Chapter 5, "The Wet Nurse." ...
"Wet nurse".
Seeing that the two of them were talking about increasingly bizarre things, He Wenqing finally couldn't help but say, "These are all nonsense, don't talk nonsense."
"Yes, whatever the eldest son says goes. This old woman won't mention it again, lest it frighten our young mistress." Granny Liu knew that He Wenqing didn't believe in these things, and if she said too much, she was afraid she would be lectured again.
So he tactfully changed the subject: "Master has been in a daze lately, and sometimes he can't even swallow ginseng soup. The doctor said he probably doesn't have many days left. But today he seemed to know that you, the eldest son and young mistress, were coming back. He actually swallowed a few mouthfuls of ginseng soup at dinner and is sleeping now."
He Wenqing: "Then I'll go see him."
"Madam said that since Master has finally fallen asleep, it would be best not to wake him. If Eldest Brother and Young Madam return, please go back to your room and have your meal before going over."
He Wenqing paused for a moment, then said, "I won't wake him up."
Seeing his insistence, Granny Liu said nothing more.
He Wenqing pulled his arm away from Wei Yin's grasp, and before leaving, he added with concern, "Since you're feeling unwell, finish your meal with your wet nurse first before going over. If you're really not feeling well, have your wet nurse go and fetch Doctor Chen from West Street. He's the best at treating women's illnesses."
Wei Yin nodded: "I know, my lord, please go quickly."
Seeing how affectionate the couple was, Granny Liu couldn't help but smile. After He Wenqing left, she kindly took Wei Yin's hand and said, "Because of Master's situation, Da Lang has matured earlier than others since childhood. At such a young age, he is already as dignified and composed as an old scholar. He is usually very serious and doesn't smile much when dealing with Madam and Miss Wei. I used to worry that with Da Lang's introverted nature, it would be difficult for him and his wife to get along. But I didn't expect that after they got married, he would be so considerate to the young mistress."
The He family had always been a single-lineage family, and their ancestors were all self-disciplined scholars. However, by the time of He's father, he had become a womanizer with a large number of concubines. It is said that he once almost divorced Madam He for a singing girl, which caused chaos in the mansion. In the end, he even lost his official position and became a laughing stock in the desolate state.
He Wenqing witnessed his father's favoritism towards his concubine over his wife from a young age, resulting in an extremely distant father-son relationship. Seeing his father completely disregard his career and family reputation for the sake of women, he felt deeply resentful of his father's Confucian studies and was unwilling to ruin his future for women like his father. Therefore, he devoted himself to studying and self-cultivation, ignoring women. Even when his wife, He Wenqing, placed a beautiful maidservant in his room when he was sixteen or seventeen, he insisted on sending her back. It wasn't until after he became the top scholar in the imperial examination and married Wei Yin that he experienced human relations for the first time.
Wei Yin sighed as she thought of this.
Granny Liu said that He Wenqing was considerate to her, but that was not the case.
When He Wenqing first got married, outsiders saw him as polite and dignified, but in reality, He Wenqing was extremely harsh to her.
Take sex as an example. He has to follow the rules. She can only have sex with him seven times a month. If she pesters him on days he sets or goes against his wishes, he will get angry.
However, he was self-righteous and did not directly lose his temper with Wei Yin. Instead, he forced the servants to lock her in the ancestral hall to copy books and learn etiquette. His behavior was extremely self-righteous, and he did not care at all what Wei Yin thought.
If Wei Yin hadn't thrown a tantrum later, biting and pinching him, making it impossible for him to touch her at night and sleep well, and if he hadn't had to go to court the next day with a bruised face, only to be scolded by the emperor, he might not have been able to change his self-righteous temper.
Although things have improved a lot now, and he is more considerate of his wife, Wei Yin knows in her heart that although He Wenqing doesn't say it, he probably still doesn't think much of her. He's only marrying her now because he has no other choice.
Wei Yin couldn't say these things in front of the wet nurse, so she just smiled and said, "By the way, wet nurse, is the river village you mentioned earlier really that strange?"
When Liu Mama heard her ask about this, she couldn't help but gossip: "I don't mean to scare you, young mistress, but I've heard recently that things aren't going so well at that farmer's house either."
"What does that mean?"
“I only heard it from someone else, young mistress, please don’t tell Dalang,” said Granny Liu. “It’s like this, one of the farmer’s neighbors saw lights on in the farmer’s children’s room one night, and could vaguely hear children playing inside. At the time, the neighbor thought the children were just playing because they couldn’t sleep, so he didn’t think much of it. The next day, the neighbor happened to meet the farmer’s youngest son and asked him, ‘What were you and your siblings playing and laughing so happily last night?’ And guess what the youngest son said, young mistress?”
"What?" Wei Yin held her breath upon hearing this.
Granny Liu didn't speak immediately. Instead, she looked around and then put on a strange expression. She whispered in Wei Yin's ear, "That youngest son actually said that their eldest sister had come back and was playing with them!"
It was already quite late at night when a draft blew into the dining room, making Wei Yin shiver even in the sweltering summer heat.
Seeing Wei Yin so nervous, Granny Liu realized that she had frightened him. If the eldest son found out, he would probably blame her, so she quickly waved her hand.
"Young Madam, don't take it to heart. These things are a mix of truth and falsehood; no one can really tell. It's probably just embellishment to scare people. Let's not talk about this anymore and have dinner first."
Wei Yin nodded.
The image of Lu Hun, who had appeared in He Village, floated into his mind.
He still looked exactly like he did when he was sixteen, and even his clothes were the same ones she used to often see him wear.
It turns out that even after a person dies, their appearance remains the same as it did in life.
Wei Yin pondered this thoughtfully.
After the long journey and the fright at He Village, Wei Yin had little appetite for the carefully prepared meal. In the end, she only managed to eat half a bowl of rice thanks to Liu Mama's attentive service.
After the meal, Granny Liu, being old, could no longer bear it, so she asked someone else to take Wei Yin to see He's father.
Father He's courtyard was not far from the dining room; it was just a short walk through two corridors.
Because of the serious and incurable illness of He's father, the whole family had already begun to set up the mourning hall. The servants also knew that the funeral was approaching, and they all lowered their heads and did their own things, not daring to show the slightest smile on their faces.
When Wei Yin finished eating and went over, it was a little later. From a distance, she saw a young woman dressed simply, with a delicate and quiet figure, standing outside He's father's room, whispering something to her maid. Her voice sounded extremely gentle and refined.
“My aunts and concubines have been keeping watch all day and haven’t had a chance to eat. They must be hungry now. Please have the kitchen make some more vegetable porridge and send it over.”
"Miss," the maid asked, "Isn't just vegetable porridge a bit too bland? Madam and the concubines have been working very hard these past few days taking care of Master..."
“With Uncle like this, Aunt and the other women probably don’t have much of an appetite and won’t be able to eat anything else. Besides, Uncle is seriously ill, so it’s not good for everyone to eat anything too oily. However, this is indeed a bit too bland. Let’s ask the cook to add some minced meat to the porridge…”
The maidservant noted everything down and was about to leave.
The woman called her back again, hesitatingly saying, "Judging from my cousin's appearance, he probably came to see my uncle before eating. Could you tell the kitchen to make another bowl of vegetable porridge with shredded egg? My cousin loves shredded egg..."
The maid glanced at her with a complicated expression and said, "Yes."
It was dark at night, so the woman didn't notice Wei Yin coming over. After instructing the maid, she couldn't hold back any longer and started coughing violently while leaning against the railing.
He seemed afraid that his cough would be too loud and that the people in the room would hear it, so he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
After coughing for a while, the woman leaned against the railing, gazing sadly at the moon in the sky, lost in thought.
The young woman in front of me is He Wenqing's cousin, Chen Xuanhua.
Wei Yin had heard from Granny Liu that Chen Xuanhua used to be sickly, but it wasn't a big deal. Later, perhaps because her marriage to He Wenqing was broken up by Old Madam He, and she hadn't found a suitable match, she gradually became depressed and her health deteriorated.
Wei Yin stepped forward and handed her her handkerchief. Chen Xuanhua was taken aback when she saw it was her, but quickly smiled gently again, "Sister-in-law, have you finished eating?"
Wei Yin frowned as she looked at her sickly face: "I saw you coughing badly when you came back last time, are you still not better?"
"I was feeling better at first, but these days my uncle is seriously ill, and I've been taking care of him with my aunt, so I keep forgetting to go back and take my medicine."
“Now that your cousin is back, you should go back and rest well, and let him take care of your father himself.”
"I'll listen to my cousin-in-law and go back to eat now." After saying that, Chen Xuanhua considerately reminded, "Uncle just woke up, cousin-in-law, you should go in and check on him while you can."
Wei Yin glanced into the room and saw that there were indeed people talking. She nodded, exchanged a few more words with Chen Xuanhua, and then went inside.
For the past two years, Mr. He's illness has been fluctuating, with his condition improving and deteriorating at different times. The room smells of medicine as strongly as a pharmacy.
Father He slept on the bed in the innermost room. He was so ill that he could hardly get up, and he was extremely sensitive to the cold. Therefore, all four windows in the room were tightly closed, making the room very dim.
Madam He, dressed in a heavy green embroidered cloud-patterned overcoat, sat on a round stool at the head of the bed, feeding her father, who was lying in bed, a bowl that was probably ginseng soup. Several charming concubines stood beside Madam He.
Mr. He seemed to be in better spirits tonight. When he saw that it was Mrs. He who was feeding him ginseng soup, he waved his hand dismissively.
"Let Ninth Sister... come and serve me."
Jiu Niang was He's father's ninth concubine, the same singer who insisted on divorcing Madam He and marrying her.
Upon hearing this, Madam He angrily slammed down the bowl and handed it to Ninth Aunt, who was standing behind her.
Wei Yin's husband, He Wenqing, stood alone at the foot of the bed, gazing indifferently at his father, who, even on his deathbed, still couldn't forget to summon a bunch of concubines to serve him. He showed no sorrow for his father's impending death, which revealed how weak the father-son relationship was.
Wei Yin glanced around and strolled over to Father He's side. "Father, are you feeling any better?"
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