Zhao Hanzhang resignedly opened her arms to embrace Zhao Erlang, patting his back to console him.
It was a long while before Zhao Erlang slowly stopped crying, timidly opening his eyes to look at Zhao Hanzhang, "You..."
He looked at her suspiciously, "Are you my sister?"
Zhao Hanzhang was surprised inside but remained composed, "I don't remember, but they say I am."
She looked Zhao Erlang up and down, and said: "I seem to have seen you in my memories, vaguely recalling last year when you stood on the fake mountain in the garden and peed into the wind, ending up peeing on someone else's head?"
Mrs. Wang coughed violently, "That was two years ago, Third Lady, you remembered it wrong. Back then, your brother was still young..."
But Zhao Erlang didn't blush. In his limited memory, he also remembered this incident. He became happy and nodded vigorously, "Yes, that was me. Because of that, my sister chased me down two streets with a whip and caught me for a good beating."
He instinctively reached out to touch his butt, feeling a bit wronged, "It hurt a lot."
Zhao Hanzhang: "…Does it still hurt now?"
Zhao Erlang nodded.
Zhao Hanzhang reached out and poked his knee, "What about here?"
Zhao Erlang hissed in pain, his face contorted in discomfort, and he couldn't help but withdraw backward.
Mrs. Wang looked on with great distress.
Zhao Hanzhang withdrew her finger and instructed Ting He, "Go tidy up the side room and let Erlang stay here. Send someone out of the residence to get a doctor. His legs need proper treatment after kneeling for so long, lest they get damaged."
Ting He agreed.
Mrs. Wang hesitantly said, "Although Erlang's mind is young, he is not that young in age. Isn't it inappropriate for him to stay in your courtyard?"
"Who would say anything? He's staying in the side room, not in the same room," Zhao Hanzhang said. "Having just experienced such an incident, I wouldn't be at ease letting him stay in the front courtyard. Let him stay here with me."
Mrs. Wang also feared he might be led astray and make mistakes again, so she agreed as soon as Zhao Hanzhang persuaded her.
Zhao Erlang covered his sore knees with both hands, confirming, "You are my sister!"
Only his sister would poke his sore spots like that.
Zhao Hanzhang looked at him with a complicated expression, not knowing whether to praise his cleverness or call him foolish.
Though he was suspicious, how could he trust her so easily?
Zhao Erlang settled down in Qingyi Pavilion, and the head of the Zhao Family, Zhao Changyu, said nothing. Even if others had objections, they could only hold them back. But Eldest Sister Zhao was still kneeling in the ancestral hall.
The usually unshakable senior members of the second branch were also feeling unsettled.
At dinner time in the evening, the people from the second branch came together, except for her unseen granduncle.
As soon as the dishes were placed on the table, Zhao Hanzhang comfortably had herself moved to the table. Just as she sat down, a servant came in to report, "Second Lady, Third Lady, the Master and Eldest Lady have brought Second Young Mistress and Fourth Young Mistress to visit Third Lady."
Zhao Hanzhang turned to look at Mrs. Wang.
Mrs. Wang put down her chopsticks, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and said, "Let them in."
If only Second Young Mistress and Fourth Young Mistress came over, they could have easily used their previous excuse not to see them. But now that the elders were coming, they couldn't just shut the door on them.
Mrs. Wang sat at the table waiting, while Zhao Erlang seized the moment to stuff food into his mouth, then obediently placed his hands on his knees and sat properly, showing he had been taught manners.
Zhao Ji entered with his wife and daughters, with Mrs. Wang reluctantly rising with Zhao Erlang to greet them.
Only Zhao Hanzhang remained steadily seated on the couch due to her leg injury, unmoving and unfazed.
As Zhao Ji came in, he immediately saw her. His eyes fixated on her, meeting Zhao Hanzhang's curious gaze.
Zhao Hanzhang unabashedly scrutinized Zhao Ji, audaciously looked at his wife, then shifted her gaze to the two young girls behind him.
Zhao Ji was startled by her gaze; this unfamiliar scrutiny...
Zhao Ji furrowed his brow slightly, could it be she truly lost her memory?
As she observed the family of four, Zhao Hanzhang slowly matched them with people in her memory. The sudden rush of memories was so overwhelming that it made her head feel like it was splitting apart, causing her face to turn slightly pale, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
Zhao Ji, watching her, was the first to notice something wrong. He was taken aback for a moment before hurriedly asking, "Third Lady, what's wrong?"
Ting He also noticed, hurrying forward to support Zhao Hanzhang, anxiously asking, "Third Lady, is your head hurting again?"
This bit of pain was nothing to Zhao Hanzhang; she could endure it, but...
Meeting Zhao Ji's scrutinizing and suspicious gaze, Zhao Hanzhang thought, why should she endure it?
Thus, she released the floodgates of her memory, allowing the memories and emotions that surged upon seeing them to engulf her. Her face turned ashen like snow, cold sweat streamed from her forehead, and she suddenly vomited...
This intense reaction didn't seem like something that could be faked.
Zhao Ji felt uneasy. He had thought Zhao Hanzhang was pretending to have amnesia to have their second branch punished by their uncle, but now it seemed she truly had lost her memory.
Zhao Hanzhang vomited for quite a while, causing a commotion among the maidservants in the room. Once the memories in her mind slightly calmed, she lifted her head to look at Zhao Ji's family of four but saw Zhao Yi coming in from behind them. She immediately shifted her focus, pointing a trembling finger at Zhao Yi, "You, you, I remember you..."
Before she could finish the sentence, she tilted her head and fainted.
Zhao Yi, Zhao Dalang, Zhao Ji's only son at the moment, was far better to face than his two daughters.
Having dropped the bomb, Zhao Hanzhang was content to feign fainting.
Mrs. Wang, unaware of the truth, was shocked to see her daughter faint. She rushed forward to hold her, "Third Lady, Third Lady, what's happening to you? Quick, call a doctor..."
Ting He was also terrified; she dashed to run out but was caught by Qing Gu, "Quickly ask Master to have the Imperial Physician come, outside doctors won't do."
Ting He complied, turning to run outside.
Seeing his sister faint, Zhao Erlang was also frightened. With Mrs. Wang's shout, tears welled up, and he squeezed in to tightly hold one of Zhao Hanzhang's hands, feeling more and more that her face looked deathly pale, just like the dead person he saw a few days ago, and couldn't help but wail and cry, "Sister, Sister..."
Mrs. Wang had initially held it together, but when her son started crying, she too was overwhelmed with grief, hugging Zhao Hanzhang and sobbing.
Zhao Hanzhang: …
She couldn't help but use her other hand to scratch Mrs. Wang's palm, but Mrs. Wang, engrossed in her sobbing, didn't feel it, so Zhao Hanzhang had to give a pinch.
Mrs. Wang: …
She came to her senses, looked down at her daughter with tears, and saw Zhao Hanzhang slightly opening her eyes. After meeting her gaze, she quickly shut them tightly again.
Understanding the signal, Mrs. Wang's sobs grew louder, and the servants in the room, hearing the crying, felt grief and began to sob quietly as well.
Only Qing Gu remained functional, instructing people to fetch hot water, find the medicine for Third Lady, and send someone to the gate to watch for the doctor…
Zhao Ji and his family were suddenly frozen in place, and the chaos and sorrow in the room seemed to entirely sidestep them. In anyone's eyes, this scene could be interpreted as the second branch coming to bully the widowed and orphaned of the first branch.
The second branch members, having said just one sentence upon entering the room: …