Qi Tianyang turned to look at him, smiled ambiguously, and lowered his voice, "Do you have a lover?"

Yin Jie was stunned, dodged his hand and retorted, "No."

Not a sweetheart at all.

It's just... I'm a little concerned.

Seeing that he was unwilling to talk about this, Qi Tianyang pulled him aside and started talking about him and Cheng An. Yin Jie didn't listen to much. He just supported the tree trunk with one hand and stroked the wine bag with the other hand. He was already daydreaming.

With the fall of heavy snow, time quietly came to the beginning of January.

Jiang Ling is already nine months pregnant. The whole family is worried and has hired a midwife early on. The midwife helps Jiang Ling walk or massages her belly to correct the fetal position every day.

Zhou Jing'an even directly asked Feng Yu for mercy and invited Dr. Lin, the doctor who was best at gynecology, to live in the mansion. He also brought two female doctors with him in case of any emergency.

During this time, Fox came back and pulled her to complain about how difficult the new task assigned to it by the Lord God was. He also said that the new host was not motivated and he didn't know how long it would take for it to escape from that sea of suffering. Jiang Ling laughed non-stop after hearing this.

This year there was more snow and it was colder than last year. Jiang Ling rarely left the house and just strolled around the hall.

Her belly was big and heavy, so she couldn't sleep well at night. She had to lie on her side to feel comfortable. Zhou Jing'an lay on his side and hugged her to prevent her from having difficulty breathing after lying down subconsciously.

Perhaps because the baby was about to be born, the baby in her belly became more and more active, turning over and kicking in the middle of the night, always waking Jiang Ling up.

Zhou Jing'an was a light sleeper, so when she woke up, he opened his eyes as well.

He would touch her belly and rub it gently, or bring her warm water to drink, or if he saw that she was not sleepy, he would get up and find her favorite storybook and read to her in a soft voice.

As he read, Jiang Ling slowly fell asleep again. He then quietly extinguished the candle and carefully held her to sleep.

Jiang Ling had her period in the middle of the night on January 9th. She woke up in a daze and suddenly felt hungry. Zhou Jing'an asked her if she was feeling unwell. She shook her head, smiled, and said she wanted to eat candied haws and drink some cool sour plum soup.

Zhou Jing'an naturally agreed with her, only saying that she should not eat too much at night and that the sour plum soup could only be drunk warm.

She pouted, but then relented and started to act like a spoiled brat again.

"Go buy it for me, don't bother others."

There was some sour plum soup in the kitchen, so he could just go and pour a bowl of it. But where could he find candied haws in the middle of the night?

Zhou Jing'an got out of bed, put on his clothes, put on his cloak and went out. Before leaving, he just told her to lie down and rest, and he would find a way.

Jiang Ling rubbed her eyes and looked at the swaying gauze curtain, then patted her belly and blamed the child for her greed.

"It's all your fault for being greedy and for causing your father to go out in the cold weather."

I don’t know if it was because the child couldn’t bear to hear such injustice befall his unborn baby, or for some other reason, but less than a quarter of an hour after Zhou Jing’an left, Jiang Ling, who was about to fall asleep again, was woken up by the pain.

A burst of intense pain spread throughout her limbs and bones, making her face turn pale in an instant.

Feeling her belly tighten and swell, and her breathing quickened, Jiang Ling had a bad feeling, so she propped herself up and sat up, shouting loudly for Zizhen and Luzhu.

Seeing that the day of delivery was approaching, Zizhen and Luzhu kept watch every night. When they heard her cry, they jumped up and ran into the inner room.

"Young Madam! Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

When the two men saw Jiang Ling's pale face, they were so anxious that they didn't know what to do and just circled around her.

Jiang Ling endured the pain and told them: "It seems like the baby is about to be born... Go and call the midwife and Doctor Lin, and then go and notify Grandmother and Mother..."

The two of them were startled and quickly agreed. Luzhu ran out to call the midwife and Doctor Lin. Zizhen asked the maid to notify Jiang Lan and others, and then returned to guard her.

When Zhou Jing'an strode into the mansion with a candied haws in his hand, he saw that the house was brightly lit and servants were running past in a panic.

He frowned and asked what happened.

"My lord, the young lady is about to give birth!"

Zhou Jing'an only felt a buzzing sound in his head. After a moment of silence, he immediately ran towards Qiyun Pavilion. He tapped his toes lightly and used his lightness skills. In just a few breaths, he arrived outside the hall.

Just as he reached the door, he heard Jiang Ling scream in pain. His heart trembled. He ignored Ye Song who was coming towards him, handed the candied haws in his hand to him, and ran in.

"Ling'er!" He shouted as he rushed in and saw that his grandparents and parents had already arrived and were sitting in the outer room.

Seeing his panic, Jiang Lan frowned and stopped him, "Wait outside..."

Zhou Jing'an didn't care about anything else and just walked in without stopping, calling out, "Ling'er? Ling'er!"

"Let me see her, let me in..." His voice changed in a hurry. Seeing him like this, Jiang Lan was afraid that he might act unsteadily, so she followed him into the inner room.

The pain came in waves, Jiang Ling's face turned pale, his lips trembled, and he gritted his teeth to endure it.

“It hurts…”

When Zhou Jing'an saw her in so much pain, his eyes turned red. He ran over and sat down beside the couch, grabbing her clenched hand, feeling extremely heartbroken.

"Ling'er, I'm here, I'm here." He called her softly, his eyes full of helplessness.

Jiang Ling opened her eyes and saw him. The tears she had been holding back immediately burst out. She cried and called him, "Zhou Jing'an, it hurts so much..."

When she called him like that, tears welled up in his eyes. He leaned over to kiss her and said in a panic, "I'm here, Ling'er, don't be afraid, I'm here..."

No matter how many words of comfort he offered, they seemed pale and powerless at this moment. Zhou Jing'an's heart was trembling with pain, and he wished he could suffer this pain for her.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!