Chapter 113: Unexpected Small Production (Part 2)

  At three quarters past 4 pm, the sky had already turned completely dark. However, at this time, the Fang family's courtyard was still brightly lit.

  The main hall had just been cleared, and Fang Shi was in the flower hall drinking tea with everyone. Except for a few aunts who were having dinner in the side hall, even Qin Qianxin, who usually retired early, stayed quietly in the hall, which was rare.

  Mrs. Fang rarely had the interest to chat with others, although on the first and fifteenth of every month, everyone in the Qin Manor would accompany her for a vegetarian meal, but it was rare for them to gather together like today, drinking tea and chatting after dinner. Apart from Mrs. Fang's physical fatigue and habit of sleeping early, most of the time, the Qin father and son were busy with social engagements and found it difficult to get together. Moreover, with Qin Zixin about to participate in this year's imperial examination, topics naturally emerged one after another.

  Everyone was reminiscing about the past, talking about how mischievous Qin Zichen and Qin Zixin were when they were young, and how they would get into all sorts of trouble. Whenever someone said something funny, everyone couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Just as they were getting into the conversation, Madam Wan suddenly walked in with an unusual expression and whispered a few words to Mrs. Fang.

  Fang's smile suddenly froze, and he looked at Fang Wanru with his eyes, seeing that the latter was also confused, and couldn't help but feel relieved.

  "Let Zixin go back and rest! Otherwise, he will miss tomorrow's class at the academy." Fang Shi's words had no warmth to them, anyone could see that this was just an excuse.

  Qin Zixin naturally wouldn't question what she said, and hastily paid his respects to Lady Fang, saying: "Grandson will take his leave now, Grandmother should rest well, tomorrow I'll come again to pay my respects." After finishing speaking, he also paid his respects to Qin Congwen and Fang Wanyu, only then did he lead the small servant boys following him in leaving.

  Qin Qianxin saw the situation and also said, "Grandma, I'm tired too. Can my granddaughter go back to rest?" This room is suffocating, she had wanted to leave for a long time.

  "Go, go!" Mr. Fang said to Qin Dai Xin and Qin Ruo Xin again: "You two also go back."

  Qin Dai's heart naturally had no objection, and she hastily got up to pay her respects, hurrying out of the Fang family courtyard ahead of Qin Ruoxin. Lin Qingyue was a sensible and polite person, and seeing the situation knew that Old Lady Fang must have something on her mind that she didn't want to say in front of everyone, so she took the lead in getting up and saying: "Grandmother, my daughter-in-law's body is not weak, it's just that recently she got a chess manual and is eager to study it carefully, do you think it's all right if I take her back now?"

  Mr. Fang knew she was saying this on purpose and said, "It's a foolish thing to do. Alright, alright. You can all go back together now!" The "you" he referred to naturally included Qin Zichen.

  The couple got up together, paid their respects to Fang Shi, and bid farewell to Qin Congwen and Fang Wanyu before leaving the flower hall. Mother Wan personally escorted the two out, leaving only Qin Congwen and Fang Wanyu in the hall.

  "Mother sent the children away, but what's wrong?"

  Mr. Fang then said seriously: "Just now, news came from the Qi family's courtyard that she had given birth prematurely."

  Fang Wanru suddenly understood that Fang's glance at her earlier was intentional. However, Qin Zichen had already grown up, and the eldest of the illegitimate children was only thirteen years old, while the youngest was only three years old. Even if Su Shi and Qi Shi were pregnant with children, it would no longer be related to her interests, and there was no need for them to do such evil things again.

  "Just now at the banquet everything was fine, how did it suddenly turn into a miscarriage?" Fang Wanru looked at Qin Congwen and said: "Sir, have you heard that Madame Qi is pregnant?"

  Qin Congwen hadn't even had time to digest the news of Qi's miscarriage when Fang Wanyu asked him this, and he replied, "I haven't heard her mention it before!"

  "How careless, I don't know if it's a fall or not." Fang Wanru got up and said: "Mother, you rest first! I'll go take a look, and if there's any result, I'll come back to tell you tomorrow." She wanted to reveal a piece of information to Fang Shi, that this matter had nothing to do with her.

  Mr. Fang probably understood too, and didn't say anything else before letting the two leave.

  Qin Congwen was anxious to know the result, and his pace couldn't help but quicken. Fang Wanyu followed behind him, naturally struggling to keep up, and couldn't help but say a few sour words: "Master, why are you in such a hurry? It's already been decided that she's had a miscarriage. What's the point of going now? When a woman has a miscarriage, it means she's seen blood, so why don't you go back and rest instead? I can handle this myself."

  Qin followed Wen's words, but didn't respond to her and just kept walking with big strides, the distance between them quickly grew.

  Fang Wanting harbored this resentment in her heart, but couldn't express it. Li Mom, who had been following closely behind her, stepped forward and said, "Madam, please hurry up and take a look; now is not the time to dwell on this."

  Fang Wanting knew that things were urgent at this time, and she couldn't afford to delay. She temporarily put aside the unhappiness in her heart and followed the others in pursuit.

  When the two arrived at the Qi's courtyard, the old ladies had already finished dealing with it. They only said that it was a two-month-old fetus, and when it fell down, it was just a fist-sized piece of flesh and blood. Qi lost a lot of blood and fainted. The doctor has seen her and prescribed medicine, and there is no big problem now.

  Fang Wanru asked again: "Who is attending beside Aunt Qi?"

  Zhu Guo hastily ran up to Fang Wanru and bowed before saying, "Madam, I've been following Young Mistress all along."

  Fang Wanru saw clearly that it was Qi's personal maid, turned her head to Qin Congwen and said: "Master, Qi Niang has already fainted, you are also useless here, why not go back and rest early? Wait until the blood in the house is scattered tomorrow, and you can come again to visit her. The rest of the things will be handed over to me!"

  Qin Congwen didn't even glance at her, but instead asked Zhu Guo: "Quickly tell me, how did she have a miscarriage? With Auntie being pregnant, none of you who were close to her discovered it? Where did everyone go today? What did Auntie eat?"

  Miss Fang hurriedly said, "Master, you're shouting so loudly that the maid is scared stiff. How can she answer you? Why don't you go back and rest first? I'll take care of things and definitely give you an explanation."

  Qin Congwen thought for a moment, probably feeling that Fang Wanyu's words made sense. He then felt that his attitude just now was somewhat harsh and might have hurt her, so he comforted her by saying: "Madam has worked hard, I'll leave this to you to handle." After speaking, he turned around and left the Qi family courtyard.

  Fang Wanru gazed at Qin Congwen's back, her chest aching with rage. This man, his whole life only knew how to flirt and cause trouble, then dump the mess on her to deal with. To those women, he was all gentle words and soft speech, but when it came to her, he became a cold, unfeeling stone.

  Forget it, a grievance from the previous life and a nemesis in this one. Fang Wanru took a deep breath, turned around to face Li's mother and said: "Leave two women to watch Qi Niang, bring the others involved to the hall."

  Zhu Guo knew that this was about investigating the miscarriage of his aunt, and he didn't dare to be slow. He quickly helped Li's mother call all the relevant people to the flower hall.

  Fang Wanru sat in the small flower hall, absent-mindedly sipping her tea, and swept a glance over the people in the hall with her eyes.

  There were only Zhuo and an old woman and a man who looked like a doctor in the room. She furrowed her brow unintentionally, asking: "Zhuo, where did your aunt go today? How could she have a miscarriage? Who usually takes care of her, how can they be so careless?"

  Zhu Guo hastily stepped forward, knelt down in the middle, and said in a low voice: "It was our negligence. The lady has not been allowed to drink water for several days, and it's normal that she doesn't send word for one or two months. Today, everything was fine during the day, but at night, I accompanied the lady to the residence of the old madam. Everything was normal, except that the lady had a few words with Wang Niang and returned to the courtyard first. On the way, we met two maidservants who were going to deliver food to Su Niang, so our lady remembered that she hadn't visited Su Niang for some time and went to Lan Garden." As it was a serious matter, Zhu Guo didn't dare conceal anything and hastily told everything about how Qi Shi left the banquet in a bad mood, how she went to Su's place, and how she brought back some snacks.

  Fang Wanru heard this and was furious. "You shallow thing, you only brought back two boxes of snacks, did you ever use them?"

  "Each box used a little."

  Fang Wanru asked Langzhong again, "Is Qi Niang's miscarriage related to that pastry?" She was thinking of implicating Su Shi, but forgot that the pastry was originally given by Fang Shi.

  Lang Zhong replied: "It has nothing to do with food." One sentence negated Fang Wanru's plan.

  "How did it end up being a miscarriage? It was fine, and didn't even have any bumps, so how did it end up being a miscarriage?"

  "The aunt's body is weak, and she fell ill after giving birth to the first child. This pregnancy was not timely, and today she got angry again, which is why she couldn't keep the baby. The doctor thought for a moment and said: "Even if she hadn't gotten angry today, this child wouldn't have been saved. Even if we had discovered it early and used medicine to calm the fetus, it would not have exceeded six months. I'm afraid this aunt will never be able to give birth again."

  Zhu Guo listened and couldn't help but feel sorry for Qi Shi. Auntie had been waiting for so many years, and finally got pregnant, only to have a miscarriage again. If she found out, who knows how distressed she would be!

  Fang Wanru heard the doctor say this, knowing that she wouldn't be able to catch Su Shi's weakness after all, and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. As for whether Qi Shi could give birth again, it was no longer her concern. This Su Shi had a body, even if there were entanglements, who could do anything to her? Forget it! Fortunately, the matter had come to an end, and she could also be relieved. To Fang Shi, to Master, at least there was an explanation.

  "Everyone, go down!" Fang Wanru instructed Zhuo Guo, "Take good care of your aunt, if there's anything lacking, I'll have someone send it over. Make sure she takes care of her body well, not for anything else, but because she still has the fifth young lady!" After finishing speaking, she left.

  Zhu Guo understood Fang Wanru's meaning, which was clearly saying that the Qi family was asking for trouble and warning her not to seek death or annoy others. Although she felt that Madam was being somewhat heartless, she was just a slave and couldn't say anything, so she could only do her job properly.

  Fang Wanru took Li's mother back to her own courtyard. She had just sat down and hadn't even had time to wash up when Haitang came in with some news.

  "The old master came out of Qi's wife's courtyard and first went to Su's place, where he sat for a while, then turned around and went to Li's courtyard. He still hasn't come out until now, I'm afraid he'll be staying there tonight."

  Fang Wanru's head suddenly ignited a fire, and she slapped the table with a loud bang, causing the cups and saucers on the table to ring out.

  "He's quite carefree." The few words were bitten out fiercely, as if squeezed out from between his teeth.

  Haitang saw Madame's great anger and also saw Li Mama on the side, knowing that it was not her turn to speak at this time, so she quietly retreated.

  "Madam, let it go! Which man isn't like that? Even if the master is fond of Su Shi, it's just because she's carrying the Qin family's bloodline in her belly, not to mention Li Shi!"

  "What haven't I seen in this lifetime?" Fang Wanru was angry, but quickly calmed down. She had been married into this family for so many years, and had seen countless things come and go, people and objects changing, how could she not see through the nature of men?

  "People are not always good for a hundred days, and flowers are not always red for a hundred days." Fang Wanru muttered to herself: "If he were a sentimental person, the Su family would not have ended up in this situation today."