."

She tiptoed over to the side room.

Now, Old Lady Wen and the others no longer enter or exit through the main gate, but go directly through the side door.

On the way, Wen was still thinking of an excuse to tell her that Gui had contracted tuberculosis. She was worried that the disease would be passed on to her family, so she was unwilling to take Gui back.

Before I even reached the second room, I saw Aunt Bai.

Aunt Bai had actually figured it out. If Aunt Gui didn't really have tuberculosis, then she was just acting.

But who was this performance for? Only for the Wen family.

Then this scene is not simple, it should be that Aunt Gui and the Pei family have colluded long ago, which means that the Pei family has not abandoned Aunt Gui, and has long wanted to take Aunt Gui away, and they want Aunt Gui to leave when she has no other concerns, and they want Old Lady Wen to release her as a concubine!

So she had to help in the middle! She also hoped that the Pei family would help Aunt Gui escape from the sea of ​​suffering as soon as possible.

Aunt Gui's life in the Wen family was much more miserable than hers.

Aunt Bai gave Mrs. Wen a wink.

Wen Shi also understood, and stepped forward and said, "Aunt Bai, why are you here? My aunt has been ill recently, and I haven't visited her for some time. How is my aunt? What disease did my aunt have? When I asked my father and mother, they said it was a heart disease."

Aunt Bai hesitated, "No, I, I didn't go to the wing, I was just passing by, I don't know what disease your aunt has, no, no, your aunt seems to have a cold, she will be fine after a few days of rest."

"Then Auntie, come over and take a look with me. I remember that Auntie likes to talk to you, Auntie Bai."

Aunt Bai's face changed drastically. "Well, well, I have something else to do. I won't go to the side room."

Wen found something strange and pulled Aunt Bai to her side, "Aunt Bai, why do you look so pale?"

The two of them pulled each other for a while, and Wen felt something was wrong. She questioned Aunt Bai and insisted on dragging Aunt Bai to the ear room.

Aunt Bai screamed in fear, and finally shouted: "Tuberculosis, your aunt has tuberculosis."

Wen naturally did not go to the side room and returned to the main courtyard angrily.

Of course, she couldn't directly blame the two elders of the Wen family. She just cried and blamed her parents for hiding the fact that her aunt had tuberculosis. She also said, "Even if I want to take my aunt back, it's not possible. There are only children at home. If I take my aunt back, what if she spreads the disease to the children at home? Besides, Brother Xuan is the head of the family. I can't make this decision."

After saying this, Wen also returned from the side door.

Even if she was still worried about Aunt Gui, she knew that she had no choice but to endure it now.

Old Master Wen and Old Lady Wen didn't know how Mrs. Wen knew that Aunt Gui had tuberculosis.

Seeing Aunt Bai standing outside the yard hesitantly, he called her in and asked her, and it turned out that it was Aunt Bai who told the truth.

Aunt Bai cried, "My second sister insisted on taking me to the side room. Even the old lady and the old lady didn't dare to go there, so how could I dare to go there..."

Old Lady Wen was almost mad to death, "How can your life be compared with ours? If you can't get rid of Aunt Gui, you will have to serve her every day!"

Aunt Bai muttered, "No matter what, Aunt Gui is my second sister's aunt. Tuberculosis is terrible. The longer Aunt Gui stays in the mansion, the more likely people in the mansion will be infected with tuberculosis. It would be better to write a letter of release and throw Aunt Gui to the doorstep of the Pei family."

Old Lady Wen was a little hesitant and finally said nothing.

But no one could come up with an idea for the time being, as no one in the mansion was willing to go to the ear room.

When Wen returned home, she told her family about the progress. Her heart was still pounding. "Fortunately, Aunt Bai helped me. Aunt Bai should have known that Aunt was faking illness, but she probably didn't know the specific situation."

Seeing that no one was talking, Mrs. Wen said quickly, "Don't worry, Yu Niang and Xuan'er. Aunt Bai and Aunt Gui have a very good relationship. Old Madam Wen doesn't know that they are so close in private." Aunt Bai treated her very well and gently when she was a child.

It seems that Aunt Bai from the Wen Mansion also contributed.

Mrs. Wen also briefly talked about the situation of the third branch. Upon learning that the third branch was different from the other two branches, Xu Qinyu couldn't help but sigh that a friend in need is a friend indeed. She also hoped that the third branch of the Wen family would be successful in the future and that they could separate from the family in the future. Otherwise, the third branch would just be servants doing work in the Wen family.

Pei Weixuan said slowly: "Now we can only wait. The Wen family will probably be anxious in a few days."

Xu Qinyu nodded in agreement. Now all she could do was wait. As long as she heard the old lady write a letter to release her as a concubine, everything would be easy to deal with even if they fell out at that time.

…

The Wen family was in a state of panic. The third room cooked some food in the evening, but the whole family could not eat it.

At this time, the Wen family basically knew that Aunt Gui had contracted tuberculosis. Wen Lingling frowned, knowing that Wen Shuncheng had gone to Pei's house in the afternoon, and asked him, "Did you see what your fourth sister-in-law was doing at home?"

She just thought it was a little weird.

"Nothing." Wen Shuncheng played dumb, "I just saw Fourth Sister-in-law cooking fish in a big pot, and the yard was full of fish scales and dirty internal organs from killed fish, it stank very much." He didn't want to tell the Wen family that the food Fourth Sister-in-law cooked was delicious.

After hearing this, Wen Lingling lost all her appetite and even felt a little nauseous.

As they were eating, they heard two coughs outside, and Aunt Gui's weak voice, "Old man, old lady, I'm so hungry, cough cough..."

The Wen family members were so frightened that their faces turned pale. Mrs. Wen screamed, "Why did she come here?"

Aunt Bai said weakly, "No one brought her food, Aunt Gui seems to have not eaten all day."

"Can't you send her some food?" Old Lady Wen was so angry that she almost fainted.

Aunt Bai stopped talking.

Old Lady Wen's face turned pale, and she finally said to Aunt Bai, "You, you should quickly pack some food for her."

Then he shouted outside, "Don't come in, wait outside first."

Aunt Gui didn't really go in to scare them, but stood outside waiting.

Aunt Bai packed some food and put it under the corridor, asking Aunt Gui to come and get it herself.

Aunt Gui came over and took the food box, then went back to the ear room with a hunched back and coughing.

A few days passed like this, and it was Aunt Bai who brought food to Aunt Gui. It was Old Lady Wen who forced her to do so. Aunt Bai did not dare to go too close when bringing food to Aunt Gui. She would just put the food box under the corridor and hurry back.

This is not a solution at all. Mr. Wen and Mrs. Wen are worried to death.

Old Lady Wen even suggested that Aunt Gui be taken directly to the Pei family.

Old Lady Wen glared at her and said, "Who will carry it? You? Or let the third room carry it? Who of them would be willing to carry it? Even if she really did carry it, would the Pei family be willing to take it? She is my concubine after all. If she goes to the government and makes a scene, I will be the one who is embarrassed."

The old lady looked worried, "Then tell me, old lady, what should we do?"

Tuberculosis is highly contagious and it is impossible to die in a short period of time. Some people can survive for a year or two.

Aunt Bai thought for a moment, "Old Master, Old Madam, I think it would be better to tell Aunt Gui that she has tuberculosis and let her make her own choice. If she stays in the mansion, everyone is afraid of her and doesn't want to take care of her. I'm afraid she won't have much of a future. If we give her a concubine certificate and some money for medicine and let her go back to the Pei family, then she can take the concubine certificate and go to the Pei family on her own and let her daughter and grandson take care of her. It will definitely be better than staying in the mansion. As long as Aunt Gui is willing to stay in the Pei family, it will be useless even if the Pei family reports her to the government."

After giving the letter of release, Aunt Gui no longer had any relationship with the Pei family.

After hearing this, Old Lady Wen nodded immediately. She had not been kind to Aunt Gui in the past, and she was afraid that if Aunt Gui knew that she had tuberculosis, she would die if she stayed in the mansion. Maybe she would be willing to go to the Pei family in order to survive.

Even if she has to force her, she must drive Concubine Gui away. Now, Old Lady Wen thinks that Concubine Gui is a plague and just wants to send her away as soon as possible. Why is there any need to torture her any more? If she continues to torture her, she might get tuberculosis.

In the end, Old Lady Wen decided to tell Aunt Gui the truth and let her make her own choice.

He went to the ear room in person, of course, but he did not go to the ear room. He just stood under the corridor in the distance and called Aunt Gui twice.

When Aunt Gui came out of the ear room, she looked extremely old, with wrinkles all over her face, a hunched back, a thin body, and she was still coughing. These symptoms could not be faked at all!

Old Lady Wen stood far away and told Aunt Gui that she had contracted tuberculosis. Finally, she said that if she was willing, she would give her some money and a letter of release from concubinehood and let her return to the Pei family. She said that maybe she could get better by recuperating in the Pei family. Of course, these words were meant to deceive Aunt Gui. People with tuberculosis basically could only wait to die.

After hearing this, Aunt Gui cried sadly. In the end, she did not directly agree to let Old Lady Wen take the letter and leave. She just asked her to think about it for one night.

Both Old Master Wen and Old Madam Wen were extremely anxious.

It was heard that the old lady scolded Aunt Gui while she was sleeping.

Fortunately, the next morning, Aunt Gui asked Aunt Bai to tell Old Master Wen that she was willing to take the money and release the concubine and leave.

Old Lady Wen wrote two copies of the letter to release the concubine, sealed both copies with his own handprints, and gave twenty taels of silver, asking Aunt Bai to deliver the two copies of the letter and the silver to the ear room.

Looking at the two ingots and ten taels of silver, Aunt Bai felt disdainful in her heart, as if she was giving away a beggar.

Over the years, he had made a lot of money by taking advantage of his second sister being the empress.

But Aunt Gui was finally able to leave.

Aunt Bai took the silver and the concubine's letter to the ear room, but as usual she did not enter the ear room. She just stood far away and called Aunt Gui.

When Aunt Gui came out, she put the letter of relinquishment and the silver on the ground and asked her to put her fingerprints on them. Then she could take one of the letters of relinquishment and leave.

Aunt Bai stepped back, and Aunt Gui stepped forward and pressed her fingerprints on the two letters of release as concubines. She folded one of them and put it on her body. She also put the silver on her body, and finally left the Wen family.

Before leaving, Aunt Gui glanced at Aunt Bai with tears in her eyes.

The same is true for Aunt Bai. It’s great that Aunt Gui can finally leave this disgusting house.

I hope that one day, their three branches can separate smoothly and she can leave this broken place.

…

In Osmanthus Lane, Xu Qinyu was washing fat intestines after breakfast.

Before breakfast, Tian the butcher came over and delivered three pieces of offal, and took away the pig intestines she had salted, asking his wife to sell them at the braised meat stall.

The halogen sausages were selling very well. Three pieces of halogen sausages a day weighed about 17 or 18 kilograms, and they were all sold out. Xu Qinyu did not plan to sell more. It would be best if the customers had some left over after finishing their meal. Therefore, some customers could not buy yet and had to go buy them early the next day.

Mr. Ganghe also brought all the fish over.

Now she no longer has to go to Tian the Butcher and Mr. He in person to buy offal and fish. They are delivered directly to Guihua Lane, saving her a lot of effort.

While washing pig intestines with her fourth brother at the well, Xu Qinyu saw her fourth brother raise his eyes, look outside the yard and say, "Grandma is back."

Xu Qinyu's face lit up with joy. She wiped her hands casually, went over to open the gate, and sure enough, she saw an old figure in the alley slowly walking towards them.