Facing the gazes from all around, Xia Tong simply lowered her head and said softly, "Tong'er has not lived in the capital since she was young, so I'm afraid she doesn't understand the rules of the palace. I won't cause trouble for grandma this time."
A delicate and respectful voice rang in everyone's ears, but Xia Min curled the corners of her mouth slightly, thinking that this country bumpkin was quite tactful.
The old lady raised her eyes, and a gleam of light flashed in her cloudy old eyes. "You are from the Xiahou Mansion, you should go out and see the world."
"Grandma..." Xia Min's expression changed.
"I will ask Madam Liu to teach you the rules of the palace in the next few days. You should be well prepared." The old lady said calmly.
Xia Min wanted to say something with an unwilling look on her face, but Zhang held her arm tightly. For a moment, she could only swallow all her unwillingness and glared at Xia Tong fiercely.
Xia Tong didn't expect the old lady to let her go. She was stunned for a moment. When she was about to say something else, the old lady waved her hand and asked them to leave.
After leaving the yard, Xia Min couldn't help but spit at the figure walking away in front of her, "What kind of a country bumpkin is that? I don't know what grandma is thinking. Aren't you afraid of losing face for our Xiahou Mansion?"
Before leaving the yard, Xia Ning, who was walking beside them, couldn't help but look around and said, "Keep your voice down. Grandmother must have her own ideas."
"What's the point? You're just attracted by the bumpkin's appearance. She's just like her mother, not a good person!" Xia Min snorted indifferently.
Under the moonlight, Xia Ning looked back. The maid who followed her immediately took a few steps back and dared not move forward. Seeing this, she looked at her sister leisurely, "There is nothing we can do about it. Who told me that my fourth sister is so beautiful?"
At this point, Xia Min became even angrier, and her voice rose unconsciously, "If I didn't have that face to look at her..."
At this point she suddenly paused, as if she had thought of something, and the corners of her mouth gradually curled up in a strange arc, looking unusually cold under the moonlight.
——
When Xia Tong returned to her room, she felt terrible. She had just escaped from a tiger's mouth, and now she had to go to someone's house to die. Maybe the person had forgotten her existence. If she went up and hung around, by the time the person remembered her, she would definitely be braised like the fish.
Xia Tong understood the old lady's thoughts, but in the finale, several princes had a bad ending. The hero, who was the prince, was the heroine's, so it would not be good to let her compete with the heroine for the man, otherwise she would definitely become cannon fodder faster.
Being surrounded by enemies on all sides described her current situation. Lying on the large carved bed, Xia Tong stared blankly at the ceiling for a long time. She decided to find a way not to go to the Queen Mother's birthday banquet.
But when she woke up the next day, the old lady had already sent Nanny Liu to teach her the rules of the palace. Fortunately, this Nanny was quite polite. But even so, she still listened attentively to what she said for the whole morning.
It was not until noon that she was finally able to rest. The room was so cool from the ice that it made her drowsy.
"Miss, you'd better be patient for a few days. This place is different from Suzhou. Something bad might happen in the palace if you are not careful." Qing'er walked in with food.
Xia Tong leaned back on the chaise longue, fanning herself leisurely, and sighed, "Of course I know these are good for me, but...ah...you don't understand..."
Sighing, she turned her gaze towards the food on the table and paused, "What's that red thing?"
There was a bowl of liquid red soup on the table. Qing'er just smiled and explained, "I heard that this is a summer-cooling sweet soup in Beijing. It's made from a fruit called red cherry. Other girls like to drink it. When I went to the kitchen, the cook gave me a bowl. Would you like to try it first?"
The sweet soup looked quite delicious. Xia Tong came to the table and sat down, fanning herself with a round fan. She didn't know what she was thinking about, but she suddenly froze when looking at the bowl of sweet soup.
Seeing that her expression was not right, Qing'er couldn't help but cast her eyes towards the sugar water. As if she thought of something, her expression immediately changed, "Your servant..."
Waving her hand, Xia Tong stopped her from saying anything. Under Qing'er's astonished gaze, she picked up the bowl of sugar water and drank half of it.
"Miss, you...you..." Qing'er's expression changed drastically. She didn't expect this just now, but since the master clearly knew that this thing was wrong, why did she still drink it?
"It's okay." Xia Tong continued to sit there and eat other things. She was not afraid that there was anything wrong with the sugar water, but was afraid that there was nothing wrong with it.
Qing'er was extremely anxious, but it was obvious that there was nothing wrong with her and she didn't know what to say. But somehow, she always felt that the girl was a little different from before, but she couldn't tell what the difference was.
After lunch, Xia Tong slept for a while, but there was still nothing unusual about her body, which made her a little disappointed. But she felt that Xia Min was not someone who would give up easily.
It was not until Nanny Liu came over to teach her the rules that some small red spots slowly appeared on her face, which frightened Qing'er. However, Nanny Liu was worldly-wise, so she immediately sent someone to call a doctor.
When the doctor came, her mother, her aunts and cousins all came over. But when they saw the red spots on her face, they all looked extremely distressed, and their acting skills were comparable to those of an international movie queen.
"Red cherries cannot be mixed with honey, otherwise it will cause skin abnormalities, ranging from itching at the mildest level to ulcers at the worst. Fortunately, the fourth girl only has a rash, and the area is not large. As long as she doesn't touch the wound, it will heal in less than half a month." The doctor said seriously.
After saying that, Liu couldn't help but yelled at Qing'er angrily: "Why did you let Tong'er drink this!"
People from other places didn't understand, but people in Beijing knew this common sense. For a moment, everyone had different expressions and didn't speak. Only Zhang couldn't help but stare at Xia Min who was watching the show, as if she had never seen such a stupid daughter.
How could the old lady not know such a crude trick? This idiot actually wanted to play tricks in front of the old lady!
But looking at the red rash on Xia Tong's face, Xia Min in the room was very happy. At least as long as this country bumpkin could not attend the Queen Mother's birthday banquet, it would be fine.
"I...I don't know what's going on..." Qing'er fell to her knees with a plop, her eyes red and her face full of self-blame.
Xia Tong leaned weakly on the big bed without saying a word, but her aunt took the lead and said, "I am also responsible for what happened. Don't worry, Fourth Sister-in-law, I will investigate it thoroughly and give Tong'er an explanation."
"It's such a pity for the fourth young lady's pretty face. If the sister-in-law catches the careless man, she must punish him severely." Wang on the side also said with concern.
Liu stood there without saying anything, but her five fingers in her sleeves slightly tightened.
Until this moment, a hurried figure suddenly walked in from outside the room. After seeing everyone in the room, he bowed and saluted, and then cast his eyes on Liu. "The old lady asked me to bring a box of snow magnolia cream to the fourth young lady. I hope the fourth young lady will have a good rest. Don't worry about the rest."
Looking at the box of ointment, everyone in the room suddenly felt uncomfortable, especially Xia Min, whose eyes were almost red. The Snow Magnolia Ointment was a reward from the Queen Mother, and there were only ten boxes in the world. She had never seen the old lady take it out over the years, and now she was giving it to a bumpkin!
"this--"
"Min'er!" Zhang grabbed her daughter's hand, her eyes full of displeasure.
The latter gritted her teeth, and finally left with a snort. Zhang, on the other hand, looked at Liu with a smile on her face, "In that case, the fourth sister-in-law should take care of Tong'er. We won't disturb her rest."
Even though she knew that the matter was not that simple, Liu could only swallow her anger. The old lady didn't like her, and she had always been in Suzhou. She had no roots in the mansion. Even if she knew something, she could only nod her head as if nothing had happened.
The others also said a few words of concern before leaving, but Xia Ning inadvertently glanced at the person on the bed, a gleam of light flashed in her eyes.
As soon as the others left, Liu couldn't help but grab Xia Tong's hand with red eyes, her face full of self-blame, "It's all mother's fault for not being able to stand up for you."
Qing'er also closed the door and walked out. Xia Tong, who was lying on the bed, patted her mother's hand and smiled. "Mom, don't think too much. Don't you think grandma still cares about her daughter? Why bother about other people?"
She knew that there was something wrong with the sugar water and wanted to use it to avoid the Queen Mother's birthday banquet. However, Xia Tong did not expect that the old lady was determined to take her out and was willing to give her even this kind of thing. It seemed that she "valued" her very much.
"But..." Liu seemed to be hesitant to speak, but looking at the red rash on her daughter's face, she just shook her head and stopped talking.
Her mother left without saying anything else. Xia Tong rested for a while. It was not until the evening of You that her father heard the news and hurried over to see her. However, when he saw what happened on her face, he frowned and wanted to investigate thoroughly. However, he was stopped by Xia Tong. Even if he found out, what would it matter? In the end, he would just try to smooth things over.
After a moment of silence, Xia Zhian regained his rationality, but he was still filled with anger. Even if he didn't care about it openly, he seemed to want justice for his daughter secretly.
"Today, when the court was dismissed, my father went to see the regent again." He suddenly said in a serious voice.
Xia Tong was drinking the bitter medicine with a frown on her brows. She almost choked when she heard the words, but she still took the handkerchief to wipe the medicine stains from the corners of her mouth and stared at her father with wide eyes.
Xia Zhian stood up, put his hands behind his back and had a strange look on his face. "But I didn't see the Regent. I only saw the butler in his house. But the butler said that the Regent was not in the house and asked me to wait a little longer. He also said that a chef from Jiangnan had recently come to the house and that the steamed fish he made tasted very much like Suzhou. He asked me to stay and try it. I saw nothing unusual about him, which shows that the Regent has no ill will towards us."
Xia Tong: “…”
Her face turned pale and cold sweat began to break out on her back. There was indeed no ill intention, but she was afraid that if her father stayed a little longer, he would become that steamed fish.
It seems that the villain is still unwilling to let them go!
"But why did the housekeeper say this so nicely?" Xia Zhian muttered, as if he had thought of something, and looked back at her again, frowning, "By the way, how did you suddenly fall into the pool yesterday?"
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