Chapter Fourteen: House Arrest
Yang and Guo Gongye had a warm dinner in the Jinxiu Pavilion, washed their hands, and Yang ordered the maid beside her to prepare the An Tai medicine. After sitting with Guo Gongye for a while, she instructed someone to bring supplements and personally went to the courtyard of Fourth Aunt.
The noise inside had already spread out before anyone arrived. "You useless slaves, the master can't possibly come to see me first when I'm pregnant? He must have gone to Jinxiu Pavilion to see that old and faded woman!" Fourth Madam yelled with a broken heart, followed by the sound of shattering objects. Yang Shi frowned, thinking to herself, although you're pregnant and young and beautiful, as a small concubine, you dare to show your true colors and be so arrogant. She looked up at Marquis Pang with a smile and said, "Sister is pregnant for the first time, it's normal to have a bad temper. I'll bring some delicious food another day, but from your tone, I'm afraid you don't want to see me. Let's just let Master go in, I won't go in." She then lowered her head with a sad expression.
Pang Guogong listened, originally because of the fourth aunt's pregnancy and pampering, he was disgusted, but had to consider the child in her belly. However, she was after all a concubine, how could she be mentioned in the same breath as his wife? Seeing the virtuous wife with a face full of grievances and desolation, he suddenly felt heartache. Although Yang Shi was already nearly thirty years old, she took good care of herself and had an even more youthful charm. So, without letting the maid announce him, he directly took his wife's hand and walked in.
As soon as she entered the house, she saw a maid kneeling on the ground, and her fourth aunt, who was more than three months pregnant, holding a rattan stick to beat the kneeling maid. Yang's face suddenly became angry when she saw the maid's face. The maid's name was Yingchun, and she was specially given to take care of her pregnancy. How could she be so ignorant? Yang worriedly said, "Sister, you are pregnant, how can you get angry? Besides, this maid is given by sister to take care of your pregnancy, but you beat her like this. Is it because she didn't take good care of you? If that's the case, just dismiss her directly and don't let her stay in front of you."
Fourth Auntie took one look at the Duke and Madame Yang arriving together, and was immediately startled. She knew her own position in the Duke's household had no foundation or backing to rely on, so she had always been cautious. Now that she was pregnant, she had become arrogant, but when she saw the hidden anger in Madame Yang's expression, she secretly thought to herself that she had been too careless and impatient. However, thinking that she was carrying a child, Madame Yang didn't dare do anything to her, so she immediately regained her confidence. She then spoke up to the Duke with a warm smile, explaining that she was also anxious because of the child's restlessness, and hadn't meant any disrespect to his wife.
Unbeknownst to her, Pang Guo Gong had heard everything clearly and suddenly turned dark: I think you are becoming more and more presumptuous. Even though you're pregnant, you can't be disrespectful to the madam. The madam is the mistress of this house. If you show even a hint of disrespect, once you give birth, you can hand over the child to the madam for education, and then you can move to the nunnery in the suburbs to spend the rest of your life.
Fourth Auntie was so frightened by Old Master's words that she immediately lost her composure, hastily knelt down, and with tears streaming down her face, begged: "Please, madam, forgive my sister this one time, considering we've served Old Master together. My sister won't dare to do it again, my sister knows her mistake." Fourth Auntie thought to herself that she had truly underestimated the position of the mistress in Old Master's heart, and now regretted not being more careful with her words earlier. She was about to scold Ying Chun severely, but instead touched her own swollen belly and decided to endure for the sake of the child. Lifting her head, she saw that the mistress had not spoken a word, but instead raised her hand to slap her own ear.
Yang stopped her and said, "Sister, there's no need to be like this. Today, I came with Master to bring you some medicine for a safe pregnancy and some supplements. As someone who is about to become a mother, you should know the importance of your words and actions on your child. I can let bygones be bygones today since you're still young and pregnant, but as for what happened in the backyard, Master cannot intervene. If there's fault, it should be punished. This time, sister will just have to put you under house arrest for a month. You can focus on copying Buddhist scriptures to accumulate merit for your child." After finishing speaking, she looked at Master and asked, "Is this arrangement okay with you, sir?"
Pang Guogong looked at Yang gently and said: You are too kind-hearted, that's all. She is pregnant, besides, you are in charge of the inner house affairs, it's just that this punishment is too light. Everything listens to the lady. He then looked at Fourth Aunt: You should reflect on your mistakes quietly, don't let me hear any disrespect towards the lady again, otherwise, I will not be lenient.
Yes, I dare not again. Fourth Aunt knelt on the ground with her head bowed and tears streaming down.
Sister, get up. This medicine for a safe pregnancy should be taken on time. Take these supplements, sister. Although you are confined to bed, if you lack anything, just let someone tell me and I will not let you suffer. Also, since sister is not satisfied with Spring Welcoming, I will take her away. In the future, if sister finds anything inconvenient, just let her know and Spring Welcoming will follow me to serve from now on. After finishing speaking, Yang Shi called for someone to help Spring Welcoming up and left together with Old Master.
Fourth Aunt took them away, and afterwards, if there's anything to find, it would be Mrs. Ying Chun who intentionally made things difficult for her. Today, I scolded and beat her, how could she not remember the hatred? You're a good one, Mrs. - usually so magnanimous, but actually so sinister. At this time, keeping the child safe is the most important thing, he can only rely on this child now. So she called over her personal maid, Dong Mei: Go and pour out the medicine, from now on, all of Mrs.'s medicine will be poured out, I won't drink a single drop. Humph, no one should think about harming my child, child, mother will protect you well, you can rest assured, mother will give you everything in the future. Fourth Aunt made a silent vow in her heart. Today was exhausting after all the commotion, so she called over the maid to wash up, the child is her trump card, today you're confined to me, I'll tolerate it for now. After changing into her nightclothes, she went out and lay down on the imperial bed to rest.
On the other side, Yang returned to Jinxiu Pavilion, although angry, but couldn't show it in front of Master. After Master returned to his study, she brought a doctor to Yingchun's room and saw that the little maid had whip marks all over her body, which made her even angrier. This fourth aunt was really cruel, there wasn't a single intact spot on her small body. She hastily called for the doctor to open medicine and diagnose her. After the doctor left, she personally called someone to bring medicinal wine and said to Yingchun: "It hurts a bit, bear with it, it's all because of me, I didn't think fourth aunt would be so cruel. Originally, I wanted you to take care of her, but because she was pregnant and had too many thoughts, she harmed you. From now on, just follow me, she won't dare hit you again." After saying that, she gently wiped the medicinal wine on Yingchun's body.
Spring was deeply moved, and the pain from the medicine touching her wound also eased: As a lowly servant, how could I be worthy of having you wipe my face? Fourth Madam always thought that I was sent by the mistress to harm him, just because I once saw Dongmei pour out the medicinal wine given by the mistress under the tea flower tree. Fourth Madam often found excuses to scold me severely, but now it's all good, I'm lucky to be back by the mistress' side, and I will definitely be loyal and devoted. Dongmei's eyes sparkled with tears.
Yang listened to Dongmei's words and told her to rest well, and then went back to her own bedroom. It turned out that the fourth madam had not drunk the medicine she sent every day to calm the fetus. She was so careful and cautious, although she didn't like concubines, after all, they were the master's flesh and blood, and she didn't have any intention of harming them. Moreover, she wasn't foolish enough to put poison in the medicine, it was truly just a small cleverness. The fourth madam wouldn't amount to much, but the second madam harming her own daughter was truly unbearable. Oh well, at least Pang Luoyu's injury could calm down for two days, today she punished the fourth madam, tomorrow she would go and tell old lady about it. As night fell, she had someone prepare a nourishing soup, and personally took it to give to Lord Pang.
