"Mother, have you forgotten why we came?" Gu Antong, seeing Bai Suihe leave, immediately pulled Liu Yun's arm unwillingly.
"This matter isn't urgent, we'll talk about it later. Didn't you see her complexion? If something happens to her now, we could get implicated just standing on the sidelines.
Your grandmother is around, she will always favor you a bit."
Gu Antong nodded, "But the headdress that matches my outfit is Third Aunt's dowry. Will she be willing to part with it?"
"You, don't worry about such things." Liu Yun tapped her daughter's head and whispered instructions, "When you go in, remember to make your grandmother happy. Don't let your Second Aunt take all the credit and benefits."
"There's really nothing I can do about that. They're close relatives from the same maternal family." Gu Antong also whispered...
Bai Suihe was unaware of this mother-daughter conversation. She only wanted to hurry back to her courtyard to think about how to prepare next.
Once back in the courtyard, she used fatigue as an excuse to have all the maids and matrons leave.
"If I haven't remembered wrong, it's ten days after Gu Kaiyuan returned to the mansion when the confiscation began, and the whole affair didn't last more than half a month."
Bai Suihe was quite troubled, resting her chin on her hand. Besides waiting for the confiscation, she had no better plan.
The book described Vice Minister Gu joining the Third Prince's faction. Due to political attacks, the Gu Family was pushed forward by the Third Prince to take the fall.
The Emperor was aware that the Gu Mansion was innocent. However, when faced with the choice between his son and his ministers, he chose the former, leading to confiscation and exile instead of total extinction.
Although afterwards, the Third Prince felt guilty and sent people to take care of them, the care was entirely directed towards Gu Antong, rendering others insignificant, their lives trivial.
"Others who transmigrate have cheat abilities—what's my cheat?" Bai Suihe muttered to herself, "A space? A system? A portal? A red envelope group? ..."
She thought of every possible cheat but nothing happened.
"What kind of cosmic joke is this? This is essentially a dead end, embarking on the exile route with a huge belly. It'd be clearer to just end it all with one stroke."
As for the room full of jewelry, before, she would have surely admired them, but now, with the confiscation day approaching, they wouldn't belong to her, and looking at them only added to her frustration.
Feeling a twinge of pain in her belly, she touched it, and surprisingly, her stomach was bulging.
Remembering from when her best friend was pregnant, she understood this was fetal movement. Back then, she found it amusing; now she found it extraordinary.
"Be good, baby. I'll find a way to bring you into this world safely. I certainly won't let you... meet the same fate as in the book..." Dying in the womb... At this moment, she chose to be superstitious and spat several times.
The belly bulged a few more times, as if responding. Bai Suihe gently rubbed it to soothe, and it finally settled down.
"Third Young Madam, I brought breakfast from the main kitchen. Can I leave it in the side hall?" Chun Xiang inquired quietly outside.
"Leave it in the side hall. I'll be there shortly," Bai Suihe said, feeling hungry after the morning's commotion, deciding to fill her stomach before thinking about other matters.
"Do you know when the Third Young Master will return?" Wary of memory lapses, Bai Suihe asked Dong Mei again.
She hoped her husband would be easy to get along with; otherwise, the future would be even more challenging.
Despite trying every means to rise to high rank and avenge his wife, he hadn't remarried, yet based on past behavior, he had played it safe within the mansion. If no tragedy occurred later, she feared he might not stand by her.
At that time, she had to consider how to draw a line clearly, as divorce was impossible and didn't exist, making it quite a headache.
"The servant has asked the butler, and the Third Young Master previously sent a message by pigeon, indicating he should be back in five or six days." Chun Xiang assisted Bai Suihe in washing her hands, and Dong Mei had already positioned maids to set the breakfast table.
With such meticulous care, if it weren't for the imminent confiscation and exile, being transmigrated here seemed actually favorable, for the service alone was worth it.
"When the Third Young Master returns to find the Third Young Madam having lost weight due to illness, he will surely feel sorry for her," Dong Mei served a bowl of porridge to Bai Suihe, "Third Young Madam, you ought to eat more, you can't get any thinner."
"It's porridge again," the entire mansion adhered to the matriarch's preferences, whatever she liked to eat would appear on everyone's dining table the next day. Even with a few side dishes, it still failed to whet one's appetite.
As for the preferences of a pregnant woman? There's no special treatment in the third household.
Dong Mei quickly glanced outside and whispered, "Miss, I've already had the matron go out to buy wontons, they'll be delivered to your room shortly. In the meantime, please eat a little now?"
Bai Suihe then recalled this point: her family had merchant origins, marrying into the Gu Mansion was reaching up, seeking a protector. Thus, the dowry was substantial, and they weren't short of silver, having already bribed the corner gate matron, ensuring no lack of delicacies.
The maids knew her preferences and always arranged matters accordingly.
Upon hearing wontons were on the way, Bai Suihe ate a few bites casually, then had the table cleared.
And indeed, not long after, a steaming bowl of wontons appeared in her room. She savorily devoured the entire bowl and then was escorted by the maids for a stroll in the courtyard.
Their backyard contained a small garden, although just over 200 square meters, it was private space, more relaxed than heading to the large garden, absent of worries about encountering inattentive individuals.
After merely two laps, a matron came to report that the matriarch had invited her.
This day seemed never-ending; previously, they instructed her to rest well in the courtyard, yet a few hours later it changed?
Returning to the main courtyard once more, she expected just to see the matriarch, but this time, the gathering was abundant—with the main house, the second house, the female lead, and every mistress in the mansion present—truly a full assembly.
Despite marrying into a supposed simple household, the trivial matters were truly abundant.
After paying respects to the matriarch, she nonchalantly chose a seat silently, no longer as before, standing like a newly-wed waiting for reprimand.
Xu Yulan, having seen Bai Qinghe's behavior before, was indifferent. As her aunt had said, Bai Suihe now had support. When she gives birth, she'd settle the score with her. Thinking this, her gaze involuntarily held schadenfreude.
In contrast, in the main room, Liu Yun was somewhat surprised. Yet seeing her already protruding belly, recalling the fiasco of her fainting yesterday, she seemed pensive.
"Ms. Bai, I'm calling you over to discuss something," after all, requesting something, Xu Huizhen's voice softened significantly.
"Please speak, Matriarch, though I'm of little influence and may not be of much help," Bai Suihe struggled to recall, looking knowingly at Gu Antong.