The Rong Mansion was their Madam’s maternal home, so naturally the gatekeepers wouldn’t obstruct them. They swiftly opened the gates while someone scurried to the back courtyard to relay the message, thinking that when Madam received this joyful news, a reward of silver would surely be forthcoming.

Upon hearing this news, Jia Min’s spirits lifted, and her face, which had been somewhat haggard these past days, gained a few touches of color from this good news.

“Show them in at once!”

The visitors were Nanny Lai’s eldest daughter-in-law, Lai Da’s wife, who was Grandmother Jia’s most capable confidante, and the other was Nanny Shi, who had come as part of Grandmother Jia’s dowry and had even looked after Jia Min for several years in the past.

At the sight of these two, Jia Min’s tears immediately began to flow: “Is the Old Madam still well?”

Lai Da’s wife led them in bowing and paying respects: “In response to the Young Madam, the Old Madam is well, only her heart has been concerned about the Young Madam, which is why she dispatched us to pay our respects to the Young Madam.”

Upon hearing these words, Jia Min’s nose tingled: “Both nannies must be weary from the journey, please sit.”

After exchanging a few words, Lai Da’s wife presented Grandmother Jia’s letter, which Jia Min eagerly opened.

Grandmother Jia’s letter to Jia Min was filled with heartfelt concern in every word and sentence.

Jia Min had barely begun reading the letter when tears began streaming down her face. Choking up, she dabbed at her tears with a handkerchief: “This daughter is unfilial—not only can I not provide comfort at your side, but I also trouble Mother to worry on my behalf…”

In her letter, Grandmother Jia hadn’t written extensively about how Jia Min should suppress the two concubines, merely touching on the point that she couldn’t be too lenient with the concubines.

Without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Now that the concubine was pregnant, some leniency was warranted, but once her health improved, the rules that needed to be established should be put in place.

When Grandmother Jia wrote this letter, she didn’t know that the other concubine was also pregnant, otherwise her letter probably wouldn’t have been so mild in tone.

She had also sent a separate letter to Lin Ruhai, and naturally the attitude in this letter differed from that in Jia Min’s letter.

In her letter, Grandmother Jia mentioned how Duke Rong had guided and cultivated Lin Ruhai when he had first passed the examinations as third-place scholar.

At that time, Lin Ruhai’s father had already passed away, and he had no uncles or brothers to support him. Although he had his teacher and fellow students, it was still the old Duke who directly extended a helping hand and gave him a push, which enabled him to progress so smoothly in the officialdom. Now, before turning thirty, he had already reached the position of fourth-rank prefect.

The old Duke had hoped that his family’s descendants would pursue civil service careers, but his offspring weren’t ambitious enough. After careful selection, he had chosen Lin Ruhai.

Lin Ruhai had talent, but lacked family support in official circles. What he lacked was precisely what the old Duke possessed.

As he grew in stature, with the two families joined by marriage, he could also help the Jia family through this generation of mediocre descendants.

Grandmother Jia knew that pointing out too much would easily trigger a rebellious psychology, so she only mentioned this point, then devoted most of the letter to expressing how she missed her daughter and how, after all these years without adding any descendants to the Lin family, she as a mother was apologizing to the Lin family on her daughter’s behalf—actively showing weakness.

This entire combination of pushing and pulling left Lin Ruhai in the outer study looking up after reading the letter, gazing out the window and sighing softly.

Min’er was naturally not at fault, and his mother-in-law’s apology on her behalf was far too humble for him as a junior.

Although there was no concrete evidence this time, Lin Ruhai was confident that it was Min’er’s servants who had acted on their own initiative, but he distinguished very clearly—he would not implicate Min’er in this.

After some contemplation, Lin Ruhai picked up his brush and began writing a reply…

After receiving Grandmother Jia’s letter, Jia Min cried bitterly, and Nanny Qian also received a separate letter from Grandmother Jia. After reading it, her mouth was full of the bitter taste of coptis.

In her letter, the Old Madam told her not to act rashly on her own. She had originally intended to do just that, but unfortunately, she later couldn’t restrain herself, thinking she had come up with a good plan that wouldn’t implicate her, so she went ahead with it. Now things had turned out poorly—not only did Madam blame her, but she was also under suspicion, with her authority restricted by the Old Madam, greatly diminished.

Concubine Yun had come to no harm, and Concubine Mei had merely experienced some fetal distress. The losses outweighed the gains.

However, she still had opportunities. She now knew what to do.

Nanny Qian knew her mind wasn’t particularly sharp. Listening to the Old Madam would keep her from making mistakes. She carefully hid the Old Madam’s letter along with the bottle of medicinal powder that had been sent over, and began to wait.

—

On this day, after Lin Ruhai visited Concubine Mei, who was lying in bed at Plum Fragrance Courtyard resting and nurturing her pregnancy, he hesitated for a moment, then went to Azure Wave Courtyard.

When he arrived, he saw Min’er sitting upright on the daybed, carefully studying a Buddhist scripture.

Lin Ruhai sighed. Min’er hadn’t believed in Buddhism before; she would only occasionally join in because her mother worshipped Buddha. But normally at this time, she would be appreciating poetry or, when inspiration struck, taking up her brush to write.

Her current transformation was still due to the two concubines being pregnant. That mysterious Master Zhiliao had given her hope, and now she too believed in Buddhism.

Seeing Lin Ruhai arrive, Jia Min gave him a smile. Lin Ruhai placed his hand on her shoulder and sat beside her: “What are you reading?”

Jia Min set down the scripture: “Buddhist sutras. Some passages are quite thought-provoking.”

Lin Ruhai nodded slightly: “Have the two nannies been properly settled? They’ve worked hard on the journey, and they’ve cared for you before, so you should settle them well.”

Jia Min’s smile brightened somewhat: “I’ve already settled them properly. Both nannies have gone to rest. Once they’ve recovered, I’ll have a good conversation with them.”

The letter’s content was too brief.

She had too many things she wanted to ask.

Lin Ruhai looked at the pure joy on her face and sighed inwardly.

Seeing the nannies from her maternal family made her so happy—if she could see her own family members, she would be even more delighted. It was just that there truly were no Jia family members in Xingtai Prefecture, otherwise inviting them to keep her company and talk would be nice.

Lin Ruhai produced a specially compiled collection of poems by this province’s new provincial examination graduates: “These are the poems of this year’s examination candidates. Didn’t you keep urging me to inquire? I’ve read them, and I most enjoyed this piece…”

Hearing Lin Ruhai say this, Jia Min’s interest was piqued: “Let me see. It is indeed well-written. What was his ranking?”

Lin Ruhai: “Third place. His poetry is the most inspired among this batch of candidates. The top two were better at policy essays.”

Jia Min excelled at poetry. If the poems she wrote in her daily life were collected, they could form volumes. When the couple spent time together, they frequently enjoyed reading others’ fine works together.

The servants attending nearby saw this familiar scene and couldn’t help but smile. The only one who could be in such perfect harmony with the Master was their Madam.

In the deep silence of night, Jia Min looked at the man sleeping peacefully beside her pillow, eyes open, staring at the gourd pattern on the bed curtain, unable to fall asleep.

She thought of the days before her marriage, when she brought joy to her mother’s side—she was her mother’s pride.

Initially, her mother had been unwilling for her to marry the Master. Jia Min knew that her mother had hoped she would marry into a more prominent and illustrious family.

But Father had made the decision, and she had seen him before.

At that time, he was riding a horse. She watched from above in a teahouse, and the young man was like the morning light from heaven, radiantly brilliant. She remembered him with one glance and kept him in her heart.

When she heard Father say he would betroth her to him, she said nothing outwardly, but inwardly she was extremely delighted.

The first few years after marriage were her most carefree time. But as time passed and her belly showed no response, she began to worry, began seeking famous physicians, began drinking medicine.

To this day, drinking medicine was like drinking water.

Ten years had already passed.

She too had finally tasted the bitter flavor that her other handkerchief friends faced when their husbands took concubines and when illegitimate sons and daughters were born.

This taste was truly difficult to swallow.

Even more difficult to swallow than the medicine she drank—several times more so.

Jia Min’s eyes trembled, and she turned her head to look at the sleeping man. Even so, marrying him—Jia Min had never regretted it.

He had always respected her. Even though she had not given birth, he had never placed the blame on her, only saying that their fate with children had not yet arrived.

This point alone, when spoken of, brought her countless envious glances—envying her for marrying such a good husband.

When she went out for social occasions, some people always made snide remarks mocking her childlessness, but Jia Min knew that most of them spoke from jealousy. Compared to their husbands, even though many of them had children, their lives were not as good as hers.

Only, Jia Min also sighed inwardly—after this incident, even though the rumors this time were not of her own making, the Master would never again bring up adopting the child to be raised under her care.

Although she had previously refused the Master’s proposal, now that the Master had negated this idea, this was fundamentally different from her actively refusing.

Jia Min closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. What had happened had happened; dwelling on it was useless. She still needed to have her own children. The two concubines could conceive, and she hadn’t yet reached the age when childbearing ceased—she definitely could!

The two nannies sent by Grandmother Jia stayed at the Lin residence for several days, then set out on their return journey to the capital with generous gifts and letters, as well as much information they had learned here, their minds heavy with concerns.

Knowing that Grandmother Jia was waiting for their news, they traveled with the same urgency as when they came, riding hard the entire way. Fortunately, their bodies were robust, otherwise such continuous travel would have been physically unbearable.

The news they wanted to convey was extensive—for instance, that more than one concubine was pregnant, the consequences of Nanny Qian’s impulsive actions, and the implications revealed by the close surveillance they faced after arriving at the Lin residence… All of this made it impossible for them to slow their pace.

Grandmother Jia had them personally make this trip because she worried that many things would be one-sided if conveyed only through letters—she wanted them to see with their own eyes.

Now, in retrospect, the Old Madam had been wise.

When they returned to the Jia residence, Second Madam Wang was reporting the household’s major and minor affairs to Grandmother Jia, while First Madam sat to the side, bored, staring blankly at her teacup. Seeing the two nannies, Second Madam Wang paused her speech and looked at them, her eyes brightening slightly.

First Madam’s eyes brightened even more.

Each time gifts came from this sister-in-law, they were quite generous. Regardless of whether the two madams liked this sister-in-law or not, they were quite satisfied with her gifts.

Grandmother Jia knew the temperament of her two daughters-in-law. Seeing their expressions, her mood immediately soured. She coldly dismissed them and had everyone else in the room leave as well, leaving only the three of them.

After hearing what they had to say, Grandmother Jia’s expression grew heavy. After a long while, she finally sighed: “I understand. You’ve worked hard—go rest well for a few days.”

Clearly, she now wanted to be alone to think things through properly.

The two nannies sensibly took their leave. They were indeed exhausted. Only Grandmother Jia remained in the room. She took out the letters from the box. On top was the gift list. Whether it was because of the letter she had written to her son-in-law, this time the gifts were even more generous than usual.

Grandmother Jia would normally be pleased, but now she merely glanced at it before setting it aside. She first read her son-in-law’s letter. The letter was full of flowery language, saying he would treat her daughter well. Treat her daughter well? Ha! Is this what “treating her well” looked like? Grandmother Jia then opened Nanny Qian’s letter.

The situation on her daughter’s side was indeed not very good. Both concubines who had entered the household not long ago were actually pregnant.

Would the Lin family think that the reason the Lin residence had no good news for so long was because her daughter couldn’t bear children herself, so she wouldn’t let others bear them either? Now that two newcomers had entered under the insistence of Old Madam Lin, they had good news shortly after—was it precisely because there hadn’t been time to act against them?

Thinking of how the Lin residence was so vigilant against her Jia family members, could it be that Old Madam Lin already suspected this?

Surely it couldn’t be because of those few idle words Nanny Qian had spread?

Never mind that the concubine’s pregnancy wasn’t lost—even if it had been lost, this was excessive!

Grandmother Jia felt a tightness in her chest. She wanted to drink some tea but discovered it had gone completely cold. With a flick of her hand, the cup flew out, shattering on the floor with a crisp sound, tea water spilling everywhere.

Nothing was going smoothly!

Looking at the mess on the floor, Grandmother Jia called out in a heavy voice, “Someone come.”

The maid waiting outside carefully pushed the door open and entered, bowing in courtesy. Grandmother Jia said: “Clean up the floor and fetch a new tea set from the storeroom.”

“Yes!” The maid quickly tidied up, served Grandmother Jia fresh tea, and Grandmother Jia waved her hand, dismissing her again.

Grandmother Jia regained her composure at this point, slowly sipping her tea and lowering her eyelids. She couldn’t be hasty.

The Lin family wasn’t the Jia family. In the Lin household’s inner quarters, the Jia family couldn’t yet control everything with one hand, especially with Old Madam Lin being so vigilant. Any action taken would be easily exposed. Fortunately, she had been cautious before and hadn’t had Nanny Qian do anything. Now, although she had acted impulsively once, no evidence had been found. Since that was the case, she would wait.

It was still early yet. There was still more than half a year until the full ten months of pregnancy, and even after birth, from an infant who understood nothing, babbling and learning to speak, to adulthood—there was still a long stretch of time. She would endure for now.

Thinking of this, Grandmother Jia sighed with regret. This in-law had fallen gravely ill before—how had she managed to survive? If she had passed away then, it would be so much more convenient to act now.