Chapter 241

Chapter 241: The Rich Miss Regrets It

At first, the examinee’s mother treated this official’s miss as a future daughter-in-law. She thought like her son did and believed Assistant Official Li would bow his head for his daughter.

But after a whole year with no word from the Li clan, she lost patience. The first year had been poor but still peaceful. After that, Miss Li learned what real hardship meant. She was forced to work in the fields, to cook, and to wash clothes and do chores for the whole family. At night she had to “carry on the family line,” and the man used her to vent his desires. Many times she was already exhausted, but the examinee did not spare her. Once, when she had a high fever, he felt how hot she was and, instead of finding a physician, he forced himself on her anyway. That time, Miss Li tasted a life worse than death.

She regretted everything. But she could not swallow her pride to ask her family for help. Worse, even after she had stayed in the village for more than a year, the examinee never held a wedding with her. When she angrily asked why, he sneered and said: “Without your parents’ permission and a matchmaker’s word, how could you be a wife? You are only a concubine. Why would there be a wedding?”

Miss Li felt her sky collapse. She regretted it again. She wanted to go home. Then she found out she was pregnant with the examinee’s child, and her fear grew.

What broke her even more was that the man flirted with a rich local miss and sweet-talked her. The girl’s family was willing to pave his road. So the examinee married the rich miss. The principal wife knew there was a concubine at home and did not care. She even ordered Miss Li to keep doing chores. Poor Miss Li had strong pregnancy sickness yet still had to serve the whole household.

She could not take it anymore. She wanted to go home, most of all to protect her baby. She had already sensed that the principal wife would not allow her to give birth. But from the moment the examinee chose to marry someone else, he chose to give up Assistant Official Li as a path to power. Since he gave that up, he could not allow the Li clan to learn Miss Li’s true situation. Otherwise, if a fifth-rank official got angry, how could a small examinee survive it?

So he no longer let Miss Li leave the house. He kept her in the yard to serve the family.

If Young Master Li had not worried so much about his sister and come to the village against his parents’ wishes, the Li family might never have known that their cherished daughter was living a life worse than that of animals. But even then, he came too late.

On the day Miss Li went into labor, the principal wife bribed the midwife, planning to kill both mother and child. Luckily, Young Master Li arrived in time. Because he had heard his sister was pregnant, he had brought a physician along. Sadly, the midwife’s delay had already gone too far. Between the mother and the baby, only one could be saved. Young Master Li chose without hesitation to save his sister.

When Miss Li woke and learned she had given birth to a stillborn, she broke.

Later, Lord Li struck back. He made sure the examinee would never again sit the Imperial Examinations. He also found evidence that the rich merchant’s family had evaded taxes and bribed officials. Their whole business was ruined. Some went to prison. Others paid heavy fines. Their grand fortune vanished overnight and they fell back into poverty. But of what use was that? Miss Li’s life had been destroyed.

Assistant Official Li finished with grief in his eyes: “From that time on, my daughter’s mind has never been clear. On ordinary days she is muddled but quiet. Yet the moment she sees or hears anything about children, she loses control.”

He felt a stab of regret. He had been so happy earlier that he forgot there was someone at home who could not hear a single word about babies. It wasn’t that he had truly forgotten. He had long given orders that no one was to bring up childbirth in front of his daughter. He simply never expected this slip.

Soon, Constable Song asked how today’s trouble started. It turned out Miss Li had been moving around in a part of the grounds she used often when two rough-handed servant women were working nearby. They did not notice Miss Li approach and were chatting about the manor’s happy news. When Miss Li heard there was a newborn in the house, she exploded. Crying “My child,” she started raging through the manor.

After hearing this, Assistant Official Li broke out in a cold sweat. It was truly hard to prevent every accident. He could not really blame the two servant women. They had not meant any harm. It was just an accident.

Thinking how, if he had not rushed back with Constable Song, his son’s life might have ended, he could not help but mumble: “Amitabha.” Then he corrected himself: “No, we should thank Official Yu.”

Later, Madam Li learned that Yu Zhi Yi’s warning had helped the manor avoid disaster. When she also heard her husband had doubted Yu Zhi Yi, she twisted his ear and scolded: “Official Yu’s name is known all over the Capital City. Countless people want her guidance and cannot find her, and you dare doubt her? I tell you, if anything had happened to my son today, I would not have let you off!”

Assistant Official Li hurried to protect his ear and said: “I know I was wrong, I know. I will bring a thank-you gift and pay my respects right now.”

Madam Li snorted: “That is more like it.” If she were not busy looking after her daughter-in-law in confinement, she would have gone herself.

When Assistant Official Li arrived to pay his thanks, Yu Zhi Yi was discussing business with Red Luan. They had been trying to find a resident physician to sit at Yiluan Charity, but they had run into trouble. Physicians with any reputation either ran their own clinics or sat at well-known ones, and those without reputation were mostly apprentices who had not yet finished training.

Yu Zhi Yi did not mind helping young physicians gain experience, but they still needed at least one physician who could handle many kinds of difficult cases on their own. Yet most physicians did not want to treat a group made up of the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, especially the disabled. They believed such cases could not be cured and thought Yu Zhi Yi was daydreaming.

Red Luan’s foxy eyes were full of speechless frustration as she said: “These people are unbelievable, turning down a ready-made way to gain experience.”

Yu Zhi Yi said she could cure those disabilities. Others did not believe it, but Red Luan did. She also understood Yu Zhi Yi’s worries, so she supported the plan to find another physician. Still, her belief alone was not enough to make it happen.

Seeing Red Luan’s cheeks puffed up like a little frog, Yu Zhi Yi could not help but smile: “It’s all right. We will find someone.”

Red Luan still felt upset. Yu Zhi Yi thought for a moment, then handed her three copper coins and said: “Keep the need to find a physician in your mind, then toss these on the table at random.”