Rumors spread
Once the Lantern Festival is over, Qingzhou City returns to its pre-New Year hustle and bustle, but there are also many idle people.
For example, her neighbors.
Defu, Wenjiang, and Wenshan would occasionally come to the house to report news. The neighbors, seeing men coming and going from the Fu family home from time to time, would spontaneously gather together and quietly talk about the Fu family.
"Do you know that the patriarch of the Fu family has long passed away? Now, this house is inhabited by Madam Fu and her daughter."
"So that's how it is. I was wondering why we didn't see Master Fu during the New Year."
"Even though Master Fu is dead, it doesn't stop men from coming and going from her house."
"Tsk tsk! Not only that, but since there are no men in her family, she also makes her unmarried daughter go out and do business!"
"Hey, how shameless! Don't set a bad example for the atmosphere on this street!"
The women were chatting away when Ginkgo bumped right into them.
Yinxing was happily going out to buy snacks for Fu Zhiqiao, but when she returned, she ran into a group of women hiding at the back door gossiping about their young lady and mistress.
"What nonsense are you old hags spouting? If I hear you say another bad word about my lady or young lady, I'll tear your mouths apart!"
Ginkgo was furious and chased the people away. When she got back, she was still angry and told Fu Zhiqiao what had happened. "Girl, those people are really bad. They only know how to gossip behind other people's backs."
"Alright, people can say whatever they want. Don't let irrelevant people make you unhappy." Fu Zhi Qiao was busy working on the Tai Bai Wine Shop's business plan for this year and didn't take the matter to heart.
Yinxing thought her daughter made sense, so she stopped thinking about it.
But a few days later, the rumors became even more outrageous.
After being hit by Ginkgo, the women quieted down for a few days. Later, seeing that the Fu family chose to settle things peacefully, they became even bolder.
Yao Chengfang lived in this alley for two years; her home was diagonally opposite the Fu family's.
She wasn't just spreading rumors; the Fu family had moved to this alley more than half a year ago, and the male head of the Fu family had never shown his face. She had long felt that something was wrong.
To verify her suspicions, Yao Chengfang often struck up conversations with the servants of the Fu family with a smile, hoping to extract some information from them. Seeing her smiling and kind face, the servants would sometimes chime in with her words.
But as soon as the question of Master Fu was asked, all the servants immediately shut up.
This made Yao Chengfang even more certain of her guess. According to her observation, the Fu family not only lost Master Fu, but also had no male heirs. If the family had even one or two brothers, the Fu family would not have allowed their unmarried daughters to show their faces in public and do business.
Gradually, the news spread throughout the neighborhood that the Fu family had no male heirs and that their only bloodline was a woman.
In the Great Wei Dynasty, families without male laborers were the most vulnerable to being looked down upon. Once others saw that your family didn't even have a male member, they would dare to come and bully you.
Despite Cui Mama's order forbidding the servants from discussing outside matters, the rumors inevitably reached Yu Roulan's ears.
Since Fu Changyue passed away, Fu Zhiqiao has been Yu Roulan's everything. There are no male heirs, and her daughter is still unmarried and out in public... These words are undoubtedly like knives stabbing her in the heart.
It was one thing for those people to gossip about her, but they even went so far as to gossip about her daughter. Yu Roulan felt a surge of anger and blamed herself for being useless, which allowed her daughter to be dragged into the rumors.
Yu Roulan knew that Fu Zhiqiao's business was very successful. With the mindset of "better to avoid trouble," she instructed the servants to keep the good news to Fu Zhiqiao's ears. Her daughter was already busy with the shop's business all day long, and she couldn't let her daughter be distracted.
However, sometimes she couldn't help but wonder why Fu Zhi Qiao wasn't born a man.
If Fu Zhi Qiao were a man, with her talent she would surely have inherited Fu Chang Yue's mantle and carried forward the Fu family business. They wouldn't have had to leave Yuzhou and come to Qingzhou to be ridiculed by others.
Unfortunately, it was all just wishful thinking.
Yu Roulan was troubled by the rumors and couldn't cheer up all day. She could only force a smile when facing Fu Zhiqiao.
The atmosphere was somewhat somber during dinner.
Fu Zhiqiao noticed her emotions and took the initiative to speak, "Mother, don't take those words to heart."
Yu Roulan forced a smile: "Mother knows what she's doing."
During the Lunar New Year period, Yu Roulan hardly went out. Fu Zhiqiao asked Granny Cui to take her out to buy clothes and jewelry and go shopping to relax.
The next day, after breakfast, a carriage drove out of the Fu family's house.
The mother and daughter rode in the same carriage. Fu Zhiqiao got off the carriage halfway because she was going to the wine shop to check accounts, while Yu Roulan and Granny Cui went towards the commercial street.
When Fu Zhiqiao arrived at the wine shop, she was surprised to see Xie Zhuo there as well.
"Young Master Xie, are you here to buy wine?"
"Yes, the wine last time was very good, so my elders asked me to buy some more to take back with me."
"Young Master Xie is not from Qingzhou, is he?"
Xie Zhuo nodded. "My home is in the capital. I came to Qingzhou to study."
So that's how it is. No wonder she couldn't find out anything about him. After they parted ways at the lantern festival, Fu Zhi Qiao had sent someone to inquire about Xie Zhuo. Logically speaking, someone with such outstanding looks shouldn't be unknown in this area. It turns out he really wasn't from Qingzhou.
Xie Zhuo has completed his mission in Qingzhou. He has also obtained the list of scholars from poor families that his grandfather asked him to find out. He will be returning to the capital soon. He doesn't know when he will come to Qingzhou again, nor does he know when he will see her again.
Thinking of this, Xie Zhuo felt a pang of melancholy.
"Miss! Miss!" Suddenly, the gatekeeper of the Fu residence ran over.
The gatekeeper came running, panting heavily: "Madam, Madam has fainted!"
"What? What happened?" Yu Roulan was always in good health, so why did she suddenly faint?
The doorman glanced at Xie Zhuo with a troubled expression; with outsiders present, he couldn't say anything.
Xie Zhuo left the house with great composure.
Inside the house, the doorman recounted what had happened to Fu Zhiqiao.
When Yu Roulan returned home after shopping, she happened to see someone moving house on the side of the alley. There was a horse-drawn carriage parked in front of his house, and boxes of all sizes piled up on the side of the road.
The road in Lingshui Lane was not wide to begin with; two carriages could barely pass side by side, and if some boxes and cages were placed on the side, the road would be completely blocked.
With a "whoosh," the coachman stopped the carriage: "What's going on? The boxes are piled up in the middle of the road!"
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I'll have someone move it right away."
Since they were neighbors from now on, there was no need to hold a grudge. In addition, the other party's attitude was good, so Yu Roulan instructed the coachman to stop the carriage on the side and wait for the owner of the box to make room for them to pass.
The carriage lingered in the alley for a while, and Yao Chengfang spotted it because Yu Roulan's car was parked right in front of her house.
Yao Chengfang was furious, muttering about how unlucky she was, "Get out of here, get out of here! Why did I have to run into such bad luck? Stay away from my house!"
The driver said, "Please forgive me, madam. We'll leave as soon as the road is clear."
Yao Chengfang didn't care about any of that. She knew the carriage belonged to the Fu family, and she kept telling the widow not to linger in front of her door.
These words infuriated Granny Cui, who immediately got off the carriage to argue with her, but Yu Roulan stopped her. Although she was also angry, arguing in the street was not her style.
Seeing this, Yao Chengfang assumed they were feeling guilty and became even more brazen.
Yao Chengfang had a loud voice, which quickly attracted the attention of her neighbors.
Someone couldn't stand it anymore: "Granny Yao, the road is blocked, it's no big deal to let the carriage stop for a while. We're all neighbors, why are you being so aggressive?"
Yao Chengfang: "It's easy for you to talk when you're not in the same boat. The widow didn't stop in front of your house, so of course you don't care."
"Aunt Yao, we're all neighbors, what's wrong with letting someone park their car for a bit? You don't have to use such an unpleasant term like 'widow'!"
Yao Chengfang rolled her eyes at the carriage and said sarcastically, "Others can park in front of my house, but not hers!"
Why not her family?
"She was a widow who had caused her husband's death; she was an unlucky person."
Huh? The crowd, who had initially been indignant, were stunned when they heard that Yu Roulan was a jinx to her husbands. They stared at the carriage with their mouths agape, their faces filled with terror, and took a step back, no longer speaking up for her.
Yu Roulan sat in the carriage, her face already flushed with anger, her chest heaving violently.
Granny Cui comforted her for a moment, then lifted the carriage curtain: "What nonsense are you spouting, you crazy woman!"
Yao Chengfang: "What nonsense did I say? Is your wife widowed? Is your young lady out doing business before marriage?"
Granny Cui: "You..."
How can there be such a shameless person in the world!
Yao Chengfang glared at Granny Cui, then spat on the ground with a "pui" sound, cursing, "jinx!"
The others, as if they had discovered something extraordinary, whispered among themselves.
"Is what Granny Yao said true? Is Madam Fu really a jinx to her husbands?"
"It must be true, right? Look, even the old woman next to Madam Fu doesn't dare to refute it."
"Huh? This Mrs. Fu looks so glamorous, but she's actually cursed to bring bad luck to her husbands?"
Hearing the discussions outside the carriage, Yu Roulan turned pale, her teeth clenched so tightly that they clicked, and she fainted from anger, her head slamming heavily against the carriage wall with a thud.
Hearing the commotion, Granny Cui hurriedly lifted the carriage curtain to check: "Madam? Madam, are you alright?"
"Madam has fainted! Coachman, hurry back and fetch her!" With that, Granny Cui glared fiercely at Yao Chengfang: "If anything happens to my mistress, I won't let you off the hook!"
Yao Chengfang snorted coldly and said nothing more.
When the others who were watching heard that Yu Roulan had fainted, instead of going to check on her, they avoided her as if she were a plague.
Upon hearing this, Fu Zhiqiao could no longer sit still. "Have you called a doctor?"
The gatekeeper replied, "Yes, madam. The doctor is already taking your pulse. Granny Cui sent me to invite you back to make a decision!"
Fu Zhiqiao stepped out of the room and saw Xie Zhuo still waiting on the side: "Young Master Xie, I have to go ahead because of some family matters. Please forgive me if I have not been hospitable enough!"
Seeing Fu Zhi Qiao's hurried appearance, Xie Zhuo was a little worried; it seemed she had run into trouble.
"Do you need my help?"
Fu Zhiqiao shook her head: "I will apologize to you another day!"
After saying that, she took a carriage and hurried home.
Granny Cui paced back and forth at the door until she saw Fu Zhi Qiao, at which point she felt relieved. She stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Miss, you're finally back."
Unbeknownst to them, Fu Zhiqiao had become the backbone of the family.
Seeing that Yu Roulan was still unconscious and pale, Fu Zhiqiao's eyes immediately reddened.
The doctor gave Yu Roulan acupuncture and said, "Madam fainted because she was so angry. She is fine now, but she needs to rest for a while. You must not let Madam get angry again in the next month."
Fu Zhi Qiao's heart was finally at ease. Seeing Yu Rou Lan lying lifeless on the bed, she felt her heart go empty. She was really afraid that Yu Rou Lan would suffer a stroke from anger and spend the rest of her life lying in bed.
Thank goodness!
Fu Zhi Qiao sat on the edge of the bed and held Yu Rou Lan's hand: "Mother, I will definitely make those who hurt you pay the price!"
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