In the middle of the night, Zhiping Courtyard suddenly became chaotic, and Baoxia hurriedly came to the main courtyard.
The lights in the courtyard had all been turned off by now. The old woman guarding the gate panicked when she heard that her cousin was feverish and unconscious, and hurriedly sent word inside.
Yi Hong was on night duty that night. Upon hearing about this, she dared not delay and hurriedly went to the inner room to report.
Having encountered a series of problems in the past two days, Ms. Qian had been sleeping very restlessly. Upon hearing the noise, she immediately lifted the bed curtains and sat up.
Yi Hong stepped forward and explained the situation. Upon hearing this, Madam Qian was greatly alarmed and immediately ordered her to light the lamp. She then put on an outer robe and ordered her to bring Xia in.
When she heard that Qian Zhiqing was delirious with fever and talking nonsense, she immediately became anxious and ordered someone to go to the front yard to call the steward to fetch a doctor. After thinking for a moment, she was still worried, so she dressed and rushed to Zhiping Courtyard with her men.
In the dead of night, when everything was already quiet, Qian's commotion alarmed most of the Marquis's residence.
In Liuxiang Courtyard, a young maid dressed in coarse cloth quietly approached the door, whispered a few words to the head maid Yunxia, and then disappeared into the shadows.
Yunxia strode into the room and gently lifted the brocade curtain.
Aunt Liu caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, got up and went to the door, asking in a low voice, "What's going on?"
Yunxia quietly recounted what she had just heard about Zhiping Courtyard. Aunt Liu pursed her lips, waved her hand, and turned back to bed.
Zhu Xiancai had just finished a hearty meal and was lazily savoring the taste when he saw Aunt Liu return. He quickly put his arm around her and pulled her into his arms, asking, "What's wrong?"
Aunt Liu nestled obediently into his arms and whispered, "There's been a commotion in the main courtyard for some reason. I wonder if Yunxia is alright. Would you like to go and check on her, Your Excellency?"
Upon hearing about the Qian family, Zhu Xian frowned.
Aunt Liu, with her keen perception of his emotions, smiled and said, "It seems there's something important on your mind. Perhaps I should send Yunxia over to take a look?"
Aunt Liu is an extremely clever and tactful person. From her two sentences just now, it was clear that she not only made it clear that she had not been spying on the front yard, but also implied that something was happening in the front yard. However, she did not hide it, thus demonstrating her openness and honesty.
Zhu Xian was most pleased with this about her; she was sensible, well-behaved, and had a good temperament, which is why he had always doted on her over the years.
“No need. If anything serious happens, Madam Qian will send someone to report. It’s getting late, let’s rest,” Zhu Xian said, leaning forward and smilingly lifting Aunt Liu’s inner garment, ready for another round.
Aunt Liu gave a shy, reproachful sound, the lamp went out silently, and the bed curtains rose and fell without any wind.
In a side courtyard of Beining Garden, Zheng Ziran heard the commotion and whispered into the dark room, "What's going on?"
Someone hurried out of the door and returned a moment later, saying, "It's the commotion from Zhiping Courtyard. They say that Miss Biao suddenly developed a fever and is now unconscious."
Zheng Ziran snorted, thinking to himself, "I knew Qian Zhiqing wouldn't give up."
Thinking of the filthy blood flowing in her veins, Zheng Ziran felt disgusted and said coldly, "Go and find out what happened. She was fine this afternoon, how did she suddenly become so sick?"
The footsteps outside the door faded into the distance.
Zheng Ziran lay back down, closed his eyes, and lay there for a while, but the sleepiness he had finally managed to cultivate was completely gone.
Thinking that this matter was related to the person living in front, he simply got up abruptly, lit a lamp, and went to the front to wake up the person who had already fallen into a deep sleep, forcing him to play chess with him.
As the sky gradually turned pale white, Zhu Yi yawned helplessly and said to Zheng Ziran, who was spinning the chess pieces and refusing to make a move, "Why don't you study it slowly for a while, I'm going to take a break."
Zheng Ziran gave him a disdainful look, threw away the chess piece, and said, "I'm too lazy to talk to you on paper."
Zhu Yi scoffed, didn't argue with him, and went straight back to the inner room to sleep.
Zheng Ziran angrily scrambled the chess pieces and said, "You just know how to mess with me."
Dan Cai stepped forward, curtsied, and said, "Third Master, do you need to remember this game?"
Zheng Ziran glared, "There's no winner or loser yet, what's the point of recording it?"
Dan Cai quickly restored the moved pieces and said methodically, "Black's position is already weakened. According to the pattern of your game with the young master, the outcome will be decided within five moves."
Zheng Ziran was so angry that he almost fell over. His finger trembled as he pointed at Dan Cai, and he was speechless for a long time.
Dan Cai, her eyes still lowered, said expressionlessly, "Really, you don't need to remember?"
Zheng Ziran snorted and said, "Whatever, am I someone who can't accept defeat?" After saying that, he jumped up from the chair, flicked his sleeves, and went back to his room to catch up on his sleep.
Dan Cai honestly took out the booklet and marked it again on the rows of vertical lines.
As the sun rose higher, Zheng Ziran had a good dream, but when he woke up, he heard all the commotion about Zhiping Courtyard from the previous day.
Upon hearing that the courtyard had drawn several buckets of well water in succession, he sneered, "Since she likes drinking bitter leaves so much, let her drink them for a while longer."
The maid with ordinary features bowed and withdrew.
Since that day, the medicine packets sent to Zhiping Courtyard have never stopped. The bitter and unpleasant smell of medicine lingers in the air above the courtyard, as if it has been frozen in time.
Meanwhile, the agenda for a marriage alliance between the Marquis of Changqing's mansion and the Earl of Ningyuan's mansion was gradually raised. Zhu Xian felt that his son was getting on in years, and since he was already engaged, he should start studying early so as not to delay him from having a grandson.
Having witnessed Zhu Xianwei's prowess, and knowing that Zhu Yi was unwilling to take Zhiqing as a concubine anyway, Qian felt that this new bride was none of her concern, so she didn't care when the wedding would take place. Instead, she simply asked Quanfuren to go to the Earl's residence to exchange the wedding invitations.
By the time Qian Zhiqing was able to get out of bed, the two families had already discussed the wedding date.
When she learned that the date was set for June 18th, her heart raced. She couldn't hold it in and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood, which frightened Lan Qiu and Bao Xia so much that their faces turned pale. They rushed to fetch a doctor.
When the news reached Beining Garden, Zheng Ziran chuckled.
For years, that girl from Zhiping Courtyard has been pretending to be well-behaved and docile as a cousin. Shouldn't she be unable to keep it up now?
When Zhu Yi heard that Qian Zhiqing was ill, he asked her about it several times with concern. He was relieved to hear that she was alright.
March arrived in the blink of an eye, and the third day of the third lunar month was the Shangsi Festival.
On that day, almost all the daughters of Kyoto went out with their brothers to the annual pond-side festival.
Shi Lan was no exception, as this was her first and last time participating as an unmarried daughter. Madam Wang attached great importance to this and specially invited the skilled embroiderers of Jiecaifang in Kyoto to create a complete set of dresses with camellias as the main theme.
Because Shi Lan is young and prefers light colors, the colors are mainly pink, ranging from a light, bright white like pear blossoms to a vibrant pink like peach blossoms, encompassing all levels. The skirt has twenty-four panels, so when you wear it, the skirt will lightly spread out with just a slight sway, and the lifelike petals will bloom, with a faint fragrance drifting into the air.
As the sun rose above the eaves, Shi Xu, along with his younger siblings dressed in their finest attire, happily left the mansion.
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