Mo Wenpei hurriedly left the mansion with Teng Zhao, while Ms. Wen stared blankly at the Ghost Baby running around. She took a deep breath, gathered her spirits, and called for her trusted maid to go back to her mother’s house to inquire about the origin and whereabouts of that Daoist.
Ms. Wen looked at the Ghost Baby and recounted the details of her pregnancy to Qin Liuxi: "From the mont I conceived, I experienced bleeding and had to stay in bed for three months to preserve the fetus. At that ti, the doctor told that the fetus was weak and hard to protect, even more so reaching full term. He said there was no telling when it might stop developing, and once the child grows bigger before such an occurrence, it would cause more harm to the mother, prompting to decide early."
She wiped the corner of her eye and looked at the Ghost Baby crawling on the ground: "But that was my first child; how could a mother bear to give up? Even if there was the slightest chance, I had to protect it. What if he was the one born with a great fate? But I never expected..."
Qin Liuxi took a pulse pillow and placed it on a small table: "Reach out your hand."
Ms. Wen put her hand on the pulse pillow, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the Ghost Baby. Although the child wasn’t good-looking, knowing it was her own flesh and blood took away all her fear.
Qin Liuxi placed two fingers on her wrist, observing her complexion. When switching hands, he checked her tongue coating: "Your body wasn’t weak; it seems you were well cared for before marriage."
Ms. Wen nodded. "Before I got married, my mother had a doctor prescribe a regin for . The dicinal soups never ceased. While I wouldn’t say I was without illness or pain, everything, including my nstruation, was normal." She smiled bitterly, "But maybe my fortune was lacking; for those initial years, there was no news of a child. I consud countless decoctions and visited every possible temple near Shengjing before conceiving nearly four years post-marriage. I was overjoyed upon discovering it, but the joy was short-lived as I lay bedridden to preserve the fetus, only to end up..."
Her voice choked up, and she looked at the Ghost Baby with guilt. She truly hadn’t expected that the child could survive.
Qin Liuxi said, "Children are a matter of fate. From your facial features, your affinity with children isn’t deep."
Ms. Wen’s face turned pale: "Does ’not deep’ an I’ll never have children again?"
"If you don’t send him away, yes," Qin Liuxi glanced at the Ghost Baby, "Not only because he doesn’t reincarnate, preventing you from conceiving; over ti, he will drain your spirit, leading to your death."
Ms. Wen was stunned.
"He stays with you day and night, sustained by absorbing your yang energy, which is why you always feel cold. What you’re sensing is all his yin energy. Luckily, you didn’t enshrine any Fertility Goddess statue at ho; he might avoid entering the room due to the statue’s presence, but his resentnt would grow, perceiving your actions as a ans to destroy him completely. Once his resentnt turns into an evil spirit, it might lead to the child killing the mother."
Ms. Wen clutched her chest, saying tearfully, "I owe him, returning my life to him is only just, I’m unworthy of being his mother."
The Ghost Baby seed to sense sothing, floated over, and hugged her foot, rubbing affectionately.
Qin Liuxi shifted the topic: "Every dicine has its side effects. You originally had a healthy constitution, but in your eagerness for a child, taking excessive decoctions hard your internal organs’ yin and yang. However, if you stopped once discovering pregnancy, given your strong foundation, it wouldn’t greatly damage the child. How did the doctor diagnose you then?"
Ms. Wen suddenly shivered, her face darkening: "Our Zhongqin Marquis Mansion has a house doctor, once an Imperial Physician at the Imperial Hospital, demoted due to mistakes, now serving as our house doctor. His dical skills were competent, it was he who diagnosed , saying the child was unkeepable."
"And where is he now?"
"Dead." Ms. Wen’s face turned somber, "Half a year after my miscarriage, his house caught fire, and he perished in the flas."
Qin Liuxi raised an eyebrow: "So there’s no one to bear witness now."
Ms. Wen asked: "Does the temple master think he deliberately misled ?"
"Do you believe in coincidence? I don’t, especially when the truth is right before us." Qin Liuxi pointed at the Ghost Baby by her feet, "As for whether soone plotted against you, you’ve been in the inner courtyard for many years and seen many mansion disputes, you should have an idea."
Ms. Wen, naturally skeptical, realized now that indeed there were many suspicious actions. When the child was nearly seven months, the Ma Mansion Doctor frequently prescribed fetus-preserving dicine, yet the child worsened. He even resorted to acupuncture, urging her to decide quickly. Until the child ceased moving and even the outside doctor declared it deceased, she allowed him to prescribe induction dicine.
At that ti, if the child was indeed alive, her decision truly amounted to killing her own son.
She had personally taken the life of her son.
Ms. Wen was filled with rage, mostly hating herself for being too sorrowful back then to notice anything amiss.
How foolish she was!
Qin Liuxi returned to discussing her pulse: "Your miscarriage, due to the advanced stage, caused significant damage to your body. Adding to that, suffering from the loss and emotional distress, though you nurtured your health back, it’s not as before. With this child adhering to you, causing yin cold to invade, you’re suffering from a deficiency in both qi and blood, with cold entering your bones, have you been taking dicine all along?"
Ms. Wen nodded and called for her maid to bring her usual prescriptions, handing them to Qin Liuxi.
Qin Liuxi looked over them, all aid at replenishing qi and blood, even aiding conception: "Without addressing the root, consuming them is in vain. The primary issue is the constant lack of yang energy; no amount of tonic will help."
Ms. Wen sighed deeply: "It’s my debt to him."
"If you wish, I can take him away now." Qin Liuxi looked at the Ghost Baby.
The Ghost Baby had absorbed yang energy for years, gaining a basic understanding of human behavior. Hearing Qin Liuxi’s words, his eyes turned scarlet, baring teeth and claws, as if preparing to rage.
He seed ready to fight her if she dared.
Qin Liuxi narrowed her eyes and said coolly: "The more you cling to your mother, the more likely it is she’ll return her life to you; a life for a life, it’s only fair."
The Ghost Baby instinctively looked at Ms. Wen, noting her dark eye circles and pale face, he pouted and floated away from her side, not daring to co closer.
Ms. Wen saw this and tears welled up, wanting to approach: "Child, mother’s not afraid, co here."
Qin Liuxi stopped her: "Don’t act like a loving mother; your reluctance and guilt make him more unwilling to leave. A ghost holding onto regrets brings no benefit."
Ms. Wen froze, not daring to move.
From outside ca a commotion; Teng Zhao and the others had returned.
Qin Liuxi looked out, noticing Teng Zhao’s clothes were sowhat disheveled, his complexion pale. anwhile, Mo Wenpei seed like a lost soul. Standing up, she walked to the door: "What happened? Did you fight soone?"
"Ah, Baby, what happened? Temple Master...."
Suddenly, a piercing ghostly scream sent shivers down their spines. Qin Liuxi turned to look, her face darkened, she cast a skill at it.
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