Xiao Zhian changed his strategy and continued to train the cat.
The old doctor carried a heavy stool to the soft couch to take Lin Huaiyin's pulse.
They made eye contact, locked eyes, and without saying a word, pretended they hadn't met the night before.
Lin Huaiyin was sobbing, her palms sweating.
The sight of Shen Congyun beneath her was already disgusting enough, but the old imperial physician before her was even more of a headache.
Unable to hide it any longer, Lin Huaiyin made up her mind to say that the child had just fallen and died on the spot.
After the fall, she needed to return to Beijing to recuperate.
Shen Congyun was eager to hear the results.
The child is proof of his and Lin Huaiyin's loving relationship. As long as the child exists, His Highness will naturally let him go, and he can also keep Lin Huaiyin and let her get the defense map from Lin Cuiyue.
In this way, the White Lotus Sect could storm Crane Cry Mountain without lifting a finger.
However, the old doctor could not detect pregnancy.
Madam Shen was infertile and very weak.
etc……
The old physician suddenly felt a strange pulse, and his heart trembled. He turned his head away slowly.
Xiao Zhian, holding a book, glanced around the room—
The kitten nestled in Shen Congyun's arms, its shoulder resting against hers, but its body remained stiff and rigid, showing no affection whatsoever. It squirmed and twisted, as if sitting on pins and needles.
It seemed that Shen Congyun's body was resisting her very much, and she wanted to scream and run away every moment.
Unlike when she was with him, she blushed, her heart raced, and she felt a deep longing and infatuation, melting into a puddle of water in his palm.
She chose her own path; she chose Shen Congyun, not him.
She insisted that she was Madam Shen and liked to pretend to be affectionate.
Xiao Zhian doesn't indulge him.
He stroked her nails, which he had rounded and shortened for her, wanting her to suffer for a while longer, to remember this discomfort, and to take the initiative to apologize to him and promise never to do it again.
Unexpectedly, the old doctor's hand suddenly trembled, and his toes turned to him abruptly, as if he had made a startling discovery to report.
"Shen Qing," Xiao Zhian called out.
Shen Congyun immediately put Lin Huaiyin down, stood up and replied, "Your humble servant is here."
Xiao Zhian put down his book, rested his arm on the table, and casually asked, "I am very pleased that you have an heir. I wonder when your child will be born, so that I can prepare a generous gift for the child in a timely manner."
"this--"
Shen Congyun's face stiffened, and he was speechless.
He only wanted to kill the bastard child; he never considered when the child would be born.
Xiao Zhian smiled coldly and asked, "Since I have bestowed this marriage upon you, I may also bestow a name upon your son. I wonder what generation he should be in?"
“It’s time to go—it’s time to go,” Shen Congyun stammered, “Your Highness, Gan Junxiu Rengong Dingzhenliang, it’s time to go ’Jun’. This child belongs to the Jun generation. Your humble servant is deeply grateful to Your Highness for bestowing this name upon him.”
As he spoke, Shen Congyun knelt down and performed a grand salute, prostrating himself on the ground.
"My dear minister, there's no need for such formalities." Xiao Zhian raised his hand: "You are a pillar of the nation. Among all those in the court and the country, you are the most trustworthy. Last night, I urgently summoned you to prepare for the Golden Register Grand Fast. You haven't even had a half-hour rest yet. You must be exhausted."
"Serving Your Highness is my duty, and I dare not complain."
Shen Congyun stood up hesitantly.
Xiao Zhian smiled and nodded in approval: "The capable are always given more work, and that is certainly true. I trouble you to go to the forward post station and prepare for tonight's garrison duties. I did not sleep well last night and would like to get some rest early tonight. I trouble you to scout the way for me."
"Your Majesty, I will obey your command and proceed immediately."
Shen Congyun bowed and gave Lin Huaiyin a deep look before quickly leaving the main hall.
Xiao Zhian was trying to teach him a lesson, but he hit the mark every time, crumbling instantly and utterly powerless to fight back. In front of Lin Huaiyin and the old doctor, he was actually kicked out.
Shen Congyun guessed that Xiao Zhian would not let him off easily.
I just didn't expect them to be so disrespectful.
He was furious, both angry and afraid, and descended the steps one by one. Behind him, the palace door creaked open again.
Shen Congyun turned around and saw Lin Huaiyin.
The couple exchanged a glance, a strange bittersweet feeling of being fellow sufferers in the same boat. Before they could speak, Lin Cuiyue waved and called out, "Third Sister!"
"How is it?" Lin Cuiyue asked anxiously. "What did the imperial physician say?"
"They said it's nothing serious, but he still needs to rest in bed," Lin Huaiyin casually made up.
Actually, the old doctor didn't say anything.
Lin Huaiyin pictured Xiao Zhian's arrogant chin.
"What, you want to stay here and not leave?"
He wouldn't even look at her, yet he said such things. Without thinking, Lin Huaiyin got up and ran away.
"My lord, I wish to go home."
Lin Huaiyin then turned her attention to Shen Congyun, figuring that Shen Congyun wouldn't be too sharp-tongued in front of Lin Cuiyue.
"But when I can't see you, I will miss you all the time."
Shen Congyun took Lin Huaiyin's hand and said softly, "Third Sister, how can I be at ease with you returning to the capital alone? Now that my brother is here, we will definitely protect you. You should go back to the carriage and rest. I still have to go to the post station to take care of some business. I will come to see you later."
Leading Lin Huaiyin down from the stool, Shen Congyun handed her over to Lin Cuiyue, relayed Xiao Zhian's instructions, and then led his men away on horseback.
Lin Cuiyue personally escorted Lin Huaiyin back to the carriage.
Seeing that Xiao Zhian's carriage ahead had not moved, he followed and sat down next to her.
He hadn't sat side by side with Lin Huaiyin like this for more than half a year. Looking at his sister's pale face and dark circles under her eyes, he, as the father of two children, knew how difficult it was to conceive and raise children. So he slapped his thigh and said, "I usually avoid visiting you to avoid suspicion, but now that you have a child, I, as your maternal uncle, can't care about so many things anymore."
As he spoke, Lin Cuiyue brought up the matter of him intercepting Su Jinggui at the Shen family banquet last time.
"I've been keeping an eye on it ever since you mentioned it that day, but I never expected that brat would actually dare to go."
He shook his head as he recalled the incident: "I felt it was very inappropriate at the time. How could my brother-in-law send an invitation to Xiao Su? Even if Xiao Su received the invitation, she shouldn't have gone. Now that you are pregnant, I will talk to Xiao Su properly another day, and let bygones be bygones. She must not come back to bother me."
“After you return to Beijing, I will ask your sister-in-law to come and see you. This is your first pregnancy, so you should have your family with you. Let her arrange anything you need. I will also have her talk to your mother-in-law. It would be even better if you could go home to rest during your pregnancy. Our Lin family daughters never marry outside the family. You are the first in two hundred years. You don’t know how worried your father, mother, second son, and fourth son are about you.”
Lin Cuiyue was so concerned that he would say whatever came to mind, and he was always worried about his younger sister.
Lin Huaiyin listened quietly, tears welling up in her eyes.
"I'm tired, big brother." She lowered her eyelids and urged him to leave, "Let me rest."
Pregnancy makes one sleepy, a fact Lin Cuiyue was well aware of. He immediately stood up, then seemed to remember something and stopped to add, "I wonder if you remember that I once told you that the Lin Xie family, the Tiger Guard of the New Liao Kingdom, had a history with my Lin family a hundred years ago when they met on the battlefield and became acquainted through fighting."
The Xie family, headed by Hu Shoulin, are the leading medical practitioners, possessing the ability to bring the dead back to life. When your brother returns, we'll ask someone to invite a proper doctor to come and properly care for you. Look how thin you are; you're still a child yourself, and you're about to become a mother.”
After saying that, Lin Cuiyue patted Lin Huaiyin on the shoulder, and without further delay, got up and jumped out of the carriage.
With a soft thud, the ground fell to the ground, and tears welled up in Lin Huaiyin's eyes.
She's not thin. She's got great curves in all the right places.
But every time her brother saw her, he complained that she was too thin.
What kind of child does her brother want to raise? A little pig?
Lin Huaiyin buried her face in her arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
It turns out that on the day of the family banquet, she did not escape Shen Congyun's clutches by chance, but rather her older brother was protecting her.
She so earnestly tried to stop Su Jinggui from attending the banquet at the Shen family, but Su Jinggui turned a deaf ear. Fortunately, her older brother took it to heart and saved her from disaster. Otherwise, her beautiful fish and crab claws would have been splattered with blood on the Shen family again.
She used a lie as a shield, swindling and deceiving people everywhere, but she never expected that the person who was most thoroughly deceived and deeply cheated was her older brother.
However, besides her brother, who else would worry about her, care about her, make arrangements for her, nag and chatter on and on, rambling on and on, just to make her suffer less, and to make her life comfortable and healthy?
elder brother.
Father, mother, fourth sister, nephew.
There are also crab claws and fish balls.
One face after another appeared before Lin Huaiyin's eyes.
She thought she was fighting alone, with no one behind her.
It turns out that family members have always been silently protecting each other, never leaving. The eldest brother did so, and so did the fourth sister.
The Lin family was her last resort and her warmest refuge.
Lin Huaiyin didn't care about anything else, only the Lin family, only her family. Lin Huaiyin clenched her fists tightly, vowing to protect them to the death, no matter the cost.
The most important thing now is to return to Beijing.
In the battle of Crane Cry Mountain in his previous life, his elder brother was defeated by the White Lotus Sect. Countless Imperial Guards and court officials were killed or wounded. His elder brother was so remorseful that he collapsed and was imprisoned. When he heard the news again, Lin Huaiyin was already in the Imperial Prison and was told that the entire Lin family would be executed.
This time, we must win.
Lin Huaiyin wiped away her tears and looked at Yu Li.
Yu Li was also crying, but when she saw Lin Huaiyin had something to say, she choked back her sobs, her face turning red.
"Tonight at midnight, I'll pretend to have a stomachache. You go find my older brother and ask him to let us sneak back to the capital," Lin Huaiyin whispered, devising her plan.
"Okay." Yu Li nodded emphatically.
The wheels started turning lazily again.
Before long, they arrived at the post station.
Lin Huaiyin was assigned a nice house, had a good meal with Yu Li, and went to bed early after washing up.
They didn't sleep well last night and desperately need to rest and recharge.
During this time, Shen Congyun and Lin Cuiyue were extremely busy. When they had a spare moment to check on Lin Huaiyin, they were relieved to see that she was resting and did not interfere further.
Lin Huaiyin was fast asleep.
"Knock knock knock".
A knocking sound suddenly rang out.
She woke up with a start, while Yu Li slept soundly beside her.
"Knock knock knock".
The knocking was neither hurried nor slow, but the tone was persistent.
So Lin Huaiyin quietly got out of bed, drew the curtains, put on her clothes, tidied her hair, and went out to open the door.
"Miss Lin, this is medicine His Highness sent you."
Du Yu stood at the door and brought in a bowl.
"Why is it you?" Lin Huaiyin didn't want to get too involved with the people around Xiao Zhian, so she asked, "Where's Xuan Ge?"
Hearing this, Du Yu lowered his head even further, thinking to himself, "Grandma, please don't ask anymore. Just now in the hall, General Xuan Ge said, 'This humble general went to see her off. This humble general is already quite familiar with Miss Lin.'"
His Highness's gaze was enough to pierce through General Xuange's heart, terrifying him to the point of utter panic.
Seeing that he didn't speak, Lin Huaiyin thought to herself that she had been presumptuous. Xuan Ge was His Highness's personal bodyguard and was indeed not suitable for doing this kind of errand-running work.
She thanked him, took the medicine bowl, and sensed something was wrong.
This bowl of medicine tasted very different from the one Xiao Zhian had fed her before.
In an instant.
Lin Huaiyin became alert.
She nodded politely in thanks, while simultaneously pulling the door shut and gripping the bottom of her bowl, ready to smash it over his head before closing the door and calling for help.
Du Yu keenly noticed her change and immediately explained the situation: "His Highness has instructed me to convey that the prescription you are taking has been adjusted according to the imperial physician's diagnosis. This medicine should be taken once in the morning and once in the evening, and you should continue to take it."
The explanation makes some sense.
But Lin Huaiyin was still skeptical.
Du Yu is Xiao Zhian's man, but he may also have been bribed by Princess Pingyang. She can't guarantee whether he will wake up after taking the medicine, or whether he will be tied up and interrogated by Princess Pingyang after waking up.
"Understood. Please convey my gratitude to His Highness."
Lin Huaiyin thought she should chase the person away first, since Yu Li was behind her, and it was best not to cause a scene.
However, Du Yu nodded in agreement but did not step back.
“Miss Lin, His Highness means that you should come with me after you finish your medicine.”
"Go with you? Where to?"
Lin Huaiyin tightened her grip on the bowl in her hand.
"Return to the capital."
"I can go back by myself."
"His Highness asked me to ask you," Du Yu said respectfully, sensing her wariness. "His Highness asks, after you return to the capital, do you still intend to go to Crane Cry Mountain?"
"Of course—"
Lin Huaiyin blurted out, but halfway through her sentence, she suddenly realized that once she returned to Beijing, she probably wouldn't have the ability or the reason to catch up.
However, she had to go to Heming Mountain to monitor Shen Congyun and Princess Pingyang, and act accordingly.
"When you do things, you can't just think about the future without considering the consequences."
Xiao Zhian's voice echoed in his mind.
Xiao Zhian's face flashed before her eyes.
Xiao Zhian's phoenix eyes stared at her, making her face turn bitter.
"I understand, wait a moment."
Lin Huaiyin drank the medicine in one gulp, returned the bowl to Du Yu, and closed the door.
It seems that His Highness the Crown Prince is willing to keep his promise and allow her to return to the capital.
Then he should also take care of Yu Li.
Lin Huaiyin couldn't explain why, but subconsciously felt that it was okay to leave it to him.
She changed into casual clothes in the dark, tied her hair into a simple bun, woke up Yu Li and explained everything, then went with Du Yu.
As they walked out, they were surrounded by imperial guards and palace guards, but no one paid any attention to them.
Xiao Zhian's golden carriage glittered in the moonlight.
Lin Huaiyin saw it from afar, her heart pounding. She climbed up and found that Xiao Zhian was not there. She had a huge, soft bed all to herself, with various snack boxes placed at the head and foot of the bed. Her heart continued to pound.
Four horses pulled a golden chariot, galloping wildly under the moonlight.
Lin Huaiyin ate and drank her fill on the soft bed, then rubbed her belly and dozed off.
The soft snoring reached Du Yu's ears as he drove.
The golden carriage slowly came to a stop.
Xiao Zhian got into the car and sat down next to Lin Huaiyin.
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