Chapter 74 Chapter 74 Since I have to give birth sooner or later, I should...
Unfortunately, on this day, An's retribution was just a scolding from Li and having the child taken back to be raised. Even He's concubine was only asked to stop paying her monthly allowance, and then she had to stay indoors, fast, and chant sutras for Liu's soul for forty-nine days.
"You let her take the child back to raise. Isn't your wife afraid that she will lose the child while raising him?" Zhou Congshan asked with a frown.
Because of Liu's matter, Fang Ying had been in a bad mood for several days. Ji Yanlang took her out once and her mood only improved slightly. So he took the initiative to suggest that she come to talk to her close friends to relax.
"She's already suspected. If this child is gone, no one, from our wife to Third Uncle, and even Aunt He, will forgive her. After all, offspring and concubines are different." Fang Ying leaned her head against Zhou Congshan's shoulder. "If I hadn't met you, I'd probably be no different from the Liu family today."
"So that's what you were thinking about. I was wondering why you looked so down." Zhou Congshan tugged at his friend's hand and softly said, "Don't worry, it won't happen. With your temper and abilities, Fang Ying, no matter what situation you find yourself in, you won't let yourself be killed."
"No, Liu is quite clear-headed and scheming. When she entered the mansion, she found that Third Sister-in-law was difficult to get along with, so she made a scene and then went to Concubine He to rest and take care of her pregnancy..."
"Why do I feel that it's because of this incident that your third sister-in-law holds a grudge and doesn't care about her life or death?"
Fang Ying looked up and said, "Have you forgotten? Her sister didn't make a fuss. She was honest and easy to deal with. Our fourth sister-in-law didn't look as vicious as the third sister-in-law, but she still gave birth prematurely and lost the child."
Zhou Congshan: “…”
"Besides, with Third Sister-in-law's temper, even if that incident hadn't happened, the fact that Third Uncle took the pregnant Liu home without warning would have been enough to make her resent Liu for the rest of her life."
Zhou Congshan sighed, "That's right. Your third sister-in-law is narrow-minded and can't tolerate her anyway."
"But what I want to talk about isn't that. It's that Liu, as a pregnant woman, never knew what was best for her and her child until her death." Fang Ying felt a chill run down her spine as she spoke of this. "It's the same for me. Do you know how pregnancy lasts for ten months, and how there are actually significant differences in how to care for and nourish the fetus in the first few months versus the last?"
Zhou Congshan was an unmarried young lady, so naturally she knew nothing about it.
Fang Ying smiled bitterly and said, "You see, that's how they are. Unmarried young ladies can't know these things. For those who haven't given birth, I won't tell you these things for fear of scaring you. After you get pregnant, the rich have elders and maids, and the common people have mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, so you don't have to worry about these things. You have to go through the bumps and hardships of giving birth yourself once before you can roughly understand what it's all about."
"Yeah, if anyone here has bad intentions..." Thinking of the Ji family incident, Zhou Congshan shuddered. "No wonder they say childbirth is like going through the gates of hell—this place is simply full of little ghosts!"
Fang Ying waved her hand. "Most people just want to have children. Those who deliberately harbor evil intentions are rare. But precisely because of this, between the mother and the fetus, people often care more about the fetus. When Liu had a difficult birth, the midwife said only one could be saved. It's said that Concubine He said without hesitation, 'Of course, I'll save the child.'"
Fang Ying only gradually heard these details after Li dealt with Concubine He and Concubine An.
"That evening, I went to the Madam's courtyard and saw someone hurrying out to Aunt He. I asked the maid and learned that they were there to seek Madam's advice. I felt it was strange at the time." Fang Ying felt her voice dry when she said this, and she picked up the tea to moisten her throat.
Zhou Congshan guessed, "Is it An who refuses to take responsibility and sends someone to ask your wife to make the decision?"
"good."
"So what does your wife say?"
"Madam said that if Liu is still conscious, she should ask her whether she wants to keep the child. Otherwise, the mistress will make the decision." Fang Ying couldn't help but defend Li. "Our third sister-in-law is just being treacherous. How could a concubine give birth without asking her mother-in-law? And what's more, it's a concubine's child."
Zhou Congshan nodded in agreement and asked, "Who made the final decision?" It was obvious that the child was the one being saved.
"They say it was Liu herself. But I don't quite believe it."
From noon to dusk, she struggled for several hours. Even if she wasn't unconscious, how lucid could she be? Moreover, she didn't give birth until three in the morning, so several more hours had passed in between.
Zhou Congshan sneered: "Yes, it has to be her."
Fang Ying was silent for a moment. Seeing this, Zhou Congshan realized belatedly that his friend was actually afraid of falling into the same situation as Liu - a person who was still struggling in the delivery room, but whose life or death had already been decided by others.
"So you want to... find out about pregnancy and childbirth first?" Zhou Congshan asked speculatively.
Fang Ying's eyes fixed, and she nodded seriously: "I want to be a clear-headed ghost."
"Pooh, pooh, pooh, don't say such unlucky things!" Zhou Congshan scolded.
Fang Ying smiled and said, "Well, I just think that since I'm going to have children sooner or later, I should prepare early and figure out how to take care of myself. Maybe then I won't be so afraid of having children."
Zhou Congshan agreed, "That makes sense. It's not difficult. Your wife has given birth to three sons herself, so she must have many skilled maids around her..."
Fang Ying interrupted her, "Have you forgotten? They were afraid of scaring me, so they refused to tell me the details. Even our second sister-in-law, who has always been close to me, stopped talking in time when she talked about these things."
"..." Zhou Congshan had no choice but to come up with another idea, "How about you just ask your wife to go?"
"I don't know how to start." Fang Ying's depression these days stems from this.
No matter how good her mother-in-law is, she is not her biological mother after all. She cannot tell Li about her fear of childbirth.
"Where's Ji Liulang? Have you told him what you think?"
"What's the point of telling him? He probably doesn't even know where the baby came from."
"Where does it come from? Isn't it just the belly?"
Fang Ying: “…”
The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, and Zhou Congshan's eyes widened: "Isn't it? Where is that?"
"..." His friend had just gotten engaged and wasn't married yet, so logically, he shouldn't be saying this to her. However, Fang Ying had just expressed her dissatisfaction with this "reason," so after a moment's hesitation, she leaned close to Zhou Congshan's ear and whispered, "Where the menstrual blood flows."
Zhou Congshan couldn't believe it: "Impossible! How could this be born?!"
"During labor, the birth canal will open on its own. So the baby can't be too big. Generally, five or six kilograms will be easier to give birth to. I remember my mother said I weighed five kilograms and nine ounces when I was born."
Zhou Congshan still couldn't believe it: "That's difficult, right? The pain alone is excruciating."
"Didn't you know that giving birth is painful?" Fang Ying was surprised.
Zhou Congshan shook his head: "I have never seen anyone else give birth, how would I know?"
"No one told you...ah, I was confused." Who in the Zhou family would tell her this? When her stepmother gave birth, Mrs. Zhou was still there, and she was young, so it was impossible for her to be near the delivery room and spread these things to her ears.
Fang Ying couldn't help but sigh, "Then I have to figure these things out as soon as possible. You'll be the princess in the future, and those nobles in the palace might not be so happy. I have to learn it myself first, and then teach you."
Zhou Congshan was still in shock that a child had been born from such a tiny space of menstrual blood. "Just thinking about it makes me feel terribly painful. No wonder you didn't want to have children yourself before."
She thought her friend was simply frightened by the death of her mother after childbirth.
"Of course it hurts, but based on my limited understanding, there are many things during childbirth that are more terrifying than pain." Fang Ying began to ponder, "Do you think we can find some medical books to read ourselves and understand them?"
"Medical books..." Zhou Congshan came back to his senses. "I actually read some while I was in mourning at Xiangguo Temple. They're not difficult to understand, but they usually only describe the root causes and prescriptions for the symptoms. I don't think I've ever seen any that teach pregnant women how to maintain and nourish the fetus."
Fang Ying was disappointed: "Really?"
"Maybe I flipped through the pages too quickly and didn't read carefully," Zhou Congshan consoled her. "But rather than wasting time and energy reading medical books on your own, I think it's better to ask the doctor directly."
"Do you think I haven't thought about it?" Fang Ying sighed. "Asking a doctor is indeed the easiest, but there's no way to ask a doctor without alerting those at home. If I take the opportunity of going out and go see a doctor myself, I might be able to hide it for a while, but there's no such thing as an impenetrable wall. I'm afraid it won't work out in the end."
"What if I invite the doctor to my house and you ask him?"
Fang Ying asked back, "You're hiring a doctor here, can Madam Zhou not ask about it?"
Yes, even if he didn't tell the truth beforehand, after the doctor came to see him, his stepmother would definitely be called over for questioning. Zhou Congshan said dejectedly, "I really don't have any freedom now. It's worse than when I lived in Xiangguo Temple."
"Forget it, I'll figure it out slowly." After confiding his worries to his friend, Fang Ying felt much better. Following up on Xiangguo Temple's question, he asked, "Have you met the King of Qin?"
"...Are you a spinning top? You're spinning so fast." Zhou Congshan glanced at his friend.
Fang Ying laughed: "I should have asked about this as soon as we met."
"What's there to ask? Just passing on a message."
"It's a shame to just pass on a message, isn't it? Haven't you even inquired about the Midas Touch case?"
Zhou Congshan looked around without saying a word.
Fang Ying's eyes lit up: "Have you asked around? What did the King of Qin say?"
Zhou Congshan didn't answer, but called for more tea. Fang Ying tugged at her sleeve and begged for a long time before she finally said, "The King of Qin said that the Taoist priest and the thieves were not in the same group."
"ah?"
"The Taoist priest used the money for medicine to gamble with the thieves and cheated them out of a lot of money." Zhou Congshan added with a smile.
Fang Ying also burst out laughing: "This is really the case of evildoers getting punished by evildoers."
"Yes, so after the thieves realized they had been deceived, they also exposed many of the Taoist priest's evil deeds."
"What else did he do?" Fang Ying asked curiously.
Zhou Congshan said unhappily, "I don't know. What they say is not something I can listen to."
"..." Fang Ying was surprised, "Is this what the King of Qin said?"
Zhou Congshan snorted: "Could it be that I am slandering him?"
"The King of Qin doesn't seem so arrogant and rude." The King of Qin was the one who was most pleased with this marriage. It was impossible for him to say this before he even married her into his family, right? Besides, Zhou Congshan was carrying out his father's orders to deliver the emperor's message.
Fang Ying became more and more unconvinced, "You must not have heard everything he said."
Zhou Congshan glanced at her and said, "Who are you talking to?"
Fang Ying immediately said, "Of course I'm on your side. It's the King of Qin who's wrong. He should have answered you when you asked him. Why are you being so mysterious?"
Zhou Congshan then smiled with satisfaction and let Fang Ying have some snacks. After chatting for a few more words, he suddenly remembered and said, "Oh, how could I forget? In the past, my grandmother had two old maids who were the best at taking care of pregnant women. When my stepmother gave birth to Dalang, they were the ones who took care of her."
Fang Ying waved her hand: "No, you can't act as a matchmaker."
"Why?"
"Because in their eyes, everything I said to you earlier shouldn't have entered your ears. Even more so, I shouldn't have asked you for help in this matter. So, after hearing the reasons, they'll definitely think that I'm from a humble background and don't know etiquette, and I'll be a bad influence on you. Then they'll turn around and report it to Madam Zhou."
Zhou Congshan opened her mouth to argue, but before she could utter a word, she had already changed her mind and realized that Fang Ying was right. Ever since her marriage to the King of Qin was decided, her family had been keeping a closer eye on her. Fang Ying was the only outsider she could see. If people knew that her good friend had told her these things, she would probably never see her good friend again before she got married.
But Fang Ying unexpectedly added, "And Madam Zhou will most likely tell our wife."
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