How did she suddenly fall ill?
How did she suddenly get this sick?
Cheng Si-lang knelt in the bedroom, staring at the girl lying on the bed. Although it had been half a day, his face was still full of disbelief.
“What is she saying?” he suddenly asked.
He had been sitting there for half a day, and he had noticed that the seemingly sleeping woman would occasionally move her lips, as if she were murmuring something.
“I don’t know,” the maid replied, lowering her head. “My mistress was agitated—her spirit has been disturbed.”
“Was it… by Wang Shi’qi?” Cheng Si-lang asked with some unease.
He knew very well what kind of person Wang Shi’qi was. Surely his sister hadn’t been angered into illness by him?
“No,” the maid shook her head. “It was something else. Young Master need not ask.”
Cheng Si-lang nodded at her words and indeed did not press further.
“Then find another doctor. Since she still has some awareness, then there’s hope,” he said.
The maid nodded.
“Yes, we’re already looking. Quite a few people are helping,” she said.
Cheng Si-lang let out a sound of acknowledgment.
“I—I’ll go to the academy and ask around, see if anyone knows a good doctor,” he said, hurrying to his feet.
“Fourth Young Master,” the maid called out to stop him. “This is not what you should be doing right now.”
Cheng Si-lang halted in his tracks and looked at her, visibly uneasy.
“Then… what should I be doing?” he asked.
Too timid by nature…
It was both a strength and a flaw…
The maid stood up.
“Fourth Young Master, someone needs to take care of my mistress’s shops,” she said seriously.
Shops—oh, right, those three shops.
Cheng Si-lang suddenly remembered, and his heart started pounding.
Those famous places, often listed alongside the best spots for treating oneself someday, were actually owned by his sister!
How… how did she manage that?
“Fourth Young Master,” the maid had no choice but to call out to him again.
Cheng Si-lang snapped back to attention, his face flushing slightly with embarrassment and discomfort.
“You said—what is it that I should do?” he asked.
Seated once again inside Immortal’s Abode, the initial curiosity he’d felt was completely gone. Facing the four people before him, Cheng Si-lang sat stiffly, tense and uneasy.
“There’s something I need to tell everyone,” the maid said, kneeling beside Cheng Si-lang. “My mistress is ill.”
Manager Wu already knew, so his expression didn’t change. But the managers of Tai Ping Residence and Yichun Hall, along with Sun Cai of Tai Ping Tofu, all looked shocked.
“She… will she be all right?” the three asked in unison.
“She’ll be fine. It’s just that, for now, the shop affairs will be temporarily handled by Fourth Young Master,” the maid said, glancing over at Cheng Si-lang as she spoke.
“Greetings, Fourth Young Master.”
The two newly hired shop managers were sharp-witted; upon hearing this, they immediately bowed deeply in salute. Sun Cai was not to be outdone.
Cheng Si-lang’s body stiffened even more.
“W-well… thank you,” he stammered.
Manager Wu then lowered his head and pushed over several bundles of account books.
“These are the ledgers for the three shops. Fourth Young Master, please review them,” he said.
Once again, Cheng Si-lang was at a loss.
He thought of his father at home. Every month, the household steward and the shop managers would gather and report the accounts one by one to his father. At those times, his father looked both dignified and joyful, like a mountain firmly anchoring the Cheng family.
He had always revered his father but never envied him, because according to the Cheng family rules, as the fourth son he would never be allowed to even touch the ledgers in his lifetime.
Yet now, unexpectedly, this opportunity had come!
Cheng Si-lang instinctively reached out his hand and casually picked up a ledger, unfolding it. His eyes immediately widened.
So much, so much money!
Instinctively, he quickly rolled the ledger back up, too scared to look any further.
So much, so much money!
Fortunately, Cheng Si-lang didn’t show more of his fear in front of the shop managers. Once they had all left, leaving only the maid behind, he finally let out a long sigh and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
“I don’t know how to read these,” he said, his face flushed red.
His expression showed a hint of guilt and apology, as if this was a terrible fault of his own.
The maid smiled slightly.
“I can read them,” she said.
Cheng Si-lang breathed a sigh of relief and gave a somewhat dazed “Oh.”
“Then, how can I help?” he asked, a hint of apology in his smile. “I only know how to read books… and I’m not even good at that…”
The maid looked at him and nodded with a smile.
“Fourth Young Master, all you need to do is help us keep these three shops safe for my mistress,” she said. “Don’t let anyone take them away. Fourth Young Master, these shops are what my mistress has painstakingly built up to what they are today. We don’t want her to wake up from her illness and find that there’s nothing left…”
As she spoke, she bent down and kowtowed, her voice choked with emotion.
“Hurry, get up, get up,” Cheng Si-lang said hurriedly. “It’s only right. It’s what I should do. Don’t worry, I’ll look after them for my sister until she wakes up.”
After saying this, both of them paused for a moment.
What if… she doesn’t wake up?
The thought flashed by, and both of them made a spitting sound to ward off the idea.
No, no, it won’t happen. It definitely won’t…
“What if she doesn’t wake up? What if she becomes a fool?”
Master Zhou snorted, lifting the teacup in front of him but putting it down without drinking.
“That little maid, she even brought in people from the Cheng family to block us. Are the Chengs really any good?”
“Exactly! They took our dowry and still let Jiao-niang starve and be discarded. How can we entrust these businesses to them!” Madam Zhou said angrily. “That lowly maid is from the Cheng family; of course she’s helping them grab everything.”
Saying this, she stood up.
“I’ll go chase her out!”
“Don’t rush,” Master Zhou said, raising his hand to stop Madam Zhou.
“What’s the point of waiting? Aren’t we in a hurry?” Madam Zhou said impatiently.
“They’re just two kids—what’s there to be afraid of?” Master Zhou snorted, leisurely lifting his teacup. “In this capital city, do they really think they can turn the tables on me? I’m just toying with them.”
“The sooner we get hold of it, the sooner we can rest easy,” Madam Zhou said. “If that Cheng family smells blood and comes sniffing around, trouble is guaranteed.”
“What’s there to fear if they come? Do they think this is Jiang-zhou?” Master Zhou snorted. “If any Cheng dares show up, I’ll make him cry and send him home!”
He said this proudly and took a big gulp of tea, but forgot to blow on it first. Burned, he let out a sharp “Ouch!” and dropped the cup, spilling tea on himself, causing a flurry of commotion in the room.
Meanwhile, in Jiang-zhou, First Master Cheng was sitting in the main hall listening to a maid playing the guqin, when he suddenly sneezed several times in a row, causing the originally beautiful music to become somewhat fragmented.
“It must be the Zhou family cursing me again,” First Master Cheng said, waving his hand.
The maid quickly gathered up the guqin and stepped back out.
“Why stop playing when it was going so well?” First Madam Cheng said, still a little displeased.
“Don’t you find it strange?” First Master Cheng leaned back against the chair and frowned.
“Strange about what?” First Madam Cheng asked, lifting her teacup to take a sip.
“Master Zhou hasn’t come anymore,” First Master Cheng said.
First Madam Cheng choked on her tea.
“So you still miss him a lot, huh?” she said, coughing.
“I want him dead,” First Master Cheng snorted. “It’s really strange — that old stubborn man went away and then nothing. Your nephew has already gone to the capital, hasn’t he? He must know about the marriage by now. So why no reaction at all?”
He had barely managed to hold back his anger, but the other side had wilted. Although this was the ideal outcome, he still felt deeply frustrated inside.
“What reaction could there be? Such a huge blessing—what else could he possibly say?” First Madam Cheng scoffed.
“That fool wouldn’t say anything, of course. But what about the dowry? Why hasn’t he come to make a fuss about that?” First Master Cheng said.
No sooner had he finished speaking than the steward came running to the door, hand on his hat.
“Master! Master! People have come, they’re here!”
The steward shouted urgently as he ran.
They really came?
First Master Cheng and First Madam Cheng both sat up in surprise.
“You really can’t speak ill of people behind their backs,” First Master Cheng sighed, taking a deep breath to lift his spirits. “So, how many Zhou people came this time?”
The steward was momentarily taken aback.
“Zhou people?” he asked. “Master, who exactly are you talking about?”
“Who do you think I mean?” First Master Cheng was also momentarily puzzled. “Wasn’t it people from the Zhou family who came?”
The steward quickly clarified,
“No, no, it’s not that. It’s Assistant Commissioner Cao from the Prefecture office who came.”
First Master Cheng changed his clothes and stepped into the reception hall, where he saw two people already seated—one of whom was the very familiar Master Cao Biejia.
“Ah, Master Cao,” he said quickly, smiling and greeting him with a bow.
As a prominent local noble, First Master Cheng held a certain status. Master Cao stood up and returned the bow.
The two exchanged some friendly greetings with smiles.
“I’ve come today because there’s a matter that requires your assistance, First Master Cheng,” Master Cao got straight to the point.
First Master Cheng nodded.
“Please, speak, my lord,” he said.
“Take a look at your family genealogy,” Master Cao said.
