Chapter 45

Luo Yan's feelings for Cui Wuyang are very complicated.

Initially harboring subtle hostility and attributing the fear brought about by the plot to him, now that he has been reborn, all the blame has turned into remorse.

During her month-long stay in the capital, Cui Wuyang treated her extremely well. If it weren't for the requirements of the plot, he would clearly have been capable of protecting her.

The male lead shouldn't be the one being pitied, but...

Regardless, she already has Zhu Yun and will firmly choose him. Besides, if she pleads for him now, Zhu Yun might go berserk in his rage, and Cui Wuyang would die even faster.

After much deliberation, Luo Yan said, "I'll pretend I don't know anything for now and try to stall A-Yun. If he doesn't make a move, the others won't be able to hurt the male lead."

Furthermore, Cui Wuyang has been wandering the martial arts world for two years and has made many friends. He wouldn't be so desperate as to need a random passerby who has finished filming to rescue him.

Inside the carriage, Zhu Yun presumptuously reached out and pulled Luo Yan's hair, causing the hairpin in her hair to fall off and land silently on the carpet.

"Zhu Yun, what's gotten into you again?"

She frowned, her eyes narrowed, and she looked at him angrily.

"Luo Yan, you always make me feel uncomfortable."

Zhu Yun sneered.

"That's your own problem, I didn't do anything wrong."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yan felt inexplicably relieved.

Anyway, the two of them committed a sin together, but she has to bear all the consequences. Since she has taken responsibility, then she is not wrong.

Zhu Yun lunged at her like a madman and tried to bite her neck, but she pushed him away with her elbow.

"What are you doing in the carriage?"

She whispered in his ear.

"I can't care about that anymore."

"Zhu Yun, you're a madman."

"You're the one who drove me crazy."

Luo Yan was both angry and inexplicably amused. How could she possibly force Zhu Yun? It was Zhu Yun who was driving her crazy.

The seats in the carriage were narrow, and Zhu Yun felt that he couldn't move around freely, so he forcibly lifted her skirt and knelt between her legs.

"If you don't want to be heard, don't make a sound."

A cool breeze crept between Luo Yan's pale, slender legs, making her feel both ashamed and angry.

"Zhu Yun, I'm going to scratch two bloody marks on your face, so you'll go to see all the civil and military officials with a wound on your face..."

Luo Yan reached out to grab his face, but he impatiently dodged away and directly pulled off the silk cloth from her chest, binding her wrists tightly.

"Don't move."

He brushed her stray hairs back, revealing her angry eyes and brows.

He wanted to calm her down, so he gently kissed her lips, but she bit him instead.

"Let's just forget about it..."

Knowing he had done something wrong, he guiltily untied the silk ribbons binding Luo Yan's wrists, soothed her by stroking her hair, simply tied it into a bun, and then put the hairpin back in place.

He reached under Luo Yan's armpits, put her disheveled dress back on, and secured the fabric around her neck with silk. He then kissed her cheek affectionately.

"Don't blame me, I acted impulsively just now."

Zhu Yun reached out and pulled Luo Yan into his arms, letting her lie on his lap.

"Don't be angry, Luo Yan, say something to me."

Luo Yan gritted her teeth and secretly made up her mind to leave Zhu Yun.

He wanted to torment and humiliate her, and the Marquis Yun could do whatever he wanted with her, but his conscience wouldn't allow it, so he pretended to be polite to her.

Whether he treats her well or badly, it's all in his hands. He can do whatever he wants without any consequences.

Even if he had a change of heart and treated her politely, it would just be another new way to play around.

If you were to be overwhelmed with gratitude for the slightest favor, that would be truly pathetic.

She gave Zhu Yun a cold laugh and said sarcastically:

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness in treating my daughter so leniently."

He held her very close, letting her rest her chin on his shoulder, and said in a muffled voice:

"Don't call me Your Highness... I like it best when you call me by my name."

Luo Yan gave him a fake smile and kissed his cheek.

"Alright, Zhu Yun, I'm not angry with you anymore."

Indeed, there was no need for her to argue with him; she could simply leave him at the right time.

Luo Yan obediently returned to the palace with Zhu Yun. Her hair was loose, and she felt very uncomfortable in the palace.

She had no choice but to lower her head under the watchful eyes of the palace maids. No one was a fool... they must have known what was going on.

Zhu Yun seemed genuinely preoccupied with official duties, leaving Luo Yan alone in Congcui Palace.

She yawned while nestled on the couch. Dun Yun felt nauseous and covered his mouth with a handkerchief, gagging repeatedly. Suddenly, he remembered that his anti-nausea medicine was still at the Prince's residence.

The palace is not like a prince's mansion; there are many people and many eyes watching. Moreover, the palace maids are very sensitive to the symptoms of morning sickness in these women. Luo Yan felt that she would be exposed sooner or later.

A young maidservant bowed respectfully to her and offered her a plate of lychees.

“Miss, these lychees were delivered by express courier. Your servant Xue’er specially obtained them for you from the Imperial Household Department.”

Seeing Xue'er's obsequious manner, Luo Yan felt extremely embarrassed and kept tapping her thigh with her fingers in embarrassment.

She probably thinks she'll become an empress sooner or later, so she came here specifically to curry favor with her.

“I will be leaving the palace soon, so you don’t need to worry about me.”

"The palace is not a place you can come and go as you please. Since you have settled in, you must have a place in the palace. Please put your mind at ease, young lady."

Luo Yan turned her face away and said coldly:

"Do as you please."

What did she take her for? A prince's concubine? She spoke as if she really wanted to live here.

She couldn't stand the way the palace maids looked at her with the eyes of a future empress.

To avoid arousing suspicion from the palace maids, she chased them all out of her bedroom and went to bed early.

The next day, after Luo Yan woke up and washed up, she looked coldly at herself in the mirror, thinking that today was her twentieth birthday, and she would leave Zhu Yun by any means necessary this year.

"Congratulations on your birthday, young lady."

Xue'er entered, bowed, and said with a smile:

"Look at that ivory carving, do you like it? It's newly delivered."

"They're all from the palace anyway. You can't take them with you when you're born, so what do they have to do with me? I can only look at them for now. What's there to like or dislike?"

Xue'er was speechless, thinking to herself that the prince's taste was truly peculiar.

Without saying a word, she got up and went to find Zhu Yun.

An old palace maid stood before the hall, and she stopped Luo Yan, saying:

"His Highness is busy with official business and will not see anyone. Please wait a moment, young lady."

If this were in the Prince's mansion, she would have kicked the door open and barged in. But now that she was in the palace, she didn't want to become famous there, so she had no choice but to remain silent.

She sat in the pavilion for a whole hour before the old palace maid finally called her over.

The old palace maid had a layer of sweat on her forehead, with beads of sweat mixed in with her forehead wrinkles.

The prince had just lost his temper with her, and she realized that Luo Yan wasn't on the list of those who "couldn't be found by anyone."

Zhu Yun brought her a cup of cool tea from inside the house, handed it to her, and asked:

"Why have you been waiting here so patiently for so long? I thought you'd at least make a scene."

She drank the tea directly from his hand.

"I don't want to become famous in the palace."

Zhu Yun couldn't help but laugh.

"You've already become famous in the palace."

"Today is my birthday, and I want to go out for a walk by myself."

After finishing her tea, she casually shoved the teacup into his hand.

Hearing that Luo Yan was going out alone, Zhu Yun felt awkward again. He inexplicably recalled Luo Yan's guilty look when she saw Qin Si Zhaoyun yesterday, and the sense of unease grew from the bottom of his heart like weeds.

"Heh, so you want to go out alone? Who are you going to see? Or are you secretly plotting how to get rid of me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Yun was startled by his own thoughts. How could Luo Yan possibly be plotting to get rid of him? Where could she go without him? Who else would be willing to protect her and give her a luxurious life?

He immediately added:

"Ha, you make it sound like it's true. It's impossible. Without my protection, you're nothing. You'd be kidnapped to a brothel in less than three days."

Luo Yan ignored his anxious sarcasm and turned a blind eye, yawning instead.

"Then I'll go out."

He nodded indifferently.

"Go ahead, have fun on your own without me."

Watching Luo Yan's retreating figure, Zhu Yun spoke calmly:

"Jiang Jiuzhou, follow her and give me a proper report on where she went."

"yes."

Shadow Guard Jiang Jiuzhou nodded respectfully.

Luo Yan boarded the carriage and headed straight for the female doctor's clinic. She only knew that this matter needed to be kept secret, but she was completely unaware that she was being followed by shadow guards.

She squeezed through a narrow doorway and entered a small room where the female doctor was sitting.

She extended her wrist, and after a brief pulse check, the female doctor spoke:

"Young lady, your physical condition is still quite good, but you've been overexerting yourself lately, and the pregnancy is showing signs of instability. You've been having too much sex."

She frowned, looking at Luo Yan with a hint of reproach, as if she had done something wrong.

The female doctor spoke frankly, but Luo Yan showed no embarrassment or shyness and spoke directly.

"To be honest, I am a maidservant in a wealthy family. My master's wife does not allow me to get pregnant and have children, but I cannot refuse my master... Please, have mercy and help me get rid of the child."

The female doctor glanced at her sideways and pointed to the small door next to her.

"I can't do this for you. Go inside and handle it yourself."

Luo Yan felt uneasy and went inside with some doubt.

The air inside was stuffy, and the stench made her want to vomit. There was only a dirty little bed, which had obviously been cleaned, but the bloodstains had seeped deep into the bedding and couldn't be washed off.

There was a thick, long iron hook on the bed.

What does this mean...? What does "handle it yourself" mean...?

She recalled the female doctor's cold gaze; she figured the doctor was probably used to this kind of thing.

Luo Yan hesitated several times, then went out of the small house again and asked the female doctor:

"Doctor, what is this iron hook used for?"

The female doctor sneered:

"You've already had sex with men several times, what are you pretending for? That iron hook is obviously for helping you get an abortion."

"How do I get an abortion?"

Luo Yan's face turned pale instantly.

"You know how to seduce men, but you don't know how to solve the problem? Naturally, we insert an iron hook into the uterus and pull the fetus out directly. All the women who come here are treated this way. However, you can't have sex for a month after that, so you'd better restrain yourself."

Luo Yan's lips and fingers trembled.

"Okay...okay...I understand..."

With a gloomy face, she went back into the small house, quietly took off her trousers, and sat down on the small bed covered in bloodstains, suppressing her nausea.

A cold wind crept into her skirt, and she had already aimed the iron hook at the spot between her legs.

Her hand trembled, and the iron hook slipped off to the inside of her thigh. It was so cold that she couldn't help but shiver.

Luo Yan quickly tidied herself up and changed into a new, dry nightgown. When Zhu Yun returned and saw her, he was unusually embarrassed and turned away to extinguish the last candle to prevent her from getting closer and examining her.

Taking advantage of the relaxed atmosphere, she groped for Zhu Yun's hand in the darkness and intertwined their fingers: "I will come back to life, which is hard to explain, but you are intelligent by nature and you must know that what I said is not a lie."

The words were extremely tactful, but Zhu Yun understood them perfectly and said bluntly, "He can't beat me."

She quickly soothed him: "Of course, my A-Yun is the most handsome, the strongest in martial arts, and the most knowledgeable. But my cousin is bound by fate, and going against him will easily bring bad luck."

After a pause, Luo Yan pressed her lips against his and coaxed him softly, "I want to be with you for a long, long time, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

Zhu Yun couldn't help but return the kiss, but quickly realized she had fallen for a honey trap. She awkwardly pulled away, feeling extremely aggrieved, and said, "Tomorrow, I'll let him go tomorrow."

Having achieved her goal, Luo Yan rolled over with the long pillow, preparing to turn to her side to sleep, but Zhu Yun chased after her and turned her back to face him.

"Don't even think about getting rid of me," he said viciously.

Luo Yan yawned and replied in a muffled voice, "I usually sleep like this most of the time."

"You can change it."

"..." Luo Yan had no choice but to snuggle into his arms, saying wearily, "Go to sleep, go to sleep, we still have to make a doghouse tomorrow."