Under the eaves of the veranda, Xiao Yao is sitting in a chaise longue with a bonbon in front of her, and at the moment she is leaning forward, dry-heaving into the bonbon.
Qing’er is gently helping her to smooth her back, her face full of worry.
Two little maids stand beside her, one holding a water jar and the other a handkerchief.
When she heard footsteps, Qing’er looked up and saw Song Wangyue, as if she had seen a saviour, “Miss Song, you’ve come back, help my miss.”
Hearing Qing’er’s shout, Xiao Yao lifted her head, her original fair and round cheeks were quite sunken, even her eyes had lost their previous sparkle, seeing Song Wan Yue, she still squeezed out a smile, “Yue ……”
Before she finished shouting, a wave of nausea came up, she hurriedly lowered her head again and dry vomited into the basin.
“Why is the pregnancy vomiting so bad?”
Song Wan Yue quickly stepped forward and Qing’er replied while helping Xiao Yao smooth her back, “The first few months were fine, but since last month Miss has been throwing up everything she eats, even her bile is coming out every day, Master has asked many doctors to help her, but they all said it was normal and told Miss to hold on, she would be fine after this period.”
It was true that pregnancy vomiting was something that even in later times there was nothing that could be done about it.
After vomiting for a while, Xiao Yao slumped helplessly in her chair, took the water jar handed over by the little maid to rinse her mouth and wipe it again, before seeing Meng Jiao, “This is ……”
“My cousin Meng Jiao.”
“Miss Meng, excuse me.”
Xiao Yao really did not have the strength to get up and nodded towards Meng Jiao as she sat, her voice weak and feeble.
Meng Jiao waved her hand in a hurry, “Sister-in-law is very kind.”
Xiao Yao didn’t have the heart to make pleasantries, she felt like she was dying, not only were her internal organs suffering terribly, but her whole body had no strength at all.
“Sister-in-law close your eyes and rest for a while.”
Song Wangyue squatted down beside her.
Xiao Yao really did close her eyes, pregnancy vomiting came and went, she had to grab a rest for a while, otherwise she wouldn’t even have the strength to vomit later.
Song Wan Yue grabbed her hand and rested it on her left hand, her right finger was on her pulse.
Meng Jiao followed her, and only after she had gone a long way did she press her voice with palpitations, “It’s too scary to be pregnant with a child.”
“Everyone’s situation is different, sister-in-law belongs to a very small number of cases.”
Meng Jiao thought of her own sister-in-law, who was indeed different from Xiao Yao when she was pregnant, eating everything exceptionally well, as if she didn’t know she was full every day, eating from morning to night.
“Why isn’t your elder brother at home with your sister-in-law in this condition?”
She remembered that when her sister-in-law was pregnant, her elder brother did nothing and stayed home with her every day.
“She’s an official of the Ministry of Household Affairs, she can’t help herself.”
Meng Jiao secretly bristled, what was so good about being an official, her own daughter-in-law was having such a hard time, yet she didn’t have the time to be at home with her, wait until later she said her in-laws didn’t want an official.
In the kitchen, several cooks were also at a loss, no matter what they cooked, the madam would vomit when she ate it, even the boiled sugar water, they really didn’t know what to make.
“Bring over some dried lotus seeds.”
When they suddenly heard Song Wangyue’s voice, several people were overjoyed and immediately looked for dried lotus seeds to come out. Song Wangyue took the right amount, added water and boiled it for about ten minutes, then used a clean spoon to scoop some of the clear juice in a bowl and instructed one of the cooks to bring it over.
She also asked another cook to prepare a casserole, gum cake, glutinous rice and old brown sugar. She asked one of the cooks to boil the glutinous rice congee, while she herself pounded the gum cake, put it into the pot and fried it until it was light yellow, then crushed it into powder and put it aside.
Meng Jiao sucked her nose at the side, but she knew it was for Xiao Yao and did not say she wanted to eat it.
The two of them had just reached the door of the main house when they heard the sound of hurried footsteps. They turned around and saw Song Si hurrying into the courtyard. He was wearing his official uniform and holding a steaming casserole in his hand. When he saw Song Wan Yue, his face lit up with joy, “Little sister, you’re back.”
He asked, not stopping in his steps, the casserole in his hand firmly in place.
“Big brother this is ……”
“My colleague’s wife was also vomiting badly at the time and used this medicinal meal, which I went to his house today to ask for.”
After answering, only then did he see Meng Jiao, and didn’t ask who it was, he just nodded towards her and walked quickly into the house.
Meng Jiao looked dumbfounded, “Is he your elder brother?”
“Hmm.”
Song Wangyue’s voice was tinged with laughter as she also lifted her feet and walked in.
Meng Jiao also raised her foot after her, remembering that Song Si was inside and it was not appropriate for her to go in, and withdrew her foot again. But she really wanted to see the legendary two, so she lifted her foot again, thinking that it was indeed inappropriate, and retracted it again. After repeating this several times, she gritted her teeth and told herself that she was Yue’er’s cousin, so naturally she and Song Si were also related, so there was no need to avoid suspicion.
Inside the house, Xiao Yao was lying weakly on the bed, Song Si was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a bowl in his left hand, his right hand scooped some medicinal food and handed it to Xiao Yao’s mouth, his tone was as gentle as Meng Jiao had never heard from her grandfather or father or brothers, “I heard from my colleagues that this medicinal food is extremely useful, you can barely eat some of it.”
Xiao Yao opened her mouth and Song Si gently fed it into her mouth, watching her swallow it and asking in a soft voice, “Is it still okay?”
Xiao Yao nodded her head, her eyes, tormented by pregnancy vomiting, now gathered a glow.
Meng Jiao looked envious. Her elder brother and sister-in-law, and her second brother and sister-in-law had also been betrothed in love, and after they were married, they had been in harmony, and she thought that was the best couple in the world.
“Little sister, what is …… at your end.”
Xiao Yao noticed that the bowl in Song Wan Yue’s hand was also smoking hot and asked.
“This is also medicinal food for me ……”
Her words didn’t fall, Xiao Yao pushed away the spoon that Song Si passed to her mouth, “I want to eat what little sister made.”
“Good.”
Without saying a word, Song Si handed the bowl in her hand to Qing’er, took the bowl in Song Wan Yue’s hand, scooped up a spoonful and blew a few mouthfuls to Xiao Yao’s mouth.
Meng Jiao was too embarrassed to watch any longer and turned to go out.
A light coaxing sound came from inside the house.
Although she could not see anything through the curtain, she could still imagine Song Si’s gentle coaxing, and for the first time she knew that there was such a good man in the world.
After a long time, there was no movement in the room.
After a while, Song Si, Song Wan Yue and Qing’er gently came out of the house. When they saw Meng Jiao sitting in the hall, Song Si froze for a moment before she realised that she had just seen her in the courtyard.
“This is my cousin Meng Jiao.”
Song Wangyue’s voice was kept low, lest she wake up the sleeping Xiao Yao.
Song Si nodded, “You guys sit down for a moment, I’ll go and change out of my official uniform.”