Lu Lingcong quickly climbed into the carriage before reaching out to support Xie Jing’s shoulder. Upon touching him, he found the thin fabric on Xie Jing’s back was already soaked with cold sweat, clammy, and wet. Clearly, this condition hadn’t just started. As Yin Chou said, the moment he drank the wine, something must have gone wrong.
Xie Jing curled his fingers, clutching the fabric around his waist tightly, using it for leverage to withstand the intense pain. He let go of the cloth he had been biting, drew two ragged breaths as if completely drained, and, seizing a brief pause in the pain, staggered to his feet. He lunged toward a nearby small table before tossing out the gardenias from the Ru-ware vase on it. Using the vase’s opening, he reached his fingers down his throat, pressing and scraping at the root of his tongue.
He hadn’t had a chance to eat anything, so the result of forcibly inducing vomiting was only heart-wrenching dry retching after dry retching. The nausea persisted, and his vision involuntarily blurred under a haze, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
Lu Lingcong seized his wrist to pull his fingers out of his mouth and shouted, “Don’t vomit like that!”
As he finished speaking, Xie Jing vomited a watery fluid, half into the vase and half onto Lu Lingcong. Lu Lingcong didn’t flinch; he simply held both Xie Jing’s hands and used his sleeve to wipe out the stains from his lips.
Before the second wave of pain hit, Xie Jing only had time to catch Lu Lingcong instructing the coachman to set off swiftly back to the Prince’s Mansion.
Although disoriented, his five senses were not completely gone. Xie Jing smelled a strong, pungent, and bitter medicinal aroma, definitely unlike any he had taken before. In his daze, he also heard noisy footsteps and voices, it was from Lu Lingcong and Yin Chou, who seemed to be arguing, and another slightly aged and slow voice, unfamiliar, yet sounding like he had heard it somewhere before… Finally, there was a hand resting on his waist with the palm bone gently pressing with force from, and his churning internal organs slowly settled back into place.
When he awoke, the sky was already completely dark. In the Prince’s Mansion’s bedroom, only a lamp behind the door burned, casting dim, flickering shadows. Half of the bed curtains were drawn down, and he lay on his side under the quilt, facing inward.
At this point, all human and object sounds had ceased. Xie Jing opened his eyes and gazed at the shimmering darkness before him, his mind blank. After a long moment, a faint breath barely brushed his ear. Xie Jing suddenly snapped to attention and turned his head, realizing someone was lying on their back on the other side of the bed with their left knee bent and hands clasped behind their head.
Xie Jing held his turned posture for a moment, but Lu Lingcong appeared lost in thought, completely still, and made no move to look back at him. He couldn’t see his eyes in the darkness, but Xie Jing was very certain he was awake.
So, he slowly let his body sink back into the mattress, remaining on his side.
A very, very long time passed, so long that Xie Jing nearly drifted back to sleep, still tormented by nausea and the exhaustion left by the spasms. Suddenly, a few rustling sounds came from behind him. He felt Lu Lingcong shift, seemingly turning over. Just as he tried to guess whether the other party was turning outward or inward, the silk quilt covering him was lifted slightly. That hand reached in, then paused, lingering for a long moment before finally asking:
“May I touch it?”
Xie Jing was stunned, then immediately understood Lu Lingcong’s implied meaning. The hand that had eased his pain earlier moved through the fabric. Since he hadn’t been awake to give consent, Lu Lingcong hadn’t placed his hand directly on the skin of his lower abdomen inside the sleeping robe.
Lu Lingcong knew.
Xie Jing subconsciously nodded, then realized Lu Lingcong couldn’t see him. But clearly, the other party, just like him, instinctively understood this tacit permission.
He felt the tie of his sleeping robe below his ribs being gently pulled open with half of the hem slid down and piled up in front of him. Lu Lingcong’s hand slowly and tentatively moved closer, hesitating at his waist for a moment. First, he brushed it lightly with his fingertips like a dragonfly skimming the water, then quickly withdrew. Realizing that a gentle touch caused no catastrophic effect, he gradually pressed the pad of his finger against it, then all five fingers, and finally his entire palm.
Skin met skin, millimeter by millimeter, fitting perfectly without a single gap. Xie Jing felt as if he were on fire; he couldn’t tell whether the heat came from Lu Lingcong’s palm or his own abdomen.
Three months had yet to bring any noticeable change to Xie Jing’s originally slender body, but the texture beneath Lu Lingcong’s palm, from firm to soft, betrayed subtle shifts to him.
In that moment, he felt an unprecedentedly clear sense of reality: he had gained an extremely special relative in this world.
Xie Jing allowed his hand to patiently caress him like a fragile jade artifact. He wanted to speak but found his voice terribly hoarse, so he could only mumble, “Did Yin Chou tell you?”
“No,” Lu Lingcong replied after a moment. “I asked her, and she wouldn’t say, so I went to ask the Imperial Physician.”
Xie Jing recalled the argument he had heard. He had instructed Yin Chou not to inform Lu Lingcong yet, and she kept her word, remaining silent even at such a critical moment.
He sighed: “Don’t make things difficult for her. I was the one who told her not to say anything.”
“I didn’t make things difficult for her,” Lu Lingcong said softly. “It’s just that I never expected to learn of my Princess Consort’s pregnancy from an outsider and that the Prince’s Mansion’s physician would need the Princess Consort himself to step in and save her.”
Xie Jing selectively ignored the first sentence and merely explained, “Stepping in to protect Yin Chou was also protecting the reputation of the Prince’s Mansion. Do you think they genuinely wanted to mock her? They were just using an easy-to-bully girl to step on the threshold of your Prince Zhao’s Mansion.”
“I know!” Lu Lingcong’s tone held a hint of irritability. “I don’t care about reputation or any threshold! Let them trample it as they please, they come to the mansion and trample it, I’ll be waiting!”
Xie Jing was stunned, “Since you don’t care, why are you getting angry?”
“I’m angry on your behalf for being wronged! Whatever happened to that cunning sharpness you showed when you overturned tables at Qinhuai Chun? I didn’t realize you even had the leisure to spar verbally with people like that!”
Xie Jing heard the harsh, aggressive tone behind him. After a moment, he burst out laughing, “Then you worry too much. If you’re asking about being wronged, yes, I was a little aggrieved, but this aggrievement was intentionally sought by me, so it’s not that big of an aggrievement either.”
Then he turned over, stretched out his arms, and yawned. Just like a docile cat might instinctively stretch out its whole body after having its belly stroked, he lay flat next to Lu Lingcong.
“You’re right, our family can afford to offend the Wang family. So, if the Empress hadn’t been there today, I would definitely have made a big scene.”
Lu Lingcong hadn’t quite recovered from those three words, “our family,” when he heard Xie Jing continue:
“But the Empress was there. She is the person with the most esteemed status in the entire Wang family. In other words, regardless of the outcome of any incident, the blame would fall on her. And frankly, the reason this group of people dared to be so presumptuous right to my face was probably because the Empress was either backing them or turning a blind eye.”
“If I had been in that hall alone today, I would truly have suffered silently with nowhere to complain. But the problem is,” he paused mischievously, “I am not alone.”
Lu Lingcong didn’t understand: “Li Qi merely helped relay a message. You don’t need to assign him such a huge role, right?”
Xie Jing glanced at him sideways and teased, “Thank him for me.”
Lu Lingcong was stunned for a moment. His gaze shifted to the slight rise beneath his palm, and he suddenly realized, “You mean—”
Xie Jing nodded, “Since the Imperial Physician was alerted, the child will likely not be kept a secret from the palace. Every detail of what happened at the banquet today will reach the Emperor’s ears. The Wang family and the Empress will ultimately be in the wrong. She should be more polite to me for the next few months, and I won’t have to deal with this kind of situation so often anymore.”
Lu Lingcong listened as he frowned, “I realize your courage in these matters is truly great. Is it innate? Did you ever consider that drinking three cups of wine could cause trouble? Did you never consider what suffering you would face if the Wang family wasn’t willing to let it go so easily, or if I arrived two steps later and couldn’t resolve the situation?”
Xie Jing tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then smiled, “Actually, it wasn’t as exaggerated as Yin Chou made it sound either. Those large bowls looked scary, but I covered it with my sleeve, half-spitting, and half-spilling it. Very little actually reached my stomach; I knew what I was doing.”
He felt Lu Lingcong’s hand pressing a little more firmly on his lower abdomen with his fingers curling slightly inward, sinking gently into the soft flesh.
“What did you know?” Lu Lingcong raised his voice. “Because of the child, they couldn’t give you strong painkillers, only the decoction to stabilize the pregnancy. The Imperial Physician said that another half-hour of pain would have been dangerous.”
Earlier, Xie Jing was ignorant and had no real concept of how alarming his symptoms were. Moreover, “knowing what he was doing” indeed carried the suspicion of taking risks relying on his normally good health. Feeling guilty and afraid of retrospect, he immediately conceded, “In any case, nothing bad happened now. I think this child is a little lucky star; before it was even born, it’s already helped me with such a big favor.”
At this point, Xie Jing suddenly realized that his conversation with Lu Lingcong since waking up had only covered the events at the Wang Mansion. Lu Lingcong had not expressed any opinion about the child itself, nor did he respond to this last remark. After a long silence, he withdrew his hand and got out of bed: “The Imperial Physician hasn’t left yet. I’ll invite him in to take another look.”
The bedroom door was left open without closing. A few moments later, several maids entered before lighting the lamps and candles throughout the room. Immediately afterward, Yin Chou hurried in as well, helped Xie Jing sit up against the bedside, handed him a bowl of ginseng soup, and said, “The person from the palace was Imperial Physician Qin from the Imperial Academy of Medicine. I saw that he was very familiar with His Highness, and the situation was indeed urgent. I couldn’t make a decision alone, so I could only…”
Xie Jing shook his head to indicate that it was fine, “If His Highness spoke carelessly in the heat of the moment, please be understanding.”
Yin Chou replied, “I don’t mind, but His Highness’s reaction after learning the truth from Imperial Physician Qin was a bit strange. It wasn’t appropriate for me to comment too much so after careful thought, I still need to ask the Princess Consort to decide.”
Xie Jing frowned. He didn’t want to be the kind of resentful spouse who plants spies around his husband to constantly monitor his words and actions, but this matter was too important as it concerned the child, he couldn’t afford to be highly concerned.
So, he said, “Just tell me what His Highness and Imperial Physician Qin said.”
Yin Chou thought for a moment, “There actually weren’t many words, and everything was said openly before the people of the mansion. Imperial Physician Qin simply took his pulse and announced that Princess Consort was pregnant. His Highness blurted out, ‘How could that be?’ Imperial Physician Qin then said it should be about a hundred days, and His Highness didn’t say anything after that. Afterward, I followed Imperial Physician Qin to the outer room to write and decoct the prescription. His Highness stayed in the room with you the whole time until just now, when he went out. There was nothing else.”
Xie Jing was stunned: “’How could that be?’”
Yin Chou nodded: “Just that one sentence.”
Before they could say anything more, the white-haired Imperial Physician Qin had already followed Lu Lingcong into the room. He was the source of the slightly aged voice Xie Jing had heard In his semi-conscious state today. He thanked Imperial Physician Qin The elderly man offered his advice with great earnestness, and it sounded quite sincere. It seemed Yin Chou had been telling the truth when she said Imperial Physician Qin was “very familiar with His Highness.”
But this was indeed very strange. Xie Jing had a talent for remembering things at a glance when studying, and the same applies to recognizing people. He rarely confused anyone he had met, and those he had interacted with remained perfectly clear in his mind. Although the Imperial Physician Qin in front of him seemed to have a close relationship with Lu Lingcong, Xie Jing was certain that in the half-year since he married into the Prince’s Mansion, he had never seen this face.
But he had indeed heard Imperial Physician Qin’s voice somewhere before. Even if voices may sound alike, each person’s tone and manner of speaking are always distinct. Imperial Physician Qin must have said something back then that made him pay particular attention and listen closely, which was why the voice now struck him with such a sense of familiarity.
Lu Lingcong escorted Imperial Physician Qin out. Steward Zhou called for Yin Chou from outside, and she excused herself as well before closing the door behind her. Left alone, Xie Jing leaned against the soft pillow, silently lost in thought. In any case, he had never expected that Lu Lingcong’s reaction upon learning of his pregnancy would be that question of “How could that be?” It was as if Lu Lingcong was absolutely certain that the two of them could never have a child even though they hadn’t been overly cautious about not leaving things inside during their intimate moments.
Although they had never openly reached a consensus on the matter of children, there had been no intense conflict or conscious effort to control it either. “Letting nature take its course” would be the most appropriate description.
Then why would Lu Lingcong be so astonished and surprised that he blurted out such an absolutely improper question, one that didn’t fit the identity of a first-time father, in front of “everyone in the mansion”?
Xie Jing might not yet understand the reason, but those three words clearly carried neither joy nor anticipation.
Even though Lu Lingcong had said that day at Yanzi Rock that he wouldn’t refuse if Xie Jing truly wanted a child and that he would give the child all his wealth, his princely title, and everything he could offer, Lu Lingcong was not a saint, after all. The issue is now present. Giving Xie Jing full freedom and respect was one thing; how he himself accepted and processed it was another.
In the end, it came down to that one truth: he might carry responsibility, but that did not necessarily mean he carried love. Perhaps this applied not only to the unborn child but also to Xie Jing, to his princely title, to the emperor, and even to this land.
Lu Lingcong returned after some time. Xie Jing thought he had gone to wash up, but when that person walked to the bedside, he was still neatly dressed in his robes, looking ready to go out at any moment.
“Imperial Physician Qin will likely be coming to the Prince’s Mansion more often from now on. Yin Chou is still young, after all, and having an elder around will help. He was recommended by my maternal family decades ago and has practically watched me grow up, so you can rest easy.”
Xie Jing nodded. Silence filled the room for a moment. After a long while, he finally said, “Why don’t you… get ready and sleep? Today was truly quite a hassle.”
Lu Lingcong, however, just walked over to the table and sat down. He remained silent for an even longer time as if after extremely careful consideration, he suddenly asked:
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
But immediately afterward, he said again, “Forget it. This isn’t something I should wait for you to tell me; I should have discovered it myself. It was my carelessness.”
Those two short sentences lifted Xie Jing’s heart light as air only to have it crash down heavily. When Lu Lingcong asked that first question, he felt almost ecstatic. Even though the other party tried to mask it, he heard it as an accusation, proof that whether in anger or anxiety, Lu Lingcong did care about his pregnancy. But almost immediately, he returned to that impeccable, placating demeanor, absorbing all unpleasantness like a model husband, though it seemed his motivation stemmed from responsibility rather than love.
Especially those two words, “Forget it.” Xie Jing could almost hear Lu Lingcong’s sigh in his heart, indicating his unwillingness to engage in unnecessary verbal wrangling over this question, making him feel that any further words from him would be unreasonable fussing.
The funny thing was that Lu Lingcong’s own words and actions completely answered his question. It was precisely because Xie Jing worried about this outcome, or rather, anticipated it, that he hadn’t wanted to excitedly tell him in the first place.
Perhaps he was overly sensitive, or perhaps he overthought, but in the first seventeen years of his life, Xie Jing had never engaged someone so profoundly. The care given by his family members required no cost and no effort; it was endlessly waiting for him whenever he wanted it. Therefore, Xie Jing had never considered that loving a person required experiencing so many wildly fluctuating, dramatic emotional shifts.
Looking at it this way, Lu Lingcong treated him as a relative, but he could not return the same. Lovers and relatives might eventually end up the same, but to treat him as a relative from the start would be tantamount to deceiving himself and truly unfair to his true feelings!
“I’ve met Imperial Physician Qin.” Xie Jing said suddenly, breaking the silence.
Lu Lingcong didn’t react at once, subconsciously asking in doubt, “Where? He hasn’t been to the Prince’s Mansion in over half a year.”
“Half a year.” Xie Jing repeated the term. He had no dealings with the Imperial Academy of Medicine in the palace, nor did he recall ever speaking with anyone who might have been an imperial physician. As for outside the palace, he hadn’t seen any physicians at all, and imperial physicians likely couldn’t treat anyone beyond the imperial family with ease.
Then it could only have been that he met him in the Prince’s Mansion half a year ago. Lu Lingcong likely wasn’t present and didn’t know; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so easily tricked.
In fact, when he was pondering the phrase “How could that be?” just now, he had already had a faint suspicion. Now, with Lu Lingcong’s confirmation, he no longer harbored any doubt.
“On the night of the eighth of the first lunar month, I ran into Imperial Physician Qin on his way out of the mansion.” This was not the truth, but it was irrelevant, only serving to cover the previous probing statement.
Lu Lingcong looked confused, clearly surprised that Xie Jing remembered such an insignificant detail so clearly.
Xie Jing continued to explain lightly, “Imperial Physician Qin was speaking with Your Highness inside the room when I came out of the west wing and overheard it.”
Lu Lingcong showed no sign of panic or guilt, either because he no longer remembered the details of the conversation or because he had never said anything that could harm Xie Jing, leaving his conscience clear.
“I know that Lord Qin is wholeheartedly loyal to Prince Zhao’s Mansion and Wu Niangniang, and I also know that he was sincerely advising me just now to take care of my health, but I still don’t want to trouble him with my child again.”
Xie Jing’s tone was calm yet firm: “Someone who, on the very first day after my marriage, schemed against my belly over all the dirty dealings tied to that dragon throne, and now comes offering solicitous care for me and my child—I… I find it utterly disgusting.”
Lu Lingcong stiffened for a moment, raised his eyes, and stared straight at him, immediately understanding the veiled accusation. He had just clearly stated the relationship between Imperial Physician Qin and the Wu family, implicitly acknowledging that every word and action of Imperial Physician Qin was instructed by Prince Zhao’s Mansion and the Wu family. Without a prompt from him as the master, the physician would never dare to arbitrarily discuss matters of imperial succession or mention the possibility of ‘if Your Highness is unwilling.’
He Immediately explained, “Since you heard me talking to him, you should also have heard my final remark—”
Xie Jing interrupted him directly, saying, “Your Highness hesitated for too long then. That final sentence came too late. I didn’t hear it and I also don’t want to hear it anymore.”
Lu Lingcong immediately closed his mouth. He understood. What was said wasn’t important; that long pause beforehand had already betrayed his subconscious. He couldn’t refute it, nor could he deny the real hesitation he had felt.
After a while, he only whispered, “Then you should rest early. I… will leave now.”
It took Xie Jing a long moment to realize that the room had fallen completely silent and empty except for the flickering candlelight. He pressed the acupuncture points on his temples, realizing that under the combined effect of the gains and losses of unrequited love and the emotional instability of pregnancy, he had said things that were logically sound but not what he truly intended.
He hadn’t said these things to rake up old scores, throw a tantrum, and make Lu Lingcong feel that the best response was to avoid him. He wanted to break the matter down and thoroughly analyze it. He wanted to clarify things. He only wanted to solve the problem.
He was truly exhausted from that day. The fatigue in both his body and mind could not even be relieved by sleep alone. Xie Jing raised his voice and called out. A young maid immediately came to the door to respond, carefully asking what the princess consort commanded.
Xie Jing let out a long breath and said, “Where is His Highness? Please ask him to come back.”
The young girl paused for a moment: “His Highness… has left.”
Xie Jing rubbed his temples: “I know he left. Please help me relay a message; ask him to come back to the room. I have something to tell him.”
This time, the young girl stammered for a bit before softly saying, “No… he left, he really left. He has gone out, no longer in the Prince’s Mansion, and no longer in Jinling.”
Xie Jing couldn’t process the statement for a moment, only slowly murmuring, “No longer in Jinling?”
“When His Highness returned from the palace this afternoon, he instructed Steward Zhou and us to pack his luggage. He didn’t mention what he was doing or where he was going, only saying he would be away for ten days to half a month. The carriage was already harnessed and waiting outside the mansion gate then. He went to the Wang Mansion midway to pick you up, and then… just now, when His Highness came out of the room, he departed…”
This time, Xie Jing understood. He sat dumbfounded on the edge of the bed, never having expected Lu Lingcong to leave without a word, simply saying he was leaving, and actually leaving.
