Gong Hongxiao and Qiuniang came back to pack all of their load. In the meantime when Minglan was waiting for them, she could only chat with Old Madam Qin. Madam Shao who was concerned about her husband went back and asked her daughter Young Lady Xiann to greet Minglan. Zhu shi also ordered the wet nurse to bring Young Master Xian out.

Note: The two Chinese characters for the boy and the girl are different but they look the same in Pinyin. So I’ll replace Xian for the girl with Xiann for better understanding.

Minglan looked at the boy and girl carefully and couldn’t help thinking, ‘Kids from rich family are well fed indeed.’

Young Master Xian was not old enough to talk and could only babbling in the wet nurse’s arms, looking chubby and cute. Lady Xiann was only five or six years old, but already as tall as Rong. As young as Lady Xiann was, she behaved elegantly and talked with a sense of propriety. Minglan couldn’t help thinking of Rong who was jittering all the time. Then she asked, “Is Rong taking any medicine now?”

Zhu shi also knew that Rong looked not promising and sighed, “No, the doctor we have invited for her said that there was nothing wrong with her body. She just needs someone to ease her anxiety. Then she’ll be fine.”

Minglan lowered her head and pondered in silence. Lady Xiann, seeing Minglan being like that, tried to comfort her in a childish voice, “Second aunt, don’t worry. Sister Rong is only picky about food and likes to be in a daze all day. But she is actually very healthy. Last month, the weather was so changeable that Brother Xian and I all got cold. But Sister Rong was totally fine.”

Minglan, fond of the little girl’s soft words and innocent look, smiled and said, “Good girl, Xiann! When your father gets better, I’ll come pick you to play with Rong in the Cheng Manor. We have just made little swings in the garden.”

With a brilliant smile showing on Xiann’s immature face, she nodded heavily and said loudly, “I’d love to!”

Old Madam Qin looked at Xiann kindly and sighed slightly, “This girl is so filial. Ever since her father got sick, she stopped going out and didn’t even go to the garden in our mansion very often.”

Minglan suddenly felt pity for the little girl. According to the list of the names of the famous doctors that Madam Shao had just mentioned, it seemed that the possibility of curing Gu Tingyu was very little. Incurable diseases were still existed in the modern times, let alone the ancient times.

Xian couldn’t rest tamely beside his grandmother. He wiggled his body toward Minglan on the brick bed. Minglan chuckled and held the boy up. Zhu shi was startled at first, afraid that something would happen to her son. However, Minglan supported Xian’s ribs masterly and let the boy sit on her legs. Then she tickled the boy and rubbed his plump belly. Xian couldn’t stop giggling, rolling back and forth on the bed.

Old Madam Qin said with a smile, “I didn’t realize you are good at playing with kids.”

“My nephew back at home and Xian are about the same age, so is my Eldest Sister’s son.” Minglan held Xian up again with difficulty and put him into the wet nurse’s arms. After that, she wiped the thin sweats on her forehead with her handkerchief. Zhu shi stepped forward to hold her son while amusing him with a joyful look, saying, “We can let those boys play together afterwards. It’ll be fun.”

Right at this moment, a maid lifted the curtain and came into the room. She seemed a bit scared seeing Old Madam Qin and said in a low voice, “Lady Tingcan said that she was suddenly in a mood of composing this morning and that she would like to write a few poems now. So she can’t come to greet Second Madam today. She asked me to apologize for her.”

With Old Madam Qin’s face turned sullen right away, she scolded, “It’s not easy for her Second Sister-in-law to come. How could she be so rude?!”

No maid in the room dared to answer that. After a while, Old Madam Qin turned around and smiled to Minglan as an apologize, saying, “Please pardon her. Tingcan was taught by Old Master since her childhood. The only thing she’s interested in is poetry and painting. This spoiled girl is just like those stubborn scholars. No one is able to persuade her as long as she’s in the mood of composing.”

Minglan chuckled and waved her hand gently, saying, “I have heard of Sister Tingcan’s talent in literature. Every lady in the capital knows that she is highly cultured and steeped in propriety. Let alone that we are all families, there’s plenty of time for us to meet. It doesn’t matter.” As a person who could only composed ragged verse, Minglan actually admired that this lady with literary talent could use an excuse like that to avoid meeting people.

Old Madam Qin didn’t want to talk too much about Tingcan. After all, no matter how highly praised Lady Tingcan was in the capital, she still hadn’t got married even though she was old enough. Also, refusing to meet her sister-in-law because of composing poems still sounded unreasonable. However, according to this, Minglan could find that Lady Tingcan was quite favored by Old Master Gu.

After Lady Xiann went back to her room, Zhu shi started to talk interesting stories about Xian, which made everyone in the room burst into laughter. Old Madam Qin then mentioned about the naughty things Gu Tingye and Gu Tingwei had done in their childhood with a kind look on her face. Minglan listened to her with relish. It seemed that Old Madam Qin and Zhu shi were trying to lead Minglan to talk more about Gu Tingye. Unfortunately, Yao Yiyi who had worked in the legal system had stood the test of the confidentiality policy. Therefore, Minglan knew well about how to make perfunctory answers and change the subject. In no time, the thing they were talking about was not about the men anymore.

“… I never realized that there were so many ways of cooking the shrimp.” Zhu shi didn’t know how she and Minglan had already talked about seven kinds of shrimps and sixteen methods of cooking them. She touched her face while saying, “You said eating the shrimp with towel gourd was good for nourishing the skin?”

“Don’t forget to get rid of the black line on the shrimp’s back and add the flavor before you put the shrimps in the pot.” Minglan always felt sorry for her body in the previous life. Before she could nourish her body carefully, she was drowned in the debris flow. Perhaps her corpse wouldn’t be able to be found. Thus ever since she had arrived at the ancient times, she had been keen on preserving her health. If she was devoted to a man, she might be cheated. If she was nice to the maids, they might climb onto her husband’s bed. If she was good to her sisters, she might be betrayed. After she had thought over and over again, she had finally decided to be nice to her body. That was the solution with no risk at all.

Zhu shi stared at Minglan closely, finding the latter’s face tender and fair with rosy color. Minglan’s skin was so delicate as if it was made by water. Her eyes were flickering with dazzling light. Even though the appearance didn’t count, Minglan’s skin and rosy cheeks looked way better than the ladies her age in the Gu Family. After that, Zhu shi found Minglan’s words even more convincing and couldn’t help asking for advice.

“My grandma said that women’s lives were so difficult. We have to give birth to children and manage the family affairs. Every day we are bothered by the trifles.” Minglan sighed softly, “Every time we give birth to a baby, our body would suffer. Moreover, we have to concern about our children’s health and their studies… Gosh, they all said that women get aged faster than men. Thinking of all of our duties, how’s it not possible for us to get old quickly?”

“That’s right!” Zhu shi got anxious right away. Men were afraid of being poor, women were afraid of getting aged. As a matter of fact, she was only twenty years old now. However, she still felt herself being like an old woman in front of Minglan. The women in the ancient times were miserable. They had to give birth to children before they reached twenty. Once they reached thirty, they would find their youth already faded away. When they were around forty, they even had grandchildren. So basically they could only kill time by paying respect to Buddha after forty.

The things Zhu shi and Minglan talked about became gradually off the track. Old Madam Qin, seeing Zhu shi already forget about what she should say, couldn’t help but frown. However, Old Madam Qin thought that it was the first day Minglan had come to their mansion, so she managed to restrain herself at last and only listened to their conversation with a smile. Sometimes she would also taunt her two daughters-in-law as their elders, which gave a harmonious atmosphere in the room. After Hongxiao and Qiuniang had packed up their things, it was already three quarters past Si Hour (9 a.m.). Then Old Madam Qin said smilingly, “It’s already this hour. If I don’t keep you here to eat breakfast, others might criticize me of being a mean mother-in-law.”

Minglan felt Old Madam Qin’s words quite reasonable, so she agreed with pleasure. However, while she was eating the meal, she still couldn’t help thinking– The dishes are not poisoned, right?