Chapter 3

After Pei Aosong returned to his room, looking at his bleeding hand, he was so angry he wanted to stomp his feet. How did he end up with such an ungrateful concubine! If it weren't for the time he passed by the western market and saw Lin Jiaojiao selling herself to bury her father, feeling pity, helping her bury her deceased father, and bringing her into the mansion, who knows which brothel she would be a prostitute in now!

Although Lin Jiaojiao was a country girl, the skin she had when she sold herself to bury her father couldn't hide her beauty, especially that lotus-white neck, paired with a pair of sorrowful and charming apricot eyes, which made him itch with desire.

After bringing her into the mansion, one day when Su Wanqiu was inconvenient to serve him, he took Lin Jiaojiao's body.

Now that he had given her a title and raised her to a concubine, and even found a midwife for her in advance to give birth, not only was she not grateful, but she even attempted to use the monster she gave birth to to swap for Su Wanqiu's child. Not only that, but he had just come to see her after court, and this damned Lin Jiaojiao didn't listen to his reprimand and actually bit him!

It's rebellion, it's truly rebellion!

Pei Aosong slapped the table in anger, and without paying attention, he slapped the bitten hand. Now the bitten hand hurt even more!

He wanted to grimace in pain, but at this moment, the servant A Yan knocked on the door with the house physician, "Master, House Physician Liu Dafu is here."

Pei Aosong could only endure the pain and maintain a calm appearance on the surface, "Come in."

"Yes." Liu Dafu replied respectfully, and after entering the door, he began to examine the wound on Pei Aosong's hand.

Liu Dafu looked at Pei Aosong's hand and said, "This bite is unusual. The wound is more than two inches deep into the skin; a little deeper and it would reach the bone. What kind of starving beast could have injured the master like this? Not only that, but there is also a shock injury on the wound..."

"Starving beast?" Pei Aosong held up his bleeding hand and looked at it. Although he was still angry, a trace of intolerance arose in his heart.

Could it be that she hadn't eaten for many days, which is why she bit his hand like that?!

Thinking of this, Pei Aosong asked the servant beside him, "A Yan, has Lin Jiaojiao eaten these past few days?"

"This... this, the small one doesn't know." A Yan stammered, not daring to say more.

Pei Aosong saw A Yan's difficult appearance and knew that not giving Lin Jiaojiao food was his mother's intention.

That's right, his mother was decisive and had disposed of countless unruly maids in the house, and she had always disliked country girls from outside. If it weren't for his intention to protect Lin Jiaojiao, she would have been sold off somewhere long ago.

Pei Aosong pondered for a moment and then said, "Allow Lin Jiaojiao to set up a small kitchen in her own courtyard. A Yan, you personally deliver some food to her every day."

A Yan hesitated for a moment, fearing that delivering food to the concubine would lead to punishment from the Old Madam. He hesitated before saying, "Yes, then the Old Madam's side..."

"I will explain to my mother." Pei Aosong waved his hand helplessly. He was suddenly pained by the bandage Liu Dafu was wrapping around his wound and let out a "Sss-ha." Seeing Liu Dafu look up at him, he covered up his expression of pain, trying his best to keep himself calm.

At this time, a maid came to report from outside, "Master, the Madam has woken up."

Pei Aosong nodded, "Wanqiu has woken up? Good, I will go over to see the Madam and the child now."

Su Wanqiu was deeply devoted to him, and she was the legal daughter of the current Prime Minister of the Dakang Dynasty, Su Hongtu, and also his mother's own niece, which was of some help to him in the imperial court. Now that she had given birth to a young master, even if there wasn't much love, they were husband and wife after all, so he should go over and see her.

After the wound was bandaged, Pei Aosong got up to visit Su Wanqiu.

At this very moment, Lin Jiaojiao looked at the deformed infant held by the maid Bai Zhi, watching the child's slightly rising chest. She was kind-hearted after all and decided to adopt the child.

She lifted the child's swaddling clothes to look, and there was no obvious blue spot on his bottom.

She also heard Bai Zhi crying and talking about "swapping fetuses" and "swapping children."

Lin Jiaojiao roughly understood that the child she had worked so hard to give birth to had been swapped. Moreover, it seemed she had been framed and became the one who wanted to "swap fetuses."

A physician's heart is benevolent. Lin Jiaojiao, a university student in the medical department, felt her heart soften as she looked at the child's small hands and feet.

She couldn't just ignore this infant with weak breath.

Bai Zhi was still crying on the side, with weak, sobbing sounds coming from time to time.

Now her brain had completely calmed down, and she asked Bai Zhi, "I am a concubine, right? That person called Wanqiu, is she the legal wife, right?"

It's over, it's over, the concubine must have burned her brain! Bai Zhi couldn't help but let out a "woo" sound, touched Lin Jiaojiao's forehead, and answered with a trembling voice, "Concubine, you really didn't burn your brain, did you?"

Lin Jiaojiao was indeed uncomfortable with the fever, but understanding her current situation was more important than anything else.

Only by understanding the environment she was in could she make clear judgments and decisions, and know what to do next.

"Just pretend I'm crazy," Lin Jiaojiao rubbed her temples to relieve the dizziness caused by the fever, "From now on, whatever I ask, you answer truthfully."

Bai Zhi bit her lip and replied, "Yes."

"First, what year is it now, and is this dynasty chaotic?"

Bai Zhi was a little depressed. Isn't this something everyone knows?

Why did the concubine know nothing after giving birth to a child, like a newborn child? She was truly stupid, and not lightly so.

However, due to the shackles of her status, she could only tell the truth, "Concubine, we are currently in the Dakang Dynasty, the 6th year of Jiayuan, and the country is peaceful."

Lin Jiaojiao nodded. She didn't learn history very well, so she didn't have much impression of this dynasty. Fortunately, a peaceful country was a good background, so she didn't have to live in chaotic times. She continued to ask, "Then where is this place, and what is the status of the imperial court?"

Bai Zhi felt extremely strange about this question, "Concubine, this is the Pei Mansion! Master Pei is your husband, why do you even..."

"Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense, my head hurts a lot," Lin Jiaojiao interrupted Bai Zhi's astonishment, "Whatever I ask, you just answer!"

"Yes." Bai Zhi replied dryly.

After some questioning, Lin Jiaojiao figured out her current situation: her husband's name was Pei Aosong, and he was a Military Minister in the imperial court, but there was no war at the moment, so it could barely be considered a leisure position.

Pei Aosong's legal wife, Su Wanqiu, was the legal daughter of the current Prime Minister Su Hongtu, and also the Old Madam's own niece, so after marrying into the Pei Mansion, the Old Madam naturally took good care of Su Wanqiu.

Lin Jiaojiao glanced at the infant and couldn't help but sneer, "Heh, incestuous marriage, no wonder a deformed child was born, and eight out of ten, his intellectual development also has problems."

Although Bai Zhi didn't understand the novel terms like deformed child and intellectual development that Lin Jiaojiao used, she vaguely felt that they were not good words, so she asked, "Concubine, what are you saying?"

"Nothing." Lin Jiaojiao didn't say anything more, but the child was innocent, so she would just try her best to raise him, and he would grow up to be whatever he would be.

Moreover, in ancient times, it was not a good thing to raise one's own child by one's side. In the end, she was just a concubine with no name, and even if she raised him, he would only be a concubine's son, and wouldn't get any tilt in resources. It would be better to mix with the legal wife.

Lin Jiaojiao then took the opportunity to learn about her background in this world from Bai Zhi, and after learning that she had entered the Pei Mansion by selling herself to bury her father, she sighed with a dizzy head.

Forget it, she really had a disastrous start, having nothing, and the only thing she had was a little pity from Pei Aosong and a little beauty she brought with her.

The fever made Lin Jiaojiao feel really uncomfortable. Fortunately, she had Bai Zhi to take care of her. She pulled Bai Zhi over and said sincerely, "Here, only you can help me."

"Concubine, I absolutely don't dare to take it, I..." Bai Zhi was touched when she heard this. She was a servant, and she didn't know when she would offend the Old Madam and be sold or beaten to death. How could she have the ability to help this concubine who was not in the Old Madam's eyes?

Bearing the body that had just given birth and had a low fever, plus asking many questions while supporting herself with Bai Zhi, Lin Jiaojiao was very weak, "It's okay... you bring pen and paper, I will write a prescription, and you help me grab some medicine and boil it for me to take."

Bai Zhi had to reply. Lin Jiaojiao was half a master, and her instructions had to be followed.

After Lin Jiaojiao wrote a prescription for fever reduction on the paper, she handed it to Bai Zhi to grab the medicine, and at the same time instructed her to bring her a basin of hot water with salt every day to clean her body after giving birth, to prevent the wound in her lower body from festering and infecting.

This fever was most likely caused by the wound from giving birth.

When Bai Zhi went out to get busy, Lin Jiaojiao leaned weakly on the bed, holding the deformed fetus in the swaddling clothes and examining it carefully.

The child's skin was dark, covered with a layer of thick white vernix, and there was a layer of thick milk crust on his head. At first glance, he really looked like a little Yaksha covered in powder, but if he was raised well, he would eventually get better.

As for the slightly atrophied legs, it was estimated that it had something to do with poor development in the mother's womb and the parents' incestuous marriage. It looked like there was still some room for correction.

As she watched, she couldn't help but reach out to touch the sleeping infant's small face. At that moment, the infant reached out and grabbed her thumb, putting it into his mouth and sucking. Suddenly, an inexplicable warm current passed through Lin Jiaojiao's heart. However, she clearly knew that this was just a bit of instinctive maternal love triggered by oxytocin.

Newborn sucking reflex, grasping reflex... these all proved that the child's brain reflex development was still okay.

Hopefully the child's intellectual development is good, Lin Jiaojiao prayed in her heart, otherwise it would be really difficult to handle.

Just as she put down the infant and was about to lie down to rest, the sound of the Old Madam forcefully tapping the floor with her cane came from the door.

"I want to see how much of a love potion this vixen gave my son, biting my son, and still being able to make him wholeheartedly set up a small kitchen for you!"

A cold wind whistled in, and two old nannies rushed into the room, directly dragging Lin Jiaojiao off the bed. With a heavy "thud" of her knees hitting the ground, the old nanny viciously forced the extremely weak Lin Jiaojiao to kneel in front of the Old Madam!