Chapter 470 - Chapter 470: Chapter 457: Incense Burner (1/2)

Chapter 470: Chapter 457: Incense Burner

“Instruct the servants below as well, never let them leak the news of Manager Zhuang’s visit for treatment. We can’t let others know that Manager Zhuang has medical skills,” said Cheng Ruize.

Upon hearing these words, Fang Hou’s eyes widened instantly.

It took a while for him to come back to his senses, and then he gave Cheng Ruize a thumbs up, “Young Master, you are indeed brilliant. Just now, Manager Zhuang also told me to keep this matter secret, and even asked me to tell you about it. But before I could even utter a word, you already knew about it.”

“Young Master, how did you acquire this skill of foresight?”

“There’s no foresight, it’s just that Manager Zhuang has never mentioned his medical skills before. Even the prescription for the mosquito repellent herbs was said to be gained by coincidence. It seems that Manager Zhuang doesn’t want to advertise his medical skills too much,” Cheng Ruize explained.

So that’s how it is.

His young master will always be his young master.

Exceptionally intelligent and heroic.

Fang Hou began to grin from ear to ear.

“Young Master, you should rest for a while. Sitting for too long like this can also be tiresome. It’s better to lie down, even if you can’t sleep, it’s good to rest,” said Fang Hou, picking up the soft pillow from behind Cheng Ruize.

“Manager Zhuang said that the medicine would make me sleepy; it seems to be true. I’ll sleep for a bit.”

Cheng Ruize laid down and said, “I’ve been sick these past few days and haven’t been able to offer incense sticks. Can you help me with this? Consider it as a reassurance to Aunt An.”

“I’ll go right away.”

After settling Cheng Ruize and seeing that he seemed to have fallen asleep, Fang Hou quietly closed the door, instructed a handy boy to watch over, and then went to the small ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall housed the memorial tablet of Mrs. An, Cheng Ruize’s mother.

Mrs. An died in childbirth when she had Cheng Ruize. In theory, Mrs. An, as a concubine, should have her tablet placed in the Cheng family’s ancestral hall. However, Mrs. Cheng felt that Mrs. An passed away too early and never saw Cheng Ruize. Cheng Ruize also never got to express his gratitude for Aunt An’s grace of giving birth to him. So, she let Cheng Ruize keep the tablet with him, so he could offer incense and worship daily. At least he could fulfill his filial piety. Every New Year, they would take back the tablet and put it with the rest for people to worship.

Thus, Cheng Ruize lit a stick of incense every morning and if he had spare time, he would recite a passage of scripture and chat in front of Mrs. An’s tablet.

You could say that this has become a habit.

While Cheng Ruize was ill in these few days, this routine was disrupted.

Before entering the small ancestral hall, Fang Hou changed into clean clothes. He opened the door and first kowtowed a few times on behalf of Cheng Ruize, “Aunt An, Third young master’s illness has significantly improved. Don’t worry. It’s just that he is still not fully recovered and can’t offer incense and kowtow to you himself. So, I am here to soothe your spirit and offer a stick of incense.”

After explaining, Fang Hou took the incense from the side, lit it with a match, respectfully bowed down again, stood up, and was about to insert it into the incense burner.

Just as he lowered his head, Fang Hou paused.

This incense burner, he remembered because Cheng Ruize accidentally dropped it while cleaning the ashes from it, causing a small chip on the edge.

Fang Hou originally suggested to replace it with a new one, but Cheng Ruize said that this incense burner has been used for a long time and has served Aunt An for so long. It’s just a tiny chip, there’s no need to mind it so much, so they continued to use it.

The incense burner in front of his eyes didn’t have this chip.

Obviously, this was a brand-new incense burner.

Usually, only Fang Hou and Cheng Ruize would clean and replace offerings in the little ancestral hall, other servants have not been in there. Why replace it with a new incense burner that’s exactly the same as the previous one in so much detail, so as to not attract attention?

But why, why would someone do so…

Cheng Ruize has always been kind and gentle to his servants, and was forgiving for mistakes and clumsy accidents. So, it was improbable that someone would accidentally break the incense burner and not dare to speak out.