Midwife Peng froze.

She had not expected to encounter someone who actually understood medical principles.

Her extended hand could neither be withdrawn nor left hanging there — she simply did not know what to do with it, and her face flushed a deep, mortified red.

Eleventh Young Lady became all the more certain that this Midwife Peng was a person who had earned her reputation by nothing more than empty boasting.

She fixed her gaze on the midwife without blinking, her expression cold as ice and frost.

For a moment, everyone in the room held their breath and watched the two women. Only Jin Ge’er went on crying at the top of his lungs — and because everyone else had fallen silent, his cries seemed louder and more heartbreaking than before.

Eleventh Young Lady felt her heart squeezed tight. The expression on her face grew by degrees more grave.

The room was thick with tension, ready to ignite at the slightest provocation.

Midwife Peng thought of the murderous look in Xu Lingyi’s eyes back in the delivery chamber, and she could not help shuddering. She regretted having been tempted by the manor’s generous rewards and having stayed on with the midwives. Then she thought of those lavish gifts from the Xu Family already packed into her bundle — could she really leave this treasure mountain empty-handed?

The moment that thought surfaced, she steeled herself and said, “The little young master’s pulse is very good… there is nothing amiss… it is steady and strong…”

Hearing her still trying to argue her case, Eleventh Young Lady felt a blaze of fury flare up inside her.

“Qiuyu,” she said, cutting Midwife Peng off in an unhurried tone, “go to the Marquis’s study and fetch his calling card. Have Steward Bai escort this person to the Bureau of Internal Affairs. Then tell the Bureau’s chief steward, on my behalf, that I expect an explanation.”

Midwife Peng felt a jolt of dread run through her.

When the noble ladies in the palace wished to punish a maidservant to the death, they sometimes spoke in precisely this tone — quiet, unhurried — out of pity for the condemned, as a kind of mercy before the end.

She was so terrified that she fell to her knees before the bed with a heavy thud.

“Madam, Madam, I will speak the truth — I will speak the truth.” Desperate to move Eleventh Young Lady, Midwife Peng blinked rapidly and let her tears fall. “Our Peng Family’s Revitalizing Pills are a secret formula passed down through the generations. Passed to sons, not daughters; passed to daughters-in-law, not sons-in-law. No matter the illness, only three pills are needed. If the patient does not recover, taking more pills will make no difference.”

Eleventh Young Lady was taken aback.

Midwife Peng, seeing this reaction, wept even louder. “Madam, I truly have not deceived you. When the little Princess suffered from diarrhea, the Imperial Physicians of the Imperial Medical Bureau attended her for over half a month without effect. It was these three Revitalizing Pills that saved her life. Later, when the Crown Prince’s little Commandery Princess could not expel the phlegm lodged in her throat, it was also my three Revitalizing Pills that cured her.”

Hearing this, Eleventh Young Lady actually began to believe her somewhat.

Midwife Peng had originally made her living in the countryside telling fortunes and diagnosing minor ailments in children, and she was supremely skilled at reading people’s expressions. Seeing the slight softening in Eleventh Young Lady’s face, she immediately pressed on: “I have seen this same illness in a child before, and that is precisely why I dared to produce the pills. If the little young master takes the pills and still does not improve, then you may send me to the Bureau of Internal Affairs afterward, and I will not utter a single protest — I deserve to be called a scoundrel.”

Eleventh Young Lady looked at Jin Ge’er, who had by now cried himself almost hoarse. She thought of how the folk world was full of hidden talents, and that herbal medicines were for the most part mild in nature. She steeled herself and said, “Is each pill to be administered in three separate doses, or are all three pills to be taken in three doses total?”

Midwife Peng was overjoyed.

Yet the atmosphere in the room did not lighten.

“Each pill in three separate doses!” Midwife Peng said eagerly, as though afraid Eleventh Young Lady might change her mind. “I will prepare the medicine for the little young master at once.”

Eleventh Young Lady gave a nod.

Hongwen immediately brought forward a cup of hot water.

The pill was dissolved, and Midwife Peng tilted Jin Ge’er’s jaw to administer it.

Jin Ge’er cried wretchedly but could not move — his small body twisted and turned inside his swaddling wraps, which held him fast. It was distressing to watch.

Eleventh Young Lady kept urging Midwife Peng from the side: “Gently, gently!”

Not a single drop of the medicine was spilled, and the child was not choked.

Eleventh Young Lady felt a few sparks of hope kindle in her heart.

The medicine — a small cupful, no larger than a wine goblet — was administered. Midwife Peng then cradled the child sideways against her chest and walked back and forth across the room with him.

“What is she doing?” Eleventh Young Lady asked anxiously.

“We need to get him to cough up whatever has lodged in his throat,” Midwife Peng explained. Even as she spoke, Jin Ge’er gave a belch and began expelling great mouthfuls of the dark-brown medicine.

Everyone in the room went pale with alarm — but Midwife Peng was overcome with elation. “It worked! It worked!”

So Midwife Peng had been taking a gamble all along!

The thought flashed through Nanny Wan’s mind before she had time to dwell on it. She was already calling to the junior maids to fetch water and prepare a change of clothes for Jin Ge’er.

Half an hour later, Jin Ge’er began nursing greedily and hungrily.

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

Eleventh Young Lady quickly instructed Qiuyu: “Go to the outer courtyard and tell Steward Bai to post a manservant at the palace gate. The moment the Marquis comes out, let him know at once, so the Marquis does not worry.”

Qiuyu went to carry out the order.

Only then did Eleventh Young Lady notice that her forehead was damp with perspiration.

She held her son, who had drunk his fill and fallen into a deep, contented sleep, and let out a long, slow breath. Smiling, she gave instructions to Nanny Wan: “Go and tell Steward Bai — we will keep Gu Shi on!”

Wet nurse Gu Shi had come from the wet nurses’ registry, and since they intended to keep her on, there were certain formalities to be completed.

Gu Shi, who had been adjusting her garments, quickly knelt and kowtowed in gratitude.

Nanny Wan smiled and acknowledged the order, then led Gu Shi away. A maid named A’jin in Jin Ge’er’s room explained the manor’s rules to her and showed her where she would sleep. Nanny Wan dispatched Xiulian to report back to the Dowager Marchioness, and sent Yumei to the small kitchen with a meal order: “The First Young Lady is also here — bring in a table of dishes suited to what she usually eats.”

Yumei went off at once. Nanny Wan then spotted Hupo and Zhuxiang walking side by side, talking in low voices as they approached.

When Eleventh Young Lady was in labor, Hupo had been inside the room and Zhuxiang had waited outside. Both had kept vigil through two full days and nights, finally getting some rest just before dawn — yet here they were again so soon.

Nanny Wan greeted them cheerfully: “Why haven’t you rested a while longer?”

Hupo was still fretting about Jin Ge’er: “Has Sixth Young Master begun feeding yet?”

Nanny Wan gave her a vivid account of what had just transpired, taking the opportunity to highlight her own role in the affair. The two young women listened with expressions of undisguised relief, exchanged a few words along the lines of “It is fortunate Nanny Wan was here,” and then filed into the antechamber one after the other.

Eleventh Young Lady was leaning against the large bolster pillow at the head of the bed, a soft smile in her eyes. Zhen Jie’er sat on the edge of the bed, gazing at Jin Ge’er with a delighted expression. “…Mother, look at Sixth Brother’s hairline — does it not look just like mine?” She swept her fringe aside to show her.

“There does seem to be a resemblance,” Eleventh Young Lady laughed. Noticing Hupo and the others coming in, she was a little surprised. “You are here so early.”

The two women gave their greetings.

“We have eaten lunch.” Then, in unison, they asked about Jin Ge’er: “We heard Sixth Young Master has begun nursing?”

Eleventh Young Lady nodded and smiled. “At long last, the sky has cleared after a long rain.” It was her genuine feeling.

Hupo and the others burst out laughing.

Eleventh Young Lady then recalled something and turned to Hupo: “I was about to send for you even before you arrived.” She pointed to the small bedside cabinet. “The guest list for the third-day bathing ceremony is inside. Please go over it and make sure nothing has been missed. Hand it to Nanny Du before the second quarter of the afternoon.”

Hupo smiled and said she would.

Nanny Tian and Yumei directed the coarser serving women in bringing in a low table and setting it on the bed platform. Yumei and Xiao Li helped Zhen Jie’er eat her midday meal on the bed platform, while Nanny Tian served Eleventh Young Lady her congee in bed: “…We simmered black-bone chicken to make broth, strained out the solids, and used the broth to cook a congee of millet, black rice, and glutinous rice. Please try it — is it to your taste?”

Everything looked pleasing to Eleventh Young Lady just now, and the congee was in truth fragrant, glutinous, and smooth on the tongue. She nodded and smiled: “Serve a bowl to Zhen Jie’er as well.”

Zhen Jie’er said, “But that was made for Mother…”

“It is nourishing all the same,” Eleventh Young Lady smiled. “A bowl will do no harm.”

The two of them were chatting and laughing when the Dowager Marchioness and the Second Madam arrived.

“They say he has started nursing!” Pure, boundless joy.

Eleventh Young Lady smiled and replied that he had, and was just about to ask whether the Dowager Marchioness had eaten lunch when Xu Sizhun and Xu Sijie arrived. Seeing the Dowager Marchioness already present, both boys shrank slightly.

The Dowager Marchioness was amused, and assumed a stern expression: “Did I not tell you not to disturb your mother, and to come to my rooms after school? Why have you come here again?”

Xu Sijie was not particularly close to the Dowager Marchioness and had always been a little afraid of her. At her words, he grabbed the hem of Xu Sizhun’s robe and hid behind him.

Xu Sizhun looked at Eleventh Young Lady with a plaintive, hopeful expression and said haltingly, “We… we just want to look at our little brother for a moment and then leave. We will go eat right afterward, and it will not cut into our nap time either.”

The Dowager Marchioness was laughing on the inside, but kept her face straight: “Take a quick look, then hurry back. Nanny Du is waiting to serve you your meal.”

Both brothers let out a breath of relief simultaneously and rushed to the bedside with beaming faces to look at Jin Ge’er. Finding their little brother asleep, Xu Sizhun was quite disappointed, and muttered under his breath: “Why is he always sleeping every time I come?”

Eleventh Young Lady put an arm around his shoulders: “Because he is still so small. When he is a little older, he will naturally sleep less.”

“So Grandmother sleeps the least of all?” Xu Sijie said suddenly, squeezed in beside Xu Sizhun.

Everyone in the room burst out laughing — even the Dowager Marchioness could not maintain her stern expression.

Finding himself emboldened by the reaction, Xu Sijie continued: “It is simply the truth. I saw Grandmother get up last night to tuck us in!”

Xu Sizhun immediately reached over to clap a hand over Xu Sijie’s mouth.

Everyone in the room was genuinely startled.

The Dowager Marchioness recalled that the incident with Xu Sizhun had also happened in the middle of the night. This time, the wife of Nan Yong was sleeping in the room on watch duty. Her face grew serious: “It was so late — why were the two of you still awake?” The others could not help leaning in to listen.

Xu Sizhun did not dare speak. The Dowager Marchioness looked at Xu Sijie. Seeing that Xu Sizhun had gone silent, Xu Sijie pressed his lips together with the air of a person who would sooner die than surrender.

The Dowager Marchioness was both exasperated and amused.

Eleventh Young Lady quickly said: “If you have done something wrong, the right thing is to correct it. If you know you have done wrong but refuse to correct it, and also refuse to tell your elders the truth, then Grandmother will truly be angry!”

Xu Sizhun deflated like a pricked bladder: “Fifth Brother and I wanted to make a big lantern for Sixth Brother.”

“A lantern?”

Xu Sizhun hung his head: “We want to hang it up for Sixth Brother’s full-month celebration.”

He had wanted to give everyone a pleasant surprise!

Eleventh Young Lady drew Xu Sizhun’s shoulders closer: “It is for your Sixth Brother, isn’t it?”

Xu Sizhun nodded.

“He is sleeping right now and did not hear any of it. None of us will tell him. So it is not really giving away a secret, is it?”

Xu Sizhun’s face brightened visibly.

“But you must not use your sleeping hours to make lanterns. If you are going to make one, do it in the daytime. If you do not sleep well at night, how can you pay proper attention when Teacher Zhao gives his lessons? If Teacher Zhao learned that you were not listening while he was teaching, I cannot imagine how saddened he would be.”

Xu Sizhun nodded again and again, and even Xu Sijie followed suit.

The Second Madam watched this exchange, and a flash of admiration crossed her eyes.

—