Chapter 6: 006 Baby

Chapter 6: 006. Baby

"Baby, since you are able to communicate with your mother so early, you must have some sort of background. I won't ask too much, but I must warn you: we are about to face a great disaster. You must be a good child while in my womb." Bai Suihe felt a bitter ache in her heart as she said this.

Having no "golden finger" (cheat) of any kind, she had already prepared for the worst. According to the original plot of the book, she would likely die along with her child on the road to exile. She knew how innocent the fetus in her womb was, having its path of growth cut short before it even began.

If she were seven or eight months along, she would have risked a premature birth, but at only five months, the baby simply could not survive.

"Mother, are you talking about the disaster at the Gu residence?"

Bai Suihe was startled. Could it be that the fetus in her womb had also been reborn?

"How does my baby know about that?" Bai Suihe couldn't help but ask, testing the waters.

"That’s because I can divine the future! Don't worry, Mother. With me here, I will definitely keep you both safe."

Bai Suihe, however, would not pin her hopes on an unborn child. She gave a bitter smile. "Don't you worry, baby. Just grow safely in my belly. Mother will do everything in her power to ensure you are born safely."

Having been dragged into such a situation, Bai Suihe had no way out.

"Mother, don't be anxious. I will have a way." As soon as these words were spoken, the ears went quiet immediately. No matter how many times Bai Suihe called out, there was no response.

Bai Suihe stroked her belly, feeling a sense of urgency rising within her.

Looking at the opulence of the room, was she really just going to wait for the day the house was raided?

Looking through the window screen at the busy servants outside, Bai Suihe thought of Dongmei and Chunxiang, who were fiercely loyal to her.

She could return their deeds of servitude to them. They were born into the Bai family, and their entire families had served as her dowry attendants.

She would find a time to talk to them and see if they wanted to return to the Bai family or go back to their ancestral homes.

Besides, in her memories, the Bai family had already struck her from their genealogy to protect themselves.

"Dongmei," Bai Suihe called Dongmei over and whispered instructions into her ear. Dongmei repeated them back before hurrying away.

She then called Chunxiang in, whispered similar instructions, and sent her out carrying a small box.

Being in this inner courtyard had one disadvantage: the mistress was often less free to move about than the servants.

It wasn't that she couldn't leave the residence, but she would need permission from the head of the household—the Old Madam.

What a wretched feudal society. She didn't feel at ease leaving everything to the people below her; she still had to handle things herself.

Today was out of the question, so she decided to take stock of her assets.

The Bai family were merchants. The reason she was able to marry into the Ministry of War official's residence was that her father and Minister Gu had been close friends in their youth, and her father had even funded his imperial examinations.

Later, when Gu Baijiang became an official, he did indeed protect the Bai family. But everyone knew that favors grew thinner the more they were used, which was why the Bai family had the idea of a marriage alliance.

She had thought it would take a great deal of effort, but to her surprise, Gu Baijiang had readily agreed.

Among their children, she and Gu Kaiyuan were of appropriate age, and so she married into the Gu residence.

She had married "up," and since the Bai family was wealthy, her dowry was substantial.

She heard her second brother mention that when the dowry list was read, the Gu residence's steward and two managers had to take turns reading it.

Gu Baijiang usually claimed to be incorruptible and had risen through the ranks via the imperial examinations. To establish himself in the capital, he had set various family rules early on.

A few of these rules made the families in the capital look at him with respect. The first was that a man could only take a concubine if he had no son by the age of forty, and that the dowries of women marrying into the Gu family were to be held by the women themselves, separate from the family's common assets.

Because of these rules, no matter how jealous or greedy the Old Madam Gu was, she could only hold back.

Bai Suihe took her dowry list out of the cabinet; the set of jewelry mentioned earlier was right at the top.

The reason she had been summoned today was to make her hand them over voluntarily. She remembered the book recording that this was exactly what the original owner had done.

In front of all the female relatives, no matter how reluctant she was, she had only been able to "lend" the jewelry out.

But once lent, she never got them back before the house was raided.

Her cheap husband had asked the first branch to return them afterward, but he was brushed off with various excuses.

Even though she had protected the items today, she didn't know whose hands they would fall into in half a month's time.

Bai Suihe envied the "golden fingers" of other transmigrators, especially those with spatial storage. It was a pity she didn't have such luck; otherwise, she could take all these things with her and leave nothing for anyone else.

Carrying the dowry list, she went to the adjacent storeroom, pulled the key from her waist, and opened the door. The two matrons brought from her maiden home immediately stood guard outside.

Bai Suihe looked at the jam-packed storeroom and reached out to touch the items slowly. In her past life, she was just an ordinary wage earner. Now that she finally possessed this immense wealth, she hadn't expected it to be nothing more than a fleeting cloud.

She walked to the innermost chest and opened it. Inside sat a small wooden box. Lifting the lid, she found it filled to the brim with silver banknotes.

With so many banknotes, it wouldn't be easy to hide them on her person. Now, she could only sew them into her undergarments, hoping to save some when the house was raided.

She grabbed a handful of banknotes, stuffed them into her bosom, and closed the box, refusing to look again for fear of heartache.

The customs for a dowry in this ancient era were truly elaborate: gold belts, gold hairpins, gold hair ornaments, necklaces, neckpieces, crowns, headpieces, earrings, bracelets, rings, seals, chest plates, pendants, jade carvings, jade pendants, and jade bracelets—all displayed box by box.

From the large, vermilion-lacquered, gold-inlaid "thousand-work" bed, gold-traced cabinets, and exquisitely crafted vanity mirrors and carved "descendant buckets," to the changes of clothes and fine shoes; and down to the small items like needles, scissors, looms, thread boards, and spindles.

Everything she could think of was prepared, even a red-lacquered coffin placed in the corner.

Bai Suihe was like a poor person who had suddenly struck it rich; her eyes couldn't take it all in. But thinking of the final destination of these riches, she sighed and walked out, locking the door behind her.

She instructed the two matrons to keep a close watch before returning to her room.

Having inherited the original owner's memories, she had no trouble with needlework, so she didn't rest and began to busy herself.

Time passed quickly as she worked. Dongmei and Chunxiang, who had been sent out, returned with several dishes of food.

Bai Suihe had been busy all afternoon and was already famished. After eating, she asked, "Was everything taken care of?"

"Miss, it has all been settled." The two head maids were still used to calling Bai Suihe "Miss" in private, but they knew their place and strictly followed the household rules in front of others, which Bai Suihe allowed.

"You’ve been tired all day, too. You don't need to serve me; go and rest early." Bai Suihe saw the exhaustion in their eyes. She would likely need them to do more in the coming days, so she couldn't let them wear themselves out.

"Miss, let this servant serve you with your wash before I go to rest." Dongmei’s eyes were actually struggling to stay open; after all, she and Chunxiang had kept watch all night the previous night.