Chapter 185: Pregnant Lady, Fragile Goods
Long Heng knew more than anyone else how much he wanted a child. He walked up to Bai Xiangxiu’s bed and lifted the canopy, taking a seat beside her to ma.s.sage her hands. Xiaos.h.i.+ was entirely befuddled after listening to their conversation, but somehow realized that this was her cue to leave the room. The prince had a very gentle look on his face, especially when he was looking at her mistress. She quietly took her leave so that they could have some time alone together.
The moment she left the room, Ye-mama came up to her to ask about Bai Xiangxiu’s condition. The old madame had sent someone else over as well. “Xiaos.h.i.+, how is Madame Xiu doing? Are there any problems?”
The senior mamas all knew that the old madame was worried sick. Even though she was still busy dealing with the aftermath, she was still sending people over regularly to check on her. Back in the hall, anxiety was written all over her face. It made sense. After all, her son’s arranged wife had just been revealed to be a loose woman who was bearing another man’s child. The only silver lining was that they had avoided going through the finality of the bowing rituals.
But now that she no longer had a daughter-in-law, she was placing even more hope on Bai Xiangxiu to give her a child. Since the wedding arrangements had gone south, who knew how much longer it would take for her to find another suitable wife for her son? Based on her son’s temperament, he might even refuse to get married again after this debacle! The senior mamas had all been by the old madame’s side for many years, and thus knew her mind very well. So, they all immediately inquired about Bai Xiangxiu’s well-being when they arrived.
Xiaos.h.i.+ did not beat around the bush. “The doctor said that Madame Xiu’s injuries might have disturbed the fetus. She will have to take some medicine to prevent a miscarriage.”
“What?!” The mamas were all shocked. After making further inquiries, they all ran off to report to the old madame. The old madame was an entirely respectable figure herself. Otherwise, she could never have been able to create a new family branch with just herself and Long Heng. How could she possibly sit still when she heard that her grandchild had nearly been killed? She barely waited until the last guest had left before charging over to the Lin Manor.
There wouldn’t have been much of an effect if it’d been just Long Heng who’d gone to Minister Lin’s manor. But the old madame was a different story altogether. Since Madame Lin refused to see her, the old madame summoned her entire entourage and barged her way into Madame Lin’s residence. She then proceeded to flip the entire manor over in her rage. Not a single thing of value was left intact after she was done.
Madame Lin had been busy taking care of Minister Lin, who yet remained unconscious, before she was forced away to confront the old madame. The old madame ended up slapping her twice across the face in public. Even though the old madame was from a respectable family, her repertoire of curses was not in the least bit lacking. In fact, her insults were so cruel that Madame Lin fainted on the spot.
The matter grew so out of hand that everyone and their mother heard of it. Still very much aggrieved, the old madame’s next stop was the palace, to sob her protests to the empress. Since reason was on Prince Li’s side, the empress had to put in considerable effort to console the old madame. She was only able to send the old madame off after she’d made it clear that she would help Prince Li find justice.
Upon her return to the manor, the old madame immediately had servants look in on Bai Xiangxiu. Bai Xiangxiu had already woken up, but she didn’t have any appet.i.te. Everything she ate unfortunately came straight back out. According to her, every single thing she ate had the stench of blood on it.
This made the old madame extremely anxious. Long Heng was no better. In fact, the entire Prince Li manor was anxious. Since the manor had only recently been built, it was only normal for everyone to be anxious now that there was finally a pregnant mistress in the house. And ever since the incident with Miss Lin, everyone knew that it would take some time before a new main wife would be able to marry into the family. Bai Xiangxiu was likely going to be the prince and the old madame’s favorite for a long time to come. And because of that, everyone was putting in their utmost effort to serve this mistress. But they couldn’t possibly know was how depressed she was feeling right then.
Why wouldn’t she be? Another living being was now inside of her! How would she bear to return to the modern world when the ghost festival arrived in the seventh month? If she counted the days, her child would’ve just been born in the seventh month. It wouldn’t even be a month old then! Was she going to abandon her child for the sake of returning to her world?
She couldn’t bear to part with her parents still in the modern times, yet she couldn’t bear to part with the life here either. She felt extremely conflicted. And because of her inner conflict, she began to feel depressed. Once she was depressed, she began throwing up again. With the her lack of appet.i.te added in, it only took a mere ten days before she was nothing more than skin and bones.
Long Heng’s face was locked in a frown all day. There was quite a dark, morose atmosphere with him everywhere he went. Everyone thought that he was like this because of Miss Lin and couldn’t help but sympathize with him. If he were to do this on any other day while attending court, rumors would have spread about how unapproachable or unreasonable he was. But because he was obviously the victim in this situation, everyone was sympathizing with him instead.
Even the emperor felt guilty towards Long Heng. After all, he was the one who’d insisted on their marriage in the first place, and then refused to break off the arrangement. Now that such things had happened, he couldn’t blame Long Heng for doing what he had done. Since he was the one who’d arranged this ill-fated marriage, the emperor tried to make it up to him by proposing a few other maidens from eminent families for him to pick at his own preference. He even punished Minister Lin by confiscating a year’s wages from him, citing that it was his own fault for not teaching his children properly.
However, Long Heng declined the new marriage arrangements, citing that he couldn’t entertain a new marriage while issues still remained within his manor. He managed to stopper all the emperor’s suggestions with this single reb.u.t.tal.
Well, it is only normal for him to want some time alone to heal his wounds. Taking some time to consider things over is a good thing. However, no one expected that there really was a big issue in Long Heng’s household. In fact, it was genuinely a giant problem.
Song Jiaoyue was sure that Long Heng didn’t actually have any feelings for that Miss Lin of the Lin Manor. He knew that everything that had conspired at the wedding was all a part of Long Heng’s intricate plans. Long Heng was likely the one who had forced Luo Yunzheng to steal the bride at the wedding. Only, why hadn’t Song Jiaoyue received a single word of Bai Xiangxiu’s condition after her injuries? Could it be that Long Hen’s current mood had something to do with her injury? And yet, he couldn’t directly ask the man himself because Long Heng released a furious killing intent whenever they crossed paths. But something’s strange. Even though he’s been furious in the past, there was no killing intent. His att.i.tude has clearly changed in these past few days.
How could Long Heng’s att.i.tude towards him not change? The situation was entirely different now that Long Heng knew that his friend had almost kidnapped his woman along with his child, instead of just his woman!
Song Jiaoyue was almost beside himself with worry. He dispatched one of his servants who had good relations with the servants of the Prince Li Manor to gather some news. When he heard the findings, he slumped back in his chair, in a daze. He could neither hear Yu Se nor anyone else. It was almost like his soul had left his body.
Yu Se and the other maidservants were worried sick, but Song Jiaoyue just wouldn’t come back to reality no matter what they tried. He remained motionless all the way until nighttime, when he suddenly stood up. She’s pregnant with Long Heng’s child. But… if she doesn’t love Long Heng, does that mean that he’d raped her? If she was raped… then the fault is all mine for being heartless on that day.
He could no longer sit still. So, he changed into his night garb and left the Song Manor. Yu Se and the rest didn’t ask too many questions and kept their worries to themselves. After all, a woman shouldn’t intrude on a man’s matters.
However, Song Jiaoyue wasn’t the sort who would do brash things in the heat of the moment. He was deep in his thoughts as he stood outside the prince’s manor. If Long Heng was to see me when I break in, then wouldn’t her reputation be sullied? How will I face her after that?
He stood outside the manor until the sun rose the next morning, but ultimately didn’t sneak into the prince’s manor. He turned around and walked back to his own manor, sending someone to secretly keep an eye on Bai Xiangxiu. However, the news he received was far from optimistic. According to his man, Madame Xiu wasn’t feeling very well and spent most of her days lying down and doing nothing. Not only that, it was said that she’d often shed tears when she was alone. Song Jiaoyue’s mood took an obvious turn for the worse when that news was brought to him. He was no longer as calm and collected when he faced Long Heng. He even found himself at a loss for words when they sat down together for a chat. Long Heng was also very busy in recent days as well. He didn’t even have the time to hunt down Lin Qianzi and Luo Yunzheng. As a result, his plans for revenge were on indefinite hold.