binnovel Chapter 142 The Concubine of the Lin Family in Dream of the Red Chamber
Chapter 142 The Concubine of the Lin Family in Dream of the Red Chamber
Upon arriving at the old lady's courtyard, she didn't bring it up immediately. Instead, she waited until the two of them were strolling around before she and Granny Lin helped the old lady, with the others following behind.
Liu Yuxi whispered to the old lady about how the people in Jia Min's courtyard had given her a potion that would prevent her from having children, and about how something had been added to the tea in Jia Min's courtyard today. She also shared her suspicions with the old lady.
Grandma Lin was both shocked and furious. After all, the idea of harming her married daughter to feed the family line was extremely vicious.
But then I thought about it, and realized that this probably wasn't the Duke's intention. Jia Min was likely unaware of it, after all, Jia Min wasn't particularly scheming; in fact, she was relatively naive. Otherwise, she and Lin Ruhai wouldn't have such a good relationship.
Liu Yuxi was helping the old lady catch her breath when Lin Mama, who was nearby, overheard everything and asked Liu Yuxi, "Aunt Liu, forgive my impertinence, but how did you distinguish those medicinal herbs?"
The old lady also looked at Liu Yuxi, but Liu Yuxi remained calm and said, "You know that I have a keen sense of smell." Everyone in the old lady's courtyard knew this.
Perhaps because she was really starving during the escape, the original owner always loved to eat. After Liu Yuxi arrived, when they were chatting about food in the old lady's courtyard, she kept showing that she could tell what ingredients were used in the dishes just by smelling them.
Therefore, everyone in the courtyard knew that Liu Yuxi had a keen sense of smell. "When you asked me to be the master's concubine, I considered that although our family is much cleaner than other families, I still wanted to be as safe as possible."
I specifically sought out these substandard medicines to confirm their smell. I was absolutely certain I wasn't mistaken; there's a whole bunch of problematic medicines stored in the storeroom in my courtyard!
Liu Yuxi had indeed consulted the prefectural physician about these matters and had also smelled some of the medicinal herbs. Lingdang knew about this as well, on the afternoon of the day she arrived. After all, she needed a reason for never getting sick! And that's how it came in handy!
After calling the bell and confirming, Old Madam Lin said, "I'll find a chance to ask Ru Hai later, and then see if I should tell Jia Min. You should be careful for now, and if it doesn't work out, find an excuse not to go and pay your respects!"
In the afternoon, news spread that Liu Yuxi almost fell while strolling with the old lady, and that Liu Yuxi had to stay in the old lady's yard to rest and protect her pregnancy.
Jia Min also went to the old lady's courtyard for a quick look, gave Liu Yuxi a few perfunctory instructions, and then returned to the main courtyard.
When Lin Ruhai finished his shift and came to pay his respects to the old lady, she secretly told him what Liu Yuxi had said that day. Lin Ruhai was surprised and uncertain after hearing it.
They summoned the imperial physician and Lingdang to confirm that Liu Yuxi could indeed distinguish drugs that were detrimental to offspring by smell. They also inquired about some details when they visited Liu Yuxi, told the old lady that he would go back and think about it, and then returned to the main courtyard.
Liu Yuxi lay in the old lady's courtyard for several days. To make the performance more realistic, she was actually fed by Lingdang. She figured that handling the matter in any way would only benefit her, so she didn't activate her spiritual power and instead focused on cultivating her internal energy while lying down.
It's unclear how the old lady, Lin Ruhai, and Jia Min communicated. One day, after finishing her practice, Lingdang told me that the master had arranged for her to lead the people from the old lady's courtyard to move all the things she had said were problematic from their Begonia Garden to the old lady's courtyard.
She knew that the communication was almost complete. In the following days, Lin Ruhai and Jia Min did not come to the old lady's courtyard for about half a month.
One day, when Lin Ruhai was on leave, the old lady took Lin Ruhai and Jia Min, along with Jia Min's two dowry servants and some of Jia Min's dowry, to the Duke's mansion.
I don't know what happened in between, but I do know that when the family ate together that night, Jia Min's eyes were still red and swollen, while Liu Yuxi ate his meal at the small table next to her.
Jia Min's gaze towards Liu Yuxi was complex, a mixture of gratitude and embarrassment, but nothing particularly bad. Liu Yuxi simply pretended not to know. Could the two of them really become friends? Don't overthink it! Just let things be as they are. She should be thankful that she wasn't being forced to set rules!
But she actually got what she was hoping for. Jia Min really did tell her not to go to pay her respects anymore, and to just stay in the old lady's courtyard and keep her and her husband company. Liu Yuxi naturally agreed.
The details of this incident were later told to Liu Yuxi by Lingdang, since the Rongguo Mansion was like a sieve, and any news could spread to everyone.
The dowries from the two households and the dowry items brought back were all prepared by Wang, the second daughter-in-law of the Rongguo Duke's Mansion. Since Old Madam Lin and Lin Ruhai brought people and things to the door, they must have had solid evidence.
However, for the sake of her second son and the power of the Wang family, Jia Min's mother, Old Madam Shi, refused to let her second son divorce his wife. She only said to Jia Min, "For the sake of your nephew and niece, let her live out her days in the small Buddhist shrine at home!"
Jia Min was truly heartbroken. What did she mean by "dying out in a small Buddhist hall"? That was just something to fool outsiders. Putting everything else aside, how could she, as a mother, not show up when her nephews and nieces got married? Her mother was only planning to confine her second sister-in-law to the house for a few years.
And what about the suffering her own daughter endured? Leaving aside the family conflicts during the years without children, just consider this: both she and Lin Ruhai need two more years of recuperation to have a child. And Liu Yuxi? Liu Yuxi got pregnant because of her good health; it had little to do with Lin Ruhai. She, on the other hand, is not capable!
This truly proves the saying, "A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl!" The Rongguo Duke's Mansion gave Jia Min a considerable amount of additional dowry, which can be considered a form of compensation to the Lin family, since the Lin family will eventually be passed down to Jia Min's son!
As long as Wang is still alive, the relationship between the Jia and Lin families will never be the same again. Jia Min is no longer as close to her family as before, and the gifts she sends on various occasions are not as generous as they used to be!
Every time the Jia family returned a gift, Jia Min would have the family physician examine it before storing it in the storeroom. It was truly a case of "once bitten, twice shy."
Although Wang was not divorced, her close relatives still learned about her actions. After all, these old families intermarried, and news circulated quite freely.
The marriage market for Wang family girls plummeted, making it difficult for the Jia family children to find husbands in the future, since Wang Shi was still alive!
Old Madam Shi had no choice but to train Jia She's second wife, Xing, to manage the household. However, Xing's family was of low social standing, and to put it bluntly, she was not as capable as the first-class maidservants around Old Madam Shi. Old Madam Shi was extremely troubled!