Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 584 - 545 Mother and Son Resolve Their Misunderstanding (1)
After Li Jing was rescued by Chai Eying, Uncle Gui, following Li Yuzhu’s instructions, settled him in his own room.
Although it was already February and the spring flowers were blooming, the weather was warm, but the water was cold.
Besides, Li Jing was still young. After Uncle Gui took off his wet clothes and roughly dried his hair with a cloth, he tucked him into the quilt on the bed and lit a brazier at the bedside.
Li Jing was frightened. It wasn’t until Li Yu En brought his clothes and, together with Uncle Gui, helped him get dressed and fed him ginger sugar water that he stopped crying. His small face was pale, and he looked aggrieved as he watched everyone busying around.
Chai Eying was about to give birth, and both Li Yuzhu and Li Xingmao were keeping watch.
Princess Consort Luling was ill and needed care herself, so she wasn’t able to come see Li Jing.
Fortunately, Li Yu En was home, running back and forth delivering messages and fetching things.
Prince Luling was worried about the household and would occasionally return from the academy to check in. Chai Eying didn’t give birth until evening, after which he came to see Li Jing.
Li Jing had just stopped crying. Seeing Prince Luling walk into the room with a dark face, he was so scared that he quickly shrank under the quilt.
Uncle Gui thought Prince Luling was going to scold Li Jing and quickly waved his hand, saying, "Mr. Li, he just stopped crying, don’t scold him again, or he’ll start crying once more."
Prince Luling said, "I won’t scold him, I just want to ask him something."
Although Prince Luling did not scold, his face was somber, and Li Jing was still very afraid, "Gr... Grandpa..."
Uncle Gui sighed, alright then, a grandfather disciplining his grandson, he couldn’t keep interfering.
He moved a chair in front of the bed.
Prince Luling walked over and sat down, staring at Li Jing unwaveringly, "Tell me, why did you go to the water’s edge to play?"
Li Jing timidly said, "I wasn’t playing, I went to rescue Fat Orange."
"Fat Orange?" Prince Luling was taken aback.
Uncle Gui said, "Oh, that’s the kitchen cat."
Prince Luling asked, "What happened to the cat?"
"Fat Orange was chased by Xiao Hua to the marshy ground and didn’t dare to come back, so I went to save it." Li Jing sighed, "Grandpa, I didn’t go there on purpose, and I never thought I would slip into the water."
Prince Luling looked at him and said, "Though dogs are fierce and cats are small, dogs can’t catch cats. Cats can climb trees and jump to high places, they are small and light. Dogs are big and heavy. The cat jumped to the marsh to avoid trouble. Once the dog stops chasing it, it will naturally come out; there’s no need for you to rescue it. Don’t interfere with cat-dog fights next time."
Li Jing bit his lip, "I understand, Grandpa."
"Furthermore, there are many dangers by the pond; don’t go near it. If something happens by the pond again, remember to call an adult. You mustn’t go yourself! Or else!" Prince Luling snorted.
Li Jing shuddered in fear, "I understand, Grandpa."
"Do you really? Fortunately, that pond wasn’t deep. Your mother pulled you out. If it were deep, your mother would have lost her life!" Prince Luling’s voice was stern.
Li Jing thought of when he left the pond, Chai Eying cried out with stomach pain, and he felt extremely guilty.
"Your mother still has a baby in her belly, and she risked her life to save you! Once you’re better, get up and go to her to bow and apologize, saying you dare not do it again." Prince Luling stood up.
Uncle Gui said, "Mr. Li, Miss Chai wouldn’t mind these things, don’t lecture Jingjing anymore."
Chai Eying was the third in her family and was always referred to as Miss Chai by the villagers. Uncle Gui, as her dowry servant, called her according to the old habit.
There was also another third lady in the Li family, Li Yuzhu, and to distinguish between the two, Uncle Gui called Li Yuzhu as Miss Yuzhu.
Prince Luling knew he was referring to Chai Eying, yet he continued, "His mother not minding shows her magnanimity. But as a son and the one who made the mistake, he should take responsibility, not think there is no fault because others forgive him."
Li Jing pulled a long face in grievance, feeling already very guilty inside.
Whenever he thought of Chai Eying, he remembered her pained expression clutching her stomach.
When he went to the Liu Family for a feast, Liu Si Ni told him that her eldest sister Liu Da Niu almost died giving birth to a baby.
Can giving birth to a baby also result in death?
Li Jing was somewhat scared; he didn’t want Chai Eying to die.
"Hurry up and go." Prince Luling urged Li Jing again.
Li Jing pushed aside the quilt and slipped off the bed.
Uncle Gui took the clothes to drape over him, "Put your clothes on properly before going."
Li Jing could already dress himself, but he did it slowly and not very neatly.
Prince Luling neither helped nor let Uncle Gui assist him.
Once Li Jing dressed and put on his shoes himself, he strode towards the South Courtyard.
Just as he reached the doorway, he heard Chai Eying’s cries of pain coming continuously from inside.
Li Jing was too scared to move forward.
Prince Luling, who followed, patted his shoulder, "Hurry in."
Li Jing turned tearful eyes towards Prince Luling, "Grandpa, will mother... will mother die?"
Prince Luling’s face was stern, "What nonsense are you talking about? That won’t happen."
"But she’s crying." Li Jing’s tears fell in big drops.
The matter of women giving birth was something Prince Luling couldn’t easily explain to Li Jing.
Li Jing was still young, and wouldn’t understand even if explained.
Prince Luling simply said, "Go in and apologize. As for other things, you will gradually understand as you grow up."
Li Jing looked at Prince Luling, nodded, and then lowered his head to walk into the main bedroom of the South Courtyard House.
Chai Eying lay on the couch, her face pale from the intermittent labor pains, and she was weakly gasping for breath.
Li Yuzhu and Li Xingmao sat by her side, keeping her company.
Li Jing walked over and knelt with a thud, "Mother." He even kowtowed, "I’m sorry, Mother, Jingjing won’t go near the water again."
Li Yuzhu and Li Xingmao looked at him in surprise.
Chai Eying, enduring the current wave of pain, opened her eyes and looked at him, "Jingjing? What... what did you call me?"
Earlier in the water, in a state of panic, Li Jing held onto her and kept calling her mother.
She hadn’t taken it to heart; children often call for their mother when frightened.
Even if it’s a man holding them, they would call for their mother, it’s a reflexive cry.
But now Li Jing knelt before her, properly calling her mother, which startled her.
"Mother." Li Jing looked at Chai Eying with eyes full of tears.
The memory of his mother, what she looked like, Li Jing couldn’t recall anymore.
So many days had passed, and that mother hadn’t come to see him even once.
He looked at Chai Eying and found her more and more like a mother, often even better than his previous mother.
That mother often scolded him, telling him to get far away.
But this mother saved him, told him stories, and played with him.
Li Jing remembered Liu Si Ni’s words, saying that childbirth could lead to death; in the village, three women had died giving birth, and he was very afraid Chai Eying would die.
"Mother, you’re not going to die, right?" Li Jing started crying as he spoke, "I don’t want you to die."
Chai Eying was stunned.
Li Xingmao said with a stern face, "Li Jing! What nonsense are you talking about?"
Li Yuzhu also said, "Jingjing, childbirth won’t cause death, don’t worry."
"But Si Ni said, three women in the village died giving birth, and her older sister almost died too, she bled a lot," Li Jing cried.
Though anxious about her own labor, Chai Eying smiled and comforted Li Jing, "Jingjing, those were special cases. Si Ni’s sister’s baby was very big, almost as big as Guoguo, and couldn’t be born. That’s why there was danger. But my body is strong, and the baby is small, there won’t be any problems."
Li Jing sobbed, "Really?"
Chai Eying nodded, smiling, "Really."
Li Yuzhu pulled Li Jing’s hand, "Jingjing, don’t worry, your mother will be fine. Go play outside, Brother Tian Lang will come to play with you tonight."
"Brother Tian Lang is coming?" Li Jing wiped his tears with his sleeve, feeling somewhat better.
"Second Uncle went to fetch them. If they’re quick, they’ll arrive at our house by midnight," Li Yuzhu said.
Li Xingmao patted Li Jing’s shoulder, "Your mother needs to rest now, go play, and come see the baby tonight."
"Okay." Li Jing looked at Chai Eying again, "Mother, I’m going outside."
Chai Eying felt very gratified; the child finally called her mother, "Go, be good, and don’t run around anymore."
"Got it, Mother." Li Jing nodded obediently and ran outside.
Prince Luling was standing right outside the door, and he could hear the conversation inside the house.
He reached out to take Li Jing’s hand, "Come with Grandpa to soak up the sun."
"Okay." Li Jing, like an adult, exhaled.
Prince Luling couldn’t help but laugh.
.
By the afternoon, Princess Consort Luling’s fever subsided somewhat, and she stopped vomiting. Feeling a bit better, she immediately came to the South Courtyard House to be with Chai Eying.
Chai Eying urged her to rest.
But Princess Consort Luling wouldn’t leave, "Your older sister-in-law isn’t here, and you have no mother, and Nanny Jiang has to cook and can’t leave. If I don’t stay with you, who will?"
Chai Eying felt very comforted, thinking how wise it was to have given up on Luo Zikun back then.
Chai Erniang married Luo Zikun, was imprisoned, and even divorced. If she’d married Luo Zikun, she’d meet the same end, right?
Fortunately, she married into the Li Family.
Everyone used to say she was marrying below her, that she brought a dowry of a thousand liang and two servants yet married a village farmer who didn’t know how to earn a living and would suffer in the future.
They said marrying into the Li Family, they would suck her dry.
But now, it seems her judgment wasn’t wrong.
She didn’t suffer.
The Li Family didn’t drain her.
Not only did she gain a pair of children, but also parents and several siblings-in-law.
Time rushed by anxiously. By the second watch, Chai Eying’s labor intensified.
Princess Consort Luling shooed Li Xingmao out and, with Li Yuzhu and Nanny Jiang, set up a screen around the couch.
