Shen Xiangwan smiled and took the soup bowl handed to her by the girl. After gently shaking it to cool down, she placed it in front of Mama Liu.
"Mama, drink slowly. The soup tastes better with this snack."
Mama Liu laughed and took it, "No wonder you're so fleshy and chubby. You may eat to heaven if the meat is eaten with these pretty good skills.”
"Mama jests." Shen Xiangwan smiled gently. In fact, she had reduced a lot of weight recently, but that small face still looked round, extremely festive, and pleasing to the eyes.
At the same time, the waiting girl curiously sized her up, then turned around and gently closed the door curtain.
After serving Mama to finish eating and holding a copper-billed duck pot to let Mama rinse her mouth, Shen Xiangwan helped her to go for a walk in the courtyard like before. Earlier, it was the habit of Mama to take a short walk after a meal to digest. After all, being old, her digestion skills were slightly weak.
"I’m afraid it won't be too peaceful in this mansion in the upcoming days. Girl, you try to shrink behind the others."
"Yeah...."
Shen Xiangwan responded lightly. This was Mama warning her that the mansion wouldn’t be peaceful in the upcoming days.
"You're fine then it’s all good." She lowered her head and supported the old lady's rickety body.
"Hehe, those few people still can't kill me. It's just that I didn't want to pay attention to them earlier."
Mama waved her hand, gently twirling the beads in her hand. Those sunken and seemingly dim eyes looked quite murky, but they could see through the world's evil ways!
"Girl, go back. Tell the concubine that I'm very satisfied with her gift."
Only after a short walk, Liu Mama held her back.
Shen Xiangwan quickly hung her head and stepped back with a slight nod.
Not long after Shen Xiangwan walked out of the courtyard, she was followed by another little girl who seemed to go to do errands.
The two of them accidentally staggered and slowed down. Shen Xiangwan seemed to be talking to herself.
"Quail."
That little girl's eyes moved, and her footsteps kept moving forward.
That night, Ru Yue and the others received the instruction to keep a low profile in the next few days.
As soon as she got back to the courtyard, Concubine Mei eagerly came up to ask.
"How did Steward Liu react?"
"Back to the concubine, Mama had the girl send word back that she was extremely satisfied."
"Then why did she drive you back so soon?" Aunt Mei asked anxiously.
Mei Ting and Han Xiao were also listening to the side. They both smiled and exchanged a look before waving Shen Xiangwan to leave.
When she left, Concubine Mei's beautiful eyes surfaced with worry, "Whether Steward Liu liked the gift or not? You guys say I sent such a big gift, why didn’t she react at all?"
Concubine Mei was very anxious.
Han Xiao pondered for a while and suddenly realized something, “Concubine doesn’t need to panic. I think this Steward Liu either really likes that girl or pity her and thus wants to protect her. Therefore, on the surface, she doesn't want to have a deep connection with her. In this way, it can actually be considered as protecting her."
Concubine Mei's face lightened up slightly, "Yes, this is also possible. For example, I obviously love my Ming’er very much, but I still have to......pretend to be mad at him. Especially after this turn, he’s even more......distant......".
Speaking of which, she tightly held her silk hanky over her chest.
Over the years, because of her depression, she was prone to angina.
"There's also a possibility that... Steward Liu is still the same as before and doesn't like to get deeply involved with any of the concubine or concubine born young masters." After saying this Han Xiao gave a heavy sigh. This was what worries her the most.
If that was the case, that hundred-year-old ginseng would be considered as wasted!
Concubine Mei's large, watery eyes instantly stagnated, and after a long time, she waved her handkerchief weakly.
"It's fine, anyway, you can't take the things with you when you die. If it doesn't work then just accept the loss." She slumped in a chair and under the candlelight, the pair of smart and lustrous eyes were now full of unease and decadence. Looking at this kind of her, Han Xiao gave several soft sighs. This is how the master is. As soon as something happens, she will feel despondent.
After handling the matters and leaving the concubine’s courtyard, Shen Xiangwan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
It can be regarded as stable for a while. Next, I’ll have to think about earning some silver to see a doctor for Xiao Qi.
In fact, if the old doctor, who was treating Mama Zhou, could be persuaded, and hired then Xiao Qi could be cured. But it wasn’t easy to convince such an experienced doctor. It was said that he was staying at Houfu all because of being grateful towards the Marquis to save his grandson's life. Therefore, after he came out of the palace, he was invited by Lord Hou to come here to see a few important people in the mansion.
Ordinary people are only allowed to be diagnosed and treated by ordinary doctors.
Thinking of this, in the meantime, Shen Xiangwan began to contemplate on how to find that ancient doctor's weaknesses, or, find some possessions that could make his heart flutter, so that he would be willing to diagnose and treat Xiao Qi.
In this way, Shen Xiangwan began to ask people to find out some information about the Ancient Doctor, regardless of whether it was large or small.
Although their manpower was still a little weak, the number of people joining this group to help each other was also increasing.
At this moment, almost one-third of the whole Houfu was infiltrated by their personnel.
If someone wanted to infiltrate the various concubines’ and other courtyards with all kinds of intelligence personnel then they would have to pay the maids next to those masters.
And, even if they paid, they might not be able to get real and reliable information.
But their group was different.
At first, all of them were bullied in various ways, and in the end, this self-help group was set up for self-protection.
Everyone knew in their hearts that only by helping their people and taking control of this Houfu's backyard would they be able to stand firm.
Unlike ordinary factions, their faction was purely set up for self-protection and self-struggle.
One night, Shen Xiangwan finally got some free time and seemingly unintentionally entered the courtyard on the side of the department of washing clothes.
Just when she entered the courtyard she saw Ah Tian come out from inside. Seeing her coming, Ah Tian sweetly smiled, "Xiao JieJie, others are already inside. Now that you also came, we can directly have a meeting anytime."
"Good. Did Mama Yi come?"
"Yeah, I'll go to the front to look at the laundry."
"It was hard for you, Thank you."
"Haha..."
"These are our own personal affairs. It's not hard to deal with our own work." Xiao Tian's immature face was rippling with an adoring and joyful smile. This little girl was a little slow to act, so some time ago, another girl who was with her made a small complaint to their in-charge Mama. Finally, Xiao Tian was ruthlessly packed up by the woman steward.
She was left dying in the backyard, and it was Shen Xiangwan’s group that quietly delivered the water, medicine, and warnings about what to do and don’t.
After successfully passing the ghost gate, the little girl was also the same as if reborn. She began to respectfully serve the master and flatter her peers. After that, even if someone said something, she began to play with words by giving clever-rhetoric while playing dumb.
Nowadays, in a concubine’s backyard, she could also be considered to have a firm foothold.
Pushing the gate of the courtyard, Shen Xiangwan saw Ru Yue, Mama Yi and others. She immediately stepped forward, "Mama..."
Mama Yi laughed and raised her hand, "Come quickly, Ru Yue and Fu Tao brought some food today. It's just right that we'll also talk about these things while having a meeting."
........