by Ning er
Xia mama unhurriedly narrated the story in its entirety. When Wang mama heard it, her heart became more and more terrified and once Xia mama had finished talking, Wang mama's forehead was already drenched in cold sweat, her face was pale and powerless, her eyes stared straight at Xia mama as if she had seen a ghost. Seeing the lifeless right leg now, familiar fragments of memory flashed in her mind and she asked with a tone of uncertainty, "You are… Xia mama?"
Hearing the question, Xia mama's withered face finally gave a smile as she happily responded, "So Wang mama has finally recognized me."
Upon the confirmation of her suspicions, Wang mama's legs suddenly went soft, and she fell to the ground, frightening the yatou as they quickly went to help her up. Wang mama was like a puddle of mud as she leaned onto a yatou's shoulders. Her eyes stared at Xia mama with great apprehension and her lips lips trembled as she asked, "You're not dead? And, also not crazy?"
Xia mama laughed, even Ying Xia and Yuan Dong who were standing beside her laughed. After some time, Xia mama suppressed the smile on her face. With both hands grabbing the armrests of the couch, she leaned forward with all her strength, facing Wang mama as she said, "You and your master must be disappointed to see me. Right now, I will re-enter xiangfu, and your good days will come to an end."
When she finished, Xia mama reclined back onto the soft couch. Ying Xia covered her body with a blanket and instructed the servants to carry Xia mama to Qi Luo Yuan. She and Yuan Dong then stepped into the horse carriage again, carefully supporting the injured Ying Qiu. The last few of them, together with Mi mama, stepped into the main gate of xiangfu without glancing back at Wang mama.
It was as if Wang mama had lost her soul, leaning on a yatou's body, her face was as pale as a sheet and her whole body trembled uncontrollably, while the yatou beside her had no idea what had actually happened.
"Mama, that was only a cripple, why are you so afraid of her?" the yatou sneered after witnessing the usually tyrannical Wang mama being intimidated by a dying old woman.
'Afraid?' unexpectedly, she was slapped due to her ignorance.
Afterwhich everyone saw Wang mama stand up straight. Staring at them all with an ominous glint in her eyes, she fiercely remarked, "If furen were to learn about everything that happened today, I will peel off all your skin, and even your parents will all be damned."
Having regained her senses, Wang mama's very first reaction was to make sure Su Qing did not learn about this matter; at least not before Su Qing gave birth. She would keep the matter of Xia mama being alive, or else Su Qing might become anxious and that would surely affect the unborn child, then their lives would certainly be in danger.
Those yatou originally thought that they were lucky to be following Wang mama out of the fu for an errand, yet unexpectedly it caused them misfortune. For a moment, they were unable to utter any words due to fear, and could only persistently nod their heads, becoming even more fearful of Wang mama.
"Move, let's go to Su fu!" Wang mama straightened herself and got into the horse carriage with the support of some of the yatou.
In Su fu, for these past few months, Su Yuan had become more fond of Pan Lan when he found out that she was quite clever and thoughtful. She never felt jealous or got angry like his first wife did when he went over to spend the night with his other concubines. Pan Lan had gained Su Yuan's favor unmatched by anybody, she even seized the main wife's power of managing the entire household, as full authority was handed over to Pan Lan.
As a result, Su furen harbored ill feelings towards Su Qing who had sent Pan Lan over to Su Yuan. When Wang mama dropped in to invite her over, she naturally would not treat Wang mama nicely.
"Yiniang wanted to invite me to take care of her after she gives birth?" she asked Wang mama in a cold tone. Su furen's hands were holding embroidery tools, one hand threading a needle, while the other hand checked the pattern on the table.
Wang mama was secretly disgusted at Su furen's behavior, though her face still wore a smile as trying to anticipate the desired response, she sweetly said, "Madame is the honorable sister-in-law of our yiniang, naturally she would invite her own family to feel at ease."
After saying these words, Wang mama secretly cursed this Su furen. When Su Qing had married into xiangfu, how could such ignorant childish woman be able to easily assume the position as the lady of a Government Minister? It would be fine if she were ungrateful only now, but picking up such a nasty attitude was truly irritating. No wonder the Government Minister never entered her room these days. This kind of woman with such a mean face would never be able to gain favor from her husband.
"Own family? I fail to understand at this point then, though we are family, yiniang still managed to squeeze in another person for her own brother's family? What kind of good intention did she harbor? Besides, that Pan Lan has adequately served her husband. She's such clever and quick-witted person, yiniang really trains her people well, surely she retained quite a lot of for herself, why would she want a clumsy person like me to go over there and be a hindrance?" Madame Su threw away the embroidery tools in her hands, exposing a cold smile on her face as she looked at Wang mama, only to find that this old servant had became increasingly arrogant. She stood in the territory of Su fu, yet she still displays her attitude as if she were in xiangfu.
Wang mama understood Su furen's thoughts, but at this moment Xia mama had reappeared at Yun Qian Meng's side. If Su Qing were unable to seek additional support for her side, then sooner or later they would be swallowed up by Yun Qian Meng. In the end, no matter how much she gets discriminated here at Su fu today, she must invite Su furen over to xiangfu.
"What are you trying to say, sister? Since Su yiniang and our husband are siblings, then naturally they are part of the family. You were our husband's original wife, I am originally a yatou of Su yiniang. In other words, we live as part of the Su family, and die as part of the Su family. How could you separate yourself so clearly like that, sister? Moreover, if you have anger in your heart, just vent it out on me, please don't vent your anger at Wang mama. It has already been quite tiring for mama to serve Su yiniang, if by chance you made a mistake, it will be difficult for you to justify yourself in front of xiangye. Am I right, sister?" Pan Lan, wearing a pink skirt, entered as she led a few middle aged women in.
When Su furen saw Pan Lan's pretty and smiling face, her expression immediately turned ugly. She pinched the embroidery needle so hard that it pierced through her own finger, in an instant, a bead of blood appeared on the tip of her index finger, frightening Wang mama as she immediately took out her own clean handkerchief, and carefully wrapped the finger with it, regretfully said, "Madame, you should be careful, soft skin and tender flesh shouldn't suffer from such sin."
"Sister, you have quite a lot of free time today. Hearing of Wang mama's arrival, you quickly came running to my room." Seeing how Wang mama clinging to her, Su furen's mood somewhat lightened a bit, but when she faced Pan Lan, her expression was still as ugly as before.
Pan Lan did not argue further, and her face still wore a smile. Then, without any prompting Pan Lan started to introduce the people she had brought with her, "Furen, you are a kind hearted person, how would you abandon yiniang? As a humble servant, I have already followed master's instructions and found a few of the best midwives in the capital to guarantee yiniang's safe delivery of a son."
Pan Lan waved her hands to present three sincere-looking middle aged midwives to step forward to pay their respects to Su furen. Afterwhich, she had the remaining two step forward, then she explained,"These are the two wet nurses that I have prepared for the young master, you must take them along with you to xiangfu. We still have around one month's time before yiniang's delivery date, mama must maintain the wet nurses' health, in order for them to supply the baby with healthy milk."
Hearing these instructions from Pan Lan carefully spoken, the existing suspicion that Wang mama harbored in her heart immediately disappeared, replaced by a smile as she nodde
d in agreement.
Since Pan Lan had already prepared everything, Su furen did not dare to refuse, because she would be unable to justify herself in front of Su Yuan. With a gloomy expression, she commanded the yatou to prepare some food, then hopped into the horse carriage prepared by xiangfu together with Wang mama.
Pan Lan looked as the people left, and the smile on her face gradually faded. One thing she still could not understand was that even with such a good opportunity, why did xiaojie want her to explain everything properly? If they were to mess up the diet of the two wet nurses, then would that not allow them to secretly eliminate the child?
Su furen was still a clever person, although she was hostile towards Wang mama at Su fu, but when they arrived at xiangfu, she passionately tended to Su Qing's needs. And the two of them even chatting heartily during their leisure time, making Su Qing's tensed heart relax a bit.
Meanwhile, Wang mama has been somewhat preoccupied since she met Xia mama, whom she thought long dead. After Xia mama had re-entered xiangfu, Wang mama became more vigilant with those yatou or or old women who tried to discuss the addition of a handicap in the fu in Su Qing's presence of Su Qing. She also became overly suspicious of everything, and making quite a lot of mistakes in front of Su Qing.
Su Qing was deeply worried that her child might not be a boy, and unintentionally heard Wang mama seizing a few yatou, threatening them with a warning. She was quite suspicious about it, so when Wang mama had gone to tend to the laundry, she called out all the yatou before her, to try to inquire what was really going on.
But those yatou who had suffered from Wang mama's threats were quite scared and refused to tell Su Qing the truth. They just remained silent and pretended not to know anything about it.
In the end, Su Qing ran out of patience and grabbed a teacup, throwing it towards a yatou's head as she shouted in anger, "As it turns out, since I am going to give birth, all of you disregard me as your master now? Taking advantage to conceal something from me, why are you all covering the matter? Is there something that you are not allowed to tell me? If you are not going to tell me today, I will immediately have a broker take you all away, or else I'm just going to feel annoyed looking at all of you."
Having heard of her intentions to sell them all to a broker, a few yatou suddenly got scared out of their wits. The one who was hit by the teacup was the first one to kneel onto the ground, her eyes full of tears as she begged, "Please spare our lives, furen, nubi will tell furen everything!"
Seeing that one person had already surrendered, the remaining yatou immediately knelt to the ground. Then all of them started narrating what had happened few days ago, and spoke of its entirety.
"What did you say? Xia mama?" after hearing their stories, Su Qing's originally rosy face immediately turned pale white. With a hand grabbing the brocade tablecloth, she took a harsh breath, then tried to confirmed once again, "Didn't you hear it wrong? Was it really Xia mama?"
The yatou did not dare to keep their silence, hearing Su Qing's question, one by one they nodded their heads in confirmation that they had heard correctly.
Su Qing felt pain in her belly, and cold sweat came out from her forehead. One hand stroking her belly, she continuously reminding herself that it was clearly nothing, she would not be as dumb as Qu Ruo Li. She had already made sufficient preparations for her delivery and she would never fail halfway.
At this moment, Wang mama brought all the clothes in and she saw a few yatou kneeling down on the ground. She took notice of Su Qing's odd expression and immediately realized what had gone wrong. She quickly placed all the clothes onto a table, then stretching out her arms to support Su Qing's body, comforting her, "Furen, please don't worry about this trivial matter, this humble servant will handle everything for you."
Su Qing only coldly laughed and asked, "Mama, if you think that it is just a trivial matter, then why did you hide it from me? You must be frightened by it too! I didn't expect a slut like Yun Qian Meng to be able to find Xia mama, damn it! Those people have received too much benefits from us after all these years, but they had not even be able to kill an old woman, and now expect me to fix this terrible mess they've made."
Seeing Su Qing's strickened expression, Wang mama immediately went over to try to comfort her, continuously consoling her as she said, "Furen, we will discuss these things after you have given birth. Don't get angry right now, it might harm your unborn child. Yun Qian Meng has invited her inside xiangfu, isn't that also part of their plan? Since they are letting us know that they have a witness with them, they are planning to ruin your mood. If you really became angry, then that means you have already fallen into their crafty scheme."
Su Qing suddenly felt that Wang mama's explanation was reasonable, and blamed herself for being frightened after Xia mama's name being mentioned a while ago. She seemed to have lost all her rationality.
Trying hard to calm her mind, Su Qing took a sip of tea, then slowly took a deep breath. "Mama, please make arrangements for Feng He Yuan to strengthen its protections. We shouldn't let Yun Qian Meng's people to infiltrate. As for these coming few days before I give birth, aside from the people from my family and physicians, I refuse to meet any other people."
"Yes!" Su Qing had regained her calm composure, so Wang mama's heart also gradually relaxed.
But, Su Qing only seemed calm on the surface, while her heart was greatly distressed. That night she had a nightmare, dreaming about the miserable appearance of Qu Ruo Li after her son's death, and she also recalled the memory wherein Yun Qian Meng had schemed against her before. She shrieked as she woke up from the nightmare, frightening Wang mama, who then immediately called a physician to examine her that very night. But the physician only made prescriptions to calm her nerves and her unborn child, he did not even inspect her symptoms.
However, after Su Qing took the medicine, her condition did not improve for the better. For a few days she was constantly haunted by nightmares to the point that it alarmed Yun Xuan Zhi. He even went as far as inviting an imperial physician from the Palace over, yet nothing was wrong with the unborn child and the illness was explained as being triggered by her extreme nervousness.
When Yun Qian Meng was eating breakfast, she listened to Mi mama's lively and vivid description, her mouth wore a cold smile. Afterwards, she indifferently remarked, "She cares too much about her unborn child, that's why she worried about her personal gains and losses. If Su Qing was her usual self, how could she fall into this scheme so easily?"
Mi mama listened to Yun Qian Meng's words, then she slightly nodded her head in agreement, yet there was one thing she could not clearly understand, just like Pan Lan. "Why did xiaojie permit Pan Lan to explain everything so well?"
Yun Qian Meng only smiled faintly, after a long moment she slowly explained, "Su Qing will not be so stupid, she will be unlikely to feel reassured towards even a member of her own family. If we take action at this time only for her to detect them, we would only endanger ourselves. Why should we do things more than what is required?"
Besides, whether or not the child could be safely delivered was still unknown. Many others could not bear to see the birth of this child, why should she dirty her own hands?
And during this time, Mu Chun hurriedly rushed inside the reception pavilion, before she could even stand straight, she gasped for breath as wheezed out, "Xiaojie, just now the people in Feng He Yuan were in disarray, they said that Su yiniang is giving birth prematurely…"
Chapter 105: Part 1: Yiniang is Having a Difficult Birth and Mama Reveals Herself | Chu Wang Fei
"Premature? Is she already giving birth?" Yun Qian Meng asked, putting down the bowl in her hands.
"Not yet, xiaojie! But a while ago, some yatou in Feng He Yuan angered Su yiniang, causing her pregnancy some complications and the place is now in chaos! Wang mama called all the midwives in Feng He Yuan to Su yiniang's room, and even ordered someone to go call the physician. It's a huge mess in Feng He Yuan now!" Mu Chun said everythi
ng that she was able to find out.
Yun Qian Meng smiled and asked, "Did Wang mama order someone to inform father? Is there any news from Bai Shun Tang?"
Yun Qian Meng supposed that the entire xiangfu was aware that Su Qing was about to give birth. There were a lot of people concerned about her birth—those yiniang who were still without child, and the old madam, who did not want Yun Xuan Zhi to have any male descendants. Compared to her, they were more desperately hoping that Su Qing would not give birth to this child.
Sadly, for the past half year, Su Qing had mostly stayed in her room and seldom left Feng He Yuan. She also had Feng He Yuan securely guarded, and there were no chances for anyone to try something on her.
The only chance they had left was today, when Su Qing was giving birth.
Technically, Wang mama could not refuse people who came to visit Su Qing. One needed only to say a few words that could anger Su Qing while she was giving birth, then both Su Qing and her child would be in danger.
"Xiangye has already left for the morning court and might not be able to come back in such a short time! Regarding Bai Shun Tang, they've already gone to Feng He Yuan as soon as they heard the news. Now, Wang mama not only needs to take care of Su yiniang, but also needs to attend to the old madam. Xiaojie, are we going there now?" Mu Chun asked, looking at the sky outside.
"You musn't. It's better to wait for xiangye to come back before going there, to avoid being blamed for anything that might happen." Xia mama answered from her corner with fist clenched. Her eyes bore deep hatred and her words were fuming with rage. She might be thinking of when Qu Ruo Li was giving birth and felt even more outraged.
Yun Qian Meng slightly nodded towards Mu Chun and comforted Xia mama, "Mama, let's act according to the situation later. But you shouldn't harm yourself; otherwise, I will not go to Feng He Yuan."
Yun Qian Meng's words were calmly spoken, which made Xia mama's eyes open wide. She looked at Yun Qian Meng unbelievably and could not help but wonder how xiaojie had guessed what she was thinking.
