He had been hit!
Slapped by Ye Yunniang!!
Jiang Mingzhe was utterly shocked that Ye Yunniang had struck him.
After striking him, Ye Yunniang felt incredibly panicked. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Yuanyuan.
She tucked the little blanket around Yuanyuan, gently patted his belly, and coaxed him to sleep.
Ye Yunniang turned her head to look at the dazed Jiang Mingzhe.
"Jiang Mingzhe, have you cald down? We are Yuanyuan's parents. If he's been bullied, we can't panic, and we can't just focus on blaming ourselves. We need to find out who hurt him. My Yuanyuan will not suffer in vain."
Ye Yunniang sniffled, holding back the tears that were about to well up.
Jiang Mingzhe snapped back to reality, suppressing all his panic and dismay.
"You're right. No matter who hurt Yuanyuan, I won't let them get away with it."
Ye Yunniang gave a muffled "Mhm," keeping her voice low.
"Master, Madam, Doctor Xiao is here."
"Let him in."
As Doctor Xiao entered, Jiang Mingzhe and Ye Yunniang reigned in their emotions.
Doctor Xiao examined Yuanyuan and concluded that the mark was not caused by soone pinching him.
"Not a pinch? How is that possible?" Ye Yunniang didn't believe it.
Having raised three children, Ye Yunniang knew exactly what accidental bumps and bruises looked like.
The bruise on Yuanyuan's thigh was linear with clear boundaries.
It looked exactly like a pinch mark.
"Let the doctor finish speaking first," Jiang Mingzhe said, gently holding down the agitated Ye Yunniang.
"Madam is observant; the boundary of the bruise is indeed clear. However, you missed one detail. Human fingernails are curved, so a bruise from a pinch would have an arc. The young master's bruise is straight, there is no broken skin typical of a pinch, and there is slight subcutaneous swelling..."
The doctor explained in detail the differences between a pinch and an impact injury, finally arriving at his diagnosis.
Yuanyuan had bumped into sothing like the corner of a table, resulting in a collision injury.
Now, the question was whether it was an accidental bump or if soone did it on purpose.
"Let have a look." Gu Cundong, who had drunk too much and hadn't gone ho, rushed over after receiving the news.
Gu Cundong's diagnosis matched the doctor's.
Gu Cundong also recalled that during the day, when he was holding Yuanyuan and chatting with others, his movents had been a bit exaggerated. Both Yuanyuan and his own arm had bumped into the corner of a table.
Gu Cundong rolled up his sleeve, revealing a large bruise on his own arm.
It all made sense now. The bruise on Yuanyuan's thigh was from an accidental collision.
It was a false alarm.
Ye Yunniang's body went limp.
Jiang Mingzhe caught Ye Yunniang in his arms. "Imperial Physician Gu, please take a look at my wife."
Gu Cundong checked her pulse. "She's just emotionally overwheld. She will be fine after resting for a bit."
After seeing off the doctor and Gu Cundong, they had the wet nurse carry Yuanyuan back to his room.
Only the couple remained in the room, having finally cald down.
Thinking back on the events of the day, the two burst into laughter.
After laughing, Ye Yunniang leaned into Jiang Mingzhe's embrace.
"From now on, let's not scare ourselves."
"Alright."
"With you backing up, I'm not afraid of anything."
In other matters, Ye Yunniang could be timid. But when it ca to her children, she was incredibly strong.
Jiang Mingzhe was the exact opposite; he feared nothing except matters concerning the children.
The two complented each other perfectly.
The next day, the rest of the Jiang family found out about Yuanyuan's injury.
The family's heartache made Yuanyuan sluggishly realize that he was injured.
With teary eyes, he broke the hearts of his grandmother, young aunt, and older brothers who ca to see him.
Glaring daggers were thrown at Gu Cundong as if they cost nothing.
Gu Cundong believed that if looks could kill, he would have already been sliced into a thousand pieces.
Ye Yunniang couldn't bear to watch anymore and urged the children to go about their own business.
"Pingping, you need to go look at the new shop with Wen Nuan. Don't make your Auntie Wen Nuan wait for you."
"An'an, you are supposed to go help your senior brother at the Chu Family Pharmacy today. Go early, don't be late."
"Shushu, didn't you promise your sister to go buy hair flowers today? It's ti to go to Prince Jing's Manor to pick her up."
"Mother, you made an appointnt with Princess Yanping to visit the Matchmaker's Shrine."
The people called out by Ye Yunniang rembered what they had to do today, gave Yuanyuan a hug, and left.
In the end, the only one left at ho was Li Pan, who was preparing for his exams.
With Jiang Mingzhe's status as an Earl, he could recomnd one person to study at the Imperial Academy.
Although it was a recomndation, an assessnt was still required.
Li Pan wanted to study at the Imperial Academy, and more importantly, he didn't want to embarrass his parents.
So he studied hard for the exam.
"Mother, I'm going to read." Without needing Ye Yunniang to say anything, Li Pan put Yuanyuan down to go study.
Yuanyuan was unhappy, reaching out his hands and babbling "Ah, ah, ah..." demanding Li Pan to hold him.
"Play with your little brother for a while." Ye Yunniang stuffed Yuanyuan into Li Pan's arms, telling him to play with the toddler for a bit instead of constantly staring at his books.
"What ti did you read until last night?"
"I only read for a little while." Ye Yunniang didn't believe Li Pan's words.
"Your 'little while'. Was it eleven at night or midnight?"
"It wasn't that late, just around ten," Li Pan defended himself.
"Pan'er, you are still young. Not getting enough sleep is bad for your health. You wouldn't want your three younger brothers to grow up tall and strapping like your father, while you end up short like , would you? You won't even be able to find a wife in the future."
Following Ye Yunniang's words, Li Pan imagined himself growing up to be short and small, standing next to three strong and robust younger brothers.
He shook his head. He definitely didn't want that.
"Mother, I will sleep early from now on."
"Never mind 'from now on', you need to start sleeping early tonight. I'll have Qingyuan keep an eye on you."
The Qingyuan Ye Yunniang ntioned was a young servant boy assigned to Li Pan by Jiang Mingzhe to take care of his daily needs.
Leaving Yuanyuan with Li Pan, Ye Yunniang took Qiushuang to pack, directing the servants to organize their luggage.
The Suyan Earl's Manor rewarded by the Emperor would be ready to move into in another month, so the household items had to be slowly sorted and packed into boxes.
Speaking of the Suyan Earl's Manor, Jiang Mingzhe had complained to Ye Yunniang in private more than once about how stingy the Emperor was.
The bestowed Earl's Manor was dilapidated, overgrown with weeds, and covered in puddles of filthy water.
The officials from the Ministry of Works had co to inspect it and suggested that tearing it down and rebuilding it from scratch would be the fastest option.
Jiang Mingzhe had no choice but to write an IOU to Li Ping, borrowing four hundred thousand taels of silver from him just to renovate the Suyan Earl's Manor.
As the couple grew more familiar with each other, Ye Yunniang discovered another little quirk of Jiang Mingzhe's.
He loved to grumble and complain.
In the past, having no one he could trust, he would just complain in his heart.
Now, before going to bed, Jiang Mingzhe's favorite thing to do was complain a bit to Ye Yunniang.
His most frequent targets of complaint were the Emperor and his sons.
In Ye Yunniang's mind, the Emperor was stingy, petty, and loved to put on airs.
The princes had huge tempers, were full of sches, and were completely out of touch with the struggles of commoners.
Jiang Mingzhe's complaints significantly diminished Ye Yunniang's sense of awe and reverence for the royal family.
Listening to him, it sounded like they were just like any ordinary family, filled with their own fair share of drama and disputes.
Ye Yunniang would also occasionally complain to Jiang Mingzhe about the bizarre things she encountered during the day.
Through this, the couple's relationship grew better and better.
"Father and Mother are really becoming more and more alike." This was Li Ping's own complaint about the two of them.
Li Pan and Li An didn't say anything, but they shared the exact sa sentint.
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