Chapter 8 Persuasion

  "Ah! Mother Li, am I going to die?!" Hearing the second wife's words, the second grandmother couldn't help but feel a surge of despair. She only felt that the pain that came was even more intense.

  Mrs. Li hastily grasped Second Madam's hand, with tears streaming down her face: "Don't worry, Second Madam will be fine."

  "I don't want to die, I want my child!" The second grandma said in a trance-like manner, and everyone present felt their hearts tremble.

  Mrs. Li's heart was shattered and she wished it were her who had suffered instead. The rescuers looked up at the crowd, but everyone couldn't help but turn their heads away.

  "Niangniang, niangniang, I'm in so much pain...... My child......"

  Mrs. Li finally couldn't help but kneel down in front of the second lady and the old lady.

  "The old slave knows that her request is excessive, but she kowtowed to you, please, please let Rong Jie try!" Li Mama said, banging her forehead on the ground!

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  The sound of a real forehead hitting the bluestone slab made Liu Rong's chest tight, and she couldn't breathe no matter what.

  The first time I found out, the most heart-wrenching thing in this world is not when you try your best to save someone but fail. It's when a doctor knows they have the possibility of saving a patient, leaving behind two vibrant lives, but are forced not to save them and can only watch as their patient's life slips away bit by bit.

  "Madam, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda!" Chen's mother couldn't help but chime in.

  "You're being as foolish as a child! Don't talk about the imperial physician saying that a cesarean section is impossible, even if it were possible, our Rong'er would never do such a thing! As long as she's a daughter of the Wén Déng Hóu Fǔ, she can't do such a thing!" The old lady said sternly.

  Liu Rong was slightly stunned, and she carefully looked up at Tai Furen. Tai Furen seemed like a mud-made Guanyin Bodhisattva, with eyebrows and eyes that were clearly kind, but in reality, she was extremely cold. Then she looked at Er Furen, whose gaze was as if refusing to be invaded by external things.

  Liu Rong carefully recalled what Lady Tai and Second Mistress had said, and suddenly her mind was enlightened.

  To these people, the life of Er Nai is not important at all, or rather, Er Nai's life is not as valuable as the reputation of the Hou Mansion's daughter and the future of men.

  Liu Rong couldn't help but clench her fists, she didn't want, she didn't want Li Mama to make such futile efforts again! These people, whether for the sake of the Hou Mansion daughter's reputation or for the Second Master's official career, would not agree to this matter no matter how hard they begged, so why bother to be so pitiful.

  "Mom Li, get up! Don't kowtow anymore!" Liu Rong pulled Mom Li back, not letting her continue to kowtow, that forehead which was sometimes visible and sometimes hidden, was a bloody red patch.

  Liu Rong's heart felt even more sour: "Don't kowtow anymore, the two madams will never agree!"

  Li's mother looked up with a bewildered expression on her face.

  Liu Rong felt a pang in her heart. Was it because these people wouldn't agree, so she just gave up like this? When did this become Liu Rong's style!

  Liu Rong gritted her teeth and looked up at Old Madam: "Old Ancestress, Rong'er requests to be expelled from the family."

  One sentence was short and powerful, stunning everyone into a daze, and for a moment no one could react.

  "How dare you, such a rebellious remark! What else do you not dare to say?" After a while, Old Lady Liu was the first to scold, her eyes scanning over Madame Tai, seeing Madame Tai's face turn iron-green with rage, and a hint of dark joy flashing in her eyes.

  Liu Rong didn't look at Liu Dainai, but instead stared fixedly at Tai Furen, not caring about the latter's unpleasant expression. She asked directly: "Tai Zu Mu, in that case, are you willing to let me treat Er Jiu now?"

  Mrs. Li looked at Liu Rong with gratitude, knowing that a girl, especially one from a noble family like the Hou's, would have a hard time finding a good marriage and making a living without her family's protection, yet Liu Rong had gone to such great lengths just for the chance to save Second Madam!

  The two madams stared at Liu Rong in surprise, the first one admiring her decisiveness and fearlessness towards the ignorant, while the second one was astonished that such a strong-willed person existed among the young ladies of the manor.

  Liu Bo, standing at the door, couldn't help but curl his lips. Among all these people, he was the one who least liked the second wife giving birth to a child. Although there was a big age gap and it wouldn't cause him any trouble, parents always loved their youngest child more, so they would no longer care about his affairs as much in the future. So looking at Liu Rong, he felt both bored and slightly annoyed.

  The boy who had been watching the development of things with a playful expression on his face suddenly burst out in surprise.

  He had seen all sorts of women, those who fawned on his father, those who used every trick in the book to curry favor, and those who pretended to be haughty but were actually base. But he had never seen a woman like this one.

  This is a woman who makes it impossible for him to find an adjective to describe her. Stubborn, persistent, calm, and thoughtful, all not for herself.

  "Isn't Madam saying that as long as it's not the daughter of the Wencheng Marquis' estate, she can cure the second lady of your esteemed estate?" The young man couldn't help but interrupt.

  The second lady was startled by the sound and immediately glared at Liu Bo, blaming him for being so inconsiderate as to bring the crown prince and young master to a place like this.

  It's known that the delivery room is a dirty place, which can affect men's fortune. The crown prince doesn't understand, this can be understood, but the people around Liu Bo serving him cannot not tell Liu Bo, yet he still leads her in. Now she has exposed the family's ugliness, how can she not be furious?

  "The Crown Prince's son?" The old lady was startled when she heard the voice, and when she saw the speaker, she was shocked. As a noblewoman, she entered the palace every year to pay her respects, and whenever there was good news, she would go to the Crown Prince's mansion. How could she not recognize the Crown Prince's eldest son? "Young ancestor, how did you end up in this place?" The old lady said, using her eyes to signal Chen Mama beside her, "Hurry up and take the Crown Prince's son out of here. This dirty place will sully his eyes."

  Liu Rong suddenly heard a man's voice in the delivery room and was startled. When she saw that his words were biased towards her, she couldn't help but look at the person speaking.

  The speaker was about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a handsome face and wearing a moon-white Su embroidery long gown, with a tawny waistband around his waist and a good sheep fat jade pendant hanging on the right side of his waist.

  Listening to the words of Tai Furen, she knew that the person in front of her was not lowly, and Liu Rong's eyes moved quickly. She seized the opportunity before Chen Mama led the prince and his son away, opening her mouth to say: "Tai Zu Mu, today you may be able to stop me, but with so many people present, it's hard to guarantee that no one will leak the news outside, saying that Er Jie Jie encountered trouble all because of Tai Furen and Er Fu Ren's obstruction!"

  As she spoke, Liu Rong winked at the Crown Prince, but her heart was tense with worry that this sudden helper would not continue to help her, and also worried that although he had a kind intention to help her, he might not understand her meaning.

  Seeing Liu Rong's expression so rich, originally still slightly worried about Liu Rong's prince and son Shangguan Chen couldn't help but smile, until Liu Rong's face turned somewhat unsightly, then pretended to be surprised and said: "Isn't it like this?"

  The old lady frowned.

  "What's this?" The two madams saw the Crown Prince's inquiry and couldn't help but feel anxious, the inner house was disturbed. For court officials, it was a major flaw that would affect their careers. Now that the Crown Prince asked, if it were to reach the ears of the Crown Prince who assisted the Emperor in governing...

  The second lady took a deep breath, her previous calmness completely disappeared, only anxiety was reflected on her face, wanting to speak but couldn't because of the face she had put up before and the face of the first lady.

  For a moment, he regretted not agreeing to Liu Rong's caesarean section earlier.

  The second lady did not speak, and neither did the elder lady. The only sound left in the delivery room was the second lady's slightly urgent breathing.

  Liu Rong's heart was racing, but her face didn't show it: "Madam, people like to imagine and guess, adding fuel to the fire. Since you stopped Er Nai from giving birth, she died a difficult death, I'm sure when the time comes, many people will come looking for reasons."

  Liu Rong added, "The Hou Mansion had previously had a case of a favored concubine killing the wife. Later on, others will probably speculate about Second Uncle in that direction as well. After all, there is a precedent. If two such incidents occur in the Wen Ding Hou Mansion, the reputation of the family will be ruined. It's a pity that Second Uncle's career was going smoothly, and it's also a pity that my sisters' marriages have not been settled..."

  Liu Rong sighed softly and shook her head, saying no more.

  At first it was the second lady who frowned, and then the big lady behind her couldn't help but get anxious too.

  She didn't agree with Madam Tai's support for Master lifting Liu Niang, this is going to be a disaster, not only affecting her daughter's marriage, now her sister-in-law will also blame her and implicate the son of the other family.

  "Even if I agree to your plan, what if something goes wrong? I'm afraid the Hou estate won't be able to wash its hands clean of this either?" The second lady finally couldn't hold back her anxiety and asked, regardless of the first lady's thoughts.

  Her family's old master was born out of wedlock, and what she cared most about was the career path of the men in her household. This sentence by Liu Rong could be said to have struck at her weak point.

  Hearing Mrs. Er's question, Liu Rong couldn't help but let out a breath of relief, because she was willing to ask like that, which meant there was room for maneuver. In other words, she had the opportunity to negotiate successfully.

  Now that she thought about it, Liu Rong's mind quickly turned: "With Li Mama around, what are you worried about!"

  "Oh?"

  "Everything the second lady did was to save the second grandma! How could Li's mother not be grateful? If the second grandma and the child are safe and sound, you can wait for the second grandma's family to reward your kindness."

  Liu Rongyue said that the more clear-headed she was, the faster she spoke: "Even if we can't save her, Li Mama will still be grateful and will speak up for Second Madam at that time!" As she spoke, Liu Rongyue looked towards Li Mama: "Li Mama, isn't that right?"

  "Yes! Yes! Yes! That's what Sister Rong said!" Mrs. Li hastily replied.

  The second lady still had some doubts.

  "Second Mistress, time is running out. If we don't rescue her now, it will be too late to regret later." Liu Rong pressed down the last straw.

  The second lady's heart tightened, she gritted her teeth and no longer cared about the first lady's thoughts. She made a decision on her own: "I'll take charge today! You immediately prepare what's needed and rescue the second madam now!"

  Liu Rong's face relaxed slightly, and she let out a breath.

  Mrs. Li hurried to the side of Second Granny, and saw that her face was deathly pale, with her eyes tightly closed, she couldn't help but be shocked, and quickly used her hand to feel Second Granny's nose tip.

  "Rong Jie, Second Madam... Second Madam is gone..."

  Liu Rong's heart tightened, and she couldn't care about anything else. She hurriedly walked quickly to the front of Er Nainai, her hands crossed and placed on Er Nainai's lower chest bone, rhythmically pressing: "Er Auntie, Er Nainai, can you hear me speaking?"

  Liu Rong asked while squeezing, and then tilted her head in front of Er Nainai, without breathing.

  Liu Rong's eyebrows were tightly furrowed. If there was a defibrillator specifically for cardiac resuscitation here, that would be great.

  "Second Auntie, are you willing? You can be saved right away, and the child too. Are you willing to give up like this?"

  "If you give up like this, there will be no chance for the child to appear again!"

  Watching Liu Rong's frantic movements, everyone thought that Liu Rong had gone mad, even the two madams didn't dare to take a step back.

  "Rong Jie, Second Madam has left!" Chen Mama couldn't help but remind her.

  Liu Rong didn't care about other people's reactions, and she continued to perform CPR, alternating between chest compressions and artificial respiration.

  "Second Auntie, if you don't hold on, then really no one will be able to save your child!"

  The second grandma's finger trembled.

  Liu Rong couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: "Li Mama, come over and continue following my actions!"

  When Li's mother took over, Liu Rong immediately walked to the basin where the strong liquor was placed and washed her hands. Then she went to the place where the dagger and fire were, and under everyone's astonished gaze, she heated the dagger and quickly walked back to Er Nainai: "Li's mother, it can be stopped now!"

  While speaking, in front of everyone, he made a vertical slash at Ernai's abdomen.