Chapter 1090: Chapter 1080: Childbirth (2)
The midwife hurried in, checked her over, and exclaimed, "Looks like we won’t have to wait till the afternoon." She finished speaking and happily said to Xiqiu and Ruan Jingliu, "In this short while she’s already dilated to seven fingers, it’s close, very close!"
Xiqiu let out a breath and started laughing, saying to Ruan Jingliu, "While there’s still time, eat a bit more." As she spoke, she personally took the bowl to feed Ruan Jingliu. Ruan Jingliu didn’t say much, just ate half a bowl of the cloyingly sweet lotus seed soup from Xiqiu’s hand.
Xiqiu stepped out, and had just left the room when a figure darted over, giving her a start; only then did she see clearly it was Qin Yuanfeng.
"How is it?" Qin Yuanfeng was so anxious his head was covered in sweat. Seeing Xiqiu was like grabbing a life-saving straw. Xiqiu smiled and soothed him, "The cervix is already open. I reckon in another two hours it’ll be done." She paused, then added, "If you’re still worried, go in and take a look yourself." With Qin Yuanfeng there, Ruan Jingliu wouldn’t let her thoughts run wild.
She’d thought he would rush right in, but instead Qin Yuanfeng looked all uneasy, his momentum gone, wilting as he said like a child who’d done something wrong, "She... she won’t let me in." He’d just been kicked out by her.
Xiqiu couldn’t help but burst out laughing, feeling this was just like Ruan Jingliu. She thought for a moment and said, "Then wait at the door." As she finished speaking, out of the corner of her eye she saw an older maid poking her head in at the doorway, reporting from a distance, "Master, Fourth Master Xiao is here."
Xiqiu froze, not expecting Fourth Master Xiao to come as well; he must be worried that Qin Yuanfeng would lose his backbone, and with so much going on here she alone might not be able to look after everything.
She looked over at Qin Yuanfeng.
Qin Yuanfeng let out a dry laugh. "I’ll go to the outer courtyard and keep Fourth Master Xiao company." He glanced at Xiqiu. "I’ll leave things here to you." With that he almost fled outside, still uneasy, taking two steps and looking back three times.
Xiqiu chuckled softly and shook her head, then unceremoniously began directing the older maids.
In the outer courtyard, Qin Yuanfeng and Fourth Master Xiao were chatting in fits and starts. Qin Yuanfeng said, "About last time, thank you for letting us know, Fourth Master." He had already calmed down. "If it weren’t for Fourth Master’s help, Tongxuan Hall couldn’t have withdrawn unscathed from the Chen Family affair."
Fourth Master Xiao already knew about the Qin Family’s situation. The reason First Master Qin could do business with the Ministry of Internal Affairs was entirely because he had gotten in with Chen Hui. With Princess Consort Ying putting in a word from inside the palace and Chen Hui moving around outside, Tongxuan Hall had been able to expand rapidly in the Capital these past two years. This in itself wasn’t a bad thing; whenever there’s profit to be made, merchants will naturally throw themselves into it. Only, ever since they got involved with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, supplying imperial medicines, porcelain, and tea to the palace, the pharmacies under Tongxuan Hall seemed to have lost interest in the small petty profits of the common folk. In just two short years, there had been dozens of fake medicine cases, and there were even patients who died from taking fake medicines by mistake.
Although some people filed complaints with the Capital City Government, with Chen Hui as their backing, all those cases were suppressed.
If Chen Hui had always stayed safe, no one would have dared touch Tongxuan Hall, but once something happened to Chen Hui, there was no way Tongxuan Hall could wash its hands of it.
He had Xiqiu and Ruan Jingliu give him a heads-up. The next day Qin Yuanfeng went to Tongxuan Hall. As for what exactly happened, Fourth Master Xiao didn’t ask in detail. But in just one short month, Tongxuan Hall, like a brave man cutting off his own arm, shut down its two pharmacies in the Capital and cut off its porcelain and tea businesses, keeping only the medicinal materials trade. After such a swift and decisive move, though the losses were huge and their vitality badly damaged, they preserved the foundation.
At the same time, Qin Yuanfeng also smoothly took over the management of Tongxuan Hall’s affairs.
Thinking of this, Fourth Master Xiao looked over at Qin Yuanfeng and secretly nodded. He might look unreliable, like some mischievous boy, but when it came to doing things he was shrewd and decisive, enough to make people see him in a new light.
"It was just a small effort, no need for thanks." Fourth Master Xiao said lightly, holding a teacup. Qin Yuanfeng, however, was already acting very familiar and unceremonious. "Exactly, we’re all one family, so I won’t stand on ceremony."
Fourth Master Xiao was stunned. Qin Yuanfeng went on, "We’ve already pulled out of our business in the Capital. From now on we won’t be competing with Fourth Madam for business anymore, so you can rest easy."
Wasn’t Ruan Jingliu also a partner in Xiqiu’s clinic?
Clearly, someone didn’t see it that way. He stared straight at Fourth Master Xiao and raised his brows, as if to say: See, I’m being very decent, aren’t I.
Fourth Master Xiao was speechless and dropped the subject.
Qin Yuanfeng thought of the rumors outside about the Crown Prince being formally named and wanted to ask Fourth Master Xiao about the situation. He had just opened his mouth when an older maid outside called, "Master, Madam has delivered."
She didn’t say whether mother and child were safe, nor whether it was a boy or a girl.
With a whoosh, Qin Yuanfeng’s face went white as he shot to his feet. The playful grin and the shrewd air from earlier vanished in an instant. He rubbed his hands and paced in circles around the room. "What do I do, what do I do!" No one knew what he was thinking.
Not only had his face gone pale, his mind was blank as well.
Fourth Master Xiao stared at him in astonishment, watching Qin Yuanfeng pace back and forth and scratch his head from time to time. He couldn’t stand it and asked, "Aren’t you... going in to have a look?"
"Huh?" Qin Yuanfeng looked at Fourth Master Xiao, nodded, "Right, right, I should go take a look." But instead of heading for the door, he kept circling the room. "I should go take a look," he said, yet still didn’t go out.
Fourth Master Xiao gave a cough, turning his eyes away, unable to bear watching.
After he’d paced for a long while and the older maid outside had waited ages without seeing Qin Yuanfeng come out, she urged again, "Master, aren’t you going to the inner courtyard to take a look?"
Qin Yuanfeng seemed to snap back to himself, jumped up, and without even greeting Fourth Master Xiao, shot outside like the wind, his feet barely touching the ground as he sprinted straight toward the inner courtyard.
On the way, the maids and older women couldn’t even see him clearly; they only felt a gust of wind rush past. The water in the basins they were carrying splashed all over the ground, and the porcelain dishes and food in the lunch boxes crashed to the floor... They were all startled, and for a moment screams and shouts filled the garden, chaos and mess everywhere.
As for the culprit, he didn’t spare them a glance, gusting into the courtyard like the wind. He happened to see two older maids carrying out a large tub of water to dump it. The water in the tub was a bright red, thick with the smell of blood. At the sight of it he went dizzy and plopped down on the ground. "Why is there so much blood?"
"Master." One of the older maids cried out in alarm and stepped forward to help him, but seeing him staring at the tub, she couldn’t help laughing as she explained, "It’s the water we used to wash Madam and Young Master."
If just washing took this much blood, how much blood had Jingliu lost?
He didn’t have time to say another word to the maids. Qin Yuanfeng shouted "Jingliu!" at the top of his lungs, his voice tearing like his heart, shoved past the maids and ran inside.
As soon as he entered he saw Xiqiu standing by the bed with a baby in her arms, smiling from ear to ear. He didn’t know what they’d been talking about just now, but the atmosphere was warm and harmonious. Qin Yuanfeng suddenly let out a long breath and wiped a handful of cold sweat from his forehead.
Ruan Jingliu frowned at him and asked, "Where did you go? Look how bedraggled you are." Half his robe was wet, his forehead beaded with sweat, hair sticking to it. Compared to Ruan Jingliu, he looked more like the one who’d just given birth.
Qin Yuanfeng couldn’t care less about himself. He gave Ruan Jingliu a once-over from head to toe, then half-squatted by the bed and took her hand. "Are you all right?"
Ruan Jingliu pressed her lips together and replied, "I’m fine." Then she glanced at Xiqiu. "Aren’t you going to look at the child?"
Only then did Qin Yuanfeng remember he was now a father. In a daze, he stood up and walked over to Xiqiu. Xiqiu shifted the swaddled bundle in her arms forward a little. "It’s a son," she said, signaling for him to take the baby.
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