After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the two of them arrived at the General's Mansion.
As soon as they entered the mansion, Bai Nianyin was called away by Bai Sheng's maid who was waiting in the courtyard.
Before leaving, Bai Nianyin couldn't help but worryingly exhort Bai Zheng a few words. Bai Zheng nodded with a smile and promised one by one.
Bai Shou, who was standing by, stared at Bai Zheng with a strange look in his eyes. It wasn't until Bai Nianyin left that he led her to the courtyard where Bai Yizhang was.
"Third Miss, you've come to attend to the patient. Why do you still bring a maid with you?" Bai Shou's eyes glanced at Qing Shao, who was closely clinging to Bai Zheng's back from time to time, and asked out loud.
There was obvious dissatisfaction in his tone.
Bai Zheng smiled indifferently and counter - questioned, "Is there anything strange about this? With a maid to serve me, I can attend to Uncle in a more focused manner, can't I?"
Bai Shou sneered, "The Third Miss is really different from before. Even when coming to the General's Mansion, you have to put on airs. None of the two cousin ladies have such a grand style as the Third Miss."
"Of course," Bai Zheng replied as if it were a matter of course. "I'm already engaged to the Marquis of Dingyuan. My status is different. When I'm out, I can't disgrace the Marquis of Dingyuan, can I?"
Bai Shou originally thought that Bai Zheng would sense the sarcasm in his words and feel ashamed.
Unexpectedly, not only was she not angry, but she also complacently echoed his words. This immediately made Bai Shou so angry that his eyes bulged, but he couldn't say a single word.
When they reached the door of the room, Bai Shou pushed open the door. Just as Qing Shao was about to follow Bai Zheng in, she was stopped by Bai Shou.
Qing Shao gave Bai Shou a murderous look.
Bai Shou stiffened his neck and said, "The Grand General's temper is unpredictable now. He won't see just anyone. The Third Miss is here to attend to the patient, so it's okay for her to go in. But this maid can't."
Qing Shao's face was cold, and the fist in her hand tightened more and more.
Seeing this, Bai Zheng reached out and gently placed her hand on Qing Shao's shoulder and said with a smile, "Uncle Shou is right. Uncle is a patient now. The patient comes first."
After saying that, she gave Qing Shao a reassuring look and said, "Then you wait for me at the door."
Qing Shao had no choice. But then she thought that the door was wide open, and standing at the door, she could hear every sound inside clearly. If anything really happened to Bai Zheng, she would have plenty of time to rush in and save her. So she reluctantly nodded.
Bai Zheng turned around and stepped into Bai Yizhang's room with a beaming smile.
Bai Zheng had been fully prepared. She thought that as soon as she stepped in, there would be a large group of people sitting inside waiting to torture her and watch her make a fool of herself.
Unexpectedly, the room was very quiet. Besides Bai Yizhang, there were only two maids in blue and purple dresses respectively, massaging Bai Yizhang's legs on either side of the bed.
Bai Yizhang was lying in bed with his eyes closed, resting. Although his complexion still looked a bit bad, it was much rosier after all. Because he had been lying in bed unable to move for some time, he looked a bit plumper.
It seemed that he had been well taken care of.
Bai Zheng silently sneered in her heart, but her feet didn't stop. She walked straight up to Bai Yizhang and said brightly with a big smile, "Zheng'er greets Uncle."
Bai Yizhang ignored her and didn't move a muscle.
Seeing this, Bai Zheng didn't urge him either. She turned around on her own and casually found an empty chair to sit down.
"Yo, Zheng'er is here," Bai Yizhang suddenly opened his eyes and said just as Bai Zheng was about to sit on the chair.
Bai Zheng smiled, and simply adjusted herself to a comfortable sitting position before replying loudly, "Uncle is awake?"
Do you think I was sleeping?
Bai Yizhang was so angry that he immediately wanted to retort, but when he saw the mischievous look in Bai Zheng's eyes, he swallowed the words back.
He stared at Bai Zheng for a while, then slowly showed a smile. "It's all because Uncle is useless, dragging you young people into coming to attend to the patient. Zheng'er seems to be in poor health. Just sit there and rest."
Bai Zheng knew that the other person was deliberately using words to satirize her, but she didn't care. She just lowered her head and gave a charming smile, then skillfully picked up the teapot on the small table in front of her steadily. With her other hand pressing on the tea lid, she slowly poured a cup of tea.
"Uncle, what are you saying? It's Zheng'er's blessing to be able to attend to Uncle. Zheng'er has been longing for this opportunity and is extremely honored."
Although she said so, neither her expression on her face nor her actions with her hands showed how "honored" she was to attend to Bai Yizhang.
Moreover, what did it mean that she was longing for the opportunity to attend to him?
Wasn't this clearly wishing for him to be sick!
Bai Yizhang endured his anger and snorted. "Zheng'er is really sensible! Unlike your two cousins. When they came into the room, they were so reluctant. After greeting me, they just stood there like two wooden stakes, not moving at all.
They didn't want to do anything. Say a word to them and they'd start crying, as if they'd suffered a great injustice. They don't look like descendants of the Bai family at all!"
Bai Zheng smiled faintly, seemingly oblivious, and sipped her tea on her own.
Bai Yizhang glanced at her and became even more annoyed. He raised his voice even louder. "I asked them to come to the General's Mansion to attend to the patient. Standing there doing nothing, what kind of a sight is that? Do they think they're here to enjoy themselves? They're just good - for - nothing people who can't be put in the spotlight!"
Bai Zheng smiled as if she couldn't hear Bai Yizhang's veiled insults. She put down the teacup in her hand and replied lightly.
"Uncle, why get angry with them? The two cousins have grown up in the inner chambers since childhood, rarely going out. How could they have seen such a sordid situation? They must have been frightened. It's not necessarily that they were deliberately not attending to the patient well."
Who are you calling sordid!
Bai Yizhang finally couldn't bear it anymore. Choked by her words, he immediately couldn't catch his breath and coughed violently. "You! Cough, cough, cough..."
Seeing this, Bai Zheng quickly put on a concerned look and asked, "Uncle, what's wrong? Don't choke yourself."
"Water... Cough, cough, cough... Water... Cough, cough, cough..." Bai Yizhang said while coughing.
The two maids who were massaging his legs looked at each other, then both turned their heads to look at Bai Zheng.
One of the purple - dressed maids saw that although Bai Zheng was saying words of comfort, she didn't move at all. So she immediately said, "Third Miss, the General wants to drink water!"
"Oh," Bai Zheng nodded and replied. "Then you go and get it quickly."
The purple - dressed maid's face immediately looked a bit ugly. She frowned and said, "The maids are all busy. There's no one else in the room. We'll have to trouble the Third Miss."
The blue - dressed maid on the other side even tilted her head towards the small table with the teapot beside Bai Zheng and added, "Look! The water is right beside the Miss."
Bai Zheng looked at the two maids who were "busy" massaging Bai Yizhang's legs and couldn't spare a hand to help, as well as Bai Yizhang, who was coughing so hard that his face was flushed and looked extremely painful. She said embarrassedly,
"Uncle just told me to sit here and rest. If I get up without permission, wouldn't I be going against Uncle's order?"