After dinner, Jin Yu ordered medicine for Su Xi, pleased to see him drink it. Noticing Su Xi had lost weight in just a few days, she felt he needed more nourishment.
Later, a servant led Xiao Lian to a side room. Su Xi rested in Jin Yu’s arms, reflecting on the steward’s words and the opinions of Xiao Wu and Xiao Zhou. Initially worried about being at the Jin residence, he felt reassured that Jin Yu didn’t dislike him and would treat him well.
As Jin Yu held Su Xi while he slept, she caressed his waist and squeezed his buttocks, determined to make him eat more tomorrow.
Jin Yu’s emotions were mixed.
She wanted Su Xi to have a child but thought he was too young, perhaps they should wait two more years. She also wished he had a child earlier, so their child would be about one year old now, and they would have been married.
The night passed quietly, with Jin Yu holding Su Xi as they slept.
Xiao Lian lay on a soft bed, covered in silk blankets, warm but restless. He was troubled about how to ask Jin Yu for a gift. Eventually, overcome by sleepiness, he fell asleep, his small body nestled in the blankets.
Suxi and Xiao Lian were tidying up at the Meiren House when they heard uncomfortable gossip. He had been at the Jin residence for less than two days, yet such terrible rumors were already spreading.
“What’s attractive about this skinny little widower that he could captivate the Jin family master? Isn’t he just a seductress…”
“A lowly secret prostitute actually climbing up to high branches, entering the Jin residence, and I hear he’s quite favored, even living in the family master’s main room…”
“You don’t know, if he hadn’t gotten pregnant, how could a lowly secret prostitute ever enter the Jin family’s doors…”
“I heard he got pregnant through fertility medicine, personally given to him by the Jin family master.”
