Several months have passed, and there is still no news of Ye Qian'an. The rest of the Ye family do not know about the two's plans. Ye's mother often scolds Ye Cuihua, telling her to live a good life for Fan Ting in the future.
Since losing contact with Ye Qian'an, Ye Cuihua seemed to have lost her soul. But for the sake of the child in her womb, she could only force herself to eat and drink well, thinking that if he really was gone, at least she would have left him a bloodline.
Seeing Fan Ting's concerned expression, Ye Cuihua thought she had misread the situation. Just as she was about to speak, a sharp pain shot through her stomach, causing her to change her expression and clutch her belly.
Upon seeing this, Fan Ting hurriedly stepped forward to help her up and called over Granny Fan to fetch a midwife.
The group was in such a hurry that they didn't notice a furtive figure flashing past the Fan family's door.
In a secluded courtyard on the other side, Ye Qian'an was surprised to find that the person who delivered his dinner earlier that day hadn't locked the door when they left.
Seeing the half-open door, Ye Qian'an was overjoyed, but worried that it might be a trap, so she quietly finished her meal before slowly approaching.
Carefully stepping out of the room, Ye Qian'an found that there was indeed no one in the courtyard. Overjoyed, she rushed out without thinking, but as soon as she stepped out of the courtyard, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck and fainted.
Looking at the unconscious person on the ground, the man glanced at them before speaking.
"Don't blame me, that person said he would teach you a lesson before letting you leave, but don't worry, I will take you wherever you want to go..."
It turns out that the man was hired by Nangong Yuan with money to guard Ye Qian'an and to observe Ye Cuihua, to see when she would give birth and when she would release Ye Qian'an.
Before releasing him, we need to teach him a lesson again and remind him not to cause any more trouble. Therefore, the person who was acting suspiciously near the Fan family's residence earlier was this person.
Seeing that the man had fainted and had given him a lesson, the man put Ye Qian'an into the carriage and headed towards the Fan family.
Meanwhile, at the Fan family's house, Fan Ting turned pale as he watched basin after basin of blood being brought out of the room.
This is Ye Cuihua's first pregnancy, and the child is quite large, so she is having a difficult labor. Two or three hours have passed, and the child still hasn't been born, so Fan Ting is getting anxious.
Of course, this anxiety and worry was not about Ye Cuihua, nor about the child in her womb, but rather about the fear that if something happened to Ye Cuihua, he would not be able to explain it to the Ye family, and the Ye family would cut off his financial support.
More than an hour later, not only Fan Ting, but even Old Lady Fan's face turned ugly, and she couldn't help but complain.
"What a useless thing. I always tell her to move around more so that it will be easier to give birth, but she just won't listen. Now look what's happened. She's been in labor for so long and still hasn't given birth. I wonder if this will affect my precious grandson. In this respect, she's not even as good as that little bitch Han Yiyi. That little bitch gave birth to twins and didn't have to go through this much trouble..."
Fan Ting was already irritable, and hearing his mother nagging about Han Yiyi only made him more annoyed, so he directly scolded her.
"Shut up. Instead of wasting time talking about this, you should go inside and help..."
Fan Ting himself would certainly not go in, because in his view, the delivery room was a filthy place, and men who approached it would become filthy and thus have their luck affected.
Hearing her son's reprimand, Fan's mother reluctantly shut her mouth. But going in to help was out of the question; she was the wife of a scholar, how could she enter such a filthy place?
When Fan Ting saw that his mother had kept quiet but hadn't moved, his expression turned somewhat unpleasant. Just as he was about to say something more, he heard the loud cry of a baby coming from inside the house.
Hearing this voice, Fan Ting finally felt relieved.
Meanwhile, Nangong Yuan, having been given a chance to recuperate by Dongli's inaction during this period, still faced the urgent matter of securing military supplies.
Although they had already purchased grain from surrounding towns, the results were not good. After all, the towns near Yanlang City had been suffering from war for a long time, and it was already difficult for them to have enough to eat. There was no surplus grain to sell. Fortunately, the Nangong family had sent a batch of grain recently. With no war, they could eat less and manage to survive for a while.
Because he was worried that Dongli would take the opportunity to attack the city if he left, Nangong Yuan dared not leave Yanlang City at all. However, his attempts to send messages back to the capital, whether by sending someone back or by sending urgent secret letters, always ended in silence, which made Nangong Yuan very anxious.
What he didn't know was that the emperor was now under Ye Li's control. The two of them indulged in revelry every day and hadn't attended court for more than ten days. The court was in a state of panic. In addition, Dong Li and Ye Li were working together from the inside and outside. Therefore, whether it was Nangong Yuan's people or Mi Han, they would be intercepted by Dong Li on their way.
This was Dongli's plan: to trap Nangong Yuan until they ran out of food and were too hungry to even lift their swords. By then, no matter how brave or wise Nangong Yuan was, it would be useless.
Meanwhile, inside the delivery room, the midwife held the baby in her arms, looked at Ye Cuihua's face on the bed, and then recalled the fair face she had just seen on Fan Xiucai's face. She frowned and thought to herself, "Why is this child so dark-skinned? And it's not just his face that's dark; his whole body is dark."
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, her eyes flickered. However, this was the business of the host family and had nothing to do with her. She was only responsible for delivering the baby, and whose child it was was none of her business. So she cleaned the baby, took the money, handed the baby over to Granny Fan, and quickly left.
When Granny Fan heard that the baby was a boy, a smile finally appeared on her face. She took the child, but when she saw the child's face clearly, she couldn't help but gasp in surprise.
“Why is this child so dark-skinned…”
The room had already been cleaned by the midwife, and Fan Ting thought he should go in and see Ye Cuihua first. Before he could even take a step, he heard his mother's exclamation, which startled him.
At that moment, for some reason, Fan Ting had a bad feeling and was even afraid to look at the child.
He didn't go to look, but the next moment, Granny Fan directly brought the child to Fan Ting.
“Son, look at this child, he’s so dark-skinned, and he doesn’t look like you at all when you were little…”
When Zicheng and Zihui were born, although they didn't resemble Fan Ting, they both had fair skin and looked more like the original owner of the body, so it was hard to tell that they weren't Fan Ting's children. But this one now not only has dark skin and doesn't resemble Ye Cuihua, but looks exactly like Ye Qian'an, practically a miniature version of Ye Qian'an.
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