Shen Qianyu feared that the palace maids and eunuchs of Changle Palace coming and going would disturb Song Wan’s rest, so on ordinary days, aside from Heng Zhi, Heng Wu, and Luanjian, he sent everyone else far away. When he was present, he would dismiss all others, leaving only himself to accompany Song Wan.

Now when Song Wan got up, she saw Shen Qianyu holding a book in one hand while propping himself on the edge of the arhat bed with the other, dozing off.

“Your Majesty?”

She walked forward gently wanting to wake him, but then saw the pile of books full of annotations placed before Shen Qianyu.

Things like “Four Essentials of Pregnancy and Childbirth” and “Supplementary Notes on Gynecology”—he had actually collected them all.

The paper was densely covered with excerpts. Song Wan craned her head forward to look, catching only a few phrases like “when qi is harmonized the fetus is stable,” “avoid overeating,” “avoid cold and heat,” and such.

Seeing that free-flowing, unrestrained handwriting without much structure, Song Wan found it utterly graceful and beautiful.

Thinking this, she couldn’t help finding it somewhat amusing and laughed softly.

“Wan’er, why have you gotten up? Are you thirsty, or hungry?”

Song Wan smiled and shook her head.

After Shen Qianyu rose, the drowsiness in his eyes instantly vanished. As soon as he opened his eyes, he got down from the bed and walked to the table to pour her a bowl of still-warm, light hot soup.

“Black hen soup—the scent is light and it can tonify qi. Wan’er, come drink some.”

Shen Qianyu touched the bottom of the bowl, and only when he felt the temperature was neither hot nor cold did he hand it to her.

“I had someone skim off the floating oil on top. Wan’er, try it—can you get used to drinking it?”

“I can get used to it.”

Song Wan took the bowl, brought it to her lips, and drank it sip by sip.

This soup had no oil or salt and was indeed light and sweet. After drinking it, Song Wan’s heart was filled with softness as she looked at Shen Qianyu.

She had never been willing to lay bare her innermost feelings before others, but tonight—perhaps it was this bowl of hot soup, or perhaps it was Shen Qianyu’s messy yet beloved handwriting in those excerpts—her heart melted. After setting down the soup bowl, Song Wan nestled into Shen Qianyu’s embrace.

“Is Wan’er cold?”

Lifting her horizontally in his arms, Shen Qianyu pulled over a thin blanket from the arhat bed and wrapped it around her.

Burying her head in his embrace, Song Wan smiled and said, “Not cold. I just admire my husband and want to be close to him.”

After speaking, she looked up at him, seeing that after hearing these words, Shen Qianyu’s eyes gradually widened, his face full of disbelief.

“What—doesn’t husband want to be close to Wan’er?”

Song Wan made as if to get up. Shen Qianyu hurriedly kept her trapped in his embrace, but he didn’t dare use too much force. He could only loosely circle his arms to gently protect her before him.

In his heart, Song Wan was already delicate, and now that she was carrying a child, she was like glass—not to be touched lightly.

Song Wan saw him embracing her in an extremely laborious posture and suddenly remembered when she had been sent back to the Marquis of Chengyang’s residence by Madam Song years ago, and he had gone to rescue her using Ji Rong’s identity.

“Husband.”

“What is it?”

She raised her hand to pull down Shen Qianyu’s arms, then tightly hugged his neck herself. Seeing this, Shen Qianyu hurriedly gathered her into his embrace.

“That day in the barren mountain in the suburbs when you carried me and ran for so long, did you feel tired?”

“Of course not.”

Shen Qianyu said, “Wan’er is light as a feather, and my arm strength is excellent. How would I feel tired just from carrying Wan’er and walking a few mountain paths?”

“Wan’er truly underestimates your husband.”

As the man spoke, he raised his voice slightly. Song Wan’s face became somewhat flushed as she murmured in a low voice, “I never imagined there would be today.”

After marrying into the Marquis of Chengyang’s residence, she had wholeheartedly copied sutras and recited Buddhist prayers to accumulate merit for Jiang Xingjian. Later when Jiang Xingjian returned to the residence, she had only thought of living an ordinary life.

Yet who could have imagined the inconstancy of worldly affairs? She and Shen Qianyu had arrived at today.

“Husband doesn’t know—actually, after that day on the barren mountain, I…”

“What? Wan’er what?”

Shen Qianyu urgently pressed for an answer, but Song Wan only smiled without replying.

“Did Wan’er fancy me even then? I knew it.”

Shen Qianyu snorted softly. “Although at that time I borrowed Ji Rong’s identity, I could tell time and again that Wan’er had developed feelings for me. Thinking back now, I truly wasn’t mistaken.”

He tilted his head back somewhat as if in a proud manner, but the wild joy and uncontrollable trembling in his eyes let Song Wan know how happy he was.

Song Wan cupped Shen Qianyu’s neck and gently kissed his throat.

The man lost his words, but the hands holding the person in his embrace grew increasingly tight.

Song Wan gently nuzzled his neck with the tip of her nose, then heard the man’s slightly choked voice say, “Wan’er…”

Shen Qianyu murmured in a low voice, “In all my life, I never thought anyone would admire me or be devoted to me.”

“How could that be? Wan’er admires husband and is devoted to husband.”

Song Wan’s eyes revealed a measure of heartache, yet she was unwilling to let him see it.

Though he was noble as a ruler of a nation, he protected her so carefully and cautiously, loving as if treading on thin ice. Song Wan couldn’t bear to see him like this and was unwilling for him to belittle himself.

She knew what things, what words to say to untie the knots in his heart. So Song Wan was willing to carefully cherish him and love him.

“Before seeing His Highness, Wan’er felt the Crown Prince was someone to respect and revere. After seeing ‘Ji Rong,’ Wan’er thought that if the people by the Crown Prince’s side were so unrestrained and carefree, the Crown Prince must certainly be a magnanimous and upright person.”

“But after spending time with the Ji Rong that husband played, I felt there was no one better than Ji Rong in this world.”

“That day when husband rescued me from the Marquis of Chengyang’s carriage, Wan’er felt that husband was the most heroic man in this world, with no one comparable.”

“I think perhaps from that day, husband left a mark on Wan’er’s heart.”

Shen Qianyu’s eyes reddened as he forcefully suppressed his choking voice. “So Wan’er saw my good points so early…”

“Mm. Wan’er saw husband’s good points very early. In Wan’er’s heart, husband is the best man in this world. In the future, you will also be the best husband in this world, and moreover will be the best father in this world.”

Shen Qianyu tilted his head back and didn’t speak for a long time.

No one knew that once upon a time, he too had been trapped by inner demons for many years.

During countless days and nights in Nanqing, he had constantly questioned whether it was because he wasn’t clever enough, wasn’t lovable enough, that his father emperor had sent him to another country as a hostage.

When being tormented by Qin Rao and humiliated by Qin Zhan, Shen Qianyu had also wondered countless times whether it was because he had no extraordinary talents or abilities, or lacked wisdom in strategy and decisive judgment, that he had fallen to such circumstances.

Returning to Dongning, when he had no choice but to endure humiliation and live on, kneeling before Duan Yiting and calling a eunuch “father,” he had thought that perhaps his entire life would be spent in such servile and fawning manner, forever surviving in the gutter seeking a moment’s respite.

He had never imagined that in this life anyone would love him, respect him, or that there would be someone like Wan’er who would bear children for him and grow old hand in hand with him.

So after discovering his feelings for Song Wan, he had always carefully sought her affection.

Perhaps she would never know what each time she voluntarily approached him, each voluntary embrace, touch, and kiss meant to him.

“Wan’er…”

“I’m here.”

Shen Qianyu lowered his head, hot tears of a grown man falling down his cheeks.

He said, Wan’er, you must love me well, love me well.