Chapter 213 – The last night of summer (2)
With her back straightened to support her belly, Ji Man went over to visit Old Madame. It had only been a short period of half a month, but Old Madame looked as if she had considerably aged.
Leaning back against the pillow, Old Madame held her hand and said, “People will always have to face retribution for what they’ve done. When I was younger, I did plenty of wicked things. Otherwise, Xuan-er wouldn’t have been able to peacefully live up today and start his own family. But, a debt always has to be paid back. They’ve probably come for me to pay back what I owe them.”
Feeling a bit scared by these words, Ji Man hurriedly said, “Don’t scare yourself like this. Sangyu will be giving birth to your grandchild soon. Don’t have these wild thoughts.”
Old Madame looked at her belly, and her eyes curved into smiling crescents. “I’ve been looking forward to this precious grandchild, always hoping for its arrival.”
Ji Man’s eyes turned red. She stroked Old Madame’s white hair, then left the room to prepare soup for her.
—
At the sight of Nie Sangyu in the kitchen, Aunty Zhao was almost scared out of her wits. “Madam, you shouldn’t come to this place. Be careful with your health! If you need anything, us servants can do it.”
Ji Man shook her head. Old Madame had been the person that treated her the best. No matter what, she should at least do something, right?
When she had passed by the rooms where the doctors were saying, she heard them quietly discussing that Old Madame probably wouldn’t make it to the end of the year.
She pretended that she hadn’t heard them and devoted herself to preparing soup for Old Madame.
Marquis Moyu seemed to be preoccupied with something troublesome lately. His brow never relaxed. In the imperial courts, the crown prince and the third prince continued to be mutually opposed. However, the third prince had an outstanding track record of political achievements, and the emperor seemed to be considering giving him the title of crown prince. In addition, the imperial noble consort was also imploring the emperor during their pillow talks, so the crown prince’s position appeared as if it was on the verge of tottering over.
Ji Man couldn’t figure it out. If she gave birth to Marquis Moyu’s child, it would practically be a deathblow to the crown prince. However, other than frightening her that one time, the crown prince hadn’t done anything. He hadn’t actually harmed her. It couldn’t be that the crown prince was really that magnanimous and willing to let her peacefully give birth to this baby, right?
Ning Yuxuan was currently sitting in her room and quietly reading a book. Noticing her scrutinizing gaze, he put down his book and impassively asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ji Man shook her head. Perhaps, she was overthinking things. At the beginning, Ning Yuxuan hadn’t wanted her become pregnant either. How could he possibly be secretly helping her?
—
On the last night of summer, Ji Man suddenly felt a burst of pain. Her scream woke up the entire household.
The imperial physician and the midwife came over to take their positions. The other women also gushed forth to Feiwan Courtyard to wait. In the midst of her illness, Old Madame still sent Danggui and Shouwu to wait over there too. As soon as there was any news, they were to come back and report to her.
Wen Wen personally went over to call over Ning Yuxuan. Seeing him sitting in the dimly lit study, she said, “Madam is about to give birth. You should come with Wan-er to go over there.”
Ning Yuxuan lightly nodded. “I still have documents that I need to look at. Just send someone over later to tell me if she gave birth to a boy or a girl.”
Wen Wan sweetly smiled. “My lord, how can you be like this? Madam is giving birth to a baby for you. How can you not be willing to go over there to just take a look?”
Right after saying this, as if she was scared he would change his mind, she immediately turned around and said, “Then, this servant will go over there to tell the people on that side for you. As soon as there’s news, this servant will come back to tell you.”
In the midst of the quiet study, Marquis Moyu said one word, “Alright.”
—
As Ji Man followed the midwife’s instructions to take deep breaths, she silently cursed that person who had predicted that she would be able to easily give birth.
Hadn’t that person said the fetus had been a very good birthing position? Why was she feeling so much pain right now then?
The screams that couldn’t be suppressed traveled outside ands scared the waiting pregnant women.
Holding Liu Hanyun’s hand, Muxu was slightly trembling as she asked, “Could something be wrong with Madam?”
“She’ll be okay,” Liu Hanyun resolutely said, “Good things will happen to good people. Madam and her baby will definitely be okay.”
Inside the room, Gancao and Dengxin were so busy that they felt vertigo. A moment of carelessness and one of them knocked over a basin of hot water.
The midwife angrily shouted, “You inexperienced servants! Don’t cause trouble. Go and boil more hot water!
Ji Man was already in so much pain that she couldn’t coherently speak anymore.
After hesitating for a while and looking at the room full of servants that the midwife had brought with her, Gancao and Dengxin still felt worried about leaving their master along. However, the midwife’s words were true. They didn’t have any experience and were only adding to the chaos by being here.
And so, the two of them withdrew from the room and hurriedly went to boil water.
—
When Ji Man blearily opened her eyes, she saw the kind-hearted midwife say, “Madam, you won’t go wrong with listening this servant. Do your best to push hard. This is definitely a fat baby boy!”
No matter how clever a woman was, she would be at her most fragile point when she was giving birth. Ji Man closed her eyes again and followed the midwife’s words by pushing hard again and again.
—
The entire household could hear Nie Sangyu’s screams. Ning Yuxuan chuckled, that woman had quite the loud voice.
But, hearing her screams, it really did seem that she was in a lot of pain.
His fingers tightened, and he opened the doors to go outside. He called out for Guibai.
Guibai asked, “Master? Do you want this servant to go over there and wait for news?”
Ning Yuxuan chuckled. “No need. She’s not that important. Bring a pot of tea for me. My throat feels a bit dry.”
Looking at his master’s somewhat pale face, Guibai didn’t say anything and left to get tea.
—
After Wan Wan entered Feiwan Courtyard, she aggrievedly stood in the outer room and loudly said, “I went to look for the marquis, but the marquis wasn’t willing to come. He said he was busy with work and just wanted someone to report the gender of the baby to him once Madam had given birth.”
Naturally, Ji Man was able to hear Wen Wan’s voice from the inner room. She inwardly laughed. Wen Wan really tried her best to upset her at every opportunity. Unfortunately for Wen Wen, she didn’t care.
Translator Ramblings: I like that Old Madame isn’t portrayed as only a kindly, doting mother-in-law, or doesn’t suddenly become senile just so that the author has a way to make Ji Man’s life more difficult. And, I wonder how much of Old Madame’s illness is caused by the guilt of what she had done in the past to eliminate her husband’s concubines and Ning Yuxuan’s half siblings. Unlike Ji Man, she doesn’t seem scared of what’s coming and is at peace with her perceived punishment.