Nan Yi left with Yi Ren and Xiao Shunzi.
Upon returning home, she didn't even visit Lady Nara, but instead moved into the Orchid Courtyard with only a few simple belongings.
Lan Yuan had been tidied up in advance, and all the servants were new faces. Nan Yi had Yi Ren lock the courtyard gate early, and went to bed early without having dinner.
When Consort Tong returned to the mansion, everyone in the backyard was secretly watching the show. During the two years that their mistress had been away, Consort Nian had been the sole recipient of favor. Everyone, including Consort Li, was filled with resentment, but they knew that they could not compete with Consort Nian.
Now that Lady Tong has returned to the manor, it is unknown whether the master will stay overnight at Lan Courtyard or Wanyue Pavilion. Logically speaking, since the Emperor has personally promoted Consort Tong, the master should stay overnight at Lan Courtyard.
Nara was lost in thought, holding the scriptures. She was also curious whether the master would accompany Nian or Tong tonight. When Liu Mama said that Tong had closed the courtyard gate early, a strange and complicated look appeared on Nara's face.
Has Tong gone mad from being away from home, or is she playing hard to get?
Yinzhen, who planned to have dinner with Lady Tong at Lanyuan, was walking along the road, thinking that she hadn't eaten much during the day and hadn't been back to the manor for a long time. He hoped the servants wouldn't mistreat her.
With her in the mansion, even the Fourth Master's steps were light, and the scenery in the garden looked more vibrant than usual.
Su Peisheng followed behind his master, and seeing the master's impatient expression, he almost suffered internal injuries from holding it in.
The master and servant, though each harboring their own thoughts, were equally in good spirits.
A figure walked along the path leading to the main courtyard. Quanfu bowed and said, "Master, Steward Gao says he has something urgent to report."
Yinzhen glanced at the Lan Courtyard not far away and asked, "Where is he?"
Quanfu: "Chief Steward Gao is waiting in the study."
Yinzhen originally wanted to have Quanfu inform Gao Wuyong to come to Lanyuan to find him, but then he thought that he was going out tomorrow and there were some things in the manor that needed to be told to him.
He turned and walked back to the path leading to the study.
Su Peisheng cursed Quanfu inwardly for being incompetent. He thought to himself that all he wanted to do now was see Master Tong, and that he couldn't wait to tell him what urgent matter was.
Quanfu was in a bad mood. He grabbed Su Peisheng and said urgently, "Quickly think of a solution so that I don't have to go to Lanyuan."
"No way, I've been eagerly waiting for today." Su Peisheng said irritably. The day he returned from the palace, His Majesty granted permission for Master Tong to accompany him on the trip, and he had been looking forward to it ever since.
“Oh, Brother Su, what’s the use of just waiting? Master Tong won’t cooperate.” Quanfu said helplessly, “A quarter of an hour ago, Lan Courtyard was locked. As soon as I heard the news, I hurriedly pulled Lao Gao to save the day and told you not to go to Lan Courtyard, so as not to embarrass you.”
"What? It's locked." Su Peisheng thought he had misheard.
"Would I lie to you? Hurry up and think of something, Lao Gao can't hold out much longer," Quanfu anxiously reminded him.
"Only Master Tong would do something like this." Su Peisheng muttered dryly. He sighed, "I can't let my master go to Lan Courtyard. I have no choice but to say it directly. Hasn't my master been turned away enough by Master Tong?"
To the disappointment of some in the inner quarters, Yinzhen slept in his study that night. Of course, some were quite satisfied with the outcome.
As the male head of the household, whether he slept with Lady Nian or Lady Tong, the result showed that these two were more favored than the other two.
Nan Yi woke up hungry in the middle of the night. There were all kinds of food in Qinglian, but Nan Yi especially wanted to drink red bean porridge. She put on her clothes and got out of bed.
Hearing the noise, Yiren got up and lit a lamp. "Master, would you like to change your clothes?"
"No, I'm hungry, I want to drink red bean porridge." Nan Yi casually brushed her hair back and asked Yi Ren, "Do you think there will be red beans in the kitchen?"
Yiren helped her mistress straighten her clothes, and after thinking for a moment, said, "It's probably not possible. I haven't heard of any of the mistresses in the mansion liking red beans. How about we change it to pumpkin porridge? Red beans are hard to cook and need to be soaked in advance, which takes too long, and you can't wait that long."
“That’s true, but it seems there aren’t any pumpkins available at this time of year,” Nan Yi said.
"Oh dear, I almost forgot," Yiren said with a smile. "Why don't we go to the kitchen and see what ingredients we can use to make porridge?"
"Alright."
The master and servant left the bedroom with lanterns and groped their way to the kitchen. The Lan Courtyard had been uninhabited for a long time, and the kitchen had been deliberately cleaned. It seemed that they hadn't expected their master to start cooking so soon, as only simple seasonings and rice and noodles were prepared inside.
Nan Yi touched her stomach. Her stomach, like her body, had severely deteriorated digestive function, and would throw a tantrum if she wasn't satisfied.
There may be few ingredients, but you still need to eat.
"Girl, cook some plain porridge, it's easy to digest. If you eat anything else, you probably won't be able to sleep for the rest of the night."
Yiren nodded, "Then, mistress, please sit down and wait. I'll go and start a fire."
Nan Yi hummed in agreement and sat down at the kitchen table, eagerly waiting. Yi Ren was busy washing pots and pans and running around. Nan Yi felt a pang of guilt as she watched her maid wake up in the middle of the night to cook porridge. This mistress of hers was quite demanding.
"I'm sorry, girl, I've troubled you."
"What are you saying? It's not tiring at all. I'm happy to hear that my mistress wants to eat something. Before, you ate all the time, and I was worried that you would get too fat and it would affect your figure. Now, I want you to eat more, but your stomach can't take it." Yiren said, half-jokingly and half-worriedly.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, why can't I eat? It's torture to just look at delicious food and not be able to eat it." Nan Yi was speechless.
She suspected she had a stomach ailment and privately asked Dr. Wu about it. Dr. Wu insisted she didn't have one, saying she was perfectly healthy.
She didn't believe that someone with a good body would get sick so easily. She wasn't like the frail and sickly Xi Shi from the Nian family, whose weakness was congenital, while hers was acquired.
Yiren slowly stirred the rice and water in the pot. Her mistress was unaware of the situation, but as her personal maid, she knew. Doctor Wu had said that her mistress's physical weakness was closely related to her mental state.
Dr. Wu had said some strange things in a cryptic way, but unfortunately she couldn't understand them very well.
She only remembered one important sentence: whatever her mistress wanted to eat, she could eat it whenever she wanted; everything was up to her.
The commotion in the small kitchen was noticed by the servants who had come out to give instructions at night. Fearing that their master might need something, they called for the old woman to get up and help.
Yiren asked her mother-in-law for red beans, but the mother-in-law said she didn't have any.
After finishing their congee, the master and servant tidied up and went back to their room to rest.
The servants in Lan Courtyard were chosen by Su Peisheng. He had privately given them a warning and instructed them to report anything that Master Tong did to him.
The news that Master Tong asked for red beans in the middle of the night quickly reached Su Peisheng. Su Peisheng was worried about where to get red beans and how to make sure Master Tong could have red bean porridge early the next morning.
At the fourth watch of the night, Su Peisheng helped his master get up and reported the events of the previous night to him.
Upon hearing this, Yinzhen said, "Red beans, Li Jia has some. She likes to eat red bean cakes lately. Go and ask for some, tell the kitchen to cook them and send them to her, with a little sugar. I think she likes sweet things."
Su Peisheng dared not delay and had Quanfu come in to serve him.
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