The cool autumn breeze occasionally lifted the carriage curtain, making Song Wan feel somewhat cold. Seeing her body stiffening and brows slightly furrowing, Jiang Xingjian opened the hidden compartment in the carriage and retrieved a soft blanket from within.

“Thank you, husband.”

Casually draping it over her shoulders, Song Wan returned to her indifferent demeanor.

Jiang Xingjian clenched his hands tightly and turned his face away.

She was always like this—never angry, never upset.

She could decline her grandmother’s deathbed instructions, yet could calmly call him “husband.” Much of the time, Jiang Xingjian simply couldn’t see through what was in her heart.

Song Wan was different from Lin Jiayue. When Lin Jiayue was angry, she would call out his name directly, she would cry and make a fuss. If the two of them were tender and affectionate, she would act coquettish and playful. But Song Wan never behaved this way.

Jiang Xingjian even felt that if one day he suddenly died before Song Wan’s eyes, she would only look at him with those same cool, detached eyes—neither sad nor happy.

Feeling irritable, he raised his hand to lift the carriage curtain for some fresh air, but then quickly remembered something and carefully pressed the curtain back down.

The two returned to the marquis’s residence. Song Wan said “husband, rest early” and turned to leave.

After the exhausting day at the palace, she felt utterly weary. Returning to Lanting Courtyard, Heng Zhi and Heng Wu helped her remove her makeup and wash up. Song Wan half-closed her eyes, drowsy beyond measure, until Heng Zhi brought a cloth to cleanse her face, finally regaining some alertness.

“Miss, there was a problem at Xiuyan Pavilion today.”

“What happened?”

Heng Zhi said, “During the day, Concubine Lin suddenly ran out in a crazed and delirious state, repeatedly claiming she heard drum sounds. Seeing her condition, she’s truly quite ill.”

“Indeed.” Heng Wu frowned and said, “Miss, you didn’t see Concubine Lin’s appearance. I heard that she’s like this every night, disturbing Nanny Li and Old Woman Liu so much they can’t sleep all night. The two had just dozed off during the day when this incident occurred.”

“This servant heard from the young maids in the courtyard that everyone in Xiuyan Pavilion has been driven to mental distraction by Concubine Lin. During the day, Nanny Li also claimed to hear strange sounds while sleeping.”

Upon hearing this, Song Wan’s brow furrowed slightly. “Nanny Li also heard it?”

Heng Zhi half-knelt down, leaning close to Song Wan’s ear. “Miss, do you think it could be Concubine Huai Su?”

“No.”

Song Wan said, “Huai Su has served the marquis since childhood and is utterly loyal. Though I don’t know if she harbors jealousy, without Jiang Xingjian’s orders, she would absolutely never do anything to harm the marquis’s heir.”

“Then could it be the marquis…”

Song Wan slowly shook her head. “If Jiang Xingjian didn’t want this child, he could simply send a bowl of miscarriage medicine. Why make things so complicated?”

“I suspect Concubine Lin is suffering from hysteria.”

The three mistress and servants were conversing when they heard another commotion from Xiuyan Pavilion. Seeing Heng Wu’s excited expression, Song Wan quickly told her to stay properly in the courtyard and not go seeking excitement.

Lanting Courtyard was utterly quiet, with everyone from master to servants sleeping peacefully, while Xiuyan Pavilion was in complete chaos.

Lin Jiayue supported her abdomen, covered her ears, and cried in panic. Her emotions were already unstable during pregnancy, and now, having been repeatedly frightened, her physical condition was deteriorating further.

When Jiang Xingjian entered, he saw her eyes vacant and spiritless. Due to excessive thinness, her entire body only showed a protruding small belly, which looked rather horrifying.

His brow furrowed slightly as he stepped forward to carry her back to the bed.

“Not feeling well?”

“Xingjian, I’m scared.”

Jiang Xingjian said, “It’s merely inner demons at play. Focus on nurturing the pregnancy.”

Gently touching Lin Jiayue’s abdomen, he spoke in a low voice, “You sleep and eat poorly every day—won’t this affect the child in your womb?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know.”

“Stop asking me. You ask me every day—how would I know?”

Lin Jiayue clutched her belly, extremely anxious. “I am eating properly and resting properly. He won’t have any problems.”

Crying while gently stroking her stomach, after thinking for a moment, she struggled to climb out of bed. “I’ll go eat something.”

She called Qian Bi to have the small kitchen prepare some nourishing food. After testing everything with silver needles, Lin Jiayue began eating.

She had no appetite and could only drink a few sips of soup before being unable to continue.

Seeing this, Jiang Xingjian said worriedly, “How can eating only this little be enough? If you don’t eat more, how can the child in your womb be healthy? If when the day comes to give birth there are any problems…”

“Stop talking!”

Lin Jiayue suddenly overturned the dishes on the table. The warm nourishing soup scalded her arm slightly red.

As if shocked back to her senses by the burn, she cried, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m just so irritated… Jiang Xingjian, you keep saying there’s something wrong with the child. I’m so annoyed hearing it.”

Jiang Xingjian stood to the side, eyes downcast. “I’m only worried about you, and worried about our child.”

“I know, I know, I know.”

Lin Jiayue pulled at her hair. The dull, darkened strands wrapped around her fingers and several fell out. She irritably shook them off, then sat back down at the table and grabbed pastries to stuff in her mouth.

Jiang Xingjian only watched quietly without saying a word.

When she couldn’t hold it down anymore and vomited, he finally stepped forward to gently pat her back. “Eat slowly. Don’t torment yourself like this. If your body collapses, the child won’t be well either.”

Lin Jiayue’s entire body trembled. The explosive irritability and distress, along with the impulse to go mad, made her vision go black.

But looking up at the bronze mirror—seeing herself looking neither human nor ghost, then looking at Jiang Xingjian beside her, still gentle as jade and gracefully refined—she swallowed down all her irritation.

Yet the more she suppressed it, the closer she came to true madness. Lin Jiayue pushed Jiang Xingjian away, rinsed her mouth herself, and lay back on the bed.

Jiang Xingjian sat to the side in silence, waiting for her to fall asleep. After a long while with her back to him, Lin Jiayue said softly, “Go rest. You don’t need to watch over me.”

“I’ll keep you company. The night air is cold. Once you’re asleep, I’ll leave.”

Gently stroking her hair, Lin Jiayue slowly closed her eyes amid her agitation.

Deep in the night, Lin Jiayue slept half-awake when she suddenly heard faint drum sounds outside the window. Frightened and panicked, yet driven by violent emotions, she was compelled to rush out of the room.

There was nothing in the darkness, only the cold moonlight. Lin Jiayue couldn’t help crying again. “Jiang Jing? It was my fault toward you. Please let me go, all right?”

Seeing her making a scene again, Nanny Li and Old Woman Liu came forward to carry her back inside.

After muddling through the night like this, Lin Jiayue felt she had endured an extremely long dream. When she groggily woke, Jiang Xingjian was by the bedside looking at her with tender affection. “I heard you went out again last night? Did you catch a chill?”

Lin Jiayue shook her head with reddened eyes. Jiang Xingjian helped her sit up. “I had the small kitchen make you meat soup. The physician said eating more will ensure the child in your womb is born smoothly.”

“Jiang Xingjian…”

Lin Jiayue’s eyes reddened. “Is my current state very poor? Do you think our child will have problems when born?”

He asked about the child all day long, how the child was, how the child was. Lin Jiayue felt enormous pressure.

She understood more than anyone in this era. The child in her womb probably wouldn’t be very healthy, whether physically or psychologically.

“Tell me, will he have any problems?”

Without prenatal examinations now, and not trusting traditional Chinese medicine—those doctors who just took pulses and claimed they could cure illnesses—she felt so uncertain in her heart.

Touching her abdomen, Lin Jiayue cried and asked, “Say something.”

Jiang Xingjian’s eyelids lowered slightly, concealing the expression in his eyes. “Everyone says mother and child are connected by heart. As his mother, you naturally should know whether the child is well.”

“What, do you feel that you cannot protect him and let him be born healthy?”