On this side, Madam Xie was burning with anger and went to find Marquis Dingxi to vent her fury.
“That despicable servant is like a piece of rat droppings—as long as she’s here, she ruins our entire pot of soup at Marquis Dingxi’s mansion!” Madam Xie said through gritted teeth.
Marquis Dingxi sat surrounded by a circle of calligraphy and paintings, seemingly immersed in the beautiful scenery depicted on these works.
“Then go kill her,” he said offhandedly with a casual “oh.”
Madam Xie angrily slammed the table.
“Marquis, I’m being serious here,” she said, raising her voice.
Marquis Dingxi made another “oh” sound and finally looked up at her.
“Marquis, with that woman around, she’s ruining our mansion’s reputation,” Madam Xie said.
“Then what should we do?” Marquis Dingxi asked.
Yes, that was right. This woman was like a thorn stuck in flesh—until it was pulled out, it would remind him daily of all the humiliation he had suffered.
He had been played by the Emperor! He had become everyone’s laughingstock!
“Drive her away!” Madam Xie said.
“How do we drive her away? The Yongqing Mansion isn’t our home. Do you think we can just drive her away if we want to?” Marquis Dingxi shook his head.
What kind of woman was she? Didn’t they already know clearly?
Drive her away? When the time came, who knew who would end up driving whom away…
And then there were those shameless people from the Wang family! They actually dared to say they wanted to…
“Drive her away!” Marquis Dingxi suddenly sat up straight and shouted, his face flushed red.
She was their Dingxi Marquis family’s daughter-in-law! Even if she became a cast-off wife in this lifetime, she could only be their family’s cast-off wife!
Madam Xie was startled by his sudden shout.
“What does she have now? She’s just a physician—a lowly physician of the bottom three classes,” Madam Xie sneered. “A base person who can’t be brought to the table. I refuse to believe that we, a dignified marquis mansion, can’t handle her!”
Marquis Dingxi lost his energy again and retreated back into his calligraphy and paintings.
“Also, I want to continue arranging Yuncheng’s marriage,” Madam Xie continued.
“How can you arrange it?” Marquis Dingxi asked. “Didn’t he refuse to agree?”
Madam Xie clenched her fists.
“Back then, when your mother had Yuncheng marry that despicable servant, didn’t he also refuse to agree?” she said lightly.
Since his unwillingness back then could turn into today’s reluctance to let go, then why couldn’t it work with Miss Rao?
Could it be that Miss Rao from the Rao family was inferior to a beggar?
People were laughing at their marquis mansion, weren’t they laughing at their complete failure? As long as they married a new wife, everything would be settled. Then people would see clearly who had truly failed, who deserved their fate, and who had brought it upon themselves!
“Nanny Su, please invite Madam Yang over,” Madam Xie turned around and called out loudly.
Qi Yue didn’t know about Old Madam Liu’s bungled attempt that had made her take the blame. She was touched by the incidents involving Yan’er and Old Madam Liu and began drawing a diagram.
A’Ru and Hu San were both watching from the side.
“There are so many types of cleft lip?” A’Ru asked curiously.
Qi Yue nodded and began to write.
“…Give children a chance, give life a chance… Qianjin Hall free cleft lip and palate surgery treatment…”
Hu San read aloud, his expression hesitant.
“Free?” he said.
Qi Yue finished writing the last stroke.
“Yes. The poorer people are, the more reluctant they are to seek medical treatment. If it’s not free, they might not spend their limited money on something they don’t think is worthwhile,” she said, sighing. “This has nothing to do with human nature—it’s the helplessness of reality.”
Hu San made an “oh” sound.
“Go ahead. Print these out and distribute them, especially to remote areas,” Qi Yue said.
Hu San responded affirmatively, took the drawing, and tugged at A’Ru’s sleeve. A’Ru glared at him but still followed him out.
“What is it?” she asked.
“This medical clinic has already cost Miss Qi a lot of money. She’s also raised the disciples’ wages, plus the daily medicine, cloth…” Hu San counted on his fingers, “…meal expenses… Right now we’re operating at a complete loss. No matter how rich Master is, she can’t withstand this kind of spending.”
A’Ru frowned.
“I understand. I’ll talk to her about it. You go ahead,” she said.
Only then did Hu San leave.
On the way home in the evening, A’Ru tactfully brought up this matter.
“Money? I really don’t have much feeling about that,” Qi Yue laughed. She always liked to pass through the liveliest street when going home. “Because it wasn’t originally mine anyway.”
“But don’t you want to live a better life?” A’Ru asked.
Thinking of the simple furnishings at home, the simple three meals a day, and comparing it to the days at the marquis mansion—there really was no comparison.