After a whole day of struggling, Cui was only dilated to five centimeters. She was in so much pain that she could barely walk. The doctor was called in and gave her acupuncture, but it was no use. The baby's head was too big, and Cui had a small frame, so she simply couldn't give birth to this child.

The midwife, Li, paced anxiously back and forth in the room. Finally, she went out and asked the classic line: "Sir, the lady is having a difficult childbirth. Should we save the mother or the child?"

Ji Wuyou, his face flushed red, shouted urgently, "I must protect them, mother and child, big and small!"

Ning Yan: ...This scumbag is still acting even now!

Li, the midwife, felt her head was spinning. If both could be saved, why would she need to ask?

The old lady anxiously pulled at her son, "Son, you can't be so foolish..."

"Mother, Cui and I have been husband and wife for five years, I... I cannot..."

Ning Yan pretended to be very busy in the delivery room, silently listening to the scumbag's act.

Finally, another quarter of an hour passed, and it was felt that Cui's amniotic fluid was flowing out more and more, but she had already fainted from the pain. Ning Yan quickly called the doctor: "The situation is not good. The Second Madam has no strength. If she faints now, it will really be a matter of life and death for both mother and child. Doctor, please think of a way quickly."

Granny Wu hurriedly pinched the Second Madam's philtrum, and ginseng slices were already in her mouth: "Miss, Miss, you absolutely mustn't fall asleep!"

The old lady outside the door was already shouting, "Doctor, we must save the baby! You must save my eldest grandson!"

The old lady had already forgotten that she had a grandson.

Ever since the eldest madam became pregnant out of the blue, she has been distant from her eldest grandson, even though he resembles her youngest son by three or four points, she still feels uncomfortable about it.

Now we're really looking forward to the baby in my second daughter-in-law's belly!

Inside the room, the second mistress was finally jolted awake. She grasped Granny Wu's hand and cried, "Granny, I... I don't want to die..."

Ning Yan felt that the Second Madam was not stupid at crucial moments. She chose to live. If it were her, she would not die for an unborn child. She was just that selfish. She was about to die herself, so why did she care about the life or death of others?

She's not a saint!

But women in ancient times were so pitiful, because their lives were often not in their own hands.

Outside the door, the old lady was already threatening the lives and fortunes of the midwife and the doctor.

Moreover, the second wife simply didn't have the strength to give birth to the child. Midwife Li said, "If this drags on any longer, neither of them will survive."

The senior doctor didn't want anything to happen to his family either. "There's only one way to save both of them in this situation: a cesarean section to remove the baby."

Granny Wu's wailing was deafening. "How can a person who has been disemboweled live? Aren't you just killing the lady?"

The second wife was so anxious she couldn't utter a sound, but her mouth was saying, "I don't want to! I don't want to!"

The old lady outside the door was already urging, "Hurry up, if you make my grandson suffer, I'll make sure none of you get away with it!"

The midwife, Hou, dared not proceed, and the old doctor had only heard of it but had never done it himself. Ning Yan volunteered, "I'll do it, it'll be too late if we delay any longer!"

She had been waiting for this day for nearly ten months. In this life, she would make Cui Shi personally experience the suffering that the original owner had endured in her previous life.

Granny Wu immediately stepped forward to stop her, but Ning Yan said to the outside, "Two people, come and kick this old woman out. If we wait any longer, she'll really be dead."

With a single glance from Ji Wuyou, the two nannies beside the old lady quickly entered the delivery room, and soon after, Granny Wu was dragged out with her mouth covered.

At the same time, the second wife was also restrained by the maids.

The knife was prepared in advance by Ning Yan; it was very dull. It is said that cutting flesh with a dull knife is both painful and slow. The Second Madam screamed in pain, and Ning Yan immediately ordered the midwife, Li, to gag her.

The second wife's clenched fists were bulging with veins, and she tried to struggle with her legs, but she couldn't break free at all.

Blood gushed out immediately. No one in the delivery room dared to look at the Second Madam's wound. Ning Yan continued to cut flesh with the knife. The Second Madam's eyes bulged out, and she tore the bed sheet. Even more blood gushed out.

Ning Yan remained expressionless and made a sharp cut with the knife. To provoke the Second Madam, she deliberately made a crooked cut: "Second Madam, please bear with me a little longer. This is my first time doing this job. If I cut it crookedly, I'll cut it again!"

The second wife immediately rolled her eyes and fainted, whether from pain, anger, or both, it was unknown.

Three-quarters of an hour later, the baby's cry finally came from the delivery room. The old lady excitedly shouted from outside, "It's born! It's born! Quickly bring it out so I can see it!"

Ji Wuyou was also very happy. After the maid brought out the child, he was the first to hold the child in his arms, repeatedly saying, "Just like me, just like me!"

A group of maids and servants busied themselves congratulating their masters, "Congratulations, Second Master, on the birth of your precious son!"

Ji Wuyou waved his hand and said, "Rewards! Everyone in the manor will be rewarded with three months' salary! The midwife and doctor will also be rewarded with ten taels of silver!"

The family of three were overjoyed, surrounding the child, and none of them asked how Cui Shi was doing inside.

Even though they knew that Cui was doomed, they felt no sadness whatsoever.

The servants all ran out to congratulate their master, leaving only Ning Yan and the second madam in the room. Ning Yan walked to Cui Shi's bedside and touched her forehead with her fingertip. Cui Shi saw her past life.

In her previous life, she chose Emerald to be her husband's concubine, but she hated Emerald for seducing her husband. So she deliberately made Emerald pregnant, causing her to have a difficult childbirth. In the end, she even had someone cut open her abdomen to remove the child, and Emerald died tragically with her eyes wide open in death.

It seemed like a long time had passed, but in the real world it was only a fleeting moment. Cui opened her eyes with a jolt and saw Ning Yan by the bedside.

Ning Yan bent down and whispered in her ear, "Madam, do you remember me? I am Emerald."

Although the face isn't, the voice is.

"You, you... Jade..."

Cui could hardly believe it; her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the blood from her abdominal wound flowed faster and faster.

"You've finally tasted the suffering that jade endured in its previous life."

What does it feel like to have your baby removed via cesarean section? Is it very painful, so painful that you feel like killing everyone?

Jade thought the same thing, but unfortunately she couldn't do it in her previous life.

So this is your retribution in this life, and you died a worthy death!

But don't worry, soon the people from the Ji family will come down to be with you, including the son you carried for ten months and gave birth to..."

Lady Cui died with her eyes wide open in discontent.

After washing herself, Ning Yan quietly left the Ji residence with her medicine box. No one cared about Cui Shi's death now, but when they remembered, Ning Yan would probably not only lose the money for the delivery, but also face retaliation from the Ji family.

Therefore, instead of going out the main gate, she went around to the backyard, gave the old woman guarding the gate five copper coins, and left through the back door.

It was already dark. She walked around outside twice before climbing over the wall back into her own courtyard.

...

Upon realizing what was happening, Ji Wuyou immediately sent people to find Hou the midwife, but they couldn't find her!

He was furious. Although Cui was from a merchant family, the death of someone's daughter still deserved an explanation. The midwife who performed the cesarean section on Cui was the perfect scapegoat. However, the midwife secretly ran away. He was so angry that he raged in his study. In the end, he could only find someone to sew up the second wife's belly, change her clothes, and put on makeup before informing the Cui family.

...

Gong Kai watched as the lights in the main courtyard came on and went out before finally falling asleep peacefully.

The next day, Qingniang went to the market to buy vegetables. When she came back, she picked the vegetables in the yard. Ningyan also moved a small stool to help, and Erya and Gongkai also came over to help pick the vegetables.

"Madam, I just heard that the second madam of the Ji family gave birth to a big, healthy baby boy weighing over nine pounds yesterday. It's a pity that the second madam died from postpartum hemorrhage."

Er Ya sighed, "I used to hear the aunties in the village say a lot that childbirth is like stepping into the gates of hell. If you're lucky, both mother and child will be safe, but if you're unlucky, you might lose your life."

Gong Kai: "The child is too old. I'm afraid he's been set up."

Er Ya: "Madam, why aren't you saying anything?"

Ning Yan said "Oh," and added, "This Second Master Ji is a bit of a jinx to his wives."

The three of them thought about it and agreed. He was carrying the burden of two families on his shoulders. His first wife passed away in three months, and his second wife passed away in five months. He was indeed a bit of a jinx to his wives!

Time flies, and more than two months have passed in the blink of an eye. Consort Xi in the palace went into labor half a month early.

After a full six hours of labor, Consort Xi gave birth to a healthy, chubby son weighing six pounds and five ounces.

The emperor was overjoyed and bestowed a great many gifts upon the emperor.

Over the next two weeks, six concubines in the palace gave birth one after another, all of them to princes.

The Emperor was happy, the concubines were happy, and the concubines' families were happy too.

Only the Empress was unhappy. She was perfectly healthy, so why couldn't she get pregnant?

She suspected there was something wrong with the prescription, so she summoned her family.

...

Although Ji Wuyou's wife had died, he now had seven more princes in the palace, and he felt that his good days had come.

But it didn't happen.

At the end of the year, he was rated poorly in the official performance evaluation and was subsequently demoted and sent to a remote and desolate place in Xizhou to serve as a seventh-rank county magistrate.

Ji Wuyou rushed to pull strings, but the families who had previously greeted him with smiles all changed their attitudes.

He spent a lot of money to find out that it was the Cheng'en family who were behind his scheme.

I didn't sleep a wink after I got home. I sat in my study all night and finally realized where I had gone wrong.

Bowing to every temple and kneeling before every god may seem like doing everything perfectly, but doing too much is the same as doing nothing at all.

If he had given the emperor those two prescriptions and sixteen pills back then, none of this would have happened.

Five days later, Ji Wuyou set off for Xizhou with his two children and his parents.

He knew that unless he suddenly had a stroke of good luck, he could never hope to rise in his official position.

...

But what he didn't expect was that the First Madam's family made their move.

How could no one investigate when someone's perfectly healthy daughter died in their backyard?

They spent a lot of money to pry open a doctor's mouth and pieced together what had happened at the Ji residence. Before, Ji Wuyou was in the limelight and they didn't dare to make a move, but this time he was demoted to Xizhou, thousands of miles away, and it was too easy for him to do whatever he wanted.

On the tenth day after the Ji family set off, they missed their lodging due to rain and had no choice but to take shelter in a dilapidated temple. In the middle of the night, they encountered a group of bandits who appeared out of nowhere. All three members of the Ji family were killed. Not only that, the bandits also set fire to the firewood, burning the entire temple to the ground. The Ji family members were not even left with a complete corpse.

...

The four masters of the Ji family, along with their servants, grooms, maids, and pageboys, totaling eighteen people, plus two horses, were all killed without exception.

But Ning Yan knew that the son born to the First Madam had been rescued, and her daughter had died long ago.

No one in the Ji family cared about the life or death of a young girl, especially given the tarnished reputation of the First Madam.

However, Young Master Ji was not adopted by his maternal grandparents' family, but was instead given to a peasant woman in the countryside who was unable to have children.

The First Madam's mother hated the Ji family to the core. Even though her grandson was born to her daughter, she harbored resentment and didn't want to see him even once.

Upon witnessing the fate of the Ji family, Ning Yan immediately ordered her servants to pack her bags and leave the capital. Once outside the capital, she immediately reverted to her original appearance.

Qingniang and the other two always thought she had the ability to perform a head transplant.

But they quickly came up with an answer for Ning Yan: Madam is too beautiful; it would be unsafe for her to look ugly without makeup.

He even advised Ning Yan to continue pretending, since being ordinary would keep her safe.

Ning Yan smiled. She had transformed into an ugly person because she wanted to live comfortably, and she wanted to live comfortably again after returning to her original appearance. Now that the Ji family was all dead, what did she have to worry about?

The group of four, traveling on two horses, stopped and went as they pleased, until their money ran out and their hair turned white, at which point Ning Yan finally departed this world. (End of Chapter)