Prince Anping's Residence, six years earlier.
After Concubine Lü disappeared, the Thousand-Household Commander's world collapsed, and the whole of Prince Anping's Residence exploded.
The Thousand-Household Commander mobilized every resource he had and dug three feet beneath Capital City, yet still found no trace of Concubine Lü. Then he stopped eating and drinking and began hurting himself.
As the resident physician of Prince Anping's Residence, Jian Ruonan had brought Wang Defa along on several house calls after Concubine Lü's disappearance.
On one such visit, the Thousand-Household Commander had gone seven days without food or water. He lay in bed at death's door, about to croak.
When two older serving women hauled Jian Ruonan into the residence, the maids and serving women of Wanju Pavilion were kneeling all over the floor. The princess consort raged, "You couldn't even keep watch over one pregnant woman! What use are you? Drag them all outside and beat them to death!"
[Well, look at that. I've stirred up a whole nest of domineering CEOs. Every last one of them acts like this!]
The Thousand-Household Commander lay in bed with barely a breath left. "Mother, if Xinxiang comes back and there's no one considerate to look after her, what will she do?"
The princess consort sighed. "She ran away, and you're still thinking of her?!"
Commandery Prince Anping swept his arm out, sending the vases and jars on the display shelves crashing. "This Prince has no son as spineless as you!"
Commandery Prince Anping pointed at the young maid kneeling on the floor with a bowl of bird's nest porridge. "Keep feeding him!"
The young maid brought the spoon to the Thousand-Household Commander's lips, but he refused to open his mouth.
Commandery Prince Anping ordered someone to pry his mouth open. They fed him the bird's nest