"The body's been frail since childhood, already riddled with issues. And now, having lost the child... I'm afraid she won't be able to conceive again..." The doctor bit his teeth and said with difficulty, cursing the Song Family heartily in his heart.
Though she was mentally prepared, Song Xiu'er still cried her eyes out.
"It's, it's, perhaps my medical skills aren't perfect, my diagnosis inaccurate. With good care, maybe, maybe..." The doctor couldn't continue.
He wouldn't claim his skills were unmatched, but he was far from a quack.
"Yes, with good care, it'll definitely improve. Xiu'er, you're young, you'll recover definitely." Meng Yao continued the doctor's words, "Doctor, please write a prescription."
The doctor sighed and picked up his pen to write the prescription.
Once the prescription was written, Meng Yao glanced at it; it was a gentle formula to nourish the blood and Qi, very suitable for Song Xiu'er now.
"I'll have Dajiang go with you to fetch the medicine," Meng Yao said. "How much silver does all this medicine cost?"
"This is for seven days' worth of dosage; most of the herbs I gathered myself, so I'll charge you less, seventy coins per set," the doctor thought for a moment and said.
Seven sets for seven days would be four hundred and ninety coins.
From the original body's money stash, Meng Yao counted out four hundred and ninety coins for the doctor, then called Zhao Dajiang to let him go with the doctor to fetch the medicine.
Meng Yao turned around, wanting to comfort Song Xiu'er with a few words, but saw Song Xiu'er struggling to get off the bed and kneel in front of Meng Yao.
"What are you doing? The floor is cold; you're already weakened and catching cold will only worsen it." Meng Yao couldn't take Song Xiu'er's aggrieved little wife demeanor.
"Mother, give me a letter of divorce." Song Xiu'er gritted her teeth.
She used to cry out not wanting to leave the Zhao Family, yet now, with ties severed with her family, she proactively asks for a divorce.
"Is it because the doctor said you couldn't conceive?" Meng Yao asked.
"Dajiang is still young, and the Zhao Family needs to continue the lineage; I, I cannot delay the Zhao Family's heritage." Song Xiu'er refuted.
"I don't just have Zhao Dajiang as my son! Can't Dahe or Xiaoshu continue the lineage? I'm not worried, so what's your concern? Dajiang is young, aren't you young too? Didn't the doctor say with good care, it's not guaranteed you can't conceive? If truly the case, we'll talk then!" Meng Yao replied.
"But..."
"There's no 'but'! I publicly declared I'd take good care of you, and now you ask for a letter of divorce, what does that mean? Does it prove your mother's claim that I'm just fooling you? Do you want everyone in the village to criticize me behind my back?" Meng Yao sternly said.
"I'm not implying that, mother, even if you divorce me I wouldn't leave; I'd stay here to serve you. I'll sell myself and stay as a maid in the Zhao Family," Song Xiu'er hastily said.
"A maid? Do you know our family's condition? Are we the kind of people who can afford maids?"
"I don't need silver, as long as mother provides meals for me." Song Xiu'er said pitifully.
"There's no wall that doesn't leak wind; by then, they'd break my back with their words! If you truly want to leave, wait till you've recovered, then you can do whatever you want, I won't stop you. For now, obediently stay on the bed, eat well, and take your medicine properly." Meng Yao said with a stern face.
"Mother, I'm uneasy at heart." Song Xiu'er cried, one prescription already costs seventy coins, if they keep taking it, the family might be dragged down.
"Then get yourself together, recover quickly, so you can take less medicine, saving me some silver. If you're still uneasy, treat it as if I've lent it to you, after you've recovered, doing anything is fine, earn some silver and repay me." Meng Yao thought for a moment and said, "If you can't pay it back, then stay in the Zhao Family working until it's repaid, and only then we can discuss other matters."
Song Xiu'er kowtowed three solid times to Meng Yao, "Thank you, mother, thank you."
She's not foolish; she can tell good from bad.
No matter how fierce the mother-in-law's tone, her words always consider what's best for her.
Song Xiu'er didn't judge the previous mother-in-law, but this current one, she believed no mother-in-law in the whole Shanghua Village could compare to her.
"Don't kneel every now and then, if people see it, they might think I'm mistreating you, wouldn't this ruin my reputation?" Meng Yao muttered while helping Song Xiu'er up.
"I'll do as mother-in-law says." Song Xiu'er replied.
"Quickly lie down, I'll go to the kitchen and get some cooking done for you." Meng Yao said as she started walking out.
The Zhao Family's backyard housed quite a lot of chickens, whenever Zhao Dahe returned, the original body would stew chicken to nourish Zhao Dahe.
Does Zhao Dahe need nourishment with that body?
Meng Yao swiftly captured a hen from the chicken coop, a hen raised for several years, perfect for making nourishing soup.
Slit throat, drain blood, rinse in hot water, pluck feathers, all done smoothly.
By the time Zhao Dajiang returned carrying the medicine, Meng Yao had already stewed the chicken.
"Quickly brew the medicine, once it's done, bring it to your wife. Moreover, your wife had a miscarriage, during the postpartum confinement month she shouldn't touch water, you'll wash her clothes this month!" Meng Yao declared.
"Mother, this, I've never washed clothes before! I don't know how." Zhao Dajiang rubbed his hands, feeling at a loss.
"Don't know how? Can't you learn? Do you intend for me to wash clothes for both of you this month? Zhao Dajiang, you've got the capability to boss your mother around now?" Meng Yao impatiently scolded, she'd rather let them dream than serve them like this.
"I'll learn, I'll learn." Zhao Dajiang nodded rapidly like a pecking chick, "I'll wash your clothes too, mother."
"Mother doesn't need you to worry, just take good care of your wife, and don't cause trouble for me." Meng Yao retorted, "Pay attention to the chicken soup while brewing medicine, mother's tired, needs to rest in the room."
"Yes." Zhao Dajiang agreed.
Lying on the bed, Meng Yao gazed at the blackened ceiling and couldn't help but sigh deeply.
The transition was too abrupt, she hadn't been given a moment for adjustment, and now luckily she could have a moment alone. Meng Yao began pondering why she crossed over; no car crash, no cancer, no harm, wasn't she just researching in the lab late at night? She wasn't working nonstop either, once done, she slept in the lab's resting room.
Yet upon opening her eyes, she became this original self.
But what happened to the original self? With the original's family status, no one would take action against her here.
Meng Yao muttered to herself, unable to figure out anything.
She came after sleeping, perhaps sleeping again, she'd suddenly return?
Thinking of this, Meng Yao peacefully closed her eyes; whether it worked or not, trying would reveal the answer.
Meng Yao fell asleep and started dreaming, or rather, in the dream, she knew as a spectator some events, events that scared the original self to death.
Indeed, the original self died of fright.
She was frightened to death by her own rebirth.