Gu Jinghui was truly on pins and needles.
In the past, upon hearing this, he would have immediately gone to check on the two children, putting everything else aside.
Now, however, he felt that Bai Que's sweet and soft voice was weaving a large net that would entangle him tightly if he wasn't careful.
Bai Que lowered her eyes, her long, slender neck slightly bent, waiting for the Marquis to ask her questions.
In desperation, she used her trump card.
This trump card will be effective immediately whenever it is used.
The Marquis will soon inquire about the twins.
Since she didn't report Zhao Niangzi's pretense of illness, the matter naturally faded away.
"Bai Que, you go back first and pick out a bag of the newly arrived Longjing tea to take with you."
Old Madam Gu, who had been watching coldly from the side, spoke up.
Her heart was also terribly cold; she feared she could not keep this maid any longer.
Rong Momo reprimanded Old Madam Gu, saying, "Zhao Niangzi is a guest. The Old Madam sent you to take care of her. If anything happens to the guest, it will be your dereliction of duty. Your mother and father are still in the Marquis's mansion."
Bai Que rose to express her gratitude and replied, "This servant will certainly remember and never forget."
Rong Momo waited a while and saw that she was still glancing at Gu Jinghui from time to time, obviously still expecting the Marquis to go to Fengxuan Pavilion.
It's hard to reason with a damned devil.
Rong Momo didn't say anything more and said, "Come with me."
Bai Que had no choice but to accompany Rong Momo to select tea leaves.
Madam Gu snorted coldly and said, "So this is how they manipulate you."
Gu Jinghui's face turned bright red, and he was speechless.
He's not stupid. If he still can't see it by now, then he's lived in vain.
However, Old Madam Gu had no intention of letting him off the hook, saying, "It's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away. Now you want to get Madam Zhao out of here. How difficult will that be?"
Gu Jinghui said in a low voice, "Please, Mother, think of a way for your son."
Calling someone "Mom" might be a little embarrassing at first, but it will become natural after a while.
He was completely unaware that he was also acting like a child to his mother, just like his mistress.
outhouse.
Bai Que followed Rong Momo to choose tea leaves, picking up this packet and putting down that packet, lingering there, reluctant to leave.
She strained her ears, trying to hear what was being said inside.
Rong Momo frowned and said loudly, "When you go back, don't say these things, lest Zhao Niangzi feel even more guilty. The doctor will be here soon. If you do this again, the old lady will never let you serve her again."
Bai Que nodded in response, but her eyes kept glancing towards the inner room out of the corner of her eye.
Have you made your choice?
Rong Momo tapped the table impatiently.
"I've made my choice."
"Then let's go. I have things to do right now, so I won't keep you. You should know in your heart what you should and shouldn't say when you're with Madam Zhao."
Bai Que agreed, and lingered for a while longer before finally leaving when she realized she couldn't wait any longer for the Marquis.
Rong Momo whispered, "What a shameless slut."
After leaving the main room, Bai Que hurried to Fengxuan Pavilion. Ignoring everyone else, she rushed straight into the inner room and said to Zhao Niangzi, who was lying on the bed looking sickly, "The old lady knows that you are ill and said she will call a doctor to take a look at you. She gave me a good scolding for this and said that if I do this again, she will not let me serve her anymore."
Zhao Niangzi, her face pale and her hair disheveled and draped over her shoulders, asked in a charmingly naive tone, "Is the Marquis coming?"
Bai Que shook her head: "I don't know."
Seeing that the expectation in Zhao Niangzi's eyes had dimmed, he added, "Just now I mentioned you and the young master to the Marquis, and he seemed to be in a bad mood."
Lady Zhao grasped her hand and said happily, "The Marquis dotes on them the most, so they'll probably be here soon."
Bai Que sighed, "I'm afraid your illness should be cured with just one dose of medicine from the doctor. You wouldn't think that, Lord Marquis..."
It was no easy task to make Zhao Niangzi appear pitiful due to her illness.
Previously, it was uncertain whether the Marquis would come.
Now……
As if she had thought of something, Lady Zhao said firmly, "The Marquis wouldn't think that way."
Bai Que's lips curled into a slight, ambiguous smile as she changed the subject, saying, "The old lady still cares about you, saying I haven't taken good care of you. She even asked me to choose a new tea, saying it's something the Marquis just acquired. I chose West Lake Longjing. Zhao Niangzi, please try it and see if you like it."
Zhao Niangzi said happily, "The old lady and the Marquis still remember me."
Not a single word was uttered to comfort the white sparrow.
Bai Que didn't mind, took out the tea leaves to show her, said a few more words, and then went out to get busy.
After lying on the bed for a while, Zhao Niangzi slowly got up, wet her inner garment with cold water from the copper basin on the shelf, and snuggled into the quilt.
Upstairs.
Old Madam Gu was still scolding her son: "She's only a guest now, and she's already so difficult to deal with. If she becomes your concubine, and you have two children you cherish, and your first husband was kind to you, how do you expect Yuan'er to control her? Just an empty title? She's already neglecting you before the mourning period is over, how will she respect the principal wife in the future? What mistress of a household likes having such a concubine standing in the backyard, getting in her way?"
Gu Jinghui's face grew hotter and hotter.
Madam Gu said, "You should also stay away from those two children. In the future, help Cheng-ge'er find a good future and help Yu-jie'er find a good husband. Take care of them so that they can grow up safely and smoothly, without worrying about food and clothing. With the protection of the title of adopted son and daughter of the Marquis of Dingbei, you can be considered to have done right by their father."
Madam Gu was also a daughter raised by a military family, and she witnessed firsthand how the old Marquis had weathered countless storms and bloodshed.
If you trace back three generations to the servants of those noble families, which one of them hasn't fought alongside their masters on the battlefield and made great contributions?
Gu Jinghui hesitated for a moment.
"My son watched them grow up..."
This is what it means to be reluctant to part with something.
Madam Gu sighed and said, "Think about yourself. How old were you when you started practicing martial arts? You were so small back then, not even as tall as a table leg. Your brother would wake you up at cockcrow to practice horse stance together. I couldn't bear to see you like that, and I shed two big bowls of tears. What did you say to me back then? You said that a good man should have ambitions beyond his hometown and not be greedy for the warmth of his bed."
Gu Jinghui lowered his head.
The children of the Gu family started learning martial arts at the age of four or five, and at the age of six they would go to study in the outer dormitory of the Imperial College, starting school a year earlier than children who studied literature and took the imperial examinations.
Judging by his age, Brother Cheng is old enough to enter the Imperial Academy.
Do you and your father have time to be close?
Gu Jinghui could only be close to his father on his days off. Later, his father went to the northern frontier, and the father and son did not see each other for several years.
"Boys and girls should not sit together after the age of seven. Not to mention godfathers, even biological fathers should keep their distance."
After hearing this, Gu Jinghui was speechless.
Madam Gu continued, "Zhao Niangzi first used these two children's bodies as a raft, and now she doesn't even care about her own life. She has designs on you. How can these two children grow up without illness or pain?"
“I won’t say that you’ve made Cheng Ge’er learn martial arts. Our Gu family has suffered too much. My grandson can learn martial arts to strengthen his body in the future, but he will have to achieve fame and success through the imperial examinations. Whether Cheng Ge’er wants to follow his father’s path is up to them to decide. No matter what they choose, the Gu family will do its best to help him.”
Hearing these words, Gu Jinghui felt uneasy and the places where his mother had hit him hurt even more.
Old Madam Gu even asked him, "Why don't you say something?"
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