Chapter 23: The Wet Nurse (Part One)

  "Hui'er said that Mei'er, go back and change her name!" A tense and lively scene came to an end, and the Mao family also felt it was quite boring.

  Yao Cunmei let out a barely audible hum from her nose, inwardly cursing in discontent, yet not uttering a single word.

  "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first! Second Aunt, Third Sister, farewell." Yao Cunhui smiled faintly and slightly bent her knees to bid farewell to Mao Shi, then turned around calmly with a red apron and left.

  Mao's gaze swept lightly over her figure, elegant and refined in demeanor, with an air of detachment that suddenly stirred up a twinge of jealousy and melancholy within her. She turned to Yao Cunmei with a faint smile: "Mei'er still wants to stroll around the garden? But Second Aunt really must be heading back now!"

  For a moment, only Yao Cunmei and Ma Qunfang, Xiu Hui were left in front of the fake mountain stone. Yao Cunmei stomped her foot in hatred, turned around and walked away quickly. Ma Qunfang was startled, hurriedly called out "cousin" and ran to catch up. Xiu Hui was stunned for a moment, also hastily followed up.

  In the carriage going out of the city, Yao Cunhui and Hong Zhi sat inside, lifting a corner of the curtain, the cool morning air with dew entered with the wind, refreshing and pleasant.

  "It's better to leave the city now, if we wait a little longer, the sun will be high and it will be scorching hot! Second Miss, are you thirsty? I'll pour you a cup of tea!" Hongzhi said with a smile.

  Yao Cunhui smiled and shook his head: "The weather is fine at this time, I don't feel thirsty!"

  Yesterday afternoon, Yao Cunhui told Madam Ma that Yao Shizan wanted to eat fresh grapes and pears. Today she went out of the city to pick some at the West Ridge Farm in the western suburbs of Beijing, which belongs to the Yao family.

  As for Yao Shizan's matter, Ma Shi is no longer in charge now. Yao Cunhui asked to go to the farm to pick it up personally, and she agreed after thinking about it.

  Moreover, Ma specially let Wen's mother follow along.

  Wen's mother was stripped of her position as the manager due to Yao Cunhui, and now she is only in charge of trivial matters in the Ma family's courtyard. She feels uncomfortable seeing Qiao's mother and newly promoted Zhou's mother ordering people around every day. In private, she has also pleaded with Mrs. Ma, who comforted her with kind words, telling her to wait patiently for an opportunity, hinting that Yao Cunhui was to blame. Wen's mother had no choice but to vent her anger on Yao Cunhui, and now she hates her even more.

  Madam Wen finally got a decent job with great difficulty, and she didn't spare any effort to perform. How would Madam Ma give her a second chance? With Madam Wen keeping an eye on him all the way, Madam Ma was sure that Yao Cunhui wouldn't be able to come up with anything!

  But "accidental encounters" are things that even if Mom Wen stares at them until she's dead, there's no way to control!

  If Ma knew, Yao Cun Jia had secretly brought back Yao Cun Hui's wet nurse and settled her in the Xiling Farm, she would not have let Yao Cun Hui make this trip herself.

  Yao Cun Jia's wet nurse had passed away due to illness a few years ago, at that time Yao Furen was still alive and granted her kindness, allowing the wet nurse's whole family to remove their slave status and return to their hometown.

  Yao Cunhui's wet nurse Rong Ma was fine until the death of Yao's wife, and she continued to take care of Yao Cunhui.

  After Madame Yao's death, Madam Ma gradually gained power and became influential. As a result, Rong Mama pitied Yao Cunhui and naturally became a thorn in Madam Ma's side.

  Ma Shi used Yao Cunhui's advanced age as an excuse, and following the example of Mrs. Yao, he also granted her a favor, and had Rong Ma's whole family sent far away.

  Of course, it's a clean break.

  She didn't have a good heart to give them silver to return home and start a business! According to the rumors, Mrs. Ma instead ordered her trusted maid to collect a large sum of ransom from the Rong family, almost draining their wealth dry. Mr. Rong and his eldest son discussed it and felt that escaping slavery was better than anything else, so they also reluctantly gave up their worldly possessions in exchange for freedom.

  But Rong's mother refused to leave, she didn't trust Yao Cunhui and insisted on staying by her side to take care of her.

  Ma naturally wouldn't let it go, and after the Yang family had been gone for more than half a year, she finally found fault with Mrs. Yang and beat her thirty times before driving her out of the Yao estate.

  If it weren't for Yao Cun Jia's secret rescue, Rong Ma would have died unjustly in a foreign land! These things, Yao Cun Hui didn't know at all! She only knew that Rong Ma had made a mistake and left the Yao Mansion. Although she didn't believe that Rong Ma would make a mistake, as soon as she plucked up the courage to ask Ma Shi a question, she was scolded by Ma Shi and didn't dare say anything else.

  Yao Cun Jia let out a quiet sigh, originally wanting to tell her the truth, but thinking better of it and holding back.

  At that time, after saving Rong's mother, Yao Cun Jia gave her a sum of money and asked her to return to the countryside to enjoy her old age. Rong's mother refused to leave, saying she would rather die than leave, and said that even if it took her last breath, she wanted to stay behind and see Miss Two get married well and have a good home before she could leave!

  In her past life, Rong's mother indeed hid in a corner of the Yao Mansion to watch as the grand red wedding sedan chair carrying Yao Cun Hui was lifted out of the Yao Mansion, and then left with tears streaming down her face. Of course, Yao Cun Jia of this life did not know.

  Yao Cun Jia was unable to, so he concealed Rong Ma's identity and had her infiltrate the household through his mother-in-law's hands when they were hiring help at their own farmstead. As a result, Rong Ma settled down in the Xiling Farmstead, becoming a rough-handed servant girl who cooked meals and chopped firewood.

  Now that Yao Cunhui has changed her nature, Yao Cunjia is relieved but also can't help but worry. She will be getting married soon, and her younger sister can only rely on her two eyes and two hands to protect herself and her younger brother; Hong Lian is loyal and capable, but too straightforward and not yet reliable enough to take charge, so Yao Cunjia mentioned her mother-in-law to her sister.

  If Rong's mother could return to the Yao Mansion, it would undoubtedly be a great help to Yao Cun Hui.

  With Yao Cunhui's current means and thoughts, it won't be easy for Madam Ma to move again!

  Yao Cunhui's eyes lit up as soon as she heard her sister's suggestion, and thus today's trip was born.

  Although Yao Cunhui is a second miss with no sense of presence, this time she has come with an "imperial decree": to pick fruits for the young master!

  Young master is so arrogant! Who dares not to take young master seriously? Maybe if young master eats the fruit from Xiling Farm and praises it, old master will be delighted and bestow favors upon them!

  So Yao Cunhui and his party received a warm welcome from Yang Guanshi of Xiling Farm.

  Yang Guanshi beamed with a smile, and politely invited Yao Cunhui into the villa to rest. With a chuckle, he said that at dawn, he had sent someone to pick some extremely fresh grapes and pears, and had already instructed someone to select two large baskets of the best ones, asking Miss Yao to take a look later.

  Yao Cunhui smiled and said "it's hard work", then tilted her head with a smile and asked: "Zan'er, where did you eat so much? Yang Guanshi, you're also too troublesome!"

  Yang Guanshi smiled and said: "It's rare for the second young lady to come in person, and there's nothing else in the village that can be used to entertain the master. This fruit is still fresh, so please don't disdain it, second young lady, and take it as a small token of my respect! Also, please bring some back for the old master, madam, second master, second madam, and the other young ladies and gentlemen to try!"

  Yao Cunhui couldn't help but let out a chuckle and said to the crowd, "Listen to this, I was just helping Zaner pick some fruit for him! But he's got nerve, getting me to do favors for him!"

  Everyone couldn't help but burst out laughing, Yang Guanshi was taken aback, his old face turned red with embarrassment, and he awkwardly accompanied the laughter, saying: "How dare a humble person have such intentions, please forgive me, Second Miss!"

  Yang was secretly amazed and thought that the second young lady was unexpectedly a person who spoke so freely and acted so generously, completely different from what he had heard.

  "I was just joking! You have this kind heart, Father and Mother will definitely be delighted, how could I blame you!" Yao Cunhui smiled and said with a smile: "You deal with these things every day, you are the experts, what you choose must be good! When we leave later, let someone load it directly into the car, I won't even look at it! It's actually hard work for you guys!"

  Yao Cunhui finished speaking and gave a wink to Hongzhi.

  Hongzhi then took out a red envelope from her body, inside was a ten-tael silver note, and handed it to Yao Cunhui with both hands. In her heart, she secretly despised: as soon as she made a move, it was already ten taels of silver, the young lady really didn't mind wasting it on her!

  Yao Cunhui handed the red envelope to Yang Guanshi and smiled: "A little thought, take it and share it with everyone!"

  Yang Guanshi was already very pleased after listening to Yao Cunhui's praise, and now he was even more delighted with the reward of silver. He respectfully accepted it and thanked her, then smiled and said: "Second Miss, you must be tired from traveling, please take a rest. I'll have someone prepare food right away, so that you can return early, after noon, the sun will be scorching!"

  Yao Cunhui smiled and said: "Then I'll trouble you! However, I'd like to take a stroll around the villa, please ask Yang to find someone knowledgeable to show me around."

  Yang Guanshi was busy and agreed, calling his own woman to accompany Yao Cunhui, Wen Mama and Hongzhi to stroll around the farm.

  Wen's mother followed closely behind Yao Cunhui, listening carefully to her conversation with Yang Guan Shi's wife, secretly remembering and analyzing in her heart, to see if there was anything valuable to report back to Ma Shi.

  Madam Wen thought that Yao Cunhui would ask about the number of people in the farm, how many managers there were, what their hobbies were, how old they were, how much land the farm occupied, what products it produced, and how the annual harvest was. Therefore, she was fully vigilant.

  Unexpectedly, Yao Cunhui was only praising the scenery of this place, and what she cared about was whether this year's grapes were sweeter than last year's, whether there were small rivers nearby, and how big the fish in the river were. These trivial matters made Wen's mother feel very uninterested! Moreover, she secretly despised Yao Cunhui: How could she possibly be a qualified mistress of the house? Just based on this, she still wanted to compete with Madam? What a joke!

  The meal was soon ready, and Yang Guanshi personally came over to invite Yao Cunhui to go back and have a meal. He humbly said something like "They are all rough mountain goods, please don't dislike them, Second Miss!", Yao Cunhui also smiled and politely replied a few words.

  The dishes were six cold dishes and one soup, among which a hot wild chicken stewed mushroom dish was steaming, and as soon as Yao Cunhui smelled the aroma, she couldn't help but feel a strong desire to eat.

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