Chapter 49 I am pregnant.
Xiao Dao was taken to the military camp by Pei Heng?
"Are you relieved now?" Song Jie poured her some tea. "In a few days, Pei Heng will return to the capital with Xiao Dao. Perhaps Xiao Dao will even be rewarded for his merits." His tone carried a hint of jest.
Xie Yushu looked at him with some surprise. She hadn't expected Song Jie to show her the letter so directly. "You trust me that much now?" She waved the letter in her hand. "You just showed it to me like this?"
Song Jie smiled and said, "Since you said I am the person you trust the most, I naturally cannot betray your trust."
She suddenly leaned closer, tilted her head to look into his eyes, and said, "Since you've even shown me the letter, just tell me who [King Song] is."
Song Jie was momentarily stunned by her close face. She deliberately blinked, and Song Jie couldn't help but laugh. She was truly very clever and adept at using her advantages; she was the most shrewd businesswoman in the world.
He expects to get some secrets in return for a little kindness.
He thought: She must know very well how fascinated he is by her scent, body temperature, and gentle demeanor, which is why she used her as bait.
Song Jie knew her tricks all too well, but he found it hard to refuse. It wasn't that he coveted such tenderness, but rather that he didn't want her to get angry.
I already have very little time to spend with her, and if I refuse her, she will walk away and it will be even harder to see her again.
So he finally told her, "King Song is Xiaodao's master."
As long as his background isn't revealed, telling her these things is fine.
"Master?" Xie Yushu frowned and thought for a moment. She remembered that Xiao Dao had once said that his master had raised him since he was a child and had always beaten and scolded him. If Xiao Dao was the real prince, could it be that this Prince Song was the one who stole the real prince out of the palace? So Pei Heng wanted to capture him alive in order to make him come back and prove Xiao Dao's identity?
Is this Prince Song vengeful towards Wan Susu or the old emperor? Could he be another emperor who forcibly took Wan Susu from him? But didn't he die at Xiao Xu's hands? Besides, he doesn't know martial arts.
She asked again, feigning ignorance, "Why did Pei Heng want to capture Xiao Dao's master alive?"
Song Jie seemed to have anticipated her question, smiled knowingly, and instead of answering directly, asked, "You don't need to go to the Meng residence to accompany Meng Jinyue tonight, right?"
Recently, she and Meng Jinyue have somehow become close friends. Meng Jinyue often invites her to his residence, where she stays for several days at a time.
Xie Yushu naturally knew what he was up to by asking that question; he just wanted her to stay. "What? Are you going to make a deal with me? You won't tell me anything if I don't stay?"
Song Jie sighed helplessly, "How could I dare?" Knowing that she was more responsive to gentle persuasion than force, he pulled out two gold notes worth ten thousand taels of gold from his sleeve pocket, "I just want to do business with you."
Xie Yushu looked at the gold notes, and then said pitifully, "It's getting colder, and I always feel like my cough is going to flare up again at night. I always feel warm when you're in the room, Xie."
That's true. It's not even winter yet, but Song Jie already has a heater in his room. Xie Yushu was so hot when he came over today that he wanted to take off his outer robe, but Song Jie was dressed meticulously in three layers.
“If you have a cough, go see the imperial physician. I’m not your heater,” she said deliberately, then asked, “Have you seen the imperial physician for this illness?”
Song Jie placed the gold coins on the table and said to her, "I've seen it, but it can't be cured." Then, in a very calm tone, he said, "So you don't have to put up with me for long. I'll live to be thirty at most. Before that, you can make more money from me."
He smiled and said, "These are the only useful things my father left behind."
Xie Yushu recalled the gossip Meng Jinyue had told her and didn't know what to say for a moment. In the original drama, Song Jie didn't even live to be thirty; he probably died in the palace coup a year or two later.
She looked at Song Jie again. Since he was destined to die, he might as well die in a more meaningful way. He shouldn't just die for revenge; he could also eliminate the people Xiao Zhen had supported to become emperor before he died.
Seeing that she didn't agree, Song Jie took the initiative to say, "Perhaps Pei Heng captured the Prince of Song to investigate Xiao Dao's background." In order to keep her, he kept increasing the stakes: "Xiao Dao may be of royal blood."
Xie Yushu showed a surprised expression, not surprised by Xiaodao's background, but surprised that Song Jie actually wanted to keep her.
Song Jie, however, assumed she was shocked by Xiao Dao's background and told her, "I need to find out more before I can tell you. I promise I will, and I will." He then asked, "Can you stay now?"
It started raining again outside, as if even the heavens were trying to keep her here.
She reached out and accepted the two gold notes.
Song Jie seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and instructed Cang Shu to bring her water to wash up.
Xie Yushu then discovered that Song Jie's residence had prepared a set of toiletries for her at some point, which were exactly the same as those she used at Pei's residence.
Even the bathtub has been replaced with a new one.
After Jin Ye helped her wash up and changed into her newly made nightgown, she came out from behind the screen and saw Song Jie, who had already finished washing up, sitting on the side couch reading a book, looking like he was ready to sleep on the side couch.
Panpan was lying on the edge of the bed, panting heavily from the heat. Unable to bear it any longer, she got up and went outside to cool off.
Seeing her sit down by the bed, Song Jie took the initiative to say, "Your maid Jinye can go to sleep in the next bedroom. Jiang Hua has already tidied up."
Jin Ye immediately replied, "This servant will serve you water and help you get up at night. I can sleep by your bedside."
"I'll take care of these," Song Jie said, putting down his book.
Jin Ye looked at Xie Yushu.
Xie Yushu never had the custom of having Jin Ye or the others stay with her at night. As a modern person, she couldn't bring herself to exploit women. Knowing that Jin Ye wanted to stay because she was afraid that Song Jie would bully her, she told Jin Ye not to worry and to go to the next room to sleep.
Jin Ye then withdrew.
Xie Yushu lay in bed and specifically told Song Jie, "You're not allowed to sneak into my bed at night."
Song Jie replied without hesitation, "Of course not."
She said she wouldn't, but an hour later, Xie Yushu vaguely felt someone lift the bed curtains. She immediately opened her eyes and turned around to see Song Jie standing by the bed in his nightgown.
"What are you doing?" she asked, frowning. "Didn't you say it wouldn't happen?"
Song Jie hadn't expected her to wake up, and he quickly asked from the bedside, "Would you like some tea?"
Xie Yushu was amused by him in the middle of the night. "Don't tell me you sneaked over here in the middle of the night to serve me water?"
He coughed softly from the cold, and knowing he couldn't hide it from her, he said, "It's not entirely that, it's just too cold, I want to be closer to you."
His face looked pale and seemed to radiate coldness.
Xie Yushu knew he wanted to sleep close to her, but she also had a strong urge to tease him, so she said, "Then you can sleep on the floor next to my bed. We agreed before that I would only play the role of Xie Jianing and would not provide any other services."
Song Jie froze. Her restless heart gradually calmed down because she suddenly mentioned Xie Jianing. Did she still think he treated her as Xie Jianing? Did she not appreciate his kindness at all? Or did she know everything and was just deliberately trying to "repay" him?
He looked at her, then finally lowered the bed curtains and said in a hoarse voice from outside, "You should know that I stopped seeing you as Xie Jianing a long time ago."
“I don’t know.” She said without hesitation from inside the bed curtains, “You were willing to pay to see me, just because I look like Xie Jianing, right? What do you mean by saying you don’t see me as Xie Jianing anymore? Could it be that you’ve fallen for someone else and taken a liking to me who looks like Xie Jianing? Then I’m just a substitute for Xie Jianing, and I don’t want me.”
Song Jie stood outside the bed curtains for a long time without saying a word.
Xie Yushu watched his dusty figure slowly leave, as if returning to the side of the couch.
It took a while before I heard his muffled cough. He coughed repeatedly, sometimes burying his face under the covers, and it wasn't until after a long time that he finally stopped.
The room returned to silence, and she was almost asleep again when she suddenly heard Song Jie say in a muffled voice, "You really think so?"
Xie Yushu opened her eyes and looked at the quietly lowered bed curtains. She was not unaware that Song Jie had genuine feelings for her, but these feelings began because she resembled Xie Jianing, and because the female supporting character Yushu had truly been hurt by him.
She found it hard to accept this feeling, which felt like swallowing a fly, and she also didn't want to betray her former supporting female character, Yu Shu.
So she calmly replied, "That's exactly what you did."
This time, Song Jie remained silent, for he had nothing to say. He had indeed... done just that, treating her as a counterfeit of Jia Ning, calling her Jia Ning's name repeatedly in his dazed state... How could he let her pretend it never happened? How could he deserve to let her let go?
He thought that Xie Yushu would find it hard to believe that he fell in love with her, not because she resembled Xie Jianing.
His chest ached with a sharp, icy pain, and as he stared at the quiet bed curtains, he longed to ask her: How can I make amends? He had done something wrong; how could he be forgiven?
But he dared not ask, fearing the answer of never being forgiven.
Xie Yushu, who was inside the bed curtains, had fallen asleep long ago, but she didn't sleep soundly. Thunder started just before dawn, which woke her up.
Half-asleep, I heard the system say, "Host, you gained 1 point of 'charm' value in the middle of the night, thanks to Song Jie."
Why? The way she phrased it actually increased Song Jie's favorability towards her?
Confused, she heard a faint cough coming from beside the bed. Surprised, she sat up and lifted the bed curtains, only to see Song Jie sleeping on the floor next to her bed.
In the dim light, he lay curled up on his side in the blanket, with only a simple fox fur rug under him. His pale face was half buried in the blanket, covering his mouth and nose, and he was still coughing painfully in his sleep.
She sighed. Why make things so difficult for herself? She had already said she wouldn't like him.
She lowered the bed curtains and lay down for a while. In her half-awake state, she heard Song Jie get up and leave, telling someone outside not to wake her and to eat breakfast before leaving.
When she woke up again, the sun was high in the sky. Song Jie had not yet returned from the morning court session. Jiang Hua had prepared breakfast and was waiting outside the door.
She had breakfast with Jinye before leaving.
She thought Song Jie might calm down for a couple of days before coming to see her again, but to her surprise, he sent Cang Shu there that very night.
Xie Yushu didn't go this time.
Cangshu rushed back to the Prime Minister's residence. Song Jie saw him enter the courtyard alone from afar and knew that Xie Yushu had rejected him again.
He asked Cangshu, "Is she angry?"
Cangshu shook his head. "This subordinate does not know. Miss Yushu only said: Let it go, why should the Prime Minister spend money to suffer?"
Song Jie looked at the words in the letter, but couldn't concentrate on reading a single one.
For him, Xie Yushu's words and sleeping on the floor were hurtful, but if he couldn't see Xie Yushu, he would have to endure even more painful coldness alone every night.
Only when she was there could he taste a sweetness, like dew, in his bitterness.
However, Xie Yushu's mind was hard to control. For the next five or six days, she refused to see him. Several times he went to pick her up in person, but she either went to Yuqing Temple or Meng Mansion, as if she had made up her mind never to see him again.
※
The rain over the past few days has made the late autumn colder day by day.
Even someone as energetic as Xie Yushu started to feel a bit chilly. Sleeping in this kind of weather was comfortable, so she didn't want to get up early. She slept until noon before getting up, eating, and going to the Yong'an Marquis's residence to see Meng Min.
Meng Min had been staying at the Meng residence for almost two months, but yesterday, for some unknown reason, she took the initiative to return to the Yong'an Marquis's residence.
Xie Yushu rushed to see her and found that she had just gotten up and was sitting on the edge of the bed with her hair down, lost in thought.
Zhenniang announced, "Miss Yushu has arrived."
She came to her senses, turned to look at Xie Yushu, smiled before speaking, and reached out her hand to Xie Yushu: "You've come at the right time. Jin Yue asked me to bring you a lot of things."
Xie Yushu took her hand and found that she had not only gained weight and recovered, but even her palms were warm. "Mother, why do you suddenly want to go back to the manor?"
She had been calling Meng Min "Mother" at the Meng residence lately, and having gotten used to it, she hadn't changed her address.
Meng Min was used to hearing this, and with a smile, she led her to look at a pile of gifts. Without answering her, she said, "Jin Yue has recently acquired a fine horse and said he wants to give it to you for your birthday. It's a precious horse bought from a foreign land. I went to see it, and its fur is entirely golden. It's truly a rare and fine horse. I'll tell you this in secret first."
Xie Yushu remembered that the supporting actress Xie Yushu's birthday was in a few days. In the original drama, the female lead Xie Jianing returned on Xie Yushu's birthday.
Her heart sank. She helped Meng Min sit down and then noticed Xie Zhi'an's clothes hanging by the screen. Had Xie Zhi'an stayed overnight at Meng Min's place last night?
Before she could ask anything, Meng Min looked up at her and said, "Yu Shu, I'm pregnant."
Xie Yushu met her gaze in surprise. Her face, full of vitality and smiles, suddenly made Xie Yushu understand why Meng Min had suddenly returned to the mansion and why she had asked Xie Zhian to stay overnight.
After a brief moment of surprise, she exclaimed with delight, "Really? That's wonderful! I should congratulate Mother!"
Meng Min looked at her carefully and asked tentatively, "Aren't you surprised whose child it is?" After all, she had lived in the Meng residence for almost two months, and Yu Shu knew about her relationship with Zhao Shu.
Xie Yushu smiled and took her hand, saying, "As long as it's a mother's child, that's fine."
Who cares who the child's father is? That's not important.
Meng Min's anxiety subsided. Her only worry now was that Yu Shu wouldn't accept that she was pregnant with another man's child, because Yu Shu knew too much. She had to firmly win Yu Shu over to her side.
"Has Mother consulted any imperial physicians?" Xie Yushu asked. "Do you have any trusted imperial physicians? At the very least, the pregnancy should have occurred earlier than expected, preferably before you go to the Meng residence."
Meng Min gripped Xie Yushu's hand tightly, a genuine smile on her face, and nodded, saying, "Don't worry, my sister has arranged everything for me."
She pulled Xie Yushu to sit beside her and whispered, "Yushu, I want to thank you. If you hadn't comforted me, accompanied me back to the Meng family to recuperate, and even found a prescription to help me recover... I'm afraid I would never have recovered in this lifetime."
Xie Yushu winked at her and said very softly, "Sometimes it's not that you have a problem, it's that Father is getting old."
Meng Min's face immediately turned red.
"Congratulations, host, you have gained 2 points of 'charm' value, from Meng Min." The system reported in a series of messages: "Congratulations, your main quest as the female supporting character is 33% complete."
Xie Yushu was overjoyed, and even the female supporting character Yushu probably thought it was a great joy.
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Author's Note: How can this not be a joyous occasion? [shy]
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