It took the efforts of Mother Su and others, pinching and patting, before Madam Xie finally recovered. "You disobedient little wench, you must be tired of living," Mother Su snapped, her face turning ashen with anger.

The young maid was already terrified, kneeling on the ground, trembling and repeatedly kowtowing to beg for pardon. "Enough, what does it have to do with her?" Madam Xie said slowly, waving a hand. "It's...

I who am unworthy..." Ah Luan quickly ushered the maids out. "Madam, this cannot go on like this," Mother Su urged anxiously.

Madam Xie’s face was grim, seemingly lost in thought. "The Second Madam is right, it's a man and a woman alone, and the Young Lord has such a straightforward nature, that woman is full of schemes.

Now they are living in the same quarters.

Although nothing has...

yet...

they are husband and wife after all, so if anything happens...

it is normal...

If this man has tasted that woman's body, then..." Mother Su whispered. "Stop talking," Madam Xie cut her off.

She couldn't even bear to imagine such a thing....

Mother Su lowered her head, silent. "I will absolutely never...

allow this woman...

to serve as a daughter-in-law to maintain the incense for my sister and me..." Madam Xie declared fiercely, gripping her silk-faced skirt so tightly on her lap that it crumpled into a ball. "That old shrew caused my sister's death; I cannot let my sister suffer this kind of humiliation even after death!" Mother Su nodded, her expression equally filled with grief and indignation. "Go and summon him for me," Madam Xie said coldly.

Mother Su hesitated for a moment. "When the Young Lord arrives, Madam, you should speak to him properly..." Knowing her mistress's temper, she spoke in a low voice.

Madam Xie let out a cold laugh. "He calls me Mother, is there anything I can't say directly to him? Am I supposed to coax him? What would that make me?" She slammed the table. "Call him here.

Tell him not to enter my presence; he is to kneel outside." Mother Su was startled and dared not persuade her further, hurrying out.

Chang Yancheng flicked the quill pen in his hand. "Hey, hey.

Stop flinging that around," Qi Yue on the other side quickly raised a hand to shield herself, but still got splattered with a few drops of ink.

Chang Yancheng looked at the small spots on her face and smiled. "Can you go play somewhere else? I'm busy," Qi Yue retorted, glaring.

Chang Yancheng tossed the quill down and looked over with an expression of disdain. "Busy?" he said. "What is there for you to be busy with?" Qi Yue felt a bit stifled and crumpled a piece of paper into a ball, throwing it with the motion of shooting a basketball. "How can I make gloves?" she murmured, rubbing her face in vexation.

Chang Yancheng glanced at the scattered papers on the desk, which were covered with drawings of palms and arms. "Gloves? Make them out of leather," he said. "What leather? Rubber," Qi Yue sighed, having already spent the entire night pondering how rubber was made.

Other than remembering how to scratch a mark on a tree to let the sap flow, she knew nothing else.

Did the sap flow out, dry, and then it was usable? "Aren't they just gloves for hand protection? Sheepskin is best, deerskin is also good," Chang Yancheng said.

Qi Yue suddenly looked up at him. "What did you say?" she asked. "Sheepskin, deerskin..." Chang Yancheng repeated. "No.

The sentence before that," Qi Yue stared at him intently. "Hand protection..." Chang Yancheng, feeling somewhat baffled by her intense gaze, replied.

Qi Yue slammed the table.

With a bang, Ah Ru and Qiu Xiang, who were standing guard outside, both flinched.

They exchanged a look.

Were they going to quarrel again?...

They couldn't help but draw closer, but they heard no sound of anything shattering, nor Chang Yancheng's angry roar.

Instead, Qi Yue's joyful voice rang out. "I'm such an idiot, I was thinking the wrong way," Qi Yue laughed, beaming with excitement. "I kept thinking about gloves used for surgery.

I completely forgot the original purpose of gloves.

They can't perform surgery anytime soon anyway, the most crucial thing is hand protection! As long as it's a glove that can provide isolation and prevent infection, that’s all I need! Why was I fixated on rubber!" Chang Yancheng didn't understand a single word; this woman's speech was often incomprehensible anyway.

Qi Yue laughed, stood up, and patted his arm once. "Thank you.

So, the Young Lord is a smart person," she chuckled.

Chang Yancheng coughed from the light tap.

Where did this impudent woman learn such manners...

What was she trying to do... "Does our household have the sheepskin and deerskin you mentioned?" Qi Yue asked again.

The words "our household" slid past his ear, and Chang Yancheng felt a strange tingling sensation. "If we don't have any, then go buy some," he replied. "Oh, right.

First, let's go see what the craftsman Hu San found looks like.

Then we can have him make the gloves at the same time..." Qi Yue muttered to herself, calling for Ah Ru.

Ah Ru responded and hurried in, while Qiu Xiang hesitated for a moment before cautiously peeking inside from the doorway. "Do I still have money?" she asked.

Ah Ru was slightly amused by the question but didn't dare to laugh with Chang Yancheng present. "Yes, you do.

Although your monthly allowance was always short before, it has all been made up for in the last few months, which is quite good.

Saving it up means you have quite a bit now," Ah Ru whispered.

A double entendre.

Chang Yancheng frowned, glancing at Ah Ru.

Did this woman not even receive her monthly allowance previously?...

Qi Yue paid no mind to that; what concerned her was that there was 'quite a bit'. "Besides, even if you didn't have your allowance, you wouldn't lack this little bit of money," Ah Ru added.

The original mistress of this house, the wealthiest one, left almost all her private savings to you.... "Then take plenty of money, let's go to Qianjintang to find Hu San," Qi Yue said cheerfully. "Going out again?" Chang Yancheng frowned.

Ah Ru, who was about to turn, stopped, glancing at Qi Yue. "You can enjoy some peaceful alone time now," Qi Yue said, smiling and waving him off, urging Ah Ru to hurry.

Ah Ru stopped looking at Chang Yancheng and turned to call Ah Hao and Que Zhi in to help Qi Yue change clothes.

Chang Yancheng stood aside, watching Qi Yue quickly and efficiently change clothes under the service of the two maids. "...Should we take a cloak?" "...Not this one, it's too flashy..." "...You should hold the hand warmer, right?..." The chattering conversation of the women filled the room.

Chang Yancheng watched silently, listening.

For the first time, he thought that perhaps a place with many women wasn't necessarily noisy and annoying...

That woman said something that made her laugh.

Chang Yancheng watched her, his lips slowly curving upwards.

The arc widened. "Can you recognize good quality leather..." he coughed, breaking the silence.

Qi Yue, who was shaking out a cloak, didn't hear clearly and looked up at him. "What?" she asked. "Don't let people cheat you..." Chang Yancheng said with a straight face, a hint of nervousness flashing in his eyes.

After going this far, would she invite him? "It's fine, Hu San has a trustworthy craftsman," Qi Yue smiled, tilting her head up as Que Zhi tied the ribbon.

Chang Yancheng let out a breath and bit his lip. "I..." he started to speak.

A maid's report drifted in from outside the door. "Young Lord, Madam requests your presence." Chang Yancheng swallowed his words. "Go quickly," Qi Yue said when she heard, smiling at him.

Only after watching the woman leave with her two maids did Chang Yancheng walk toward Madam Xie's courtyard.

As soon as he entered the compound, the maid announced him, and the door curtain was immediately lifted.

Chang Yancheng looked on with a faint smile, but what he saw was Mother Su standing out with a complicated expression, followed by a small maid. "Young Lord," Mother Su called out, stopping him, and whispered, "Madam asks you to kneel and reflect on your errors." Chang Yancheng froze, his gaze falling upon the cushion held by the small maid. "You should have gone to kneel before your mother's memorial tablet directly, but..." Madam Xie's cold gaze swept over his face inch by inch, her anger intensifying, "It's not even spring yet, and your face is already blooming..." Chang Yancheng looked at Madam Xie, bewildered. "Kneel before my Buddha statue first, and wash away that smile you brought from that woman's presence, lest your mother sees it when you go to her and dies of anger again in the netherworld," Madam Xie said coldly.

Chang Yancheng’s complexion instantly turned ashen.

He looked at Madam Xie, about to speak. "You don't need to say anything to me, Yuncheng.

You have lied to me once already; I do not wish to hear another lie," Madam Xie stopped looking at him, let out a long breath, and her gaze fell behind the kneeling Chang Yuncheng. "You don't need to say anything.

You know perfectly well what you have been thinking these past few days watching that woman.

Don't try to find excuses; you can't deceive people—it's written all over your face..." Chang Yancheng’s expression grew uglier, his emotions complex. "Get out, go kneel.

I do not wish to see that look on you, nor will I let your mother see it," Madam Xie stated word by word, pointing toward the Buddhist hall inside.

Chang Yancheng bowed his head to her once and walked straight in.

After noon, Madam Xie lay in the inner room, dozing with her eyes half-closed, while the little maid gently massaged her legs.

Mother Su lifted the curtain and entered, hesitating to speak. "You feel pity for him, do you think I don't?" Madam Xie spoke first, slowly. "Ever since I was seventeen and held my sister's hand to keep him there, I never thought of anyone else.

I raised him like the apple of my eye; I cherished him even more than my own eyes...." Mother Su sighed. "The Young Lord has been kneeling for quite some time, and the Eldest Miss's side is cold, the ground is cold too, and the Young Lord refuses to use the cushion..." she whispered.

Madam Xie suddenly snapped her eyes open. "Didn't we give him a cushion?" she asked, her eyes full of worry. "The Young Lord refuses to use it; he is kneeling just like that," Mother Su explained. "Madam, this means he knows he was wrong and is punishing himself.

Don't you know this child? He is harsh to others, but even harsher to himself." Madam Xie's expression softened immediately. "Madam, the Second Madam has arrived," a maid announced from outside the door.

Both Madam Xie and Mother Su were surprised.

The Second Madam arrived in a sedan chair, followed by a group of older maids and servants, and her daughter, Chang Yinglan, had also come along. "Auntie," she said with a smile, helping her mother as she approached. "It's this snowy and cold weather, why did you come out?" Madam Xie reached out to hold Chen Shi as she stepped inside, grasping her icy-cold hand, complaining repeatedly, "If there was something important, you could have just sent a messenger.

Even I could have come over.

Are all those servants you keep just for show?" Chen Shi only smiled gently; due to the cold, her face had an unnatural flush. "I'm much better recently, so I wanted to take a walk," she said, sitting down on the kang.

Mother Su directed the maids in a flurry to place the charcoal braziers in front of Chen Shi. "Let me do it," said a slender woman wearing a deep purple cross-collared jacket and styled with the tongxin bun, placing a hand warmer in Chen Shi's hands.

Everyone noticed her then, their eyes showing surprise.

This young woman was seventeen or eighteen, petite, with a round face, bright, large eyes, and poised demeanor.

Although her clothes were simple, they couldn't conceal the bearing of someone from a distinguished family.

Seeing everyone's gaze upon her, she slightly lowered her head and stood behind Chen Shi.

Chang Yinglan, standing nearby, subtly pursed her lips. "This is my sister's child," Chen Shi said with a gentle smile, pulling the young woman's hand. "Yufang, greet the Marquis's wife." Madam Xie was greatly surprised upon hearing this. "Is she the daughter of the Rao family?" she inquired.

Rao Yufang stepped forward a few paces and bowed low to Madam Xie. "Yufang greets Madam," she said, her voice soft and pure.