When she first entered the hospital, she only felt that Yao's complexion was not good, but it was not very obvious, so she just thought that it was because of the coldness of winter, and she missed her children and did not rest well, which caused some deficiency in blood and qi. However, during the conversation with Yao, she occasionally deliberately grabbed Yao's wrist, and was surprised to find that Yao's condition did not seem as optimistic as she imagined.
There was a feeling that something was draining Yao's body regularly, a little bit a day, not more, not less, just enough to keep it within the range that the doctor couldn't detect. Because it wasn't a sudden large amount of extraction, Yao herself didn't feel anything wrong with her body, not even a little discomfort.
She was sure that even if the imperial physician came, he would not be able to find out the cause of the problem. If she had not added a tonic to every meal according to Yao's physical condition, she would have been fooled today.
Now, the tonic she had been taking for half a year had almost been used up, and Yao's health had begun to recover. It seemed that she had wasted the tonic for the past six months, and was about to return to the bad condition she had been in the northwestern mountain village.
She was plotting something in her mind, and she beckoned a little maid over: "Go to the Madam's courtyard and call Qingling over, and tell her that I have something to ask her."
The little girl went away in response, and soon came back with Qingling.
When Qingling saw Feng Yuheng looking for her, she knew that he must be asking about Yao's recent situation, so she told him everything, from how she dressed and ate to occasionally going out of the house to visit Princess Wenxuan, and then to receiving a letter from Xiaozhou, and being happy that the second young master would be back before the New Year.
Feng Yuheng listened but didn't notice anything wrong. She asked Qing Ling, "Are the tonics I asked you to add to Madam's meals still there?"
Qing Ling nodded, "It's here. Every meal is good. According to the young lady's request, there are three meals a day, morning, noon and evening, with different amounts. I personally watched the cook put them in." She felt that Feng Yuheng's expression seemed to be wrong, and couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Did something happen?"
Feng Yuheng shook her head, "It's okay, I just haven't been back for too long, so I always have to ask a few more questions." She didn't want to tell Qingling, fearing that it would add to Yao's psychological burden, so she just said, "The previous tonic will be used for the last day tomorrow, so I will replace it with a new one. You don't have to tell Madam about the change of medicine, so that she won't think too much."
"Yes." Qing Ling nodded. "I see that the young lady doesn't look well. Maybe she is tired. The young lady should rest early."
"Yeah." She said nothing more and waved her hand to let Qingling leave.
She believed in Qingling. This girl was different from Qingshuang. She entered the mansion first and had always been with Yao. She was very trustworthy in her work.
Since there is no problem with the tonic, I think the problem lies somewhere else.
Feng Yuheng didn't sleep much that night, her mind was in a mess and she kept thinking about Yao's affairs. She even took Huang Quan and Ban Zou to sneak into the kitchen to check. But the facts proved that everything was normal in Tongshengxuan's kitchen. She even checked the sleeping cooks and the servants in Yao's yard, and there was no problem.
So what is going on?
The next morning, while Huang Quan was helping her wash up, he asked, "Should we continue investigating tonight? Or should we just go to Feng Mansion and investigate again?"
Feng Yuheng shook his head, "No need for that. Don't be ordered around like a headless fly. Since I can't find out, I'll make up for the loss. Let's wait and see what happens. I want to see who dares to do this to my Tongshengxuan."
A little girl knocked on the door and came in, saying to Feng Yuheng, "There's a message from the Feng Mansion saying that the old lady didn't sleep well last night and is catching up on her sleep, so there's no need for the young lady to go over and pay her respects."
Huang Quan said cheerfully, "Okay, Miss, do you want to catch up on some sleep?"
But the maid who came in to deliver the message said, "Miss, please rest later. There are several people waiting to see you outside."
Feng Yuheng was stunned, "Who is it?"
The little girl smiled and said, "It was the servants from Prince Wenxuan's Mansion, General Pingnan's Mansion, Right Prime Minister Feng's Mansion, and Bai's Mansion who came to deliver something to the County Lord's Mansion on behalf of their young lady. I think it should be a New Year gift."
Huang Quan then remembered, "Yes! It's the New Year, the ministers are busy preparing gifts to send to the palace, and the ladies of each mansion are also busy sending gifts to each other. Miss, go and see what they are sending."
Feng Yuheng was dragged by two maids to the reception room at the entrance of the courtyard, where she saw four older maids standing, and a group of servants holding gift boxes crowded at the door.
She recognized the four big girls; they were Xuan Tiange, Feng Tianyu, Ren Xifeng and Bai Furong's personal maids.
Yao had come to greet them before her, and was talking to a few people. When they saw Feng Yuheng coming, they hurried forward to greet him. Xuan Tiange's maid spoke first, saying, "It's been a long time since we last saw the county lady. Our county lady misses you very much. But because the county lady has been busy in the military camp, it's not easy to disturb her, so she can only wait anxiously for you to return to the capital."
Feng Tianyu's maid followed up and said, "Yes, our eldest daughter is always thinking about you. Now that it's the end of the year, I specially prepared some gifts and sent them to the county lady's mansion. I hope the county lady and her wife will not dislike them."
Feng Yuheng was already feeling a little embarrassed, as she had forgotten about giving gifts during the New Year, and now that someone had given it to her, she didn't even have a decent gift in return.
"Sisters, you are so polite." She said embarrassedly, "I just returned to Beijing and haven't had time to prepare gifts. Go back and tell the masters that I will definitely visit you in two days."
Xuan Tiange's maid smiled and said, "Whether to return the gift is a small matter. The county lady can come to her house in person, so the princess will be so happy that she will jump for joy!" She pointed at the boxes held by the servants outside the door and said, "Actually, these gifts are all for the lady and the young master of the family. The gift for the county lady is with Miss Bai."
When Bai Furong's maid heard this, she quickly handed over a large box in her hand. Xuan Tiange's maid said, "The princess said that the county lady's mansion is not short of food and clothing, but you always dress too plainly. I thought that the Bai family is best at making jewelry, so I discussed with a few young ladies and asked each of them to provide some materials and send them to the Bai Mansion. Take a look, these are all made by Bai's skilled craftsman himself."
As she spoke, the maid from the Bai family opened the box, and inside it were three sets of head ornaments: one set was made of gold, one set was made of jade, and the other set was made of various colored gems, which were extremely beautiful.
Feng Yuheng has always known that although the polishing of gold ornaments in the 21st century is much better than in ancient times, the craftsmanship has regressed. Although there are many different patterns produced by machine molding, they always look stiff and lack spirit. The truly good things still have to come from handcraftsmen, especially those like Bai Qiaojiang.
She was so delighted by what she saw that she couldn't help but reach out to take the box and hold it up to her eyes to look at it.
Seeing her like this, the maids knew that she really liked it. The maid from the Bai family said, "It's good that the county lady likes it. Our young lady can also breathe a sigh of relief. In fact, all these materials were brought by Princess Wuyang and Miss Ren and Miss Feng. Our family can't afford such good things." The little maid spoke in a low voice and her face was a little red. She was obviously embarrassed. "The young lady said that this is the only craftsmanship that the Bai family can show off. Please don't despise it, county lady."
Feng Yuheng was touched. She certainly understood that the Bai family was just a family of skilled craftsmen, without official rank or rank, so how could they be compared with the palaces of the king, the generals, and the prime ministers. But the Bai family also prepared a gift for her with the greatest sincerity, so how could she be picky?
What's more, the ornaments made by Bai Qiaojiang were hard to come by even for the ladies in the palace. Even the Empress could only wear one set of head ornaments made by Bai Qiaojiang throughout the year.
And she got three sets at once.
"Thank the craftsman for me," she said sincerely, "I know how precious this ornament is. I will treasure it well."
"You are too polite, County Lord."
After they talked for a while, the maids said goodbye. Feng Yuheng ordered Huang Quan to personally escort them out of the house, and then Yao pulled her aside and said, "Actually, I have prepared all the gifts, and I am just waiting for you to come back...
But Princess Tiange and the other young ladies sent me something like this, so what I prepared is really not good enough. Think about it and see what gift you can give back, but don’t let people find fault with it.”
Feng Yuheng nodded, "Don't worry, mother, Ah Heng knows what's going on."
But after returning to her own courtyard, she was worried. It would be strange if she had any idea in her mind! She had never thought about it at all. Fortunately, Huang Quan's words reminded her - "Give gifts to people who like them, or give them what they need. Miss, think about this."
Okay, she thought.
So this morning, Feng Yuheng was deeply contemplating how to return the gift.
Little did she know that while she was sitting in the yard with her chin resting on her hand, worriedly, something bad happened in Feng Chenyu's boudoir at the Feng Mansion.
After breakfast, Feng Fendai accompanied Han in the garden of Yulan Courtyard for a walk, and she felt that life was really a bit leisurely. Hongyun would not be able to come to the mansion to teach her dancing until the evening today, so she had to find something to do during the day.
After thinking about it, he decided to find trouble with Feng Chenyu.
When she brought Pei'er into Chenyu's courtyard, Chenyu was saying to Yilin, "Although I won't need the black rouge anymore, I can't throw it away. It was given by the palace. I never know when the queen will come to me to ask for it. If I say I've thrown it away, wouldn't that be a big taboo?"
Yilin felt that what the young lady said was right, so she said, "Then I will take it to the side room and keep it." She turned and left the room, but soon came back again, without even having time to put away the rouge in her hand, and hurriedly said to Chenyu, "The fourth young lady is here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Fendai rushed in like a gust of wind.
As soon as Chenyu saw Fendai, she felt annoyed. This girl always caused trouble for her and was always outspoken. She really hated this sister.
"Hey!" Fendai shouted as she came in, and then her eyes began to scan the room, "Big sister is quite free."
"Fourth sister, is there something you need that brought you here?" She wanted to act like a friendly sister, but she couldn't smile no matter how many times she tried.
"Yes, there is something." Fendai pulled a chair and sat down. "Didn't my elder sister say in front of grandma last time that there is a difference between legitimate and illegitimate daughters, and we, as illegitimate daughters, cannot overshadow legitimate daughters. This difference is not only in clothing and accessories. Big sister, do you have to hand over all the gold and antiques in your room to grandma?"
As she spoke, she stood up, walked to a red porcelain vase, and picked up the vase.
"When Mrs. Shen was alive, she bought many fine things for the house. This vase of yours must be valuable, right? It's a pity that it shouldn't be used by a concubine's daughter." As she spoke, her hand suddenly slipped, and the vase fell from her hand, hitting the ground with a "bang" and shattered into pieces.
Chenyu was already feeling nervous because of the action of her lifting the vase, and now the vase fell to the ground and broke. She stared at something that had fallen out of it, and was so scared that her heart almost jumped out of her throat!
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