Chapter 28 - Relieve Uneasiness of Mind (1/2)

Proofread by Fu Tianying

Although Ma Chaosheng woke up from coma, he could not speak yet, let alone get out of bed. Madam Ma always took care of her husband by herself. After feeding Ma Chaosheng, she sat beside her husband and talked to him about recent situations of Lion Dance competition. Though Ma Chaosheng could not speak, he tried to smile. Actually, they did not have too much time to spend together in the past. Now, there came the time for them.

Ma Chaosheng was too weak to sit up for a long time, so Madam Ma let him lie down for a rest and walked out of the bedroom to the family hall for worshipping the Buddha. When she was young, she was not a Buddhist. Later, after she gave birth to several girls and was so eager to bear a boy, she began to rely all her hopes on Buddhism. In the end, she still did not have a son, but she was accustomed to reciting Buddhist scripture. Since so much happened these days, she wished she could pray to all gods. As long as her husband could recover and her son could deal with everything smoothly, she would rather cut short her own life.

Madam Ma walked from the room to the Buddha hall through a small garden. She walked absent-mindedly on the way with one maid being silent along her side.

Suddenly, she saw two people talking in the garden. One was the gardener, Ding Si, with a potted hibiscus on his hand. The hibiscus was fascinating, white and red in full bloom. The other was Concubine Zhao.

While everything was in such a mess, how come Concubine Zhao was still admiring the beauty of flowers at leisure? Madam Ma was enraged. She hurried forward and reproached Concubine Zhao sharply, “Master Ma has been good to you. Now he is lying on the bed. But you are admiring the beauty of the flowers in a carefree mood! If you are not to stay in our family, I will help you get out of here right away!”

Seeing Madam Ma come here unexpectedly, Concubine Zhao and Ding Si were all startled, throwing themselves at her feet in a hurry.

“Madam, I was wronged. Recently I was worried about Master Ma, anxious day and night. These days I found it hard for me to fall asleep because of anxiety, so I let Ding Si find me a potted hibiscus to relieve uneasiness of mind. I was terribly sorry if I offended you.” Kneeling on the ground with her head down, Concubine Zhao spoke in a slow and reverent voice without any sense of fear.

That was what Madam Ma hated her most. At first, Ma Chaosheng’s mother wanted him to have concubines but he refused. However, things were different with Concubine Zhao. The father of Concubine Zhao was a doctor. He once treated a patient but that patient died. He was asked to compensate but he had not enough money. It happened that one distant cousin of Ma Chaosheng’s mother was the neighbor of Concubine Zhao. He saw that her father had one daughter and four sons so he suggested him to sell his daughter to Ma family because maybe Concubine Zhao could bear a son for Ma family. This time Ma Chaosheng did not refuse. Moreover, he slept with Concubine Zhao several times. She was lucky to be pregnant and bore a son. But it was a pity that the little baby died when he was born. But Madam Ma still guarded against Concubine Zhao. Every time Master Ma went to the room of Concubine Zhao, she would be cold to Master Ma for a long time. Over time, Master Ma did not go there anymore. But he never treated Concubine Zhao unfairly in her normal spendings.

Seeing her pitiable expression, Madam Ma was more than a little upset, unwilling to talk with her. Madam Ma took a look at the hibiscus in Ding Si’s hands and ordered the maid, “Take the flower to the Buddha hall.” The maid took the hibiscus quickly and followed Madam Ma to the Buddha hall.

Seeing the figure of Madam Ma going afar, Ding Si stood up and kneaded his legs with a cry of thankfulness.

“I was almost scared to death.”