CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 58: COUNTERATTACK (4)

Tong Xiyang laughed, feeling more joyful than ever: "Elder Sister specially sent it, and Lady treasures it so much, it must be useful."

Madam Wang nodded, called in Nanny Qiu to take the leaves to the kitchen to simmer them, and at night she and her son each drank two large bowls of soup... Just as she was thinking of going out for a walk to digest, it began to pour down rain outside. Madam Wang ordered the doors locked and everyone to retire early.

But in the middle of the night, Madam Wang began to have stomach pains. She held onto the maid and rushed into the lavatory, came out with a pale face, and within less than half a cup of tea time, she had rushed back again. Throughout half the hour, she had gone back and forth five or six times at most, and the night watchmaid watched her pale face, and what was coming out was also blood-stained, and she fearfully asked: "Concubine, shall I call for a doctor?"

Madam Wang leaned on the bed, weakly nodded: "Yes, quickly ask for a doctor!" Before she finished speaking, her stomach began to throb painfully again.

The maid, trembling, asked an old woman to knock on doors and went to Lady’s place to fetch a token to invite a doctor. But the old woman braved the heavy rain to reach the second gate, only to find the door securely locked, and the gatekeeper had long disappeared without a trace. She searched around the courtyard for quite a while but couldn’t find anyone, so she hurried back: "The door won’t open, and the gatekeeper must be hiding somewhere drinking wine."

Nanny Qiu panicked, and even Third Miss had run four or five times. Madam Wang was clutching her stomach in pain, rolling on the bed. If something really happened, no one in this courtyard would survive. She didn’t dare to think further, and frightened without even taking an umbrella, she ran to Madam Mei’s courtyard to knock on the door. When the door opened, Madam Mei appeared wearing her clothes and she told her everything thoroughly: "Please, do you have any other solution?"

Madam Mei’s eyes flickered, her face full of difficult urgency: "What can be done? Only to unlock the gate and ask Lady to invite the doctor in." As she paced back and forth, she turned around pointing at the maids and old women on the side: "I don’t need your service here; all of you go help Nanny Qiu find the gatekeeper. This courtyard is not that big, I don’t believe they could hide anywhere! Must find them no matter what."

Nanny Qiu was disheartened, initially thinking Madam Mei would have a good solution... But she couldn’t reject the goodwill, and since she had come seeking help: "Thank you, Madam, I’ll go back and think of another solution." Madam Mei did not keep her: "Go quickly, go!"

Nanny Qiu went out the door, turned the corner, passed through the quietly silent Madam Xia’s courtyard, and entered Madam Luo’s place. Madam Luo didn’t even show her face, just had the maid reply: "The old women aren’t hers, what’s the use in asking her? If there’s real skill, climb the walls then."

Nanny Qiu was trembling with anger, she had thought about climbing the walls but seeing the walls a few yards high, and they were all indoor women, who had the ability to climb up? Even if they put up a table, getting down would be another question...

Nanny Qiu returned to the courtyard, seeing Madam Wang running back and forth continuously from the lavatory, nearly exhausted...

Nanny Qiu’s legs trembled, couldn’t stand steadily even leaning against the door frame! She sat on the ground, looking at the pouring rain outside, wet and cold to the bone shivering, while inside the room was filled with an overwhelming rancid smell that made her nauseous. She slapped her thigh, gritted her teeth, and said: "Go find a big stone!" Several old women rushed into the rain searching for stones, finally found one by the corner of the wall, they hammered at it together for a while, finally broke the lock, she personally ran to Zhui Garden to fetch the token, by the time the courtyard’s old women brought the doctor in, Madam Wang had already fainted bleeding nonstop in the lavatory.

The doctor came through the heavy rain, it was Doctor Hu, who was familiar with Tong Mansion and about fifty years old.

He took the pulse and his face didn’t look good: "This lady ate something unclean, and during the night, she went to and fro, exposing herself to the cold..." Nanny Qiu was thinking about the sheets just changed, soaked with blood, and trembling asked: "And the child in the womb..."

Doctor Hu furrowed his eyebrows, picked up the pen to prescribe medicine: "The child is lost." He sighed and shook his head: "The child was already formed, must use some medicine for a miscarriage to clean thoroughly."

Nanny Qiu sat down with a thump, crawled to the doctor’s feet: "Sir, I beg you, you must save the child, this child is Madam’s life."

"Perhaps if earlier, there was hope, now... it’s too late, it’s fortunate to save the mother in this situation." After he finished, he wrote medicinal prescriptions with a clatter and handed them to Nanny Qiu: "This one is for the miscarriage, this one is for the clearing, and this one is for postnatal replenishing..." Classified carefully, seeing Nanny Qiu kneeling on the ground ashen-faced without reaction, he turned to Moxiang: "Quickly go fetch the medicine."

Moxiang stepped out heavily, when fetching the medicine and returning home, gave it to Madam Wang to take, and by 5 a.m., delivered a formed male fetus!

After Madam Wang awoke and heard the situation from the maid, she flipped her eyes and fainted again!

Silence enveloped the East Cross Courtyard, and the vast Tong Mansion was eerily quiet as well, while Lady was reading a letter sent by a concubine, upon receiving the news she immediately had Nanny Fang put the letter away, and with a group of maids and old women rushed over. Nanny Qiu went to meet them, and Madam Luo and Madam Mei also cautiously stood on the side, yet what was truly on their minds, no one knew.

Lady first went inside to see Madam Wang, indeed finding her lying on the bed as lifeless as if she was already dead, her breath more out than in. Lady turned with a grave face back to the main hall, abruptly asking Nanny Qiu: "What on earth happened, everything was fine during the day, how did it end up like this."

Nanny Qiu, leading the servants from Madam Wang’s courtyard, knelt down, responding: "Last night, the things Madam ate, I carefully checked, besides..." Lady’s brow furrowed, full of displeasure: "Speak straightforwardly!"

Nanny Qiu cautiously glanced at Lady, her voice barely audible: "Besides that herbal broth, everything else was regular food."

Lady’s heart skipped a beat, something flashed through her mind, and her expression instantly turned cold.

On the side, Nanny Fang’s eyes sharpened, she stepped forward and slapped Nanny Qiu: "Utter nonsense, the things were sent by the eldest miss and rewarded by Lady to the concubine, why did neither the eldest miss nor Lady fall ill, unless Madam Wang is particularly precious!"

Nanny Qiu was stunned by the slap, covering her aged face muttered: "Lady, please see clearly, I... I didn’t mean that." Nanny Fang snorted coldly, scolding: "Living these years for nothing!"

"Lady!" At this point, Madam Wang awakened, knowing Lady was sitting in the outer hall, immediately she ran out, hair disheveled, sobbing, and knelt at Lady’s feet: "Lady, you must seek justice for me!" Her face was smeared with tears, pitifully: "Someone must have put something harmful in my food trying to harm me, trying to harm us three, such a person must not be spared." She clung to Lady’s leg, Lady’s gauze skirt instantly moistened at a corner, she seemed to have lost her mind, mumbling with eyes full of blood-red: "Yes! Must not be spared, must dismember them..."