Chapter 8: 8. Chapter 8: Fainting

Chapter 8: Fainting

Su Ruojin insisted that she take a double confinement period.

“How can that be?” Cheng Yingzhen looked at her daughter, who had been running in and out all day, her skin tanned and her body thinned from the exposure.

Su Ruojin:...

How was she tanned and thin? She had simply grown taller from the exercise; it was impossible for her to be tanned. She only moved her mouth to give orders, while Uncle Shutong did all the rest of the work. She was still that fair and tender little girl, thank you very much.

“How are you not thin? Every day before dawn, you get up to fry... *youtiao*. Even an adult wouldn't push themselves like you do.” Her child had suffered too much; at only six years old, she was already managing the household. It was all because she, as a mother, was useless.

As she spoke, tears streamed down Cheng Yingzhen’s face.

Su Ruojin:...

She didn't feel like she was suffering at all! In ancient times, there were no electronic devices, so she went to bed as soon as night fell. Getting up at five in the morning really wasn't that early! Besides, she wasn't a real child; she actually wanted to find things to do. It was a win-win situation—she wasn't bored to death, and she could earn a little money to help with household expenses.

Su Ruojin hurriedly comforted her frail mother. Life had been hard these past few years, and with constant childbirth, her body had truly been hollowed out. Wasn't the confinement period meant for recuperation? She needed to take advantage of this time to get her mother’s health back on track.

“That won't do either.” Cheng Yingzhen struggled to get out of the bedroom. She couldn't let a six-year-old child wait on her. She was her daughter, not a servant. She had to go to the kitchen to light the fire and cook; taking care of the family was the responsibility of the mistress of the house.

Cheng Yingzhen couldn't bear for her children to suffer and insisted on going out. The Su siblings each grabbed one of her arms, refusing to let her leave the bedroom.

The children were sensible, which only made Cheng Yingzhen feel worse about letting her eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter run the house. She tried even harder to head to the kitchen, but just as she reached the doorway and prepared to lift the door curtain, she suddenly felt lightheaded and collapsed toward the floor. Su Anzhi was so frightened that he quickly turned sideways, using his back to catch his fainting mother.

Su Ruojin also grabbed hold of Cheng Yingzhen, who was sliding to the floor. “Mother...”

The siblings cried out in alarm. Three-year-old Su Ganzhi, who had been playing with his baby brother, turned pale with fright and looked toward his older brother and sister.

“A-Gan, hurry to the neighbors and call for help!” The siblings’ small frames couldn't move their unconscious mother, so Su Ruojin quickly told her three-year-old brother to fetch help.

Seeing his mother’s tightly closed eyes and her deathly pale face, three-year-old Su Ganzhi burst into tears. “Mother... Mother...” He had no idea how to find help.

As he cried, one-month-old baby brother Su Chengzhi began to cry as well.

In an instant, the bedroom was in chaos.

This couldn't go on. Su Ruojin frantically searched for a solution. Suddenly, she noticed her mother was right by the threshold. She pursed her lips—she had an idea. She crouched down along her mother’s waist and propped her mother’s legs against the door frame so she wouldn't slide down further.

“Brother, hold her for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

With that, she ran out of the courtyard like the wind to ask the neighbors for help. “Auntie Xue, Mother Feng...” She knocked for half a minute but heard no sound from inside. She ran to the right and pounded on the door, calling, “Auntie Yang, Auntie Zhang...” There seemed to be no movement there either.

Just as Su Ruojin was about to return to the left neighbor to knock again, the door opened. The old gatekeeper of the Xue household came out in a robe and asked, “Second Miss Su, what is this...”

“My mother has fainted. My brother and I can't move her. Could you please ask Mother Feng to help me?”

Mother Feng was a servant of the Xue family.

Realizing there was an emergency, the old man said, “You go back first. I’ll go call Mother Feng immediately.”

“Thank you, sir.” Su Ruojin was just about to run back into her courtyard when the door to the right opened as well. Madam Yang, accompanied by Auntie Zhang, stepped out, lifting her skirts. “Jin-niang, what happened to your mother?”

“Mother fainted.” Su Ruojin’s tears couldn't stop flowing in the cold wind.

Madam Yang’s expression tightened. As she walked quickly toward the Su house, she said to the steward beside her, “Auntie Zhang, go fetch a doctor immediately.”

“Yes, Madam.” Auntie Zhang turned to make the arrangements.

With adults there to help, Su Ruojin’s heart finally settled. She quickly led Madam Yang and Mother Feng, who had just arrived, inside.

Half an hour later, after the doctor had checked her pulse and applied acupuncture, Cheng Yingzhen weakly opened her eyes. “What happened to me?”

At this moment, Cheng Yingzhen’s complexion was sallow and her energy was weak. She looked so haggard that she resembled a woman in her late thirties or early forties, rather than a young woman of twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

Madam Yang shook her head and sighed, sitting at the edge of the bed. “The doctor says your blood and *qi* are severely depleted. You shouldn't sit or stand for long; you must rest in bed.”

“It’s just having a baby, how could it be like this?” Cheng Yingzhen didn't believe it. “The first three were all fine.”

“You, oh you...” Madam Yang didn't know what to say and looked at the doctor.

The doctor had just finished writing the prescription and reached out his hand. “Who is this for?”

Su Ruojin reached out to take it. “Doctor, my mother...”

The doctor said, “There’s no major illness, just a body depleted by childbirth. She needs quiet rest and careful recuperation. With the prescription I’ve written and some dietary supplements, she should be fine in two or three months.”

“What kind of dietary supplements?”

The doctor stroked his beard and listed several medicinal recipes, mainly involving longan, red beans, red dates, and angelica—all things to replenish *qi* and blood.

She nodded. “Thank you, Doctor. What is the fee...”

“Half a tael of silver.”

Su Ruojin took a small piece of silver from the pouch at her waist. “Thank you for your trouble, sir.”

The doctor exchanged a few polite words and left after giving a few more instructions.

Madam Yang was secretly surprised to see a six-year-old girl paying the medical fees. Scholar Su’s family didn't even have a servant, so logically, life shouldn't be easy. Yet, if you said it was hard, a six-year-old child could casually pull out half a tael of silver, which was truly puzzling.

Puzzling or not, since there was no longer a crisis, Madam Yang and Mother Feng from the Xue family left the Su house.

In the bedroom, Su Ruojin held her mother’s thin, cold hand tightly and said with tears in her eyes, “Mother, you must listen to the doctor, rest well, and eat plenty.”

Cheng Yingzhen reached out to touch her daughter’s small face. “There is so much to do inside and out; how can I let a child like you shoulder it all? Besides...” She suddenly coughed, unable to catch her breath. Su Ruojin hurriedly rubbed her chest.

Suddenly, Su Ruojin seemed to understand why her mother hadn't recovered well from her confinement. She was worried and anxious, with pent-up stress, always wanting to get better quickly to manage the household affairs, and as a result...

Only after Cheng Yingzhen’s breathing smoothed out and she stopped coughing did Su Ruojin wipe her tears and say, “Mother, don't worry. Brother and I are both older now. We cook three meals a day—haven't we missed a single one?”

That was true.

Cheng Yingzhen nodded with relief.

“And also...” Su Ruojin pulled the pouch from her waist and loosened the silk strings. “There’s nearly two taels of silver just in here!” She held it up for her mother to see like it was a treasure.

Cheng Yingzhen smiled, but it was a forced one.

Su Ruojin took a breath, jumped off the bed, and ran out of the bedroom, not forgetting to call her older brother.

What was her daughter doing? Just as Cheng Yingzhen was wondering, Su Ruojin and Su Dalang pushed and pulled, finally managing to move a large wooden chest to the front of their mother’s bed. They lifted the lid, revealing a chest filled to the brim with copper coins.

“Mother, guess how much is in here?”

Cheng Yingzhen was so shocked she struggled to sit up. “A-Jin, where did all this money come from?”

Su Ruojin smiled and said to Su Dalang, “Brother, you tell her—”