Episode 12

  On the second day of paying respects, Chang Feng and Mo Lan brother and sister indeed 'recovered from their illness'. Wang Shi pulled them over to ask about their well-being, asking what was wrong with them one moment and how they were feeling after recovering the next. Chang Feng was fine, but Mo Lan's face turned red with shyness. After everyone had paid their respects to Old Lady in order, Chang Feng and Mo Lan brother and sister both apologized to her together.

  "Let the old lady worry, we didn't have any illness originally, just that I slept a bit cool on the previous night and felt my head heavy and feet light when I got up early yesterday. It wasn't serious at first, but I thought of the old lady who was fine earlier, if I passed the illness to her, how would it be? Also because third brother lives close to me, Lin's wife feared that the illness would also spread to my brother, so she decided to keep him confined as well."

  Mo Lan spoke in a soft and gentle voice, her face pale and frail, looking as if she had indeed been ill. Chang Feng's small white face looked somewhat embarrassed, and he followed up by saying: "I don't know what happened either, yesterday morning when I got up, my sister was already sick. I didn't let her go out, and it worried Grandmother. Please don't blame me, Old Lady."

  She said, making a series of bows, Minglan watched from the side and felt that it was not like pretending. Old Lady Shen looked at Changfeng's flustered face, her expression slightly clearing, and spoke warmly: "Changfeng is almost ten years old, he should have his own room and servant now, it would be more convenient for him to study, otherwise he'll waste his time playing with the women every day. Your older brother is planning to take the imperial examination next year, and is currently working hard, even your aunt doesn't see him often. Although our family can just buy a scholar title, but it's not as good as passing the exam, you must work hard and make progress, in the future either bring glory to our ancestors or support your parents, it all depends on your own luck."

  The old lady's words were not only for Chang Feng to hear, but also for Lin Niangniang to hear. They were truly heartfelt words. Chang Feng immediately straightened up and respectfully bowed his hands in salute to the old lady. On the other side, Wang Shi heard the old lady mention Chang Bai and was overjoyed, her pleased expression couldn't be hidden. Chang Bai still had a taciturn expression, not even raising an eyebrow.

  The old lady pulled Changfeng aside and said a few words, still ignoring Mòlán. Her small face slowly turned red, her hands and feet awkwardly fidgeting. Only then did Old Lady Shèng look at her and say slowly: "Mòlán this time caught a cold, probably from the day before yesterday when she was paying respects in front of me. The weather was freezing, and your body is weak, so you couldn't withstand it."

  Mo Lan nodded with tears in her eyes, her small face tilted upwards, looking at the old lady's tearful and pitiful expression. "Not being able to serve by your side is my misfortune," she said. "These past few days, I've been feeling unwell, that's why I caught a cold. It's all my fault, I was wrong, please punish me." As she spoke, she knelt down in front of the bed, her small body shaking and trembling. The maids and servant girls in the room couldn't bear to watch.

  Old Lady Sheng looked at her for a while, then asked Cui Ping to help her up and pull her forward. She said warmly, "Moyu, I didn't ask you to come here, don't take it to heart. It's just that the lady has many things on her hands and many children, so I'll take care of one for her to make things easier; you're still a young girl, don't think too much or it will affect your health. You should take good care of yourself, and in the future, you'll need to learn about women's work, etiquette, and rules. Even if you get tired, it's what I've told your sixth sister."

  The tears of Mo Lan rolled around in her eye sockets, but didn't fall. She nodded and leaned against the old lady's body. Hua Lan also went over to comfort her gently. Wang Shi turned her head to look at Ru Lan, and couldn't help but sigh. Ru Lan was impatiently tapping her shoes, staring blankly outside with a pair of eyes; then she turned her head to look at Ming Lan, only to find that she was stupidly lowering her head to look at her own feet, and felt that her daughter was still okay.

  After the crowd left, the old lady and her grandson went back to their usual breakfast. Today's breakfast had an additional dish of fresh deer meat and millet porridge cooked with Jiangmi. Minglan had never eaten this type of meat before and found it particularly fragrant, so she couldn't help but have another bowl. Seeing the little girl eating with relish, her cheeks puffed out, the old lady also couldn't resist having a bit more. Housekeeper Fang, who was watching from the side, looked delighted as well. Minglan thought that eating was something that required atmosphere; even if it were the Eight Trigrams, facing Lin Daiyu's sickly appearance would make one lose their appetite.

  After dinner, the old lady asked Minglan to take off her shoes and get on the kang again. This time she gave Minglan a red-brush book and had her kneel on the kang frame to practice writing in red ink, recognizing one character at a time as she wrote it. As Minglan wrote, the old lady quietly guided her, and before long, Old Lady Sheng discovered that Minglan had an excellent memory - she could memorize over ten characters in just one morning. Although the child was small and weak, with most of her characters crooked and twisted, each stroke showed a certain elegance, starting with a natural tilt to the left before moving steadily to the right.

  This time, Old Lady Sheng became interested in teaching, fearing that Minglan would be bored if she only practiced writing all day. She pulled out a collection of poems and selected a few short ones with clear language, reciting them to Minglan one sentence at a time while explaining the meaning of each word. The first poem was the famous "Geese". Minglan felt a bit awkward but still pretended to follow along, and after two repetitions, she could recite it from memory. Old Lady Sheng became even more delighted, hugging the little girl and giving her a kiss on the cheek. In her youth, Old Lady Sheng had been quite talented, which was why she had taken a liking to Lin's mother back then. Minglan's hair became disheveled from being hugged, and her face turned red with excitement, but if Rong Binwang could compose poetry at seven years old, it should be normal for her to recite a poem at six years old, right?

  "Does Ming Yu'er know what this poem means?" The wrinkles on Old Lady Sheng's face seemed to have all smoothed out.

  "Grandma said the words inside, and my granddaughter knew; ...In the past, there were three geese, they bent their necks to sing towards the sky, white feathers floating on green water, red goose palms stirring clear water." Minglan replied loudly.

  "Do you like this poem?" The old lady listened with a smile all over her face.

  "I like it. This poem has both color and sound, even if you haven't seen a goose before, it's as if you've seen those three big white geese." Minglan tried to explain in simple language.

  Old Mrs. Sheng pointed at Minglan and laughed: "Good good good, three geese... no mistake, it's those three silly geese!"

  After two days, Old Lady Sheng felt that this little granddaughter who was not good at speaking was actually a wonderful person. She didn't seem to be as eloquent as Hua Lan, nor did she seem to be as knowledgeable and interesting as Mo Lan. Looking stupid and silly, but somehow having an inexplicable charm, the child's words were innocent and serious, yet always made people want to laugh.

  After a morning of mental and physical labor, Old Lady Sheng had a big appetite at noon and took the opportunity to eat an extra bowl of rice. Minglan also made an effort to eat a whole bowl of rice in order to show her willingness to work hard for the new boss. The dish of braised pork belly with a shiny glaze was so tempting that the grandmother and granddaughter joined forces to finish it off. Housekeeper Fang was stunned, secretly instructing Cuiping to prepare two servings of digestive tea made from dried tangerine peel and pickled plum.

  After lunch, the grandmother and granddaughter sat on a pair of large black ebony armchairs with auspicious longevity patterns near the window to rest and digest before taking a nap. At this time, winter was coming to an end, the ice had melted, and the warm sunlight at noon made everything feel cozy. Minglan was basking in the warmth, curled up like a fluffy little cat on the velvet cushion cover. The child's face was rosy and tender, and Grandma Sheng looked at her granddaughter's eyes, which were gradually closing, and suddenly asked: "Ming'er, do you think your fourth sister is really sick?"

  This sentence is somewhat abstruse.

  Minglan was originally drowsy, but after hearing the question, she made an effort to open her eyes a bit wider, looking somewhat bewildered and speaking incoherently: "No...I don't know, I originally thought that Fourth Sister was just pretending to be ill because she was embarrassed, so she didn't want to come; every time Master came to check on Fifth Sister's homework, she would pretend to be ill. But this morning when I saw Fourth Sister, I felt that she really was ill."

  The old lady listened to this big truth, smiled slightly, and looked at the bright big eyes above. She tidied up her hair, touched the small bun on her head, and said: "If your fourth sister is really pretending, should we punish her?"

  Minglan leaned against her grandmother's warm palm, shook her head, stretched out a pair of small paws like white jade, grasped the old lady's sleeve, and said softly: "Can't come to Grandma's side, Fourth Sister even if she doesn't have any illness, her heart is still uncomfortable, must be some improper things, not considered fake illness, Big Sister that time every day forced me to kick shuttlecock, I really pretended to be ill."

  Minglan actually sympathizes with Molan, and it's likely that when Lin Niang was favored before, she often threw tantrums like this. So when Molan was rejected, Lin Niang immediately reflexively gave the old lady a defiant look, unfortunately hitting the nail on the head this time.

  It is known that Sheng Hong has made up his mind to rectify the family rules since he was promoted and arrived in Dengzhou. He indeed likes Lin Niang and her children, and is willing to promote them, but he likes his own family and social status even more. As soon as Old Lady refused Mo Lan, Lin Niang immediately let her two children pretend to be ill and not go to pay their respects, which was a clear show of disrespect to Old Lady, and also openly told the entire Sheng Mansion that she, Lin Niang, had a strong backbone.

  The old lady immediately counterattacked, forcing Sheng Hong to choose between doting on Lin Niang and upholding family dignity. With filial piety as his top priority, Sheng Hong chose the latter without hesitation. It's like when buying stocks, one can't just look at the company's performance, but also consider the national situation; currently, the situation in the Sheng household is that Sheng Hong is willing to protect Lin Niang, but Lin Niang must be mindful of her position as a concubine.

  The old lady thought that this little granddaughter was quite understanding and slightly unexpected, and asked warmly: "Then what do you think is wrong with your fourth sister?"

  Minglan shook her little head, saying in a proper manner: "Letting whoever come to Old Madam's side is our filial piety and Old Madam's pleasure. Fourth sister shouldn't pretend to be ill just because she didn't get what she wanted, causing you to worry."

  The old lady smiled with satisfaction, pulled Minglan into her lap and stroked her small face: "My sixth girl, you said it well. You should know that in your grandmother's eyes, reading and needlework are secondary; the most important thing is to learn to understand reason and do things wisely. In this life, there will always be things that go as one wishes and things that don't; what belongs to you is yours, what doesn't belong to you shouldn't be forced; cherish your blessings and follow your fate, don't use any means to achieve a goal..."

  The old lady saw her little granddaughter looking confused, with an expression that seemed to understand and not understand at the same time. She felt that what she had said was too profound, so she stopped talking and called for Mrs. Cui to take Minglan into the pear blossom cabinet to take a nap.

  Actually, Minglan understands that Old Lady Shen is a rather pathetic person. When she raised Lin's mother, she originally wanted to raise a noble and elegant Lin Daiyu, but unexpectedly, she ended up raising an overbearing version of You Erjie, with a strong heart and fighting spirit, turning the Shen household upside down. All this was due to one word: "greed". This time, she is raising a concubine's daughter, if because of following her, she becomes arrogant and has unrealistic expectations, it would be harmful to her instead. So Old Lady Shen is taking precautions here.

  Lying on the warm kang, Minglan let out a small sigh. In fact, Old Lady Sheng didn't need to worry. From the day she accepted this identity, she had been thinking about her own future. Obviously, this was a very normal ancient world with strict hierarchical systems and clear feudal rules, without any fantasy or unrealistic social environment. She couldn't possibly run away from home to become a female knight-errant, nor could she indulge in wild fantasies of starting her own business, let alone dare to imagine going to the palace to make a living. The only thing she could do was manage her own life well.

  Human happiness is obtained through comparison. If everyone around you is worse off than you, even if you're eating coarse grains and drinking plain water, you'll still feel very happy. The reason why the concubine-born daughters are suffering is that their legitimate sisters who grew up with them often have a better life. Seeing a sister born to the same father but having everything better than herself, it's inevitable to feel unhappy in her heart.

  But if she didn't compare herself to her legitimate daughter? Minglan hypothesized that if she were born into a farming family that couldn't even afford food, or something even worse, born into a servant's family with no control over her own life, then compared to those situations, her current life was much better. At the very least, she had no worries about food and clothing, and they were slightly well-off; her father wasn't some kind of scumbag like Jia She who would recklessly marry off his daughter, and their family was still quite stable.

  For a girl like her in ancient times, life's trajectory was already predetermined - growing up as a daughter of a humble family, marrying a husband with an equivalent social status, giving birth to children and growing old; except for not being able to divorce, she might also have to accept several 'sisters' sharing the same husband, which isn't very different from modern times. Sometimes, Minglan would think in a rather pathetic way: this life isn't so bad after all.

  If life doesn't go smoothly, and heaven insists on giving her a miserable life, then she'll fight to the death; if there's really no way out, she won't be polite. She won't have a good time, nor will she let those who wronged her have a good time. In the end, it's either you die or I die, and at worst, we both perish together - after all, she's someone who has been washed away by a mudslide!

  Thinking of this, Minglan's heart suddenly cleared up, and she stretched out her belly, falling into a deep sleep.