Chapter 214 - Replacing a son with a toddy kitten (1)
Right now, she only cared about giving birth to this baby. As for everything else, there was no reason for her to care. She wasn't Nie Sangyu.
Ji Man encouraged herself with those thoughts. And yet, for an inexplicable reason, she still felt slightly angry. People weren't unfeeling like grass. The two of them had been coexisting for such a long time. Although she didn't like Ning Yuxuan, they could still be considered close, right? No matter what, Nie Sangyu was his woman and giving birth to his child. Instead of coming here, he was actually looking at some damn work document?
May he be permanently blessed with crossed eyes!
Tenaciously clenching her teeth, Ji Man actually felt as if she had gotten more strength. Using the energy that came from feeling angry and resentful, Ji Man followed the midwife's directions.
An hour later, the baby still hadn't been born yet, and a servant ran out of the inner room and said, "Masters, are there any of you that can keep staying here? Madam is definitely going to have a difficult time with giving birth!"
The servant girl's hands were covered in blood. The other women couldn't help feeling nauseous when they saw this.
With a cold expression, Qi Siling said, "Clean yourself up before coming out. There are pregnant women here. Don't scare them. If people need to stay here to keep watch, then let it be the women that aren't pregnant."
The three pregnant women were Liu Hanyun, Muxu, and Wen Wan. Looking at the situation in the birthing room, it really wasn't auspicious. One after another, the three of them left. In the end, only Qian Lianxue, Jinse, and Qi Siling were left.
Qian Lianxue glanced at Jinse and said in a low voice, "Jinse normally doesn't seem very close to Madam, but her heart is surprisingly good. It's already so late, but she's still staying here to watch."
Jinse hadn't been saying much this entire time and had been focused on looking in the direction of the birthing room. Out of the three remaining people, she was the most nervous one. "This servant just wants to see if Madam will give birth to a boy or girl.
Qian Lianxue lightly laughed and continued to wait. Looking a bit tired, she waved her hand to get Danzhu's attention and said, "Go and light an incense that'll help us stay awake."
Danzhu made a sound of assent. It only took a brief moment before she came back with the incense.
The three concubines, Danggui, Shouwu, and a couple of other female servant continued waiting outside.
The sound of Nie Sangyu's screams would pause for a short period before resuming. By the end, everyone had already gotten used to it.
---
Hearing the sound of a baby crying by her ear, Ji Man's entire body felt lighter and all of her remaining strength left her body. Before she had time to look at the newly born baby, she had already fainted.
The midwife softly and quietly brought the baby to a basin to clean him up. She covered his mouth to quiet his wailing, then she gave the nearby servant girls a meaningful look.
The roomful of servant girls acted very orderly. Someone brought a bamboo basket and took the thing that had been in the basket out and placed it on the bed. Another person took the crying baby and gently put him into the bamboo basket.
The baby was crying so loudly, but no one outside had woken up. When a servant girl opened the doors to look, everyone was slumped over their chairs and deeply asleep.
The baby had cried enough, and his eyes were now closed. Other than the murmur of summer insects, the entire courtyard had fallen silent.
---
Ji Man was awoken by shrill screams and the sound of frantic movement and something being smashed. She was still very sleepy and wanted to sleep for several days and nights, but someone by her bedside kept screaming, "Impossible! What happened?!"
It seemed as if there were numerous people making an unnecessary racket in her room. When Ji Man won the struggle of opening her eyes, she saw a toddy kitten by her bed.
It was a tiny, wet kitten. It opened its eyes and innocently meowed at her.
Ji Man was tempted to laugh. Who brought this cute kitten here? What if it had a contagious disease? Pregnant women were more susceptible to getting sick.
But, then she heard Ning Yuxuan's slightly hoarse voice saying, "Do all of you think that Nie Sangyu is a demon or that I'm a demon? Isn't it absurd to believe that a baby born from two humans would be a toddy kitten? There were so many people watching her last night. How could you all have let that group of servant girls disappear without a trace? Wasn't that midwife sent from the palace? Why did the midwife kill herself?"
It felt as if an explosion had gone off in her mind. Ji Man widened her eyes. There wasn't much strength left in her body, but she stubbornly half-propped herself by the headboard. Looking at the people in the room, she asked, "Where's my baby?"
All of the concubines, as well as Wen Wan, were here. Liu Hanyun and Muxu's faces were full of worry, and Wen Wan's eyes were full of joy over the calamity that had befallen her enemy. As for the other people, Ji Man couldn't tell for sure what emotion they were feeling.
Ning Yuxuan turned his head. Seeing that she was awake, he pulled back some of his anger. He pursed his lips and asked, "Nie Sangyu, do you I find it preposterous that people would think you had given birth to a toddy kitten?"
Ji Man froze in surprise before laughter escaped from her. "Are you an idiot? How could the offspring of two humans be a toddy kitten? Even using something like recessive genes wouldn't make this possible."
"Yeah, I find it ridiculous too." Marquis Moyu didn't understand the latter part of her answer, but he still smiled and nodded. Sitting by her bedside, he looked at her with reddened eyes. "But you really gave birth to a toddy kitten."
Ji Man's entire body stiffened.
By her side, the wet kitten innocently meowed a few times. The rest of the people in the room had fallen silent.
Her mind was blank for a long time before Ji Man took a deep breath and used the last of her strength to ask, "My lord, can you tell this servant what happened?"
Ning Yuxuan lightly shook his head. "My mother fainted after she heard the news. I don't have time to explain. Get some rest first."
Ji Man was stunned. She looked around the room. Clearly everyone in the room hadn't slept all night, and it looked as if Marquis Moyu had only recently come here. How could Old Madame have already found out?
She had just given birth to a baby. Why did she have to be confronted with something so scary before she had time to fully wake up? Her baby had changed into toddy kitten? Even if you beat her to death, she wouldn't believe this.
T/N: It’s mentioned earlier in the story that Nie Sangyu is allergic to cats, but a toddy cat isn’t actually a feline. They just look cat-like, and they’re more closely related to mongooses than cats.
Below is a picture of a baby toddy cat.
P.S. I went back and forth between whether or not I should say this several times. Continue reading if you're worried about where this story is going. Stop here if you don't want to read any spoilers. We’re heading into the 5% of the novel, where things will be very tragic for Ji Man, then a life-changing event will occur, and Ji Man's outlook on life will gradually become happier. Just to be clear, it's not going to be all doom and gloom for the next 5% of the novel. There will also be sweet moments, funny moments, secrets being revealed that will clarify previously confusing behavior by certain characters, etc.
Some of her upcoming suffering is because she changed the original novel’s plot points and meddled in things without taking the time to get the full picture. It is more realistic for Ji Man to not be able to magically know everyone's hidden motives and plans. But, don't worry. Everything will work out. Even better, the author didn’t write herself into a corner and won’t solve Ji Man’s problems with a deus ex machina.