Rubbing and kneading really made her feel much better as the temperature of the large palm was moderate which was more useful than the hot water bottles. Yu Xiang glared fiercely at her elder brother yet she still nestled obediently in his arms.
Yu Pin Yan once again covered both of them properly with the quilt and seeing that his younger sister raised her neck of her own accord, he smiled and extended his arm as a pillow for her while his other hand wrapped around her slender waist trying to draw her into his arms.
The first menses came rather heavily while underneath was the olden times 360° menstruation belt with side-leaking padding. So, Yu Xiang lay rigidly for fear of soiling the newly changed under pants and mattress. Seeing that her elder brother was about to move her, she cried out anxiously, "Don't move me!"
"What's wrong? Does it hurt again?" Yu Pin Yan did not draw her closer again, instead changed to press and knead her abdomen again.
Once he pressed, a gush of warm flow rushed out that Yu Xiang simply wanted to die. Face flushing, she yelled out, "I said don't move me!"
Yu Pin Yan sighed despondently, "The imperial physician said you might be a little moody these days and it's indeed true. Be good, don't lose your temper indiscriminately. Rub kneading will make it better faster." He continued to press and knead as he spoke.
Yu Xiang covered her face and groaned, feeling the plant ash might not be able to absorb it. She leaned closer to his ear and whispered bashfully, "Don't move me again. Once moved, the blood will flow like a river. Don't blame me for soiling your clothes later."
It took two breaths for Yu Pin Yan to understand the profound meaning of her words. Eyes darkened and breathing deepened, the large palm covering her belly no longer moved.
There was silence in the room. A moment later, Yu Pin Yan laughed hoarsely, "Let it soiled then. It's not worth enduring the pain over a few pieces of clothes or a few sets of mattresses. Elder Brother will continue kneading you. At worst, just ask Tao Hong and Liu Lu to help you change your pants and mattress later." Ignoring her protests, he continued rubbing with a low chuckle.
Yu Xiang wanted to pry her large palm away but couldn't, so she had to compromise. Burying her burning cheeks in the nook of his neck, she asked, "Elder Brother, why are you such a rascal today? You don't look like yourself at all."
Yu Pin Yan's deep voice was full of joy, "Because Xiang'er has finally grown up today, so I am very happy. Do you know how long I've waited for this day?"
Although he did not say it explicitly, the hidden passion between his words was obvious to even a fool. The rims of Yu Xiang's eyes reddened slightly. She moved away from the nook of his neck and turned her face to the other side. She was reluctant to take that step in wake of his enticement because the road ahead was just too difficult. What kind of sentiment could be stronger than family affection? Why should she exchange the existing eternal family affection for an unpredictable future romance?
Yu Pin Yan's eyes sank. He then grabbed her chin to make her look straight at him and about to speak of her origin when he heard Ma Momo shouting outside, "It's not good, Marquis. Something big has happened! The dried jujubes for the banquet's guests have been poisoned!"
Turning pale with fright, Yu Xiang attempted to get up but was held back by Yu Pin Yan who admonished in a deep voice, "Lie down well. With Elder Brother here, everything will certainly be fine." He called out to Tao Hong and Liu Lu once those words faltered, "Watch you master and do not let her run around."
Tao Hong and Liu Lu bowed to undertake the task. Only then did Yu Pin Yan follow Ma Momo to the main courtyard.
Yu Miao Qi was to blame for this. In order to win popularity's opinions, she deployed her own cronies to the most lucrative jobs in the Marquis manor and one of them was purchasing food provisions. She, however, had only managed a merchant household of the Shen family and nevertheless underestimated such a huge wealthy family like Marquis Yongle manor.
Although the Marquis manor rarely interacted with various noble families in recent years, the number of female guests attending the banquet was large. Not knowing how she had planned as she actually let the food purchasing steward buy a lot less ingredients whereby the dishes on the table had been emptied out after only two quarters of an hour into the banquet.
A family banquet naturally has its own rules. Twelve persons will be seated at a table and empty dishes must be refilled to the brim as long as one person still moved the chopsticks. For these eminent people who have been living in clover, it is highly lacking in manners to empty the dishes; while for the host, it is also extremely disgraceful not to refill the dishes to the brim.
The servants only added food to the Crown Princess' table but were really helpless about the other tables and could only leave those dishes empty. Lin Shi and Yu Miao Qi almost suffered heat stroke from anxiety but Old Madam was calm and composed as she ordered pastries to be served which slightly made good of the situation.
Old Madam is especially fond of dried jujubes. Every autumn and winter, she will send people to Gansu, the neighbouring area of Shaanxi to purchase and store in the storehouse to savor them slowly. She dared not hide them for her private consumption this time and had all the dried jujubes taken out to be offered to everyone. The large goutou jujubes served in the white porcelain dish were vivid and plump which were very delectable in appearance.
Old Madam smiled and invited all the guests to taste them. As the Ninth Princess and Fan Jiao Jiao came late, they came upon the servants serving the dried jujubes and didn't care about having their meals. They just took a few and stuffed them into their mouths. The Crown Princess also ate two as she was in the course of nourishing her body. Seeing this, everyone gave face to Old Madam as they ate the pastries and the jujubes without mentioning a word about the lack of dishes.
Before Yu Miao Qi and Lin Shi could sigh a breath of relief, they saw the Ninth Princess clutching her throat and groaning then followed precisely by Fan Jiao Jiao, Old Madam, the Crown Princess ...while all those who had eaten the dried jujubes without exception felt their throats burning and oppressive chest pains as if they had been poisoned.
Ma Momo was frightened out of her wits that she lifted her foot and rushed to seek the Marquis. If something happens to these noble ladies, Lord Marquis will not be able to shoulder this no matter how powerful and influential he is.
When Yu Pin Yan arrived, the banquet hall was in a great mess. The female guests who had eaten the dried jujubes appeared to be in agony and panic-stricken while those who didn't eat hid in the corners and repeatedly screamed, "Murder, poisoned, help!"... These screams caused the pandemonium to break loose and everyone was in a state of anxiety.
"Calm down. Persistent fear would lead the blood to circulate faster which will accelerate the spreading of toxins throughout the body. Keep calm and breathe slowly. Find a stool to sit down. This Marquis has sent someone to get the imperial physicians who will arrive in half an hour." The dignified voice of Yu Pin Yan sounded like an alarm bell. The Crown Princess who had experienced many trials and hardships, was the first to calm down. She supported the Ninth Princess to a stool as instructed and adjusted her own breathing rate bit by bit which really made her feel much better. Several court ladies hurriedly gathered around to pat and fan her.
Soon after, Madam Fan also supported Fan Jiao Jiao to a seat and tried to suppress the anxiety in her heart. Seeing this, everyone followed suit and the hall gradually quietened down. As Lin Shi and Yu Miao Qi did not eat any dried jujubes, they were both fine and were tremblingly hugging each other at the moment. The banquet was organized by Yu Miao Qi alone and would be the first to suffer if someone had really been poisoned.
It's secondary for her reputation to be ruined but what's fearful is if she is to be taken to the Dragon Scale Bureau for interrogation by this cold-blooded and ruthless Yu Pin Yan like last time. When this came to mind, she was scared out of her wits and dragged Lin Shi with the desire to secretly leave.
Yu Pin Yan had already set up guards outside the courtyard and no one was allowed to enter or leave without his permission while a troop of guards was dispatched to bring all the servants who had been in contact with the dried jujubes to the hall. So many guests had been poisoned, including the Crown Princess and the Ninth Princess, hence he had to openly interrogate the suspects in order to give everyone an explanation and to disclaim the Marquis manor to the greatest possible extent. If there is a slightest bit of concealment, the Emperor's desk will be flooded with impeachment papers to incriminate him tomorrow morning.
His ability will also be questioned by the Emperor as the residence of the dignified All Commander Yu has actually been infiltrated and poisoned by miscreants whereby so many influential people were assassinated at once. In short, if this matter is not resolved properly, not only his official career but perhaps even the Marquis manor cannot be protected.
Old Madam was also clear about this in her heart. She almost passed out several times but bit the tip of her tongue to help her stand firm as she shouted hoarsely, "Bring all those servants for interrogation one by one in front of the guests."
At the same time, several imperial physicians arrived in a hurry. The poisoned female guests followed one after another to the east room to have their pulses checked, leaving one physician who is skilled in poison to inspect the dried jujubes. Those unharmed female guests sat solemnly behind a huge screen listening to the investigation of the case by All Commander Yu. If they do not find out the truth today, they will absolutely not let the matter go.
Faces pale, Lin Shi's mother and daughter sat next to Yu Pin Yan after being sent back by the guards as soon as they arrived at the courtyard door
The first person to be interrogated was the steward who purchased the jujubes. Shaking like a sieve, she spilled the beans without waiting for the Marquis to ask. As it turns out, the expenditure of the manor has been reduced again and again since Yu Miao Qi took over the household management. Not knowing how she manages it as one after another of the estates began to dwindle while businesses plummet drastically. She had changed the shopkeepers, switched the sources of goods, swapped the bookkeepers and replaced all the people of significance whom Yu Xiang had used before. As such this made the situation worse that even basic expenses were not enough after a few months.
Having no choice, Yu Miao Qi could only try to economize. She dared not make much changes on others except fiddled with the food. Though the dishes of the Marquis manor were still the original taste, the ingredients used were those most inferior. Old Madam clamored for jujubes a few months ago, so 500 taels of silver were allocated to hire a merchant to go buy the authentic goutou jujubes in Gansu but with a wave of her sleeve, she cut 300 taels off while out of the remaining 200 taels, 100 taels were hacked off by the steward's greed.
The only remaining 100 taels could not even cover the return trip expenses, so the steward searched around and saw this kind of luscious dried jujubes in a small grocery store that were selling at an extremely low price. Overjoyed, she did not ask for the source and bought them all at once.
Just at this time, the imperial physician had also finished examining the jujubes and came forward to report, "Lord Marquis, these should be moldy out-of-date jujubes which had been fumigated with sulfur to make them vivid and plump then sold as fresh dried jujubes. All the eminences have been poisoned after consuming too much sulfur, requesting Lord Marquis to immediately send someone to boil mung bean and licorice root juice to dispel the toxicity."
An imperial physician who diagnosed the pulses came out of the east room and confirmed the words of his colleague.
The female guests in the hall were in a great uproar as they did not expect there was such an undesirable inside story hidden in this matter. Fancy Lin Shi still commended Yu Miao Qi's ability before but it turned out she even hankered after her own grandmother's silvers. Such a big Marquis manor is riddled with problems and on the verge of collapse after handing it over to her in just half a year. Her profligate ability is simply unprecedented.
They had happily gone to bring the person back yet actually brought back such a jinx which truly depleted the destiny of the Marquis manor!
Old Madam raised her finger to point at Yu Miao Qi yet not a single word could be uttered as her throat was injured by sulfur. Only the flames of fury in her eyes were seething violently dying to burn her to ashes. Jinx, she is indeed the bane of others' existence. With only one bane, the Marquis manor was brought to the brink of ruin. Was her mind muddled by lard to insist on bringing her back in the first place?
Thinking that she is just a boudoir girl and could not cause too big of a trouble, yet without making a sound, she unexpectedly set the world on fire and pitted everyone. Old Madam felt regretful that her heart and liver almost busted.
Yu Miao Qi's face reddened at first then gradually turned purplish. If not for Lin Shi's strong tug on her arm, she would have forced her way out and fled long ago. She had never felt so humiliated like this moment which was a more agonizing experience than the day she stayed at the Dragon Scale Bureau. It was so unbearable that she wished she could peel the skin off her face so that she would never be recognized again.
With a cold face, Yu Pin Yan ordered the shopkeeper who sold the dried jujubes to be brought back for further interrogation then waved his sleeve at Ma Momo who understood and led several servants to decoct the medicine. Just as she stepped out of the threshold, she saw Yu Xiang coming over slowly followed by a group of maidservants carrying trays, on which was exactly the mung bean juice that everyone needed the most.