Chapter 26: Who Wants to Hurt You?
Who Wants to Hurt You?
Feng Xiang Rong was puzzled, “It’s a dress! Even the color is pretty good.”
“How could such a dress exist!” Fen Dai spoke while retreating. It was as though the dress were laced with poison, she did not dare come in contact with it again. “Quickly take it away! Take it away! Feng Yu Heng are you trying to seriously cause me harm? If someone wore this dress, the flesh would be scraped from their bodies!”
Feng Yu Heng looked quite innocent: “Fourth sister, why do you misunderstand big sister’s good intentions. This really is a dress that mother’s attendant, granny Li, personally delivered. How could the manor give something of low quality to their own daughters? Fourth sister, stop joking around.”
“Who’s joking around!” Feng Fen Dai became enraged, “I don’t want that damn thing. This is you intentionally trying to harm me!”
“How could I harm my little sister? This is truly the good gift I received from granny Li.”
“Get out of my way!”
“Everyone shut up!” The matriarch couldn’t tolerate it any further and fiercely stared at Feng Yu Heng. “You’ve caused disturbance after disturbance after you arrived. How is it that the concubine’s daughters of Feng manor came to act like this!” With just a few words, Feng Fen Dai was included as well. “You should carefully look at Chen Yu. She’s dignified and steady, and she never gets overly excited nor does she get overly sad. Now look at yourselves!”
“Grandmother!” Fen Dai felt aggrieved, “It was clearly Feng Yu Heng wanting to use that dumb dress to try and harm me. Why do you not punish her misdeeds?”
“Fourth sister is too unreasonable.” Feng Chen Yu spoke up, “How can you speak like that to grandmother!”
The old woman was so incensed that she brought her cane down hard on the ground. Supporting herself, she moved to stand up, but her hip would not cooperate. The moment she stood up, she sat back down with an, “Oh my.”
Seeing the matriarch’s hip problem flare up, the people ceased their arguments. Feng Chen Yu quickly rushed forward and supported her while asking: “Grandmother, should we call a doctor to take a look?”
The matriarch waved her hand: “Even if they looked, there is no use. This is an annual illness. The bitter medicines they have prescribed have never been effective.”
Chen Yu adjusted the cushion and helped the matriarch slowly lean backwards. “How is this position? If it’s not good, then we can put both cushions together.”
The matriarch waved her hand once more: “No need. This is good enough.”
Feng Yu Heng observed the matriarch’s suffering expression for a while. She was aware of the situation and pondered a moment before speaking: “Grandmother, the illness starts in the waist and continues down through the back of the thigh, the outside of the calf, all the way down to your feet; do they all suffer from pain? Even more, when you sneeze and cough, does the pain get worse?”
The matriarch originally did not want to pay her any mind, but Feng Yu Heng had completely stated all of her symptoms. She subconsciously replied: “How did you know?”
Feng Yu Heng did not explain, but she did look at the soft cushions and continued to speak: “This illness is called lumbar disc herniation. The first symptom is just pain in the waist, but if grandmother is already feeling pain in the lower extremities, then this is considered a serious case.”
The matriarch could not help but feel frightened. Hearing it was a serious case, she became uninhibited and asked: “Can it be treated?”
“It depends on the circumstance.” She truthfully spoke, “But while you are ill, you must remain in bed. This is the most basic point, but it is also the most important.”
In fact, if the pain had already spread to the heel, then surgery was the best method; however, she could not use a method involving cutting a person open with these ancient people. She could only use physiotherapy to try and help.
“Remain in bed for at least 20 days. During this time, do not bend your waist. Also.” Feng Yu Heng glanced at the cushions again.
Chen Yu was truly meticulous and noticed her line of sight. She began to think it over.
Feng Yu Heng continued: “The bed should be a hard-surfaced bed. It must not be soft, like the cushions big sister brought. In fact, those are the worst for this sort of illness. The more you use it, the worse the illness gets. However, this is not big sister’s fault. She definitely did not know this when she brought them for grandmother.”
Listening to this, the matriarch’s face sank. What matter regarding Feng Chen Yu and the future of the Feng family could cause her to feel this way? It could only be her life.
Seeing this scene, Chen Yu quickly knelt: “Grandmother, granddaughter really did not know! The cushion was made with the finest materials. I hoped that it would show my filial respect for grandmother!” She turned to Feng Yu Heng “I don’t know where second sister heard this medical knowledge? Was this confirmed by a doctor?”
Feng Yu Heng shook her head, “If you are still concerned, then I will call a doctor to take a look. We can see if what he says matches what I said. Furthermore, the doctors that had come to see grandmother’s illness, do not bother calling them again. Find some better doctors.”
She had no intentions of saying more. She bowed to the matriarch then sat down next to Feng Xiang Rong.
The matriarch had not heard enough. On the side, she had granny Zhao take away the cushion, then continued to ask: “Aside from bed rest, what else is needed?”
Feng Yu Heng was pleased with the matriarch’s earnest curiosity, “There is also massage, but that requires a skilled and experienced doctor to do it; otherwise, it is very easy to have the opposite effect. Further would be to combine that with an effective ointment, but good medicine is hard to find.” Having said up to there, she paused and looked at the still kneeling Feng Chen Yu, “Grandmother quickly let big sister stand up.” As she spoke, she did not miss the expression Fen Dai had as she found joy in misfortune.
She could not help but sigh. Children from ancient times really were precocious. She was only ten years old, so why did she have such a trick-oriented frame of mind.
The matriarch did not truly want Chen Yu to kneel, but she truly did cherish her life. Just now, when she heard that the illness was serious, her anger had flared. Calming down a bit, she quickly helped Chen Yu get up. “Quickly stand up, grandmother does not blame you.”
Chen Yu replied with reddened eyes: “Many thanks grandmother. Please rest assured, grandmother, Chen Yu will definitely find a good doctor to diagnose grandmother.”
“Good.” The matriarch patted the back of her hand, “You really are a caring child.”
Feng Chen Yu flashed a caring smile, then as though she suddenly recalled something, spoke again, “I was forgetful. How could I have forgotten that second sister’s grandfather was the palace’s most famous imperial physician. Second sister had spent some time as a child learning these things.”
Hearing this, Fen Dai immediately responded: “What most famous imperial physician? Didn’t his treatment kill the highest ranking concubine, which led the Emperor to demote him to Huangzhou. Grandmother, you should not listen to Feng Yu Heng’s random nonsense. What good can random ramblings be?”
Feng Chen Yu promptly reminded her: “You need to call her second sister.”
Fen Dai made an “oh” sound but did not bother repeating what she had said.
At the mention of the Yao family, the matriarch lowered her head. That’s right, the treatment killed the highest ranking concubine. How could that be considered a great doctor?
She had believed all the things Feng Yu Heng said, but now she decided against it. She waved her hand towards granny Zhao, who stood beside her. “Quickly fetch the cushion Chen Yu sent. I really can’t manage without it.”
Feng Yu Heng did not argue with them. Either way, she had said what needed to be said. Whether they believed it or not was none of her business. Even more so when she understand how a person’s heart worked, especially those of the elderly and of children. The more something was forbidden, the more they wanted to do it. Nine times out of ten, she would set an extra layer of comfort on her bed. Hadn’t she specified a hard bed? She would definitely want a soft bed, the softer the better!
Well, then let the old woman suffer then. When the illness became impossible to treat, she would find an opportunity to cheat them.
A moment of silence set upon the room. Feng Yu Heng felt this was a little boring and looked towards Man Xi.
Man Xi was good at taking hints and brought her hand up to scratch her neck. While scratching, she put on a look of discomfort.
Huang Ling was the first to notice and recalled the patch of red that she had seen. She quickly said: “Sister Man Xi, what’s wrong?”
The moment the girl opened her mouth, everyone looked towards Man Xi.
Feng Chen Yu was also quite intrigued, “Man Xi, if you aren’t well, then you shouldn’t attend so closely to second sister.”
Man Xi quickly went to the center of the room and paid respects to the matriarach then turned to speak to Feng Chen Yu, “Eldest young miss, this servant isn’t feeling ill. It’s just that my neck is itchy.”
Feng Xiang Rong understood the plan and inquired: “Why is there a patch of red on your neck?”
“This servant doesn’t know. This servant truly knows nothing.”
Feng Yu Heng suddenly let out an “ah” sound, then rose to look at Man Xi’s clothes. She cried out: “How could it be like this?”
The matriarch frowned at her: “What now?”
Feng Yu Heng pointed at the clothes Man Xi wore, “These clothes are bleeding dye!”
The matriarch got angry and reprimanded Man Xi: “You have been with this manor for many years. How could it be that you don’t even know how to handle clothing? Could it be that the maidservants of my Feng manor are wearing clothes that bleed dye everywhere? Do you not think this is making your master lose face?”
Man Xi appeared wronged, “Matriarch, these clothes… These clothes were granted to me by the second young miss.”
Hm?
Everyone’s gaze returned to Feng Yu Heng and saw that she too looked wronged, “That’s right, I granted her those clothes, but I thought they were good clothes. Granny Li brought these clothes yesterday night for concubine mother Yao. She said that these clothes were specially chosen by people in the manor for concubine mother Yao. Concubine mother said that we have only just arrived and have no money to give our servants as rewards. Unexpectedly, of the three servants, one was mother’s wet nurse and the other two are mother’s top ranking maid servants. Concubine mother and I thought about it for a long time and it turned out that the clothes the manor gave are the best things we have. So I rewarded Man Xi with these clothes.”
That having been said, the everyone immediately understood. It seems this was Chen shi wanting to give trouble to Yao shi and her children. In the end, Feng Yu Heng was like Buddha and gifted it away. This commotion finally made its way before the matriarch.
Feng Chen Yu felt all kinds of regretful and secretly glared at Huang Ling, blaming her for being nosy.
And Feng Xiang Rong confirmed that this was definitely done on purpose by her second sister.
At present, the clothes that were sent to Willow courtyard both had problems. Although the first was covered up by the matriarch’s illness, the second was harder to cover up. Looking at Feng Yu Heng, she still had a miserable expression. Xiang Rong found this very entertaining.
With matters reaching this point, if the matriarch didn’t take action now, then things would be harder to explain away later on. Also, no matter what, she had truly doted on Feng Yu Heng when she was little. That year when Feng Jin Yuan wanted to marry Yao shi, she had personally agreed to it.
At that time, the Yao family was truly great. The Feng family, who had no foundation in the capital city, had married the eldest daughter to the first wife of the Yao family. The Feng family had definitely climbed up in the world. As for the one who had taken care of the matriarch for many years, Chen shi, she requested that Feng Jin Yuan bring her in to be a concubine.
Although Yao shi’s belly did not live up to expectations for the first few years, Chen shi gave birth to her eldest daughter. But that was not the daughter of the first wife, and the matriarch did not show too much love. Up until Yao shi gave birth, only then did the matriarch see Feng Yu Heng’s little face. After that, Feng Zi Rui was born, and she became even more joyous.
Unfortunately, the good news did not last long. The Yao family was suddenly met with hardship. In just a single night, they were demoted many levels in succession and the entire clan sent to Huangzhou.
Feng family acted that same night and demoted Yao shi while promoting Chen shi.
Remembering to the present moment, Yao family’s guilt had not implicated the Feng family, yet the way Feng family treated Yao shi and her children left others bitterly disappointed.
The matriarch pondered this matter, her facial expression became more expressive. Feng Fen Dai and Feng Xiang Rong did not understand. Feng Chen Yu became jittery from watching her.
It was very clear, the gaze the matriarch sent towards Feng Yu Heng slowly changed from loathing to neutral, then again from neutral to pitying. If this continued to develop, then the Feng manor’s direction would change again.
Not good!