Chapter 127 An Immense Injustice
Daiyu, along with her maids and Yingchun, went to the inner room to change their clothes and freshen up. The maids then brought over hot soup and dishes. Daiyu accompanied Yingchun behind the partition in the main hall, serving her the meal.
"Sister, these cakes and pastries were made by my nanny and me today. You must try them. If it weren't for the strong wind this afternoon, I was planning to have someone send some to you."
Although Yingchun seemed preoccupied, even wiping away tears while eating, she didn't reveal the reason, so Daiyu didn't ask any further questions.
She heard Yingchun's words clearly when she came in. For Yingchun, who was usually the one who was always the one being bullied, to say such a thing, she must have suffered a great injustice.
Yingchun gazed at Daiyu, who looked like a fairy, and couldn't bear to refuse her kindness. Under Daiyu's gaze, although her heart felt like it was stuffed with cotton, she still held the soft and fluffy rice dumplings and ate them in small bites.
Daiyu smiled and personally served Yingchun a bowl of delicate and sweet red bean paste dumplings. The dumplings were soft and chewy, and the red bean paste was fragrant and smooth, making it refreshing.
"Sister, this contains brown sugar. Our brown sugar is all homemade, not the kind you buy outside. This was just made yesterday, you must try it." Daiyu said earnestly.
In an instant, Yingchun felt as if she had returned to Rongyue Courtyard. She took a spoonful of red bean paste, and the sweet taste seemed to have a magical power, giving her a little space in her heart that had been feeling stuffy, allowing her to breathe a little.
“Lin Daiyu…” Yingchun put down her spoon, tears suddenly streaming down her face. She wanted to express her grievances, but her throat felt blocked and she couldn’t utter a single word.
Looking at Yingchun, who was filled with grievances, Daiyu suddenly felt a surge of chivalrous spirit.
"Second sister, just tell me what wronged you have suffered, and I will go with the nanny to seek justice for you!"
Yingchun mustered all her courage and went to the Lin family in one go. She didn't know what the future held, or whether Granny Yuan would save her. She was filled with anxiety. But when she heard Daiyu's words, her heart warmed instantly.
Daiyu had someone bring over a warm handkerchief and stood by, waiting for Yingchun to calm down.
Yingchun looked at Daiyu through teary eyes. It had only been a few days since she last saw her, but Lin Daiyu looked even more energetic.
Although it had only been a few days since Lin Daiyu left, it seemed as if half of the vitality of the Rongguo Mansion had been drained away.
The day before yesterday, Baoyu fell into a snowdrift and developed a fever. The whole household was alarmed, as if their lifeblood was about to break. The old lady even had the green gauze curtains moved out and Baoyu moved in, and she personally watched over him every day.
The eldest master was invited to banquets by Brother Zhen from the East Mansion every day, while the second master was busy with official business and never had a moment to rest.
The sister-in-law was extremely busy managing the household, and she also had to allocate food and cotton clothing from the house for her second brother to take to the western city for disaster relief.
The matter of her stealing jewelry for the wet nurse was never dealt with afterward.
After the wet nurse was imprisoned, her daughter and daughter-in-law came to her courtyard every day to make a scene, saying that she was heartless. They even brought several of their children, saying that she had cut off their livelihood and that they would have no food to eat in the future. They said that these children would starve to death sooner or later, so they would bring them to the girl today and let the girl beat them to death!
Yingchun made such a big decision to punish the wet nurse, but she didn't think about how to deal with the aftermath. She thought that since her family knew the wet nurse's true colors, they would naturally handle the aftermath for her. However, because of the heavy snow these days, no one in her family cared about her situation.
Today, the wet nurse's daughter-in-law brought her brother-in-law in, saying that he and Yingchun had been fed wet nurse's milk since childhood and had even shared a bed with her, claiming it was a predestined fate... She wanted to ruin Yingchun's reputation, force a relationship with her, and ideally marry her. Even if her plan failed, she would extort a thousand or several hundred taels of silver from her, ensuring her family would never have to worry about food or clothing again.
Inside the house, Siqi, accompanied by several maids, tried to stop them. The old women and wet nurses usually pretended to come along to stop them, but it was obvious at a glance that they were being lenient.
They were also hoping that the wet nurse's wife could take a piece of flesh from Yingchun, so that they could follow suit and take a bite themselves.
Therefore, most people were watching the play, but the only ones actually stopping it were the maids that Siqi brought with her.
Yingchun went out to find someone to help. Logically, this should have been done by the housekeeper's second sister-in-law, but she wasn't home. She said she had gone with her second brother to help the second master coordinate disaster relief supplies.
As soon as she arrived at the door, she was stopped. They explained that Baoyu had been restless all night, with a persistent high fever, and the old lady was extremely worried. She had barely slept since last night and had just said she felt dizzy. The doctor had taken her pulse and said she was exhausted and needed to rest. She had only just taken her medicine and finally fallen asleep. Even if there was something extremely important, they would wait until the old lady woke up before discussing it.
Yingchun paused for a moment, then turned to find the First Madam. According to the degree of kinship, the First Madam was her legal mother, and it was only right and proper for her to take care of her affairs.
Although the First Madam never even deigned to glance at her, Yingchun still held onto hope.
She pleaded for quite a while, but still couldn't see the First Madam.
Yingchun had no choice but to go to the Second Madam's place again. Outsiders all said that the Second Madam was the most compassionate, and she had always thought so too.
However, because Baoyu was sick, Jialan also caught a cold. The Second Madam was praying for the two of them in the Buddhist hall and could not go out, but she sent Zhou Rui's wife to check on them.
When she brought Zhou Rui's wife to her residence, Ping'er from her second sister-in-law's side also rushed over with her people after hearing the news.
The wet nurse's daughter-in-law often frequented the mansion and knew that neither of the two people who came were masters, so she was not afraid.
In front of these people, he became even more frenzied, even going so far as to say that Yingchun and her brother-in-law were childhood sweethearts, and that Yingchun's aunt had already arranged for them to marry.
Yingchun's aunt has been dead for so many years, her bones have all decayed, so there's no way to verify anything now.
That woman was convinced of this: Yingchun was a precious gem, while they were mere rubble. She wanted to associate herself with Yingchun, tarnish her reputation, and make her unable to marry again, leaving her only able to marry her own brother-in-law.
When such a noble and wealthy young lady marries into their family, her dowry will certainly be substantial.
They had already figured out how to leech off Yingchun.
Even if it were just Ping'er and Zhou Rui's wife coming, or even if Second Madam Lian came today, they would never back down!
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