Chapter 22 Chapter 22 She and Gu Shi, really parted ways...

The biting cold spread from the inside of her thighs all the way up, and the phantom pain made her abdomen tremble constantly, as if all her internal organs were crushed and hollowed out by the bone-eating cold.

She couldn't help but twitch and fell on the bed, tears falling like she was incontinent, but she couldn't cry out.

Today is her 20th birthday... Lingchuan thought that her mother had promised to give her her dowry when she turned 20, which was a small shop.

Her mother told her with a smile that when she turned 20, she would let her be her own boss, manage the shop, and be responsible for her own profits and losses.

If her mother knew that her daughter was going to suffer such a thing, she would probably be heartbroken in her grave.

With a snap, the iron hook fell to the ground.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Lingchuan didn't know who he was apologizing to.

"It's so scary... I'm so useless... I can't do it..."

She covered her face with her hands.

Lingchuan opened her eyes and looked at the iron hook. A strong feeling of self-loathing surged in her heart. She didn't expect that she was such a cowardly person.

Why couldn't she do it even though she had made up her mind?

"Are you done yet? How long will you stay? The next patient needs to be seen."

The female doctor pushed open the door, her tone filled with impatience and reproach.

"If you want to cry, go outside and cry. Come back after you've thought it through. Don't waste my time. What were you doing before?"

Lingchuan reached out to hold onto the wall, then stood up tremblingly, his face pale.

"Didn't you say you couldn't do it? Why are you so slow even to stand up?"

She left the cabin slowly without saying a word.

She thought of the hateful soldiers who came to collect taxes, and her family could not come up with 280 taels of silver at once, so they had to hurriedly sell the shop that her mother was going to give her. Her mother felt sorry for her and cried for a long time at home.

A decent belt of Gu Shi cost more than 280 taels of silver. It turned out that the silver her family had paid with all their efforts was used up by people like Gu Shi.

Lingchuan discovered that her determination was worthless and she could not accomplish anything.

Qin Sizhao, who could easily pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar, but why can't I even solve this little problem...

"Girl, what's wrong with you?"

Lingchuan looked up and found a man in black in front of him.

The man had an ordinary face that would be hard to find in a crowd. Anyone who saw him would find him somewhat familiar, but she couldn't remember who he was.

To be honest, he was just a stranger whom she had only met once in her life. It didn't matter if she grabbed him and cried to him, or told him all her secrets.

But the man's tone was cold, as if he was questioning her, which made Lingchuan a little unhappy.

"nothing."

Jiang Jiuzhou knew that Lingchuan didn't know him, so he deliberately stepped forward to ask some questions.

The women's clinic was specially designed with no hiding places inside to prevent bad guys from peeping into the privacy of female patients. Instead of following her, Jiang Jiuzhou would rather trick her into telling him what she was talking about.

"Why do you look so unhappy?"

"Because you're talking to me and I don't want to talk to you, I'm unhappy."

Lingchuan rolled his eyes, stood up and left.

She had to go back to the palace to get some anti-nausea medicine.

An old man was setting up a fortune-telling stall on the roadside. When he saw Lingchuan passing by, he said:

"Girl, you have a very good face. I think you have the destiny to be a queen. You will definitely have a son."

This reminded Lingchuan that she was still pregnant with Gu Shi's child. She didn't care about anything else and cursed:

"You know shit! What do you mean by the Empress' fate? Pah! And you're talking about having a son? What bad luck! Did I ask you to read my face and you're talking nonsense?"

The old man was unhappy when he saw a girl being told that she was destined to be a queen for the first time. He shrank his neck and looked extremely embarrassed. In fact, whenever he saw a girl, he would tell her that she was destined to be a queen, and he would usually make her smile.

After cursing, Lingchuan calmed down and felt a little guilty and regretful.

"Don't blindly read people's faces anymore..."

She muttered as she hurried away.

He was just an old fortune teller setting up a stall. He was just telling nonsense to make a living. I was too arrogant and bullied him.

Lingchuan returned to the palace in a carriage, only to see Jinzhan lying in the yard, basking in the sun and lazing around.

Gu Shi and Ling Chuan were not around these days, and Jin Zhan was anxious about losing her job, but at the same time, she happily started to slack off.

"Hey, girl, you're here?"

Jinzhan jumped up from the rocking chair, looking a little embarrassed. This rocking chair is usually for the master to sit on.

"Well, don't worry about me. I'm just grabbing something."

Jinzhan was secretly happy that Lingchuan ignored her, so she continued to lie down in the rocking chair happily.

She knew that Lingchuan was prone to temper tantrums, but she also knew that Lingchuan would not treat her as a failure. Lingchuan would generally not care about such trivial matters.

Lingchuan looked at the room where she had lived for six years and felt inexplicably unfamiliar. Why was she standing here?

She was just an ordinary girl, living a life of contentment with having enough food and drink. What did this palace have to do with her? She shouldn't have come here, let alone met Gu Shi. This was not her original life at all.

Lingchuan really wanted to believe that she had only gone astray for a short time and that one day she would return to the right path instead of sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire.

There must be other possibilities in her life. Neither the prince's mansion nor the imperial palace is where she should be.

She walked into her room and expertly rummaged through her drawers.

She put the antiemetic medicine under a stack of erotic pictures, knowing that Jinzhan usually wouldn't look at that place.

Lingchuan picked up the stack of erotic pictures, but found nothing underneath.

She didn't believe it, so she flipped through it again, and finally threw the pornographic pictures to the ground impatiently, scattering the obscene things all over the floor.

Even so, there is no antiemetic.

She was anxious to go to the clinic to get some more medicine, but she was also worried that Jinzhan would find out that she was pregnant.

Why on earth did she take her anti-nausea medicine away...

Lingchuan was afraid that something unusual would be noticed, so he hurriedly picked up the pornographic pictures on the floor and put them away, then took a car back to the clinic.

"Young lady, I am the coachman sent by the prince. You can just take my carriage. Why did you call for another one? How dare you take a carriage of that name?"

Lingchuan was so angry that she gritted her teeth. Gu Shi actually sent someone to keep an eye on her.

He never cared where she went before, but now he actually cares. What right does he have to care?

"Did Gu Shi tell you to keep an eye on me?"

"The prince is just worried that you're not safe alone, so he specifically asked me to take good care of you. You can go wherever you want. Besides, the palace is a very important place, not just anyone can enter. You can only go back in my car."

Lingchuan was impatient to listen to the driver's long-winded talk, so he just got in.

"Go to the women's clinic."

"Haven't you been to the infirmary? Are you going again?"

"Well, something fell."

"There are imperial physicians in the palace. If you feel unwell, just go to the imperial physician. Why go to these messy little clinics?"

"Stop talking nonsense and just go."

She frowned, thinking that these things could be dealt with anyway.

Not far from the women's clinic, an old man was telling a story.

"This prince is truly a most upright gentleman, keeping himself clean. There are always people fabricating rumors about him to discredit him... But in reality, he values ​​friendship and loyalty the most, selflessly helping the orphan girl without asking for anything in return..."

Lingchuan sneered after hearing this. This Gu Shi was really shameless. He had the nerve to say anything just to build momentum for his ascension to the throne.

The man beside him yawned and said:

"Master, please change your story. These days, it's all about the prince... The tabloids are all about the prince's great achievements... I'm so tired of hearing them."

Lingchuan went to the women's clinic and bought some antiemetics, thinking that the medicine might only work for a while, but if it went on for too long, the truth would be revealed sooner or later.

Now she could only delay it for one day longer. At worst, she could just confront Gu Shi and ask him to find a doctor to help her abort the baby.

She lowered her head...but she couldn't say anything to Qin Sizhao no matter what.

Lingchuan casually bought a tabloid, which described the prince's "great achievements" in a rather corny way, which made Lingchuan frown.

The tabloid also published a tragic love story, telling the story of a prince who fell deeply in love with a beautiful and elegant cousin in his childhood. However, his cousin died young, and he was deeply heartbroken. He vowed to love only his cousin and never marry. He sponsored an orphan girl and regarded her as his sister, just to accumulate blessings for his cousin's afterlife, without any selfish motives.

Although this tragic love story did not mention any names, it made Lingchuan frown.

Does Gu Shi have a cousin? I've never heard him mention that.

How evil is he to make up such a disgusting story and tell it widely, just to prove that he has nothing to do with her...

Lingchuan sighed. She had known for a long time that Gu Shi was a respectable man. There was nothing he would not do for the sake of his "clean" reputation.

He sent people to publicize these things, firstly to build momentum for his ascension to the throne, and secondly to distance himself from her.

Even if Lingchuan is dispensable to him, he still has to use this method to make himself free of any moral flaws.

This was his usual practice. Now she was no longer heartbroken by such things. She just calmly thought about countermeasures.

She and Gu Shi parted ways and lived happily ever after.

Lingchuan casually put the tabloid into his sleeve, took some anti-emetics, and returned to the palace.

Gu Shi seemed to have been waiting for her for a long time and came to find her in a hurry.

"Lingchuan, I heard you went to the clinic. Are you feeling unwell?"

"You want to hear about a woman's illness too? Shame on you! Stop whining, I'm not going to die anyway!"

Lingchuan rolled her eyes and cursed. There are many things that ordinary girls don't like to talk about, so there is nothing wrong with her answer.

"Even I can't listen?"

He held Lingchuan's hand, and with his other hand he reached into her sleeve and touched her forearm naturally.

"No, get out."

"There are imperial physicians in the palace. If you have any problem, just ask an imperial physician to take your pulse. There's no need to go to the clinic."

Lingchuan had been able to hide it until now because Gu Shi had never paid much attention to her health. If he really called a royal physician to check her pulse now, she would not be able to hide it.

Lingchuan quickly changed the subject, impatiently knocked his hand away, and asked coldly:

"Gu Shi, let me ask you, do you have a cousin?"