Chapter 72 Chapter 72 Why is it so difficult for women to give birth?
Ji Yanlang changed his clothes and walked out the door, saying, "Aunt Deng asked why you didn't come with us..." He paused mid-sentence when he saw Fang Ying's expression was off, and asked, "What's wrong?"
"There is a concubine in my third sister-in-law's room who is giving birth. They just went to the kitchen to fetch water. I heard that the fetus is in an abnormal position and is too large. It is very dangerous." Fang Ying said the last three words very softly.
Ji Yanlang walked over to her and sat down, comforting her, "It's okay."
Fang Ying looked at him and sighed, "I hope so." It was useless to tell him. How could a man understand the dangers and horrors of childbirth?
Ji Yanlang shook her hand and turned to drink tea - he really didn't know what else to say. He knew nothing about having children, and she was his brother's concubine, so it was not their turn to care about her at all.
But he didn't know that besides concern, Fang Ying was also afraid.
The two sat side by side in silence for a while before Ji Yanlang finally remembered to ask, "When did you come back? Did you enjoy your conversation with Princess Zhou?"
"Ah, quite happy." Fang Ying came back to her senses. "She said that the emperor suddenly decided to take Prince Wei on a western tour because Prince Wei submitted a memorial..."
She repeated Zhou Congshan's words, and Ji Yanlang listened thoughtfully, "It seems the emperor hasn't completely given up on Prince Wei."
"After all, they are father and son."
"The Prince of Qin is also a relative." Ji Yanlang lowered his voice, "At present, the crown prince has not been truly appointed - even if he was appointed, the emperor went on a western tour to worship his ancestors, but did not bring the crown prince, but brought the crown prince's brother. How can people not be suspicious?" The emperor is too partial.
"Do you think the emperor still wants to change the emperor?" Fang Ying asked in a low voice.
Ji Yanlang shook his head: "I'm afraid some people will think so. The Prince of Qin has been the prefect of Kaifeng for less than a month, and the government has taken such a move. I'm afraid that the whole court will be in turmoil again, causing unrest in their lives."
"Turbulence will inevitably arise sooner or later. Can the King of Wei be content to watch the King of Qin sit comfortably in Kaifeng?"
Now it was Ji Yanlang's turn to sigh: "You're right."
"True gold fears no fire, and a true dragon is even less afraid of a minor disturbance. Besides, isn't there Uncle Zhou? I believe the emperor's intention in saying that wasn't just to have Uncle Zhou pass on a message to appease the King of Qin, right?"
Ji Yanlang's eyes lit up, and he looked at Fang Ying and smiled, "That's right. You're probably worried that Uncle Zhou would misunderstand you." Then he suddenly raised his hands and clasped his fists in a bow, "My lady, you are very knowledgeable. I am ashamed of myself."
He started to act frivolously again. Fang Ying glared at him and said, "What kind of knowledge do I have? I just thought of this when we were talking about this."
This was the truth. She hadn't thought of this when she talked to Zhou Congshan before.
Ji Yanlang smiled and pulled her hand. "If you hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have thought of it. It seems that my wife's knowledge is still higher than mine..."
He seemed to want to use this to cheer himself up, but unfortunately Fang Ying didn't think that being more knowledgeable than him was a compliment - if Ji Yanlang thought it was, it meant that he still believed in his heart that he was short-sighted and far inferior to him.
Fang Ying didn't want to argue about who was better, but she also didn't want to reply with a fake smile, "You're welcome," so she just asked him about his visit to the Deng family.
Seeing that her complexion looked better, Ji Yanlang tried to pick out funny stories to tell her, hoping to make her laugh.
Fang Ying listened to what he said, but half of her mind was wondering why it was so difficult for women to give birth, and even cost them their lives, while men, on the other hand, could reproduce without any hardship and enjoy happiness every night.
Thinking of this, my thoughts drifted far away, and the half of my mind that was listening to Ji Yanlang's words also flew away. I didn't hear a word he said afterwards.
After Ji Yanlang finished speaking, he saw Fang Ying was in a daze and didn't respond. He stretched out his hand in front of her and waved it: "What did you think of?"
"Ah?" Fang Ying came back to her senses. "Nothing..." She thought about that, but she couldn't tell him. She turned her head and glanced out the window. "It's getting late. Let's go to Mom's."
Seeing that she refused to say anything and it was indeed almost dinner time, Ji Yanlang did not ask any more questions and went out with her to his mother's yard.
Halfway along the way, they saw two maids coming out of Li's courtyard from afar, and hurriedly heading towards the concubines' residence at the back. Fang Ying was worried about them, so after entering the courtyard, she deliberately took two steps behind to let Ji Yanlang go in first. She then stopped the maid in the corridor and asked how Liu was doing.
"They say it's not a good idea. The fetus is too big. Aunt Liu has fainted several times, but she still can't give birth." The maid replied in a low voice.
"The midwife and the doctor have no way to help?" Fang Ying asked in a low voice.
The maid glanced behind the curtain, hesitated for a moment, and replied in a low voice, "It seems that he came to ask Madam for advice just now."
The midwife and doctor were right next to the woman in labor and had no idea, so what could the Madam do? Fang Ying was just beginning to feel puzzled when the door curtain moved and Fang Gui stepped out, saying with a smile, "The Madam is looking for Liu Niang."
Fang Ying quickly smiled and walked in.
Li asked Fang Ying to sit down and asked with a smile, "Who are you whispering to?"
"No. I heard that Sister Xinmei's birthday is the day after tomorrow, and they are going to pool their money to prepare a banquet to celebrate." Fang Ying didn't want to hide it from her mother-in-law, but because Ji Yanlang was there, she was afraid that Li would feel it was inappropriate to talk about Liu's difficult labor in front of him, so she picked another ready-made thing to say.
Xinmei is Li's most capable personal maid. She is 24 years old this year. A few days ago, Li announced that she would choose a son-in-law for her and let her get married, so this birthday became her last birthday in the mansion.
The maids who were on good terms with Xinmei and had received favors from her discussed giving her a good birthday - Fang Ying had heard about this from Lichun this morning, so it was a suitable excuse to bring it up now.
Li seemed unaware and turned her head to ask Fu He who was standing beside her: "Is that true?"
"Yes." Fu He replied with a smile.
Li smiled and said, "Then you are lucky. I think Liu Niang's question was not in vain."
"I wanted to give them some snacks to go with their wine." Fang Ying had indeed planned this from the beginning. "I didn't think it was worth telling Mom, so I asked them quietly."
"Okay, you guys can discuss it quietly. Just pretend I don't know." Li joked, "It's a good way to save some money."
Everyone in the room laughed, and Ji Yanlang laughed too. He didn't want to interrupt the women's conversation, especially the one concerning his mother's maid, so he remained silent.
Li also knew that he couldn't get a word in, so after saying this, she brought up something else. After a brief conversation, dinner was served.
After dinner, Li didn't keep them talking as usual, but quickly sent them away. "It's a good day, so take a few more steps after dinner to help digest the food. I have something else to do, so I won't keep you here."
The two of them excused themselves and walked out onto the path outside the courtyard. Ji Yanlang couldn't help but say, "It seems Mother is also concerned about Concubine He's courtyard."
"Yeah." There was nothing much to say to him about this matter, so Fang Ying responded casually.
"If you're worried, why don't you go over and take a look?" Ji Yanlang saw that she was still a little absent-minded. After thinking for a long time, he could only come up with this suggestion.
Fang Ying shook her head. "That's inappropriate. Third sister-in-law is the most suspicious. If I go to her room to care for her while she's giving birth, she'll definitely think I'm deliberately trying to embarrass her, not to mention that the delivery room is in Concubine He's courtyard."
They walked side by side for a few steps, and she sighed again, "I don't understand anything, it's useless to go."
In fact, Fang Ying wanted to go talk to Yue Qing'e. Firstly, her second sister-in-law must know more than her. Secondly, her second sister-in-law had given birth before. Maybe if she talked to her, she would feel at ease.
But at this time, Second Uncle was at home, so it would not be convenient even if they had already eaten.
So in the end, Fang Ying was pulled back to her room by Ji Yanlang, and they played two rounds of backgammon together. When it was time to go to bed, there was still no news that Liu had given birth.
Fang Ying hadn't slept well that night. When she woke up in the morning and saw Lichun, her first words were, "I dreamed of my mother."
Lichun paused shaking her clothes, and the smile on her face disappeared instantly. Fang Ying's heart sank when she saw this: "Is there bad news from the third house?"
"Hmm..." Lichun nodded gently, "Third room concubine Liu struggled until after midnight before giving birth to a little boy. I heard he weighed 8.12 jin (12.3 catties) when he was born."
"The child is born, but where are the adults?"
"He kept bleeding and died before dawn." Lichun said in a very low voice.
Fang Ying was speechless for a long time. Lichun knew what was bothering her, so she didn't dare to say much. She silently helped her dress and washed up.
Ji Yanlang usually got up early to practice boxing to strengthen his body, then returned to his room just as Fang Ying sat down at the dressing table. Today, when he entered, he noticed that the atmosphere was not right. From Fang Ying to the maid, no one had a smile on their face. He walked up behind his wife, glanced in the mirror, and asked with a smile, "What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well?"
Fang Ying also looked at him in the mirror and asked, "Haven't you heard?"
"What did you hear?" Ji Yanlang asked while looking at the maid who was combing Fang Ying's hair.
Seeing that her husband hadn't even remembered Aunt Liu giving birth, Lichun quickly replied, "Congratulations, my husband, on having a new nephew—the third wife gave birth to a little boy last night. It's a pity that Aunt Liu had such a short life..."
Fang Ying couldn't stand it any longer and scolded, "What do you mean by 'bad luck'? When did you learn how to tell fortunes? How dare you say that?"
Lichun hurriedly admitted his mistake, and Ji Yanlang tried to smooth things over: "Don't be angry, it was probably the third sister-in-law who passed the message." He asked Lichun to pour him tea, sent the maid who was combing his hair away, and put his arm around Fang Ying's shoulders, whispering a few words of comfort.
Finally, he said, "I think this is strange. The one in Fourth Brother's room gave birth prematurely, and the child didn't survive. Now the one in Third Brother's room has only one child alive. Although it's not easy for women to give birth, it shouldn't be this serious, right? Not to mention before, the little girl in Second Brother's room didn't even reach the full month old, and she was born smoothly, and both mother and daughter were safe?"
Yes, successful childbirth is rare, but cases like the two Lius, where only one of the mother and child survive, are indeed rare. Could it be that... Fang Ying looked at Ji Yanlang: "Not really? Even if it's the third sister-in-law... Liu has always been raised in Concubine He's courtyard."
"I also don't think Third Sister-in-law would do that, but Aunt He is indeed confused." Ji Yanlang straightened up and pinched Fang Ying's shoulders. "Don't think too much. It's a life after all. Mother will investigate."
Fang Ying thought this made sense, so she hurriedly called the maid back to comb her hair, and then urged Ji Yanlang to go to Li's room early for dinner.
Li said nothing in front of Ji Yanlang. After he finished his meal and went to the cavalry camp, Yue Qing'e also arrived. Then she sighed and said, "You know everything, right?"
Fang Ying and Yue Qing'e nodded together, wanting to comfort their mother-in-law, but Li had already gone on to give instructions about Liu's funeral arrangements, including what kind of coffin and burial plot to buy, and how to find a few monks to perform a ritual to pray for her soul to be reborn.
"You can discuss the rest with Sanniang. We can't stay at home. Wrap him up early and carry him out." Li said finally.
Fang Ying and the other person took their leave and left the yard. She couldn't help but tell Yue Qing'e what Ji Yanlang had said and asked her what she thought.
Yue Qing'e looked around and whispered in Fang Ying's ear, "I didn't dare to think too much, but last night when the midwife and the doctor said the fetus was too big to be born and that only one could be saved, Mother sent people to question Concubine He's family, especially those who served Liu."
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The author has something to say: As I wrote before, the heroine's mother died prematurely due to childbirth (premature birth). She was already able to remember things at the time, so she was deeply afraid of this.
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