Chapter 88. The matter was over. Su Zhihan knew all too well the shadows in her mother's heart...
Su Zhihan knew the shadow in her mother's heart and nodded silently. She looked up and watched the sedan chair carrying Pearl disappear into the distance. She couldn't help but worry. After thinking for a moment, she said to Jiang Zhenniang, "Why don't we chase after them? At least we should see Pearl enter the mansion."
"That's true." Jiang Zhenniang thought for a moment and realized that Su Zhihan's concerns were also reasonable. She nodded and agreed, "In my opinion, it would be best to tell Yinghong as well, in case Pearl does something rash..."
Jiang Zhenniang shook her head, unwilling to voice her inner worries. She thought to herself, as long as a person is alive, there is hope. The way she used to strangle herself, looking back now, those days seemed like a nightmare that brought despair and pain.
After thinking it over, the mother and daughter went to the crossroads and called for a sedan chair, while the other picked up some food and other treats. They then got into the sedan chair and hurriedly chased after it ahead.
Before long, the mother and daughter arrived at the back gate of the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence. They happened to see Pearl getting off the sedan chair. After hesitating for a moment, they stepped inside.
"Pearl? Why are you only coming back now!"
When the gatekeeper, Granny Zhao, saw her, she was extremely anxious and pushed her inside, saying, "Quick, quick, something has happened in Chang'er's courtyard. The mistress has ordered all the servants in the courtyard to gather here!"
Pearl paused for a moment, then ran into the house.
Granny Zhao watched Pearl's retreating figure and sighed, "That girl, why did she have to run off now of all times? Oh... Madam Jiang? Madam Su?"
As soon as Granny Zhao turned around, she was startled by the two figures in front of her. She was taken aback at first, then a smile bloomed on her face: "What brings you two here?"
Su Zhihan handed the braised food in her hand to Granny Zhao before explaining, "We saw Pearl on the way and noticed that she seemed distracted and uneasy, so we followed her to check on her."
"I just happened to overhear your conversation. What happened in Chang Ge'er's courtyard? Why is it so commotion?"
If others ask Granny Zhao, she won't tell them anything about the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion. But if Jiang Zhenniang and Su Zhihan ask, Granny Zhao will tell them everything without holding back!
"Han-jie, do you remember Xiuhe?"
"I remember it clearly. She was Wu Mama's daughter, who served in Chang Ge'er's room."
Su Zhihan had a deep impression of this person, Xiuhe, who had caused her a lot of trouble. At the same time, she didn't get along well with Pearl: "Could it be that Pearl's bad mood is also related to her?"
“I didn’t know that…” Granny Zhao paused, then shook her head: “I heard from the people in the eldest daughter’s room that Xiuhe was just diagnosed by the doctor as being two months pregnant.”
"What!?" Su Zhihan and Jiang Zhenniang were both shocked, staring incredulously at Granny Zhao who had just made such a shocking statement: "Really?"
"She's pregnant?"
"That little vixen is probably going to be thrilled. Maybe she can even make the mistress have a change of heart and let her become a concubine."
"How could that be..." Granny Zhao pursed her lips, looked around, and then pulled the two into her guardhouse. She whispered, "The young lady only has eyes for Pearl and a few others. She wouldn't look down on someone like Xiuhe who climbed into the bed on her own."
"If this happens, it will blow up big."
"I heard that the eldest lady is furious and has gathered everyone in the house together to question them one by one."
"It turned out that Pearl wasn't even in the house."
"Sigh." Granny Zhao shook her head. "I think Pearl is going to suffer."
In fact, Pearl had already revealed quite a bit. Although Su Zhihan and Jiang Zhenniang were shocked when they first heard it, it was only for a moment, and then they were filled with complicated feelings.
After calming themselves down, the mother and daughter asked Zhao Mama to help them find Yinghong. Yinghong hadn't seen Su Zhihan for a long time and was overjoyed. She pulled her aside and chattered on and on about the good things that had happened, mostly about the rewards she had received.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhenniang pulled Zhao Pozi outside to continue gossiping, while Su Zhihan took the opportunity to quickly tell Yinghong about Zhenzhu's attempted suicide.
Yinghong was so frightened that her limbs went weak and she almost fell to the ground: "Wh-what? Sister, sister is going to—uh-uh!"
Seeing that things were going badly, Su Zhihan quickly reached out and covered Yinghong's mouth. Only after Yinghong gradually calmed down did she release her hand and earnestly persuade her, "Yinghong, calm down."
"I, I, how can I calm down?"
“Sister…no, how could she?” Yinghong knew the seriousness of the situation and, suppressing her fear, hurriedly grabbed Su Zhihan’s sleeve.
She grew up with her older sister since she was little. Because of her stupidity, she was sent away several times, and her parents lost patience with her. Their implication was that she should be sent to the courtyard as a maid, and that they could find a nice young servant in the mansion to be paired with her later.
Only her older sister thought a lot about her, believing that she should learn a skill. She insisted that she go to the big kitchen to try again, which finally gave her hope.
This optimistic and cheerful older sister, how could she... Yinghong buried her head in Su Zhihan's arms, tears streaming down her face: "How could this be, how could this happen..."
"Don't blame her."
“Sister Pearl is different from us. From a young age, she was told that she was to serve Chang-ge’er and become Chang-ge’er’s concubine. Naturally, her feelings for Chang-ge’er are different.”
Su Zhihan first told Yinghong the reason, then advised her to go back and think about other interesting things, and taught Pearl not to focus all her attention on Chang Ge'er, but to calm down her emotions and find some other hobbies.
Yinghong wiped away her tears and carefully wrote it down.
She remembered the most important thing and knelt down to kowtow to Su Zhihan.
"What are you doing?" Su Zhihan grabbed Yinghong repeatedly, her face darkening. "Don't you even consider me a friend anymore?"
Yinghong had no choice but to get up. She hugged Su Zhihan and only let go after a long while. She wiped her face, apologized to Su Zhihan, and then went to the mansion.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhenniang also stopped talking, pulled Su Zhihan back into the sedan chair, and headed outside: "This mansion... is really lively, too lively."
Half a month later, Yinghong and Zhenzhu arrived together, accompanied by their parents. The family first thanked the mother and daughter, and then presented them with many gifts. Jiang Zhenniang initially did not want to accept them, but after several refusals, she finally decided to accept them.
While Jiang Zhenniang and Yinghong's parents were having a pleasant conversation, Su Zhihan quietly asked Zhenzhu and Yinghong about the outcome of what happened in Changge'er's courtyard.
Before Pearl could speak, Yinghong spoke up: "Mother Wu and Xiuhe were sold by the eldest daughter-in-law."
"Isn't Xiuhe pregnant?"
“Chang Ge’er is not married yet, but the maid in his room is pregnant. It would be terrible if word got out.”
Yinghong whispered, “On the very day you arrived, the eldest madam had someone force-feed her medicine and drag her out. The next day, even Wu Mama didn’t come to work in the kitchen, and that’s when we found out that both she and her daughter had been sold.”
"They didn't even mention where they would sell it."
"..." Su Zhihan remained silent, only feeling shocked.
"It's not just Xiuhe, many people are missing from Changge's courtyard." Pearl's face was not good, and she found it difficult to talk about what happened that day.
It turned out that it wasn't until Xiuhe's pregnancy was exposed that the eldest lady realized Changge'er hadn't been focusing on his studies, but instead was spending his days fooling around with a group of servants and maids. After further interrogating the servants and maids, she learned that Changge'er's outrageous behavior had been going on for more than half a year.
And all of this began in the month that Sanlangjun passed away.
Not to mention that the eldest daughter-in-law was furious, the old lady was also enraged. She not only ordered someone to force-feed Xiuhe medicine and drag her away, but also found an older woman to examine the bodies of all the girls in the courtyard.
Pearl's face turned grim at the thought of that incident. After the examination, only she and a few others escaped unscathed; the majority of the maids failed.
Many of them were born into servitude, and their parents and brothers were also implicated. Some were beaten and their wages were reduced, while others were sold off as a whole.
In just half a month, there were no familiar faces left in Chang Ge'er's courtyard.
However, what made Pearl feel most bitter was not this matter, but Chang Ge'er's reaction: "Clearly, as long as Chang Ge'er speaks up, some people can always be left behind."
Many of them were just like she had been back then, except that they chose to comply, but were accused of seducing Chang Ge'er and were kicked out of the mansion.
If Chang Ge'er just speaks up and takes some of the responsibility upon himself, he can always save a few.
“But he didn’t…” Pearl’s voice choked as she spoke of this: “He, he, he was just like what the old lady and the madam said, that it was all someone else who seduced him, and that it had nothing to do with him.”
On the day she returned, Pearl still had some anticipation, but after hearing Chang Ge'er's insincere apology and seeing that unfamiliar courtyard, her heart instantly turned to ice.
Coincidentally, the eldest daughter-in-law, citing her poor management and dereliction of duty, sent her home to reflect on her actions.
"I'm thinking of stopping going there from now on..."
"Judging from what Madam said, it seems that she plans to arrange Chang-ge'er's wedding ahead of schedule."
Pearl gave a bitter smile: "Once he has a beautiful wife and concubines, Chang-ge'er will soon forget me."
Su Zhihan felt a mix of emotions, a mixture of annoyance and relief. Just as she had worried back then, if Pearl had become Chang Ge'er's concubine, it would have been almost impossible to rescue her after the Zhongyong Marquis's mansion fell into ruin.
Now, at least there is some hope.
Su Zhihan suppressed the surging emotions in her heart, changed the subject, and asked what Pearl had been doing lately.
Upon hearing this, Pearl enthusiastically took out two round fans from the gifts: "These are embroidered by me, take a look."
Su Zhihan took the round fan. At first glance, it was just an ordinary round fan with hibiscus flowers on it and the needlework was quite ingenious.
Su Zhihan looked left and right, and just as she was about to ask a question, the side of the fan caught her attention.
She turned the fan over and immediately discovered that the reverse side was not in the shape of a hibiscus flower, but rather a pattern of butterflies in love with flowers.
Before me was a double-sided embroidered fan.
"This is actually double-sided embroidery."
"How about that? Impressive, right?" Pearl smiled smugly when she saw the look of surprise on Su Zhihan's face.
Nowadays, double-sided embroidery is truly rare, a highly skilled technique possessed by only a very few embroiderers, and is mostly sought after by wealthy families.
If a cloth or embroidery shop had a skilled embroiderer specializing in double-sided embroidery, the price of even ordinary custom-made embroidered items could double. An embroiderer capable of double-sided embroidery could earn at least thirty strings of cash a month, and with large orders, that income could easily double.
"I had nothing to do, so I embroidered two of them, which I'm sending to you and Madam Jiang."
"That's right, even I didn't get one." Yinghong pouted and clung to Su Zhihan's arm to complain.
"Hey, didn't I say I'd embroider it for you later?" Pearl smiled helplessly, and could only make repeated vows to barely satisfy Yinghong.
"Such skill should be kept a secret."
"I know." Pearl was taken aback at first, then nodded. She was just bored and wanted to pass the time by embroidering things; she had no intention of actually becoming an embroiderer.
Over there, Yinghong's parents had also finished talking with Jiang Zhenniang. Because they were in a hurry to get back to the Marquis of Zhongyong's residence to do their work, they did not stay for a meal and told Zhenzhu and Yinghong to go outside.
When Jiang Zhenniang and Su Zhihan saw the family of four off at the door, Yao Lang was talking to Zhang Xuezi outside.
Oh, right, now we should call him Master Zhang. He passed the autumn imperial examination and then the selection examination. He will be going to take up a local post next spring, and he is currently studying government affairs in the county government office.
"The banquet for Madam Su is booked until the Lantern Festival. Once you've decided on a date, you must let me know as soon as possible."
"Alright, alright, then I'll trouble you, Brother Yao." Zhang Guanren breathed a sigh of relief, looked up at Su Zhihan who was leaving, and wanted to say hello to the Jiang family mother and daughter as well.
Unexpectedly, when he looked up, he saw someone else first. Master Zhang stopped talking and stared blankly. Pearl noticed the gazes coming from all around, glanced at them, then covered her face with her sleeve and carefully stepped onto the mule cart.
Only then did Zhang realize his rashness. He quickly looked away and only turned back after he could no longer hear the hoofbeats, staring blankly into the distance.
"Master Zhang, Master Zhang."
"Ah? Ah, oh..." Zhang Guanren withdrew his gaze, even forgetting that he wanted to greet the Jiang family mother and daughter, and walked back blankly.
A few days later, Yao Lang came to visit, firstly to explain the arrangements for the banquet to Su Zhihan, and secondly...
"Master Zhang asked me to inquire about this."
"Hmm? Are you asking about the shop that day? I'll put up a sign in advance to notify regular customers, so they can rest assured."
"No, no." Yao Lang's expression was very strange. He twisted his body before continuing, "Zhang Lang said that he saw a family of four at your door five days ago and wanted to ask if the older one was the girl of this family, and whether she was married?"
Su Zhihan was stunned for a moment, while Jiang Zhenniang immediately thought of pearls and covered her mouth with a sigh.
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