A woman running a household without a mother‑in‑law to help can only rely on herself in everything. There are pros and cons to that: the good part is she doesn't have to be worn down by a mother‑in‑law and can be the mistress of the house herself; the bad part is that every single thing has to be handled by her own two hands, and she simply can't split herself into more than one body.
Back then when Madam Zhou was pregnant with that little girl, it was the same: she had to look after her eldest son, manage all the housework, and carry that big belly around. Exhaustion was inevitable.偏偏 at that time Old Scholar Zhou was coming home later and later, until one day she made some food, planning to send it to the school, only to see Old Scholar Zhou hurrying off somewhere.
A woman's intuition told her something was wrong, so she followed, but she was already near her due date, her pace was slow, and she quickly lost him.
