Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

"Madam." The young maidservant curtsied upon seeing Madam Fang standing outside the door. Then, seeing Madam Liu and the others beside Madam Fang, she curtsied again. Presumably, she didn't recognize them and didn't greet them.

"Where is Madam Fang?" Mrs. Fang asked.

"Grandma just took her medicine and went to sleep," the little girl replied softly.

"Yes, let's go in and take a look," Madam Fang said, turning to Madam Liu.

"This is a maid who was recently added to Qinghe's side. She is still a bit lacking in manners. Please forgive her, sister-in-law and nieces-in-law."

When the group tiptoed into the room, they saw Qinghe sleeping on the bed, without a maidservant by her side.

"Where are Qingmiao and Lümiao, those two girls? Why aren't they here?" Madam Liu turned to ask Madam Fang.

"This...this...I was afraid Qinghe would get angry if she saw Lvmiao, so I transferred her to another place. That girl Qingmiao probably went out on some errands." After saying this, she was about to ask the little maid who opened the door a question, but was interrupted by Liu's rather loud question.

"What do you mean by that?" Perhaps he was speaking too hastily and didn't pay attention to the volume, and he woke up Qinghe, who had just fallen asleep in bed.

"Mother..." Qinghe cried out in great sorrow. If one did not know the situation, one would think that Liu had passed away and Qinghe was mourning.

"Qinghe, you're awake?" Qinghe's cry of "Mother!" almost broke Liu's heart. She hurriedly walked to the bedside and took her daughter's outstretched hands.

"Mother, I thought I would never see you again in this life, sob... sob... sob, Mother, my child is gone, I've bled so much..." Qinghe threw herself into Liu's arms and began to sob.

Wang and Li, who had remained silent, quickly stepped forward to offer their condolences.

"Qinghe, you mustn't cry like that, you'll ruin your eyes," said Madam Wang.

"Don't cry, don't cry, this is the same as postpartum confinement," Li Shi comforted her sister-in-law.

Madam Liu glanced at Madam Fang standing beside her and smiled.

"Auntie, please don't be offended. My little sister is feeling wronged, and she can't help but cry when she sees her relatives. Auntie, please go and do your work. We'll stay here and try to comfort Qinghe."

Mrs. Fang's eyes also reddened. She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief before nodding, her voice choked with emotion.

"That's good. You are Qinghe's family, so she will listen to what you say. She is still young. If she takes good care of her health, she won't have to worry about not being able to have children in the future."

After saying that, seeing the mother and daughter crying inside, he simply nodded to his sisters-in-law as a greeting, and then left with the maid.

"When did you come to live with your grandmother?" Liu asked the little maid who had opened the door earlier.

"My dear in-laws, I was just transferred here last night."

"Where are the others in your department? Why are you the only one here?"

"Sister Qingmiao went to the kitchen to bring Grandma some bird's nest soup," the little girl asked again.

"What about the green seedlings?"

"I don't know, I didn't see Sister Green Seedling when I came."

Lady Liu saw that the little girl looked to be only eight or nine years old and had just arrived. She gave her a few copper coins and sent her away.

"Go and guard the door. If Qingmiao comes back in a little while and you can't hear the knocking, we'll talk to your grandma for a bit."

The little girl happily accepted the few copper coins handed over by Madam Liu, and curtsied.

"Thank you for the gift, madam. I'll go stand guard at the door now. You ladies, please feel free to talk." After saying that, she went out and thoughtfully closed the door behind her.

Over there, Liu, who had just been crying with her daughter, had long since wiped away her tears. She helped her daughter up from her arms and said, "Tell us what happened. Explain everything clearly."

Upon hearing Liu's question, Qinghe, who had just stopped crying, wanted to burst into tears again.

“If you don’t want your eyes anymore, then just keep crying.” Although Liu felt sorry for her daughter, she wanted to find out the truth first and couldn’t just listen to Fang Zhiming’s mother.

"Just yesterday, Zhiming's servant said he was drinking with friends at a restaurant and got drunk, so he fell asleep in the study. I was a little worried, so I went to check on him. But as soon as I got outside the study, I heard Fang Zhiming laughing and joking with a maid inside. I was furious, so I pushed the door open to see which shameless hussy it was." At this point, Qinghe couldn't help but cry again, but seeing her mother's stern expression, she stopped crying and spoke properly.

"When I entered the room, I saw two people on the bed, completely naked, embracing each other. That damned girl was actually Green Sprout from my room. Mother, the girl you bought for me actually climbed into my man's bed. My life is so miserable..." Unconsciously, Qinghe brought out the mannerisms of the women in the village.

But before she could even let out a cry, she was interrupted by Liu.

"Shut up!" Liu shouted angrily, stopping Qinghe's wailing.

"Explain clearly how the child was lost?"

Hearing Liu ask this, Qinghe flinched slightly in fear before slowly replying.

"I was so angry at the time, and I was thinking of dragging that bitch off the bed. But I was walking too fast and didn't see where I was going. I tripped over the clothes they had thrown on the floor and fell. Then my stomach started to hurt, and then..."

After hearing Qinghe's words, everyone present found it unbelievable. It turned out that she had dropped the child herself. Before they came, they thought that Qinghe had been harmed by someone else.

Seeing her silent mother and sisters-in-law, Qinghe felt a surge of resentment welling up inside her.

"Mother, it's all your fault. You were the one who picked out this Qingmiao for me. You didn't choose the right person." She then looked at Madam Liu standing beside her.

"Third sister-in-law, you bought so many servants, why didn't you help Mother keep an eye on them back then? What kind of people did you buy?"

She muttered to herself, oblivious to her own Liu Shi's dark, ashen face and the constipated expressions on her sisters-in-law's faces.

Is she an idiot? She threw her child away at the Fang family's house, but they didn't dare say a bad word about her, all because of her family. But she's the one blaming her own family before anyone else has even said anything.

Silently trying to calm herself down, Liu Shi finally spoke again after a long while.

“I told you back then that Zhiming would definitely take a concubine in the future. What did you say then? Do you still remember? Ordinary families don’t even think about taking a concubine after harvesting a few extra loads of grain each year, let alone Fang Zhiming, who is the only son of Scholar Fang.”

"But Zhiming clearly said back then that he only loved me." Qinghe still remembered the sweet words the two of them said to her before they got married.

"Qinghe, you're not a child anymore. You should think things through. Look at how many wealthy families don't have concubines. Why do you think your mother suddenly bought you two maids as part of your dowry? To put it bluntly, they're for Fang Zhiming. Rather than letting her go out and find someone you can't control, it's better to prepare someone who listens to you. In any case, their indentures are with me. Do you think they won't listen to you?"

“Mother, I don’t want Zhiming to take a concubine. My third brother’s family is also wealthy, but he hasn’t taken a concubine.” Qinghe suddenly looked at Liu Shi, who had been standing silently to the side, her tone filled with dissatisfaction and jealousy.

Liu felt a headache coming on and turned to look at her three daughters-in-law standing beside her.

"You guys go out first, I want to say a few words to your girls alone."

The group nodded silently, filed out, and closed the door behind them.

They stopped when they got a little further away from Qinghe's house.

"Third sister-in-law, don't take Qinghe's words to heart. Third brother isn't that kind of person," Li said softly, trying to comfort the somewhat silent Liu.

"Second sister-in-law, I didn't take it to heart. You Tie wouldn't do that. If he really wants to take a concubine, then I'll ask to be divorced," Liu said in a muffled voice.

"Hey, third sister-in-law, don't worry. My third brother wouldn't have such thoughts. I've seen it all these years; his heart and soul are only for you." She glanced in the direction of Qinghe's house, then lowered her voice and whispered...

“I told your eldest brother before that the way our brother-in-law looks at Qinghe is completely different from the way our third brother looks at his wife. Your eldest brother didn’t believe me and told me to watch my mouth and not talk nonsense. But I can see it clearly, their eyes are different.” Perhaps her words touched Liu’s heart, or perhaps Wang’s cautious appearance was too funny, Liu couldn’t help but burst out laughing.