Chapter 81 – An Infectious Disease?
“Invite her in!” Wei Yuewu said indifferently.
She didn’t believe that Lady Li and Wei Yan still dared to stir up trouble at this time nor that the Madam Dowager would allow them to do so!
“Sixth Younger Sister, what happened before was all my fault. I was so jealous of your engagement with Marquis Jing Yuan that I did wrong things again and again. Now I reaped what I sowed. From now on, I will be praying before the Buddha for the rest of my life to repent for my mistakes and pray for the fortune of our mansion. I hope that you can forgive me, Sixth Younger Sister.”
Wei Yan went down on her knees at the sight of Wei Yuewu as soon as she entered the room. She apologized and took all the blame.
Wei Yuewu tilted her body to avoid Wei Yan’s courtesy. She stood up and said, “Second Elder Sister, you should say those words to grandmother, not me!”
“Yes… I’ll go and apologize to grandmother later. I did everything, and my mother turned a blind eye because she loved me too much.” Wei Yan couldn’t hide the resentment in her eyes when she said those words.
A feeling of being abandoned arose in her heart. Even her own mother had forced her to admit all the mistakes for her elder brother’s sake. How could she do it willingly?
“Then Second Elder Sister may go to grandmother’s place. All is up to grandmother.” Wei Yuewu slightly waved her hand and uttered those words bluntly. No matter what purpose Wei Yan and Lady Li were having on their mind, Wei Yuewu did not want to show her satisfaction. The price of the blood of so many people was far beyond what simple humble words could pay.
The family temple? She didn’t believe that Wei Yan would be willing to live a placid life. A glance at the viciousness flooding out of Wei Yan’s eyes could tell that a life-or-death struggle was still going on between the two of them…
The doctor who treated the servants was a man in his forties, with the surname of Yu. It was said that he had been here in the mansion since he was young and had been treating the servants of the mansion of Marquis Hua Yang.
“Miss, Doctor Yu is here.” Shufei raised the curtain and reported softly to Wei Yuewu, who was reading in front of the window.
Sunlight shined in through the window. The winter sun was warm and comfortable. Wei Yuewu nodded and smiled at Shufei. Readily taking the hint of her mistress, Shufei put down the curtain and went outside to lead the doctor to Jin Ling’s room.
Jin Ling looked sickly in her room. The sickness, of course, was a result of Wei Yuewu’s medicinal powder. It was easier for her to pretend to be sick than Wei Yuewu. She only needed to exert strength with her hands to quicken her pulse to an unusual rate, and she also occasionally loosened her hands to pause her pulse, making it difficult for the doctor to find out the cause of the illness.
Therefore, the doctor lowered his head to check pulse with his brows tightly knitted together.
“Doctor Yu, how is my illness?” Jin Ling weakly asked. “I took the medicine you prescribed last time, but it didn’t work at all. Is my illness very serious?”
Doctor Yu had come and prescribed some medicine before. This time he was making a follow-up diagnose. He had thought that the medicine would at least have some effect. Now that he saw Jin Ling’s appearance, Doctor Yu was also at a loss. He could not understand why the medicine hadn’t worked at all. This was something he had never encountered before.
“Well…” Doctor Yu was unable to give an explanation. He could only stare at the Jin Ling’s sallow complexion, pondering on what to say.
“Doctor, I’m kind of feeling unwell too. Please check up for me.” Shufei suddenly broke in at the side.
Doctor Yu subconsciously looked at her face and immediately noticed that the maid in front of him had a sickly complexion too. He jumped to his feet in shock.
“When did you start to feel uncomfortable?” He asked anxiously.
“Just in these few days. It’s not only me. The maids are all feeling their stomach a bit turned and they lost appetite, but it’s not as serious as Jin Ling.” Shufei said blankly.
“This… are you… all having those symptoms?” Doctor Yu’s voice trembled. Could this be an infectious disease that he didn’t know about?
If the disease was spread out, it would be serious. Moreover, he was not sure how this disease would develop. Doctor Yu was naturally anxious.
“It seems so. Doctor Yu, you may see Jin Ling first, and then us.” Shufei pointed to the outside of the window. From Doctor Yu’s place, he could see there were indeed several maids there, as if they were waiting.
Doctor Yu couldn’t sit anymore. This kind of matter must be reported to the Madam Dowager.
“Wait a moment. I’ll be right back.” Doctor Yu picked up his medical kit and didn’t dare to stay any longer. He lifted the curtain and hurriedly walked out.
He had just left Wei Yuewu’s Lotus Courtyard when he saw an old maidservant rushing over. When she saw him, she wiped her sweat and said to him, “Quick, Doctor Yu, an old maidservant in Madam Dowager’s courtyard is sick. She doesn’t eat and has an upset stomach and she doesn’t look well. Please go and take a look at her!”
Doctor Yu was just thinking about this matter, wondering if it was an epidemic. Hearing those words, he stopped and asked anxiously, “From Madam Dowager’s courtyard?”
“That’s right. She was a menial servant in Madam Dowager’s courtyard. She has been very healthy all along. However, for unknown reasons, she suddenly became ill. Oh, right. I heard that her symptom started soon after she bumped into someone from Sixth Young Lady’s courtyard.”
Someone from the Sixth Young Lady’s courtyard? Doctor Yu trembled. He immediately picked up his medical kit and went straight to the Madam Dowager’s courtyard without saying anything else to the maidservant. He must report this to the Madam Dowager. Something serious was about to happen…
Seeing Doctor Yu’s anxious look, Jin Ling and Shufei laughed. Jin Ling continued to pretend to be sick in the room, and Shufei returned to Wei Yuewu’s room to report this situation. Coincidentally, Huamo also walked in.
“Miss, I’ve sent the powder. Nanny Han said she knew what to do and she has applied the powder.” Huamo had secretly delivered the powder to Nanny Han, the sweeper in the Madam Dowager’s courtyard Wei Yuewu met that day.
Shufei also smeared some to her face today. But she used a less amount than Jin Ling.
“Did anyone see you doing it?” Wei Yuewu narrowed her eyes, touched the bandage on her wrist and asked leisurely.
“No, I looked around specifically. I bumped into Nanny Han when she went out and helped her up. I took advantage of this minute and whispered to tell her to apply the powder to her face and then ask Doctor Yu to see her. I told her to say she lost appetite, couldn’t fall asleep and had a sick stomach. If Doctor Yu asked her if she had met someone from our courtyard, she would say that she had met Shufei the other day.”
Huamo said.
They had asked Nurse Mei about Nanny Han in the past few days. This Nanny Han was indeed a servant supervisor in the Marquise’s courtyard in the past. When the Marquise fell ill, she was demoted to be a menial servant in the Madam Dowager’s courtyard for an unknown reason. No one knew exactly why.
Later on, the Marquise died of illness. Lord Marquis, in his extreme sorrow, ordered to flog many servants in the Marquise’s courtyard to death. This incident developed into such a calamity that even Wei Yuewu was sent away. As for the matter of an old maidservant, no one would care.
This Nanny Han should be the only living person who had served Wei Yuewu’s birth mother.
“Miss, will Doctor Yu go directly to see Nanny Han?” Shufei asked worriedly. If he checked the pulse, he would definitely discover that there was nothing wrong. After all, only Jin Ling could control the pace of the pulse.
“No, Doctor Yu won’t dare to touch them before he finds out the cause of the illness.” Wei Yuewu smiled, “Shufei, Is Nurse Mei back?”
Nurse Mei had been sent to deliver a letter to the Brocade Clothing Shop. She had been serving Wei Yuewu with all her heart ever since the incident last time.
“It’s about time. Nurse Mei should be coming soon!” Shufei answered as she judged the time by looking at the sky.
Just as she was speaking, she saw Nurse Mei’s figure at the entrance of the courtyard.
Shufei turned to Wei Yuewu and said, “Miss, Nurse Mei is back.”
“Let her in.” Wei Yuewu nodded. She glanced through the window with a faint smile. It was indeed about the time that Nurse Mei should be back.
Nurse Mei hurriedly walked in and curtsied to Wei Yuewu. After Wei Yuewu asked her to get up, she reported, “Miss, they said they had received a letter and let you rest assured that they would find a place for you. As for the expense, they said that your granny asked them not to charge you any amount of money.”
Nurse Mei took out a pouch of silver from her clothes and respectfully handed it to Wei Yuewu.
“Then put it away.” Wei Yuewu nodded and said nonchalantly. However, she was greatly touched by her granny in her heart.
Compared to this indifferent Madam Dowager, granny was her true family.
“Nurse Mei, pay more attention to the family temple in the next few days. If there’s anything unusual there, report to me immediately. Second and Fifth Young Ladies are not going to let the fight subside.” Wei Yuewu received the tea from Huamo and took a sip gracefully. Her long eyelashes drooped slightly, hiding the coldness in her eyes. Neither Wei Yan nor Lady Li would easily give up. Besides, Wei Qiuju was not easy to deal with…
The Madam Dowager seemed to be fair on the surface. She even punished Wei Yan. However, she was in fact saving Lady Li: now everything that had happened had nothing to do with Lady Li and Wei Yan was the only victim, who was ordered to repent in the family temple as punishment. As for the incidents of the broken pavilion railings and of the overturned carriage on the way from the palace, they were basically written off since Wei Yan was ordered to repent in the family temple.
She had almost died each time. In the Madam Dowager’s opinion, however, all would be settled as long as she made the ruined Wei Yan a culprit. She didn’t even mention anything about Lady Li. Given Wei Yan’s temperament, how was she possibly able to concoct a perfect scheme without Li’s help?
A young lady like Wei Yan who stayed at her boudoir most of the time was unable to work out such a plan as that galloping-horse accident…
Wei Yuewu’s eyes grew icy-cold. She was even certain that the Li family was also involved. Lady Li had even used her family’s strength in order to deal with her. It could be seen how much she wanted to kill her. Then, Lady Li surely would not miss the opportunity of this contagious disease…
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