Target Locked
One reason was that she was afraid of alerting the enemy, but Lady Wei Lady Zhu was really worried about was that Lady Wei would find out and cause a scene, which would then let Zhao Jingli know.
How heartbroken the child would be if he knew his mother suspected he wasn't her biological son! And yet, she had no proof. If mother and child were to drift apart, Zhao Jingli's position as heir would remain unchanged, and he would even become the master of the Marquis's mansion. The most awkward situation would be for Lady Zhu.
Therefore, without solid evidence, Lady Zhu dared not let a fourth person know. She didn't even tell her husband, Zhao Yuanxun.
Seeing Lady Zhu's worried face, Xu Xi could guess her concerns.
Xu Xi couldn't help but sigh.
In modern times, such matters are incredibly simple; a DNA test can resolve them. However, in ancient times, they were extremely complex. No wonder there were stories of "switching the crown prince with a raccoon dog" in ancient times. Without conclusive evidence, even if one suspected that a child was not their own, there was no way to prove it.
It seems she'll have to accumulate points to ask the system to check. Asking the system to check the midwife's whereabouts shouldn't be a problem, right?
"This isn't urgent, don't worry yourself sick. If we really can't find out, just pretend none of this ever happened," Xu Xi said.
Lady Zhu gave a wry smile.
How could she pretend nothing had happened when it concerned her own child? Putting everything else aside, she simply couldn't love Zhao Jingli the same way she used to. The thought that her carefully raised son was Lady Wei's, and that the Marquis's mansion would be handed over to her son to inherit, made Lady Zhu feel extremely uncomfortable.
She has other sons, so how could she possibly let Zhao Jingli inherit the Marquis's mansion in such a muddled way?
This matter absolutely must be thoroughly investigated.
"If there's nothing else, I'll go back for dinner now," Xu Xi said.
"Go ahead," the old lady nodded. "I'm not in the mood for food. A bowl of bird's nest soup will do. I won't keep you with me."
Xu Xi said a few more words about taking care of his health before taking his leave.
"Go and fetch the food," she instructed as soon as she returned to the Tea Tasting Residence.
She had some snacks at noon, which had long since been digested, and now she was extremely hungry.
"Please wait a moment, young lady. This old servant has already instructed Yicui to bring the meal," said Matron Yuan.
She was able to work as a junior housekeeper, and now she's come to Xu Xi's place as the head nanny. She does have her strengths, namely, she's good at reading people's expressions. Xu Xi is growing and gets hungry easily, so she knew that Xu Xi would definitely want to eat as soon as she returned. Therefore, without being told, she asked Yicui to fetch the food.
Xu Xi removed her hairpins and washed her face when Yicui came in carrying a food box.
She put down the food box and knelt on the ground, apologizing to Xu Xi with an uneasy expression, "Please forgive me, Miss. The kitchen staff said that the Second Madam had left two dishes for you, her portion, and asked you to take them with you when you brought your meal. I was worried about what people would say, so I brought the dishes back." As she spoke, she lowered her head, not daring to look at Xu Xi.
Xu Xi thought something had happened. Hearing this, she couldn't help but laugh, "Get up, you did the right thing. Whatever the Second Madam gives me, just continue with it. There's no need to be uneasy."
For some reason, Lady Wei suddenly changed her approach. Yesterday, she went to the old lady to cry and complain, and today she started to curry favor, making a scene that the whole mansion knew about. As a mother, she had already gone to such lengths. If Xu Xi continued to be unreasonable, who knew what the people in the mansion would say about her?
When this woman gets serious, she really knows how to use her skills.
Xu Xi's allowance consisted of four dishes and a soup, including one main meat dish, one minor meat dish, one vegetarian dish, and one leafy green vegetable dish. Lady Wei gave her a braised lion's head meatball dish and a stir-fried river shrimp dish, along with one main meat dish and one minor meat dish, which was quite generous of her.
She couldn't possibly finish all these dishes by herself, Xu Xi asked Yicui to pick some out, and the rest were given to them.
After dinner, Xu Xi went for a walk and then summoned the system: "How many points are needed to find out the whereabouts of the midwife?"
The system also knew that with the Lady Wei around, Xu Xi couldn't study in peace; otherwise, it wouldn't have only charged Xu Xi two hundred points.
It didn't make things difficult for Xu Xi this time, saying, "Only 150 points are needed."
Well, that's exactly the amount she can earn tonight.
"Okay." Xu Xi wouldn't relentlessly exploit the system. As long as she had points, she would give them to the system. She was destined to live and die with the system for the rest of her life, so restoring more of its functions would benefit her as well.
"However, once you find out, you have to make her expose it herself, just like Lady Wei nurse, by going to the authorities and revealing the information. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain how I found out this information, and we'll both be suspected."
The system shook its head vigorously. "No way, no way. If I could invade other people's minds and change their thoughts, would I still be living such a stifled life? I've already wiped out your independent thoughts, host, and turned you into my score-scoring machine."
"What should we do then?" Xu Xi frowned.
"Then we'll just have to use your brilliant mind, host, to come up with a solution." The system showered her with compliments.
Xu Xi snorted, took a short walk, and then went inside to practice calligraphy.
Regardless, let's accumulate enough points first and then investigate the matter thoroughly.
Whether it was due to her long practice leading to natural progress, or the influence of Madam Xiao's calligraphy that caused her some kind of epiphany, after writing a few pieces of calligraphy, Xu Xi suddenly heard the system announce, "Congratulations, host, your Wisdom Points has increased by 4."
Xu Xi was taken aback, then overjoyed.
Haha, another step forward!
The system was also very Gao Xing and gave Xu Xi a rhythmic "thump thump thump" sound in its mind to express its congratulations.
"Practice one more calligraphy exercise, and you'll have accumulated 150 points," the system said.
Now there are 146 points. Xu Xi writes another article, he will earn 4 points, making it exactly 150 points.
"Young lady, it's too late. Writing for too long will hurt your eyes," Matron Yuan quickly advised when she saw Xu Xi stop writing.
"I'll write another one." Xu Xi looked up and, feeling the light was insufficient, instructed, "Turn on the lights."
"Yes." Matron Yuan turned to look at Yicui, Yicui quickly went to light the lamp.
Ever since Xu Xi confronted her, Matron Yuan no longer dared to act superior. She became much more respectful towards Xu Xi and no longer dared to boss her around or act as a disciplinarian.
Xu Xi was very satisfied with this change.
She later inquired with Qingfeng and learned that when the First Madam was choosing servants for her, she had put a lot of thought into it. She didn't choose servants who had ties with the Second and Third Branches, but only those who were loyal to the First Branch or didn't have many ulterior motives.
The reason why Matron Yuan was chosen to be her head nanny was threefold: firstly, she was a reliable person with decent abilities; secondly, she wasn't the type to scheme and climb the ranks unscrupulously; and thirdly, Matron Yuan's husband was a minor steward in charge of carriages and horses in the outer courtyard. Xu Xi needed to use a carriage to travel to and from the academy, and with Matron Yuan around, no one would try to sabotage this or make things difficult for her.
Therefore, as long as Matron Yuan doesn't have the mentality that "the girl is a country bumpkin who doesn't know anything and needs to be taught properly," she won't necessarily have to replace Matron Yuan.