Cai Damei raised her hand to stop the physician from speaking and turned to Ye Yunniang. "I'm thirsty. Go fetch me some water."
"Alright, I'll go right away." Ye Yunniang headed to the kitchen, only to find the teapot empty. She had to boil fresh water.
Once the water was ready, she poured it into the teapot and carried it to the main room, but the physician was already gone.
Cai Damei held a prescription in her hand.
"Mother, what did the physician say? I’m not ill, am I? I feel perfectly fine."
"The physician said you’ve been overworked lately. I asked him to prepare a tonic." Cai Damei stood up, ready to leave to fetch the medicine.
"Mother, if you’re not feeling well, stay and rest. I’ll go get the medicine." Ye Yunniang reached out to take the prescription.
"No need." Cai Damei avoided her outstretched hand.
"Mother?" Ye Yunniang was puzzled by her strong reaction.
"The children are still asleep in the room. Stay and watch them. I’ll go get the medicine and be back soon." Without another word, Cai Damei hurried out.
Ye Yunniang chased her to the doorway, but Cai Damei had already vanished down the alley.
Her behavior was strange.
"Never mind, I’ll ask her when she returns." Ye Yunniang murmured to herself before turning back to tidy the room.
Once the house was clean, she carried a basket of dirty clothes to the backyard to wash.
When she returned to the front yard, Cai Damei was already back with the medicine, brewing it over the fire.
After preparing two bowls, Cai Damei placed one in front of Ye Yunniang, gesturing for her to drink.
Cai Damei finished her own bowl, but Ye Yunniang didn’t touch hers.
"Why aren’t you drinking? It’ll help you recover."
Ye Yunniang knelt before Cai Damei. "Mother, I’m sorry. I don’t want to drink it."
Cai Damei’s expression darkened.
"While cleaning, I found a discarded prescription on the floor." Ye Yunniang lowered her head.
Cai Damei grasped her hand. "You promised me."
"I did. And I drank the medicine before, but..." Ye Yunniang placed a hand on her belly.
The contraceptive brew hadn’t worked. The child had taken root inside her.
Three months now.
She had hardened her heart the first time, but this time, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
"Mother, please let me keep it." She crawled forward on her knees, clinging to Cai Damei’s legs. "Mother, I beg you."
"If you keep it, think of the gossip you’ll face. Our lives will never be peaceful again." Cai Damei didn’t want to be cruel, but the world was harsh on women—especially widows like them.
"I don’t care. Please, Mother, let me keep it." Ye Yunniang pleaded.
"And what about Pan'er? What about An'er? How will they live?" Cai Damei’s question made Ye Yunniang freeze mid-sob. In her longing for this child, she hadn’t considered Li Pan and Li An.
Keeping Li An had already been selfish. She couldn’t recklessly bring another child into their hardship.
Wiping her tears, Ye Yunniang returned to the table.
With trembling hands, she picked up the bowl of medicine, closed her eyes, and raised it to her lips.
Crack!
Cai Damei struck the bowl from her hands, shattering it on the floor.
Ye Yunniang stared at the broken pieces. "Mother...?"
"Keep it." Cai Damei’s heart had softened after all.
Once the decision was made, they wasted no time discussing how to minimize the consequences.
"The child can’t be born in Sunset Lane. I’ll go to the countryside and stay there for a few months." Ye Yunniang suggested.
"But we don’t know anyone there. How can we ensure our safety?" Cai Damei disagreed. If something happened in an unfamiliar place, what then?
"Then where should we go?" Ye Yunniang wondered if they could use the small house Jiang Mingzhe had given her.
But it was too close to the ruined temple, and she feared the Jiang family might discover them.
Before they could settle on a plan, Cai Xiaomei arrived with a perfect excuse.
She brought a letter from their hometown in Lincheng.
It was written by Li Wenkuo, the village chief of the Li family’s ancestral home. He had been close to Pan'er’s grandfather, Li Liu, and had helped Cai Damei quickly sell their property back then.
The letter explained that heavy rains had recently flooded the area. The graves of the Li father and son, being newly dug, had collapsed, and the coffins had been exposed.
The coffins now rested in the Li family ancestral hall, awaiting reburial.
As the only male descendant, Li Pan needed to be present for the ceremony.
Li Wenkuo urged Cai Damei and Ye Yunniang to bring Li Pan back home.
Tears streamed down Cai Damei’s face as she listened.
Ye Yunniang handed her a handkerchief. "Mother, I’ll pack our things. We should leave soon so Jun and Father can be laid to rest properly."
"Elder Sister, when will you leave?" Despite their fierce argument over Wan Guiying, Cai Xiaomei still cared for her sister.
After considering their affairs, Cai Damei replied, "In three days."
"I’ll go ahead and have Dongzi hire a carriage."
"No need. I have a carriage." Tie Xiong stepped inside. "Aunt Cai, I’ll take you home."
Cai Xiaomei didn’t recognize him. "And you are...?"
"Tie Xiong. A close comrade of Jun’s from the army. Thanks to him, we widows haven’t been bullied to death." Cai Damei’s words reminded Cai Xiaomei of Wan Guiying.
After their fight, Cai Xiaomei had realized she was in the wrong but couldn’t bring herself to apologize.
Luckily, the letter gave her a reason to visit.
"You’re taking them back to Lincheng?"
"I want to pay my respects at Li Jun’s grave." Tie Xiong explained, though his deeper concern was their safety—two women traveling with two small children were easy targets.
"The journey takes over half a month, and who knows how long we’ll stay?" Cai Damei worried about disrupting his duties.
"It’s no trouble." Tie Xiong assured her.
But fate had other plans.
"Magistrate Bao is coming with us to Lincheng?" Cai Damei was stunned. Tie Xiong had promised to accompany them, yet in just a day, the magistrate had taken his place?
Tie Xiong was equally frustrated. When he requested leave, the magistrate, upon hearing the reason, refused and instead offered to escort them himself.
Tie Xiong was even more uneasy, but orders were orders.
"Aunt Cai, I’ve been assigned urgent duties. But Magistrate Bao has business in Lincheng, so I’ve arranged for you to travel under his protection." He took the blame to ease their worries.
Cai Damei found this reassuring—traveling under the magistrate’s guard would be safer.
Still concerned, Tie Xiong raided Tie Yi’s collection of hidden weapons, teaching them how to use wrist-mounted arrows, ring needles, bracelet spikes, and hairpin daggers.
Ye Yunniang carefully packed these, along with a dozen pouches of chili powder.
After entrusting their home to the Xu family, Cai Damei and Ye Yunniang, each carrying a child and a large bundle, set out for the meeting point—the farewell pavilion outside Jiangcheng.
