One crisp morning, before Ninth Concubine could even make her usual offering at the temple, a sudden, searing pain gripped her abdomen. She quickly dispatched the young maid to fetch a doctor. But before the physician arrived, the agony became unbearable. She collapsed onto the**, blood staining her legs as contractions crashed over her in relentless waves. She realized, with a sickening lurch, that the time had come. Lying back on the**, she bore down with each wave of tightening, matching her efforts to the rhythm of her body.

In less than half a day, the child was born. She drew the infant to her chest, glanced down at the small bottom, and saw she had delivered a boy. Whispering a silent prayer to Amitabha Buddha, she drifted into a deep slumber.

When she awoke, the young maid was weeping, dabbing the sweat from her forehead with a cloth. Her Master stood by the window, his back turned, utterly silent. Shifting carefully, she realized the son in her arms was gone. "Where is my child?" she managed to ask. At the question, the Master flung his sleeve back in disgust, shoved the door open, and strode out.

It was only later she learned that the other concubines had witnessed her surreptitious glances and whispered exchanges with the scholar during her temple visits and had long since reported her indiscretions. The Master had intended to explode in fury, but since Ninth Concubine was heavily pregnant—and if it was a boy, any shock might harm the fetus—he had swallowed his rage.

Yet, fortune seldom visits alone; misfortune travels in battalions. After laboring alone to bring forth the boy, Ninth Concubine had fallen into an exhausted sleep. Coincidentally, it was that very day that Fifth Concubine was also heading to the temple. She stopped by to call Ninth Concubine along, finding the new mother and the newborn lying still on the**. Fifth Concubine picked up the infant, playfully teasing him. When she lifted the swaddling cloth and saw it was a boy, a surge of venomous jealousy flooded her heart. She hatched a scheme: she ordered her personal maid to carry the child away and, when the Master and the doctor arrived, claim that Ninth Concubine had suffered a miscarriage and the infant had died.

The plot worked flawlessly. Ninth Concubine wailed and pleaded, begging everyone to believe she had indeed delivered a robust, living boy. But given the damaging rumors concerning the scholar, the Master placed no faith in her protestations, acting as if she did not exist, leaving her to rage and weep to no avail.

Meanwhile, Fifth Concubine had dispatched her trusted maid to dispose of the infant. This maid, Cuihua, was clever and quick-witted from childhood, yet possessed a soft heart. Clutching the baby as she left the estate, Cuihua grieved for the child while frantically searching for a suitable home. As she neared the temple dedicated to the Goddess of Childbirth, she suddenly recalled the gossip about Ninth Concubine’s improper relationship with a student residing there. Thinking she was being exceptionally clever, she went into the temple and handed the infant to the scholar.

The student knew nothing of the turmoil in the Ninth Concubine’s household. As Cuihua presented the baby, she merely stated, “This is Ninth Concubine’s newborn son.” Hearing that it was her child, the scholar’s face broke into a slight smile, and he accepted the baby without hesitation into his arms. Cuihua observed his every movement, and while the student was engrossed in amusing the infant, she slipped away from the temple unnoticed.

Upon returning to the estate, Fifth Concubine interrogated Cuihua about the baby’s whereabouts. Cuihua recounted every detail, embellishing the description of the student’s expression when he first saw the child. After listening, Fifth Concubine threw her head back and laughed uproariously, declaring that the Master, after a lifetime of glory, was now being cuckolded at his very doorstep. This outburst did not go unheard; the steward passing the corridor caught the sound and immediately ran to report the matter to the Master.

The Master, upon hearing the steward's account, erupted in a furious rage. He instantly ordered Ninth Concubine seized and summoned Fifth Concubine and Cuihua for questioning. Fifth Concubine, being inherently cunning, realized her secret of sending away the male infant was exposed. She immediately claimed she had long been aware of Ninth Concubine’s affair with the scholar and, unwilling to let the Master raise another man’s child, had secretly instructed Cuihua to spirit the boy away and deliver him to his true father.