Shen Mu smiled quietly and didn't speak, personally placing a bell-shaped cup filled with Songluo tea in front of Liang Youhui.

  Liang Youhui smiled and thanked her, picked up the pine needle tea and took a deep sniff, revealing a satisfied and happy expression.

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but smile slightly, picking up the cup of Longjing tea in front of him: "The ones making Beijing cuisine are Shunqingyuan - their imitation royal pastries are the most famous. Today they made apricot kernel cream Buddha's hand pastry, walnut date paste date flower pastry and dried tangerine peel bean paste auspicious cloud pastry... do you want to try some?"

  Liang Youhui nodded repeatedly as she listened.

  Shen Muqing also brought out a plate of rose bean paste pastry and assembled a small set of four pieces to drink tea.

  Two people were drinking tea and eating snacks.

  Shen Muqing then chatted with Liang Youhui:

  Liáng Yòu Huì hesitated, "I also can't say... it seems like they didn't interact much before, but recently Liǔ Fū Rén often came to pay respects to her grandmother and was even invited to stay for dinner."

  Shen Mu's clear eyes swept around, wanting to ask Liang Youhui a few more questions, but found that Liang Youhui suddenly looked at her with a bright red face, with an expression of wanting to speak but hesitating.

  Calm and quiet, unmoving in tone and expression, preparing to use stillness to control movement.

  "I think Madame Liu is quite ordinary in appearance... I wonder what the Empress looks like?"

  Liang Youhui looked uneasy, her mind elsewhere as she murmured: "I... I don't know either... But the Princess Xuan is very beautiful..." As she spoke, a few tears welled up in her bright eyes, as if she was about to cry.

  Shen Mu Qing couldn't help but be shocked.

  "Sister, I...I..." Liang Youhui's snow-white face turned red enough to bleed, "I...I..."

  "What's wrong?" Shen Mu Qing smiled warmly and looked at her with a very kind and concerned expression.

  "I, I want to go to the nunnery!" Liang Youhui said, her face immediately turning ashen and crumbling.

  It turned out to be this matter...... and it seems like an urgent situation...... I thought there was some inside information to listen to......

  Shen Mu Qing hurriedly called for Ying Fen to serve her as she went to her own boudoir.

  Before long, Ying Fen returned and whispered in her ear: "Miss Liang is crying in the purification room!"

  "What's going on?" Shen Mu Qing's mind turned around, "Is it that the clothes got stained with something they shouldn't have, or..."

  "I don't know!" Ying Fen's face also turned somewhat solemn, "Let the slave girls not attend to us by our side, they knelt down over there and cried in a low voice, as if they didn't want us to know."

  "Alright!" Shen Mu nodded calmly, "Since she doesn't want us to know, we'll just pretend we don't."

  Ying nodded slightly.

  About two quarters of an hour had passed, and Liang Youhui still hadn't come out of the bathroom. Shen Muqing couldn't help but feel a little anxious too. She went to the bathroom, put her ear against the partition, and listened, but she couldn't hear any movement.

  Don't let anything happen to her!

  Shen Muqing slightly raised an eyebrow towards Ying Fen.

  The Englishman leaned in again and put his ear against the partition to listen.

  After a moment, he turned back to Shen Muqing and shook his head.

  After a moment of contemplation, she got up and walked to the window, saying softly: "Sister, is there anything you'd like me to do?"

  There was not a sound in the clean room.

  Shen Mu Qing sank into thought for a moment, then said in a low voice: "Sister, I've had all the attendants leave my side... If you're not at ease with me, I can have Zi Sha come in to wait on you instead!"

  "No, no, no..." Liang Youhui replied immediately, her voice husky from crying, "Don't call Zi Sha, I'll be fine in a while..."

  "Miss, the two maids by Miss Liang's side are called Zi Sha and Dan Zhu... her senior maid is called Bi Zhu, while Old Lady Liang has a maid named Zi Juan..."

  Shen Mu nodded calmly and clearly, saying in a low voice: "You all go down! I'm enough here."

  Ying Feng knelt down and paid his respects to Shen Muqing, then retreated with the servants from the house.

  Shen Muqing then advised Liang Youhui: "My sister and I are as familiar as before, what is there to hide from me?... It's not a solution for my sister to hide inside like this. Moreover, the front row of seats should be dismissed soon..."

  She hadn't spoken yet, when the wooden door suddenly creaked open with a "ya" sound. Liang Youhui's eyes were red like a rabbit's, and she tiptoed to look behind her. Seeing that there was only the two of them in the room, she finally let out a sigh of relief.

  Shen Mu Qing saw this and hastily said: "Sister, rest assured, I won't let you lose face in front of the servants."

  Liang Youhui's eyes welled up with tears as she sniffled: "Thank you so much, sister!"

  "Big sister, what's wrong?" he asked softly.

  Her face turned bright red as she said, "I... I have a stomachache."

  Because the guests at home in recent days are either wealthy or prestigious, and a famous chef has been invited, Shen Muqing has made many preparations, including night shifts in the inner and outer courtyards, serving maids and young men in each courtyard, and collecting household utensils... All have been adjusted and arranged. This cleanliness and hygiene is also one of them. It not only includes sweeping the halls and courtyards but also washing the kitchen. For this, she even sent Li's mother to the kitchen, fearing that someone would eat something unclean and get a stomachache, making a joke.

  "Big sister, it's all our family's fault..."

  Liang Youhui however pulled at Shen Muqing's sleeve, anxiously saying: "No, no, it has nothing to do with sister's family, it's me, I... shouldn't have eaten that dish..."

  Shen Mu Qing was taken aback for a moment. She thought there was something wrong with that spinning top.

  She shouted loudly at Luo Mei: "Call over that auspicious and prosperous class leader."

  "Don't call, don't call..." Liang Youhui heard this and looked at Shen Muqing with pleading eyes, "It's all my fault, it has nothing to do with anyone else."

  "Don't worry, sister. I just want to ask what's going on and not to pursue anyone or drag you into this!"

  Liang Youhui's tears were about to fall: "Sister, you don't know, I...I haven't eaten anything greasy for over a year, that's why..."

  Deeply shocked and saddened.

  "Sister, quickly call him back..." Liang Youhui looked at Shen Muqing with tears in her eyes.

  Although he didn't know the reason, Shen Muqing still had someone call Luo Mei back and said: "You go to the front hall first and take a look - see if the banquet on that side has dispersed or not!"

  Plum blossom fell and went with a sound, Liang Youhui finally let out a breath of relief, and shouted "sister" with a face full of gratitude.

  Shen Mu Qing pulled Liang You Hui down to sit, and said seriously: "Sister, what's going on here!"

  Liang Youhui suddenly burst into tears: "...... I'm tall and fat...... My family wants me to eat less...... Especially greasy things...... I haven't eaten meat for almost a year...... But I love eating it the most......" As she spoke, she suddenly buried her head in the kang table and sobbed loudly.

  Stunned and amazed, with eyes wide open and mouth agape.

  She's not good at handling this kind of thing... whether it was her former classmates or colleagues, everyone claimed to be elite, and even if they had bitten their teeth and swallowed blood, who would lose composure and cry in front of someone they just met - unless there was some special purpose.

  At this thought, Shen Muqing's eyelids twitched involuntarily.

  She patiently comforted Liang Youhui: "Don't cry... be careful your eyes will get swollen, it won't look good when you go out later."

  Liang Youhui sobbed for half a day, finally stopped crying, took the handkerchief handed over by Shen Muqing and wiped her eyes: "Sister looks at me, must think I'm very ridiculous!" The tone was quite disheartened.

  "Does sister think I am such a person?"

  "Sister, I didn't mean it!" Liang Youhui began to cry again. "I, I didn't want this either... when I came, Mother specifically told Zhou Mama to tell me the rules... and Grandmother even gave me her most clever maid, Zixi, to use, but I still made a fool of myself..." The handkerchief in Liang Youhui's hand was twisted into a ball. "I, I also went to your room to clean... if this gets out, what face will I have left to see people?" As she spoke, she buried her face in the couch and cried again.

  Shen Mu Qing got up and sat down beside Liang You Hui, putting his arm around her shoulders and speaking in a low voice: "Sister, don't be too sad. It's not like it happened somewhere else... Don't worry, no one will know... Is your stomach feeling any better now? I was also worried about this happening, so we prepared some medicine at home... Why don't you take some, just in case you lose face in front of the other wives later?"

  Liang Youhui nodded immediately after hearing it, but then showed a hesitant expression: "...if others find out..."

  "Don't worry, everyone in my household is obedient, even my wife can be deceived."

  Liang Youhui gazed at Shen Muqing's eyes and had a few points of admiration.

  Shen Muqing called in Ying Fen: "Go and get two of the Shenpi pills that Mr. Liu made two days ago, then go out and quietly sweep away the snow."

  Ying hurried into the bedroom, quickly fetched a honeyed pill the size of a tung seed, and helped Liang Youhui swallow it before kneeling to bid farewell and retreating.

  Liang Youhui felt like she had taken a tranquilizer after eating the Jianpi Wan, her spirit clearly relaxing. She looked at Shen Muqing with a blush and softly said "thank you".

  Shen Mu Qing covered her mouth and smiled: "It's just a sister of our own family, what's there to thank for?"

  As they were talking, a voice came from outside: "Girl, I'm back!"

  Shen Muqing helped Liang Youhui wipe away her tears before responding with a soft "yes".

  Luo Mei walked in, knelt down and greeted Shen Muqing, smiling: "Both Madam and Mrs. Liang said to let Miss accompany Miss Liang at An Garden for a rest - the ladies are all playing mahjong in the east wing!"

  Shen Mu Qing's face lit up with a smile: "This is indeed an auspicious sign - once the swelling in front of your eyes subsides, your eyes will be almost fully recovered."

  Liang Youhui was also surprised to hear such an arrangement, but she and Shen Muqing were of the same mind. Upon hearing this, she couldn't help but burst into tears and tightly grasped Shen Muqing's hand: "Thank you so much, sister!"

  Soon, Ying Fan swept the snow in and Shen Muqing let Luo Mei find a green gauze handkerchief to filter out the snow, then applied it to Liang Youhui's eyes.

  Ying Fen's hands were red and swollen from the icy water, while Liang Youhui's eyes had only just started to recover from their own swelling.

  There was a power outage at home today, so I'm secretly posting this from the office (*^__^*) Hehe... I'll update more when the power is back on, don't worry, sisters!