Chapter 59 Settling Accounts

The main hall was in complete chaos, but no one paid any attention to her.

The imperial physician felt her pulse and immediately began administering acupuncture with a steady hand.

Soon, Shen Tubai regained consciousness from her daze. After taking in the crowded room for a moment, she immediately sat up. "A-Ning... Where is A-Ning? No, I must stay by her side."

"Absolutely not!" The imperial physician hastily raised his hand to stop her. "Noble Lady, you have never contracted smallpox before, and now that you are with child, you can afford even less to take such risks."

"With child?" Shen Tubai looked down at her abdomen in disbelief. "I am pregnant again?"

"Indeed. Was Your Ladyship not aware?" Shen Tubai had given birth before, and Physician Li had assumed she was simply waiting for the pregnancy to stabilize before making the news public.

Yet seeing her now, it was clear she was completely oblivious to the matter.

Physician Li could not help but pinch his goatee, slapping his thigh as he muttered, "Which physician in the Imperial Hospital was assigned to monitor the Noble Lady's health? To fail to notice that Her Ladyship was pregnant—this is truly, truly..."

Physician Li racked his brain but could not find a fitting adjective. The thought that he would now be personally responsible for Noble Lady Shen's pregnancy until the smallpox outbreak subsided gave him an instant headache.

Shen Tubai pressed a hand onto Physician Li's medical box. "For the past few months, my monthly flow has been entirely regular. How could I be pregnant? Did you make a mistake?"

Physician Li's beard bristled with indignation. "I have practiced medicine for over twenty-three years. I might misdiagnose other pulses, but a pregnancy pulse is never wrong! What Her Ladyship must do now is rest and nourish her fetus in peace; you must not overthink or dwell on worries."

After three long years, Shen Tubai was pregnant once more. Ordinarily, this should have been a joyous occasion, but Shen Tubai could not bring herself to smile at all.

"If I am to rest and nourish the fetus in peace, what is to become of A-Ning?"

"This..." Physician Li paused before offering a guarantee, "This humble subject will certainly do his utmost."

"Do your utmost?" Shen Tubai clutched at him as though grasping a straw of life. "Having practiced medicine for over twenty-three years, Physician Li must have witnessed countless storms. What degree of certainty do you have regarding A-Ning?"

"It is still too early to speak of certainty," Physician Li said awkwardly, forcing a hollow laugh. "Smallpox is a pestilence, highly contagious. Historically, out of ten people who contract it, barely one survives..."

Upon hearing these words, Shen Tubai sank further into despair, feeling that the child in her womb had truly arrived at the most inopportune time.

Physician Li belatedly realized the gravity of his words and hastened to offer comfort. "The little princess is blessed with great fortune, and with me personally overseeing her care, she will surely turn danger into safety. Besides, did Your Ladyship not already send someone outside the palace to retrieve a medicinal formula?"

Shen Tubai shook her head. "This palace cannot rest easy knowing A-Ning is left without anyone to tend to her. Aside from you, who else currently knows of my pregnancy?"

"Your Ladyship wishes to tend to the little princess in person? No... that is utterly out of the question!" Physician Li waved his hands frantically.

"I beg of you. A-Ning is my only child in this world. Even though I am pregnant again, I will never abandon her to fend for herself."

"What a wonderfully compassionate maternal heart from Noble Lady Shen, though I fear that wish will come to nothing." Pei Qiuqi walked in from outside, her brows laden with arrogance.

"Having married into the Prince's Estate for years, Noble Lady Shen should understand that our primary duty is to produce heirs for the imperial family. To disregard the child in your womb for the sake of the princess—is this not abandoning the root to pursue the tip?" Pei Qiuqi lectured righteously.

Shen Tubai let out a cynical laugh. "Whether it is the princess or the child in my womb, both were brought forth by this palace. Should His Highness place blame in the future, this palace will naturally account for it; there is no need for the Crown Princess to trouble herself."

"Too late." Pei Qiuqi raised an eyebrow slightly. "Since I have already entered the Eastern Palace, I cannot allow you to act according to your own willful whims. Now that I know of this matter, I will not let you make a mockery of your own health."

Shen Tubai shook her head helplessly. "I do not believe today's events were orchestrated by the Crown Princess, and I ask the Crown Princess not to make me pin this debt upon you. If I do not tend to her personally, should something befall A-Ning in the future..."

"I will bear the consequence," Pei Qiuqi cut her off. "I knew Noble Lady Shen was an intelligent woman. You must have heard just now—I contracted smallpox in my youth."

"Today's incident was clearly an attempt by someone to frame me. At first, I thought you were staging this yourself, but it appears not."

"In any case, this scapegoat has already been fastened onto my back. Even if only to prove my innocence, I will do my utmost to ensure the little princess survives. Please let Noble Lady Shen rest and secure her pregnancy in peace; only then can I give the Prince a proper account afterward."

Shen Tubai knew Pei Qiuqi made sense. This was the best possible arrangement, yet she still harbored hesitation.

Even after entering the palace, even at three years of age, A-Ning still loved to cling to her when sleeping. The child had never fallen so severely ill before.

A-Ning was a clever child; if she were to overhear fragments of conversation and realize what kind of affliction this was, how terrified she would be in her heart?

As Shen Tubai hesitated, Pei Qiuqi seized her hand. "Hesitate no longer. In your current condition, even if you stayed by the princess's side, she could not recover in peace."

"By then, you would have worn down your own health to the point of exhaustion, and the princess might still not recover well. Would that not simply grieve those who love us and gladden those who hate us?"

Pei Qiuqi's words shattered Shen Tubai's last lingering hesitation. She bowed deeply toward Pei Qiuqi. "In that case, I must trouble the Crown Princess."

Pei Qiuqi was, after all, still young; seeing her bow in such a manner, she immediately smiled with triumph, briskly beckoning the matrons to follow her toward the adjoining room.

Shen Tubai and A-Ning were separated by only a single wall, but due to the extreme contagiousness of smallpox and her own pregnancy, she was forbidden from stepping a single half-step out of the room.

She could only listen through the wall to the sounds coming from the other side. Shen Tubai had never known time to drag so slowly.

A month passed in a blur. The sounds from beyond the wall gradually grew more lively, and eventually, knowing that her mother was listening, A-Ning would even take time to press against the wall and speak loudly to her.

She told her she was doing very well, telling her to take good care of herself and the baby in her belly.

Being pregnant, Shen Tubai was naturally sentimental. Her heart melted time and again, weeping in the quiet of the night until dawn broke.

Because A-Ning's smallpox infection had developed with terrifying speed, Physician Li had immediately distributed preventive medicine to everyone in the palace. In total, twenty-three people within the Eastern Palace were infected.

This number was vastly lower than anticipated. On the twenty-seventh day of A-Ning's illness, two palace attendants who had contracted smallpox suddenly died, causing hearts throughout the palace to leap into their throats.

The medicinal formula Shen Tubai had requested from the Pei family ultimately proved effective. Half a month later, after improvements made by Physician Li, the formula successfully cured the last infected attendant in the Eastern Palace.

One and a half months later, Shen Tubai finally stepped out of that side hall.

"Mother~" The moment A-Ning saw her, she rushed joyfully into her embrace.

Seeing that the child was safe and sound, Shen Tubai's heart finally settled.

The smallpox was behind them, and it was time to settle some scores properly.