novelraw Chapter 247 - 95: I Didn’t Do It On Purpose
Chapter 247 - 95: I Didn’t Do It On Purpose
Qin Mei lay in bed listening for a while, but the more she heard, the less interested she became. It was all just idle family gossip.
Qin Mei got up and went to the bathroom to wash up. ’You can hide for a moment, but can you hide forever?’
Hearing a stir from inside the room, Aunt Zhang said, "The Fourth Wife of Jing is awake."
Su Fen’s heart leaped with joy. She grabbed Aunt Zhang’s hand. "Zhang, you’re their aunt. You have to help me put in a good word later."
Sister Guo was on somewhat friendly terms with the Fourth Wife of Jing, but even she refused to reveal a baby’s gender, let alone tell Su Fen. Su Fen’s family had no connection with her at all. The Fourth Wife of Jing was closer to the Second Eldest Sister, but when Su Fen sought her help, she was firmly rejected.
"Sufen, don’t worry. I’ll speak up for you," Aunt Zhang patted the back of Su Fen’s hand reassuringly. ’Qin Mei will never listen to me,’ she thought. ’The more I ask for her help, the less she’ll be willing to give it. I’ve already figured out my strategy. I’ll just do the exact opposite.’
"Thank you, Zhang. That puts my mind at ease. And don’t you worry, I won’t treat you poorly after this." Su Fen was someone who knew how the world worked.
"Don’t say that, we’re not strangers," Aunt Zhang said, deliberately feigning displeasure, but inwardly she was gleeful. She could make a tidy profit from this.
The door to the room opened, and Qin Mei appeared, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. She had tied the shirt in a knot at her waist and wore her hair in a high ponytail, looking youthful and radiant.
"Fourth Wife of Jing, you’re awake," Aunt Zhang said, rising to her feet. "Your Auntie Su Fen and her daughter-in-law came looking for you early this morning. When they saw you were asleep, they decided not to disturb you and just wait."
"Fourth Wife of Jing," Su Fen said, getting up as well and smiling at Qin Mei. Noticing her daughter-in-law was still seated, she roughly hauled her up from the wicker chair. "Fourth Wife of Jing, this is my son Tiezhu’s wife. She’s eight months pregnant."
Instead of being contrary, Qin Mei walked toward them with a radiant smile.
Aunt Zhang was stunned. Faced with this version of Qin Mei, she had no idea what she was planning.
"Auntie Su Fen, ma’am," Qin Mei said with a smile, greeting them before sitting down in a nearby wicker chair.
Su Fen was taken aback. The rumors all said the Fourth Wife of Jing was difficult, but in person, she seemed perfectly amicable and polite. ’So much for rumors,’ she thought. "What’s this ’ma’am’ nonsense? No need for that. Just call her Tiezhu’s wife. Tiezhu’s wife, quick, hold out your hand and let the Fourth Wife of Jing—no, wait, let Divine Doctor Qin take your pulse."
Su Fen helped Tiezhu’s wife sit down in the wicker chair beside Qin Mei, then pulled up her sleeve and held her wrist out.
’Divine Doctor Qin?’ The corner of Qin Mei’s mouth twitched. She looked at the outstretched hand. Its skin was sallow and covered in calluses—the hand of a laborer. ’Working hard while eight months pregnant... what a miserable fate.’
Tiezhu’s wife was plain, with a sallow complexion and freckles across her nose and cheeks. She wasn’t tall and was very thin, yet her belly was enormous. Qin Mei worried that her slight frame wouldn’t be able to support it.
"It’s twins," Qin Mei stated, not asked.
"A divine doctor indeed! You haven’t even taken her pulse and you can tell it’s twins just by looking," Su Fen exclaimed in delight, heaping praise on her.
Qin Mei was speechless. ’Does that even require taking a pulse?’ she thought. ’With a belly that big, it could only be twins.’
"Pregnancy is difficult, and it’s even harder with twins. Ma’am, you’re too thin, and you look malnourished. If you don’t get more nutrition, giving birth will be very dangerous," Qin Mei advised.
Whether the pregnancy was difficult or not was unimportant. Which woman didn’t go through pregnancy? To Su Fen and Aunt Zhang, it was just a normal part of life that they had both experienced.
Ignoring Qin Mei’s warning, Su Fen asked impatiently, "Divine Doctor Qin, hurry and tell us, are they boys or girls?"
"If you want to know the gender of the babies in advance, I can tell you. But I charge a fee." Qin Mei couldn’t even be bothered to ask what they would do if they were boys, or if they were girls.
The answer was obvious. If she didn’t care about the gender, she wouldn’t have shown up at the door with her daughter-in-law.
"Of course," Su Fen nodded repeatedly. Going to the hospital costs money. Just because Doctor Qiao didn’t charge them didn’t mean the Fourth Wife of Jing wouldn’t.
"My fee is very high," Qin Mei said, deliberately stressing the word "high."
Qin Mei had charged Sister Guo ten yuan for a single prescription, so Su Fen figured that even if she doubled the price to twenty, she would just have to grit her teeth and pay it. "As long as you tell me whether they’re boys or girls, I’m willing to pay no matter how high the price."
"Really?" Qin Mei looked at Su Fen with a smirk, the corners of her lips turned up in a mocking grin. "You’re willing to pay no matter how high?"
"Yes, I’ll pay no matter the cost," Su Fen nodded. When she saw Qin Mei raise a single index finger, she breathed a sigh of relief. ’She didn’t double it, it’s still ten yuan.’ "Alright, I’ll give you ten yuan."
Su Fen pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, unfolded it, and took out a ten-yuan note to hand to Qin Mei.
Qin Mei looked at the offered note but didn’t take it. She lifted her gaze to Su Fen, her red lips parting. "Ten yuan isn’t enough."
Su Fen faltered, then pulled out another note. "Twenty yuan."
Qin Mei still didn’t accept it, shaking her head. "Still not enough."
"But you gestured ten," Su Fen complained.
Qin Mei waggled her raised index finger, a sly smile on her face. "It’s one, alright, but not ten yuan," she said casually. "Feel free to take a wild guess."
At her words, Su Fen gasped. She looked toward the silent Aunt Zhang, her voice trembling. "It couldn’t be... one hundred, could it?"
One hundred yuan—her entire family couldn’t scrape together that much money.
"Congratulations, you’re wrong. It’s one thousand," Qin Mei said with a brazen laugh. ’Jie Jingchen set the price at one thousand. Even I think that’s steep, so there’s no way they won’t. It’s a good thing if a thousand-yuan price tag is enough to scare the neighbors away.’
"One thousand?" Aunt Zhang was utterly shocked.
"One thousand?" Su Fen found it even harder to believe, suspecting she had misheard.
"That’s the price the head of my household set for me, and I think it’s reasonable," Qin Mei said. "Auntie Su Fen, you have to understand that things aren’t easy for us. We’ve just split off from the main family. You never know how expensive daily life is until you’re the one running the house. I don’t have a job, and you all know about Jing Qi’s condition. It’s incredibly hard for Jie Jingchen to support us all by himself. I just want to lighten his load and earn a little money to help make ends meet."
’One thousand... Is that what she calls ’earning a little money to help make ends meet’? That’s more like striking it rich!’
Su Fen tried everything from pleading to arguing, but Qin Mei wouldn’t budge. Even if she had knelt, Qin Mei would not have compromised. Aunt Zhang couldn’t get a word in edgewise; every time she tried to interject, Qin Mei would shoot her down with a single sharp retort.
"If you pay the thousand for her, I’ll tell her the gender of the babies."
In the end, Su Fen left the Jie Family’s home, supporting her daughter-in-law and cursing under her breath. Seeing them emerge, the neighbors who had been busy in the courtyard immediately ran over to ask what had happened. When they learned that Qin Mei was demanding a thousand yuan to reveal the babies’ gender, a torrent of curses erupted.
Aunt Zhang shot Qin Mei a venomous glare before gathering the enamel mugs from the stone table and stomping into the kitchen. She had been planning to stay on Qin Mei’s good side and refer more business to her. If Qin Mei made money, she could get a cut. But who knew she would set the price so high? ’One thousand? What a joke!’
Never mind that no one had that kind of money; even if they did, who would spend a thousand yuan just to find out a baby’s gender ahead of time?
Qin Mei, however, was in a great mood. She stretched languidly and murmured to herself, "Well, that should stop people from showing up to ask about their babies’ genders."
Qin Mei stood up, walked over, and knocked on Jie Jingshan’s door.
"Jing Qi, are you awake?" Qin Mei asked.
"Fourth Sister-in-law, one moment," came Jie Jingshan’s breathless voice from inside.
It was obvious Jing Qi was exercising. Qin Mei didn’t tell her to stop, and instead asked, "Have you eaten breakfast?"
"We’ve eaten," Jie Jingshan replied.
"Don’t rush, I won’t come in," Qin Mei said. "I’m going to the kitchen to find something to eat."
"Okay," Jie Jingshan answered.
Qin Mei shook her head with a helpless smile and turned toward the kitchen. In the pot, Jie Jingchen had left a bowl of congee and a boiled egg warming for her. Since she had gotten up relatively early today, the food was still perfectly hot.