The Lucky Farmgirl

The stewardess-mamma hurriedly ran over. By now she already knew this one was not someone easy to provoke. Although she hadn’t said a single word from beginning to end, nor gone to complain, the entire State Duke Zhao’s manor had been left waiting for an hour and a half for nothing, and the masters still hadn’t said a word. From that alone she knew that later, even if she didn’t die, she’d have to shed a layer of skin. At this moment, how would she dare provoke her?

Seeing her demand her own clothes and shoes and socks back—demanding them right in front of the Sixth Young Master no less—she knew she was finished.

She was used to her legs going soft and wanting to kneel, but when she saw Zhao Liulang’s hostile gaze fixed on her, in the end she didn’t dare kneel to beg at this moment and could only bend her waist and say, "They’re in the room. This slave has been keeping them properly for Imperial Doctor Zhou."

So Zhou Man asked Zhao Liulang to wait a moment in the courtyard, then took Jiu Lan inside to change all her clothes, shoes, and socks back, putting on her own things again. Jiu Lan even carried out the set she’d just changed into and returned it to the stewardess-mamma. Only then did the three—master, servant, and disciple—leave together.

Zhao Liulang silently saw Zhou Man out. When they reached the side gate at the front, he said, "The servants at home were out of line and let you suffer a grievance."

Manbao turned back to glance at him, showing her teeth as she said, "I didn’t, actually. The one who suffered a grievance today wasn’t me. And as for whether it was the servants who were out of line—you and I both know very well in our hearts."

This wasn’t her first time coming out from the imperial manor. Every time she went to the Tang Residence to treat patients, who ever avoided her? Didn’t Madam Tang still hold her hand affectionately and chat with her?

Last time when she went to the Liu Residence for a banquet, she had likewise left from the imperial manor. Although a few people had muttered about it during the feast, whether male or female guests, who deliberately avoided her and refused to interact?

There were so many guests at the Liu Residence then, and everyone still crowded together to play as usual.

If the masters hadn’t expressed such an attitude, how would the servants dare do such a thing?

Manbao did not take the carriage sent by the Zhao Family, but directly got into Liu Sanniang’s carriage and left.

Liu Sanniang’s carriage was in fact an official carriage of the Imperial Hospital, but it was currently lunchtime, and Liu Sanniang had been ordered out on a house call today, so this carriage would remain at her disposal throughout.

The carriage drove out of the Zhao Family’s gate and headed straight for the Zhou Residence.

The Zhou Residence was in a different ward from the Zhao Family, but only two wards away—not very far. This area was a residential quarter for noble and powerful families, with broad roads and few pedestrians, so the carriage went a bit faster. In less than half a quarter of an hour they arrived.

As soon as she got into the carriage, Liu Sanniang’s face didn’t look very good, and she said to Manbao, "Master, they humiliated you."

Earlier she had only known that Master deliberately delayed going in, but hadn’t realized that they had actually made Master change clothes and shoes and socks before going in.

Jiu Lan was still fuming even now and cried, "Our lady changes and washes her clothes and shoes every time she comes out of the imperial manor; there’s no way she could bring smallpox out. To save time, we didn’t even dry our hair properly—our whole bodies smelled of scented soap. I don’t believe that steward couldn’t smell it, yet she still had the gall to name our lady in particular and order her to bathe and wash, making us busy for nothing, and didn’t even leave us a bite of food."

Manbao: ...

"Now that’s a bit unfair. They did leave a meal."

"When you were treating their Old Madam, it was already lunchtime. In a household that knows propriety, wouldn’t they have you eat first before seeing the patient?" Jiu Lan said self-righteously. "You said you wanted to see the patient, and they really let you see the patient first. It’s just that you were fast this time. If it had been like the other patients, with half an hour or an hour of treatment, wouldn’t you have been starving by then?"

Meanwhile, as soon as their carriage left, the smile on Zhao Liulang’s face dropped at once. His expression darkened as he turned to look for that stewardess-mamma, fixing his eyes on her and asking, "Who ordered you to do it?"

The stewardess-mamma immediately knelt down, trembling as she said, "This slave was thinking that since Imperial Doctor Zhou came out from that kind of place, if there was anything even slightly improper on her body, wouldn’t our entire household be doomed? So I took it upon myself to..."

"Took it upon yourself?" Zhao Liulang kicked her, sending her sprawling to the side, his face dark as he said, "You’d better think this through clearly. You think Zhou Man is only an imperial doctor? She’s also half a fellow student of mine, a Fourth-Rank Compiler at Chongwen Pavilion. Strictly speaking, she’s even my superior. And what are you? You dare ’take it upon yourself’ to humiliate her? Don’t you take a look and see how many heads you’ve got on your shoulders!"

When they had first entered Chongwen Pavilion, Zhou Man would occasionally run over to sit in on their lessons. That went on for nearly a year. Later, when the Imperial Hospital opened, she had to attend classes there, and only then did she stop coming to audit their cultural classes.

Even if one didn’t count the bond of shared studies, just based on her relationship with Bai Shan and Bai Er, how could Zhou Man be someone this side could trample on at will?

Not to mention that she was now a Fourth-Rank Compiler at Chongwen Pavilion. He himself was still studying there. Even though the two positions weren’t directly linked, in terms of rank, she was his superior officer.

The more Zhao Liulang thought about it, the angrier he became. Zhou Man had been wronged in his own home—how was he supposed to show his face to Bai Shan and Bai Er in the future?

He looked as if he could devour her alive. The stewardess-mamma couldn’t escape and could only kneel and beg for mercy, saying, "This was all the instructions of the Heir’s Wife and a few other madams together. The madams were only worried something inappropriate on her might be brought inside with her..."

"Get out!"

Fuming, Zhao Liulang headed toward the back courtyard, planning to find his mother to back him up. There was nothing he could do—he was a junior, he couldn’t very well go shouting at several sisters-in-law.

At this time, the back courtyard was also in turmoil.

This wasn’t the first time State Duchess Zhao had asked Zhou Man to see her. She had fallen ill twice before and had invited Zhou Man to prescribe for her.

In her impression, that was a very proper, very well-behaved and sensible little lady. So once she left, State Duchess Zhao asked the old nurse, "There were too many people just now and you couldn’t get away, and I also couldn’t ask openly. Why was Imperial Doctor Zhou delayed at the front?"

The old nurse brought a bowl of soup to State Duchess Zhao, smiling as she said, "If I tell you, you mustn’t get angry."

"You speak first."

The old nurse said, "That won’t do. You have to promise this slave first; only then will this slave tell you."

"Fine, fine, I promise you. How many days do I have left? I long since stopped getting angry with them."

"What are you saying? You still have plenty of days ahead of you." The old nurse paused, then said, "I went to the front to ask around and only then learned that as soon as Imperial Doctor Zhou entered the gate, she was taken to the guest courtyard to bathe and change clothes. I heard they even washed her hair, and only after she changed even her shoes and socks—those closest to the body—was she allowed to come in."

State Duchess Zhao didn’t react for a moment as to why.

The old nurse lowered her voice and said, "Old Madam, Imperial Doctor Zhou came out from the imperial manor."

State Duchess Zhao came to her senses and slammed the table in anger. "Which idiot did such a muddleheaded thing?"

The Heir’s Wife, who had been worrying that Zhou Man might bring in something, was at that very moment complaining to several younger sisters-in-law. "Never thought that though she’s so young, she’d have such a big temper. She deliberately delayed at the front for a full hour and a half before coming over. She came on the strength of a gracious decree from Her Highness to see a patient, yet relying on a bit of her own skill, she’s already begun to act wantonly."

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