The fool has become a spirit, and she can speak

Chapter 1734 The Ginseng is Missing a Root

Liu Dalan's face darkened. "You're going to eat this old ginseng!"

"Mom, you eat so much every day, what's wrong with me eating one? You're willing to give this to my sister-in-law, are you really unwilling to give it to me?"

Liu Dalan looked at her own bowl of bland soup, then at the chicken in the lotus root bowl, and cursed, "You ungrateful wretch!"

He Bao, while munching on chicken, retorted, "Mom, don't eat anything too oily, or you'll have endless diarrhea."

Liu Dalan angrily threw down her chopsticks.

The next day, Su Aixiu, despite her frail body, got up to prepare medicine for Liu Dalan and handed it to her, saying, "Mother, take your medicine!"

The illness struck like a landslide; Su Aixiu's face turned terribly pale, and she could barely stand, feeling as if she might collapse to the ground at any moment.

Liu Dalan said, "You don't need to do any of the housework anymore. Let Cu Mei and He Bao do it."

He Bao, who was applying medicine to her face in front of the mirror, immediately slammed the medicine bottle on the table. "Mother, are these the kind of hands I use for working? I'm going to marry into a wealthy family. How can you bear to let me do housework?"

"Just do what I tell you to do, and stop talking nonsense!"

"Mother, when have you ever been so good to my sister-in-law!"

"She's carrying my grandson." Liu Dalan wasn't heartbroken for Su Aixiu; she was heartbroken for the child in Su Aixiu's belly.

He Bao had no one but herself in her heart. Whenever her mother mentioned her grandson, she would fly into a rage, "Grandson, grandson, mother, all you think about is your grandson. What use is a grandson?"

Liu Dalan was annoyed and said to Su Aixiu, who was unsteady on her feet, "Go back to your room and rest during your pregnancy."

"Yes, by the way, Mother, don't let Cu Mei make soup with your tonics."

He Bao immediately sensed something was wrong and jumped up, "Did Mother have that lowly servant make soup for you again this morning?"

Su Aixiu was surprised and stood there stunned. She thought He Bao knew about the soup from that morning. Then she saw He Bao shouting loudly.

"Mother, are you out of your mind? You're giving those expensive medicinal herbs to my sister-in-law? Does she deserve it?"

Liu Dalan also got angry: "Am I giving it to her to drink? I'm giving it to my grandson. Hebao, stop yelling here. Go out and do some work. Wash the sheets that were changed this morning."

"I'm not going. Why should I do the work? The good food goes to my sister-in-law. Since she eats the good food, then let her do the work." He Bao loves to eat and is lazy. She can't bear to eat less of the good food, but she can't bear to do more work.

But Liu Dalan will always be Liu Dalan. Even if she's paralyzed, she still has ways to threaten Hebao: "I think you don't want to get married!"

"mother!"

"If you don't want to be an old maid for the rest of your life, then go and do some work!"

He Bao finally shut her mouth and angrily rushed outside to fetch water to wash Liu Dalan's bed sheets.

Liu Dalan looked at Su Aixiu and said, "Go back and rest! This is a son, you must keep him!"

"Yes!" Su Aixiu knew that Liu Dalan favored boys over girls. Just because her first child was a daughter, Liu Dalan often scolded her daughter Xinhe as a money-loser and was quite dissatisfied with her, often calling her useless. Seeing how much Liu Dalan valued the baby boy in her belly, she didn't dare to be negligent. However, she still did the housework. Because Hebao was lazy and often pushed the work onto the servant Cumei, Cumei would eventually complain and confide in Su Aixiu.

Within three days, He Bao started causing trouble. While washing clothes in the yard, she used a stick to beat the bed sheets and blankets loudly, making it impossible for Su Aixiu to rest in bed. Only after Su Aixiu came out did He Bao put down the stick and say irritably, "Sister-in-law, with so much work to do at home, how can you just lie in bed in peace?"

Su Aixiu was furious. "Little sister, I've only not worked for a few days, and you're already mocking me like this. In the past, what chores in this house weren't my responsibility?"

He Bao was unreasonable. "How dare you talk about the past! Did you empty Mother's chamber pot in the past? If you're filial, take over that job. There's no chores like washing clothes that are harder than the chores inside Mother's house."

Su Aixiu is diligent; lying in bed all day is not her intention. "I've done that kind of work before. If you don't want to do it anymore, then I'll do it!"

Just as He Bao was happily handing over the dirty work to Su Aixiu, Liu Dalan called her from inside the house.

Su Aixiu could hear the lotus buds bursting forth from inside the courtyard, their loud cries enough to shake open the roof.

Su Aixiu had no choice but to wash the bed sheets and blankets that were only half-washed.

After Cu Mei brought the vegetables back, Su Aixiu went to the kitchen to help.

"Young Madam, the Old Madam wants you to rest in bed and take care of your pregnancy. That doctor said you're too weak to do any work. Young Madam, a mother's status depends on her son, so you must take good care of yourself! Your mother-in-law and sister-in-law are not kind people; how will you live without a son?"

Su Aixiu shook her head helplessly, "Don't I want to have a baby? Listen to what He Bao is saying!"

When Cu Mei entered the courtyard, she heard it, but she didn't understand what was causing the commotion. "Young Madam, why is Miss He Bao making such a fuss?"

"Because she doesn't want to work."

Cu Mei pouted, "Young Madam, your sister-in-law is really lazy, but it's time for her to do some work."

Su Aixiu shook her head: "When she's working, the whole family is never at peace! Hey? Cu Mei, are the ginseng and other herbs all here?"

"Yes, they're all here."

"Aren't they available elsewhere?"

Cu Mei put down the vegetables she was holding and came over. "What's wrong, young mistress? Is something wrong? This ginseng has been here all along. Only you and I have been brewing the medicine every day. I haven't touched it!"

At this point, Su Aixiu began counting them one by one, "Ten are missing."

"Ten sticks?" Cu Mei panicked. "Young Madam, my hands and feet are clean, I have never touched the master's things."

Su Aixiu comforted Cu Mei, saying, "Don't panic, I know you didn't take it!"

"Then where did the ginseng go?"

"It must have been my sister-in-law. I'm going to find her." Su Aixiu hurried to the main room, where only Liu Dalan was. "Mother, where's Hebao?"

Liu Dalan was extremely annoyed. "What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay in the house and rest during your pregnancy? If anything goes wrong with this pregnancy, I'll have Tiezhu divorce you."

Su Aixiu felt wronged, but she had to tell her about the ginseng: "Mother, ten ginseng roots are missing from the house."

Liu Dalan wasn't stupid; the only person who dared to touch her ginseng was He Bao. "Go ask He Bao," she said.

Su Aixiu searched every corner of the house but couldn't find her. She had no choice but to go to Liu Dalan's room again. "Mother, Hebao isn't home. I think she probably took the ginseng to the street to exchange for money. We can't catch her now. She can sell these ten ginseng roots for at least a hundred taels of silver. But what will Mother use for medicine next month?"