Throughout that week, He Yuan spent his days like this; Wake up, dress up, pay respects, have breakfast at Cao Long's courtyard in utter silence, return to his courtyard to 'study', lunch at Cao Long's again, etiquette lessons by evening and dinner in his own courtyard.
The most eventful thing he did amidst all these was monitoring the matriarch's courtyard. Cao Xiwang was currently raised by her and would soon be dumped to the servants so he had to make sure he got to the baby before Chen Bi did.
On the seventh day, He Yuan rushed over to the greeting hall quite early only to be turned away at the door. The matriarch was under the weather so they were all exempted from paying respects for the day.
He Yuan switched directions and went over to the matriarch's courtyard. Rather than step in, he sat on a bench right outside to wait.
It was almost lunch time when a servant girl walked out holding a crying Cao Xiwang bundled in blankets. The servant looked annoyed at the crying child but continued to carry him without trying to placate the baby.
This scene pissed He Yuan off and he hurriedly hopped down the bench. "Where are you taking him?"
The servant girl jumped in fright and turned around quickly. When she saw He Yuan she visibly calmed. "Second miss, the old madam is sick and didn't want the child to be infected to she instructed me to take him to the Liang courtyard while she recuperates."
The Liang courtyard was not far from Cao Long's courtyard and had belonged to the first wife. Cao Long had forbidden everyone from entering that courtyard and it would later become Cao Luomei's once she turned fourteen.
It was the only other available courtyard asides from the guest courtyard but He Yuan was not having it. "Take him to my courtyard instead. There's lots of extra space and father had forbidden everyone from entering the Liang courtyard."
The servant shook her head. "The old madam had specifically told me to take him there and have some servants care for him."
He Yuan glared at her. "Do you think father would be happy to see that his orders had been defiled by a servant?"
The servant girl bit her lips, she wanted to cry. She was well aware of the rule that banned everyone from nearing the Liang courtyard but she had received orders from the matriarch. She didn't want to defy the matriarch but she also didn't want to face the left prime minister's wrath.
"I haven't seen my younger brother for a week. Take him to my courtyard and should grandmother ask, tell her I took him." He Yuan said with a sweet smile.
The servant finally nodded. Anyways, if anything went wrong, she was going to pin all the blame on the second miss. It was against the laws to disobey her master and this second miss was very much disliked so no one would doubt her words.
He Yuan had long told his servants to prepare the extra room in Cao Yuemei's courtyard to serve as Cao Xiwang's nursery. He also called back the first wet nurse and planned to use this opportunity to demand for two extra servants.
Normally, the allocation of servants was decided by the madam of the house but since Cao Long was currently unmarried and the matriarch was sick, management was a little lax and he would be able to get away with it.
Once Cao Xiwang was settled in his nursery with his wet nurse watching over him, He Yuan headed out again. Wu Hong had gone to demand for the servants on his behalf and he had no idea where Wu Bai had run off to.
He'd waited outside the matriarch's courtyard all morning and had missed breakfast so he was practically starving. He decided to head over to the kitchen but instead of taking the main route, he took the garden route instead. He didn't want to run into Cao Long or any of his kids.
He had just taken two steps into the garden when he ran into Cao Long and the first prince with Cao Luomei by their side. Sigh. Why was his luck so bad? It was too late to turn away as they'd already spotted him.
He Yuan extended his greetings to Yu Ming first and Cao Long right after.
"Tut. Cao Yuemei, anyhow, I'm your elder sister. Shouldn't I be greeted too?" Cao Luomei said with a mocking smile and He Yuan resisted the urge to smack her disrespectful mouth off of her face. How old was he? How old was Cao Luomei?
He remained silent and Cao Long frowned. The first prince was right here. How could Cao Yuemei behave like this? She was making the Cao family lose face! Just look at the kind of child Wan Ruo gave him.
He Yuan also knew the prince was here and it was really too inappropriate to act disrespectful in his presence. No matter what, he had to preserve the reputation of his leaser so he pretended to open his mouth and then swayed sideways.
He was about to complete his act by weakly falling to the ground when Yu Ming stepped forward and caught him. He shuddered in disgust and quickly pulled himself away and curtsied haphazardly.
"Your highness, father, I feel quite unwell. I beg to take my leave to rest."
Cao Luomei narrowed her eyes on her half sister with an angry glare. This faker! What was worse that her brother Ming had caught her!
Cao Long waved at He Yuan and Yu Ming said nothing but the amusement in his eyes could not be hidden. He Yuan gagged on air as he walked away. That Yu Ming was most definitely a pedo.
He Yuan spent his time looking after Cao Xiwang and two days later, Chen Bi came knocking on the door of Cao Yuemei's courtyard. He Yuan refused her entrance and went out to meet her instead.
"Yuemei. I heard you took the second son to look after since the matriarch has been sick. You really are a thoughtful young lady and would grow up to be virtuous," Chen Bi said gently.
He Yuan rolled his eyes at her words. He was quite hung up on the 'second son' she referred to Cao Xiwang as. It wasn't surprising as that was what he was called all through his past life. "Thank you for your kind words."
Seeing that Cao Yuemei seemed amiable today, Chen Bi became bolder. "Although admirable, this kind of thing needs to be handled by grown ups. I noticed everyone else is quite unavailable and I just couldn't bear to see you struggle so I've decided to look after the second son for you. This way, you would be free to do other things girls of your age should be doing."
"Who says I'm struggling? The harder parts of the work is carried out by the wet nurse and servants. I just need to be there to play with my little brother. This kind of thing isn't hard at all. In fact, I enjoy it very much."
Chen Bi eyed He Yuan and a frightening glare slipped through her gentle facade. She quickly reigned in her expression and decided to try a different approach. "Okay then, but if you need help. Don't forget to come to me."
"I highly doubt it, but thanks for the offer, " He Yuan said and watched as Chen Bi walked away with clenched fists.
The lady would be stupid to think that he would hand over the kid just like that. She was just as clueless as he was when it came to raising children!
At least he was a little better, he had the wet nurse and had enlisted the help of two older and more experienced servants. What Chen Bi had were those maids of hers who were more focused on sleeping with the guards!
He Yuan knew this wasn't over and he was proven right when he went over to pay respects the next day.
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