“What good does your worrying accomplish?” The old Madam spoke. “All of you sit down quietly and wait.”

Everyone complied and took their seats.

Through the closed door, Du Linghua’s cries carried without pause — piercing and desolate cries that seemed to wrench at the heart.

“The Commander still has not come?” Qiu Yue ran out hurriedly. “San Yitai keeps calling for him.”

Qian Lan quickly signaled the young maid with a look. “Go and fetch him again.”

“I will go,” said Luo Huaimeng, rising to her feet. “The situation here is serious. A young maid may not be able to explain it clearly enough.”

“Then I will go with Er Yitai,” said Qian Lan. “In San Yitai’s current state, the Commander’s presence is essential. San Yitai has been calling for him without stop. If he comes, she will perhaps find the strength to bring the child into the world.”

“Where is the Commander?” From inside the room, Du Linghua’s weakened voice repeated the same question over and over.

Cai Xia could not bear it and said, “San Yitai, the Commander is at the Blue Brick Building. Someone has already been sent to fetch him. He should be on his way back now.”

Yan Qing heard this and felt a chill settle in her heart on Du Linghua’s behalf.

She thought back to when San Yitai had been afflicted with a spell — the Commander had stayed at her bedside without leaving for a single moment. That scene had never left her memory.

She had once believed the Commander’s feelings for Du Linghua were sincere. Nothing else would explain why she had been his sole favorite for so long. But now it was clear that had only ever been a surface truth. In the Commander’s heart, the person he had always cared for most was the one already dead — Hui Yuan.

Now that a woman who resembled Hui Yuan even more than Du Linghua had appeared, Du Linghua’s standing in the Commander’s heart had fallen precipitously. Even her being in difficult labor could not prevent him from putting business first.

This was truly Du Linghua’s sorrow.

“How is she?” Luo Huaimeng asked.

Qian Lan shook her head with a worried look. “They are saying it is a difficult labor.”

“How could this have happened?” Luo Huaimeng had no quarrel with Du Linghua and was genuinely anxious on her behalf.

“What good does your worrying do?” The old Madam spoke up. “All of you sit quietly and wait.”

Everyone took their seats without another word.

Through the closed door, Du Linghua’s cries carried without stop — sharp and anguished, the kind that seemed to reach into one’s chest and twist.

“The Commander still has not come?” Qiu Yue ran out. “San Yitai has been calling for him without stop.”

Qian Lan quickly sent a look to the young maid. “Go and fetch him once more.”

“Let me go,” said Luo Huaimeng, rising. “Things are serious here. A young maid may not be able to convey it clearly.”

“Then I will come with Er Yitai.” Qian Lan said. “In San Yitai’s state, the Commander must be here. San Yitai keeps calling out for him — if he comes, she may find the strength to deliver the child.”

Inside, Du Linghua repeated the same question in a faint voice: “Where is the Commander?”

Cai Xia, unable to bear it, said, “San Yitai, the Commander is in the Blue Brick Building. Someone has already gone to fetch him and he should be on his way.”

Yan Qing listened and could not help feeling sorrow on Du Linghua’s behalf.

“Grandmother.” Yan Qing, hearing that the sounds from inside had changed, rose and said, “I would like to go in and see.”

The old Madam looked at her with impatience. “You have never even given birth. What good would you be in there?”

Jing Zhi spoke up from beside her. “Old Madam, our Miss was a guest lecturer at the school of medicine. She is versed in both traditional and Western medicine. Given San Yitai’s present condition, perhaps Miss can think of something.”

The old Madam’s brow creased. Perhaps Du Linghua’s cries had made the old Madam feel that things were indeed serious, for she gave a wave of her hand. “Go in then, go in.”

Yan Qing entered the delivery room to find two midwives busily at work, while Du Linghua did nothing but weep and cry, refusing entirely to cooperate.

Her thoughts moved quickly, and she walked directly to Du Linghua’s side. At a moment when neither midwife was watching, she bent close to Du Linghua’s ear and said a few words rapidly.

Du Linghua first went still, then turned to look at Yan Qing. Yan Qing gave her a single nod.

“San Yitai, you must push,” the midwife urged again.

If the mother refused to cooperate, there was nothing even a skilled midwife could do.

At that moment, San Yitai finally began slowly to work with the midwife, gritting her teeth and bearing down.

She had given birth once before and had some experience in how to manage it. Although this was a difficult labor, she knew how to exert herself correctly.

By the time the Commander arrived, a sudden cry rang out, and the midwife emerged from behind the curtain with a bundle in her arms, beaming.

“Congratulations, old Madam. Congratulations, Commander. San Yitai has given birth to a fine, healthy son.”

The old Madam heard this and immediately moved forward with her walking stick, her eyebrows and eyes all bent in a smile.

“Wonderful, truly wonderful. Heaven be praised.” The old Madam lifted her face toward the sky in gratitude. “Our Shi family has another grandson.”

The Commander was overjoyed as well. Taking the child from the midwife’s arms, he broke into a wide smile. “Mother, do you not think the child looks — does he not resemble me as a boy?”

“He does, he truly does,” the old Madam said with a delighted laugh. “The very image of you when you were little.”

“Congratulations to Mother and to the Commander.” Qian Lan smiled and came forward.

The moment the Commander saw her, his gaze grew infinitely tender, and he placed the child directly into her arms. “Come, hold him a moment for good fortune.”

Qian Lan looked slightly apprehensive. “I have never held a child. What if I make him cry?”

“It is no matter — little ones cry easily.” The Commander watched Qian Lan carefully cradling the child, his smile deepening, as though it were Qian Lan who had given birth and not San Yitai.

The Commander and Qian Lan spoke back and forth, cooing at the child together, while inside the room, San Yitai lay with her eyes closed, her breathing faint and labored.

“San Yitai, your ginseng broth has arrived.” Yan Qing took the bowl from a maid’s hands and helped San Yitai drink it down.

In truth, she had said almost nothing earlier — only that the child must be born if she was ever to have anything to contend with Qian Lan.

San Yitai was inherently proud and determined. Her despair of a moment ago had only been a passing darkness. The moment Yan Qing goaded her, her fighting spirit immediately returned.

She had been favored for so many years. How could she give up without one last fight? Without making a final stand, how could she know who would prevail?

What Du Linghua did not know was that at this very moment, the Commander was absorbed entirely in the delight of cooing over the child with Qian Lan, his attention nowhere near the woman who had just endured labor on his behalf.

It was only when Luo Huaimeng could bear it no longer and murmured a quiet reminder that the Commander seemed to remember Du Linghua at all.

“San Yitai had a difficult time just now,” said Luo Huaimeng softly. “We do not yet know how she is.”

The Commander heard this and finally thought of Du Linghua. He said to Qian Lan, “Let me go in and see how she is.”

“Look at me — so absorbed in this darling little one that I quite forgot San Yitai,” said Qian Lan with a smile. “Please go, Commander. San Yitai has been thinking of you all this time.”

The Commander was very satisfied with Qian Lan’s response. She was without jealousy or vanity, her only thought for others — a true model of a virtuous and capable wife. Only a woman of such generous spirit and broad character deserved the position of the Commander’s principal wife.

The Commander turned and went inside. Qian Lan stayed outside with the child, talking with the old Madam. Whatever she said, it made the old Madam laugh with such delight she could not close her mouth.

Luo Huaimeng observed all of this with cool eyes and could not suppress a quiet sigh within.

Had the Commander really reached a point where he reported his every movement to Qian Lan before acting?

Qian Lan had only met him once, yet already she held such formidable sway over him. What would it be like going forward? Was the Commander to follow her word in all things?

The thought left Luo Huaimeng unable to feel anything like ease.

The Commander entered to see Du Linghua’s ashen face and closed eyes. Regardless of how much his heart now lay with Qian Lan, Du Linghua was still a woman he had cherished for many years, and seeing her in this state, the Commander felt genuine concern.

“Ling Hua, you have suffered.”

Du Linghua saw the Commander and immediately felt tears well up. “Commander, you finally came. I thought — I thought I would never see you again.”

“Do not weep, do not weep. A woman who has just given birth must take good care of herself. Weeping will damage your eyes.”

Hearing that familiar voice and tone, a flicker of hope rose once more in Du Linghua’s heart.

She had known it. The Commander would not cast aside these years of feeling and abandon her, least of all now that she had borne him a son.

“Rest well. Do not let your thoughts run away with you.” The Commander’s words seemed to hold a deeper meaning.

Du Linghua heard this and felt suddenly uneasy. “Commander, what are you telling me not to think about?”

The Commander hesitated before saying, “Lan’er is very thoughtful. She has already found the finest wet nurse for the child.”

In great households such as this, no woman nursed her child herself. A wet nurse was provided after birth, sometimes two or three, and to prevent the child from becoming too attached, the wet nurse would be sent away once the child was weaned at two or three years of age.

The Shi family’s children were all raised by wet nurses.

Du Linghua lowered her head and replied softly, “Thank you to the Madam.”

“Ling Hua, Lan’er is a good person,” the Commander said earnestly. “When you were in labor, she was attending to everything without pause, barely off her feet. She is newly arrived and unfamiliar with the household. You have been in the Shi family for over twenty years — in all things, you must guide her and be patient with her. You must not compete with her for favor.”

Hearing this, Du Linghua felt a sharp, twisting ache inside. She could not help glancing over at Yan Qing, who stood not far away speaking with a midwife, her attention elsewhere.

“I understand,” said Du Linghua. She was already perfectly clear by now — competing for the Commander’s favor was no longer a viable path. She had already fallen far too far behind in that regard. Acting through the Commander was clearly not the wise approach. The last incident had taught her a lesson.

“I was too impulsive the other day — they say a pregnant woman’s thinking is not always sound,” Du Linghua said, her voice entirely earnest, her tone utterly feeble, stirring an involuntary feeling of pity. “Commander, I am sorry. I promise it will not happen again.”

Du Linghua’s compliance put the Commander in a good mood. “I always knew you were a sensible woman.”

Du Linghua managed a thin smile, though her eyes held not a trace of warmth.

“Very well — I must go back out. Lan’er is still outside, and she has no experience with children. I am afraid she will be flustered before long.”

The Commander’s words fell like a ladle of boiling vinegar poured over Du Linghua’s heart. She held back the sourness and fury surging within her and forced a smile. “The Commander is right. After all, the Madam is still a new bride. How could she have experience? Please do go and keep her company, Commander.”

Du Linghua watched the Commander leave, and her hand at her side slowly clenched the bedclothes into a fist. The veins along the back of her hand rose like the feelings of their owner — stubborn and furious.

Yan Qing glanced at Du Linghua and turned to leave.

“Seventh Young Madam.” Du Linghua called after her in a measured voice. “Are you not concerned that she might pose a threat to you?”

“My mother has been out of favor for many years,” said Yan Qing. “She has long since set aside any desire for it. I cannot see what reason the new Madam would have to take aim at her.”

“Women are like this,” said Du Linghua. “They want their man to have eyes for no one but them. Even if Er Yitai has long since relinquished such desires, Qian Lan may not see it that way.”

Yan Qing understood that Du Linghua was attempting to draw her into an alliance. She had no intention of agreeing.

“The new Madam is a woman of broad understanding. I do not think she would be so narrow-minded.” Yan Qing gave Du Linghua a slight nod. “San Yitai, what I said earlier was only to give you the will to bring the child safely into the world. What you choose to do after that is no concern of mine.”

Du Linghua looked at her coldly, and said nothing.

Yan Qing said no more. She turned and walked out.