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  Chapter 120: Doesn't Add Up

  The next day, Lin Lan woke up and habitually wanted to stretch, but found that her arms were sore, her waist was soft, her legs were weak, and the place that shouldn't hurt was burning with pain. She couldn't help but take a cold breath and thought: This is the consequence of indulging in excessive desires!

  It's almost there~

  With great difficulty she got out of bed, and as soon as she did, Yinliu called out to her: "Second Young Mistress..."

  Lin Lan straightened her back, lest Silver Willow notice something.

  "Second Young Mistress, the hot water has been prepared. Are you going to take a bath now?"

  Taking a bath? She doesn't have the habit of taking a bath so early in the morning!

  Seeing the surprised expression of the second young lady, Yinliu Nono said: "The second young master instructed that I should wake up the second young lady at the right time, and then prepare hot water to serve the second young lady for bathing. However, the second young lady got up before I could call her."

  Lin Lan came to her senses, and Li Ming allowed her to worry about her physical discomfort, soaking in a hot bath to relieve herself. Lin Lan's heart was slightly moved, Li Ming really is a thoughtful and considerate man.

  When I went to Chao Hui Tang to pay respects, Yu Lian said that her aunt fell asleep with her neck in a wrong position last night and this morning she woke up with a stiff neck that hurt so much.

  The old lady was worried as soon as she heard it: "This should invite a doctor to take a look."

  Han Qiu Yue immediately sent someone to invite a doctor.

  Mingzhu covered her mouth and burst out laughing, saying in a slow tone: "Auntie forgot? Isn't Second Sister-in-law a doctor?"

  Everyone's eyes fell on Lin Lan's face, and Lin Lan smiled slightly: "I'll go over in a moment."

  The old lady said with a serious expression: "Go and take a look now. If it's serious, call the doctor."

  Still don't believe her! Lin Lan didn't mind, and immediately bowed and retreated. Looked over ~ still doing needlework, holding the flower embroidery frame high and far away, frowning. The movements were stiff, just like wearing reading glasses to read the newspaper.

  "Second Young Mistress has arrived..." The maid announced.

  Yu Shi hastily lifted his head and moved his neck. "Ah yo!" he exclaimed.

  "Great Aunt, don't move." Lin Lan quickly stepped forward. Standing behind Yu Shi's body, she reached out to touch her neck, and as soon as her hand made contact, she felt the superficial muscles slightly twitching and very stiff, so she pressed down in various places while asking: "Where does it hurt the most?"

  "Right here, right here, yeah... just this, ah... it's killing me..."

  Lin Lan smiled slightly: "Auntie, bear with it for a moment, I'll help massage it, and it will relieve soon."

  Lin Lan started with her thumb on the upper side of the painful spot and pressed down all the way to the back, repeating the pressure.

  "Granny, isn't your pillow too high?" Lin Lan caught sight of the two pillows stacked on top of each other on the bed.

  Yu sighed: "I'm used to sleeping with a pillow under my head, but the pillows at home are all made by myself and filled with tea leaves. They're firm and comfortable. The pillows here are all filled with cotton wool, soft and mushy, one is too low, two are too high, I haven't slept well for several days, and today I even got a stiff neck."

  Lin Lan smiled and said: "Auntie is being polite, she likes the tea leaf pillow, just instructing people to do it once is not a troublesome thing."

  Yu smiled and said: "As a guest, you are so picky, won't that make people dislike you?"

  Lin Lan smiled and said: "Auntie likes what size, I'll get it made for you as soon as I turn around."

  "What a hassle..."

  "Not troublesome..."

  After Lin Lan's massage, Yu felt that her neck was not so stiff and relaxed a lot, and said with joy: "Lin Lan! This massage is really effective."

  Lin Lan smiled and said, "Let me help you press your shoulders again. It's probably because you often do needlework that your cervical vertebrae aren't very good, and the muscles on your shoulders are all tight." Yezong Youyou

  Yu said, "You're absolutely right. Sometimes when I'm ill, I can't even lift my arm." After a moment, she sighed and continued, "In the past, our family was struggling financially, so I would often do some needlework to supplement our income. As long as I could get orders, I would work day and night, which ultimately led to my illness. Although our lives are better now, those two sisters-in-law of mine aren't very skilled with their needlework. The embroidery done by the seamstresses we hired at home isn't even as good as what I can do myself... Alas, it seems I'll just have to bear the burden myself."

  Lin Lan glanced at the exquisite patterns on the embroidery next to her and felt ashamed, as she was completely ignorant of needlework, a necessary survival skill for ancient women.

  "Great Aunt's embroidery is truly good! Not to mention the embroiderers at home can't compare, I think even the most famous Jin Yi Workshop in the capital city can't surpass this." Lin Lan flattered, actually she had no idea how the embroiderers of Jin Yi Workshop were, she just heard that Jin Yi Workshop was very famous, anyway, flattering is not a crime, so she kept flattering.

  Yu was indeed delighted and modestly said: "I'm just someone who can't stay idle." Then he changed the subject.

  "This trip was originally supposed to be taken by Eldest Uncle, but Third Uncle wanted to push Eldest Uncle to take over as the head of the clan, and Eldest Uncle had to take care of clan matters, so he couldn't leave. Eldest Brother is now the county's chief clerk, busy with official duties, and Second Brother's wife is pregnant, so he can't leave either..."

  "What about San Tang's younger brother?" Lin Lan asked.

  "He's the one! With his rough and careless nature, who dares to let him send off the old lady? Third Uncle is idle, but unfortunately he has been ill for many years, so I had no choice but to personally escort the old lady here."

  "What's wrong with Third Uncle?"

  "Tuberculosis has gotten worse this year, I'm just a bag of skin and bones now." Yu sighed.

  Lin Lan was silent, and her third uncle's tragic fate was that in ancient times, getting tuberculosis was basically equivalent to contracting a terminal illness.

  Yu was originally a chatterbox; once her neck stopped hurting, she started talking nonstop.

  "As for the Li family, it's Old Man Li who is the most talented and charming. He's a man of great talent and charisma, no wonder Miss Ye fell in love with him at first sight and was determined to marry him..."

  Lin Lan's heart skipped a beat, and her massaging hands paused for a moment. Eldest Aunt's tone was extremely disdainful, as if she disliked Ye Shi very much.

  Lin Lan's thoughts turned and she smiled, asking: "At that time, wasn't Public Father already married? Does Ming Yu's mother... know or not?"

  Yu Shi snorted: "She must have known, and I don't know what method she used to seduce her father-in-law. She had to marry him, otherwise she would accuse him of something... Ah! I'm too ashamed to say it."

  Lin Lan was bewildered. When she was at the Ye family, she had indeed heard that Ming Yu's mother had insisted on marrying Li Ze's father, but Ming Yu told her that his mother didn't know about the old witch's existence, which is why she was so furious... Was it that Ye Shi, the strong and overbearing third wife, had snatched away someone else's husband, or was she the one who had been wronged for over a decade? Ye Shi left in anger and died of depression. Was it because she hated Li Ze's father's deception and had lost all hope, or was it because Li Ze's father wanted to bring back the old witch that had stimulated her?

  Lin Lan's hand stopped, and Yu Shi realized that she had misspoken earlier. She said awkwardly: "I didn't intentionally want to speak ill of Yan Niang, after all, the matter has passed. Actually, the most pitiful one is still my mother-in-law; a good family was broken up, alas... it's really a sin!"

  "Does Great Aunt think she's a bit better?"

  "It's much better, I thought it would take several more days before I could move." Yu Shi turned her neck and said with joy.

  After leaving her aunt's place, Lin Lan returned directly to Luoxiazhai and first instructed Bai Hui to make a tea leaf-shaped pillow according to her aunt's desired size. Then she had Yin Liu call over Zhou Ma and sent all the people away.

  "Mother Zhou, when she first met Master at that time, did she know or not that Master was already married?"

  Mother Zhou's face immediately showed a look of indignation: "Of course, she didn't know. If she had known, how could the third young lady have married him? The old master and mistress would not have allowed it either."

  Lin Lan was silent, this statement is different from Auntie's!

  "Then... when the engagement was first arranged, did the old lady ever meet any of the elder members of the Li family?"

  "What are you looking at? They, the Li family, got married without even inviting anyone, not even a matchmaker. Although they're poor and Mr. Li is no longer around, Mrs. Li is still here, shouldn't they follow some basic rules? They've made Old Lady Li so angry that she refused to agree, but later, when Young Master knelt outside the door for a whole night, Miss also knelt outside Old Lady's room for a whole night. Old Master pitied Miss and thought it wasn't good for Young Master to kneel outside like that, so he finally agreed. But because of this, Old Lady didn't speak to Old Master for over three years. It wasn't until four years ago when the truth came out that everyone realized they had been deceived by Young Master - the Li family's marriage was a scam, a despicable and shameless act. No wonder they didn't dare show their faces in front of Old Lady... it's just pitiful for Third Miss, who gave her heart to Young Master with all her might, only to end up like this..." As she spoke, tears began to well up in the corners of Zhou Mama's eyes.

  Lin Lan was secretly shocked. If what Big Aunt said was true, then Li Ze's father must have lied to Old Lady in the past, causing Old Lady to be very disgusted with Ye Shi. This could explain why Old Lady was so cold to Ye Shi. It would also make sense for Han Shi to resent Ye Shi even more, after all, because of Ye Shi, she went from being a legitimate wife to an unrecognizable concubine. However, Lin Lan didn't dare guarantee whether Han Shi was also deceived or knew from the start. Judging from Li Ze's father's tolerant attitude towards Old Witch, he still had some fear for her. Was there something that Old Witch held over him? Regardless, it was undeniable that Li Ze's father was the main culprit behind this tragic event. He was a thorough scoundrel and a hypocrite with a false appearance of virtue.

  "Second Young Mistress, have you heard something?" Zhou Mama asked cautiously, or else why would Second Young Mistress suddenly ask about this?

  Lin Lan said vaguely: "I heard some things and wanted to verify them. So, it seems that the old lady has never communicated with Li's family?"

  Zhou's mother shook her head, the old lady already hated the Li family to death, things were also very clear, what was there to say?

  Lin Lan sighed and asked Zhou Ma to step down first. However, Zhou Ma took out a note from her bosom: "This was sent by Eldest Uncle."

  Lin Lan took it over and flipped through it. It turned out that Ye Xiang'er was going to get engaged, and she couldn't help but relax her eyebrows. This is really good news!

  "The day after tomorrow is the second young master's birthday, so according to the Ye family's gift-giving etiquette, prepare the gifts with a heavier rather than lighter hand." Lin Lan smiled and instructed.

  Zhou's mother smiled and said: "I understand."

  If I drink water, I'll be scolded; if I eat meat, I'll also be scolded. I'm in a dilemma. There's still another watch tonight.

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