"So it really was her!"

After listening to Yi Shangkun's recounting of all his memories of his birth mother, Yi Shangyun finally understood that the face she had seen before was indeed the work of her own birth mother.

He also specifically instructed her to keep her away from the Western Qin royal family, presumably because he was afraid that her identity would be recognized, thus causing her to suffer many misfortunes.

It turns out that her mother had always loved her so much, only wishing that she would be born into an ordinary family and become an ordinary woman.

In the end, however, she could not escape the arrangement of fate and met Xuan Yuanhan.

The father and daughter were each lost in their own deep thoughts.

After a long while, Yi Shangyun reached out and gently wiped away the tears on her face.

He looked up at the starry sky, sniffed, and called out, "Father..."

Upon hearing her soft call, Yi Shangkun slightly raised his lowered eyes.

Yi Shangyun hesitated for a moment before finally speaking: "Actually... Yun'er's mother was not only the Empress of Dongning Kingdom, but she was also a descendant of the lost guardian of Xiqin Kingdom."

"What?"

Upon hearing the sound, Yi Shangkun looked at Yi Shangyun's profile and was instantly stunned.

But as soon as she realized what was happening, she was even more incredulous and said, "So, then you're also...?"

At this point, he clearly didn't even dare to think any further.

Yi Shangyun looked into his eyes with teary eyes, which was extremely heartbreaking.

Yi Shangkun was filled with self-reproach, and sighed to the heavens, "Heavens above, how could this be! If I had known this would happen, I should never have brought her to the capital. I should have taken her away from Western Qin as soon as possible, as far away as possible! I thought my benefactor was just an enemy of some official, and I thought I could protect her child..."

It was clearly too late to say anything now, but then he suddenly remembered to ask, "By the way, does His Highness the Prince of Qin already know that you are a descendant of the Guardians?"

Yi Shangyun shook her head: "I don't know if she knows either. But... when we were at the Peach Blossom Shop in the south of the city, the Dowager Consort had some suspicions."

"Your Highness..."

Yi Shangkun frowned, and after a moment's thought, he hurriedly pulled Yi Shangyun up by the arm and said, "Let's go, we must leave here immediately. The King of Qin must already know all this. Western Qin is too dangerous. We should leave here as soon as possible."

The conversation between the father and daughter was overheard by Yi Sanshao, who had come to visit the sick man.

“This girl…she is actually…a descendant of the guardians of Western Qin.”

Young Master Yi was completely taken aback by this, and stood there in astonishment.

Upon seeing Yi Shangkun dragging Yi Shangyun along as they hurriedly headed towards the inner room, they quickly dodged and retreated.

"Knock knock knock"

Just as Yi Shangkun quickly packed his things and was about to go out with Yi Shangyun to find Young Master Yi, there was a sudden, urgent knocking at the door.

"who?"

Upon hearing the sound, Yi Shangkun instinctively pulled Yi Shangyun behind him to shield her, and asked warily.

"Help! Help!"

Suddenly, a faint cry for help came from outside the door.

Yi Shangkun then put down his luggage and went to open the door to check.

Before me appeared a frail old woman, leaning on a cane, dressed simply, with white hair, who looked to be about sixty years old.

Seeing that the newcomer's face was completely unfamiliar, Yi Shangkun looked him over briefly and asked, "May I ask who you are, sir?"

The old woman explained, "I apologize for disturbing you, sir. I am the owner of this courtyard."

Yi Shangkun suddenly realized what was happening and bowed to him, saying, "So you are the owner of the house. I am truly sorry for not respecting you."

The old woman returned the greeting and said, "You're too kind, sir. The reason I'm bothering you so late at night is because my granddaughter-in-law seems to be about to give birth. I'm old and my hands and feet aren't very nimble. Seeing that you are scholars, could you please take a look?"

Yi Shangkun glanced at a room in the courtyard with a faint candlelight and said, "Giving birth? Then you should hurry up and find the village's midwife! Although I have some medical knowledge, I am not an expert in childbirth, so I'm afraid I can't help you."

The old woman said helplessly, "You may not know this, but our village is extremely remote, and few people know about it. There are only a few households in the whole village, and there are no midwives. In almost every family, the mother-in-law delivers the baby for her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law delivers the baby for her granddaughter-in-law. But my daughter-in-law..."

As the old woman spoke, she suddenly wiped away her tears, paused, and continued, "Not long ago, my son and daughter-in-law both died of illness, and even my only grandson... Now, only my granddaughter-in-law and I are left to depend on each other..."

Yi Shangkun glanced at the time and realized it was already very late. At that moment, all he could think about was leaving; he had no other thoughts on the matter.

So he took out some silver from his pocket, stuffed it into the old woman's hand, and made an excuse to refuse: "Old lady, I have some loose silver here. You should take it and find another expert. Although I sympathize with your plight and really want to help you, I just can't..."

Just then, the old woman suddenly threw away the silver that Yi Shangkun had handed her, and said angrily, "I don't want your money. I just want to keep my grandson's only bloodline. Otherwise, even if I die, I will have no face to face my ancestors."

Yi Shangkun was immediately shocked by his actions, and for a moment, even the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

"May I take a look?"

Suddenly, Yi Shangyun, who had been staying inside the house, came out.

Yi Shangkun turned around and glared at her, then shouted to stop her, "Yun'er, stop fooling around, go back now!"

The old woman was startled and asked, "And who is this young lady?"

Yi Shangkun said, "She is my eldest daughter, Yun'er."

The old woman looked her up and down, her tone somewhat skeptical: "This young lady looks like she's not married yet. Is she really capable of giving birth?"

Yi Shangyun stepped forward to the old woman, gritted his teeth as if he had mustered up his courage, and said, "Grandma, could you please take me to see her first?"

The old woman seemed to have no better option. Although she knew she had to respect the traditional boundaries between men and women, her life was the most important thing. If there had been even the slightest other way, she wouldn't have asked a strange man for help in the middle of the night.

"But if the woman in front of me can do that, wouldn't it be even better for her?"

Having made up her mind, the old woman began to lead the way.

Yi Shangkun, still worried, said, "Yun'er..."

Yi Shangyun turned around and smiled slightly at him: "Father, don't worry!"

However, after a thorough examination, Yi Shangyun's face showed a deep sense of difficulty.

The old woman looked at her granddaughter-in-law lying on the bed, her face deathly pale, as if she was tormented by intense pain and didn't even have the strength to cry out.

So he asked anxiously, "How is she? How is my granddaughter-in-law?"

Yi Shangyun's expression was quite unpleasant. He asked, "Grandpa, did your granddaughter-in-law often have abdominal pain before?"

The old woman thought for a moment and said, "The abdominal pain... seems to be more frequent than in other pregnant women."

Seeing that Yi Shangyun's expression seemed a bit off, the old woman asked tentatively, "How is it? Is the situation... bad?"

"Just as I thought."

The clouds on the clothes seemed to be confirming something.

He then came to his senses and answered the old woman, comforting her, "No, old lady, there's no need to worry. The baby is fine. It's just... there are some things that I need to discuss with my father before we can make a decision."

The old woman nodded: "In that case, thank you for your trouble, Miss."

With a smile, Yi Shangyun got up and hurriedly went out the door.

Upon seeing Yi Shangyun emerge, Yi Shangkun and Yi Sanshao, who had been waiting outside for some time, hurriedly stepped forward and asked in unison with concern, "How did it go?"

Finally seeing Young Master Yi again, Yi Shangyun said apologetically, "Young Master Yi."

"I'm sorry." Although Young Master Yi was indeed upset, she was, after all, his girl, so how could he really be angry with her?

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Yi Shangyun hurriedly continued, "There's something I need to say. Just now, when I examined the woman's abdomen to confirm the baby's position, I noticed that she experienced particularly intense pain when I touched a certain spot. I suspect that this woman has a lump in her abdomen, possibly a 'mastitis'..."

Before he could finish speaking, the two of them spoke again in unison, looking at each other in utter astonishment.

"Zhengjia"

"Zhengjia"

Yi Shangyun didn't know why the two were so surprised, but he said again with great certainty, "Yes, I also asked the old man, and he confirmed that it is a lumpy tumor. Usually, patients with this disease cannot get pregnant. But this woman only found out when she was about to give birth, yet the fetus is safe and sound. This is truly a miracle."

The clouds on the clothes were deeply moved by the greatness of life.

However, both Yi Shangkun and Yi Sanshao were feeling quite uneasy.

Just then, Yi Shangyun suddenly grabbed Yi Shangkun's arm, startling Yi Shangkun so much that cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Upon seeing this, Yi Shangyun asked, "Father, are you hot?"

As she spoke, she hurriedly took out her embroidered handkerchief to help wipe him.

Yi Shangkun stopped him, saying, "I will do it myself."

Immediately afterwards, Yi Shangyun earnestly pleaded with him, "Father, please help that poor woman."

"Why...why am I the father, and not you?" Yi Shangkun looked into her eyes in utter astonishment.

Over the years, whenever she thought of the pregnant woman who died during the COVID-19 outbreak in Longhu City, and of her own child whom she had never met, she was terrified.

"I can't do it, I really can't do it."

“You can do it, you definitely can, think of your mother.” Yi Shangkun tried to encourage her to step out of the shadows.

"Girl, believe in yourself, go quickly, the child is waiting for you."

With Yi Sanshao's final urging, Yi Shangyun finally moved slowly and walked into the house.

In the dim candlelight, she tremblingly picked up a silver needle.

She thought of her birth mother, who, in the last moments of her life, still desperately tried to bring her into this world.

She remembered the solitary woman who had helped her leave Longhu City. Although everyone had long ago condemned the unborn child in her womb, she still insisted on giving the child even just a sliver of a chance to come into this world.

Although the final result was not satisfactory, her courage demonstrated a mother's all-out commitment to her child.

She recalled the early stages of the outbreak in Longhu City, when, despite the woman's best efforts to cooperate with treatment, she ultimately did not live to see her child born; both mother and child perished. At that time, her husband held a knife to her; how filled with grief and anger must she have felt?

Finally, she realized that she hadn't been able to do everything she could to protect the child in her womb.

Suddenly, she felt as if she were seeing her own child in the woman in front of her, and finally made up her mind.

"Don't be afraid, child. This time, I will definitely bring you safely into this world."

Finally, the hand that had been trembling in mid-air slowly stopped.

At that moment, Yi Shangyun aimed at the acupoint and stabbed the woman in the abdomen with the silver needle he was holding tightly in his hand.

In the quiet of the night.

Finally, the sound of a baby being born could be heard.