Chapter 181

Chapter 181 Fang Yuan'er smiled gently. "Qiong'er has been crying much less lately. You've been taking good care of him." The wet nurse nodded hastily, afraid that any delay would let Side Consort Fang see through something. Fang Yuan'er didn't notice anything amiss. She reached out and touched the child's fair, tender cheek. "He hasn't gained much weight these past days." The wet nurse's expression turned bitter. "The Third Young Master is still the same as always—he doesn't take much milk." From the moment the Third Young Master was born, his stomach and intestines had been weak, and difficulty feeding was a common problem. On the rare day when he suddenly ate well, the entire Songya Courtyard would celebrate with great fanfare. Hearing this, Fang Yuan'er didn't grow suspicious. After looking at the child for a while, she handed him back to the wet nurse. "Take him inside to sleep." "Remember to leave a small gap in the window so the charcoal fumes don't bother him." In truth, the Third Young Master's room burned silver-frost charcoal that produced no smoke, so Fang Yuan'er's instruction was unnecessary. However, given what had happened with Concubine An, everyone caring for children in the Prince Jing Manor's rear courtyard was especially cautious in this regard. Now that Fang Yuan'er was under House Arrest, she could no longer manage the main kitchen or the affairs of the various quarters, and she suddenly found herself with plenty of free time. She called for Qiukui to ask about the Third Young Master's recent condition. She had just sat down and taken a sip of tea when she heard crying coming from inside again. Fang Yuan'er's head suddenly ached as if pricked by needles. Qiukui quickly helped massage her temples. "Mistress, are you alright?" Fang Yuan'er set down her teacup and waved her hand. "Don't worry about me. Go see what's wrong with Qiong'er!" Qiukui lifted the curtain and entered the side room, asking in a low voice, "Why is the Young Master crying again?" "I vaguely recall hearing him cry once when we were at the door just now." The wet nurse said awkwardly, "Just now he had a bowel movement. This time... this servant estimates he's hungry." "Estimates?" Qiukui said with displeasure. "The Young Master eats at set times. How could he suddenly cry from hunger? Surely you haven't been slacking off?" "Of course not!" Another wet nurse quickly said, "The Young Master's appetite has been poor these past few days. He doesn't eat much at regular meals, so we can only feed him more frequently." "Fine." Qiukui was, after all, still a young woman who had never given birth and didn't know much about raising children. But when she saw the wet nurse try to feed the Third Young Master for quite a while and he refused to take the milk, she sensed something was wrong. Qiukui frowned. "Are you certain the Third Young Master is hungry?" "Well..." The wet nurse also grew flustered. "This servant doesn't know either." Qiukui immediately became angry. "You are the ones specially assigned to care for the Third Young Master. If you don't even know whether he's hungry or not, then what use are you?" Just as she was speaking, Qiukui sniffed the air. "Has the Third Young Master had a bowel movement?" Fang Yuan'er, who was massaging her temples in the outer room, heard this and her expression darkened. "What's going on? Didn't he just have one?" Hearing this, Qiukui immediately took the child from the wet nurse's arms. She undid the diaper and looked, her expression shifting slightly. Her face turned grim as she asked, "How many days has the Third Young Master had diarrhea?!" The two wet nurses quickly knelt on the ground. "Just the past day or two." "This servant thought it was temporary and would gradually get better..." When Fang Yuan'er heard the commotion, she had already walked over. Upon hearing these words, a surge of anger rushed to her chest. She kicked the wet nurse in the shoulder, sending her toppling backward. "You thought?! What do you think you are?!" Qiukui said from the side, "The Third Young Master was born premature and has a weak stomach. Even eating one mouthful less than usual requires careful attention." "Now that he has diarrhea, you still dared to hide it and say nothing?!" Fang Yuan'er's face was dark as she took the child from Qiukui's arms and instructed, "Go summon the imperial physician!" Then she shot a fierce glare at the two wet nurses. "You reckless fools! Aren't you going to confess honestly what happened?!" "If I find out you were instigated by someone, I'll make sure you suffer the consequences!" She carried the child into the inner room to tend to him, and several second-class maidservants came in as well. Only after the Third Young Master was soothed did Fang Yuan'er have the presence of mind to interrogate the two wet nurses. She sat in the seat of honor at the head of the room, her face stern as she demanded, "Speak! How many days has the Third Young Master had diarrhea? Are there any other symptoms?" "Why did you keep it hidden all this time? Was someone behind this?!" By now, she had already arranged for people to search the two wet nurses' quarters. Fang Yuan'er considered herself quite vigilant. These two wet nurses had been carefully selected by her family—women of clean and respectable backgrounds to care for the child. With the lesson learned from Consort Ning's Second Young Master, Fang Yuan'er had treated them very generously. She gave them money and servants to wait on them, and even helped promote their family members. Who would have thought that despite all her precautions, something still went wrong! The two wet nurses gave consistent accounts, insisting it had only been the past day or two. "This servant simply saw that the Young Master was only slightly unwell these past couple of days and thought it was due to the changing weather, and that he would recover in a day or two. That's why I didn't inform you, Mistress." The other wet nurse nodded firmly. "This servant also wondered if the Young Master had kicked off his blanket while sleeping at night and caught a chill. That's why I've been watching over him closely these past two nights." Qiukui's face was full of anger: "In Songya Court, who doesn't know how much the mistress values the young master?" "Even if he just sneezes, let alone has diarrhea, we must immediately summon the imperial physician to examine him!" "You've been serving the mistress for so long—don't tell me you don't know how serious this is?!" "If you still refuse to confess honestly, go kneel outside! Kneel until you're willing to speak!" Fang Yuan'er's face was grim, and she remained silent. But anyone could see how terrible her mood was. When the imperial physician arrived, he took the pulse, examined the tongue and eyes, and immediately frowned: "The young master seems to have caught a chill. His stomach and intestines have been unwell for several days now—why summon the physician only now?!" Fang Yuan'er flew into a rage in an instant. She stood up and slapped the wet nurse kneeling before her across the face. A crisp smack rang out. Silence fell over the room. The maidservants standing nearby didn't even dare breathe loudly. Fang Yuan'er suppressed her fury with great effort. "Didn't you say it had only been a day or two?!" "Utter nonsense! If this mouth refuses to speak the truth, then I'll have the tongue pulled out—better yet, just stop talking altogether!" With that, she kicked the other wet nurse as well, cursing: "Wretch!" "Who exactly put you up to this?" "If anything happens to Qiong'er, not even your entire families' lives will be enough to compensate!" The reason Fang Yuan'er was so angry was also because she felt remorse and regret deep down. She had been busy with household affairs during this period and had neglected the care of her child—otherwise, no one would have had the chance to exploit the gap. Her anger at herself and her anger at the two wet nurses had accumulated together, and now she finally had an excuse to vent it all at once. The two wet nurses trembled in fear. One of them couldn't bear it any longer and stammered: "This servant was not put up to anything, this servant has not betrayed her mistress!" "This servant... this servant was just afraid!" The other one also cried and echoed in agreement. "Some days ago, when the mistress's management of the household was not going smoothly, she was displeased and punished many people. We knew we hadn't taken good care of the young master, and we were terrified in our hearts, afraid of being punished, so we didn't dare tell the mistress." "We thought that if we took even more careful care of the young master, perhaps in a couple of days he would get better on his own. Who knew..." Fang Yuan'er was almost laughed out of anger, wishing she could kill someone in her heart. "Who knew Qiong'er's condition would only get worse, and when you could no longer hide it, you started making up lies to deceive me, stubbornly refusing to admit it?!" "You only dare to confess when the evidence is irrefutable, is that right?!" "You really have no fear of death!" She practically ground out these last words through clenched teeth. The moment she finished speaking, Fang Yuan'er raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face. The blow was so forceful that a red, swollen mark immediately appeared on her fair cheek—clearly she had not held back in the slightest!