Chapter 7 Before the Feast

  As the sun was setting, but Peony still had not returned, Lin mom was a bit anxious, so she asked Kuan'er to go out and inquire to see if Peony was staying at Mrs. Qi's place for dinner. Kuan'er went out for a short while and came back jumping, "Mom, the young lady is back."   Mother Lin busily greeted Fu'er and set out the rice and water, "Hurry up, the food will get cold."   As soon as the food was set up, a curt voice resounded from the veranda: "Peony is the cutest, Peony is the cutest."   Peony said breathlessly, "Flip is also cute."   Peony entered the house, lazily lay down on the couch and said, "Stay a while, mom will ask someone to go and pack up a room, madam has rewarded me with two people today, one is mama Li, and the other is Lanzhi."   Lin mom stopped her hand movements and said in surprise: "How could madam suddenly reward someone?" When Peony was sick for a long time, the Liu family only knew how to find excuses to send out the people given by the He family, and after Yutong's accident, there was a lack of manpower here, so no one was ever given. Now that they have suddenly given these two people, it looks like they have no good intentions at all.   Peony sighed, "So what's the solution? It can't always be refused."   Peony saw that as soon as she said this, the room went silent, and several people looked at her with sad faces. She thought to herself, "It's just two more waiters, what's the big deal, they can't ride over her head, so many people are looking at her alone, she mustn't show any weakness. So he put up the spirit, get up and clean hands pick up chopsticks ready to eat, smiled: "body is not afraid of the shadow slant, there are two more people to help you do things is not better?"   Lin mother hunched her back and just sighed: "Although I say so, but ......"   Peony saw her brow deeply wrinkled, the wrinkles on her face became more and more dense, looking extremely sad, the heart of the boss could not bear it. Knowing what she likes to hear the most, she winked at Yu He, "Today there is also something good, Yu He said to mother to listen."   Yu He got the order, busy smile: "Mom, today, madam sent word, from tomorrow morning, two aunts will bring the son, young ladies over to our young lady to ask for peace. Her Ladyship also said that she would ask the Imperial Doctor to come and give the young lady a tune-up."   "That's right, once upon a time madam didn't put you on her mind, now that she's paying attention, she naturally wants to release people to your house, in this house, who doesn't have a few people in the courtyard that madam has given to them? This is nothing." Lin mother's eyes lit up, the sadness on her face was swept away, and she excitedly said, "Young lady, you're going to turn over a new leaf, you must grasp this opportunity and give birth to a first son soon."   Peony choked on a mouthful of rice in the mouth of her throat and haphazardly pulled the words out of her mouth, "Suddenly valuing me like this, I am very uneasy in my heart, and I don't know why exactly. I always feel strange."   Lin mother laughed, not taking Peony's worries to heart, "Who cares, in any case, it will be beneficial to us." Seeing Peony counting rice grains there, she went up and pinched a piece of stir-fried lamb liver into her bowl, "It's getting late, young lady, hurry up and have your meal, and take an early rest after bathing, so that you can sleep well and be energetic tomorrow."   The body is the capital of the revolution, I must have a strong body! Peony gritted her teeth and ate the rice in the bowl cleanly, looking at Lin mom and Yu He and the others for a while to rejoice.   But Mrs. Qi finished her evening class, and Sister Zhu directed the maids to wait for her to finish freshening up and helped her to sit under the curtain to cool off. Because Liu Chengcai had not yet returned, Sister Zhu brought a basket of needlework and accompanied Mrs. Qi as she gossiped and waited.   Under Sister Zhu's conscious guidance, the topic was brought up from the past events of more than ten years ago to Peony: "Earlier, when Madam said that she wanted the two aunts, the young son and the young miss to go to pay respects to the young madam, the slave girl saw that the young madam was dumbfounded by what she heard. Later, when she heard that the Imperial Doctor would be invited over, she was even more grateful."   Mrs. Qi swept her a glance and said faintly, "You must be wondering why I'm meddling in her affairs today, backing her up and rewarding her people, right?"   Sister Zhu laughed and said, "The old slave does not understand, and looking at the young lady does not understand either."   Mrs. Qi said with a straight face, "I'm doing this all for the good of the family. Although the family is unfortunate, encountered this kind of thing, but the wood has become the boat, if you are too much to back out, let Zishu and that Qinghua county princess continue to act recklessly, forcing people to die, offending the He family, will be leaked out, not only the master's official reputation and Zishu's future will be damaged, my Liu family will also be left with a reputation of being thin-hearted, ungrateful, want to get a foothold in the upper echelons of the capital is a thousand times more difficult. Zishu has been ridiculous, it's time to get over it."   Sister Zhu smiled and said, "Your Ladyship has always been extremely far-sighted. But the slave girl looked, the young lady looks weak, but in fact, she is very resilient, where is it so easy to not be able to think anymore?"   Mrs. Qi suddenly flared up, slammed the table and sneered, "How did her illness come about last fall, do you think I really don't know? Do you really don't understand or are you pretending not to understand?!"   Her accumulated authority is very heavy, this attack scared Sister Zhu's heart panic, both knees softly kneeled down: "Madam rest assured, the old slave knows wrong. Please be clear, since the age of seven, the old slave has been by your side for nearly forty years now, and has never had a second thought."   Speaking of these nearly forty years of experience, Mrs. Qi some moved, sighed: "I know you are Zi Shu's nurse, since childhood, love him, always love to follow his nature. But this is not a child's play, can't let him fool around. He is thinking of the Qinghua Sheriff, Qinghua Sheriff is now a free agent, the two people have that idea in mind is not strange. But he didn't think about it, we have two generations of single family, only one person, I and the master still count on him to pass on the family, children and grandchildren it. Danniang okay, in the end, soft and good, the heart again sad but also just hide and cry a just, will not do that messy things, but if you change that person, this family is afraid to be not peaceful. Her status is noble, even if it is me she may not put in the eye, and how will let others have a good life? Our family is not blessed to enjoy it."   "Old slave has remembered, and will advise the Duke in the future." Sister Zhu breathed a huge sigh of relief, fortunately, Madam only thought of herself as being biased against the Duke, and did not suspect anything else. It seems that madam's idea is so firm that she can't mention this again in the future. Tomorrow, we should find an opportunity to tell Princess Qing Hua, so that she can think of something else.   Mrs. Qi rubbed her forehead, "It's really unconscionable, the murderous Liu Chengcai, looking ahead and not behind, doing scandalous things and wanting a woman and her son to suffer for him."   Sister Zhu didn't dare to reply, but only laughed with her.   The next day, at dawn, Peony was awakened by a cacophony of noises. Biwu's voice scolding the maidservants, the sound of children crying, and Yu'er's voice of persuasion rang out.   At what hour did you come over to ask for good health? Is it so noisy to ask for good health? You're here to provoke me, aren't you? These women are so annoying! Peony irritably punched the pillow a few times, endured dozens of patience, in the end did not hold back, rolled over and sat up and yelled: ''Yu He! Who is so unruly, clamoring outside early in the morning?"   Outside the noise slightly quiet a quiet, rain lotus sweet voice rang: "back to young lady words, two aunts with the eldest son and the eldest miss according to the lady's command to you please come. Have you forgotten?"   Peony rolled over and got out of bed, casually took a thin silk robe from the bedside and put it on, draping her long hair, strolling to the outer room, faintly sweeping a glance at Biwu and Yu'er who had been carefully dressed up, as well as the group of maids and maids they had brought with them, and sitting down in front of the dressing table, "How would I dare to forget madam's words, I'm afraid it's only because some people have forgotten madam's words."   Biwu's face became extremely ugly, smiling but not smiling, she said, "The young lady has not yet freshened up at this time, I'm afraid that it will be late to go to madam's place to ask for peace later."   Yu'er, on the other hand, smiled and saluted, "It is all the servant girl's fault that she let Jiao Niang snatch Duke Qi's cloth tiger. This is what caused the clamor and disturbed the young lady's purity, please forgive me, young lady." As she saw Kuan'er presenting the water to purify her face, she took the initiative to go forward and receive the basin, serving Peony with her own hands to purify her face.   Peony was not accustomed to Liu Chang's concubines being so kind, and looked at Yu'er twice, seeing that she just looked at herself and smiled meekly, so she did not excuse herself, and lowered her head to purify her face: "It's just that, there's no such thing as a child who doesn't make a fuss. I here still some time to be good, Biwu if anxious, do not have to wait for me, first go to the lady there to serve it."   Biwu hesitated for a moment, really bowed and ordered to take Qi'er out: "So, maidservant will go first. Young Lady take your time."   A trace of disdain flashed across Yu'er's face as she whispered, "Young lady, she is this temper, you must not bother with her."   Peony was noncommittal and greeted Yu He, "Come and help me comb my hair and change my clothes."   Cloud bun like cicada wings, gold hairpin and jade step rocker, pink short jacket and small, smoky purple Luoqi dress. The newly made-up peony shone brightly, Yu'er's eyes flashed with a hint of envy and sourness, which was then replaced with surprise and flattery: "Young Lady is so beautiful. Such looks and demeanor are rare in the capital, not to mention being the first in our family."   Peony sighed, this is considered the only perk of being He Mudan. Seeing the fuzzy-eyed Jiao Niang who was lying in the arms of her nanny, she said, "Such a small child, it's weirdly difficult for her, let her not have to come in the future."   Yu'er hesitated for a moment and said, "The maidservant concubine does not dare to violate the rules. Let her learn it from a young age so that she can realize the big picture in the future."   Peony smiled faintly and did not say much, walking out first.   When she arrived at Mrs. Qi's door, Mrs. Qi had already risen and was in the process of freshening up, while Biwu and Qi'er were not waiting under the corridor.   Sister Zhu looked at Peony with her eyes and said faintly, "The little son was carried in, Aunt Biwu went to the kitchen to fetch breakfast for madam."   The legitimate daughter-in-law did not arrive as early as a concubine to ask for good morning and was not as attentive as others, in the eyes of others, even if it was not Peony's fault, it would be her fault. Yu'er stole a glance at Peony, but she saw that Peony was watching the grannies taking down the red lanterns under the corridor one by one and extinguishing them one by one with great interest, and she didn't care about them at all, but she didn't listen to what Sister Zhu said at all.   When Sister Zhu saw that Peony was indifferent, but was enjoying herself instead, she secretly cursed: what a wooden lump, it is a waste of spirit to talk to her about this.