Chapter 42: Reversal Did he know? Or rather, did he suspect? ...
The days passed like flowing water.
Shu Yao seemed to have really accepted her fate.
Even Xiao Chengjing couldn't remember how many times this had happened.
When I stepped into the palace in broad daylight, I saw her leaning on the beauty couch under the window, soundly sleeping.
The sunlight filtered through the window lattice, enveloping half of her body in warmth.
Her eyes were lightly closed, her feathery eyelashes casting two quiet shadows under her eyes, and a half-read book was loosely folded in her hands.
Xiao Chengjing stood quietly beside the couch.
A faint trace of doubt flashed through my mind for no reason.
Such a sleepy... Could it be...
He found a reason to summon the imperial physician and asked him indirectly.
The old doctor raised his eyebrows slightly after hearing this, twirling his beard and pondering for a moment before respectfully replying, "Your Majesty, if a woman who was once healthy were to experience this kind of condition... it's certainly possible that she's pregnant."
Although he had guessed it long ago, Xiao Chengjing's pupils still shrank when he heard the word "happy pulse" from the imperial physician.
The hands behind his back unconsciously tightened their knuckles, and his nails dug deep into his palms.
A wave of heat rushed into my chest without warning, first my heartbeat stopped, then my ears started buzzing.
His and her...child?
The imperial physician held his breath, carefully observing the expression on his face, a sense of unease building within him. He added, carefully considering the situation, "Your Majesty, the pulse is the only thing I can rely on. I dare not make a rash judgment. To be on the safe side...would you please allow me to formally take your Majesty's pulse, and we'll have a definitive answer."
Please give me your pulse?
He imagined the expression she might have when she knew this.
The ecstasy suddenly froze in my heart.
Will she blame him?
That day he...
Xiao Chengjing remained silent for a moment, his chin raised slightly. "I understand." His voice was flat and concise. "Don't spread this matter." His gaze fixed on the imperial physician, and the air seemed to stagnate between his pauses. "Go down and claim your reward."
The imperial physician was very shrewd. He immediately understood and bowed deeply, saying, "I understand. I will take my leave."
Although Xiao Chengjing did not reveal it,
But the delay in the menstrual period is itself the most obvious signal.
One day... two days... ten days passed...
With each passing day, the chill in Shuyao's heart grew a little bit.
She tried to deceive herself, maybe it was because she was uneasy, or maybe it was because the weather was getting warmer...
At dinner time.
Xiao Chengjing said calmly: "The shad we had today is very good, try it." He picked up the chopsticks, picked up the plump fish belly, carefully removed the tiny bones, and gently placed it on Shuyao's plate.
Under his gaze, Shu Yao slowly picked up the silver chopsticks.
Staring at the shiny piece of fish, her stomach churned and she quickly looked away, not daring to look at it again.
Xiao Chengjing immediately put down his chopsticks, leaned forward, looked directly at her slightly furrowed brows, and said in a tense voice, "What's wrong?" But there was no surprise in his tone, it was more like a long-awaited confirmation.
Shu Yao's knuckles were clenched until they turned white. She swallowed back the nausea and forced herself to lift the corners of her lips, forcing out a pale smile: "It's...it's okay, Your Majesty, please forgive me." Her voice was weak and trembling with an undisguised tone.
Xiao Chengjing's eyes darkened, but he didn't ask any further questions. He simply replied politely, "I was negligent. I didn't notice that you had a poor appetite." Then he raised his hand and gently instructed his attendants, "Remove the fish and bring something lighter."
Soon, a bowl of clear bird's nest was pushed in front of her.
The subtle movement became the last straw that broke the camel's back.
He knows?
Or, did he doubt it?
She slowly raised her head, her face revealing an almost transparent fragility.
There was no trace of evasion in his eyes, only calmness.
She looked straight at Xiao Chengjing and said in a soft but clear voice, "Your Majesty."
Xiao Chengjing seemed to have a premonition of something, and the aura around him condensed slightly.
Shu Yao spoke, her voice steady and almost dry, as if she was stating someone else's affairs: "You are so concerned about my diet." Her voice paused, her eyes fell on the bowl of bird's nest, and then slowly moved back to his face, "Since you are so worried, why bother to test it?" She met his eyes and said word by word, "Your Majesty obviously has the answer, why not directly summon the imperial physician to take my pulse?" After she finished speaking, she no longer looked at him, and lowered her brows, only her hands on her knees were slightly curled up.
…
The imperial physician withdrew his pulse-taking hand with trembling hands, prostrated himself on the ground, and kowtowed, his voice faintly tinged with excitement: "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty! Your Majesty's pulse is as smooth and strong as a bead rolling on a plate. It is undoubtedly a pregnancy pulse!"
Slippery pulse? Happy pulse?
The imperial physician's congratulations were like a dull tinnitus, lingering in her mind.
A sharp question broke out from his heart.
Why on earth should he make her endure all this?
The air seemed to freeze.
In an instant, Xiao Chengjing saw a lot.
He saw the relief on the imperial physician's face, the respect and flattery of the palace maids, and he also saw... her.
It was a kind of calmness that came with complete despair, instantly extinguishing the heat surging in his chest, leaving only damp and cold ashes and heavy, dull pain.
An indescribable panic quietly passed through my heart.
He just waved his hand, and the imperial physician and palace maids quickly bowed and retreated.
The heavy palace door slowly closed.
There was an almost suffocating silence between the two of them.
He leaned down and carefully grasped her curled hand. "I will do my utmost to protect you and your child for the rest of your lives." His voice deepened, a hint of complex pain mingling with it. "Our child will grow up surrounded by true love. The suffering you and I endured in our childhood will never befall our children."
Shu Yao pulled her hand away from his palm with extraordinary determination, her voice hoarse as if it had been rubbed by sandpaper: "Why..." She repeated with long-suppressed grief and indignation, "Why do you ignore my wishes again and again?"
Xiao Chengjing's throat choked. He naturally remembered what he had promised her.
But that day... was his birthday...
The four words "I can't help myself" are so natural, so why are they so difficult to say at this moment?
Xiao Chengjing held her wrist again, and rubbed the back of her hand repeatedly with his thumb, as if he was confirming some fragile treasure.
His voice was low, with a deliberately maintained calmness: "Do you know how cold Ci'en Temple was back then? I should have frozen to death quietly in that dilapidated Zen room." He looked at her with a burning gaze, as if trying to find the warmth of those days in her eyes, "Until you pushed open the door and walked in with tangerines. My fate began to change from that moment on." He leaned forward, as if to look into the deepest part of her eyes, "Later, I found out that the young woman who saved me back then was a helpless hostage princess." His tone was filled with a hint of pity, "I swore then and there that I would protect her for the rest of my life. When we met again..." His voice suddenly became soft, "I recognized you at first sight. You are kind, intelligent, and so beautiful that I can't take my eyes off you." His voice gradually deepened, with a certainty that was almost fatalistic, "You are like a treasure tailor-made by God for me. With you, I feel that my life is complete."
After hearing his words, she looked at him as if she didn't know him: "Just because..." Her voice was so soft that it almost broke, "You think that this is enough reason to arrange my life...how should I live it?"
"It's not that I feel I have a reason," he corrected immediately, gently lifting her chin with his fingertips, forcing her to look at him. "It's that in this world, apart from me, I can't think of any other place that can accommodate you, be worthy of you, and give you everything you deserve." His fingertips caressed the skin on her cheek, his movements gentle, but his tone firm. "You can hate me for forcing you, or blame me for being tyrannical. But you can't deny that what I give you is the best destination for a woman in this world."
Tears blurred her vision instantly. She bit her lips tightly and tasted the fishy and salty taste.
Not because of being moved, but because of being sad.
What she longed for was freedom, and what he needed was dependence.
He looked at her eyes filled with desolation and said self-deprecatingly: Even if he gave her more, in her heart it was no different from coercion.
But so what?
He still wanted to hold her in his arms.
He thought so and did so.
She gathered all her strength and prepared to push him away.
But it was that moment.
Her body betrayed her.
That arm around his back...was it hers?
Her fingertips even unconsciously clenched his robe.
His embrace was hot.
Her tense back softened almost imperceptibly for a moment.
Without making any sound, the tears flowed even more violently.
His shoulders moved slightly with each sob.
He tightened his arms, embedding her deeper, resting his chin on the top of her head, and soothed her: "Don't be afraid..."
In the end, she did not push away the embrace, not because of acceptance, nor because of surrender.
She was clearly aware that this was a temporary solution, clearly aware of the price behind this hug, and clearly hated the man who gave her a moment of comfort and then pushed her into the abyss.
She felt like a bug trapped in amber, surrounded by transparent, solidified despair.
In desperation, a thought, like lightning running through the dark night, instantly illuminated her chaotic mind.
She is no longer the powerless hostage she once was.
As luck would have it, Xiao Chengjing personally handed her the key to breaking the deadlock.
She will give birth to this child.
She wanted to let the high and mighty Xiao Chengjing also taste the feeling of being constrained by various forces!
The next day, she got up and helped him change his clothes.
Watching her lower her head to tie the jade belt for him, he suddenly pulled her into his arms again: "Yaoyao, I will treat you twice as well."
Shu Yao's fingertips trembled slightly, and then she leaned into his arms, her cheek lightly touching the dragon pattern on his robe: "Your Majesty, it's time to go to court." She gently pushed his chest, like brushing away a cloud.
After Xiao Chengjing left, Shu Yao gently stroked her lower abdomen, which was as flat as before.
"Yunxiu." She called out, with a sad curve at the corner of her lips.
"I'm here." Yunxiu stood respectfully with her head lowered.
Shu Yao's gaze drifted into the morning light filtering through the window lattice, and she commanded clearly, word for word: "Pass the word on. This palace has a happy event, and all the other palaces will enjoy it together."
Yunxiu was about to say that the Empress's pregnancy was not stable and that it was not the right time to speak out, but she heard Shuyao say coldly, "If you don't go, there's still Chuntao."
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