The General's Wife - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“The young lady’s cough was severe. I was beside myself with worry, and in my panic, I knocked over the oil lamp.”

“The young lady was wearing only her inner garments. I couldn’t open the door and let her reputation be sullied, so I could only soak a cloak and shield her as best I could. When I heard the General’s voice, I realized I had caused a terrible disaster. In my panic, I mistook the tung oil for the water jug and threw it at the flames, injuring the young lady.”

“We have only just entered the General’s Mansion and do not understand the rules of the capital. When we suddenly saw the young lady injured, we could only hurry to ask Madam to come and take charge.”

“A thousand mistakes, ten thousand mistakes-they are all mine.”

She kowtowed over and over, and every point of her explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.

Even the deathly pale Song Tinglan had been neatly absolved of any blame.

But how could there be such an easy bargain in this world?

I lifted my chin, and the household physician hurried through the door with his medicine chest slung over his shoulder.

“Mother Song is right. You had no time to summon the household physician for your young lady, so I summoned him.”

Then, under everyone’s gaze, I said each word clearly:

“Examine the burn on her hand first. Then examine her cough.”

Song Tinglan’s lips trembled faintly.

“There is no need. I have taken medicine, and I am much better now.”

I glanced at the steward matron’s register and gave a soft laugh.

“But before the fire broke out, the maid brewing your medicine had not yet returned to the courtyard. Lady Song, what medicine could you possibly have taken?”

Her eyes flickered.

“Perhaps… something brought back from the frontier.”

The steward matron immediately called out, “There was none!”

“Among the items registered, there were no pills.”

Once again, Song Tinglan was struck speechless by the orderly management of my inner household.

Li Xun’s jaw tightened. In the end, under my cold stare, he swallowed back the words on his tongue.

A short while later, she hid behind a screen while the maids wrapped her burned arm tightly in bandages.

I leaned back in the grand armchair.

“Since the young lady’s cough is so severe, you must diagnose her carefully.”

The household physician took her pulse through a silk thread for a long while. His brows furrowed and eased, then furrowed again, but he never reached a conclusion.

At last, Li Xun could sit still no longer.

“If you have something to say, say it!”

“The General is kind to me and has always cared greatly about my health. Doctor, please do not hesitate. Say whatever you must.”

With a trace of barely concealed triumph, Song Tinglan met my eyes.

But the household physician lowered his gaze and answered mildly, “If we are speaking only of a cough, Lady Song’s lungs are healthy. She has no old ailment of coughing or wheezing. For it to flare up tonight so suddenly is indeed strange.”

Song Tinglan shot to her feet.

“What did you say?”

Realizing she had lost composure, she softened her voice.

“Aside from the cough, there is truly nothing else?”

She wanted to use the household physician’s mouth to announce her pregnancy.

That way, a guest lodging under this roof would become a woman the General had brought back for himself.

She would then be a rightful, recognized mistress of the General’s Mansion.

But she had forgotten one thing.

This was the period of national mourning. If she were diagnosed as carrying the General’s flesh and blood, the entire General’s Mansion would be dragged into disaster.

The household physician saw the sharp warning in Li Xun’s eyes. Then he shook his head.

“There is nothing else.”

And so, amid her pallor and trembling, I rose with a smile.