When Chunhong returned home, she was searched as usual. The purse did not attract the attention of the guards, and she successfully entered the mansion with the purse containing the amulet.
It was easy to bring the purse into the mansion, but it was quite difficult for Chunhong, who was only a third-class maid, to deliver the amulet to the master.
Chunhong, who was immersed in love, came to her senses, thought about this question, and frowned with a headache.
At this moment, she still did not doubt Xiaodouzi's intention. She just thought that Xiaodouzi was an ordinary merchant who did not understand the strict rules of the wealthy families.
When the maid who lived in the same room with her came back, she deliberately asked, "When I went back today, my mother talked about my brother, saying that he was a night cryer. I wonder if the young master will cry at night?"
"I haven't heard that the young master would cry at night. I heard from the people in Rujingyuan that the young master is very well-behaved. As long as he is with the princess, he won't make any noise at all." said the maid.
"I heard that all babies cry at night. What should we do if the little prince cries at night in the future?" Chunhong said with a sad face.
The maid looked at her strangely, "Chunhong, do you want to serve the young master?"
"Don't you want to?" Chunhong asked back.
The maid sighed and said, "What's the point of thinking? You can't go. The servants in Rujing Courtyard are all the old servants of the princess's mother's family."
"The princess only trusts people from her mother's family. She treats those of us brought back from Sinufang like thieves, and she's wary of us like thieves." Chunhong said resentfully.
The maid was shocked by her words, "Chunhong, you are crazy!"
"I'm not wrong." Chunhong said unconvinced.
"Chunhong, you have been working in the mansion for several years. Don't make mistakes." The maid stood up and added, "You should take care of yourself."
After saying that, she walked out of the room and ignored Chunhong. She always felt that Chunhong seemed like a different person in the past few months.
Chunhong curled her lips in disapproval and took out the purse from her bosom.
There were twin lotus flowers embroidered on the purse, and Chunhong's heart was moved. She must become a maid, so that she would not be easily married off by her master, and she could marry Brother Dou.
As Chunhong was thinking about it, she opened her purse and took out the amulet inside.
On the yellow talisman paper, talismans were written with cinnabar, which looked mysterious.
"Brother Dou, don't worry, I will find a way to present the amulet." Chunhong murmured to herself, encouraging herself.
But before she could come up with a solution, she felt a little dizzy the next day. However, she didn't care and still went to the needlework room to get the job of making slippers.
Over the next few days, she felt ill and couldn't think straight.
If a little maid was unwell, it would not alarm Jiang Changning.
Jiang Changning was teaching his baby son to turn over at this time. The warm room was covered with thick carpets, and the floor heating and charcoal stove made the house as warm as spring.
"Come, son, watch." Jiang Changning slowly turned over.
Xiao Ming was wearing a light padded jacket, and he turned over and lay down swiftly, giving his mother a toothless smile.
"Baby, you're amazing. You flipped it so well. Do it again." Jiang Changning flipped back again.
Xiao Ming followed suit and turned over, lying on his back.
This game is very fun and Xiao Ming never gets tired of playing it.
Jiang Changning turned over a few times, and then stopped accompanying him. He sat on the kang and watched him turn over, and kept encouraging him, "Baby, you're great!"
"Mother, you're so good!"
Jiang Changning quickly picked up his son, but Xiao Ming was still not happy. He twisted his little body and wanted to go down and continue flipping. "Good son, we'll do it tomorrow."
I reached into his clothes and found that he was very hot-tempered and his clothes were wet with sweat.
First put a towel over Xiao Ming's clothes, and wait until he stops sweating, then change his clothes.
Jiang Changning did all these things personally and did not ask the wet nurse to do it for him.
Xiao Ming changed into dry clothes, with a sweet smile on his chubby face. Jiang Changning let him lie half-way on the pillow, took a poetry book and said, "It's time for the cultural education class."
Xiao Ming really likes listening to his mother reading poems to him. He stares at Jiang Changning with his big eyes without blinking, looking very serious, as if he really understands what is being said.
Jiang Changning's days of raising her son were peaceful, until a few days later, when the housekeeper came to report in a hurry: "Princess, several embroiderers in the needlework room are sick."
In the first month of the lunar year, the weather had not yet warmed up, so it was normal to catch a cold and get sick. Jiang Changning did not think much about it, "Xiu Lan, take the sign and go out and ask the doctor to come and see them."
This one look revealed a big problem. "Suspected to be smallpox?" Jiang Changning was stunned.
Smallpox also has another name, smallpox, which is a highly contagious disease. Under current medical conditions, there is almost no possibility of curing the disease.
"Go ask a few more doctors." Jiang Changning held on to a certain hope, hoping it was a misdiagnosis.
But this luck was soon broken. Chunhong, who was the first to fall ill, showed the most obvious symptoms of acne and even fainted due to high fever.
Although the doctors could not cure smallpox, they knew how to prevent the spread of the disease. First, they arranged for the women in the palace to leave the house to avoid smallpox.
When the concubine learned that someone in the palace had smallpox, her face turned pale, "What should we do? What should we do?"
"Mother, don't be afraid. We didn't have much contact with the maids in the sewing room, so we definitely didn't get sick. We will now live outside the mansion, and we will come back after a hundred days."
"Okay, okay, let's get out of the house quickly." The concubine said anxiously.
Later, Jiang Changning learned that one of the concubine's cousins had died of smallpox.
The incident happened suddenly, and the Huaibei Palace was closer, so Jiang Changning asked everyone to move to the Jiang residence where she lived before she got married.
The infected people were then gathered together and sent to the Smallpox Temple in the western suburbs for isolation.
Disinfection began in the palace, and all personal belongings of the infected patients were burned, and the ashes were sent to a mass grave outside the city for burial.
The purse containing the amulet was also burned. No one knew that the smallpox outbreak in Prince Jin's mansion was intentional.
When Prince Jin heard the news, he hurried to Jiang's house. When he entered the house, he saw Jiang Changning humming a little tune to coax his son to sleep.
"Ningning, are you and your son okay?" Prince Jin asked in a low voice.
"I don't know. Smallpox has an incubation period. Fortunately, those who have fallen ill are the maids in the sewing room, not the kitchen. The possibility of us getting infected is still relatively small." Jiang Changning had a hint of worry between his brows.
She is not afraid of getting sick, but her son is still so young, what if he gets sick
"It'll be fine." Prince Jin stepped forward and held the mother and son in his arms. "The improved water seedling method can prevent smallpox. Even if it does occur, it can alleviate the symptoms."
"I've heard of the water seedling method, but I've never heard of the improved water seedling method." Jiang Changning has read a lot of miscellaneous books, and she knows that in this era, there are four ways to prevent acne.
Although the smallpox clothing method, smallpox serum method, dry seedling method and water seedling method can prevent smallpox, they also have certain risks.
(End of this chapter)