Mrs. Li was confused by the scene, what had happened? She and her children had only been out for a little over an hour, yet it seemed like a significant event had occurred!
Hongji’s father stood at the entrance of the hall with an exceptionally grave expression, his face showing sheer defeat.
"Father-in-law, what has happened?" Mrs. Li, observing the workers who seemed to be bustling about busily, noticed even the little maid appeared very occupied.
The strong scent of blood from the basin of bloody water frightened both mother and daughters.
"A misfortune has befallen our family, a misfortune indeed!" Hongji’s father was overwhelmed with tears of sorrow, appearing as though his heart was broken as if he had lost his parents.
Thinking that the child in Aunt Lai’s womb had simply vanished, the midwife had speculated it could have been a son, his own flesh and blood, awaited for years.
Mrs. Li... unable to get a clear answer, could only go inside.
Ye Shiqi... it was inappropriate to ask, so she and her elder sisters could only choose to return to their rooms.
Ye Shiqi felt that she had become a semi-competent doctor and, if she could save someone, she should try to do so.
Ye Shiqi instructed her elder sisters not to go out as they were already older girls.
Being elder sisters, they did not want their younger sister to meddle in these affairs, not knowing what had occurred in the house; they could only let Ye Shiqi investigate.
Ye Shiqi asked the little maid, who actually responded, startling her.
It turned out that Aunt Lai, who had not returned home the day before, came back before lunch and seemed very diligent in serving tea to Mrs. Lai and also during the meal.
Mrs. Lai, seemingly wary, unknowingly altered something, and both women met with disaster less than half an hour after eating.
Aunt Lai experienced bleeding, followed by a miscarriage.
Mrs. Lai suddenly suffered a minor heart attack, then complained of dizziness, headaches, and a twisted mouth.
With the lady of the house and the children out, the two men left at home were just about to leave for work and had to chaotically send for the midwife and the village doctor.
The village doctor, upon examining Mrs. Lai, felt he couldn’t treat such a serious illness.
Meanwhile, Aunt Lai, in pain and crying out before the midwife’s arrival, was then diagnosed with a miscarriage and severe bleeding by the midwife.
The village doctor, after seeing Mrs. Lai, could only fulfill his duty and examine Aunt Lai. The strong smell of blood following a miscarriage was something the doctor wished to avoid entering.
Latterly, realizing it was indeed a matter of life, he took Aunt Lai’s pulse, found her condition perilous, and could only prescribe medication that Hongji’s father needed to buy, as it was not available locally.
Hongji’s father sent someone to buy the medicines. With such a grave incident at home, he decided not to send Mrs. Lai and Aunt Lai to the county doctor, merely asking someone to buy the medicines while inviting a doctor to see them.
Hongji’s father inwardly resented these two women, one having caused the death of Aunt Lai’s unborn child and the other essentially responsible for her own child’s demise.
With such a significant event in the household, Hongji, unable to visit Aunt Lai and needed at his mother’s side, had no choice but to call Mrs. Li and her daughters back home.
When Mrs. Li entered her mother-in-law’s room, she only saw her mother-in-law faintly asleep on the bed, nothing like the spirited woman who would scold anyone on sight. With her twisted mouth, would she ever recover?
After Ye Shiqi understood the situation, she returned to her room to get her regularly practiced silver needles, thinking that, since this was her grandmother, if she could ease her pain or keep her alive with her medical skills, she should still show mercy and help.
Ye Shiqi, lacking empathy, recalled how Mrs. Lai might treat her granddaughters according to the books; ever since her birth, Mrs. Lai had not been kind but had never truly harmed her.
Aunt Lai was different; this woman had become a cruel stepmother to them in the books.
Now, having become their grandfather’s concubine, she continued her malicious ways, harming others; whether this woman lived or died was of no concern to her.
Ye Shiqi then realized that her younger aunt, Ye Daidi, had been taken to a smaller room by the wet nurse; her own aunt was in trouble yet not crying bitterly, which only made her think that she was too young to understand.
Ye Shiqi observed that Aunt Lai had come into trouble in the living room together with Mrs. Lai, who was moved to her own room, with Aunt Lai next door in the guest room.
When Ye Shiqi saw her grandfather: "Grandfather, may I go in to see grandmother?"
Hongji’s father, with a grim look in his eyes, neither nodded nor shook his head; he rather liked the idea of that old woman being unattended, only nominally cared for by her son and grandchildren, so dutiful.
He couldn’t expose the secret, previously suspecting that Aunt Lai had other motives. Now that the child in her womb was lost, he could only keep this secret in his heart.
Ye Shiqi saw her father sitting by her grandmother’s bed, the filial son before her; what else could she say?
"Father, how is grandmother doing?"
Hongji, with tears streaming down his face, looked up, his eyes red and his face wet.
"Your grandmother was fine this morning; how did she become ?"