Minglan looked at the thin and small young boy, and could not help but feel a pang of sorrow. She said softly: “If you still have a heart at all — you ought to think carefully about what is best for this child. Do not let him suffer along with the adults any longer. I hear his health has always been poor. Search your own conscience — a man chooses a wife hoping she will be a good companion and raise the household well. You cannot even raise a child properly — what man would respect and cherish a woman like that?”

Man Niang bowed her head, breathing in harsh, ragged gasps, as though a wild beast were roaring inside her.

The next wave of aching pain came. Minglan sensed that something was wrong, and rose shakily to her feet, a pained expression crossing her face. Danju was alarmed, and asked repeatedly what was the matter. Minglan leaned close to her ear and said quietly: “This pain is different. I think it is time to give birth.”

Danju suppressed her panic and called out loudly: “Someone bring the carrying chair over!” The nearby maidservants immediately went out at once to call for it. Danju supported Minglan carefully as they moved. Minglan steeled herself and let out a breath: “It is all right. I can walk.” Her constitution was strong — she would not fall apart so easily. Even in modern times, when it came time to give birth, one still had to travel by car to the hospital first.

Seeing Minglan in this state, the Lady grew faintly suspicious — not knowing whether this was another repeat of yesterday’s “cry wolf” episode, or whether the birth had truly come. She exchanged a glance with Nanny Xiang, still hesitating.

Man Niang on the ground gritted her teeth. Suddenly a surge of fierce determination rose in her. She seized the child beside her, held him tightly, and appeared to be lunging toward the pillar near Minglan as though to dash both their heads against it, crying out loudly the whole time: “If you will not let our mother and child live — then let us both die here!”

Everyone in the room was thrown into panic. Danju and Luzhi both stepped in front of Minglan to shield her. It was Xiaotao who reacted quickest — with all her agile strength she lunged from the side at a diagonal, crashing hard into Man Niang’s body and knocking her flat to the floor.

“Someone come! Seize this woman with wicked intent!” Nanny Xiang was first to call out.

Minglan cast her one glance. Her belly was in full onset now and she had no energy to spare for anything else — she had to go back first. Still, today had been a substantial victory overall, which was deeply satisfying. As for Man Niang and Chang Ge’er — it was not for her to deal with them. She would wait for Gu Tingye.

……

By the time she returned to her room, Nanny Cui had long since prepared everything. The two midwives waited in tense readiness. But Minglan’s consciousness had already begun to blur at the edges — as though she were lying atop clouds, enduring the waves of pain that crashed over her one after another. If she were being honest, the sensation was strange — it did not feel particularly agonizing, only a deep, heavy soreness, a soreness so intense from the waist down that it nearly made her want to cry. Good heavens. How could something be this sore? Sore to the point of pain!

She had no idea how many hours passed. The sweat soaked through her clothes, even her lashes seemed damp and heavy. The sky outside had darkened. The voices in her ears called on with great energy — Nanny Cui at the head of the group of matrons, like a cheering section, saying nothing but “breathe in,” “hold the pain,” “save your strength, do not cry out,” “push,” “almost there” — repeating the same phrases over and over, like an old recording machine that had gotten stuck and gone on skipping.

Candles were lit inside the room. Stars like a night sky, and combined with the golden sparks already dancing in front of her eyes, there was a rather poetic complementary effect. As the soreness and pain accumulated to the very breaking point, when Minglan felt she was surely on the verge of dying, a sudden frenzied clamor erupted outside. Strange — that did not sound like her cheering squad at all.

She mustered the last dregs of her strength to force one eye open a crack, and through the window saw the sky outside stained a bizarre, flickering red.

“Fire! Fire! Fire!!”

The voices of the people outside cried in chaos.

Minglan suddenly came fully awake. After cursing the enormous scoundrel and the little rascal alike, she wanted to shout aloud: so that was what the scheming old woman had been saving for last! Best case, she would be so frightened and enraged that she died of it. If not — then invite the God of Fire to do the job! Tingcan, Aunt Kang, the Yu Family, Man Niang — all of it had been smoke and mirrors. The real blow had been prepared all along. She had defended against the east and guarded against the west, and still fallen one step short.

She was only a small civil court registrar. She had never been an expert in household intrigue. All these years of diligent, conscientious effort — and apparently it still was not quite enough?! Well — all she could do now was trust that the escort under Tou Er’s command would be of some use.

Perhaps it was the surge of fury that called up some hidden reserve of strength. Minglan clenched her teeth, held in a breath, and pushed with everything she had. All at once there was a flood of warmth between her legs — and the nearly unbearable pain, the kind that tore and clawed at everything in its path, found an opening at last. It burst through in a rush, wild and savage and overwhelming — and yet in that very same moment, all the miracles of the human world arrived together, proclaiming with fierce, triumphant urgency the arrival of a new life.

Outside, the roaring drums, the running footsteps, the shouts and cries of confusion — all of it could not drown out the midwife’s voice, which had risen nearly beyond its own register in a near-scream of joy.

“— It is here! It is here! A boy! A big fat healthy boy!”

Through the vast red glow of the sky, in the midst of a deliberately set blaze full of human malice, the little rascal who had tormented her for the better part of a year had finally agreed to make his entrance.

Minglan’s last conscious thought before she lost awareness was — hurry up and check him — count all ten toes, all ten fingers!