"The old lady was just angry for a while. She will be fine after a period of rest. However, she should not be allowed to get angry again during this period." Doctor Wang took the old lady's pulse quietly for a while and gave the same diagnosis as the previous doctor. He wrote a prescription and asked the people in the mansion to get the medicine according to the prescription.
Pei Che thanked the doctor, handed the prescription to Chan Yi, and asked her to keep an eye on the matter. He sat down beside the bed, looking at his grandmother who still hadn't woken up, feeling very sad.
During these three years, he corresponded with his grandmother almost every month. Although his grandmother was reluctant to let him go too far away, she did not use her status as an elder to force him to come back. Instead, she always sent people to bring him things, fearing that he would not be able to adapt there.
When she heard that he was coming back, my grandmother was very happy. She wrote a letter with great expectation, asking the Bodhisattva to bless him to have a safe journey. I didn't expect that such a rumor would spread in Beijing, and it was used by those two people with bad intentions, almost harming my grandmother! If I had come back a little later, I guess they would have been separated from each other.
Jiang Miao sat aside and asked Gao Ma in a low voice what happened before. Gao Ma said bitterly: "It's those two ungrateful people. They thought the prince was gone and deliberately used this to provoke the young lady. Fortunately, the prince came back in time, otherwise they would have succeeded!"
She had no good impression of Pei Shiyuan and his wife. In her eyes, the couple were stupid and vicious. After so many years of managing the household affairs, they were used to embezzling money and didn't know when their subordinates colluded to cheat them. She reminded the young lady several times, but the young lady said let them do whatever they wanted. As long as they didn't treat the young master badly, a little money was nothing.
Later, the vicious woman came to the palace to offer a plan to let the eldest son marry the princess, and her daughter was really angry. Not only did she take back the things she had given before, but she also stopped them from withdrawing the monthly money by simply going to the account office and saying so.
This family was used to spending lavishly, and they couldn't stand being restricted suddenly. But they didn't dare to go against the old lady, so they just did some small tricks in secret to steal some things. Unexpectedly, they took advantage of the loophole this time!
Thinking of this, Madam Gao also became angry at the servants in this courtyard. How dare they conceal such a rumor? If they hadn't warned them earlier, how could such a thing happen
The more Grandma Gao thought about it, the angrier she became. She went out and called the two maids who had been in charge of the courtyard while she was away. The two of them looked ashamed, and stood there with their heads down, not daring to say a word.
"Is this how you do your job? You followed that rotten-hearted villain and learned how to deceive your superiors and subordinates! Tell me, why didn't you report this to the young lady?" Grandma Gao frowned and glared at the two of them.
“Mammy…” The two of them stammered, not knowing what to say.
"Hurry up and tell me!" Grandma Gao said sternly.
"The old lady only listens to you. You haven't come back yet. This matter is of great importance. If the old lady hears it... we dare not." The two of them knelt on the ground in fear.
When they first heard the news, they thought about speaking up, but how could this be the same as other things? What if they spoke up and the old lady couldn't breathe, wouldn't they be buried with her? Everyone thought so in their hearts, and no one was willing to take the lead, so they kept delaying, thinking that they would wait for Madam Gao to make the decision.
But yesterday, as soon as Gao came back, she went to serve the old lady, and she slept in the old lady's outer room at night, so they couldn't find a chance. Today, I wanted to talk about it, but I didn't expect that the Duke and his wife were waiting outside early in the morning, and they actually told me about it in advance.
"Stupid! For such a big matter, you should have sent someone to look for me even if I wasn't here!" Gao Ma was furious, and secretly hated that she had returned at the wrong time. She was about to say something else when a voice suddenly came from the room. It turned out that the old lady had woken up, so she rushed in.
When Grandmother Pei opened her eyes, Pei Che's face appeared in front of her. Instantly, her tears fell, and she stretched out her hand tremblingly, stroked Pei Che's face, and said, "You've become darker and thinner. Is life down there so hard?"
Pei Che said, "Grandma, I'm not tired. Look again, I'm stronger than before." After three years as an official, he often had to visit the countryside, so he naturally became darker, but this not only did not affect his appearance, but also made him look more heroic.
"It's okay. Grandmother has come down now. Wait for the seventh day and send a dream back to them and ask them to burn more gold ingots and paper money." Grandmother Pei said.
Pei Che didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He just realized that his grandmother must have just woken up and her mind was still confused. She actually thought that both he and she were dead.
"Grandma, please feel it." Pei Che put her hand on his face and said, "It's still warm! I'm fine, and you're fine too. As long as you take your medicine and rest, you'll be fine soon."
Grandmother Pei was startled, and felt the temperature of her palm. She looked around and found herself lying in a familiar room. She burst into tears and laughed at the same time: "It's good that you're okay, it's good that you're okay. Grandmother was scared to death. Che'er, don't leave the capital again in the future!"
Pei Che said, "Don't worry, grandma. I won't leave." At least in the next few years, he will not leave Liangjing.
"Che's daughter-in-law, come here." Grandmother Pei called.
Jiang Miao was not able to react to this nameless address for a moment. Basically, no one had ever called him that. Pei Che saw this and hurriedly said, "Grandma, just call him A Miao."
Jiang Miao was fine, but Pei Che obviously cared about his feelings, so of course he was happy.
"It's alright, it doesn't matter what you call me. Grandmother, what do you want?"
Grandmother Pei said, "You have done your best to take care of Che'er in the past few years. Now that you are back, you must be busy. I heard from Che'er that you have good cooking skills, so I will give you the restaurant on South Street."
Jiang Miao didn't expect such a good thing to happen, but he didn't want to receive a reward without merit. He and Pei Che took care of each other, and his family didn't have any shops or restaurants to give to Pei Che, so he wanted to refuse. But Pei Che hinted that he should accept it, so he had to say, "Thank you, grandma."
Seeing that he accepted it, Grandmother Pei felt relieved. In the past few years, the letters Pei Che wrote back were full of love and respect for this man. She was very dissatisfied at first, but later she figured it out. The marriage was a lifelong thing. If they didn't want them to be happy, would they have to quarrel every day? It was impossible to divorce and remarry anyway.
Grandmother Pei wanted to improve the relationship, but she had almost ignored Jiang Miao before. She couldn't let go of her dignity all of a sudden, so she had to ask Pei Che tactfully about his male wife's preferences. Pei Che understood, so he said a lot of things in a roundabout way. His purpose in fueling the fire was to prevent the family from becoming two separate families.
"Where are your younger brothers?" Grandmother Pei thought of the two younger ones again. She prepared a box of small gadgets for each of them.
Pei Che had just come over and didn't know much about it, so Jiang Miao said, "They've been traveling for most of the day and they're tired. I'll let them go back to the yard to rest first. I'll bring them over to pay their respects to you after they've rested."
Grandmother Pei nodded, and that was all she asked. She always had some grudges against Pei Mu, and Little Stone was even less important.
"Miss, the medicine is ready, would you like to drink it first?" Grandma Gao came in with a bowl of bitter medicine. She saw that the young lady was talking to the prince, so she didn't interrupt. But the medicine couldn't be left to cool after it was boiled, so she had to remind her.
Grandmother Pei took the medicine bowl and found that it was just right for her stomach, so she tilted her head back and drank it all. Jiang Miao was somewhat impressed by her heroic way of drinking. When he watched TV, he saw that these ladies drank medicine one spoonful at a time. But it was true that this medicine was so bitter and smelled a bit stinky, so it would be even more uncomfortable to drink it slowly.
Pei Che offered the candied fruit to Grandmother Pei at the right time. After eating one, she waved her hand to indicate that she didn't want it.
When the taste of medicine disappeared from her mouth, Grandmother Pei remembered another thing. She fainted when she heard the rumor just now, and she didn't know how the rumor spread.
Grandma Gao went over and said a few words, and Grandma Pei said indifferently: "You can handle this matter. Since he is unfaithful, then there is no need. There are plenty of servants."
"Yes." Grandma Gao agreed. This group of people were indeed not suitable to serve in this courtyard.
After learning the origin of the rumor, Grandmother Pei still found it strange. She asked Pei Che, "Che'er, why did it take you so many days to return to the capital this time? Did it take so long to come from Cangzhou?" If they had not been slow to return, the rumors outside would not have spread.
Pei Che and Jiang Miao looked at each other, unsure whether to tell Grandmother Pei about this. However, in order to avoid her worrying and suspicion, Pei Che decided to tell her the whole story, and by the way, he could also find out who the man named Zhao Wei was.
After hearing the whole story, Grandmother Pei burst into tears. She had never thought that Che'er would go to that place by accident. Could it be that this was fate's plan
(End of this chapter)