Upon hearing this, she dared not say anything more about who bought the coffin.

She smiled apologetically at Madam Lin and said, "Mother-in-law, please don't get upset. I was just thinking that my Fang family's wealth is not as great as the Shen family's, so I'm afraid we can't afford a good coffin. Your Shen family is different, which is why I asked this question. After all, she is the aunt of the Shen family. If she doesn't leave with dignity, wouldn't that invite criticism?"

"Who doesn't have dignity?" Lin was displeased upon hearing this and spat at Fang's mother, scolding, "I think you're up to no good. Who are you insulting? How is our aunt not dignified? I say, mother-in-law, what you're saying is unpleasant. This person is still lying in the house, and you're talking nonsense. You're harming the blessings of your descendants!"

Seeing that the words were getting increasingly offensive, Shen Shuchun frowned and glanced at Lin Shi. Lin Shi received the signal, glared at Fang's mother, and suppressed her anger.

When Madam Liu rushed into the room, she saw her daughter lying on the blood-soaked bed, barely breathing. Her heart ached, and she trembled with grief: "Ming'e, my Ming'e, please don't die, Ming'e..."

Seeing her daughter, who was clearly pale and weak, still forcing a smile, Liu felt so heartbroken she could hardly breathe, as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out.

“Mother…Mother, don’t be sad. I haven’t suffered any great calamities in my life. Going away like this is a relief.”

"Relief?" Upon hearing this, Liu felt as if she had been punched hard in the heart, her lips trembling. "Have you been having a very difficult time all this time?"

She had never heard her daughter complain about her life with her husband's family. Every time she asked, her daughter would say that everything was fine, that her husband was good, and that her mother-in-law was good too. But now, she lay on the bed, pale-faced, saying she wanted to be free...

Thinking that her daughter was already nearing the end of her life, Fang's mother was anxiously talking about the coffin. Her good son-in-law, Fang Wenshi, stood outside like a wooden stake, as if all of this had nothing to do with him.

Thinking of all this, Liu couldn't help but slap herself several times. Shen Ming'e watched, heartbroken, and reached out to stop her, but she was powerless, as if all her strength had been drained. She could only helplessly shed tears and shake her head at her mother: "Mother, don't do this, this is my fate."

Is it fate? Liu felt a mix of emotions. She stepped forward and held her daughter's hands, her mind filled with images of her daughter when she was just born. The child she had raised with all her life energy was being mistreated like this, and she, as her own mother, could do nothing but listen to her daughter resign herself to her fate.

What do you mean by accepting fate? It's just that she didn't have the ability to protect her daughter, so the daughter could only accept her fate. Even if she wasn't doing well in her husband's family, she could only tell her the good news and not the bad. What a silly girl!

Holding her daughter, Liu's eyes stung with tears, but she kept comforting Shen Ming'e: "Don't worry, Mother will definitely save you. Mother will go find someone to save you right away. Your father is an official, he has a way, he definitely has a way."

Then she thought of Shen Mingzhuang, and said to her daughter in a trembling voice, "Your ninth sister was in a coma for five years and she was able to wake up. There must be some very skilled doctors in the palace. I'll have your father go and beg the Emperor. You and the Empress are sisters, so the Emperor will definitely not stand by and watch you die."

Thinking of Shen Mingzhuang, tears welled up in Shen Ming'e's eyes. She was her favorite sister, but the affection of the past had been damaged. When they met again, they would only exchange a few lukewarm greetings, and there was no trace of the intimacy they used to share.

Those past moments played out in her mind like a shadow play, one scene after another, so fast that she could barely grasp what had happened before it ended.

Shen Shuchun did not enter the house. Liu Shi came to her senses, turned around and stumbled to Shen Shuchun. She grabbed his hand and pleaded, "Third Master, please think of a way to save Ming'e. There must be good doctors in the palace, and there must be a way. Even the Empress could be saved, so Ming'e can be saved too!"

Before she could finish her sentence, a mournful voice came from behind her: "Grandma—is gone!"

Liu felt as if struck by lightning, unable to accept it. She couldn't catch her breath and lay on the ground for a long time without responding. When the old woman went to help her up, she found her facing the ground, silently sobbing.

Shen Mingrong, who was pregnant and had not slept all night, felt a sense of indescribable loss upon receiving this news. Lu Chengye, fearing that she would ruin her health, asked Physician Liu to prescribe a calming pill before taking his wife back to the Rongguo Duke's Mansion.

As soon as the Rongguo Duke's carriage left, a somewhat forlorn figure stood at the entrance of the Fang family's house, which was already covered with white cloth, and remained motionless for a long time.

With his stubble-covered face and coarse clothes, no one would guess that this was Pei Jingtai, the fifth son of Minister Pei's household.

He stood at the door, watching the people coming and going from the Fang family's gate. He felt a pang of sadness, and tears welled up in his eyes, but they vanished in an instant, as if they didn't exist at all, just like his feelings for her back then, which were kept secret and unknown to anyone.

When the Pei family was in trouble, he followed his father far away from the capital. Later, the Crown Prince was born, and the Emperor granted a general amnesty to pray for the Empress's well-being. The family was able to survive, but his elder brother disappeared without a trace. Five years passed without any news of his brother. His mother died of grief. No one knows how he got through those five years.

He lived in anonymity, watching the girl he longed for marry another man in a bright red wedding dress, watching her stare blankly in despair, watching her become pregnant, give birth... and then pass away.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!