It was Xiaohe, the maid who used to serve her. Xiaohe followed her to the Lu family after she married. Before Lu Feng kidnapped her that day, he knocked Xiaohe unconscious, and they never saw each other again after that.
Su Qingci looked at Xiao He for a moment, and seeing that she was safe and sound, only a little thinner from the travel, he felt relieved. Then he hurriedly asked her about Lu Huan.
Xiao He has always been the most loyal to her and would never listen to Yan Xuanye's words to deceive her.
Xiao He hesitated for a long time, but still spoke slowly under her expectant eyes, her voice tinged with sorrow: "Madam, the general is indeed dead."
Su Qingci didn't believe it: "Didn't they say the body wasn't found? How can you be sure he's dead?"
Xiao He also burst into tears: "Madam, the general's body has been found."
Su Qingci stood there blankly, tears welling up uncontrollably in her eyes, muttering to herself, "How could this be?"
"When the army retreated, everyone was only concerned about their own safety. No one dared to risk their lives to retrieve the general's body."
Xiao He wiped away a tear as she spoke. "Some time later, Prince Ning's men dumped the general's body at the gate of Yizhou City. The deputy general and others carried the general's body back, and only then were we able to rest and bury it."
Her heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and she felt so painful that she couldn't breathe. She asked, "Are there many injuries on his body?"
Su Qingci wanted to know more about his life and wanted to know whether he was in pain before he passed away.
Xiao He's tears shed more tears, like beads from a broken string, unable to stop falling. "Those beasts, even after the general died, they still refused to let go of the general's body and even whipped it!"
"When the general's body was returned, it was completely unrecognizable. His former appearance and high-spirited demeanor were completely unrecognizable."
Su Qingci seemed to have grasped a glimmer of hope. He held onto Xiao He's hand, his eyes gleaming. "Could it be that it wasn't him? Maybe... the person who died wasn't Lu Huan, but someone else?"
"The corpse was wearing the commander's clothing and armor. The belt around his waist was altered by you, Madam, yourself, and there was an amulet sewn into it."
The light in Su Qingci's eyes disappeared.
Lu Huan is really dead.
This news was like a bolt from the blue. Su Qingci was struck by lightning. Her vision went dark in an instant and she was about to fall to the ground with an unsteady gait. Fortunately, Xiaohe was quick to help her up.
"Ma'am, are you okay?"
"It's okay." She forced herself to smile at her, trying to pretend that nothing had happened, trying to pretend that she didn't care and wasn't heartbroken.
"Xiao He, how did you escape?"
Xiao He: "That day they only knocked me unconscious, they had no intention of killing me. After Madam disappeared, Sister Zitan brought people to find me. The secret guards that the general left behind to protect Madam were either dead or injured."
"The enemy was outnumbered and powerful, and we only left six or seven of our most skilled secret guards alive."
"Because the people they brought were all women from the Central Plains, Sister Zitan initially thought that the Crown Prince had sent someone to kidnap the Madam, and didn't think anything else."
"I never thought... that the ones who took you away, Madam, would be these northern barbarians."
Xiao He looked at Su Qingci's thinning chin and increasingly thin jawline, feeling very distressed, "Madam has suffered a lot and has lost a lot of weight."
She slowly looked at Su Qingci, and when she saw her slightly bulging belly, she was shocked, "Madam, you...you?"
Xiao He was afraid that she could not stand steadily, so she helped Su Qingci sit down.
"I'm fine."
"Don't worry, the baby in my belly is Lu Huan's child."
Xiao He wiped her tears quietly, "I'm not worried about that. I'm just worried that your body can't handle it."
Xiao He had watched her and Lu Huan all the way here, and knew how loving they were. Even if Su Qingci didn't tell her what she had been going through these days, Xiao He could guess a little.
She didn't love Yan Xuanye, and she still cared about their general in her heart. It was just that she was in a foreign land and had to restrain her temperament.
Their wives have really suffered.
After a long time, Su Qingci finally recovered a little and asked Xiao He in a trembling voice: "Where are Zi Tan and the others now?"
Xiao He turned around and looked around. Seeing that no one was around, she lowered her head and said to her, "Don't worry, Madam. Sister Zi Tan also knows that I was kidnapped by them."
"When they kidnapped me, I was gathering information on the street with Sister Zitan, hoping to find your whereabouts. Sister Zitan saw me being taken away."
"My captors made up a pretext, saying I was a runaway slave from an official's family and wanted to take me back, but Sister Zitan knew I wasn't a runaway slave."
"I was taken away so suddenly this time because they were trying to trick me. Sister Zitan will definitely follow them and come to rescue us."
Su Qingci bit her lower lip and nodded silently.
It would be better if Zitan would bring people to rescue her.
She had to go to Yizhou in person to inquire about Lu Huan's death before she could believe it.
Before that, she had to wait for Zitan to come and rescue them.
…
That night, Su Qingci started to feel pain in her lower abdomen again, and soon she started bleeding, which scared herself and Xiaohe a lot.
The maids in the palace ran to find the witch doctor and Yan Xuanye.
Yan Xuanye arrived much faster than expected.
Last time, Su Qingci had a quarrel with him, and the two of them were very unhappy. After Yan Xuanye left in anger, he didn't come to see her for a long time. It seemed that he was very angry.
This time her bleeding was more severe than last time, with blood flowing all over her thigh. Su Qingci herself was also scared.
Before the witch doctor arrived, she fainted.
After the witch doctor took Su Qingci's pulse, he sighed heavily.
"I told you last time I came that the princess is suffering from a bout of anxiety and is physically and mentally exhausted. She needs to be properly recuperated and must not be stimulated again."
"Over the past ten days, the condition hasn't improved at all. Instead, it's gotten even worse. The mother is listless all day long, and coupled with malnutrition, how can she take good care of the fetus?"
"You're so busy and hungry, and you're also worried and anxious, and you refuse to take proper medicine to protect your body. Even a body made of iron wouldn't be able to endure this." "Now that the mother is bleeding so heavily, it's an ominous sign."
Yan Xuanye was extremely anxious and asked in a trembling voice, "Can the child still be saved?"
The witch doctor shook his head helplessly: "If you had taken good care of the baby when you first diagnosed the pregnancy pulse, there would still be hope."
"Nowadays... even if we delay with medication, we can only save her for another month or so at most. The longer we delay, the more dangerous the mother will be..."
Yan Xuanye frowned, his expression solemn, "What do you mean?"
"Cut the Gordian knot."
"The mother's body is already unhealthy, and she's allowing the fetus to continue absorbing her own nutrients. If this continues, if she miscarries, the mother's body will be even more vulnerable to danger."
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