Chapter 8: To Truly Love Dearly

These words were a bit extreme. In these years, for the sake of the old madam’s health, Jing Wan indeed did put in quite a lot of thought, but she wasn’t significant to the point where she could determine the old madam’s life and death. The scene instantly became quite to the point of scary. Luo Jing Ying’s face was even more deathly pale.

“Grandmother sure likes to speak nonsense. With that many people being filial and attending you, even without Wan Wan, you can still live for hundreds of years.”

“This girl ah.” The old madam tapped at her in the air, finally letting out a kindly smile again.

Everyone sighed in relief.

“Grandmother really have to live for hundreds of years. You still need to pick a good husband for third little sister, watch her get married, watch her give birth and raise children, and even watch her become a grandmother. If you can’t be sure of her happiness and well-being, how can you be at ease, right?” Little Wang-shi said with a smile.

“Eldest sister-in-law, what nonsense are you saying.” Jing Wan bashfully lowered her head, coquettishly feigning anger. She didn’t want to be like this either, but she had to ‘do as the natives do’. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, if she behaved too open-mindedly, she will inevitably be lectured again, the nagging sound noisy to the point of headache. Unfortunately, she didn’t master the ability to blush anytime anywhere, and thus could only pretend.

“Jing De’s wife’s (little Wang-shi) words really speaks to my heart.” The old madam happily looked to Jing Wan.

Jing Wan was thoroughly teased at again, and only until she was completely embarrassed, did they finally let her off.

Little Wang-shi took off the jade bracelet on her wrist and helped Jing Wan put it on, “Yesterday the little guy in my stomach was awfully fussy, so I wasn’t able meet third little sister. This little plaything, little sister take it to play with, please don’t dislike it.” Yesterday, she indeed did force herself to come pay her respects to the old madam, but during the evening meal, she simply couldn’t come.

Clear and translucent, with amply light passing through, and in midst the light blue was a smear of red. This thing, if it was in her past life, would at least be worth a few hundred thousand. Here it was also worth about a thousand some taels of silver. If she dislikes it, then she really deserved to be split by lightning. Didn’t she see that there were some people whose eyes have reddened from jealousy, itching to snatch it from her. “Look at what eldest sister-in-law said, this good of a thing, this little sister can’t even like it enough.”

First time meeting this eldest sister-in-law, and this eldest sister-in-law already seemed to be going a bit overboard with the treatment towards her. The reason for this, afraid, was still because of that pot of ink orchid. The good things that the old madam have given her were already countless. Even if she added on another one, she could still sleep peacefully.

When the old madam was at Qi’an Fu, she’d gotten use to the tranquility. Suddenly being surrounded by this many people, although she also very much enjoyed this kind of family bliss, but her age was high after all. Even if she’s maintained her health well these years, after a while, this kind of lively scene still made her somewhat tired. In addition to the long journey, although she didn’t suffer like Jing Wan, she still was exhausted, unable to adjust in a short period of time.

She only had a few, two three people, remain with her to use the morning meal. Naturally, Jing Wan had to be there. One has know, in the previous three years, Jing Wan had entirely lived in the old madam’s heated room. It can be said that they ate and lived together everyday. So it goes without saying, now that they’re living separately, her heart felt somewhat empty. Therefore, she certainly wouldn’t let Jing Wan go back to use her morning meal.

Wang-shi, as the eldest daughter-in-law, should originally be constantly attending to the mother-in-law, but the old madam couldn’t bear for the couple to be apart, so in the very beginning, she let her follow by her eldest son’s side to the capital. So naturally, at this time, Wang-shi needed to set the dishes and serve at the old madam’s side.

Just like the previous night, the old madam still just made her serve for a bit, before letting her sit down to eat together. Towards her daughter-in-laws, she has never been an evil mother-in-law. Only after peacefully and quietly finishing the meal, did the old madam finally ask about little Wang-shi’s situation.

“It seems to not be very stable, what’s going on? And what did the doctor say about it?” After all, this was the very first one in the fourth generation, how could the old madam not be concerned.

Wang-shi glanced to Jing Wan, and seeing that the old madam didn’t have the intentions of letting her withdraw, she could only open her mouth, “The specifics, this daughter-in-law doesn’t know either. Her and Jing De’s bodies are both fine. We’d called the highly skilled pregnancy physician from the imperial physician’s court to check. He was also unable to say what the reason was. If the imperial physician didn’t say, to let her walk around more when the body was well, this daughter-in-law wouldn’t even dare to let her go out of her room.”

The old madam frowned, “Tell the servants to be more attentive in serving her. Also on Jing De’s side, his wife is having a hard time from the pregnancy, if he has time, tell him to accompany her more. Don’t always play around with those tongfangs[1], upsetting his wife. Also, before this eldest di son is born, those tongfangs absolutely mustn’t stop taking the pregnancy prevention soup.”

In the aspect regarding Yiniangs[2] and shu children, the old madam didn’t have two separate views in treatment towards her own husband than from her descendants. She wouldn’t, on one hand, want to kill off all her husband’s concubines, then on the other hand bestow many to her sons and grandsons. She knew and also understood a woman’s hardships.

“Mother don’t worry, the serving servants were all meticulously selected by this daughter-in-law. As for Jing De, this daughter-in-law has already told him.” With her mother-in-law as an example, she naturally wouldn’t be an evil mother-in-law either, moreover that was her blood-related niece, her elder brother’s pearl of his palm. Before marrying, her elder brother was very doting towards her.

“En, if you’re lacking any high quality medicines, tell me. There’s still some in my private storage.”

“Many thanks mother, those things we aren’t lacking.”

“Alright, go take care of your matters then.”

Wang-shi bowed and bid farewell. Just, before she left, she couldn’t help but glance at Jing Wan, who was quietly sitting to the side, again.

“Grandmother don’t worry, in another three or four months, you’ll definitely get to hold a white and chubby great grandson.”

“En, these words Wan Wan said, I believe.” The old madam affectionately patted her hand.

Jing Wan lightly smiled. Both the male and female’s body were fine, yet the pregnancy was not well. She can’t help but to suspect if it was caused by marrying a close relative. But all she knew was that in the descendants of close relative marriages, the possibility of being born with inborn diseases was just relatively higher. Among the majority were all problems in the aspect of intelligence. As for the others, she wasn’t very clear about either. In this world, close relatives marrying was normal, so it wasn’t good for her to say too much.

A mama to the side chimed in, “Old madam’s words are reasonable, third miss has a gold mouth and jade teeth[3] after all. If she says it’s fine, then it’ll certainly be fine. Moreover, third miss has always been healthy, perhaps because of her as the paternal aunt, the one in eldest young madam’s stomach will also be healthy too.”

“You old thing, don’t say nonsense. If these words get out, and because of this, someone comes looking for Wan Wan, but the results are not good, wouldn’t it just be involving Wan Wan in trouble?”

For the old madam to be able to think of her from beginning to end, Jing Wan truly felt moved and warm inside. She couldn’t help but think of her grandmother from her past life. She was someone who had both extremely high scholarly knowledge and self-control. She also had the natural disposition to be open-minded. Yet, she raised such a scumbag degenerate son. After he suffered and died from retribution, a perfectly fine home, completely fell apart. Although she was heart-broken, she still stayed optimistic, with her heart facing the sun. Perhaps because she carried the guilt of not raising her son well, she’d put in all her energy in educating her only granddaughter. If she hadn’t been deeply influenced by this grandmother, then she herself perhaps would’ve already been blinded by hatred. Even if she was fortunate enough to be able to live another lifetime here, afraid she would also, because of her father’s concubines and shu children, stir up a storm, making people spurn her. That way, how could she even be able to live this carefree like this?

“Look at this mouth of this servant, deserve to be hit.” The mama slapped her own mouth a few times.

“Grandmother, quickly tell Wu mama to stop, it’s not like it’s some big matter. If she were to injure herself, then leaving her by grandmother’s side to serve would also affect appearances, right?” Jing Wan’s coquettish voice sounded, asking for leniency.

“Alright, didn’t you hear what Wan Wan said?” The old madam waved her hand.

Can’t blame Jing Wan for acting spoiled, this was purely grandmother’s guilty pleasure. Only because she felt that Jing Wan’s personality was a bit too strong. Only girls that knew how to act coquettishly would get sweets. Moreover, for men, nine out of ten, all liked weak and delicate women. So no matter what, after getting married, one should definitely soften when needed, don’t be confrontational with one’s own husband. After firmly being ‘lectured’ once, as ‘encouragement’, every time Jing Wan acted coquettishly, the old madam would always let her reach her goals even quicker.

Towards acting coquettishly, Jing Wan right now was getting increasingly more skillful at it.

That’s right, this grandmother of hers wasn’t someone who was stubborn. In the recent year, she would from time to time teach Jing Wan some methods of getting along as husband and wife. The topic of children she didn’t avoid out of taboo either, just letting her be a bit more careful in front of outsiders, that’s all. That’s why, when she mentioned little Wang-shi, she didn’t have her withdraw either. She would always hope for her to be even better. However, grandmother was also very clear that it wasn’t appropriate for certain unmarried girls to talk about this matter. That’s why, when facing these matters, she wouldn’t be so-called ‘bashful’ either. And when she put on an act, her grandmother would be rather happy to tease her.

Because this was Jing Wan’s first time coming to the capital, she wasn’t in a rush to go to the home school, planning on resting for another two days. Thus she accompanied by the old madam’s side, until almost two hours later, when the servants came to report, “Old madam, eldest lady[4] returned.”

“My eldest girl returned? Quickly invite her in.” The old madam appeared exceedingly happy.

After all, she hadn’t seen her in many years. This kind of excitement was understandable.

[1] Tongfang – Lowest level of ‘concubine’, although they are not really considered the same as a concubine, because their status is too low. At most they would be viewed as a plaything and were most likely a former servant girl of the household. The term literally translates to ‘passing through the room’. In these upper class families, even the actual concubines had to be at least daughters from lesser official families, most of the time. For example, Jing Wan’s father’s concubine, Bai-shi, was the niece of her father’s superior.

[2] Yiniang – Form of address for the concubines of the household.

[3] Idiom meaning that her words are valuable and precious.

[4] Jing Wan’s eldest paternal aunt, the old madam’s daughter. To avoid confusion, Jing Wan’s paternal aunts will be addressed as just ‘lady’, while Jing Wan’s generation will be referred to as ‘young lady’ or ‘miss’. I’m not creative enough for all these forms of address aiyaa.