Chapter 39: Grandma's Anger Subsides

  Fu's mother fell ill the next day.

  The old lady is ill, and as the daughter-in-law of the family, Su Ying naturally has to go and take care of her. She raises the corner of her lips and reveals a smile with a hint of playfulness - is she pretending to be ill or really ill? Although I don't know what Old Lady Fu said to Fu Qiyang yesterday, Old Master's face doesn't show any emotions, but his whole body is emitting cold air that's almost freezing. Needless to say, in the eyes of Old Lady Fu, who is extremely biased, she must be suffering a great injustice - this couple is indeed pitiful.

  Su Ying looked at her hand wrapped in gauze, and Gui Yatou comforted her by the side: "The scar is shallow, apply some ointment for a few days and it will be fine. Madam was also a bit too careless."

  Tsk, tsk, all this trouble was caused by impulsiveness. In Su Ying's view, yesterday's incident was a case of hurting the enemy at the cost of self-inflicted wounds, which was really not worth it. Look, Fu Mu's counterattack has come immediately, and it's still so blatant. As a daughter-in-law, one must be careful to serve, otherwise, the label of "unfilial" will be imposed, and there will be no place to argue even if you have reason on your side.

  Su Ying met Mrs. Chen, who was hurrying to the door of the house, and Mrs. Chen's eyes circled around Su Ying's exposed wrist before returning to her face, saying with a pained expression: "Elder sister, do you know how Old Lady suddenly fell ill?"

  "I don't know."

  Madam Chen was stunned by Su Ying's straightforward words, and she sighed: "It seems that I heard Bai He say that the old lady was angry and had a heart attack, so she got sick. So, let's all be nice to the old lady when we see her later, lest her condition worsen."

  Su Ying smiled faintly: "Younger sister is indeed good at understanding people's intentions, no wonder the old lady loves you more."

  Mrs. Chen was momentarily unsure whether Su Qing's words were praise or blame, and she smiled: "Sister, is your hand okay? Don't leave a scar, how could you be so careless at that time?" Was this tone really suitable for the second lady?

  Su Ying's expression didn't change: "Thank you for your concern, little sister. You are indeed kind and compassionate."

  Mrs. Chen felt something was off, puckered her mouth, and quickly took a few steps to squeeze Su Ying aside and rush into the room first, shouting loudly: "Auntie, I've come to see you, how are you?"

  Su Heng's temper was good, not angry at all. As soon as she entered the inner room, a covered bowl smashed to her feet, accompanied by the old lady's roar: "You're all against me, are you tired of this old woman being useless? Do you want to suffocate me to death?"

  "Madam, please calm down and take care of your body. If the second master and I have done something wrong and made you angry, please let us know and we will change. Don't get upset and make yourself ill." She then gave a glance to Su Ying: "Elder sister, come over and persuade old madam too."

  With a robust physique, even a lid of a bowl can be thrown to the door, doesn't seem like he's ill at all? Looks like it's a heart problem, alas, this is hard to cure.

  Su Ying rushed over with a worried look: "Old lady, please calm down, you're still ill. Who made you angry? Tell me and I'll let them apologize to you. If the old master had known about your illness earlier, he wouldn't have gone to the yamen. I've sent someone to deliver a message to him, asking him to return as soon as possible."

  Fu's mother lay on the bed, humming: "A woman's opinion, how can a great master like you be so lazy when doing things for the emperor? Where are you going? Relying on the young masters to drag your legs!"

  So you're saying it's time for your illness?

  Su Ying asked the white heron and cuckoo who were waiting in front of them: "What did the doctor say? Is the medicine ready? How do you take care of the old lady, doesn't she get angry sometimes?"

  The white egrets and cuckoos told Su Ying that they were like quails, but Fu Mu was not satisfied, and coldly said: "Madam has such a big temper, if you want to manage the servants below, why don't you go somewhere else? Why do you have to show off your authority as the mistress in front of an old woman?"

  Madam Chen sat down beside the bed and patted Fu Mu's back, seeing that Fu Mu was not being polite or difficult with Su Ying, she felt extremely relieved in her heart. On the surface, she pretended to advise: "Elder sister is also concerned about you, although her tone is a bit harsh." She then turned around and said to Su Ying: "Elder sister, look at this?"

  If the original Su had been honest and fearful from the beginning, she would have understood that no matter what she said, it would be distorted in this aunt and niece's mouths. But that didn't mean she was powerless to fight back. She lowered her head, her voice trembling slightly: "My younger sister is watching over the elderly lady inside, I'll go take a look at the medicine being simmered on the small stove." As she turned around, Madame Chen's sharp eyes caught sight of Su Ying's reddened eye sockets, and in her heart, she was already applauding with joy.

  All these doctors have been invited, it's unreasonable for them not to have prescribed any medicine.

  Su Ying was indeed a filial daughter-in-law, personally supervising the little maid as she decocted the medicine, then pouring the dark, bitter liquid into a white porcelain bowl with gold trim and red flowers, placing it on a small, intricately carved black wooden tray, which Du Juan carried to deliver to the inner room.

  Su Ying bitterly smiled at Du Juan: "I'm afraid the old lady will get angry when she sees me, so I won't enter this room. If the old lady is still angry and doesn't want to take her medicine, let the second lady persuade her. Didn't the doctor instruct us to drink three doses of medicine?"

  Camellia rushed Su Ying and knelt down, holding a tray and went in.

  Lü Hu sat down in front of Su Ying, supporting her as she sat down on the chair. Su Ying occasionally used the tea cup lid to scoop out the tea leaves from the tea bowl, but didn't drink it, instead listening to the movements inside the room. Du Juan was a clever one, Chen Furen was an ignorant one, Fu Mu was a fake sick one, and in the end, she still drank that bowl of black bitter medicinal soup.

  Su Ying just took a sip of tea and heard the sound of a teacup shattering in the next room, couldn't help but think to herself "The world is so beautiful, yet you are so anxious, not good, not good".

  Su Ying didn't go to Fu Mu's place to find fault, others had many good reasons, avoiding the old lady seeing her and getting angry which would worsen her illness. Fu Mu was even more stifled with anger, just a lump stuck in her chest that wouldn't go up or down, she wanted to make Su Ying suffer by making her do chores, taking advantage of the opportunity to vent out the fire in her belly and feel better.

  One day, this is not satisfying, that doesn't look good, don't want to eat this, that looks unappetizing. And when the old lady eats, the daughter-in-law has to stand and watch her eat. By the time she finally finishes eating, all the dishes on the table have gone cold. Then it's said that this can't be wasted, and the kitchen is busy making medicine.

  Su Ying's face hadn't shown even a hint of unwillingness or resentment, when Fu Mu scolded her with eyes and nose askew: "How can you still feel wronged? Isn't it a matter of course for daughters-in-law to serve their mothers-in-law? I've never made you follow rules in daily life, why don't you go find out which family's mother-in-law is as open-minded as me, not requiring daughters-in-law to stand on ceremony every day. I let you serve me for just one day and you're already impatient?"

  Madam Chen also suffered, and was so miserable that she didn't dare complain in front of Madam Fu, besides there was someone who was even more unfortunate than her.

  Su Ying's face was somewhat pale, and Mrs. Chen exclaimed as she walked over to grab Su Ying's hand, coincidentally it was still the same hand wrapped in gauze, Su Ying furrowed her brow and pulled her hand back. Mrs. Chen said apologetically: "Sister-in-law, I didn't mean to, but you don't look well, has your old illness relapsed?"

  Su Ying touched her cheek and asked back, "Is there? I don't feel uncomfortable, maybe it's just that the weather is getting warmer and I'm wearing too much. Speaking of which, the donkey hide glue given by the old lady is indeed not ordinary, after eating it for several days in a row, I feel like my complexion is getting better day by day. Does brother's wife have this feeling too?"

  "Really?" Mrs. Chen seemed somewhat unconvinced, "Maybe it's just that I was originally in good health, so I don't feel it as strongly as Big Sister."

  Fu's mother's eyes flickered.

  Fu Xueyang, the dutiful son, arrived just in time. As soon as he entered, he rushed to the inner room: "Mother, what's wrong with you? I'm worried about you." It's not surprising that Second Master came to pay his respects late, because yesterday Fu Xueyang didn't want to go to the Shou'an Duke's mansion to join in the festivities. He recalled feeling depressed and anxious before, and even a romantic tryst with Huipo was unsatisfying. He drank to drown his sorrows, but ended up getting drunk. After sobering up, he heard that Old Madam had fallen ill, so Second Master hurriedly cleaned himself up and rushed to Fu's mother's chambers.

  Fu's mother saw that Kai Xin Bao Bei was in a good mood, so she didn't dare to pretend to be unhappy anymore. She lovingly said to Su Ying: "You go ahead and do your thing, I have Xu Yang and his wife here."

  In one second, becoming a kind mother, haha.

  Su Yingcai didn't want to look for trouble here, so he quickly asked about Fu Mu's illness and left with Lu Hui.

  Su Ying had just returned to the main courtyard when Zi Su came up to ask: "Madam, there's a bowl of duck meat congee that was prepared in the kitchen earlier. Why don't you have some first to fill your stomach? The dishes that were prepared earlier aren't good to eat anymore, so we're redoing them."

  Su Ying was really hungry, originally she didn't eat well for breakfast and then was called to go upstairs, after that she was ordered around by Fu Mu, although most of the work was done by the servant girls, but lunch was not something that could be eaten in such a state. As expected, the servant girl in front of her was clever, "What dishes are there today?"

  "There's a way to make drunken chicken with steamed duck eggs, and another way to make shrimp ball soup with chicken skin."

  "Never mind," Su Ying said to Lü Hui, "you go eat too, don't worry about me."

  "That won't do, I'm afraid the little maids won't be careful." Lu Hui had just said this when Bao He spat: "I think you want to eat that dish of steamed duck with wine lees? Zi Su said yesterday that there would be this dish of steamed duck today."

  Lü Huai pulled on Zi Su's sleeve to pinch her mouth, the two of them laughing together. Lü Huai kept saying: "It was obviously you, this girl, yet you're pushing it onto me, just watch me tear your mouth apart."

  After a while, Zi Su led Xiao Yatou to bring the dishes up. There was a bowl of shrimp ball chicken skin soup, a dish of steamed duck with wine sauce, a plate of pickled rose petal goose liver, and a plate of four crispy fried goose oil rolls, as well as a large bowl of hot and fragrant green rice.

  Su Ying just drank more than half a bowl of duck meat porridge and finally felt a bit better.

  A whole duck was served on the table and divided into several portions. Each of them gave a bowl to Liu Niang and Li Yue, Su Ying ate some, and the rest were all given to Ya Tou. Su Ying picked up a Suan Ni Yan You Juan (a type of pastry) and ate half of it, finding it too greasy, while she ate more than half of that plate of Rou Zong E Pao (a type of dish) with rice.

  The little girl who brought the duck meat came back and said: "Madam Liu and Miss Luyue asked me to thank you for the reward, madam."

  Su Ying put down her chopsticks and suddenly thought of something.