CHAPTER 542: CHAPTER 278: INSISTENT TESTING

By the time the group finally returned to the estate, Shi Fengming, full of shame and embarrassment, knelt before his parents. Second Madam Shi immediately enveloped him in her arms, breaking into loud weeping, lamenting while mixing distress, joy, and anger. Shi Fengming also felt a sourness in his heart. Seeing his mother’s haggard and thin face and her hair, now noticeably grayer than it was two years ago, he felt an unbearable heaviness in his chest, and mother and son wept bitterly in each other’s embrace. It took a great deal of effort from everyone present to finally calm them down.

Only then did Second Madam Shi and her husband find the time to thank Shi Fengju, before happily taking their son back with them. Second Madam Shi repeatedly instructed the maids to prepare a bath with pomelo leaves for her son to cleanse away the bad luck, and hurriedly ordered the preparation of offerings and incense, so he could pay respects to the ancestors in the ancestral hall after he was cleaned.

Shi Fengju and Sang Wan also returned to Ningyuan to change and freshen up. Mrs. Wang glanced at them but said nothing.

Mrs. Li, Xingzhi, and others welcomed back their master, which inevitably led to a lively scene as they greeted him.

Back to this place again! Gazing at the house’s familiar, unchanged furnishings, Sang Wan’s heart felt faintly surreal.

"Miss Wan, I’m here for you!" Fengju said with a smile, holding her hand, "If mother starts bringing up old matters again, we’ll just go out for a stroll once more!"

Sang Wan laughed a ’tsk’ sound upon hearing this. Although she did not take his words seriously, it did lighten her heart considerably.

For the time being, would they be able to enjoy some peaceful days? With all the trouble stirring from Shi Fengming’s end, who in the entire household would still have the leisure to attend to other matters? There wouldn’t be an own nephew of the second house, whose life or death hung in the balance, with an anxious aunt desperate to find a legitimate wife for her own son.

Shi Fengming’s actions were indeed swift. The next day he suddenly "fainted," and within a couple of days, he was "bedridden," with incessant coughing, a pale, sallow complexion, lethargic spirits, his body alternating between cold and hot. According to the doctor’s diagnosis, it was tuberculosis, and his fate was left to the heavens!

Mrs. Wang and everyone else were greatly surprised, and Second Madam Shi was crying as if her heart would break. Sang Wan and others hurried to comfort her, while Sang Wan inwardly applauded: It seemed that Second Madam Shi truly disliked Zhou Jingyi and was probably more eager than her son for her to leave, their collusion truly seamless!

Fearing that Shi Fengming’s "tuberculosis" might infect others, the entire household was united in disinfection efforts. Shi Fengming was moved to a small yard in the northwest corner of the back garden named Biluo Pavilion, with a servant and a maid attending to him. Both the servant and the maid covered their mouths and noses with cotton cloth when entering and exiting, and the yard was disinfected daily.

The news quickly reached the Zhou family, who were all shocked. Zhou Jingyi’s face turned white and she nearly collapsed.

The messenger to the Zhou family was still Mrs. Lin, who tearfully said, "Our poor Second Young Master, he had only just returned home, and the family had no chance to enjoy a few days of happiness before this disaster struck! Second Madam, you must return with me. If we delay any longer, I fear you may not even see him one last time—"

Zhou Jingyi, wiping away tears, nodded, "Mrs. Lin, wait a moment for me to pack up, and then I will go back with you! My husband, he won’t have anything happen to him!"

Mrs. Zhou and Master Zhou looked at each other, their hearts filled with separate somber sighs. Mrs. Zhou was both sighing and feeling angry and resentful, thinking to herself what a scoundrel – he was fine and merry outside, yet as soon as he returned, such a disaster befell him. What are his intentions! Isn’t this simply ruining my daughter? What have I done to deserve this, why does my daughter have such a hard fate!

"Mrs. Lin, you go back first! I will personally take Jingyi there tomorrow! Ah, I really didn’t expect this! How could my son-in-law fall ill with such a disease, I need to see him myself as the mother-in-law to be reassured! Poor my daughter, why is her life so hard!" Mrs. Zhou sighed.

"Mother!" Zhou Jingyi, no longer willing to wait, said with tearful eyes and a choking voice, "You can go tomorrow, but I must go back with Mrs. Lin right this moment!"

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Zhou frowned, "We will leave early tomorrow, what’s the rush in waiting one more day? What kind of state will you be in if you don’t accompany your mother?" In her heart, Mrs. Zhou still harbored some resentment. The Shi family had only sent a maid to pick up her daughter, without even a housekeeper coming along, how could she feel at ease?

"No! I’m leaving now!" Zhou Jingyi was unusually stubborn this time, standing up and saying, "Mrs. Lin, wait for me, I’ll get ready and be right there!"

Mrs. Lin, naturally siding with her own master, saw Mrs. Zhou’s ambiguous attitude, her continuous delays and excuses, clearly having other plans in mind, and felt quite displeased. Hearing Zhou Jingyi’s words, she felt a sense of relief and, without giving Mrs. Zhou a second glance, nodded decisively, "Yes, Second Madam! The old servant will wait for you!"