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Chapter 1, Fever

Zhou Geyin's parents divorced early in her life, and she lived with her grandmother, who lived alone. Her grandmother, surnamed Zhao, was described by her family as a very intelligent old woman. As a child, she was the daughter of a landlord and had studied classical Chinese literature (such as the *Youxue Qionglin*, the Four Books and Five Classics). After marrying, she lived for thirty or forty years under the strict rule of her mother-in-law, managing all the household affairs in their impoverished state. She was adept at navigating social interactions and was quite fortunate. Currently, she is a Buddhist.

Faced with something so completely incomprehensible and unacceptable, Zhou Geyin immediately panicked. She had been independent since childhood, but she always consulted her grandmother when she encountered problems she couldn't solve. However, even her grandmother probably couldn't offer any acceptable explanation in this situation; most likely, she would say, "Amitabha, everything has its own destiny, don't overthink it."

Bullshit "Don't overthink it"! Can someone tell me what actually happened?!

Just as she was filled with fear, she suddenly heard a "snap," and a dim candlelight suddenly illuminated the room. A woman dressed as an old woman hurriedly entered, carrying a lantern. She shone the lantern on Zhou Geyin's face and saw that her eyes were half-open and she was in a daze, not saying a word. She couldn't help but sigh. Her eyes darkened, and she suddenly kicked the ground.

A cry of "Ouch!" was heard, and a girl of about eleven or twelve years old, dressed in a pale yellow dress, sat up abruptly from the floor. She happened to be sleeping slightly off to the side of the bed, in Zhou Geyin's blind spot, which was why she hadn't noticed there was someone else in the room. The girl rubbed her sleepy eyes and asked, "Why is Granny Sun here? Has the fever gone down, Miss?"

Seeing her like this, Granny Sun became somewhat annoyed and said, "You silly girl! The young master has been burning up for three or four days, and instead of keeping watch and changing the ice pillow, you're just sleeping here. If something really happens, even ten of you couldn't afford to pay for it!"

The girl protested, "Granny, you've misunderstood. I just changed the wet towel and you came in after I'd only been lying down for a bit. Look, the young lady seems to have a bit less fever." Granny Sun touched Zhou Geyin's head and found that her fever had indeed subsided, so her expression softened a little.

Seeing that Zhou Geyin was still in a daze, she sighed again, put down the lantern, and lit the lamp in the room. Only then did Zhou Geyin notice that the old woman was carrying a food box. She took out a bowl of porridge from the food box, fed Zhou Geyin, and then said to the maid, "My lord, your dinner is on the lower floor. The maids in the courtyard are all locked up by the mistress and haven't had time to bring it over. Please make do with this."

The magistrate placed a bowl on the table and began to eat with braised chicken wings and boiled pumpkin. As she ate, she asked, "Miss, you've had a fever for three or four days, and you still don't seem to be feeling well. Could it be that the fever has damaged your brain?"

She regretted it as soon as she finished speaking, knowing that Granny Sun hated it most when maids talked nonsense, so she quickly lowered her head and ate her rice, waiting to be scolded.

The room remained quiet for a long time. She looked up and saw Granny Sun holding a bowl of half-eaten bird's nest porridge in her left hand and wiping away tears with a handkerchief in her right. Startled, she quickly put down the bowl and said, "Granny, what's wrong? Did I say something wrong again? I was wrong, Granny, please punish me."

Granny Sun wiped away her tears and forced a smile: "What are you saying? I was just thinking that before Grandma went to the capital, she entrusted the young lady to my care. Now that something like this has happened, I really have no face to see her."

She sighed again: "What if it really damages the brain..." Before she could finish speaking, tears fell again.

She raised the girl's mother from a young age, and now she's taking care of the girl herself. Her own children live far away, and she's long considered herself a member of the family. Seeing the child like this now, her heart is breaking. She also thinks that if the girl really has brain damage from the fever, her mother will be heartbroken. How can she be at ease?

She was an experienced old nanny, and after a moment of confusion, she regained her composure and said to the magistrate, "Go quickly and tell the eldest mistress that the young lady has woken up and ask for a doctor to come as soon as possible." Before she finished speaking, she hurriedly added, "Never mind, I'll go myself. You take good care of the young lady." With that, she grabbed the lantern and left in a hurry.

After finishing his meal and clearing away the dishes, the magistrate went to the bedside and tucked Zhou Geyin in. He sighed and said, "Young mistress, I don't know if you can pull through. If you can't, all the maids in our household will probably be severely punished."

Not long after, Granny Sun indeed led a group of people over. The doctor carefully examined her pulse, turned her eyelids over, looked at her tongue, and said to a woman who looked to be about thirty years old, "The fever has subsided, so it should be nothing serious."

The woman hurriedly asked, "Did you hear from her nanny that the child is just blank, not speaking or moving? Could it be that the fever has damaged her brain?"

As the doctor wrote the prescription, he replied, "That's hard to say. This child has had a fever for three or four days; it's a miracle she's still alive." He handed over the prescription, saying, "I've written a formula to calm the mind and clear the brain. You can try decocting it. See if she's still like this in a couple of days. If she is, then send someone to call me over."

The woman instructed her maid to fetch some silver, which she then personally presented to the doctor, saying, "Manager Fu, thank you for your trouble. You've stayed here for so long; I imagine your household must be quite anxious." She then sent a servant to prepare the carriage, but Manager Fu quickly replied, "It's alright, my shop isn't far from here; I can walk there." Nevertheless, he still took the carriage back.

The woman glanced at Zhou Geyin's complexion and said, "She seems better. Take good care of her these next two days, and if anything seems amiss, immediately have someone tell me." Granny Sun quickly agreed, then asked, "Has Third Madam come to see the young lady these past few days? Where are her Yuanfang and Yuanrou?"

Granny Sun replied, "Third Madam hasn't come since the last time she came with Eldest Madam. She only sent someone over yesterday to inquire about the situation. Eldest Miss and Third Miss haven't come either. I suppose they've been frightened and are still calming down."

When the eldest wife, Madam Zhang, heard about the third branch of the family's actions, her face changed. She said, "I will come over often when I have time. Once the little girl can speak, I will have Yongjiao come over to keep her company. If there is anything wrong with the little girl, I will write a letter to your grandmother immediately. In any case, it is my fault for not taking good care of her. It's a pity about this child."

After she finished speaking, she gave a few more instructions, which were met by both Granny Sun and the magistrate. She then said to the people behind her, "Alright, we still need someone to look after this place. Release the two maids and two or three other young maids who are locked in the woodshed and give them a good scolding. Tell them that if the young lady causes any more trouble, I will kick them all out."

Chapter Two: The Origins

The "Propaganda Officer" function is now open! What are you waiting for? Join now!!! Zhang sat for a while, asked Granny Sun some questions, and then went home as it was getting late. She happened to run into the maids she had just released at the door. The maids quickly kowtowed to her in gratitude. She gave them a few words of advice, telling them to take good care of the young girl, and then left.

Seeing that the group of maids were disheveled and their clothes were in disarray, Granny Sun let them go to bathe and rest, and told them to come out and serve her again the next day.

In less than half an hour, a teenage girl who had finished washing up pushed open the door and came in. Her hair was still dripping wet and her face was somewhat pale. She said, "My lord, you have worked hard. Go and rest for a while. You can leave this to me and the nanny."

The magistrate declined, saying, "Sister Dongkui, you've been locked in the woodshed for three or four days. You must be tired. Go and rest. Your nanny and I will take care of you here."

Granny Sun said, "Your Excellency should go and rest. You've had a hard time these past few days." Seeing this, the magistrate couldn't disobey and took the food box out.

Dongkui locked the door and sat down next to Granny Sun at the table. She said in a low voice, "The young lady fell into the water because the eldest young lady accidentally pushed her."

Granny Sun's expression changed, and she said, "What exactly happened? Tell me properly!"

"We originally took the girl to the swings. She'd been wanting to play for days, and even though it was winter, we figured with four or five people watching her, nothing bad would happen, so we went into the garden. But then Third Grandmother and the eldest girl were playing in the pavilion. When Third Grandmother saw us girls with the girl, she grabbed us and scolded us, saying we were careless and didn't have an experienced maid with us, and that if something happened, it wouldn't be fun anymore. We didn't dare move and could only listen to her scolding. Then, in the blink of an eye, we heard the girl's cry. I happened to turn around and saw it clearly: the eldest girl, for some reason, kicked the girl, and the girl lost her balance and fell into the water. I don't know when they got to the lakeside," Dongkui said, sitting up straight.

Granny Sun said bitterly, "No wonder Third Madam was in such a hurry to lock you all up. She can lock people up, but doesn't she know that 'the truth will eventually come out'?! The eldest daughter beat her own cousin and almost killed her. If word gets out, how can she, as her mother, have any face left?! Now, instead of trying to treat the young lady properly, she won't even show her face! If something really happens, can she escape responsibility?!" She paused, then added, "I knew this wasn't simple. In this freezing weather, the young lady is usually most afraid of water. Why would she go to the lake to play for no reason!"

As Granny Sun spoke, she began to grit her teeth: "Master and Madam are in the capital, so they can't take care of things here. The Old Madam also went to the capital for the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration. Now there's no one in the mansion who can keep things in order. Does she think that just because she's bribing our second branch, we're easy to bully?!"

Dongkui moved her lips and finally asked, "When the old lady went to the capital two months ago, why didn't she take the young lady with her? She didn't take the young master because his teacher doesn't like students taking leave, but the young lady doesn't have to go to school. How could the old lady feel at ease leaving the young lady in the mansion?" Granny Sun said, "They originally said they would take her with them, but the young lady had a cold at that time. The old lady was afraid that she couldn't withstand the long journey, and the eldest mistress assured her that she would take good care of the young lady. Although the old lady was still worried, she had no choice but to go."

Dongkui said softly, "Grandma meant well."

"The eldest mistress must have heard rumors about this, otherwise why would she have released you all so hastily? If the young lady is alright, that's fine. If not, since the master and mistress live far away, we can keep it a secret for a while. But the old lady will be back in half a month. At that time, the mansion will definitely be in chaos, and I don't know how many people will be punished..."

Dongkui listened silently and then asked, "Granny, will the young master be back tomorrow?" Granny Sun nodded and said, "The young master is back, and who knows what kind of trouble he'll cause. He always dotes on the young lady the most." She straightened her face and said, "The reason this young lady fell into the water is something you and I should keep to ourselves. Don't spread it around! Don't even tell the young master! The old lady and madam aren't in the mansion right now. If it gets out, our room will suffer—no one will make any decisions about this kind of thing. Even if the old lady were here, there's nothing she could do. They're both my children. At most, she'll punish the eldest young lady and scold the third madam a few times. It'll just drag on and eventually be forgotten."

Dongkui smiled wryly: "Don't worry, Granny, I certainly won't gossip. But I wasn't the only one who saw it in our room that day. Besides, there were other people in the pavilion besides those from our room. There were quite a few maids and servants from the Third Household Department there. How can you guarantee they won't talk? The Third Mistress's room isn't just served by her people. Some of the old nannies are domesticated and have never been obedient to her." Granny Sun said: "We won't say anything. If it gets out, there's nothing we can do."

She paused, then asked, "Do you know why the young lady kicks the young lady?"

Dongkui shook her head: "I don't know, but the eldest young lady has a terrible temper. I heard from the maids of the third branch that she often throws tantrums for any reason, and the third mistress doesn't care, so everyone just has to put up with it. Not to mention, even the third young lady, who is her own sister, has been scolded to tears several times, despite her good temper. Granny, let me tell you privately, I really don't understand how the third master and third mistress, who are both well-read, could have given birth to such a person!"

Granny Sun sneered, "It was probably taken from Third Madam."

Dongkui asked in confusion, "Third Grandmother is formidable, but she has a good temper, doesn't she?" Granny Sun replied, "What do you know, you're just a child. You didn't experience anything from those years ago."

Dongkui lowered her head and said "Oh," seemingly unconvinced. She paused and then asked, "Is the young lady feeling better? I heard the fever has subsided and she's woken up. What did the doctor say?" Granny Sun sighed, "Go and see her. She drank most of a bowl of bird's nest porridge after waking up, and I don't know if she's asleep or not. The doctor said if the fever damaged her brain, she might become mentally impaired… The young lady is only ten years old. What will we do if her brain is damaged…"

Dongkui rushed to the bedside to check on the child. The child's face was pale, lips bluish-purple, and his once tender face had become gaunt. His eyes stared blankly at her, completely unfocused and lifeless. Dongkui burst into tears, too afraid to look any longer, and ran back to the table, sobbing uncontrollably. Granny Sun said softly, "What's the use of crying? Now we can only hope that the Bodhisattva will protect the young master and that he will pull through. If something truly happens, I'm sure all the maids and servants in our household will be implicated."

Dongkui gradually stopped sobbing, and the two chatted for most of the night, occasionally changing the towel on Zhou Geyin's head. It wasn't until the third watch that Granny Sun went out to sleep, and Dongkui went to sleep in the place where the magistrate had slept before keeping watch.

Chapter Three, Taking the Medicine