Madam Hou

Chapter 39

Ying didn't think much of the two masters in Duke Kang's mansion, but she still feared and respected Mr. Kang. When she heard Mr. Kang ask her this question knowingly, she couldn't guess what he meant, so she could only answer honestly. :"yes."

Kang Guogong casually picked up the big characters written by Brother Yu just now, and asked while reading, "I heard that Concubine Chen is pregnant with a boy?"

"Several happy wives in the palace say the same thing, I think there is always a [-]% certainty."

Kang Guogong put down the rice paper in his hand, nodded, and stopped talking.Ying couldn't guess what Kang Guogong meant, and felt a little nervous.After a while, Kang Guogong continued: "The fourth girl has been injured for so long and recuperated, she should be well now!"

This is not a question, but an imperative sentence.Ying Shi and Kang Guogong both knew what was going on with Miss Fourth.At the beginning, it was Ying who designed Aunt Tang and Jiang Yixiu's mother and daughter, making them think that she was going to marry her to the Bai family. When the second prince entered the palace on the day of the full moon, he deliberately relaxed his vigilance so that she could sneak into the palace carriage. Sure enough, after Sister Xiu sneaked into the palace, she changed into clothes similar to Concubine Chen and hid in the back garden He was going to have a chance encounter with the emperor, but in the end the emperor lacked the feeling of pity and pity, so he directly kicked the Fourth Miss of the Jiang family who was pretending to be unconscious and wanted to fall on him.

After Mrs. Ying ordered someone to escort Miss Jiang Si back, she was "sick" and locked in the yard. She has not been released until now. Outsiders only said that Miss Jiang Si sneaked into the palace regardless of face and wanted to seduce the emperor, but she did not. Cheng actually annoyed the emperor, and the Ying family shut the concubine at home to dispel the emperor's anger.Even Miss Jiang Si's mother and daughter still think that they designed the Ying family instead of being designed, but they were not very lucky.

But Kang Guogong is not Aunt Tang's mother and daughter. He can figure out Ying's calculations with his toes. Ying has always known Kang Guogong's wisdom and did not want to hide it from him. .In short, the meaning is that although my daughter-in-law and I have played tricks, if Aunt Tang and Sister Xiu have no wrong ideas, they will not be able to fall into the trap.Therefore, when Kang Guogong came back, he didn't react to the news that Miss Fourth was locked up.But now Kang Guogong mentioned it again, not knowing what it meant.

Ying replied anxiously, "Yes, it should be alright if you think about it."

"Which family did you decide on for the fourth girl's husband's family?"

"The fourth girl has a high mind, and she doesn't like the marriage I chose. The Shizi also said that sister-in-law Xiu's marriage cannot be decided by the daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law thought that if she chose a marriage for sister Xiu, she might not be able to please both parties, so she let it go." Let it go. If you want to come to the eldest son, he will make a plan for sister Xiu, and then the daughter-in-law can just choose the dowry for sister Xiu."

Kang Guogong was very dissatisfied with the answer, his face turned cold, and he looked directly at Ying Shi.Although Ying was a little apprehensive, she didn't want to compromise on this, so she lowered her head and avoided Kang Guogong's eyes.A little bitch who was born of a concubine who relied on the favor of the son of the world and loved to pretend to be a little white flower in front of people and a wolf poisonous flower behind her back all day long. Now that little bitch is thinking about hooking up with her daughter's husband and wanting to take her daughter. Instead, if she was kind enough to find a good marriage for her, she would vomit herself to death without anyone else doing it.

Kang Guogong sighed in his heart, this daughter-in-law has always had ideas, but his son is incompetent and likes to pretend to be smart.How can it be so easy to be the mother of a concubine and concubine in the harem? If the fourth girl has half the brains of the empress, and he or the second child has half the political sense and means of him, he doesn't mind using some means to send the fourth girl into the palace. Palace to go.Embroidered pillows are filled with grass, and entering the palace will only bring disasters to the family.The best way out for her is to find a good marriage and get married. If his stupid son doesn't say those bastard words, no matter how unhappy Ying is, for the sake of the empress, she won't ruin her reputation, and she will give four The girl looking for a suitable marriage is now an excuse for Mrs. Ying to let her go.

No matter what Kang Guogong thinks in his heart, on the face he is full of vigor corresponding to the family: "Women should be virtuous, gentle, respectful and thrifty, and the mistress of the house should have the bearing of the head of the house, and even care about concubines and concubines. If you let a big man go to discuss the marriage of your children, you are not afraid that outsiders will say that you are not good enough to discredit the empress?"

Ying's legs bent and he knelt down on the ground, aggrieved: "Father, my daughter-in-law was wronged. The daughter-in-law married in, she devoted herself to serving her in-laws, caring for her husband and raising her children, and never treated her aunt and concubine badly. It's not that I haven't seen her for her, it's just that neither the elder son nor the fourth girl is satisfied, it's the elder son who said that the fourth daughter's marriage is up to him, and the husband is born in heaven, so how dare the daughter-in-law disobey her husband?"

Kang Guogong looked coldly at Ying Shi who was kneeling on the ground, and seeing Ying Shi trembled in his heart, after a while, Kang Guogong's expression softened, and Ying Shi said: "Get up, the son is confused and wronged all these years. For you, as a father-in-law, I think about it in my heart, but you are the wife of the eldest son, and your son is the eldest son of the eldest son. Sooner or later, this family will be passed on to your son. Family harmony and everything is prosperous, and the family cannot be twisted together. The strands are like a loose sand on the outside, how to compete with others. Even if you don’t think about yourself, you should also think about your son, and guard the wealth of the duke’s mansion for him.... In addition, I have already done it for you The fourth girl has taken a fancy to Lin and the seventh-ranked grandson of Princess Dachang. I have already said hello to the son-in-law. You can go to the princess mansion to discuss the marriage with the child's mother-in-law. Also, please Why don't you two come back and teach the fourth girl the rules, so as not to embarrass our Duke's mansion by marrying her. Brother Jin of the second family's family is already engaged to the eldest daughter of Fuyang Hou, so let's hire that girl in as soon as possible. The 24th of next month is a good day for marriage, if you set the wedding date on that day, you can take care of him if you marry a daughter-in-law, Brother Jin has become more and more unsightly recently."

Ying thought to herself, she really gave her a good deal, I heard that the grandson of Lin and Princess Xingqi grew up with the son-in-law, and has a lot of research on calligraphy, painting and sculpture, so he might be as big a master in this industry as the son-in-law in the future.Mrs. Ying thought this way in her heart, but on the face she respectfully said to Kang Guogong: "Yes."

After taking over the task from Kang Guogong, the Ying family began to discuss the marriage of their concubine daughter and the marriage of the second wife Jin Geer.Mrs. Kang Guogong saw and greeted Miss Jiang Si's marriage, and it went very smoothly.Mrs. Jiang Er was in Jin Ge'er's marriage, and she didn't have much to do, but it took a lot of work to ask for advice, to invite two people who are strict and not rigid enough to disobey the employer's orders, really isn't it? an easy job.Fortunately, although it took a little more time, people were found.

By the time these things were done, it was already December.Concubine Chen's due date is just a few days away, and there is a lot of tension among the officials' family and the Hou family in Beijing.

Although the queen is cautious, she has never given birth after all. When making arrangements for the birth, Ying was afraid that her daughter's inexperience would be taken advantage of by others. These days, she often enters the palace. The purpose of entering the palace is to remind the queen of where to go when giving birth. It needs special attention. At that time, it is the most easy to be tampered with. After the prince is born, how should the prince's nanny be chosen?

On the fifth day of December, Mrs. Ying had just ordered her housekeepers to prepare the materials for making Laba porridge for the Laba Festival three days later. As soon as the stewards went out, Mrs. Ying had just had a sip of tea while she was sitting in the flower hall, when Linglong, the maidservant, hurriedly ran in from the outside.Ying put down the tea cover and asked, "What happened, in such a hurry?"

Panting, Linglong replied, "There is news from the palace that Concubine Chen's stomach has started to move."

"But really, when did it start?"

"It was this morning. Originally, Concubine Chen was walking in the house with the help of a maid, but as soon as she stood up, Concubine Chen complained that her stomach hurts."

"A woman gives birth to a child for the first time. It takes a day and a night to be afraid that she will not be able to give birth. The child will be born tomorrow at the earliest. Linglong, please help me send 500 taels of silver to Hanyun Temple. Don't forget to help me kowtow a few more to the Buddha. God, I pray to the Buddha to bless Chen Bing to get a boy in one fell swoop."

Linglong bowed her knees and said yes, and then went out.Ying sat in the flower hall and thought for a while, then went back to the inner room to find a Buddhist scripture, and recited it in a low voice.

At this time, Ying was not the only one who worshiped the Bodhisattva and recited scriptures in Beijing. Mrs. Lin Hou and Mrs. Chen both joined the queue of worshiping the gods.

The imperial palace, the side hall of Fengyi Palace.

Because it was only in the stage of labor pain, Yanniang knew that she had to save her strength for the real birth later, she could bear the pain again, and there was no heart-piercing cry in the delivery room.

The queen sat on the grand teacher's chair outside the delivery room, looked at one of the midwives kneeling below, and asked calmly, "When will Concubine Chen's baby be born?"

The midwife's forehead was dripping with sweat, and she said to the queen, "This woman's first birth will always be slower, the fastest will take a day and one night, and the slowest three days and three nights may not be able to give birth." come down."

The queen knew that if she asked again, she would not be able to get the answer she wanted, so she nodded and said to the midwife: "Go in, if the prince is successfully delivered, your reward will be indispensable in the palace, but if something happens to the prince , you know the royal child Jingui, think about the heads of your relatives within the nine clans in your family."

The midwife repeatedly said yes, and then entered the delivery room.

After a while, the voice of an internal official came from outside: "The emperor is here." Then there was a bright yellow hem at the door, and then the emperor stepped over the threshold and came in from the outside, and there were voices kneeling down and shouting long live in the hall .The emperor helped the queen up and asked eagerly, "How is it? When will the child be born?"

The queen smiled and said: "The emperor is more anxious than the concubine. The concubine asked the midwife just now. This woman is always slow to give birth to the first child. It takes two or three days to give birth."

"so slow?"

The queen nodded and said: "Yes, why don't the emperor go back first, and when Concubine Chen really begins to give birth, I will send someone to invite the emperor over?"

The emperor thought that he had a lot of things to do every day, and he couldn't just sit here and wait for two or three days, so he agreed to the queen's suggestion.

After the emperor left, the queen continued to sit back on the chair, with that calm expression on her face again, no one could guess what she was thinking.

Yanniang felt that she had been lying on the bed for a long, long time. At the beginning, her stomach was just painful, which was not too uncomfortable, but later on, the pain in her stomach became more and more severe, and she couldn't stand it anymore. , and began to shout.The midwife next to her kept telling her to breathe harder or take a deep breath, which she did.Later, she felt that she was yelling and shouting, her nose was itchy, her head began to feel dizzy, her strength gradually decreased, and she was a little confused, but she still remembered that she was giving birth, and she had to breathe hard and deeply .

Later, she seemed to hear someone saying that someone was having a dystocia, and then there was the voice of the queen, the voice of the emperor, and the emperor seemed to be saying that he wanted to kill the nine clans again. She remembered that when the emperor said this sentence, he always Especially imposing.Then, the buzzing of voices outside made her ears hurt. After a long time, she concentrated all her strength and exerted herself, and then it seemed that something fell from her body. She felt that after the thing fell, The body was much more relaxed, the pain was gone, and then she felt as if she had fallen asleep from exhaustion, and before she fell asleep, she heard the loud voice of the baby.

(End of this chapter)