The warmth in the teacup had long dissipated, and occasionally strange bird calls from the next door pierced the eerie atmosphere.
At the sa ti, the sound of a child’s wailing ca through.
It seed to resonate with her mory, causing Ying Changqiao to shudder suddenly.
With a slap, she rembered her day of childbirth, when her mother consort rushed over and slapped her hard.
The golden armor left a bloody mark.
—"You wretch, satisfied now?"
—"That impoverished scoundrel dared to sweet-talk you; he deserved to be cut to pieces! Yet here you are, treasuring his illegitimate child as if it were a treasure?"
Her body ached uncontrollably, and the newborn in swaddling clothes cried non-stop, irritating her.
Ying Changqiao felt aggrieved, thinking her mother consort didn’t love her.
In truth, she had long regretted it.
But she was unwilling to bow her head to her mother consort, nor could she turn back or admit she was wrong.
The child was born, and she barely cared for it.
When young, who hasn’t acted impulsively? Once she awoke to reality, how could she still long for soone who was dead?
Now she panicked, rely fearing that her secret childbirth would be exposed.
She wasn’t worried about the child being unwell.
When the scandal was discovered back then, her mother consort was furious and ordered her to be fed Abortion Soup.
But she was possessed.
As a Princess, she liked a poor scholar and wanted to stay with him forever; was that wrong?
Why did they have to kill her lover?
Why did she have to be sacrificed to fulfill her elder brother?
Don’t think she wasn’t aware of her mother’s and maternal grandfather’s intention to let her enter the Duke Zhongyong family.
Xiao Huaian was handso,
but he was illiterate and a frequent visitor to the brothel, notorious for being a libertine.
Why would she be willing?
Hence, after her mother consort left, she defied expectations by sticking her finger down her throat, vomiting the dicine she drank.
Who could have thought she would really beco pregnant?
She missed her lover but didn’t dare to reveal it and kept it secret.
But how long could she hide it?
Her mother consort found out eventually.
Publicly, citing her grandmother’s poor health, she was ordered to leave the palace for a visit.
In reality, with many eyes in the Imperial Palace, she was forcibly sent to her grandmother’s house to miscarry.
The dicine was poured down her throat, and she endured a night of pain, lost a lot of blood, yet the child remained in her belly.
Indeed.
Xiao Huaian, who didn’t want to marry her, secretly switched the dicine.
But Ying Changqiao didn’t know that.
After not miscarrying, she cried her heart out, believing her late lover’s spirit in heaven had blessed her to keep his bloodline.
Her health worsened, and doctors didn’t dare give her more miscarriage dicine, fearing massive bleeding.
She pleaded with her mother consort to allow her to keep the child, promising to behave in the future.
Surely her mother consort wouldn’t let her die.
In the end, things went as she wished.
But Ying Changqiao soon found no joy.
Such a significant matter, remaining in Shangjing was bound to cause trouble. She was sent with her grandmother to her hotown.
Her grandmother, healthy and robust, confined her, not allowing her a single step out of her room.
To avoid arousing outsiders’ suspicion, what was initially a ’few months’ stay’ in her hotown was explained away as a prolonged illness until the day she gave birth, and her grandmother miraculously recovered.
Under such circumstances, her longing for her lover gradually faded each day, leaving only resentnt.
How could a dead person be worth her trouble?
On the day of birth, she was like at on a chopping board, stripped below and observed by a group of midwives.
How humiliating?
She suddenly rembered Xiao Huaian’s kindness.
If she hadn’t been foolish, she might have already been in the Duke Zhongyong family.
How could she be in this predicant?
But her mother consort told her to stop having foolish fantasies.
—"Hasn’t he had enough won to play with? Would he not notice your tainted condition once married?"
—"How could the Duke Zhongyong family stomach such disgrace?"
—"Marrying into a prestigious family of power and influence is sothing you can forget about in this lifeti. We won’t even ask you to help your brother; just be grateful you’re not a burden."
That child also beca her blemish.
After she completed her post-natal confinent, she left the child behind, and the affectionate golden necklace given by the scholar was also discarded when she returned to Shangjing.
Ying Changqiao suppressed her fear and anxiety, not daring to show weakness or think further.
Yao Ru rose and instructed the maid and Xun Zhu.
"Take good care of the esteed guests."
She said to everyone: "Dun is awake, please be seated; I will go check on him."
Yu Tingwan stood up and followed the sound of footsteps.
Such a lack of boundaries. But no one, not even the maid or Xun Zhu, seed to find it improper.
After entering the inner room, Yao Ru picked up the crying child from the cradle.
Maybe sensing a familiar presence, Dun’s cries grew quieter.
Yu Tingwan entered, closing the door behind her, having already soothed the child.
Yao Ru’s voice was gentle, different from the cold tone she used with outsiders: "There’s so cow milk tea here. I ca up with it myself; it tastes quite good, but you’ll have to pour it yourself."
She was holding the child and couldn’t free her hands.
Yu Tingwan’s gaze scanned the room.
Everything within sight related to the baby, with little to show that belonged to Yao Ru.
Even the woman’s dressing area, besides hair combs and a small box of neatly arranged jewelry, had a child’s peace lock, silver bracelet, and golden necklace...
For now, Dun was too young to use them.
Looking at the bed,
it appeared Yao Ru personally kept the child with her at night.
Not disorganized, but with a child’s tiger-pillow and playful bells. Also, a hand-sewn pouch by Yao Ru embroidered with centipedes and scorpions, traditional talismans using poison against poison for protection.
Yao Ru was indeed living well.
But...
Yu Tingwan was carefree, not adept at crafts, nor did she bother arranging the bedroom.
But often, on Wei Zhao’s desk, there would be a bouquet of flowers she picked from outside.
Under the window, her half-eaten lon seeds remained.
The East Sea Jue Pearl she used as marbles would occasionally roll under the bed.
These were her traces of life.
But here, Yao Ru evidently had none.
The air was filled with the sweet aroma of milk.
Yu Tingwan’s eyes were quietly serene, no longer intimidating as in the pavilion, and she stepped forward to pour herself a cup.
Taking a sip, she sniffed it at her nose.
It was a flavor she liked.
She took a small sip, her eyes brightening.
"He..."
Yao Ru stepped forward.
She had no interest in the sordid tales of Ying Changqiao.
Her questions were about Ying Fuyan.
"Is he well..."
Yu Tingwan gently said, "When he ca to see you back then, why didn’t you ask?"
Yao Ru’s throat tightened.
"I didn’t dare."
So words were bottled up inside her, things that even the maid or Xun Zhu didn’t dare to bring up.
She and Yu Tingwan weren’t particularly acquainted, but for so reason,
the girl’s eyes were so pure, penetrating into one’s soul. Standing before her with a serene and composed deanor.
No sympathy, yet silently providing comfort.
Yao Ru: "I was afraid to hear what I didn’t wish to hear from him."
Her smile was strained: "I’ve contemplated countless tis, hoping soday he’d appear before ."
But having hoped too many tis, she dared not even think about it anymore.
"Heaven finally favored once, and he finally returned. But truth be told, before he spoke his na, I didn’t recognize him."
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