With a particularly loud slap, Zhu'er was slapped so hard that she fell face-first onto a nearby table, almost knocking over a basket on it.
Five deep red finger marks suddenly appeared on his fair face.
However, she did not immediately pay attention to the pain on her face, but instead firmly held onto the basket.
Only then did she belatedly reach out and cover her face, turning back to see Tuoba Ze glaring at her with intense anger.
She glared at him as if she wanted to devour him, and feeling extremely wronged, she said, "I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I didn't watch the child properly, but I really don't know how..."
Before she could finish speaking, Tuoba Ze grabbed her neck tightly and said, "You lowly servant, don't you know how important this child is?"
In just a short while, Pearl was pinched until her face turned red and her neck bulged, as if she could hardly breathe.
He gripped Tuoba Ze's hand tightly, still trying to apologize, "I...I'm...sorry!"
Just when Pearl finally lost all strength and was about to give up her last struggle, she was completely powerless.
Suddenly, a very weak voice came from Yi Shangyun.
"Third Young Master..."
Upon hearing this, Young Master Yi snapped out of his daze and twitched his eyelids.
It felt as if I had encountered a ghost in broad daylight, and I was immediately at a loss.
Countless times, even just now, he had solemnly promised her in front of her that he would ensure the safety of her and her child.
But now, after all the suffering and risking her life to give birth to this hard-won child, she left without even having a chance to see him.
How was he supposed to explain all of this to her?
After waiting a long time without receiving a response from Young Master Yi, Yi Shangyun could only softly call out again, "Zhu'er..."
For a moment, everyone held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
Finally, with no other choice, Yi Shangyun could only struggle to get up while continuing to try to call out.
"Third Young Master..."
Seeing that Yi Shangyun was about to sit up, Tuoba Ze quickly loosened the hand that was holding Zhu'er's neck. Zhu'er then slipped out of his grasp and fell lightly to the ground.
After releasing Zhu'er, he and Young Master Yi exchanged a quick glance, as if they had already reached some kind of consensus.
As soon as Yi Shangyun got up, he saw the two of them with their faces close together, doing or saying something to the baby in Yi Sanshao's arms.
So he asked, "What are you two doing?"
At this moment, Young Master Yi only wanted to stall for time, so he pretended to say, "It's nothing, we're just putting the baby to sleep! You're very weak, lie down and rest a little longer! We'll take care of the baby, so don't worry."
Tuoba Ze quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, we'll take good care of the child, you don't need to worry!"
But facing the lifeless little life in his arms, Young Master Yi felt his heart pounding wildly.
Then, realizing that she might soon give herself away, she hurriedly said to Tuoba Ze, "The child is asleep, hurry and have someone take him away!"
At this moment, Zhu'er, who had regained her breath, quickly got up, stepped forward, took the child from her hands, and tried to carry the child out.
Unexpectedly, Yi Shangyun called out to her, "Zhu'er, wait!"
With her back to the clouds on her clothes, Pearl's body was already trembling slightly.
Perhaps because she had just given birth and was still weak, Yi Shangyun was clearly unaware that something was wrong with her, and only weakly asked, "Is it a boy or a girl? Bring it over so I can take a look."
Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts were instantly in their throats.
Finally, it was Young Master Yi who broke the tense atmosphere by speaking first, saying, "She is a little princess as smart as you. It's not too late to bring her over for you to see after she wakes up."
But Yi Shangyun insisted, "Let me take a look, just one look."
Young Master Yi also said without letting up, "What you need most right now is rest. You can't overwork yourself. Let's wait until she wakes up before we see her again!"
Such back and forth is breathtaking.
Finally, Tuoba Ze could no longer hold back. He gritted his teeth and blurted out, "No need to look anymore, the child is already dead!"
Upon hearing this, everyone present froze, staring intently at his face.
Recalling the thrilling moment, Yi Shangyun finally spoke haltingly.
"What?"
"Dead?"
"This is impossible?"
"I clearly heard her loud and powerful cry when she was born, how could this be?"
"impossible……"
"That's absolutely impossible."
"You must be lying to me."
Why did you lie to me?
With things having come to this, Young Master Yi had no choice but to step forward and take the swaddling clothes back from Zhu'er's hands.
Then he turned around, slowly walked over with heavy steps, and handed it to Yi Shangyun.
Yi Shangyun tremblingly accepted it.
Looking into the child's tightly closed eyes, she pressed her warm face against the child's forehead, nose, cheeks, and chest, her eyes brimming with tears...
However, all she felt was the same coldness everywhere, with absolutely no other warmth.
In an instant, her tears fell like beads from a broken string, rolling down her face one by one.
Finally, Yi Shangyun could no longer contain her immense grief and fainted completely.
"Girl..."
As Yi Sanshao exclaimed in surprise, Tuoba Ze and Zhu'er immediately rushed to his side.
In the quiet of the night.
The northwest wind howled outside the window, and white snowflakes danced in the air, falling softly to the ground.
After an unknown amount of time, Yi Shangyun finally slowly opened her eyes and woke up again.
Seeing that Young Master Yi had fallen into a deep sleep, lying right next to his bed without leaving his side, he was quite surprised.
A slight ripple stirred in Yi Shangyun's heart once again, but she knew it had absolutely nothing to do with love.
So she carefully got up and gently draped a thick blanket over him.
Then she turned and went out, looking up at the endless sky and the snow falling everywhere. She slowly stretched out a slender hand, trying to catch a few crystal-clear snowflakes.
Her phoenix eyes, still as beautiful as ever, seemed to be squinted by snowflakes, and blinked twice.
For some reason, my memory suddenly flashed back to that year.
With Prince Qin Xuanyuan Han's wedding imminent, Xuanyuan Yue took her to his residence to offer her congratulations. The scene depicted was a snowy encounter between Xuanyuan Han and Prince Qin.
That day, he was wearing a black brocade robe.
With an upright posture, towering like a mountain, noble and majestic, and looking down upon the world, a pair of deep, bright eyes were set in his exquisite face.
He asked her if she liked snow.
She said yes.
That day, on the same snowy ground.
She also told him that when it snows, he should definitely invite the person he likes to take a walk in the snow, because as they walk together, they will grow old together.
He then asked her, "Does this mean I'm walking with you in the snow?"
But who would have thought that their relationship would become so entangled?
...
Looking back, I found myself in tears again.
Finally, Yi Shangyun sniffed and muttered to herself, "I'm sorry, our child... in the end, we still couldn't save him!"
"Perhaps, it's time for everything to come to an end..."
"I never belonged to this world. Perhaps it was destined from the beginning that I shouldn't leave any trace. So be it. Once I save Dingxiang, I can leave all this turmoil behind..."
From this day forward, there will be no further connection between us!
The Qin King's Palace in the Western Qin Kingdom.
In the quiet of the night, at midnight.
Inside Mingyue Pavilion, Xuanyuan Han suddenly emitted a series of nightmare-like sounds.
"don't want……"
“My child…”
"Don't take him away..."
"No……"
"Yun'er..."
"Don't go..."
"Don't leave me..."
Suddenly, Xuan Yuanhan opened his eyes, threw off the brocade quilt, and sat up in shock.
Hearing the noise, Cheng Liang rushed in and asked anxiously, "Your Highness, did you have another nightmare?"
On a bitterly cold winter night, Xuan Yuanhan was completely unaware that he was walking barefoot on the icy ground.
He felt that his dream was so real, more real than ever before, and said to Cheng Liang, "Just now I dreamed that my child was gone, and Yun'er bled a lot, a lot..."
Cheng Liang was startled upon hearing this, but quickly comforted him, saying, "There's a saying among the people that what you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Your Highness must be too troubled lately because of the Princess Consort. Dreams are always the opposite of reality, and besides, the Princess Consort still has more than a month before giving birth. The Princess Consort is a highly skilled doctor and has good fortune in everything she does. She will definitely protect herself and the little prince in her womb. Your Highness, please don't be too nervous."
But Xuanyuan Han always felt that something bad must have happened this time.
"No……"
"wrong……"
Something must have happened...
Something must have happened.
He then anxiously asked Cheng Liang, "Have you found Yun'er's whereabouts?"
Cheng Liang shook his head helplessly and said, "Not yet?"
Seeing his master's brows furrow even deeper in an instant, Cheng Liang added, "However, our people have already been keeping an eye on Lu Yuan's forces. To this day, they still haven't found any information about the Princess Consort's whereabouts."
Upon hearing this, Xuanyuan Han fell into deep thought.
After a while, Cheng Liang spoke again and reported something to him.
"Your Highness, our people in the palace recently discovered that Zhang Zhiyuan goes to a dilapidated courtyard in the palace every day. After careful investigation, we found that the person trapped there is none other than Dingxiang, the head pharmacist of the Imperial Pharmacy."
Xuanyuan Han thought for a moment and then instructed, "This time, we must send someone to keep a close eye on things and find out exactly what happened."
"Besides that, there's one more thing..."
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