Chapter 99

Gone? Although she had been mentally prepared, Du Ruo still found it hard to accept when she suddenly heard the news.

Life was truly too unpredictable. Everything had been fine during the day, and the two had even exchanged a few words, but in the blink of an eye, a healthy person had turned into a cold corpse, never to speak again.

Du Ruo felt a tightness in her chest. "What are Jiang Zongbao and the others planning to do now?"

"What else can they plan?" Yao Yulan sighed. "Since the person is dead, according to the rules passed down by our ancestors, any woman who dies in childbirth cannot be kept in the house overnight, or it will bring disaster upon the whole family and even the entire clan. Your grandmother sent someone to call my old man over for this very reason."

In other words, Qin Shi would be buried in the ground tonight, disappearing from the world completely.

Du Ruo fell silent.

Women in ancient times truly had it rough; giving birth was like having one foot in the King of Hell's palace, and whether you lived or died depended entirely on whether the little ghosts decided to drag you away.

If only the technique of a cesarean section could be spread in this era, how many women's lives could be saved...

"How could it be so fast?" Zheng Shi, listening from the side, was both shocked and afraid. Thinking of how she had been urging her own daughter to give birth just this morning, she couldn't help but feel flustered.

A-Man was so plump; giving birth would surely be a major hurdle. Who knew if there would be danger when the time came?

Thinking of this, Zheng Shi hurriedly knelt facing west, pressed her palms together, and whispered: "Bodhisattva bless us, may everything be auspicious."

Just as they were speaking, the courtyard gate was knocked on again.

It was a young man from the clan, sent to pass on a message, saying that the head of the Second Branch was to go to the old residence to see Qin Shi off to her burial.

Jiang Li draped a straw raincoat over his shoulders and put on a bamboo hat, preparing to head out.

Du Ruo hurriedly grabbed him. "Husband, I'm going too!"

Jiang Li hesitated; the scene of someone dying in childbirth was very bloody. Back then, Su Shi had died of a hemorrhage while giving birth to Jiang Wan, and Jiang Li could never forget the bright red that covered the bed, nor Su Shi's ferocious expression as she died with her eyes wide open.

He was afraid of frightening Du Ruo.

"A-Man, you'd better not go." Zheng Shi also advised, "I've heard that people who die in childbirth have particularly heavy resentment and will look for a pregnant woman nearby to be their substitute. If you happen to have one in your belly, then..."

Du Ruo couldn't help but laugh and cry. "Mother, don't worry, I guarantee there are only intestines in my belly, no child."

Zheng Shi wanted to say more, but Jiang Li smiled and cut her off. "Forget it, Mother-in-law, if my wife wants to go, let her go. With me following, nothing will happen."

Since the son-in-law had said so, Zheng Shi had no choice but to follow her daughter's wishes.

Du Ruo held an umbrella; there were no rain boots at home, so she stepped into a pair of wooden clogs.

Just as she stepped out of the courtyard, she nearly took a tumble in the driving wind and rain.

Jiang Li wanted to laugh, but thinking that today was not a day for laughter, he held it in and bent down to scoop his plump wife up.

Du Ruo hurriedly wrapped her arms around the man's neck, one umbrella covering them both as they struggled forward through the wind and rain.

The man's handsome face was inches away, but Du Ruo had no romantic thoughts; her heart felt as heavy as if a stone were pressing down on it.

When they arrived at the old residence, they heard heart-wrenching wails before they even entered the door.

"My good daughter-in-law, why did you leave like this? How can Mother go on living... wuwuwu... You were just like my own flesh and blood, I treated you as affectionately as my own daughter, and now I have to watch the old bury the young, this is like cutting out my heart..."

Judging by the voice, it was Cao Shi wailing at the funeral.

When they entered the main room, they indeed saw Cao Shi leaning against the wall, crying bitterly with tears and snot running down her face.

Several men were hammering away; they were likely planning to make a simple, makeshift coffin.

Jiang Lian'er was hiding in the room with a deathly pale face, peeking out.

Beside the Eight Immortals table, the Jiang Clan Head leaned on his cane with a sorrowful expression, and sitting next to him was Doctor Gu, who was also sighing.

Seeing the young couple arrive, the Jiang Clan Head called them over and said, "Dalang, your cousin-in-law and nephew are gone; you should go and see them off in a moment."

Jiang Li replied that he would.

Du Ruo turned to look around and asked, "Grandfather Clan Head, where is my grandmother?"

"She's inside, likely grieving; you should go in and comfort her." The Jiang Clan Head pointed toward the side room where Jiang Zongbao and Qin Shi lived.

Du Ruo said "Oh" and lifted her feet to walk inside.

Comforting her was definitely out of the question; she was currently a thorn in Yan Pozi's side, and the old woman couldn't wait to get rid of her, so how could she possibly listen to anything she said?

However, Du Ruo wanted to go in and see the situation, to see if there was any hope for the child in Qin Shi's belly now that she was dead.

Lifting the cloth curtain, a thick, pungent smell of blood rushed toward her.

Jiang Zongbao was kneeling in front of the bed, clutching Qin Shi's stick-like hand, crying like a helpless child, his voice hoarse.

"Why, why did you have to be so heartless and leave me all alone? You can resent me, hate me, dislike me, it doesn't matter, as long as you can wake up, you can hit me or scold me, it doesn't matter, I beg you, don't die, okay?"

"Yue Niang, get up, get up and say something to me! I promise you, as long as you wake up, I will divorce you immediately, I won't lie to you!"

"I know, you want to go to the Yellow Springs road to find your cousin, right? But you won't find him, he didn't die at all..."

Yan Pozi, who was changing Qin Shi's clothes, had her expression change. She slapped him on the back of the head and said sternly, "Zongbao, Qin Shi is already dead, wake up!"

"I don't want to wake up!" Jiang Zongbao raised his head, his eyes as red as a rabbit's, making his monkey-like face look even more ridiculous. "The one who died is my wife, not yours, of course you can be awake!"

Yan Pozi felt blackness before her eyes.

This ignorant little beast, he was trying to anger her to death.

What kind of sin had the old Jiang family committed? Bad things happened one after another; she had thought there would finally be a happy event to wash away the bad luck, but who knew it would end like this.

Yan Pozi closed her eyes and then advised, "Alright Zongbao, the dead cannot come back to life. Qin Shi had thin fortune and was never meant to be your wife. Now that she has left with the child, it's just as well. Grandmother will find you another wife who will bring prosperity to the family, a hundred times better than Qin Shi, so stop grieving, okay?"

Jiang Zongbao, however, stiffened his neck and cried, "I don't want to, I only want Yue Niang!"

*Pfft*, Du Ruo, who had just stepped into the room, couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Who was he putting on this show for? Late-coming affection is cheaper than grass. If he were truly so devoted, he wouldn't have been fooling around everywhere in the first place, let alone having an affair while Qin Shi was heavily pregnant.

When it came down to it, wasn't he just scum?

Yan Pozi was just about to give her eldest grandson a slap to wake him up, but when she turned and saw Du Ruo walk in, she pulled back her hand.

"You're here?" she said coldly.

"Yes, Grandmother, I've come to see my cousin-in-law off on her final journey."

The dead are the most important; Yan Pozi didn't make things difficult for Du Ruo, only saying, "Then take a good look at her. In a little while, she will be sent to the Bone Pavilion. I'm going out to have a word with Auntie Tao."

After saying this, she lifted the curtain and went out.

Du Ruo withdrew her gaze and looked at Qin Shi lying on the bed.

The deceased Qin Shi was even more miserable than when she was alive; her face was white without a trace of color, her eye sockets were deeply sunken, her hair was a mess, and her whole body was drenched in sweat.

The bed beneath her, however, was soaked in blood, a glaring red.

Her expression, however, was not ferocious, but rather revealed a sense of peace, as if she were just asleep.

Looking at Qin Shi like this, Du Ruo felt an indescribable discomfort, perhaps it was sympathy; Qin Shi was a pitiful and tragic woman.

She reached out and placed her hand on Qin Shi's high, protruding belly.

In her mind, the system gave an "eh." "Host, she isn't completely dead yet."