CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 30: DUEL OF SPELLS

As a result, Madam Wang and the Third Miss, who had been locked away for a day and a night, seemed quite unusual.

"Please inform the concubine inside," said Master Puning decisively, "Since the three adjacent courtyards have already expelled evil spirits and posted talismans, this one cannot be left out. Otherwise, if evil spirits residing within were to harm the unborn son and the Third Miss, it would be utterly unacceptable." The words were so convincing that the maidservant of the Third Miss had no choice but to believe and went inside to persuade them.

After a short while, the angry voice of Madam Wang was heard cursing loudly: "All this talk of ghosts and demons! Even without the master here, you can’t humiliate us like this. I declare today, if my unborn child is harmed even a bit, I will make sure you suffer too." She stood with hands akimbo, her face swollen, her hair disheveled, and spittle flying as she spoke.

The Third Miss supported her, laughing with a strange tone: "Naturally, my little brother is of unmatched nobility; how could mere evil spirits dare to act out?" Madam Wang sneered, casting a sideways glance toward Madam Xia’s courtyard: "I think some people bore a useless son who does not receive the master’s favor. Now with a feeble daughter barely hanging on, she fears losing support and worries my son will outshine hers, thus creating these evil spirits to harm us mother and child!"

She knew full well that Madam Xia wasn’t capable of such schemes, but she needed an outlet for her anger and it was all triggered by Xiqiu, so she took it out on her.

The normally honest Madam Xia was left speechless in her anger, lips turning purple.

Madam Luo was cracking melon seeds, entirely unconcerned: "Haha... it’s yet to be seen if it’s a son or daughter!"

Madam Mei, smiling, tried to mediate the situation: "Let’s not say any more." She then addressed Madam Wang, "Sister, why be so obstinate? It’s just a formality, to reassure Lady at most."

Madam Wang was uninterested: "Spare me your crocodile tears. I’m telling you, anyone daring to step foot into my courtyard will be carried out horizontally!" She leaned forward, acting as if she feared neither heaven nor earth.

Seeing things taking a turn for the worse, Nanny Fang sent a little maid to inquire with the Lady, and soon the maid whispered in her ear: "Since Madam Wang is acting deranged, we can’t be careless. Move the incense table and drums outside her courtyard, and burn some paper money and stick some talismans."

Thus, the drums moved from the main hall of the East Cross Courtyard to the front of Madam Wang’s small courtyard. The noise became even louder than before, and Nanny Fang burned nearly all the remaining paper, causing Madam Wang and her daughter inside to cough repeatedly from the smoke.

At last, the ordeal was over, and Master Puning left words in passing: "Having faced such a persistent and powerful evil spirit today, we must conduct rituals continuously for seven days."

Nanny Fang repeatedly agreed, instructing the maids to inform all the concubines.

Madam Wang finally changed her expression; enduring such noise for seven days was fine for her, but how could the growing child not be affected? She began to shout around the courtyard, claiming she had disturbed the fetus, and her stomach ached.

The doctor took her pulse: "The fetus is stable, but too many supplements have been taken, some adjustment is needed."

Angered to the point of collapse by this statement, Madam Wang, finding this tactic ineffective, clutched her stomach and cried her way to the Lady’s main room.

"Madam, you’re compassionate and kind-hearted, I beg you to save us mother and son; I promise to repay your great kindness by working tirelessly for you as a servant."

The Lady herself complained of a headache, a headband wrapped around her brow, with medicine simmering on the stove, filling the courtyard with its scent, which made Madam Wang repeatedly nauseated but too afraid to vomit, leaving her pale-faced from holding back.

After half an hour of crying, exhausted, the Third Miss rushed over, bursting into the Lady’s chambers: "Mother, the concubine is pregnant and weak, and after upsetting the fetus this afternoon, should anything happen, Father will surely blame me for neglecting my duty! Please, Mother, show us some mercy."

Daring to use Father as leverage, the Lady sneered internally, opened her eyes as if waking from a dream: "Didn’t the doctor say the fetus was stable? How could it be upset immediately after? Rest properly, stop unnecessarily tormenting yourselves."

The Third Miss, Tong Xiyang, was left speechless.

The Lady, frowning, had Nanny Fang help her sit up: "The household has been plagued with troubles lately; your Fourth Sister’s illness, your Sixth Sister’s coma, Tianqing’s severe injuries, and now Madam Wang’s madness; with me being ill as well, just as the Master said, it seems some malicious force is causing unrest in our home."

Madam Wang, returning, spoke of malicious force, leaving Tong Xiyang wide-eyed as if seeing the Lady for the first time.

"Since you, amongst your sisters, are the eldest, you should make an effort for the family. The Master also said if no altar could be set up, then you must copy the Lotus Sutra eighty-one times and burn it for the family’s peace and prosperity." The Lady discreetly coughed into her hand: "I’ll leave this task to you. On the third day of the third month, I’ll offer incense and take them to burn; it’s for peace of mind. Go, copy well!"

Tong Xiyang rose in a daze, murmuring stiffly, "Eighty-one times?"

"Wait!" The Lady suddenly called to her, as Nanny Fang retrieved a pink silk handkerchief: "Your Sixth Sister brought this, saying it was yours; take it back!"

A snapping sound seemed to echo, and Tong Xiyang trembled as she took the handkerchief, tucking it into her bosom, her eyes filling with tears quickly turning to hatred.

Tong Xiqiu, so it was you all along!

Xiqiu muddled through two days of sleep, and when she finally woke, darkness had fallen, and she saw a beautiful lady weeping quietly at her bedside, reminiscent of her first arrival five years ago when Madam Xia held her, both huddled in a small room. The courtyard had only two maids and two servants; with the monthly silver barely enough for a few hundred strings, Madam Xia had no money for rewards or physicians, and they couldn’t leave the courtyard. She could only watch as her daughter suffered from continuous high fever.

Xiqiu endured such days for two years, from confusion to indifference, to wanting to live well and hoping, through her own efforts, to leave that courtyard.

It took her a year to make the Lady see she was worthy of standing before her. The grievances suffered during that time were beyond count, but it was all worthwhile, for the days for their trio were steadily progressing in a positive direction.

In her haze, a thought flashed.

Why is Madam Xia here now, did the Lady consent?

Madam Xia dried her tears, instructed Sixing to take good care, and pulled out two silver hairpins from her bosom: "If Sixth Miss wakes up and wants anything to eat, melt these to buy it, don’t be frugal." As she spoke, her tears once again fell uncontrollably.

Sixing couldn’t possibly accept her items; the concubine lived more poorly than a miss: "Madam, we’ve saved silver from embroidering handkerchiefs and pockets over the years, and the Lady said all expenses will come from her funds. She also sent a lot of supplements."

Madam Xia felt uneasy and forced the hairpins into Sixing’s hands: "The Lady is generous, but we must know our bounds. It’s my fault for being useless, causing you and Sixth Miss to suffer!"

Sixing also began to cry but busied herself wiping Madam Xia’s tears. When her and Siliu were initially bought, they entered the concubine’s courtyard to serve the miss. Those cold days found them huddled on a cot for warmth and eating at the same table, sharing a bond deeper than an ordinary master and servant. She had never witnessed the miss’s sickness but knew of her vacant, dazed state afterward and the concubine’s constant weeping—those dark times were unforgettable. "Don’t say such things, madam. It’s our blessing to serve the miss, and anyway, life is substantially better now than before. Madam should relax a bit." She wiped her tears and managed to smile: "The miss only caught a chill away, if not for the wound from the thorn on her back, she wouldn’t have caught a high fever. The doctor said she’d recover after two days of rest." She wouldn’t allow the miss to suffer such hardships again.