Chapter 111 Poverty: Pregnant?

Chapter 111: Poverty: Is She Pregnant?

Nanny Chen and Bo Ge, mother and son, flatly refused Tian Qin's money. Eventually, they had to sell their only old yellow ox and got twenty taels of silver as medical expenses.

Bo Ge was stuck in bed with a cast on his leg, recovering.

Wan Cui learned to make bo (steamed buns) together with Nanny Chen. After they were made, Zhaolu would carry them around to sell. They split the work clearly. After deducting the costs, they had an income of twenty wen per day—but at least they were earning something, pitiful as it was.

Tian Qin took on laundry work, pounding clothes by the river.

The one hundred taels of silver she brought from the Xie Mansion were the earnings from her past tribulations, precious and valuable. She was determined to spend them on what really mattered and would never squander them. She wanted to sell the bamboo-handled umbrella as soon as possible, but she couldn't find anyone to buy it.

Every morning, her slim figure would carry the clothes of wealthy merchants to the river, spread them out, rub soap pod all over, then pound them over and over with a wooden mallet, then rinse them clean in the rushing water.

In late spring and early summer, the river water was not freezing cold, but it was chilly. Tian Qin's ten delicate fingers soon became white and wrinkled from soaking, corroded by the soap pod. Within a few days, her tender skin was gone, replaced by patches of chilblains.

Maintaining one posture for a long time caused back pain, as if a ten-pound weight was pressing on her neck. She went bare-faced every day, no longer able to apply milk and honey to her face. The life of a wealthy woman became a distant dream.

The women washing clothes by the river saw her and gossiped behind her back, sneering and taunting, saying that she used to be a concubine of a wealthy family who was driven out by the mistress for seducing men. Sometimes they would deliberately kick over her laundry bucket.

Tian Qin did not associate with them. She quickly washed her own clothes and left, going her own way.

She wore simple cotton clothes with floral prints, wrapped her head with a cloth strip, and tied her well-nourished, jet-black long hair into a low bun at the back of her head, with a few strands hanging loose on her forehead, adding to her pure and gentle temperament.

She heard that cutting her hair could sell for money—the darker and neater the hair, the higher the price. She was tempted to chop it off, as she no longer had the means to care for this head of hair, so she might as well sell it now to supplement the household and make work easier.

To earn a few more coppers, she took on as many jobs as possible. The Love Gu never left her alone; from time to time, her heart ached, gradually spreading throughout her body, causing her to shed tears in pain, seriously affecting her life.

This forced her to find an opportunity to return to the Xie Mansion and have the couple remove the Love Gu. Even if Xie Tanwei was unwilling to use his heart's blood to break the gu, he must have other methods to suppress it.

Every night when she got home, Tian Qin was exhausted.

Zhaolu and the others also had a hard time selling the bo. They endured customers' difficulties, dealt with local bullies' unreasonable extortion, and some shameless men, seeing that Zhaolu and Wan Cui were pretty, would try to touch them under the pretext of buying bo.

Bo Ge hated his own leg for failing him at this critical moment, leaving the women of the household to struggle to support the family. He had sworn to take care of Miss Tian, but now Miss Tian was taking care of him. He was useless, truly useless.

"Time to eat!" As early summer approached, in the dim dusk, the evening breeze blew. Nanny Chen brought a separate meal to Bo Ge on the bed, and moved the wooden table outside to eat. They couldn't afford candles, so they used the remaining daylight.

Tian Qin was exhausted, her head aching, feeling groggy. She joined Wan Cui and Zhaolu around the wooden table. Nanny Chen served porridge to the three of them, but only drank a thin gruel herself. Each person got one bo to eat, along with a dish of pickled dandelion.

"Salty," Tian Qin was startled by the saltiness. She blinked, ate the bo in large mouthfuls, and downed the entire bowl of plain porridge.

Nanny Chen smiled and said, "Tian'er is hungry."

Her smile was bitter, but she couldn't provide more food. Since coming to the house, Tian Qin, already slim, had lost a lot of weight; now she was as thin as a rail.

Wan Cui and Zhaolu exchanged glances, about to share some of their porridge with Tian Qin. But Tian Qin gave a sly smile, put down her bowl, and magically produced a few red berries she had picked from the trees by the river after washing clothes.

"I tasted one; it's sweet, much better than dandelion."

They divided the berries. Nanny Chen examined them carefully, slapped her thigh, and said, "Isn't that the fruit tree planted by the Zhang family by the river? Tian'er, you really are a newborn calf who doesn't fear tigers. If he finds out you stole his fruit, you'll be in big trouble!"

Zhaolu quickly covered Nanny Chen's mouth: "We won't say anything if we don't tell."

Putting one in her mouth and chewing, her eyes brightened; it was sour and sweet, very tasty.

Tian Qin laughed, "See? The world is vast; if you don't tell and I don't tell, who will know?"

Everyone laughed together, enjoying the stolen fruits. No one stood on a moral high ground to criticize. When they were wealthy, they were tired of meat and delicacies; now in poverty, a few berries tasted sweet. They found joy in hardship.

Finally, they left two berries for Bo Ge, ending this meager dinner.

Nanny Chen escorted Tian Qin back to her room alone, holding her cold, chapped hands and whispered, "Tian'er, don't go washing clothes tomorrow. You only earn two wen per piece, and the employers always find reasons to deduct from you. It's too exhausting."

She paused, "Bo Ge's leg is barely able to get out of bed. He will resume selling bo in a few days, so you, Zhaolu, and Wan Cui can all rest. Otherwise, if you overwork yourself and fall ill, it will cost even more."

Tian Qin readily agreed, saying, "Exactly, I also want to rest for a couple of days and go to the pawnshop."

She wanted to turn the bamboo umbrella and her hair into money.

Nanny Chen immediately grabbed her and warned, "It's fine to sell the umbrella, but don't cut your hair!"

How difficult it was to nourish this head of hair! So many precious scented powders and essential oils, not to mention the milk poured into the bathtub. If it came to the point where the young lady had to sell her hair, this family wouldn't survive.

Tian Qin outwardly agreed, but in her heart, she still felt it was better to cut and sell it to supplement the family, so everyone could have a few good meals. Otherwise, washing her hair every day wasted water and time, and was a delicate affectation that would only invite criticism.

With this money and their hard work, life would get better and better.

Although she was exhausted, her heart was filled with warm hope.

The outside world wasn’t as good as she had imagined, but it wasn’t that bad either.

She would manage.

Nanny Chen carefully closed the door and quietly took out a bowl of noodle soup sprinkled with green onions and placed it in front of Tian Qin. She urged, "Eat this quickly. I saved it just for you. If those two girls see it, they'll gossip."

Tian Qin was surprised, "Nanny...?"

Nanny Chen had only bought one egg to cook with the noodles. Seeing how thin and weak Tian Qin was, she secretly prepared this to nourish her. Actually, Wan Cui and Zhaolu were kind-hearted too; it wouldn't be a problem to eat in front of them, but she was afraid Tian Qin would be unwilling to eat alone.

Tian Qin couldn't afford to be so frail. From Nanny Chen's selfish perspective, she hoped Tian Qin and Bo Ge would end up together and give her a big, fat grandson. She would rather let the whole family go hungry than let Tian Qin go without.

Forced by Nanny Chen to finish the noodles, Tian Qin felt uneasy, as if she had done something wrong. A misshapen egg floated on the surface of the soup, carrying the unpleasant smell of burnt bo biscuits, reminding her of the soft-boiled eggs she used to eat at the Xie Mansion.

"Thank you, Nanny," she said, her eyes stinging.

Nanny Chen sat beside her with a kind expression. Seeing Tian Qin finish the food, she was filled with endless satisfaction, as if she herself had eaten it.

After leaving the Xie family, Tian Qin had completely shed the finery of a wealthy kept woman. Nanny Chen fully regarded her as her future daughter-in-law.

Cherishing one's daughter-in-law meant cherishing future grandchildren. Once Tian Qin and Bo Ge married, this family would gradually prosper.

"Tian'er, your heart isn't bitter anymore, is it?"

Nanny Chen knew well that there was a world of difference between Bo Ge and Tian Qin's previous man, a gap too wide to bridge. Everyone makes comparisons.

She feared that Tian Qin still had lingering feelings for the Lord in her heart. She extended her arm and earnestly advised, "This scar was left by my man when he beat me when I was young."

Tian Qin had long known about the hideous long scar on Nanny Chen's arm but had never asked about its origin. She listened as Nanny Chen's voice mixed with sighs: "Back then, that man was also a fairly well-known merchant. Although not comparable to the imperial relatives of the Xie Mansion, he spent money like water. I followed him, thinking I was going to have a good life. Who would have thought that after I became pregnant, he fell for a younger, prettier singing girl at the pleasure houses and abandoned me. I pestered him a few times to no avail, so I had to give birth to Bo Ge alone and raise him by myself."

"At the time, I also thought the sky had fallen and life was not worth living. But after enduring it, I found that it was just like that. Everyone can live without anyone else. No relationship is eternal. The sweet words men say in bed are all meant to deceive ghosts. Listen and forget; don't take them seriously. Later, I went to serve you and your brother Yan Geer, and gradually, those old heartbreaks from the sesame seeds and millet days were no longer mentioned."

Tian Qin listened earnestly, moved. Nanny Chen was saying this to persuade her to let go and stop clinging to Xie Tanwei. But she had never really clung to Xie Tanwei; her current life, though poor, was her own choice, and she had no regrets.

The Xie family life was wealthy but like floating on clouds, with her fate controlled by others. Now she could earn money by her own hands, breathe fresh air and sunshine, and have the freedom to go out whenever she wished without reporting to anyone or begging for permission. She no longer had to force a smile and linger in someone's embrace, offering reluctant kisses. Her long-cherished wish had been fulfilled, and she had no regrets.

As for Bo Ge, he was a loyal and hardworking good man, and she could certainly marry him. However, she would have to break her earlier vow not to bear children and endure the agony of pregnancy again.

"Nanny, let's take it slow."

She patted Nanny Chen's hand and whispered comfortingly, "Everything will be all right."

Nanny Chen gave a wry, gratified smile and nodded, "Yes, it will be all right. It will be all right. That's the truth."

...

Early the next morning, Nanny Chen took Tian Qin to the market to gather discarded vegetable leaves.

Some customers were terribly wasteful, peeling off layer after layer of leaves. Nanny Chen had once picked up an entire head of cabbage.

That they had resorted to gathering discarded vegetable leaves did not mean they were truly at the end of their rope. They were consciously saving money; their funds had to be spent on what mattered most.

In the coming days, the wedding for Tian Qin and Bo Ge would cost a fair sum, and the ingredients for making baked cakes were also a major expense. The oven for baking cakes was broken and needed repairing. They were strapped for cash and could only manage this way for now.

Tian Qin wanted to cut her hair and sell it, but Nanny Chen absolutely would not allow it. Besides, Tian Qin's jade-ribbed umbrella could not be lightly parted with either—at the very least, it had to fetch thirty taels, or they would rather not sell.

The market was chaotic and filthy, the ground was uneven, making every step uncertain, filled with the stench of rot.

Tian Qin again covered her chest and retched. Nanny Chen quickly helped her to a well-ventilated spot to catch her breath, but Tian Qin did not improve.

"Is the Love Gu acting up again?"

Nanny Chen's voice was weak and trembling as she asked.

In the past, Tian Qin, favored by the head of the household, had often retched. What if it wasn't the Love Gu, but pregnancy instead?

Terrifying.