Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Zili was lying on the bed covered in cold sweat, taking deep breaths. She clasped the pillow tightly, wishing to insert her fingers into the brocade-embroidered pillow.Zili kept telling herself in her heart not to panic, if she panicked first, she would be doomed.Stomach started to hurt a lot.She gritted her teeth and cursed at the little bastard. There was still one week before the due date.This kid can't wait to come out.

This morning Zili got up and wanted to water the vegetables in the vegetable garden, but when she just picked up the water, she felt like getting an electric shock in her stomach, and she screamed something bad in her heart.Sure enough, her stomach started to hurt, Zili hurriedly threw down the bucket and called two pale girls: "You go and invite the doctor and midwife." Mingqian who was in a daze: "What are you still doing in a daze, go and ask the mothers to come and see. I'll ask someone to invite the doctor and Mrs. Wen." Mingqian came back to his senses, helped Zili and shouted at the top of his voice: " Come here, grandma is about to give birth." Suddenly, the entire county office seemed to be boiling, and everyone got busy.

Ming Qian came in with a bowl of delicious chicken soup: "Grandma, eat something first. Po Wen said that it will take a while to start. Eat something to refresh your spirit. This place is really remote, that is, chicken soup. I told Yu Hou to take the ginseng stewed soup, and wait for the ginseng soup to finish, so grandma can drink some."

As soon as the labor pains were over, Zili breathed a sigh of relief: "I'm just giving birth, and it's not a matter of life and death. I hang myself with ginseng. What kind of ginseng soup are you cooking? You help me get up and walk after I eat. You always lie like this It's not the same thing." Zili took the chicken soup from Ming Qian's hand and quickly poured it in.

"Grandma, don't move. Didn't nanny tell grandma to lie down on the bed." Ming Qian resolutely carried out nanny's order, preventing Zili from getting up.Because Zili was pregnant, Mother Jia specially sent a few experienced nuns to follow them before they left.Zili didn't like those nanny's bad words, but she didn't want to offend them. As soon as she came to Shanyin County, she used the excuse that the environment here was difficult, and the nanny didn't ask them to come and serve because they were old.As soon as the nuns came out, they relied on the fact that they were originally sent by Jiamu, and they all took the momentum given by their elders to take the lead in everything, but Zili didn't buy it at all.A few nuns were taken up and raised idle.That is to say, after the rain and before tomorrow, they were all unmarried girls, and they were caught off guard by Zili's delivery, so they invited a few nuns to come over.

"Hmph, I'll die sooner if I listen to them. I'll lie on the bed and wait for when I will be able to activate it. I will suffer for a long time in vain. If the amniotic fluid runs out, the baby in my stomach will be in danger." Zili After drinking the soup, he lifted the quilt and got off the bed.Seeing Zili's resolute attitude before tomorrow, he could only help her to walk slowly on the bed.But Mingqian is always a little worried: "Although the mothers are sometimes confused, they are all experienced. It's better to rest for a while." Zili sneered: "What do they know? It doesn't mean that they have given birth to a child. She will know the truth. According to you, sows are born to be stable women." Zili looked down upon the nuns very much, but only for the sake of Jia Mu's face, she tolerated it. .Thinking of the careless arrangement of the nuns, Zili couldn't hide his contempt.Although she has never given birth to a child in her previous life, it is easy to acquire knowledge in modern society, and many of her friends have become mothers.It will be very hard to give birth to an oversized fetus, and it will easily cause gestational diabetes, which is not good for the child.During childbirth, you can't lie on the bed and pretend to be dead as soon as you start labor pains, otherwise the production process will be longer, not only will the mother suffer, but it may also cause hypoxia in the newborn.

Who knows if the nuns sent by Mother Jia know whether they are really ignorant or they are just trying to make Zili suffer a lot, their ideas are completely opposite to Zili's.When Zili was pregnant, they wanted Zili to sleep more and sleep more, and it was best not to get up in bed.It's best to have the girl to support you when you yawn, and be careful not to dodge your waist.Zili was about to die of depression, would she be able to lie down in this situation?Even if she really wanted to lie down, there should be a place to lie down.The county government is under renovation, where is she going to lie down!

Seeing that they couldn't succeed, these mothers began to scare Zili again, making up stories about my relatives, my neighbors, and my friends, all of whom were a few months old fetuses who died when they served a cup of tea, or when they stretched out their hands.Zili couldn't bear the noise of those old women.When a few nuns surrounded her a day and said that she should eat more, and that she would be considered a qualified mother if she gained more than [-] catties during pregnancy, Zili couldn't help but sneered and said, "You are in my ears all day long." Noisy, I'm still worried that the child will be a broken mouth when he comes out. Wealth is life and death, and I don't have to accept your coercion all day long. If there is something wrong with this child, it is because I have not accumulated blessings in my previous life, and he has no fate with me. You all go out. If anyone thinks that my temple is too small to accommodate your big Buddha, I will send you back immediately."

Seeing that Zili was really angry, the nuns didn't dare to do it again, and one of them wanted to hit the gun, but was stopped by his companion: "My grandma, didn't you see that the second grandma is angry?" Well. At first we only thought she was the first child, and we didn’t know anything. Who knew she was pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger. Why did she keep silent in front of her wife, but now she is showing the face of a tiger under sheep’s clothing. We Why don't you just follow her in this place. If you are really driven back, where will you put your old face. What did your wife tell you before we left?"

That's all for that old woman.Seeing that Zili was really not easy to mess with, the old women became quiet. Zili had only lived a few days of real peace throughout her pregnancy. Although she couldn't compare with Jinling and Beijing in terms of material, Zili was in a good mood.Without the restraint of the elders and the messy troubles, she eats a reasonable diet and exercises every day, and the reaction to pregnancy is small.

"The demon mist is back, they are thinking of killing me because they see that I can't take care of myself!" Zili gritted her teeth as she thought of those nuns who heard Zili's activation and began to jump out and point fingers again.Mingqian, Yuhou and Xiaoai and Mint were called over: "You are all people I brought from my mother's house, and you are naturally the most important in my heart. I think the second master will not be able to come back in this situation for a while, just hurry up." I'm back. He is a man who is flustered when he encounters this incident. He will inevitably be agitated by those people. You must calm down and don't be disturbed by those bastards. Remember that if I die, I will be silenced in the end as a scapegoat It's you." The girls were all shocked when they heard Zili's words, and Bo He stuttered in surprise because she was young: "How dare those women want to hurt grandma."

The servants of their family have always been a nest, like a black-eyed chicken.They just thought that grandma was too young to overwhelm them, so they threatened grandma with their noses and faces.Who would have dared to add insult to injury now.You go and ask someone to come over and guard the gate of the backyard. Anyone who dares to point fingers outside will be tied up immediately.Thinking of Zili's grievances since marrying into Jia's family, Yu Hou felt his teeth itch with hatred.I can't wait to kick those people out immediately to be angry.

Mint immediately agreed after hearing Yuhou's words, turned around and went out to call for someone.Zili wanted to stop Mint and Yuhou, but there were always a few imperial envoys sent by Jiamu watching, and she couldn't feel at ease, so she pretended to have a stomachache and ignored it.Zili supported the girl's hand and walked around the ground a few times, but her stomach tightened like a pain, Zili gasped and leaned against the quilt, Mingqian hurriedly called Wen Po to come in.What kind of clever stable woman can there be in this place, this is the best one to invite.Wen Po has never seen this posture before, she came over to watch it for a while tremblingly: "We have to wait for a while. Grandma will take a rest first, and wait for some strength to get up and exercise again. As I said, you still need to move more when you have a baby." , I usually midwife the women of those farming families, they are not squeamish, they start working from conception. Some of them gave birth to their babies on the ridges while working in the fields, and it didn’t take much trouble at all.”

Suddenly there was a quarrel outside: "You little hoof dares to point fingers at me, but you don't look in the mirror, you dare to ride on my head and shit before your hair grows! What happens to grandma is all behind your back What the hell, you're looking at me and I don't know what you're thinking, you're all so charming, thinking you'll be able to climb up if you kill grandma!"

Mint and Xiaoai started arguing with those wives, but the scolding by the wives got worse and worse. Xiaoai and Mint were both little girls, they blushed and choked with sobs and said no. speak out.Zili listened to the voices outside, and winked at Yu Hou, who immediately went out to help Xiao Ai and Mint suppress the mothers-in-law: "When is this, you dare to quarrel. Grandma just told you all Did it fall on deaf ears?"

Unexpectedly, those women completely lost their obedience in the past, and started arguing with Yu Hou with their eyes wide open.Zili listened to the quarrel outside the room and was so angry that she even forgot the pain in her stomach. She was about to bear the pain and go out to tear herself apart with the wives.Zili could see it.When these people came with them, they wanted to honor the status bestowed by their mother Jia, thinking that Zili was just a young daughter-in-law who had never experienced anything, and after she came out, she would not be completely at their mercy.Unexpectedly, Zili is not the kind of person who has no ideas at all, and Zili has the final say on matters in the county government.These women were offered up as mascots, and those girls didn't pay much attention to them.These people wanted to take advantage of Zili's birth, so as to turn the world around and make trouble.If she hadn't gone out to show them how powerful she was, she would have really become a waste.

Zili supported Mingqian's arm and gritted his teeth: "You help me out, these bastard women are determined to kill me. If I don't hand out the master's money today, they really don't know how powerful they are gone."

Ming Qian's face turned pale with anger, and tears rolled in his eyes: "This group of black-hearted things really wasted grandma's compassion at the beginning. If I knew it was like this, I should have kicked them out in the first place." Talking about the fierce quarrel outside up.I just heard Yu Hou angrily accuse the women: "This is also the place where you talk. I didn't expect grandma to respect you when she saw you getting old, but she respected you black-hearted things. This is the place where you can stand Who is it? Which wife and grandma sealed you as housekeepers? How dare you yell in this place. It alarmed grandma to see how you explain to the second master!"

After talking about the rain, he asked someone to take the women out: "Whoever dares to disobey what Grandma says is tied up here, tied up in the stable and waited for the second master to come back to develop." Ladies go away.

A woman jumped up and scolded after the rain with wide eyes: "You little whore, don't play tricks in front of me. We are all chosen by our wife to serve grandma, and you are the ones who slandered grandma in her ear and hurt me. My grandma doesn't believe that we are loyal. I have seen it for a long time. You are just relying on the influence of the Wang family to come to my house to play tricks. Didn't you tie up the second master's brother-in-law? Today is our turn. To be honest Let me tell you that at the beginning, my wife ordered us to prevent someone from instigating the second master. Today, everyone has spoken out, and you are the ones who instigated the second master. We can immediately sell you according to the wife's order." That Before the mother-in-law finished speaking, she was kicked, and everyone realized that Jia Zheng was already standing in front of them, carrying a whip.

When Jia Zheng heard Yan Xiaoer's return, he immediately returned to his heart, wishing he could fly to Zili's side immediately.In this place, Jia Zheng felt that the one who could really depend on him was Zili. In the past few days, Jia Zheng went to the grassroots and saw with his own eyes a woman in the village who gave birth to a child for a few days, and finally both mother and child died.He used to only know that it is very hard for a woman to give birth to a child, but Jia Zheng is still vague about what kind of hard work and what the consequences are.But seeing that desolate situation with his own eyes still had a great impact on Jia Zheng.Therefore, at the moment of hearing Yan Xiaoer's report, Jia Zheng's mind was full of worst-case scenarios.

Accompanied by all kinds of terrifying imaginations, Jia Zheng rode his horse and galloped along the way. As soon as he entered the county office, he saw a group of people chaotically surrounded by the second gate, and the sound of quarreling kept coming from inside.Seeing Jia Zheng's return, several servants of Jia's family gathered around him. They didn't say anything about Zili's situation, nor did they greet Jia Zheng for his hardships along the way. Instead, they surrounded Jia Zheng like a swarm of flies to plead for Wu Qing. .Jia Zheng had a long talk with Mr. Zhou and Mr. Qu on the mountain. When talking about several things to avoid in the officialdom in the future, Mr. Zhou regarded the management of the people around him as the first priority.As a result, Jia Zheng was filled with ears as soon as he returned home: "Wu Qing is a person next to the second master. He was just confused for a while. The life in the mountains is really hard, so Wu Qing did such a thing. The second master still looks at Wu Qing. Mammy, please forgive him. If the second master is angry, just give him a few lashes in private, and if this happens, it will make people laugh at the second master's jokes."

Jia Zheng seemed to be surrounded by a swarm of flies, his ears were full of buzzing sounds, and he was impatient but was noisy by a group of irrelevant people.Jia Zheng's patience had reached its limit and was on the verge of breaking out.At this time, it was a woman's voice that reached his ears, irritating his eardrums and heart: "You hairy girls want to turn the world upside down, and the good master asked you to instigate it. The old lady was embarrassed at the beginning. You didn't know where to eat shit when you were here." That old lady was as arrogant as I am the founding father, and she didn't pay attention to those girls after Yuhou and Mingqian at all.

"Although Dong Weng has advantages over ordinary officials, misfortunes and fortunes depend on each other, and everyone has their own shortcomings. The first is that his slaves are arrogant and rebellious, and do bad things in the name of the master. In the dark, some inexperienced directors who don't know the situation will be led by the nose. Dong Weng's family members are all good. It's just that sometimes it's too arrogant, but it's no wonder ——" Mr. Zhou chuckled and changed the subject.Jia Zheng listened to Mr. Zhou's words, and he seemed to sense that Mr. Zhou was hesitant to speak, as if there was something wrong.However, no matter what Jia Zheng asked, Mr. Zhou just pretended not to know.

What the old woman said just hit Jia Zheng's heart disease.The servants in the family really don't take themselves seriously!According to the rules of the Jia family, a servant who has served the elders is more respectable than a young master.When he was at home, Jia Zheng didn't care much about the family's trivial matters, and he was tolerant and modest to the servants around his elders. When he was at home, the servants were all respectful and didn't see anything inappropriate.But waiting to come out, Jia Zheng gradually realized something else.Many of the family members under him have begun to change. They seem to be less obedient to him than when they were in Jinling.

With Mr. Zhou's preparatory words, Jia Zheng seemed to understand something.Listening to what the woman said, Jia Zheng was already furious and completely out of control.

"You scumbags, you dare to quarrel and bicker at this juncture, come and tie up this scumbag who bullies the master! If anything happens to grandma, I want you to pay for it!" After slapping the woman with a whip a few times, the yard became quiet, and the women who were aggressive just now knelt on the ground and kowtowed begging for mercy.

Zili could hear clearly from inside. She looked at Mingqian with a reassuring expression, and suddenly clutched her stomach and yelled, "Oh, it hurts like hell!"

Hearing Zili's groans, Jia Zheng immediately forgot to clean up the wives who took the opportunity to make trouble, and pushed away the local stunned rain before going in.At this time, Mr. Shan and Mr. Zhou were still busy coming out, pulling Jia Zheng: "Dong Weng's mood is understandable, but we still have to avoid it."

Although Mr. Shan's words are very reasonable, in this era, the delivery room is a big taboo, and there are many taboos and superstitions about entering the delivery room.Even if Jia Zheng was Zili's husband, he couldn't enter the delivery room.But inside, Zili's moaning had begun to become sharper, and she became more and more hysterical.Where Zili was giving birth, it was clear that someone was cutting Zili's flesh with a red-hot knife.

Jia Zheng's head was sweating anxiously, and after a scream, Jia Zheng finally pushed away the chubby Mr. Shan: "You don't speak a word, you don't care about those superstitions, as a scholar." Jia Zheng finally made a breakthrough Breaking through the line of defense, he rushed to the door of Zili's bedroom again.

Seeing that Jia Zheng was about to break in, Mr. Shan, a standard feudal accountant, desperately wanted to pull Jia Zheng back. "Mr. Shan, let's just let it go. We don't spoil the scenery because of the deep love between husband and wife." Mr. Zhou came back just in time to grab Mr. Shan.There is a deep love between husband and wife, so let's not make people feel suspicious.

Just when Mr. Shan was struggling, a loud cry of a baby came from inside. Hearing the cry of the baby, Jia Zheng seemed to have been immobilized, and stood there motionless like a wooden sculpture of clay.After the rain, he pushed open the door and was about to announce the good news with a look of surprise on his face, but he was startled by Jia Zheng who stayed at the door: "Why is the second master standing here so stupidly, the second grandma gave birth to a brother!"