Madam Lu and Zhou Xiuer had been locked in the firewood shed for two days, as if forgotten by everyone, with no food and no water. Winter had already set in, the cold was bitter, and the mother and daughter had long since lost their temper, leaning against each other, piling all the straw and such in the shed over themselves for warmth.
The two of them shivered uncontrollably, their stomachs empty and their mouths parched, it was sheer tornt.
From venomous curses to blaming each other, to pounding on the door and begging for rcy, only ghosts would know what the mother and daughter had gone through.
Bang.
The door was suddenly flung open, a gust of bleak, icy wind rushed in, making the two of them shudder. Madam Lu and her daughter opened their eyes and crawled over on hands and feet: "Are you letting us out? I know I was wrong, I won’t dare do it again!"
Soone kicked Madam Lu in the shoulder, and she let out a miserable howl.
"Strip their clothes off."
Several old servant won surged forward, and without a word pinned the two of them down and started stripping, even taking off their jewelry.
"What are you doing, what are you going to do? Those are all mine. Bullying people..." Madam Lu scread.
Smack.
Soone slapped Madam Lu across the face and spat right on her: "You’ve still got the nerve to talk? If anything happens to our Madam, you’d better be ready to go into the grave with her!"
Madam Lu froze.
Xiuxiu jerked her head up: "What happened to Aunt?"
The old servant woman didn’t answer. After they finished stripping their clothes, she slamd the door shut again.
"I beg you, give us sothing to eat."
Two stead buns were thrown in through the window. Madam Lu snatched one up and bit into it, eating and cursing at the sa ti, then started crying again, lanting her bitter fate.
Zhou Xiuer, however, felt a growing panic, a cloud of unease spreading in her chest.
...
In one room, it was filled with won’s things. Purple Jade had the maids from Madam Lu’s courtyard first lay everything out in order, separating what they had originally brought with them and what had been added later, and then she invited Imperial Physician Xu over.
"Old Imperial Physician Xu, may I trouble you to take a look and see if there’s anything wrong here?" Purple Jade pointed at the sorted items as she spoke.
Old Imperial Physician Xu first followed the direction of her hand with his gaze, sniffed, his grizzled brows furrowing slightly. He casually picked up a delicate purse, opened it, and poured out everything inside.
All kinds of spices, mixed together, a rich fragrance. He stirred that little pile of spices with his finger, narrowed his eyes to look, picked up a tiny white clay pellet, and pinched it.
Purple Jade could see clearly that there was sothing wrapped inside the white clay pellet.
Imperial Physician Xu stirred around again, picked out a small piece of wood from the spices and set it aside, together with that Mud Pill.
He tasted the two things, then spat.
"Imperial Physician Xu, what is this?" Purple Jade’s heart was pounding wildly.
"Red Flower Powder, Huogong Powder residue. Wearing sothing like this long-term will render a woman infertile and prone to miscarriage." He pointed at the stuff inside that Mud Pill.
All the blood in Purple Jade’s body rushed to her head.
"This alone isn’t enough. And this piece of wood has been soaked in a decoction that promotes blood flow and nstruation." Imperial Physician Xu tilted his head slightly. "But it’s still a bit short."
He examined everything bit by bit, sniffing and looking, and finally picked up a golden hairpin, sniffed it lightly, and examined it closely.
He twisted open the head of the hairpin; it was actually hollow inside. So crushed spices poured out. He scraped a bit out with his fingernail and tasted it, and his expression changed slightly.
"Now it makes sense." Imperial Physician Xu pointed at these few items and said, "These three types of aromatic dicinal Powder mixed together—if boiled into a decoction and drunk, they would cause a miscarriage imdiately. But even rely wearing them like this, inhaling them over a long period, would also lead to signs of slipping the fetus. Given your Madam’s condition, she probably hasn’t been wearing them for very long, has she? Otherwise, the child would have been lost already!"
"Outrageous!"
Staring at these ’culprits’ that had caused Madam Zhou’s miscarriage, Purple Jade could no longer hold back and shouted in fury.
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