Chapter 81 Feel my belly, can you feel something inside? ...
Meng Shutai's eyes were blank for a moment, then burst forth with a strange longing and joy. The stray strands of hair at his temples were damp with sweat, curving and clinging to his thin cheeks like slender, intertwined snakes lying still.
Jiang Yingyun's arms trembled slightly, and she protectively touched her lower abdomen with her hands. "What's wrong?"
Meng Shutai smiled knowingly and quickly approached her, his gaze fixed on Jiang Yingyun's lower abdomen.
"How could I not have thought of that..."
He muttered to himself, many fleeting images flashing through his mind, a tremor spreading from his heart to his limbs, every pore on his body quivering with excitement.
"Yingyun, I want to touch it."
Meng Shutai spoke softly and gently, but a cold sweat broke out on Jiang Yingyun's spine, her body fluctuating between hot and cold. She looked at him, her breathing erratic, her mind filled with doubt.
Just moments ago he was lying on the ground in a frenzy, but in the blink of an eye he was completely composed? As a friend, she shouldn't doubt him, but as a mother, Jiang Yingyun's hand on her lower abdomen gradually clenched into a fist.
“Young Master Meng, it’s still too small to be felt.” She noticed the sword wound on Meng Shutai’s hand and quickly changed the subject: “But if you don’t treat the wound on your hand, it will cause serious problems!”
When Yue Zhao's sword pierced through him, he only thought that he could not die alone. He used all his strength to grip it with his right hand. If he did not deal with it as soon as possible, he would probably have problems writing and drawing a bow in the future.
But Meng Shutai stubbornly shook his head, as if he hadn't heard, and slowly reached his bloody, wounded hand toward Jiang Yingyun's lower abdomen.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt it..."
The little thing inside her seemed to sense something; Jiang Yingyun felt it throbbing, which made her feel as if tens of thousands of ants were crawling all over her body, sending chills down her spine.
Just as the trembling, bloodied hand was only three inches from her body, a voice suddenly rang out from not far away: "Brother, why did you come out?"
Meng Cizhang vaulted over the fence in one step, followed closely by Yuan Jingming. Seeing that Jiang Yingyun looked extremely pale, he went straight to her side and helped her up.
Meng Shutai turned around and saw Meng Cizhang, a tall and upright young man, with his ponytail and hairband brushing over his shoulders and the hem of his robes flapping loudly. He looked as neat and capable as a green willow tree.
When did he stop being like an infant kitten? Meng Shutai didn't know. But his current appearance and expression were undeniably joyful.
Meng Shutai smiled and beckoned to Meng Cizhang, as gentle and kind as ever: "Li Nu, come here and let me see you."
Meng Cizhang was taken aback. His long eyebrows, similar to Meng Shutai's, rose slightly in surprise, then fell back down. His elder brother had been talking nonsense these days, and no one knew what he meant. He was calmer now, but he was probably still having an episode.
Meng Cizhang pursed his lips. "Brother, the imperial physician will be here soon. Would you like to check your injuries first?"
He looked at his emaciated and haggard brother, who was all smiles and laughter, and felt an overwhelming sadness in his heart.
Meng Shutai didn't respond to him. Instead, she pinched his chin and lifted it up, turning it left and right as if selecting a product, her eyes gleaming with tiny sparkles.
He's grown up; he's no longer the wrinkled little boy he used to be.
This is life.
Birth, initial emergence, growth, maturity—a tangible, touchable life.
A smile unconsciously crept onto Meng Shutai's lips as he turned to look at Jiang Yingyun and asked, pointing to her stomach, "How long does it take to conceive?"
"About nine months." Yuan Jingming held Jiang Yingyun's cold hand and answered for her, then asked, "Why are you asking this?"
Meng Shutai's eyes held a bright, smiling gaze as he looked down at his lower abdomen.
The body will nurture new life, and it will be born after nine months. Does that mean if he waits another nine months, Le Jin will come out of his womb?
Since her life and death are related to him, then his Le Jin must be there beneath the layers of flesh in her abdominal cavity.
Who could be more suitable to bear her than him?
His flesh and blood, his bone marrow, every tender organ of his was willingly, even eagerly, offered to her.
Le Jin could suck his blood, eat his flesh, and drain all the essence from his soul until it turned to ashes.
He considered her the most devout believer in the three thousand worlds, so what was wrong with offering her up his belly and stomach?
Meng Shutai's face was beaming with joy as he strode back into the house, leaving them with only one sentence: "Have the physician wait outside; I will see the patient immediately."
As if he had a treasure hidden in his heart, he sat on the ice bed, his fingers trembling as he brushed away the frost that had formed on Le Jin's eyebrows, and excitedly took her hand and pressed it to his lips.
"Ah Jin, I know why you're back... You were in my belly, weren't you?"
His voice was full of anticipation, his mind filled with images of the basins of "blood moon" that his mother used to bring out of her room when he was a child, as if countless tiny bubbles were churning in his veins, about to burst and rush out of his body.
"I was so stupid, how could I not have thought that you would come back into my body."
Le Jin's icy, hard hand was held by Meng Shutai and slowly placed on his lower abdomen, a strange and eerie tenderness in her eyes.
"Feel it, can you feel something inside?"
Meng Shutai smiled radiantly, his dark hair cascading down his back, exuding a serene and gentle aura. His palm pressed against the back of Le Jin's hand, as they both felt the movement in her abdomen.
"Ah Jin, stay inside me obediently, okay?"
Meng Shutai leaned down and whispered those words in Le Jin's ear, his fingertips brushing away the ice crystals on her earlobe. Just as he was about to flick them away, he suddenly paused. He chuckled softly, parted his thin lips slightly, and licked away the icy spot with the tip of his tongue.
After Meng Shutai returned to his room, Meng Cizhang blinked frantically, looking at Yuan Jingming and then at Jiang Yingyun, as if a joyful surprise had fallen right on his head.
"Did you hear that? My brother said 'he' was seeing a doctor, right?"
He neither refused treatment nor showed the deceased sister-in-law the medicine! For the first time in many days, Meng Cizhang finally smiled.
But the smile didn't last long before a layer of bitterness crept in.
The terrifying images from the tower haunted his mind every night; rows of corpses lay before him, chilling him to the bone like a fierce, eerie wind.
What else is there to doubt or investigate? This could only be the work of the elder brother. At that time, Baoyin still had a breath left. After she was rescued, she also said that her sister-in-law was forced to the tower window by her brother...
Waves of pain surged through Meng Cizhang's head. He had looked up to his elder brother for decades, but deep down he was a terrifying madman.
But they were brothers, and he could only keep those horrific crimes a secret for his brother. The past was like a sweet, illusory shadow on a puppet screen; only now did he vaguely taste the bitter, real flavor of what lay ahead. In less than a month, his life had been turned upside down; no one had ever told him that the gruesome process of growing up could be so rapid and intense.
Meng Cizhang looked at the room of Meng Shutai, which was emitting a cool white vapor, and felt a mix of emotions.
Yuan Jingming noticed his pain, stepped forward, patted him on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "Cizhang, the Meng family will have to rely on you from now on. If you need anything, you can come to the Pingning Prince's Mansion to find me and Yingyun."
Jiang Yingyun nodded, wanting to offer Meng Cizhang some words of comfort, but seeing that he was only seventeen years old and had to shoulder such a heavy responsibility, she realized that her words would not carry much weight and ultimately did not speak.
But standing behind Yuan Jingming, her eyes fixed on the dwelling no one dared to enter, a wave of sorrow washed over her. She still had so much to say to the girl lying inside…
She had wanted to brew a special wine for Le Jin herself, but hadn't had a chance to ask her taste; there were still three preserved rabbits left by Uncle Zheng, but she had recently learned how to make them, and she wondered if Le Jin would like them; actually, she had also wanted Le Jin to be the godmother of her child, and if it was a girl, she especially hoped that the child would be as kind-hearted as Le Jin, even if she was a little eccentric...
But the chance is gone.
——
Time flies, spring comes and autumn goes in Luoyang, and winter arrives in the blink of an eye. Snowflakes flutter down in every corner of Luoyang, rustling in the wind, and the air is bitterly cold. But inside the Prince Pingning's mansion, guests are plentiful, and the atmosphere is lively and cheerful. Everyone is beaming with joy as they congratulate the Prince Pingning and his family.
Jiang Yingyun gave birth to a son and a daughter, and today marks their one-month birthday.
Meng Cizhang brought a pair of mutton-fat jade necklaces as gifts for the two children. The necklaces were adorned with small gold locks, which shimmered when they swayed. The two little ones loved them dearly and wouldn't let go, making the adults laugh heartily.
Yuan Jingming, holding his daughter, couldn't help but poke her little face, and then craned his neck to look at the son in Meng Cizhang's arms, looking happy and content.
"Hey, Shutai's heartache was cured a long time ago, why didn't he come?"
Yuan Jingming asked Meng Cizhang, but Meng Cizhang shook his head, and the words that came to his lips turned into a sigh.
"It's not that easy. My brother was clear-headed for most of the year after he took a break from his duties at the manor to focus on recuperating, but I think he's been acting strangely again these past few days."
Yuan Jingming's expression changed, and he ordered the two children to be sent to Jiang Yingyun, asking, "What's wrong?"
"He... has been locking himself in his room these past few days, muttering to himself about something, and he keeps touching his lower abdomen."
Recalling Meng Shutai's unusual behavior, Meng Cizhang added in a low voice before speaking, "You know, he's been refusing to let his sister-in-law be buried. I'm afraid he'll suffer some kind of shock again..."
As soon as he finished speaking, a servant rushed in, panting heavily. A gust of cold wind blew snowflakes into the room with his movements, which melted coolly on Meng Cizhang and Yuan Jingming's faces.
"It's terrible, Young Master! Someone from the Meng family says that the Eldest Young Master has committed suicide! Blood is everywhere, and they can't stop it..."
Meng Cizhang stepped into the room he hadn't entered for months. The physician and maids were in a panic, and several of the more timid maids were sobbing.
"What's going on!"
Meng Cizhang grabbed a servant by the collar and roared. The man stammered, "No, no, I don't know... The eldest young master said he was going to stay with the young mistress for a while, but suddenly he pulled out his most treasured ivory dagger and started stabbing himself in the abdomen... He was stabbing and twisting at the same time, and he was looking for something..."
"Looking for something?!"
Meng Shutai lay on the ice bed, his head resting against Le Jin's. There was a pool of blood on his lower body, like a woman about to give birth. But his eyes were empty, like a rag doll with its cotton emptied out. His head was tilted as he stared at Le Jin, completely oblivious to the pain in his body and the actions of the people around him to stop the bleeding.
His absurd dream came to an end.
Where in the world can one find such a miraculous event as male conception?
Jiang Yingyun's child was already a month old, but there wasn't a trace of Le Jin. Meng Shutai panicked; no matter how hard he touched, he couldn't find any trace of Le Jin in his womb.
Where did she go?
In a panic, Meng Shutai decided to try anything, even cutting open his abdomen to look for her since he couldn't touch her.
But he was only deceiving himself. His stomach was completely empty, containing nothing but blood and soft flesh.
The ivory dagger clattered to the ground, and blood gushed from his abdomen. Meng Shutai suddenly remembered a lesson he had learned in his childhood:
Love needs blood to be sharpened.
In the blink of an eye, his pupils trembled, and he suddenly realized.
It turns out that dragging someone to death isn't love; love is wanting them to come back to life, wanting them to thrive...
Another group of people cried out, and Meng Shutai seemed to return to the high fever he had when he was five years old, and he drifted into a dream.
The dream was no longer dark and gloomy, nor empty and boring.
In his dream, there was a woman named Yue Jin, standing in the sunlight, smiling sweetly at him.
This winter, a heavy snowfall blanketed everything, leaving only the sound of wind and snow. The world was a vast expanse of white, without a trace.
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Author's Note: The male lead's solo career is over, and the female lead will be back! [cheering][cheering][cheering] But the tormenting of him isn't over yet, hahaha, the rest of the story will be about torturing him.
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