Chapter Thirteen: The Old Oyster Conceals a Pearl

  In the early morning, Taizhou city is slightly quiet, with people on the streets hurrying to and fro, not knowing where they are going. The shops on both sides of the street have also started to open one after another, with shop assistants busily running back and forth, making it very lively. Here, there are numerous shops, with so many types of businesses that it's dazzling, including wine houses, inns, gold, silver, and jade shops, countless in number, with all sorts of signboards hanging on the three horizontal and vertical streets that intersect each other. This is Taizhou's commercial district, because the streets are shaped like a cross of three horizontal and three vertical streets, so every intersection forms a crossroads, which is why locals call this area "Sanshizi Street".

  The Qin Mansion was located in a relatively quiet area of the Thirty Character Street, although it was only about 100 or so steps away from the main street. Nevertheless, one could still feel the lively atmosphere of the street, and occasionally, commoners would pass by the mansion's gate, seeing the high walls and deep courtyards of the Qin Mansion, with an air that was anything but ordinary, they didn't dare to linger, fearing they might stir up some kind of trouble.

  In such a mansion that makes ordinary people envious, there are always beautiful ladies and luxurious food. People passing by can't help but envy them, yet they don't know that the life inside is not easy either, with the inner courtyard struggles and intrigues being an unknown scene.

  Fang Wanru sat in front of the copper mirror with her eyes closed, cultivating her spirit. Behind her stood a clever and skilled wife who was combing her hair. The husband of this wife also worked in the mansion, and because he combed hair well, he was summoned to serve the first lady.

  She picked up the horn comb, dipped it in some osmanthus hair oil, and skillfully combed the strands of hair in her hand. With a few quick strokes, she had styled a beautiful high bun. Next, she took out a set of emerald green headpieces from the makeup box and carefully put them on, then found a pair of ruby earrings and delicately threaded them through her ear holes. Only then did she step back, bowing neatly to say: "Milady, it's done."

  Fang Wanru finally opened her eyes and looked at the copper mirror, "The craftsmanship of Qing Shou's family is getting better and better. With this dress, I look like I'm several years younger!"

  Qing Shou's wife hurriedly said: "How can I be worthy of the lady's praise, this is my duty, the lady was originally young and had good skin, many young girls are not as good as her!" Qing Shou's efforts made himself forget the white hair he saw earlier, his tone was even more sincere, sounding very believable.

  Who doesn't love to hear flattering words, and Fang Wanru is just an ordinary person after all.

  "One is more talkative than the other, just to make me happy." Fang Wanru was originally a clever person, who wouldn't be able to distinguish between the truth and falsehood of this statement. However, she was after all only a woman, and as a woman, she would care about her appearance and like it when someone praised her looks. At this moment, whether the words were true or false didn't need to be thought about anymore, what's most important was that she heard what she wanted to hear.

  Qing Shou's flattery was met with a hearty laugh from Fang Wanru, who rewarded her with a silver bangle.

  The little servant girl was beating the mosquito net, but it turned out to be the big servant girl Haitang who had arrived.

  "Madam, several aunts have been waiting in the next room for quite some time. Are you still laying out food in the next room?" This kind of play is almost performed several times every day. Although she knew that these women were afraid of her husband's eyes, she couldn't help but report to him.

  Fang Wanru suddenly thought of the concubines in the mansion, and her chest felt suffocated. "Put them in the outer room, I've seen a few debt collectors using it."

  Haitang promised, and helped Fang Wanru up to the next room.

  Six aunts stood in two rows in the hall, forming a colorful and vibrant scene. Their clothes were of different colors, their jewelry and ornaments shone with different brilliance, dazzling Fang Wanru's eyes.

  As soon as she sat down on the couch, all the aunts followed the rules and paid their respects to her. Fang Wanru ordered someone to move a three-legged wooden stool for everyone to sit on.

  It is said that three women can make a play, but there are enough people sitting below for two plays.

  "Madam, this pair of ruby earrings is truly beautiful, the color is bright red and must be a treasure." Li Niang was the youngest among several niangs, although her appearance was ordinary, but being younger, she had a skin as white as snow, which made her look quite charming. This Li Niang was a distant relative of the Fang family, who had just given birth to a baby boy two years ago and was currently in favor.

  "In the early years when I first entered the house, my mother gave it to me." Fang Wanru obviously didn't want to discuss this topic further and responded lightly. This Li was a distant relative of the Qin family, seemingly obedient but actually not so in private. In front of people, she always pretended to be extremely respectful of Fang Wanru, often doing menial tasks without complaint, yet Fang Wanru still felt that she was not content with her place, even though her child was only three years old and after all a boy!"

  Li smiled and said, "No wonder, the things from Madame's place are all top-notch. We ordinary people have never seen such things before. Only someone with your status, madam, can wear them and make them look valuable."

  Wang sat next to Li, secretly scowling in her heart, silently cursing Li from head to toe. But on the surface, she maintained a calm and unruffled demeanor, as if other people's affairs had nothing to do with her, merely lowering her head to gaze at the tip of her shoes, not uttering a word.

  Then Qizi and Zhao's family each said a few irrelevant words, all of which were responded to by Fang Wanru with indifference.

  "Zi Xin has made great progress recently, and even the teacher at school says he is diligent and studious. You should also go see him more often and take care of what needs to be taken care of." This could make Fang Wanru look at her differently and treat her specially, aside from Qin Zixin's mother, Feng Yiniang, there was no one else. This woman was originally Fang Wanru's maid, later given to Qin Lao as a concubine, and only became a yiniang after becoming pregnant. Perhaps it was because of the different feelings she had served for many years, after all, she came from her mother's family, so Fang Wanru treated Feng Yiniang differently.

  As expected, the woman in the lake-colored jacket stood up and hurriedly said: "I know." After finishing, she seemed to think of something and changed her words: "I see, thank you, madam."

  Li Yiniang, who had seen everything with her own eyes, felt a sense of injustice and couldn't help but show a hint of displeasure on her face. She had also given birth to a son for the Qin family, so why did she catch Madame's eye? She was just a maid from a humble background, and even though she was a distant relative of the Fang family, she hadn't received any special treatment.

  Fang Wanru saw Li's small actions, but didn't think much of it, directly ignoring the indignant Li and turning her gaze to the other two women who hadn't spoken a word. One was Wang, who had just snubbed Li; the other was Su, the birth mother of Third Miss.

  A beautiful and vulgar woman, but she was brought back by the old master after getting drunk. If it weren't for her being pregnant, how could she have entered the Qin family's door?

  A gentle and elegant, knowledgeable and reasonable person, it's no wonder the old master has always had his heart set on her, but unfortunately she is a cold-faced person who loves to be alone, and gave birth to such a foolish daughter, which can't bring any benefits.

  Is it really possible to marry Qianxin into the Jia family by doing so? Fang Wanru had something on her mind and was too lazy to socialize with several women who each had their own thoughts, so she served tea and sent off the guests.

  Several of the aunts were sensible and hastily got up to pay their respects. Just at this moment, however, Lady Su suddenly lost her balance and fell straight down.

  Everyone was shocked, and Fang Wanru hurriedly called Haitang to invite a doctor. She also found several strong women to support her and put her in a resting room next door. The other ladies-in-waiting had not yet had time to watch the commotion when they were dismissed and told to return to their respective courtyards, lest they add to the chaos. Even so, there were still a few who wanted to see the excitement and left their confidants in the courtyard to inquire about the inside story of Su's fainting.

  The two maidservants who followed the Su family also received the news and hurried to the resting room to attend, although they were worried but couldn't help much, until the doctor arrived, then they felt a little more at ease.

  Fang Wanru was extremely annoyed, but due to her status as the mistress of the house, she had no choice but to take care of things. It's as if she feared what would happen next, and recently, with Jia's family proposing marriage, many troubles arose in the mansion. At this time, countless people were waiting to see her compete with Madam Su, yet at this moment, she fell ill in her own courtyard, who knows whether it was intentional or not.

  Fang Wanru, who was just waiting for news in the next room, had never thought that it would be such a result. She thought that perhaps because of the third lady being sent to the countryside, she was upset and maybe even intentionally only let the doctor open a few medicinal patches. But she never expected to hear the result she heard now.

  "Are you sure?" Fang Wanru only felt that her hands were shaking uncontrollably, almost unable to hold the teacup.

  "Madam, what are you talking about? I've been practicing medicine for decades, could I possibly misdiagnose something as simple as a slippery pulse?" The old doctor was slightly displeased, this was basically questioning his skills.

  Fang Wanru felt her chest getting even more suffocated, and she almost gritted her teeth as she said to Haitang: "Send the doctor away, and give him some reward. Also, go tell Madame Su that Concubine Su is pregnant."

  The last three words were almost squeezed out of his teeth, and Hai Tang was shocked to hear them. He quickly found someone to send the doctor away and went to Tai Furen's courtyard himself.

  Su Yulan stroked her still-flat belly, feeling a mix of emotions. Since finding out she was pregnant after waking up, she had always felt that this unborn child was a blessing in disguise, appearing at a time when she was so isolated and helpless, just as her heart was about to give up on love forever.

  If it's a son...

  No matter what, she wants to protect this child and also ensure her own daughter's happiness, even if the child doesn't acknowledge her.

  Just then, Wan Mama, the most trusted maid of Lady Yu, was escorted in by a group of maids.

  She was just about to get up, but was pulled back by Wan's mother. "At this time, it's not like usual days, the days are still young, and you can't move recklessly." As soon as the words fell, the curtain was lifted again, and a middle-aged man with a short beard came in, wearing a bundle of cloth on his head, a blue brocade robe, a white jade cloud-patterned belt around his waist, and a pair of thick-soled boots on his feet. The whole person looked elegant and extraordinary, not like a businessman at all.

  This man is none other than the master of the Qin Manor, Qin Zhen's cheap father-in-law, Qin Congwen.