The Old Madam excitedly rushed to Orchid Heart Courtyard again, looking at Yun Shuyao as if viewing a treasure. She repeatedly urged people to serve her carefully, and also sent her many things, added two more attendants, and doubled her food, clothing, and daily necessities on top of the existing standard.

Yun Shuyao looked at all these treasures that had been sent: Ah, the little treasury has become even more abundant!

Bonuses were something one could never have too many of.

Moreover, with the New Year approaching, the Old Madam felt this was double happiness arriving together. The red envelope for Doctor Zhou was also doubled from the original amount, making Doctor Zhou smile so widely he couldn’t close his mouth.

Therefore, when the Old Madam suggested that he return early after the New Year, he didn’t hesitate and agreed at once.

What was the problem with coming back a bit early? No problem at all.

In any case, he didn’t have much to do during the New Year. He might as well take this opportunity to save up more money.

Moreover, establishing good relations with the prefect’s household could bring other intangible benefits that no amount of money could buy back.

When Lin Ruhai returned home, he heard this good news immediately. His heart warmed at once, and when he looked at Yun Shuyao, his eyes held uncontrollable mirth. He was almost impatient for the children to be born.

As the New Year approached, it was already a season heavy with festive cheer. Now, because the Lin family’s two main masters were both delighted and had distributed reward money, the atmosphere became even more joyous.

Yun Shuyao hadn’t been dazzled by their joy. She paid particular attention to observing the expression of her direct superior, Jia Min.

Her smile was somewhat strained. Yun Shuyao could understand.

For Jia Min, children were something she desperately sought but couldn’t obtain. Hearing that a concubine had gotten two at once naturally wouldn’t make her very happy.

Unhappy as she was, Yun Shuyao didn’t sense any malice from her, which made Yun Shuyao breathe a sigh of relief.

In comparison, the people around her carried heavier malice.

However… Yun Shuyao glanced around Jia Min’s vicinity. Following her closely was Nanny Liu. She hadn’t seen Nanny Qian for quite some time.

She didn’t know how long Jia Min would confine her.

To Yun Shuyao, that woman was a dangerous element, but with the Old Madam overhead, there wasn’t too much to worry about.

As for the other colleague who hadn’t appeared… Yun Shuyao thought that if she continued to maintain her state of staying in Plum Fragrance Courtyard nurturing her pregnancy without going out, given her shallow scheming, she might experience another emotional upheaval requiring pregnancy-preservation medicine. Following this reasoning, her colleague wouldn’t know, which would save herself from quite a bit of unnecessary plotting.

—

The news that Yun Shuyao was carrying twins was good news and quickly spread.

When Song Shi heard the confirmation, she became lost in thought with a sense of melancholy.

For the Lin family, this was a joyous occasion, but as far as she was concerned, she couldn’t be happy.

If her daughter encountered any problems during childbirth and faced the choice of saving the mother or the child, Song Shi had no confidence whatsoever that the Lin family masters would protect her daughter. So she became anxious and got inflamed, developing blisters at the corners of her mouth that hurt even when swallowing saliva.

When she returned to her natal family, Mother Song saw her daughter in this state and, perceiving her worry, embraced her: “Don’t worry so much. I also got through it back then. Shuyao has always had a good constitution—she’ll definitely be fine. I went to the temple earlier to draw a fortune stick for her, and it was very auspicious. Mother and children will definitely be safe. If you’re really worried, you should also go to the temple to request a talisman.”

Hearing this, Song Shi immediately nodded: “I’ll go another day.”

Compared to Song Shi’s worries, someone at Plum Fragrance Courtyard was also worrying, though her reasons were different.

When Gao Shi heard it was twins, her expression became grave. She knew that typically twins were born premature. If Concubine Yun gave birth prematurely to an eldest son, her daughter’s claim to having the eldest son would be gone.

Seniority mattered—this was no small matter.

This didn’t align with her expectations at all.

However, she didn’t reveal a hint of this worry in front of her daughter, and even instructed others not to tell her.

As soon as she spoke, Nanny Wu immediately agreed. She had been waiting for Gao Shi to say this.

It wasn’t as if Nanny Wu didn’t know Concubine Mei’s temperament. If Concubine Mei knew and overthought things, it would be bad for her health.

Her health had improved somewhat now, but basically she still didn’t step outside this room. Her body was visibly weak. As long as they kept their stories straight, she wouldn’t know. In Nanny Wu’s opinion, it wouldn’t be too late to tell Concubine Mei after she had given birth.

Because she knew about this matter, Gao Shi spent the New Year without much festive spirit.

She did return to the Mei family for the New Year. Her daughter’s health wasn’t very good, and while she could care for her at the Lin residence on ordinary days, during the New Year, no matter what, she had to return home.

Though her spirits weren’t high, the Mei family’s spirits were very high. After the news of her daughter’s pregnancy spread, their family’s doorway hadn’t been quiet.

Although she wasn’t the only pregnant person in the Lin family, their daughter had a very good chance of giving birth to the prefect’s eldest son.

For a merchant family, the prefect was an unattainably lofty tree.

Ever since their Third Miss entered the gates of the prefect’s household, the tributes they had to pay and interpersonal expenses had decreased considerably. After the news of her daughter’s pregnancy spread, doing business became smoother than before by who knows how much. Now that it was the New Year, the Mei family had visitors flowing like clouds.

Some people would even come before Gao Shi to offer congratulations. To this, Gao Shi was modest, repeatedly saying she didn’t deserve such praise. They didn’t take it seriously, thinking that Gao Shi’s background was just a bit lacking and she was too timid. What was there not to deserve? She was the Third Miss’s birth mother! She still had sons under her—her days of enjoying blessings were yet to come.

Some others weren’t unaware of what Gao Shi was being modest about, but regardless of the birth order or gender of the children Third Miss Mei bore, the benefits she had already brought to the Mei family were things they could only envy.

The Yun family’s New Year was also very lively. The poor living on busy streets go unnoticed, but the wealthy living in deep mountains have distant relatives.

Ever since the news that the Yun family’s daughter was pregnant spread, friends and relatives would come to the Yun household from time to time to offer congratulations. The New Year was originally a time for relatives and friends to visit and maintain relationships, so they certainly wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

The Yun family’s house wasn’t large. Originally, a family of several people lived there just right, but now the empty spaces in the house were piled full of gifts. The storage room couldn’t hold them all, so they were piled into their sleeping quarters as well.

They said they wouldn’t accept gifts, but others always had various reasons and excuses to leave presents behind. Fortunately, they still had some sense and didn’t send anything too precious.

Even so, Song Shi spent considerable effort recording and registering these social exchanges.

Among these social exchanges, the largest portion came from Yun Qingliang’s classmates and fellow examination candidates. At their age, quite a few hadn’t given up on the civil examinations, and many came to his place to inquire if there were any “secret techniques.”

Unable to bear the disturbance, Yun Qingliang left under the pretext of returning to his ancestral village to worship ancestors, finally finding peace and quiet.

Relatively few people could track him down to Wangjiazhuang Village.

If both their families were like this, the Lin residence needless to say—the calling cards received by the gatekeepers were transported by basket.

The sources of these card owners were quite diverse, including their Master’s colleagues and subordinates, local gentry and wealthy households, and so on.

In this territory, the prefect was at the pinnacle of the official hierarchy.

For this reason, everyone at the Lin household, from top to bottom, became busy. At this time, Jia Min fell ill.

Since the two concubines had entered the household, Jia Min hadn’t been sick. There were times when she tossed and turned unable to sleep, but she had always sustained herself with a breath of energy. As the year drew to a close, due to excessive fatigue, this breath of energy could no longer sustain her.

Doctor Zhou prescribed medicine for her, and when the prefect inquired, he replied: “Madam’s illness stems from emotional distress combined with excessive fatigue during this recent period. After taking medicine and resting for a while, she will improve.”

Lin Ruhai fell silent.

Emotional distress, was it?

“Thank you for your trouble, Doctor Zhou.”

Doctor Zhou: “Your Excellency is too kind. This is my proper duty.”

On the bed, Jia Min lay weakly and powerless. In fact, she herself was somewhat surprised. Calculating, it had been quite a while since she’d been sick. Her constitution wasn’t particularly robust—every so often she would have minor ailments. This past half year she had experienced so many things, yet conversely she hadn’t been sick much. Only now the timing was wrong—there were too many New Year matters.

She was the principal wife. Other matters could be delegated to servants, but New Year worship ceremonies and entertaining and hosting other titled madams required a master to appear in person.

She still wanted to force her body to work, but was stopped by Lin Ruhai: “What needs to be prepared is almost ready, and there are still servants. You rest well. Let’s postpone those banquets—your health is most important.”

Jia Min frowned: “But I’ve already sent out the invitations…”

Lin Ruhai: “I’ll send another card explaining the reason. I’m sure everyone will understand. After the New Year when Min’er’s health has recovered, it won’t be too late to host banquets then.”

Jia Min: “And the ancestral worship ceremony…”

Lin Ruhai: “There are procedures in place. You just need to show your face during the ancestor worship—I’ll handle the rest.”

Hearing this, Jia Min smiled faintly. This was also what always won her heart.

He was always considerate. During the New Year, he too had many matters to attend to.

When problems arose, he would step forward and take over, not simply blame her.

Mindful of her own health, she didn’t force herself, sighing: “It’s all my uncooperative body…”

Lin Ruhai took her hand and placed it inside the quilt: “People aren’t made of iron. You’ve been working hard for so long—it’s reminding you that you need to rest properly.”

Lin Ruhai thought of Doctor Zhou’s mention of emotional distress, and his heart stirred.

At this time, if close friends could come see her, she should be happy, shouldn’t she?

Originally there were no close friends or old acquaintances in Xingtai Prefecture, but his information was well-informed—he knew that one of her old friends would soon be returning to Xingtai Prefecture to observe mourning.

When he mentioned this matter, Jia Min’s spirits indeed lifted: “Is it Zhao Wu? Isn’t her husband serving as an official in the capital?”

Lin Ruhai: “Brother Zishi’s grandfather has passed away, so he must observe mourning according to regulations.”

Jia Min sighed: “I see.”

Her husband was the eldest grandson, so according to regulations he had to observe mourning for twenty-seven months. No wonder they would return home.

Jia Min was delighted at being able to see an old friend, yet also felt sorrow for her friend.

For Yun Shuyao, this New Year, apart from the household decorations being more festive and the dishes including more elaborate fare, had no changes whatsoever.

As a concubine, as long as it was a household with proper rules, household management wouldn’t have concubines appear publicly unless some unavoidable situation arose.

What was special was that on New Year’s Eve, the Old Madam and others called both her and Concubine Mei up to eat a meal together. Additionally, she received three red envelopes—these three envelopes were given by the three masters.

Moreover, they also separately gave red envelopes to the two children, adding up to nine red envelopes total.

She opened hers to look. The Old Madam had wrapped one gold and one silver small ruyi ornaments, each weighing about three taels.

Lin Ruhai’s red envelope contained two delicate gold leaves.

Jia Min’s contained one gold and one silver lock pendants.

What they prepared for the twins was very similar.

The Old Madam sent jade ruyi collar necklaces.

Lin Ruhai prepared gold-inlaid jade safety locks.

Jia Min prepared jade safety clasps.

All had meanings of protection and safety.

As for their value… in any case, they let Yun Shuyao clearly experience what was called disparity.

However, afterward Lin Ruhai also gave her two sets of jewelry. Although it still couldn’t compare to the New Year’s money received by the two unborn babies, for Yun Shuyao it was still a pleasant surprise.

In ancient times, a concubine’s human rights were only half a person’s worth.

This was still because she came from a respectable family. If she had been a maid, unless she was favored, her status would only be slightly better than a maid’s.

This damnable feudal era!

Setting aside these mentality-testing matters, after the New Year, Yun Shuyao felt fetal movement and more concretely realized that two small lives were growing.

For this reason, she spent more time each day on prenatal education.

She hadn’t been pregnant in modern times, but through exposure and influence, she generally knew some pregnancy-related matters.

After Lin Ruhai heard her ideas about prenatal education, he immediately took over this task.

Moreover, his attitude was serious.

The books he prepared were also different from the basic introductory books Yun Shuyao had prepared. When he was reading, if Yun Shuyao didn’t do something else, listening and listening, she would enter a drowsy state and need to force herself to stay alert.

She felt that Lin Ruhai had set the starting point too high. Reading the Four Books and Five Classics to babies who didn’t understand anything? Wasn’t that too demanding?

Perhaps he was simply letting the children listen and experience the rhythmic sense of poetry and prose?

But looking at Lin Ruhai’s earnest expression… well, he actually really wanted the children to understand. This was just…

Concubine Mei could listen even less than Yun Shuyao. As soon as Lin Ruhai took out a book, Concubine Mei’s complexion would uncontrollably turn pale, then she would rapidly enter a sleeping state, often when Lin Ruhai had only just read the opening.

Lin Ruhai: “…”

Even though both concubines showed little interest in what he read, he continued as always.

In his view, precisely because the children’s mothers weren’t interested, he needed to read more to the children to attract their interest.

If he couldn’t get away, he would have others fill in, equivalent to him being the regular teacher, and when he was busy, substitute teachers would take over. In any case, he wouldn’t let the students have self-study periods.

To this, Yun Shuyao: “…”

Could this be considered lifting a rock only to drop it on one’s own foot?

However, thinking it over, father-son affection needed to be cultivated. With Lin Ruhai devoting so much time, regardless of whether the children were boys or girls, the more he invested, the more emotion he would pour in. And in this feudal era, the affection of the head of the household was, from any perspective, a good thing.

Therefore, even if she felt drowsy listening, she would try to do something else to keep herself from falling asleep, increasing Lin Ruhai’s sense of accomplishment.

For instance, if she cultivated while listening to the reading, because she found the reading content tedious, she would enter the cultivation state more quickly. Thus, everyone was happy.