Chapter 21: Anxious for an Heir

  Qingping Courtyard, in the bedroom of Fenger's. Elder sister Su Yunyun had already drunk the medicinal soup mixed with honey and was lying on the couch asleep. Fenger's personal maid, Cai Zhu, came in again with a bowl of medicinal soup and quietly handed it to Fenger.

  Feng took over the medicine bowl and frowned in disgust.

  Next to her, Xing's wife, who was sleeping with Yunniang, advised: "My good master, I advise you to endure and drink this bitter medicine. Take advantage of the fact that the young master is at home, hurry up and get pregnant with a son."

  Feng sighed, nodded, and closed her eyes to drink a bowl of medicine in one gulp. Cai Zhu beside her quickly handed over a cup of warm water for Feng to rinse her mouth, and then offered her a small plate of salted plums. Feng picked one up and held it in her mouth, taking a while to catch her breath before sighing, "It's really suffering."

  Xing's daughter-in-law smiled softly and persuaded: "Master, don't be discouraged. When you give birth to a son, teach him to achieve great things; our cloud sister is also considerate of children. In the future, you will have both sons and daughters, just like the madam, and people all over the world will envy you."

  Feng smiled faintly and nodded silently.

  The year before, she had been pregnant with a son. Because of the New Year's busy schedule and the complexity of household chores, Mrs. Lu handed over most of the household affairs to her. She managed the household diligently, but ended up exhausting herself so much that she miscarried the child in her womb.

  After that, her body suffered greatly and she was unable to get pregnant again. Last year, her husband led the army on a western expedition, leaving for nearly half a year, causing her to guard an empty house alone, worrying and fearing, shedding countless tears in secret.

  Now Su Yuping has returned triumphantly, but Feng has already figured it out. For the time being, the power and influence in the mansion are not important. As long as Su Yuping is alive and well, she will be the wife of the crown prince, and who manages household affairs is temporary; when her husband inherits the marquis title, she will be the mistress of this mansion.

  But wanting to steadily sit on the throne of the Hou Fu lady, relying solely on her husband is not enough, she must also have children.

  In order to continue the title, when the Marquis passes away in the future, it is absolutely impossible to give the title to a childless heir, allowing the hard-won marquisate to be cut off from inheritance in this generation of Su Yu Ping.

  Besides, although Su Yuping is still young, she can't guarantee that she won't have to go out again in the future. Leading troops and fighting wars, with swords and guns everywhere, if her husband makes a mistake, Fang Shi understands that even though she now controls everything in the Hou Mansion, it's all just pouring water into a bamboo basket.

  Children are the foundation of a woman's life in this world.

  In this magnificent mansion of Houfu, besides Fengshi, Yao Fengge was also worried about her descendants.

  Qixiang Courtyard, the maidservants waited on their masters for dinner and then took turns keeping watch, replacing each other to go eat.

  Yao Fengge left only Shanhu to serve in front of her, handed a yellowed prescription to Yao Yanyu and asked in a low voice: "Sister, do you see any problem with this prescription?"

  Yao Yan took the prescription and examined it carefully by the candlelight, saying: "This is a prescription for women to warm and nourish their bodies, there's nothing wrong with it."

  "Then," asked Yao Fengge, "if one often takes this prescription for warming and supplementing, can she quickly become pregnant?"

  "Is she pregnant?" Yao Yanyu was slightly surprised by the words, thinking to herself that she wasn't very familiar with gynecology, and besides, this matter of having children... wasn't it useless for just one woman to try? Although she thought this in her heart, Yao Yanyu still lowered her head and carefully read the prescription again.

  "How is it?" Yao Fengge looked at Yao Yanyu's serious expression and felt a little nervous.

  Yao Yan couldn't tell anything from the prescription, after all, she didn't have similar experience. Although she had seen many decoction prescriptions, she hadn't had the opportunity to put them into practice. For a Western medicine doctor who attaches great importance to clinical experience, untested prescriptions are unreliable. So she asked: "Sister, have you been taking this decoction all along?"

  "When I first got married, of course, I didn't use it. After being married for over a year without having children, I asked someone to find this prescription for me. But after taking it for less than half a year, I fell ill and couldn't take care of this matter anymore, so I temporarily put the prescription aside. Now that I'm gradually recovering, I thought of it again."

  Yao Fengge sighed heavily and said, "Sister also knows that I have been married to Third Master for over three years without having a child. In the eyes of the madam, this is already a big mistake. Originally, I thought my life was not long, so I didn't care about it. But now, thanks to sister's wonderful skills, I've managed to regain my life. Since I can live well, I must have a child. Otherwise, I won't be able to stand in this house either. In the future, if I'm dismissed from the Hou Mansion due to being childless, wouldn't that make our parents and brothers lose face?"

  Yao Yanyu thought for a moment and found that what she said did make sense, so she sighed: "Sister's words are naturally not wrong. But this matter of pregnancy can't be blamed entirely on the woman either. Sister also said that before, Fangzi had been taking this prescription for more than half a year without any effect?"

  Yao Fengge was taken aback and hastily grasped Yao Yan's hand, asking in a low voice: "You mean... Third Master?"

  "No, no." Yao Yan was startled and thought to herself that she didn't know what Su Yuxiang was like, and secretly scolded herself for speaking too much. She hastily said: "Sister, don't think too much about it, I mean, this prescription might be a good one, but it's not necessarily suitable for you to use."

  Yao Fengge has already taken Yao Yanyu's words to heart, thinking that she should find a reliable doctor to diagnose Su Yuexiang's pulse when she returns, and maybe the reason for her infertility over the years is also unknown. After thinking about it, she asked in a soft voice, "I think so too. Does sister have any good ideas?"

  Yao Yanyu thought for a moment and said, "Sister's body has not fully recovered yet, it is really not conducive to getting pregnant. If she gets pregnant at this time, the child will inevitably compete with her mother's energy and blood, making her body unbearable. On the other hand, if sister gets pregnant before her body is fully recovered, it will also be detrimental to the child's health. So my intention is that sister's pregnancy cannot be rushed. She must take good care of herself for the next one or two months."

  "Sister is right." Yao Fengge was very much in agreement with these words.

  Yao Yan advised Yao Fengge to go out more, relax and use food supplements as much as possible, and not to take medicine unless necessary.

  In short, the idea that 'all medicines are poisonous to some extent' and 'life relies on exercise' must be established. Don't lie down or take medicine at every turn.

  Finally, Yao Yan told Yao Fengge another method of moxibustion to reassure her, instructing her to use moxa sticks every night to fumigate the uterus, Shimen and other acupoints to regulate the female endocrine system, and explained the specific method again in detail.

  Yao Yan's words were finally let go by Yao Fengge, as soon as she entered the house, she took off her shoes and lay down on the couch, repeatedly calling Cuimiao: "Bring tea!"

  Cui Wei hurriedly poured a cup of honey water and handed it over, whispering back: "Miss, Madame Feng just returned, because she was in a hurry, she didn't even have dinner, now she's eating in the small wing room."

  Yao Yan suddenly remembered that she had told the wet nurse to go out and run some errands, but the wet nurse had been gone for a whole day and only just returned. So she hastily said: "Let her eat first, after eating let her come in."

  "Yes." Cui Wei took back the empty teacup.