Chapter 103
Zhou Jingchen's identity was exposed?
Ye Jia's eyes suddenly became sharp: "Who told you?"
His sharp gaze fell upon the middle-aged woman kneeling on the ground. The middle-aged woman was startled, as if she had not expected the seemingly gentle Ye Jia to be so fierce. She paused for a long moment, then stammered, "It was a young man named Liu. He said frankly that if we offered him what we had, the Qiao family would be avenged..."
"Liu?" Ye Jia frowned. She only knew one person with the surname Liu, Liu Yuan.
The surname Liu isn't uncommon... Ye Jia couldn't help but ponder. Speaking of which, Liu Yuan hadn't been heard from since he was transferred to Luntai last year. Ye Jia hadn't seen Liu Yuan the last time she went back to Luntai, so she wondered if this young man surnamed Liu was the one she thought he was. However, since Zhou Jingchen had said they needed to be discreet on this trip, such an exposure was a cause for alarm.
"Besides you, who else knows our whereabouts?" Ye Jia asked sternly, "What does that Young Master Liu look like?"
The middle-aged woman was somewhat startled by Ye Jia's coldness. She hurriedly waved her hands, explaining that she and her companions had no ill intentions and that their encounter with Young Master Liu was merely a coincidence. Young Master Liu had offered his help out of pity and had no intention of revealing Ye Jia and his companions' whereabouts.
Even so, the middle-aged woman knew her words were unreliable and stammered, "Young Madam, we learned of your whereabouts and didn't disclose them without permission. Young Master Liu also warned us not to speak nonsense and cause trouble. We are desperate and naturally know the seriousness of the situation. We will not reveal your whereabouts. I speak this candidly to you with all my heart, so please don't be angry, Madam."
Ye Jia wasn't angry, but this matter could be big or small. Zhou Jingchen was doing something that couldn't be brought to the public eye. If someone with ulterior motives discovered and pursued him, he would be killed.
She frowned and immediately lost the desire to chat with the two of them. She just let them stay in the house and went back inside.
Zhou Jingchen was in the room, sitting by the window reading a book and making tea.
This was a rare period of free time for him, and it seemed like he simply didn't go out. Ye Jia walked over and succinctly repeated the middle-aged woman's words. She was a little worried about other accidents, but Zhou Jingchen didn't react too surprisedly after hearing it. He just reached out and pulled Ye Jia to his side, saying three words: "It's Liu Yuan."
Ye Jia was stunned and blinked, immediately realizing that Zhou Jingchen might have done this on purpose: "Did you ask them to come here on purpose?"
"Um."
"...Speaking of which, my husband, you haven't been busy with these things in Kucha lately, have you?" If he hadn't said it, Ye Jia wouldn't have dared to guess. After he said that, Ye Jia came back to his senses.
"Almost." This was also a benefit from his past life. Knowing many key points beforehand made him more efficient.
Ye Jia watched him slowly exhale. He scratched his cheek and relaxed. "So what are you going to do next? Take over the Yang family's inheritance, help Old Lady Yang drive away her unfilial descendants, and avenge Old Protector Qiao?"
"Of course." In reality, Zhou Jingchen's primary purpose for coming here was to seize the Anxi Protectorate. Firstly, its location was crucial and could not easily fall into the hands of others. Secondly, Zhou Jingchen was also trying to gain a lead. He had to make all arrangements before the imperial court reacted, preventing a dual attack from both the imperial court and the Turks on the Beiting Protectorate. Only then would he be invincible.
Although the Anxi Protectorate was not as strong as the Beiting, it still had 100,000 garrison troops. The sheer number of these 100,000 garrison troops was enough to deter, and if a conflict broke out, it would be a huge obstacle to what Zhou Jingchen was about to do.
Originally, he hadn't considered taking it all in one fell swoop. The Anxi Protectorate was vast, populated, and complex. He needed to unravel the mystery to find the key figures and disrupt the situation, seizing the opportunity to take them down. But his wife had a lucky break, and she found a key figure along the way. You know, it took him nearly two and a half years in his previous life to find this crazy Old Lady Yang.
"We came here originally for the Tiger Talisman, and capturing Qiao Zhengyuan is inevitable." Zhou Jingchen naturally did not hide anything from Ye Jia. "If we can complete what we were supposed to do and help the Yang family in the process, why not do it?"
Ye Jia looked at him sideways. She didn't know if it was her illusion, but she had a feeling that Zhou Jingchen had known about it for a long time.
The man let Ye Jia look at him without dodging or avoiding, and closed the book in his hand with a smile.
After mid-March, the weather warmed and life began to regenerate. The trees outside the window had already sprouted new buds; Anxi Protectorate was indeed much warmer than Beiting. The tender yellow leaves, bathed in sunlight, cast a hazy green hue, flowing like water onto Zhou Jingchen's white robe.
He had a remarkably fair complexion, black hair like satin, and lips stained like a smudge of crimson ink, creating a subtle, translucent effect against the pale green. He had removed his usual wooden hairpin and now used the red headband Ye Jia had bought to hold his dark hair high. The headband's string, with tassels at either end, draped over his chest, adding a touch of allure to his cold features.
"...Could it be that you've already predicted everything and are just waiting for those people to come to you?"
Zhou Jingchen finally laughed and said frankly, "There aren't that many coincidences in the world. It's necessary to use some means when necessary."
Ye Jia: “…”
Indeed, they were now facing such a situation. As the head coach, Zhou Jingchen was naturally more cunning than not. Means didn't have to be aboveboard, as the great men of later generations said. It didn't matter if the cat was black or white, as long as it caught the mouse, it was a good cat.
"Then how do you plan to accommodate these people in the Yang family? Old Lady Yang is not in her right mind, and it's unclear how much property the seal can mobilize." After taking someone else's property, one must be responsible for it. Ye Jia felt that this bit of conscience was necessary: "Furthermore, based on what you said before, Old Lady Yang trusted and loved her adopted son so much. I'm afraid that the Yang family's ancestral property would have been taken away long ago without anything left, right?"
"I'll trouble you, Jia Niang, to take care of these people."
Zhou Jingchen stood up and walked to Ye Jia's side, took her hand and sat back down.
Speaking of which, Zhou Jingchen's injuries had healed considerably recently. While his injuries appeared serious, they were actually only superficial. With proper care, he should recover quickly. "Qiao Zhengyuan's men are also looking for these two. That woman was a subordinate of the late Yang family patriarch."
"Does that mean she knows how much the Yang family has?"
Ye Jia roughly understood what he meant. Qiao Zhengyuan's men were still looking for these two people, which at least proved one thing: they either held some important secret or possessed something Qiao Zhengyuan cared about. Considering that the Yang family seal was handed over by a middle-aged woman, this woman must have a special status in the Yang family.
Zhou Jingchen smiled and said nothing more. Ye Jia now understood what Zhou Jingchen meant and took the seal when he returned.
Her acceptance of this gift meant she agreed to their request. The middle-aged woman was overjoyed and knelt on the ground, kowtowed to Ye Jia repeatedly. Ye Jia was still a little uncomfortable with people kowtowing to her all the time, so she told her to get up quickly.
The woman wiped her tears and stood up noddingly.
"Don't worry about the Qiao family's affairs. I promised you that I won't go back on my word. However, your status is special, so it's inconvenient for you to stay here. If you don't mind, you two can take Old Lady Yang and go somewhere else to avoid the limelight until the Qiao family's affairs are resolved." Since Qiao Zhengyuan's people were looking for them, Ye Jia naturally couldn't continue to take them with him. They only brought a few guards with them on this trip. If something went wrong and they were involved, it would be more trouble than it would take.
Ye Jia's arrangement hit the mark with the middle-aged woman. They were afraid that Qiao Zhengyuan, that ungrateful wretch, would kill to silence her. They had long wanted to take Old Lady Yang away, but they were powerless and alone, so they didn't dare to wander off.
"I'll send someone to escort you." Ye Jia saw their concerns and said, "If you have nowhere else to go, head north and take shelter in Beiting."
Ye Jia said that what they would do next was entirely up to them. Although Ye Jia had good intentions, she didn't like being a babysitter. Old Lady Yang already had a loyal servant to take care of her, so she didn't need to worry about the future. Having pointed out a clear path, Ye Jia also made it clear: "If you want to leave, I advise you to leave as soon as possible. Delaying it will only lead to more trouble."
"We'll leave tomorrow," the middle-aged woman said immediately. "Don't worry, young lady. We'll keep this a secret."
Ye Jia nodded. After the matter was explained clearly, they could make whatever arrangements they wanted afterwards.
She flicked her sleeves, stood up and went back to her room.
It was late at night, and the surroundings were silent. Some of the guests who had gone to bed early had already turned off their lights. When Ye Jia returned to the room with her lantern, Zhou Jingchen had already washed up and was sitting upright on the bed, reading a book. His black hair was soaked with water, and his body was still emitting moisture.
After frowning and pondering for a moment, Ye Jia suddenly spoke: "Husband, I have finalized the granary matter. How much grain do you need?"
Zhou Jingchen looked up, surprised for a moment: "So fast?!"
Ye Jia couldn't help but roll his eyes at him: "Do you still need to question my efficiency?"
"...That's true." Zhou Jingchen laughed.
The flickering candlelight illuminated the room. Ye Jia walked to his side and inexplicably smelled a faint herbal scent in the air.
Ye Jia's eyes were dead: "...Didn't I tell you many times not to take random medicines?"
Zhou Jingchen didn't expect her nose to be so sensitive that she could smell such a small smell. He didn't feel embarrassed. He got off the bed, took the lantern from Ye Jia's hand, blew it out, and put it on the table. Ye Jia had been running around all night and didn't eat much. There were some snacks and food on the table. Zhou Jingchen had just asked the kitchen to make it and send it over. It was still steaming: "Have some food with me. I didn't see you eat much for dinner."
Ye Jia was indeed a little hungry. She glanced at him and sat down to have dinner with him.
After eating three or four finger-long vegetarian dumplings with a bowl of chicken soup, Ye Jia put down her bowl and chopsticks and stopped eating. As she put down her bowl with a clatter, Zhou Jingchen's brow furrowed across from her. Speaking of which, Ye Jia's appetite had been drastically reduced lately for some reason. While she usually didn't eat much, she could still finish a plate of noodles this size.
Ye Jia herself didn't notice this, but Zhou Jingchen had noticed something was wrong. He frowned at Ye Jia, but when she looked up, he relaxed his brows and assumed a normal attitude. He also put down his chopsticks and asked softly, "Have you had enough?"
"Hmm?" Ye Jia blinked, and when she realized what he was asking, she nodded, "Hmm, that's enough. I don't want to eat anymore."
Zhou Jingchen pursed his lips, staring at Ye Jia for a moment, then took the few remaining dumplings from her bowl and finished them. Seeing that the young lady didn't seem to be paying attention at all, he put down his bowl and chopsticks and reached out to touch Ye Jia's forehead: "Jia Niang, what's wrong with you lately? Why don't you have a good appetite?"
"Poor appetite?" Ye Jia was stunned for a moment, thinking back, he had indeed been eating less recently.
"I guess the food doesn't suit my appetite."
The inn's chef was perfunctory in his cooking. Even though Zhou Jingchen had specially prepared a special meal for him, the taste was still average. Ye Jia used to eat at home all the meals cooked by Fourth Sister Ye, or when Fourth Sister was not available, she would cook them herself. In short, the taste was always excellent. Without such conditions outside, she became more picky about food. "I always feel that eating makes my stomach uncomfortable and I have lost my appetite."
Zhou Jingchen did not accept this reason. He stared at Ye Jia with his handsome brows furrowed tightly.
"Why are you looking at me?" Ye Jia was amused by his serious expression. "Don't worry, I'm in good health."
Zhou Jingchen now remembered that in his previous life, Jia Niang passed away before she was nineteen...
He had a vague memory of how she died, and without delving into the cause, he naturally didn't know. Everything had changed in this life, and Jia Niang wasn't "Ye Shi," but he still worried that the same fate would befall Ye Jia. Perhaps it was because those you truly cared about always made you uneasy, and even Zhou Jingchen had to be cautious.
The shop assistant brought hot water over. Ye Jia glanced at the man sitting at the table, his eyes lowered in thought, wondering what he was thinking. Without paying any attention to him, he got up and went to the back to take a shower.
Normally, Zhou Jingchen would have come over to tease her, but today he was quiet. Ye Jia frowned, thinking about the unusual changes in her body recently. It seemed that apart from eating less and being a bit lazier than before, nothing else had changed. She hadn't gained or lost weight, her complexion was rosy, and she looked very healthy. With this thought, Ye Jia felt relieved.
But when she came out after washing up, Zhou Jingchen was no longer in the room. Ye Jia wiped her hair and walked to the bedside, but there was no one there either.
"Strange? Where are you going so late at night?" Ye Jia muttered and lay back on the bed.
After waiting for a while, her hair hanging on the edge of the bed almost dry, she heard the sound of messy footsteps outside the door. She opened her eyes dazedly and heard Zhou Jingchen's clear voice outside the door, asking someone to wait a moment. Then the door creaked open from the outside, and steady, familiar footsteps sounded. A black shadow fell from above. Ye Jia opened her eyes and saw Zhou Jingchen standing by the bed.
"Jia Niang, wake up. Open your eyes." He held Ye Jia's coat in his hand and helped Ye Jia, who was lying down to dry her hair, to her feet. "I just called a doctor. Please clean up a little."
"Why do you need a doctor?" Ye Jia smoothed her hair, sat up, and put on the clothes Zhou Jingchen handed her. "I'm fine."
"Whether it's okay or not, it would be more reassuring to have a doctor check it out." Zhou Jingchen sat down on the edge of the bed, his slender white fingers smoothing Ye Jia's hair that fell over her shoulders. Ye Jia's hair was already half dry, but still a little cold and damp. After smoothing it a few times and straightening Ye Jia's collar, he got up and went to the outer hall.
A moment later, an old doctor carrying a medicine box followed him in.
The old doctor's eyes fell on Ye Jia's face, and he asked Ye Jia to hand over his wrist so that he could feel his pulse.
Zhongyi emphasized observation, auscultation, questioning, and palpation. The old doctor first took Ye Jia's pulse, then asked her to stick out her tongue. After a long while, he stroked his beard and spoke, "Don't panic, don't panic. Your wife isn't ill. She's probably pregnant."
These words startled the two of them. Ye Jiaben was still a little uninterested, but his eyes widened when he heard this.
Zhou Jingchen wasn't much better. He blinked twice and immediately frowned: "Doctor, are you sure you're pregnant?"
"What are you saying, young man? Are you doubting the reputation of my Huichuntang?" The old doctor was originally smiling, but the smile on his face froze when Zhou Jingchen spoke. He didn't even stroke his beard, but glared at Zhou Jingchen with a puff of his beard, very angry. "If I can't even pronounce a pregnancy, why should I open a clinic and practice medicine?"
"I'm not questioning the doctor's skills, it's just..." Zhou Jingchen hadn't considered the possibility that Ye Jia might be pregnant. Generally speaking, wouldn't a pregnant woman have a good appetite? Besides, he usually used medication when having sex with Ye Jia.
"Her pulse isn't noticeable yet, but it's still early in the pregnancy." The old doctor snorted, "Wait another ten days or half a month and it should become noticeable."
"Impossible," Ye Jia finally came to her senses after being shocked, "My husband and I have always used contraceptive pills, so we won't have any children."
The old doctor didn't expect that the young couple had taken the medicine, and was stunned for a moment.
After a pause, he relaxed his tone, "Contraceptive medicines also have to be divided into different ingredients. Not all contraceptive medicines are effective. Some medicines are very effective. Once applied, they can not only prevent pregnancy but also infertility. Some medicines are mild in nature and can only have a blocking effect. If you two are going to use medicine, you have to find out which kind it is. Mild medicines won't prevent pregnancy, especially since your husband's face shows that he is strong in that aspect..."
As the old doctor spoke, he glanced at Zhou Jingchen's fingers. "Your husband's fingers are long and well-proportioned. He's tall, lean and strong. This physique is not that of an ordinary man. Add to that his youth... He must be strong in that area."
Ye Jia: “…”
Zhou Jingchen: “…”
These words made Ye Jia and Zhou Jingchen blush.
"Is there anything particular about hands..." Ye Jia muttered unconsciously, her eyes unconsciously following the old doctor's words. It's true that Zhou Jingchen's hands were very long. Zhou Jingchen's hands were originally placed on Ye Jia's shoulders. Being looked at like this, she felt inexplicably embarrassed that she shouldn't have taken them out. Seeing how shy the two were, the old doctor let out his anger.
He glanced at Zhou Jingchen and said, "What medicine do you and your wife usually use? Take it out and let me see it."
Ye Jia scratched her cheek, and Zhou Jingchen hurriedly pulled out a small porcelain bottle from his pocket. The pills inside were contraceptive pills Zhou Jingchen had ground after visiting a doctor who had treated him for a serious illness. He'd consulted a doctor, and they were still effective.
The old doctor took it in his hand and smelled it, frowning. Then he took out a pill in front of the two of them, crushed it and tasted it.
Ye Jia blinked, and saw the old doctor's brow slowly relax. He spoke, "It is indeed an abortion drug, and it does work. However, the effectiveness of the drug is not absolute, and it varies from person to person. If you encounter a woman with a much better constitution than the average person, the drug may not be able to completely prevent pregnancy. If you add a herb like Tripterygium wilfordii, the effect will be much stronger."
"I didn't take this medicine." Ye Jia added, "Actually, my husband took it."
"No wonder." The old doctor corked the bottle and handed it back to Zhou Jingchen. "If a woman takes this pill, it will definitely be more effective in preventing pregnancy than a man. However, if a woman takes too much, it will easily cause uterine coldness and harm her body."
At this point, both of them actually understood. In the final analysis, the contraceptive drug was not effective against Zhou Jingchen, and was hit by this guy.
"Will this medicine affect the baby and the mother?" Zhou Jingchen immediately grasped the key point and went straight to the point: "My wife and I are still young, and we don't want to have children too early, so this is the case. We usually take one pill before sex. Will it harm mother and child?"
"It will do some harm. As the saying goes, every medicine is poisonous. Taking medicine without any reason will definitely harm your body." The old doctor didn't expect that there are still people who don't want to have children soon. What family doesn't hope to have children early? However, these are family affairs, and he, a doctor, will naturally not say anything. The old doctor had just tasted the pill and roughly knew what herbs were inside. "But it's not a big deal."
The old doctor didn't care whether the two understood or not, and just kept talking to himself: "The main effect of these herbs you used is to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. In other words, these herbs are not conducive to the fetus's entrenchment in the mother's body. As long as you prescribe some medicine to preserve the fetus later, it can still be saved."
After hearing this, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
"But you young people are really reckless! No matter how young you are or how strong your health is, you can't handle this kind of manipulation." The old doctor couldn't help but criticize as he wrote the prescription. "Once you ruin your own bodies, it will be difficult to recover later."
After saying that, he handed the prescription to Zhou Jingchen. It was not easy to get medicine so late, so he said, "Come and get some medicine tomorrow morning."
Zhou Jingchen, clutching the prescription, exchanged glances with Ye Jia, both awestruck. He appeared calm, but his heart was pounding like it was about to burst. Having lived two lives without children, he had originally planned to wait five years before trying again, only to be caught off guard by Jia Niang's pregnancy. Zhou Jingchen felt as if he were in the clouds, and the ground beneath his feet felt soft.
"Jia Niang..." Things have changed, and naturally we have to face it.
Only then did Zhou Jingchen realize that he didn't dislike children. The thought of Ye Jia's belly carrying their child made his head spin. Taking a deep breath, suppressing his surge of joy, he calmly escorted the old doctor to the door. He sincerely promised to fetch the medicine the next morning and gave the doctor a ten-liang reward.
After the others left, he returned to the house, hugged Ye Jia, and couldn't help burying his face in her neck.
Ye Jia was even more confused than him. Wasn't she a little unable to eat? How did she suddenly become pregnant?
The two of them stared at each other in shock for a long time. Finally, Zhou Jingchen couldn't help but grin, "I will definitely make every effort to protect you and your child. Don't worry, Jia Niang."
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