Chapter Fifty Beginning

  According to the original owner's memory, the original owner was surnamed Sun and named Sun Zhaoming. Today, he was seriously ill, so his mother let the wet nurse take him to a medical clinic in the city for treatment. Unexpectedly, the wet nurse embezzled most of the money for his treatment and only bought a few packages of moldy medicine back. On the way, she also bought some candies and pastries to see her own son.

  Yang Yunqiu sneered, Sun Zhaoming was a timid and weak boy who had been spoiled rotten since childhood. When faced with such a situation, he didn't dare to resist. He wouldn't tolerate that woman's arbitrary behavior. He turned his head and got on the horse carriage, pulled the reins, and trotted away quickly.

  The cart driver was sitting on one side resting his feet, and seeing this he was greatly shocked, loudly shouting: "Ming Ge Er, Ming Ge Er, where are you going?"

  The wet nurse was also frightened, staring blankly as the carriage ran far away before chasing after it with deep and shallow steps, anxiously sweating profusely: "Ming Ge'er, you must stop quickly, if not, Nai Nai will know and scold you."

  Sun Zhaoming used to be frightened by this sentence, but Yang Yunqiu didn't care.

  The voice behind was initially exasperated and later became hoarse.

  He searched through Sun Zhaoming's memories, and it turned out that the original owner had a good memory, but he might have been a bit introverted and didn't like to talk. Others thought he was stupid and bullied him, but in fact, he remembered everything clearly, just like a mirror.

  Yang Yunqiu drove the car all the way back home.

  In the original host's memory, his family was very poor and could not afford to buy pens, ink, paper, and inkstones. The silver money was always insufficient, but the situation in this house was a bit better than he imagined. It was a two-story courtyard located in the suburbs of Quanzhou City. Sun Zhaoming lived in the west wing of the front yard, where there was a servant girl and a nanny.

  That servant girl was a peasant woman, called Second Ya. As soon as she saw Sun Zhao Ming return, she hurriedly welcomed him and helped him sit down, whispering: "Aunt Wu is scolding again? She knows that the young master's illness is severe, but still doesn't take care of him. The young master should be firm and tell his grandmother."

  She chattered on and on, but her hands and feet didn't stop moving. With great effort, she brought over a basin of water to wipe Yang Yinqu's face, then brought a bowl of red date porridge: "Ming Ge, hurry up and drink something. Even if you don't want to, you have to drink it, or else Wu Mama will get the better of you."

  Yang Yunqiu didn't say a word, sniffed the fragrance, saw that the flavor was very pure, and slowly savored it, swallowing it in one gulp. After drinking, he took out his handkerchief and carefully wiped the corners of his mouth, put the bowl back on the table, raised his head, and found Er Ya staring at him in a daze.

  Er Ya suddenly woke up with a start, rubbed her eyes, and patted her forehead, muttering to herself: "I must have been confused, why did I think the young master looked like a different person just now, radiant and handsome?"

  Before, Sun Zhaoming was introverted and gloomy because of his illness, his body was thin and pale, so it's unlikely that any girl would think he's handsome. However, his physical capital wasn't bad. Now that Yang Yunqiu has a strong spirit and a powerful aura, people naturally feel that there is a big change. Moreover, a 12-year-old autistic child who hasn't read many books is naturally very different from a scholar who has read extensively and practiced for a long time in terms of temperament.

  Yang Yunqiu smiled and said, "You pick it up, then follow me to see Mother."

  Er Ya was stunned for a while, then nodded in agreement. However, she felt even more puzzled inside - what's wrong with the young master of her household? In the past, every time he went to pay respects to his grandmother, he couldn't wait to escape, but today he actually brought it up himself.

  Yang Yunqiu carefully tidied up his clothes, which were not bad at all. The red satin robe looked festive on him. In the past, Sun Zhaoming's pale complexion might have made it look out of place, making people feel strange. But on Yang Yunqiu, it looked good no matter how you looked at it.

  Er Ya put away the things, Yang Yunqiu sat down to calm her breath, settled her mind, and then slowly got up, walking slowly towards the direction of the main house. He walked at a moderate pace, as if it was similar to the speed of the young master's walk in the past, and his appearance was also similar. However, Er Ya felt that her family's young master was even more elegant than the eldest young master of the Sun family.

  As soon as this thought occurred to her, Er Ya hastily lowered her head and covered her mouth - how could that be!

  The young master is the eldest son of Old Master Sun's first wife, and his mother was a concubine-born miss from a prestigious family. He also has an older sister who is a current imperial consort, and he is often referred to as "National Uncle" on the streets. There are over ten tutors teaching him reading, archery, and other skills, and he is renowned as a talented young man from Quanzhou.

  Three years ago, he was only thirteen years old and had a thousand gold coins to entice the famous Qing prostitute Huazhi in Quanzhou. He stayed in her boudoir for three days before being caught by Sun Zhifu's servants and taken back to the mansion. Even now, he can still come and go freely from Huazhi's chambers, which are already the most renowned in Quanzhou.

  Er Ya's mind was a mess, while Yang Yunqiu had already entered the main house.

  As soon as he entered, he saw the woman sitting on the soft couch, his eyes sparkled, and he bowed respectfully, with a smile on his face, and it was no wonder that Sun Zhifu would keep a middle-aged concubine.

  Sun Zhaoming's mother, Chen Jyuniang, was thirty-three years old this year. Although she was already considered old, she still had a delicate face and good skin, not much different from a twenty-year-old young woman. It was all thanks to her natural beauty that she was able to rise to the top and be kept by Sun Zhifu for over ten years without getting tired of her.

  However, Magistrate Sun probably just wanted to have some fun with her and never mentioned taking her in as a concubine.

  Chen Jiu Niang heard that her son was coming over, and she found it strange. She understood her son's temperament, which was not good enough to be a success, so from the beginning, she didn't plan to let him amount to much. In the future, relying on the Sun family, she would arrange an average marriage for him, then think of ways to get some silver money from Magistrate Sun, and use it to set up a business, just enough to keep him from starving.

  It's not that Chen Jinniang didn't care about her only son, it's just that she cared more about herself. To put it bluntly, she was born cold-blooded and always thought that relying on herself was better than relying on her son. If her son were clever, she would be willing to invest in him, but he wasn't. Although she didn't have the heart to abandon him completely, she also didn't want to let a useless, physically weak, and potentially short-lived son affect her own life.

  At this moment, seeing Yang Yunqiu's demeanor was majestic and dignified, as if he had suddenly grown several years older. Surprised and delighted in his heart, he happily called him up and even grabbed a handful of pastries for him to eat.

  "Does my son's body look like it has recovered? That's good, you should be rewarded. Wu Mama and Er Ya in your room will also be rewarded." She looked up and down, seeing that in just a few days, the illness on her son's face had indeed dissipated a lot.

  Seven days ago, she went to see her son. Wu's mother came to report that the child was no more. Since then, she only asked about him and never visited again, fearing it would be too sad and also afraid of catching an illness.

  Today, I suddenly saw him and found that although my son is thinner, his spirit is very good, of course, I'm delighted.

  Yang Yunqiu smiled and thanked her, then said: "Mother, Wu Mama has been taking care of me every day by making medicine for me, she also deserves credit. I see that Wu Mama misses her son Xiaohu every day and often goes back to visit him. She is already old, and I really don't want to delay her reunion with her own son. Please, Mother, grant her a favor and let her go back to accompany her own child."

  Chen Jiu Niang was taken aback, and carefully looked at Yang Yunqiu. She saw that her own son was speaking very seriously and solemnly, as if what he said made a lot of sense. However, this wasn't anything out of the ordinary - many families' wet nurses would be dismissed once the children grew up. But it was different for her sister's wet nurse; perhaps she could still follow her when she got married.

  However, Chen Jiu Niang was cold and indifferent by nature, not even paying much attention to her own son, let alone a mere wet nurse. She casually said, "Since she's your person, you take care of it yourself. You're also grown up now, showing her kindness isn't out of the question."

  She then told her servant girl Abi to fetch Wu's contract of sale.

  Yang Yunqiu took over and said a few more words to Chen Jyuniang, then bid farewell and left. Ah Bi escorted him to the door and turned back to see her master sitting on the couch in a daze.

  "Master?"

  "It's nothing."

  Chen Jünniang furrowed her brow, she didn't know what was wrong with herself either, feeling a bit awkward in her heart. Her son wasn't quite right today either, but he seemed more presentable than before.

  "Do you remember that three years ago, Brother Ming was seriously ill? A Taoist priest came to see him and said that he had a great calamity in his fate. If he couldn't get through it, then so be it. But if he could get through it, he would rise to greatness and bring glory to our ancestors."

  Abi was taken aback: "How did grandma think of this?"

  She certainly remembered that when her grandmother heard those words, she sneered for a long time and also said that the elder brother didn't even have an ancestor, where would he go to honor his ancestors, so let someone give him some money and drive the Taoist priest out of the house.

  At that time, the family was not like it is now. Even the money for making clothes for the young lady had to be economized. At that time, grandma was young and beautiful, and grandpa was still feeling fresh about it, so he gave more household expenses. Now they are all managed by the steward of that mansion who allocates the money monthly, naturally giving as little as possible, never more.

  Ai Bi couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy at this thought.

  The master and servant were reminiscing about the past over there, Yang Yunqiu had already returned to his own room, sitting properly, letting Er Ya grind ink for him, preparing to practice calligraphy. He had just taken over this body and needed to use it more to make it agile.

  The second daughter-in-law went incredibly. She was illiterate, but she could also see that the young master's handwriting is much more beautiful than before. Moreover, the young master knew how to practice calligraphy, which was already very impressive.

  No sooner had I sat down than someone rushed into the room, muttering and cursing.

  Er Ya was startled and saw that it was Wu Mama, so she frowned and said: "Mama be quiet, don't you see brother practicing his writing?"

  "He practices calligraphy? What can he possibly achieve with that? Does he think he's some kind of Young Master or something?" Wu Mama slapped Er Ya away, stormed into the room panting, her face deathly pale, eyes blazing red. As soon as she saw Yang Yunqiu, she jumped up and down, cursing loudly, "I've fed you for three years, you've grown up to come and humiliate your mother, you unfilial child... see if Heaven will take you away..."

  Er Ya saw her becoming more and more outrageous, actually fabricating stories about masters and slaves, which scared her so much that her legs were trembling.

  Yang Yunqiu slammed her hand on the table and shouted loudly: "Enough! Since you don't want to stay at home, go back and take care of your husband and son. I won't keep you here."

  Wu's mother was taken aback, her face turned green, and she really didn't expect Ming Ge to dare to drive her away. In the past, when she said she wanted to leave, Ming Ge would be worried sick and insisted on keeping her from leaving.

  "You, aren't you going crazy?" As soon as the words came out, Wu's mother broke into a cold sweat and thought to herself, "Am I also going crazy today?" In the past, she had never quarreled loudly in the house, but instead secretly ground against this kid. How could she not hold back her temper today?

  Yang Yunqiu didn't even look at her and turned around to say, "Er Ya, send Wu Mama out, remember, don't let her take our family's things away."

  Wu's mother refused and sat down on the ground with a thud, starting to wail.