It was impossible to hide such a significant matter as splitting the family from the rest. After Han Jianming and Han Jingyan had discussed the issue, Han Jianming told Qiu Shi and Ye Shi about it.

Qiu Shi couldn’t wait for the family to split up. “It’s good to split up. If we separate from the Third House, we will have a lot less overhead.” Over the years, she didn’t know how much silver she had spent to subsidise the Third House.

Han Jianming couldn’t help but sigh when he heard Qiu Shi’s words. No wonder San Shu wanted to split up the family. It turned out to be because of his mother. “Mother, money is a small matter. The most important thing is for the family to be harmonious.” Men saw things differently from women. Han Jianming was more concerned with the benefits he would get outside than the three melons and two dates within the family.

Qiu Shi explained, “It’s not that Mother is being stingy, but the expenses of the Third House are too high. Jianming, you may not know that the Third House’s expenses in a year are more than those of our Main House. All this money saved will be yours and Jianye in the future.”

Han Jianming asked, not entirely convinced, “Mother, how can the expenditure of the Third House be more than that of our Main House?”

Qiu Shi could not lie to her son. “Except for your father, the other members of the Main House are more frugal with their money. But the Third House’s funerals and celebrations, etc., and Jiancheng’s expenses, all add up to a substantial sum.” Several women in the Main House used small kitchens, which expenses came from private accounts, not public. The Third House’s food, however, was all from the shared account. In addition to the cost of Wu Shi’s funeral and Han Jingyan’s marriage. Even Yuchen’s marriage used a lot of silvers. The Third House’s other sons and daughters would also grow up and get married in the future, which would cost another considerable expense. Qiu Shi would not have said anything if Han Jingyan had taken money for his official work just like before. But after so many years, with nothing but his salary, Qiu Shi was unwilling to continue to be a person deceived on account of her generosity.

When Han Jianming listened to Qiu Shi’s thoughts, he did not say anything else. The main reason was that the family separation had basically settled, so there was no point in him saying anything else. “Mother, the people in the kitchen are extremely improper either, so Mother should also fix them up. If San Shen wants to eat anything in the next few days, just let the kitchen prepare it for her. The family is about to split up, so if anything else happens within this period, it won’t look good on us.”

Qiu Shi shook her head and argued, “The people over there in the kitchen are certainly wrong about this, but the main problem lies with Wen Shi.” After saying that, Qiu Shi told him what Wen Shi had done. “On such a cold day, if you want to have a snack, you can talk to the kitchen first, then ask them to make it early and keep it warm on the stove. But Wen Shi doesn’t say anything during the day. She always likes to wake up the chefs in the middle of the night for it. When they finished cooking the dishes, she would say that they were not tasty enough and would be picky about them. The servants are also human. They will also have grievances after facing the same thing over and over again.” If you want someone to do a good job, you should at least reward them! If you didn’t, you shouldn’t say that the food was not good. Even the clay figurine still had three points of its nature! Let alone a human being.

Han Jianming was speechless. He really didn’t know about this. He was so busy these days that he didn’t have time to pay attention to the affairs of the inner courtyard. “Mother, it won’t be long before the family is separated. So let’s restrain the people in residence in the meantime! Don’t create any more trouble.” Since the family would soon be divided, it would be better to do so peacefully.

Qiu Shi nodded and assured her son, “Don’t worry. Something like this won’t happen again.” The family was about to split up, and they would only suffer for a few more days anyway. Therefore, she would make sure that no one stirred up trouble by playing wicked tricks anymore.

Yuxi also soon learned of the splitting of the family. Whether the Han family divided or not, it didn’t matter to her. But it was good that Han Jingyan had taken the initiative to mention it. Thus, her previous ploy did not need to be used.

When Zisu heard the news of the separation, she commented, “It’s good for the family to split up to avoid hearing the Third Lady making a fuss all day long.” Er Nainai and Concubine Jia were both pregnant, yet they were not as troublesome as Wen Shi.

Since Han Jingyan and Han Jianming had reached an agreement, the splitting of the family was not deliberately concealed, and the servants in the mansion soon learned of it. At this point, their minds were somewhat agitated—especially the people on the side of the Third House. Many were looking for connections, hoping they would not be assigned to the Third House after the family separated.

The servants had eyes too. Not to mention the attention they paid to the amount of property the Third House would get, they also thought of how hard their lives would be, serving a stingy lady in charge like the Third Lady.

After Wen Shi had recuperated for a few days, she felt that her health was fine and started to become impatient just lying in bed all the time. She was bored staying inside the house and wanted her maid to help her walk around outside. The old woman servant sent by the Old Lady to wait on her stopped her and advised her earnestly like a kindhearted grandmother, but Wen Shi refused to listen. “I’m just going out for a walk. What can happen?” To keep her ears clean, she didn’t even let the old woman servant follow her. As a result, something did happen.

Wen Shi was on her walk when she heard two old woman servants talking about the family separation.

Wen Shi’s expression changed. She strode forward and asked the two old women who were just talking, “What are you two talking about? What separation?”

The two old women servants knew something was wrong when they noticed Wen Shi didn’t know about the separation. Hence, how would they be willing to tell her the truth? One of them pointed to the other and said, “She was talking about how her younger brother wanted to separate from her maiden family.”

Although Wen Shi was a little short-sighted, her ears were still good. Just now, she clearly heard the words ‘Third Lord’. There was no way the old woman servant’s younger brother was called ‘Third Lord’. Wen Shi coldly asked, “What’s going on? Tell me clearly.”

The two old women servants were also senior servants in residence, and they were very sly. In response to this situation, they knew they had done something wrong and refused to tell Wen Shi the truth. Who knew what would happen if they revealed it to her? If Wen Shi had another pregnancy complication, they would, without a doubt, have a terrible end. Chunlan, who had caused the Third Lady to have problems with her pregnancy, had been sold by the Third Lord.

Wen Shi was furious. She was sick and tired of such servants who did not take her seriously. She couldn’t do anything to them because she didn’t have their life deeds for her to sell. But just because these two old women servants wouldn’t say anything didn’t mean she couldn’t find out what was going on.

When she got back to the Biteng Courtyard, Wen called over the old woman servant who served her and inquired, “All the people outside are talking about separation. What is this all about? Can you tell me?”

The old woman servant knew that nothing good could come from Wen Shi going out of her yard. She had instructed the maids in Biteng Courtyard to keep quiet about the split, but she couldn’t control the people outside. “My Lady, it’s a long story. My Lady should ask the Lord tonight!” Wen Shi’s child was still not entirely stable. The old woman servant was afraid that if Wen Shi knew that the family would split because of her, she would get stimulated again. If they could not preserve the child’s life, the old woman servant’s life would also be in trouble.

Furious, Wen Shi smashed a porcelain vase on the ground and questioned sternly, “Are you going to say it or not? If you don’t say it, then get out of my house.” One by one, they didn’t take her seriously, and she, the Third Lady, was a mere decoration to them.

The old woman servant had no choice but to avoid saying the essential thing and dwell on the trivial one. “The Third Lord felt that if he did not split from family after the First Lord had given up his title and no longer became the head of the family, people would say that he depends on his nephew. So the Third Lord proposed to split the family. Not only did the First Lord agree to this, so did the Old Lady.”

Wen Shi’s face dramatically changed as she said, “Impossible. How could the Lord be thinking of splitting up the family for no good reasons? Did Qiu Shi force him to do so?” Suddenly remembering the previous incident with Chun Lan, her face grew even worse as she asked, “Was it because of the incident with the duck stew last time that made the Main House want to split the family?”

The old woman servant had a bad instinct when she saw this reaction from Wen Shi. “My Lady, this has nothing to do with what happened to Chunlan. The Third Lord wanted to divide the family after the First Lord had given up the title, but at that time, the Third Miss was not yet married, so he never mentioned it again.” That was what she told her, but the old woman servant knew in her heart that the First Lady had wanted to separate from the Third House for a long time, and the incident between Chunlan and Chef Fang was just the trigger. She knew about this, but she couldn’t tell Wen Shi about it.

Wen Shi didn’t believe her. “Are you telling me the truth? Is it because of the trouble that chef had made earlier that Qiu Shi took the opportunity to split the family?”

The old woman servant was so anxious that her forehead started to sweat. “My Lady, aren’t you still pregnant? The physician said that you shouldn’t get angry, you……” Before she could finish her sentence, Wen Shi collapsed.

The old woman servant’s scalp tingled as she looked at the blood flowing out from between Wen Shi’s legs. The last time Wen Shi fainted, there were rumours that she was bleeding, but she actually wasn’t. This time, Wen Shi was bleeding for real. The old woman servant almost yelled, “Go and get the physician. Go now! What are you doing still standing there?” Now she was going to suffer. She should have pretended to be sick and not take this job in the first place.

Wen Shi had not yet recovered from her last complication, and now she had suffered another stimulus. After the physician took her pulse, he said with an ugly face, “The child can’t be saved.” The family had lost the child, and the mother had also injured her body.

The old woman servant serving Wen Shi almost sat on the floor as her legs went weak. “Mister Physician, this child is my Lady’s lifeblood! Would you please do something to save this child? Mister Physician, I beg you.”

The physician shook his head and said, “The Third Lady’s body is originally weak, and her child is already unstable. Then she has been stimulated one after another. Even if Hua Tuo were still alive, he would also not be able to keep the child.”

Old Woman Wen honestly sat down on the floor this time.

Ancient Chinese Medicine Box

Image Credit | The original owner of the picture, via 少陽說 @ Kknews (古代醫師出診背的藥箱裡，裝的是什麼寶貝？ Oct 10th, 2016)

The physician had relatively fulfilled his duty by prescribing a prescription for Wen Shi’s recuperation. Then he prepared to carry his medicine box back.

The old woman servant was busy calling out to the physician and said, “Please come with me to meet the Old Lady.” The main thing was for the physician to tell the Old Lady about Wen Shi’s situation. What the physician said was more believable than what she said.

The old woman servant had a selfish intention in doing so. She did not want to be responsible for Wen Shi’s miscarriage. Even if the Old Lady were angry and chastised her for it, her punishment would not be hefty. And if the Old Lady had scolded her, the Third Lord would naturally not pursue the matter any further. The old woman servant did not want to fall into the hands of the Third Lord, as she did not want to follow in Chunlan’s footsteps. At her age, being sold out would be a death sentence. T

/C

The Old Lady had heard from Mama Luo before the physician even came. She wondered how Wen Shi could have another pregnancy complication for no reason when nothing had happened at the residence. Before she could find out the reason, she received the news that Wen Shi had a miscarriage. The Old Lady coldly asked the physician who treated Wen Shi, “What is going on? How did she have a miscarriage?”

This physician repeated what he had told the old woman servant before and added, “In fact, the Third Lady’ body was originally weak. It would have been better if she had taken some time to recuperate before conceiving a child at that time. Now that she has lost her child, her health has become even more terrible. She must at least take two years of health conditioning before she can conceive again.” To put it simply, Wen Shi’s body was weak because she ate very little to maintain the graceful figure that made her look like even the wind could blow her. Her miscarriage was partly due to stimulation and another part due to her own poor health.

The Old Lady instructed Mama Luo, “Give the physician an extra fifty taels of silver.” These fifty taels of silver had the meaning of telling the physician not to talk nonsense outside.

The physician was not stupid either. Not to mention the family of the Duke of the State, even for the ordinary family, he would not tell such private matters to others. This was the minimum medical ethics required for a physician.