Yu Tang felt Second Madam’s words made a lot of sense. She said: “Counting the days, First Madam should have already received Young Master’s letter and know that Young Madam is pregnant, right?”

Second Madam looked around and, seeing no serving maids in the room, lowered her voice to tell Yu Tang: “Didn’t First Madam always want to come to the capital before? What if she uses this as an excuse to come to the capital… I’m not badmouthing her behind her back. This person has extremely strict rules. I’m afraid she’ll find fault, so regarding Young Madam, we’d better be extra careful.”

At some point, Second Madam had also started calling Pei Tong’s mother “First Madam” following Yu Tang’s lead.

“I’ll follow Second Sister-in-law’s guidance!” Yu Tang immediately said upon hearing this. “After all, I don’t know First Madam as well as you do.”

Second Madam breathed a sigh of relief and said: “I was just afraid you’d think I was being alarmist.” And wouldn’t listen to her. Now that Yu Tang indicated she would defer to her in everything, she felt her whole being lighten. “Then let’s quickly finalize A’Dan’s marriage, lest she comes and not only points fingers at everything but also says unpleasant things that make the in-laws laugh at us.”

After the minor betrothal, they needed to determine the dowry, then discuss the wedding date—there was much to keep them busy. If First Madam truly used this excuse to come to the capital, they really couldn’t avoid her.

Yu Tang quickly said: “Then let’s hurry and invite a midwife to the house for Young Madam. See if there’s anything else we need to prepare in advance—we’ll prepare it all. Even if First Madam comes and wants to find fault, we’ll make sure she can’t find any.”

“Three cobblers are worth one Zhuge Liang.” Second Madam nodded repeatedly. “If we remind each other, the chances of making mistakes will definitely be smaller than if just one person handled it.”

Yu Tang found this reasonable.

The two called over Qing Yuan and Nanny Jin. In Yu Tang’s study, they wrote out a long list, afterward having Qing Yuan and Nanny Jin read it to others to see if anything was overlooked. Not just a midwife—they even prepared to send someone to arrange for a wet nurse in advance.

By the time Gu Xi’s side learned of this, the midwife had already been invited into the residence.

Her wet nurse had grown thin over this, anxiously pacing circles in her room. Even her speech had become somewhat incoherent: “Miss, what should we do? How about saying you’re not feeling well today, have her rest for two days, and once I’ve arranged the duty schedule properly, she can come pay her respects to you?”

Gu Xi was much calmer than her wet nurse and said: “No need. Since both aunts honor her so much and personally accompanied her here, if I say this, wouldn’t I be giving them too little face? Don’t panic. Have some tea, calm yourself, and first accompany me to welcome both aunts.”

Her wet nurse had no better ideas. She had already complained endlessly before—saying more wouldn’t change the current situation. She simply steeled her heart, tidied herself up, and followed Gu Xi to welcome Yu Tang and Second Madam.

This midwife had been introduced by Xu Xuan.

Now that she had become a mother, her heart had suddenly softened. Whenever she heard of any child lacking this or that, she felt distressed. This midwife was the one who had delivered her baby. Keeping her on like this, the monthly stipend was ten taels of silver. Xu Xuan had also added two sets of clothes, not counting the separate reward money after the child was safely delivered.

Second Madam decided to hire someone following the compensation Xu Xuan gave.

The midwife herself was extremely respectful before Yu Tang and Second Madam. When she saw Gu Xi, she was so enthusiastic that not only Gu Xi, but even Yu Tang watching felt somewhat overwhelmed.

It was Second Madam who pulled the midwife aside and said a string of words similar to “from now on we entrust our residence’s Young Madam to you,” which finally quieted the midwife down. Even so, when the midwife mentioned she also knew some simple medical principles, Gu Xi still couldn’t help but have her expression change slightly.

Second Madam didn’t notice and was still happily saying: “I’ve also specially hired a cook for you. See if her cooking suits your taste. If you like her, keep her. If not, we’ll find someone else.”

Gu Xi quickly collected her emotions and thanked Second Madam with a smile.

Second Madam waved her hand and said: “I saw how Madam Yin’s family cared for her when she was pregnant—we’ll just follow their example.” Then she asked: “Has your mother-in-law replied to your letters? Does she have any plans?”

Gu Xi smiled and said: “We haven’t received mother-in-law’s reply yet. With you and Third Aunt caring for me like this, I was planning to write to my mother-in-law later, so she won’t worry.”

She hadn’t written to First Madam at all.

Setting aside whether this child could “be kept,” given her mother-in-law’s biased nature, if she came to the capital, the matter between the Pei and Yang families would definitely become more complicated.

How good things were now—the Pei family, for the sake of the marriage alliance, had extricated Second and Third Masters Yang, essentially ending the grievances between the two families. The young couple didn’t have to be caught in the middle in a difficult position. How wonderful!

Better to wait until this “child” was “gone” before saying anything!

“Both aunts have worked hard.” Gu Xi personally poured tea for Second Madam and Yu Tang.

In such situations, Yu Tang always deferred to Second Madam and never overstepped to make decisions. Second Madam also felt Yu Tang was still young and should be cared for, willing to shield Yu Tang from anything. Hearing this, she smiled and said: “Tell your mother-in-law to rest assured. Although I’ve never cared for a pregnant junior, I can learn from other families.”

Gu Xi expressed repeated thanks and asked about Fifth Miss’s marriage: “Is there anything I can help with?”

“No need, no need.” Second Madam smiled and said: “You just take care of yourself. When that day comes, dress up beautifully and sit comfortably watching the excitement.”

Gu Xi smiled in agreement. After chatting with Second Madam for a long while, Second Madam and Yu Tang finally stood up to leave.

That evening, Yu Tang told Pei Yan: “We’ve done everything we could think of. Tomorrow we’re also planning to make another trip with Second Sister-in-law to deliver the bird’s nest and ginseng we had someone buy. After that, there won’t be anything else to do, and we can start wholeheartedly helping Second Sister-in-law prepare for A’Dan’s minor betrothal.”

Listening, Pei Yan thought for a moment and said: “In the black chicken soup I drank today, was there gastrodia?”

Yu Tang exclaimed with a laugh: “You could taste that?”

Because she went out with Second Madam to buy some medicinal herbs to nourish Gu Xi’s body, Yu Tang had also added some for the household.

Pei Yan smiled and said: “Black chicken and gastrodia soup is for drinking in autumn and winter, right?”

Yu Tang’s face reddened as she said: “I was planning to make you a gastrodia and old duck soup, but somehow I wrote down gastrodia and black chicken soup and sent it to the kitchen women. It was a fortunate mistake! Tomorrow I’ll make you some other soup.”

Pei Yan felt Yu Tang had no particular talent in cooking. The household soups were just those same few varieties over and over, but he wasn’t a picky person and found them acceptable. There wasn’t much to criticize.

He said: “That’s fine! You can also have them make some dried scallop soup—it’s quite good to drink in summer too.”

Yu Tang giggled, deciding in the future she should just hand such matters back to Qing Yuan. She had only written menus for a few days and already felt at a loss for what to have.

The two softly discussed household matters and were considering whether to move to the waterside pavilion to live for a few days since the weather was getting hotter and hotter. But the next morning when they got up, they heard that Gu Xi had “miscarried.”

Yu Tang sat on the bedside, unable to react for quite a while.

She didn’t know whether Gu Xi had truly miscarried or if it was just a scheme.

But regardless of the reason, she felt very uncomfortable about it.

Pei Yan remained as indifferent as ever and said: “You should go see. If it’s real, then she simply had no fate with our family. If it’s fake, hopefully she’s clever enough that no one can tell. Otherwise, she’ll truly become the laughingstock of the capital.”

Yu Tang knew Pei Yan always left room for maneuver, preferring to think the worst so he could handle things with ease when critical moments came.

She sighed gloomily and went with Second Madam to visit Gu Xi.

In the sweltering heat, Gu Xi wore a headband and leaned against the headboard with a pale face. Pei Tong was personally feeding her medicine, while her wet nurse stood nearby with a somewhat dazed expression, holding a small bowl of preserved plums.

“Second Aunt, Third Aunt!” Pei Tong stood up to bow to Second Madam and Yu Tang, inviting them to sit.

“How did it come to this?” Second Madam’s expression was grief-stricken, feeling she couldn’t explain this to First Madam and Old Madam. “Where’s the midwife? Didn’t she just enter the residence? How could such a thing happen? Before she entered the residence, I even took her birth date and time to have it checked—it doesn’t clash with our family at all!”

Gu Xi quickly said: “It has nothing to do with her! It was me not being careful when I bathed last night…” As she spoke, her eyes grew moist.

Second Madam couldn’t bear to ask more. She held her hand and gently comforted her: “It’s alright, it’s alright. This was all an accident. You’re both still young—you’ll have children again soon.”

Gu Xi shook her head and said: “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have announced it so early. I made all the elders happy for nothing.”

Second Madam didn’t respond to this.

To say Gu Xi was too young and inexperienced—Second Madam as an elder lived under the same roof with her, and Pei Xuan had even instructed Second Madam to take good care of Gu Xi. To say Gu Xi had done wrong—but wasn’t this to force Pei Tong to stand on the Pei family’s side?

Second Madam’s smile was bitter.

Yu Tang could only say: “No one expected this. Don’t blame yourself too much. First focus on recovering your health.” Then she asked Gu Xi’s wet nurse: “Which physician did you call? What prescription did he write? Did he say anything to be careful about? How often should the medicine be changed?”

“What?!” Gu Xi’s wet nurse took a while to come to her senses, lowering her head and saying: “Because it happened so suddenly, we just found Physician Xiong from the alley entrance. He also wrote the prescription. I was rushing to get the medicine for Young Madam and didn’t look at the prescription carefully—I handed it directly to the pharmacy assistant. He said to change the prescription every five days, and she should recover in about half a month.”

Yu Tang felt such matters should be handled more cautiously and discussed with Pei Tong: “Should we invite an imperial physician to examine her? Just in case something was injured?”

Pei Tong had the same thought.

But there were too many officials in the capital. Not every official could command the imperial physicians’ attention. He was still planning to seek Pei Xuan’s help!

Before he could speak, Second Madam had already agreed on his behalf: “I’ll have someone take your second uncle’s visiting card to Pei Wu right away and have him help invite an imperial physician skilled in women’s medicine. Pei Wu has been running around everywhere with Third Uncle—he has good judgment and can get things done. It’s best if he handles it.”

Pei Tong thanked her respectfully, but Gu Xi said: “There’s no need to go to such trouble. Second Uncle serves as Vice Minister in the Ministry of Revenue and also oversees the salt certificate review—who knows how many people are watching him! We mustn’t implicate Second Uncle because of my matter.”