Chapter 91. Chapter 91. A Suicide Pact.
His gaze swept over her like ice, startling the midwife. She felt a chill run down her spine and immediately stopped speaking.
"..."
The physician was the most famous medical expert in the Yizhou area, whose medical skills were no less than those of the senior imperial physicians. He immediately straightened his face and calmed the situation, saying, "Don't make a fuss."
"My wife had a premature birth, so bleeding is normal." He had already prepared a prescription and sent someone to brew the medicine.
Ji Wanyuan had already heard those words. Terrified, tears and cold sweat streamed down her face, and she cried even harder than before, "Wen..."
The words "Qi Yan" hadn't even appeared yet.
The man was already sitting on the bed, using his tall frame to block her view of him from looking down, making her look at him instead.
"The doctor said she's fine." He took the handkerchief the maids wrung out and gently wiped the sweat and tears from her little face.
He wanted to tell her to stop crying, because her tears were making his heart turmoil, but he also knew that if Ji Wanyuan didn't cry, it would be extremely agonizing for her to keep it inside.
The physician echoed Wen Qiyan's words, but assured Ji Wanyuan that everything was alright.
The midwife, having received a subtle hint from the doctor, went along with it and told Ji Wanyuan that everything was alright and to stay calm.
Let Ji Wanyuan follow her words, regulate her breathing, and not be too nervous.
The staff worked quickly, and the medicine was served. After Wen Qiyan fed Ji Wanyuan a small bowl, she finally calmed down and wasn't so nervous anymore. She cried and complained to Wen Qiyan that the medicine was very bitter.
He wiped the medicine off her lips with his fingertips, then magically produced half a piece of candy from his pocket and put it in her mouth.
The sweetness melted in my mouth, quickly suppressing the bitterness.
Ji Wanyuan looked at the man's face and asked, "How...how do you have candy?"
As soon as she finished asking the question, she couldn't help but feel pain all over her body, and she started groaning again.
Wen Qiyan gripped her hand tightly. "Ji Wanyuan, if it hurts, bite me."
He wanted to empathize with her, so he put his hand to her lips.
Smelling the man's cool scent, Ji Wanyuan showed no mercy to the offered "claw" and bit down directly.
The medicine she had just taken was already taking effect, and she was really going into labor. Waves of pain swept over her, and she was in so much pain that she didn't know how to use her strength. Her sharp teeth pierced the man's hand, drawing blood instantly.
Ji Wanyuan tasted the blood, and Wen Qiyan felt the pain.
He looked at her tear-streaked face, her hair stained and stuck together, looking utterly disheveled, which broke his heart.
The doctor, the midwife, and everyone who was taking care of Ji Wanyuan's pregnancy were doing their best.
Because Wen Qiyan had declared that only if Ji Wanyuan lived could everyone else live; if she died, everyone else would be buried with her.
These words were practically a knife to their throats, and with Wen Qiyan accompanying them the entire time in the inner room, right under the adults' noses, no one dared to show the slightest bias.
That's why the experienced midwife reacted so strongly upon seeing blood.
Fortunately, the doctor managed to calm the situation, and everything proceeded smoothly.
Although childbirth in the storybook also involved pain, it instilled more fear in Ji Wanyuan because the way she died from postpartum hemorrhage during childbirth was truly terrifying.
As a result, she still feels panic and anxiety about childbirth to this day.
Now that I'm really about to give birth, I'm in so much pain.
Why does it hurt so much?
It hurt even more than sleeping with Wen Qiyan. She felt like she was about to be torn in two. The pain was no longer just coming in waves, but coming one after another.
She broke down in tears, her head shaking so hard that her vision kept going blurry. She started crying and screaming that she didn't want to give birth anymore because it hurt so much!
She had always been pampered and spoiled, and would complain for ages even for the slightest scratch. She had never suffered like this before.
Wen Qiyan comforted her, and the midwife, doctor, and maids were all trying to soothe her.
But Ji Wanyuan wouldn't listen. She cried and berated Wen Qiyan, calling him a bastard.
If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have had to suffer like this.
She was in so much pain, help!
"Young Madam did her best, the head is out!"
"I can see the end..."
The words of these people kept reaching her ears.
A man leaned close to her ear, whispering her name softly and tenderly.
As she struggled to raise her hand, somehow, she slapped him across the face.
The crisp sound of a slap was very loud in the inner room, where cries and screams continued.
Hearing the noise, the busy crowd instinctively looked towards Wen Qiyan.
The man's skin was pale and cold, and a handprint quickly appeared on his cheek, stained with blood. It was from when Ji Wanyuan bit him, and the blood had gotten onto her lips.
Wen Qiyan's hand was bitten and bled; when he reached out to take her hand, there was blood on her hand as well.
As soon as she made a move, the blood, still wet, naturally smeared onto his face.
Wen Qiyan noticed the pause in everyone's movements and looked over with a cold face, "What are you staring at?"
Everyone immediately threw themselves into their work, no longer daring to look around.
Even without looking closely, the man's coaxing words still reached her ears.
He coaxed the girl, who was on the verge of tears from the pain, and gently asked her if she wanted to be slapped again.
Ji Wanyuan cried and scolded him in a coquettish voice, telling him to get lost, saying that she hated him and that it was all because of him that she was suffering like this.
He kept apologizing to her, saying it was all his fault.
Ji Wanyuan cried loudly, her voice trembling, "Of course it's all your fault!"
Her fingers gripped the blankets so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and the soft pillow was soaked with her tears.
She said she never wants to have any more children!
Her blood-stained lips kept muttering to herself, but she obeyed the midwife and doctor's orders, taking deep breaths and straining repeatedly.
After a agonizing half hour, Ji Wanyuan finally gave birth.
The moment the baby hit the ground, she heard the baby's loud cry piercing the sky. Exhausted, she stared wide-eyed, and finally closed her eyes.
Upon seeing this, Wen Qiyan's expression changed drastically, "Yuan'er!"
The doctor immediately told him not to be nervous, "The young mistress only fainted because she was exhausted."
"Is she alright?" Wen Qiyan looked at the doctor, staring intently at his face, not missing a single emotion.
The doctor quickly explained, "The young mistress is alright."
"Is she bleeding?"
The doctor: "?" What kind of question is this?
Women bleed during childbirth, but the adult seems to...
The doctor was pondering how to respond in a way that would be appropriate.
Wen Qiyan then asked for more details, "Did she experience postpartum hemorrhage?"
The doctor immediately realized, "No!"
"The young mistress is in good health thanks to the excellent care she has received these past few days. Although she was born prematurely, there are no major problems. She just needs to take good care of herself during her postpartum period. The young master is also in good health, so please don't worry, sir."
Hearing this, Wen Qiyan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He closed his eyes, composed himself, his cheeks twitching from the tension, and murmured, "...Hmm."
Thankfully, none of the things in my dream happened.
The doctor knew he needed to compose himself, so he didn't disturb him further. Instead, he went to write a prescription and told the maid to quickly bring the medicine, decoct it, and give it to Ji Wanyuan.
The maids worked quickly and efficiently, and soon the mess in the inner room was cleaned up.
Only Wen Qiyan was completely disheveled.
He refused to leave, his face still bearing finger marks and bloodstains, and stayed by Ji Wanyuan's side, staring intently at her.
Even though the doctor had said that Ji Wanyuan would be fine, he still seemed afraid.
No one dared to offer any advice.
They could only silently continue with their tasks, moving in and out quietly, not daring to disturb their masters.
Ji Wanyuan fell into a state of chaos upon losing consciousness.
She walked for a long time in the fog, unable to see the way forward or find a way back, and surrounded by many mournful cries.
At first, she could still make out some of the cries coming from herself, as if she were experiencing a difficult childbirth and postpartum hemorrhage. But soon, new cries came from her, as if they were her father and mother. She was extremely worried and wandered around in the fog, calling out for her father and mother.
The piercing cries did not stop, and in fact, they grew louder and louder.
There were her family members, the Wen family members, and apparently the Lin family members as well; everyone was wailing and crying, as if in mourning.
She stood in the pitch-black fog, almost dazed by the crying, her face still streaked with tears, unsure of which direction to listen for the sobs.
Just as she stood there, panting and at a loss, a deep, hoarse voice kept calling her name.
Ji Wanyuan... Ji Wanyuan...
Who is it?
The sound was so faint that she couldn't make it out at all.
But soon, the voice became clearer and clearer, the surrounding mournful cries dissipated, and the dark mist gradually dispersed.
She stood...in front of her grave.
To be precise, it's the grave from a storybook from a past life.
The person who called her just now was... the man prostrate before her grave.
Wen Qiyan?
How did he become so thin and emaciated? It's as if he's been tortured for a long time.
Good heavens, she almost didn't recognize him.
Judging from his back alone, she even thought he was a consumptive man living on the streets!
He looked so much like someone had drained his energy and left him without support, which is why he was so despondent.
But didn't he get what he wanted? He successfully destroyed the Ji family, became a close minister of the emperor at a young age, married a wife of equal social standing and good manners, and got rid of her.
Why is he like this? Why is he pretending to cry at her grave again, as if his parents have died?
She had no idea what could possibly cause such a tall and strong man to collapse like this.
Ji Wanyuan remained silent for a long time, and did not look at him for the time being, but instead looked around to the side.
I don't know what year it was in the dream, it felt like a long time ago. The willow seeds that Wen Yunqin planted in front of her grave back then have grown tall and graceful.
She floated in the air and watched for a long time.
Unexpectedly, her dream continued.
After the Ji family was destroyed, everyone connected to her died. Time flies by like an arrow. How come Wen Qiyan still hasn't forgotten her?
According to the plot of that storybook, shouldn't he and Lin Nianxi live happily ever after?
Why didn't things turn out the way she expected?
He was still prostrate before her grave, his hand clutching her tombstone.
Her tombstone supported his hunched figure; his clothes were loose, and when the breeze blew, they outlined the man's thin frame.
Could he be suffering from some serious illness? He's so thin; even though she disliked Wen Qiyan in her dreams, she couldn't help but frown at his appearance.
What exactly happened?
She was behind him and couldn't see the man's expression, so she could only move closer to him.
Even when I got closer, I still couldn't see clearly.
Fortunately, she was a ghost, so the man wouldn't notice her being so close.
She knelt down and craned her neck to get closer to him, looking up at him to see his expression.
With just one glance, Ji Wanyuan was completely stunned.
Why was he so sad? His eyes were so red...
She couldn't describe it anymore; she felt that Wen Qiyan was about to die, as if he were about to shatter.
“Ji Wanyuan…” he called her.
She was startled, thinking he had seen her, because he had reached out his hand towards her.
But soon she knew it wasn't true. Wen Qiyan's hand passed through her ghostly body, stroking her tombstone and the soil that buried her.
"Is this your punishment for me?" He was still speaking, almost in a whisper, and she wouldn't have been able to hear him if she hadn't been so close.
What punishment?
"You have never come to see me even once."
Look at him?
She's dead, how can you look at him?
In the storybook, she was so miserable, yet she was still asked to come see him, to see him and that dead woman Lin Nianxi living happily ever after? She would be so angry she'd come back to life as a ghost.
She won't look at it.
“You’ve never come even once…” he continued.
She really wanted to hit him, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind and she put on a furious expression, she was stunned by the tears that suddenly fell from the man's eyes.
Because his tears fell onto her face.
Wait, isn't she a ghost? Wen Qiyan's hand can pass right through her body, so why are tears falling on her face?
His tears were incredibly hot, falling with the force of rain, stunning her. She stared at him without saying a word.
His eyelashes were long and delicate, making his fragility all the more apparent.
"Ji Wanyuan, the Lin family, the Wen family, everyone involved in plotting against the Ji family is dead, including the Emperor. Are you satisfied with this outcome?"
Dead? What did he do?
"...I can finally come to you to atone for my sins."
Atonement? What is he going to do now?
Before she could react, the man pulled out a dagger from who-knows-where and resolutely committed suicide in front of her grave.
His blood splattered onto her face, so much so that it soaked her skin, turning her vision into a bloody mist, and even the sky seemed to explode.
"ah--!"
Ji Wanyuan suddenly opened her eyes, gasping for breath in fright, and instinctively reached for something.
Before she could even touch anything, she realized that someone had tightened their grip on her hand.
Who was pulling her?
The moment her pupils focused, she saw a handsome face.
The man looked at her, "Ji Wanyuan..."
she:"……?"
Where is this?
Was she dead, or was he dead? Why were his eyes so red? His eyes were bloodshot, and his pale white clothes were not only disheveled but also stained with blood.
Yes, there was blood on his face too.
"Are you... are you a human or a ghost?" she asked, bewildered.
Before the man could answer, the maid who brought in water exclaimed joyfully, "Young Madam, you're finally awake!"
After she finished speaking, she sent a message outside, "Great news! The young mistress is awake!"
"woke up!"
Hearing the shouts of the maid running around, Ji Wanyuan finally came to her senses.
She didn't die; she gave birth.
Wen Qiyan didn't die either. There was blood and a handprint on his face, which seemed to be from when she hit him because she was in so much pain.
Did I knock his brains out? Why isn't he saying anything? He's just staring at her like that.
"Wen Qiyan, you—" She struggled to get up, but was suddenly pulled up by a strong force and into the man's arms.
He held her so tightly that she could hardly breathe. She hadn't stuck out her tongue when she was a ghost, but now that she was human, she was sticking out her tongue and panting?!
"You, you cough cough cough, let me go." Before she could finish speaking.
Because of the large movements, she vaguely noticed that the skin on her face was cracking, like the marks left after crying and the tears had dried.
But she didn't cry.
Suddenly, she thought of the man's red eyes, and the tear he shed before committing suicide in her dream.
Wen Qiyan cried?
Her struggling movements stopped. She stopped. The man was holding her too tightly. She could smell the bitterness and blood on him, and the violent pounding of his heart beneath his chest, which kept hitting her, leaving her speechless.
Did she scare him like this?
He cares about her a lot.
Going back further, she remembered something Wen Qiyan had said: he said he wouldn't let her die.
She said there's always a chance of something going wrong, what if she dies?
He said, "If you die, I will give you my life."
He will stay with her.
After a moment of bewilderment, she gently patted the man's bent back. She coughed lightly and awkwardly coaxed him, "It's alright... I... I'm fine, aren't I?"
"You scared me to death, Ji Wanyuan."
"You bastard."
The woman who was scolded: "?"
Wait a minute, who scared whom? He woke her up from her dream, and now he's saying he scared her? Also, who did he call a bastard? Isn't that her word?
He actually copied her and called her a bastard!
hateful.
"you……"
Just as she was about to retaliate, the man was no longer satisfied with just hugging her. He rubbed against her neck like an abandoned puppy—no, a big dog.
Ji Wanyuan fell silent again for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.
Fine, fine, let him have his way this once. She's not petty.
"..."
She actually slept for two days, and it seems that not much happened in her dreams, but she slept for so long.
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, Wen Qiyan returned to his former self as a refined and handsome young man.
Looking at him now, it's hard to reconcile the image of him that was so out of control before.
Ji Wanyuan watched him sit down, and when she got closer, she could still see the finger marks on his face. "Didn't you apply any medicine?" she asked.
Wen Qiyan didn't speak, he just looked at her.
Ji Wanyuan awkwardly held her child, her Lin'er, who was so beautiful that it almost melted her heart.
"Just put him aside, he's a bit heavy," Wen Qiyan said, and was about to pick up the child.
Ji Wanyuan dodged back, "I want to hold him!" In the storybook, she couldn't even touch her Lin'er.
Now that she can finally touch him, she wants to hug him as much as possible. Although she was in excruciating pain when she gave birth to him, she is now very happy and feels that all the hardship was worth it.
Wen Qiyan frowned, seeing her genuine joy, and didn't say anything, but reached out to support her wrist, afraid that she would get tired.
Ji Wanyuan did not refuse his kindness. "Wen Qiyan, look, isn't our Lin'er very beautiful?" She urged him to look quickly.
Urged on by her, the man finally lowered his gaze to the swaddled, exquisitely beautiful child.
He looked at him.
Although the child is still very young, you can already see the resemblance between him and Ji Wanyuan on his little face; he has almost inherited all of their best qualities.
The midwife, the maids, and even his subordinates all said that the young master was handsome and that if he grew up, he would surely bring disaster to the country.
But he simply couldn't feel much affection for this child.
In the dream, because of him, his father falsely conveyed his instructions, indirectly causing Ji Wanyuan's death.
So even though it was just a dream, he still can't let it go to this day.
Thinking of her unconscious state, holding her hand and feeling her pulse, he still couldn't shake the suffocating feeling in his heart when he saw Ji Wanyuan close her eyes the moment the child was born.
If she died, he really didn't know what he would do.
Are you stupid?
Those old women say that pregnancy makes you stupid for three years, but she didn't become stupid. Instead, it was Wen Qiyan who became stupid.
The man snapped out of his reverie, "He looks a lot like you."
"It's just like you." What a load of rubbish this bastard is saying.
"Yes, she looks like you and like me." Wen Qiyan looked at her. "Are you tired?"
"Is there anything else that's bothering you?" As he asked, he kept staring at her face, his gaze so intense that her heart couldn't help but race, and she pursed her lips to hide her unease.
"No, no," she said, indicating that she was fine.
"Really?" Wen Qiyan was still worried. "If you feel unwell at all, you must let me know."
"The doctor said I'm fine."
A few years ago, my cousin Qingru wrote to me after giving birth, saying that she was being mistreated by her husband's family after marrying out of the family.
After the child was born, those people only cared about the child and didn't care about her health at all. They even forced her to take care of the baby and insisted that she feed it, which almost made her sick.
Wen Qiyan didn't seem to care much about the child.
But if Madam Wen and the others were here, they would probably look after the children first.
"What are you thinking about?" He noticed even though she had only been lost in thought for a moment.
Ji Wanyuan said no, "You hug him."
Wen Qiyan paused, about to speak, when Ji Wanyuan had already shoved the child at him.
He stiffened, but could only follow her lead and hug her.
When he was born, the baby cried loudly, but now he is quiet, opening his eyes and flailing his arms and legs, looking at him with his big, round, grape-like eyes.
His eyes most resemble Ji Wanyuan's.
Seeing how much the baby in his arms resembled her, he felt less resistant to being with her.
"Lin'er, this is your father." Ji Wanyuan held the child's hand and shook it gently, a tender smile on her face.
The child is still young and doesn't understand anything, but she is already talking to him, introducing him to the people around him, talking to him, and communicating with him.
She was looking at the child, and he unconsciously looked at her, his gaze lingering on her face for a long time.
I don't know how much time passed before the wet nurse came in and took the child away.
He tucked the blanket around her a little. "Are you hungry?"
Ji Wanyuan shook her head, saying she had no appetite.
The doctor advised me to eat light meals these days and not to overdo it with supplements, lest I harm my health.
"By the way, how's it going outside?" Ji Wanyuan asked worriedly.
Wen Qiyan looked at her and said, "My brother-in-law has raised an army."
Ji Wanyuan's eyes widened instantly. "What?! This...so fast?"
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Author's Note: This chapter also features random lucky draw red envelopes! [rainbow fart]
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