Doctor Zhou’s prolonged inability to give a conclusion made the previously joyful Concubine Mei grow anxious. “Doctor Zhou, what’s wrong with me… Am I not pregnant? It’s the same as when I was carrying Ying Yu.”

The Old Madam also hurried over. She hadn’t expected to hear good news and came in happily. But though she had been smiling when she entered, seeing Doctor Zhou’s grave expression, she immediately restrained herself: “Doctor Zhou, what’s the matter?”

Doctor Zhou shook his head, somewhat hesitant: “…Concubine Mei’s pulse is somewhat abnormal.”

Concubine Mei grew anxious. “Then am I pregnant or not?”

Doctor Zhou smiled bitterly and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I can’t be certain yet. Wait a bit longer until the pulse becomes clearer.”

Concubine Mei understood: “It’s because the pregnancy is too early and can’t be detected through the pulse yet.” Although Doctor Zhou couldn’t confirm it yet, she herself was already certain she was pregnant. She had never been unable to stand the smell of fish soup except when carrying her daughter.

She loved eating fish.

She was overjoyed, but the Old Madam felt something was wrong. If her pulse was too faint to detect, Doctor Zhou shouldn’t have said “abnormal.”

However, seeing the happy Concubine Mei, she didn’t say anything more. She just had people attend to her carefully, admonished the servants, then called Doctor Zhou over, away from Concubine Mei.

“Doctor Zhou, what’s wrong with her?”

Doctor Zhou smiled bitterly. “Replying to the Old Madam, I’m also uncertain. If it were an ordinary physician looking at this, they would definitely say she’s pregnant.” It was only because he was experienced and hadn’t overlooked that slight abnormality—the slippery pulse was faint and intermittent on the pulse reading. It was a bit like a false pregnancy, but occasionally he could genuinely feel the slippery pulse.

The Old Madam frowned. “Since that’s the case, then please trouble Doctor Zhou to work hard. If you need anything, just ask.”

Doctor Zhou: “The Old Madam is too kind. This is my duty.”

Concubine Mei didn’t know of Doctor Zhou’s worries. She happily held her daughter’s hand, overjoyed beyond measure. “If I can give you a younger brother this time, that would be wonderful. In the future, you’ll have a birth brother to support you in the Lin family.”

Ying Yu was naturally happy for her mother as well, but Doctor Zhou hadn’t confirmed it yet, and hearing his words, she had an uneasy premonition.

“Mother, let’s not publicize this matter yet. Let’s wait until Doctor Zhou confirms it, all right?”

Concubine Mei’s eyebrows had been about to rise, but seeing it was her own daughter, they flattened again. However, her joy inevitably diminished somewhat: “Doctor Zhou is just being too cautious—he can’t even confirm a slippery pulse.”

Ying Yu: “Mother—” She drew out the sound.

Concubine Mei relented: “Fine, fine, I understand.”

Only then did Ying Yu smile: “Mother, if we wait patiently, it won’t cause any delay.”

Neither mother nor daughter were affected in the slightest by Dong Wenyi’s matter. Everyone up and down hadn’t told them about it, nor would they publicize it. If word got out, it would harm Ying Yu’s reputation. There were always petty people who wanted to stir up trouble even without any wind. With even a slight pretext, who knew what stories they might fabricate?

Concubine Mei said, “It’s just that the time is still short, so Doctor Zhou doesn’t dare confirm it. I know my own body. Originally, my monthly courses this month were also late.”

Ying Yu smiled. “Mother, if that’s truly the case, then you must take good care of your health.”

Concubine Mei nodded solemnly, looking at her still-flat abdomen with great attention. “I don’t need you to tell me that. I will definitely give birth to him safely.”

She unconsciously began comparing. Her daughter came after she had taken medicine. Carrying her had been very difficult—in the early stages, she could barely eat anything, only some pickled vegetables and plain porridge. If her aunt hadn’t been by her side throughout the pregnancy, she didn’t know if she could have persevered.

Now she had conceived naturally. Apart from being unable to stand the smell of fish soup, the rest… Concubine Mei thought about it—her appetite was unchanged.

This was different from her daughter’s situation. Did it mean she was carrying a son this time?

The more she thought about it, the more excited Concubine Mei became.

If that were the case, she could compete with Yun Shi. The only reason Yun Shi was so proud now was because she had given birth to the eldest young master!

The second young master had been unfortunate and passed away early. If she gave birth to the third young master, who knew what would happen to the Lin family in the future?

Saying not to publicize it, Concubine Mei quickly wrote a letter to her aunt to announce the good news. That didn’t count as publicizing—her aunt was one of her own people and should be the first to know about this great joyous event.

When Gao Shi received this letter, she was also delighted.

Her son’s aptitude was mediocre. Despite spending so much effort finding him famous teachers and buying various books, to this day he was only a xiucai. Passing the juren examination was a distant prospect. She no longer held much hope for her son’s success, only hoping he could produce a few grandsons—perhaps the next generation would have the talent for studying and advancement. Her other hopes rested on her granddaughter Ying Yu.

Ying Yu’s status and position were extraordinary. As the eldest daughter of a third-rank official, she was destined to marry into a noble family.

Just like her daughter, she also held great hopes for her granddaughter’s participation in the imperial selection. With Ying Yu’s birth, character, and appearance, as long as she went, wouldn’t those princes and nobles be moved?

Surely they couldn’t all be saints!

There probably weren’t many people like Minister Lin.

Thinking of her daughter’s beautiful appearance, yet still unable to compare with Concubine Yun—Minister Lin had never shown any preference for her daughter’s looks from beginning to end, which made her sigh endlessly.

Gao Shi put down the letter, calculating what to send her daughter.

She had been anxious about her daughter’s prolonged lack of news. She had previously sent many people to that mountain cave and its surroundings, but unfortunately never discovered any more abnormalities or found anyone else. She had obtained those two pills by accident, full of coincidences. She had thought her daughter could only have one child in this lifetime.

If her daughter could give birth to a son with this pregnancy, her position would be completely secure.

Lin Ruhai first heard Doctor Zhou’s response. He trusted Doctor Zhou—if he said something was wrong, he didn’t rush to be happy but patiently waited.

No one would dislike having more descendants, especially for the Lin family with their scarcity of heirs.

Concubine Mei’s temperament truly wasn’t the type that could refrain from publicizing when told not to.

If not for Ying Yu constantly staying by her side to keep her company, she would have long lost control and gone out to show off.

Moreover, her previously dormant competitive spirit had awakened again.

If not for Ying Yu’s repeated persuasion and the fact that Doctor Zhou truly hadn’t given her a definite answer, she would have gone to Yun Shi’s place to flaunt it.

She struggled to force herself to restrain.

Doctor Zhou checked her pulse every day. One month, one and a half months, two months—he still hadn’t spoken words of congratulation. Concubine Mei’s mindset gradually changed.

It had been so long, and the slippery pulse was very obvious. Doctor Zhou wasn’t some inexperienced youngster just learning medicine—he couldn’t be incapable of this. Could she really not be pregnant?

Concubine Mei’s heart was nearly jumping out of her chest.

It wasn’t until over two months later, when the child was estimated to be three months along, that Doctor Zhou repeatedly confirmed it was a slippery pulse before wiping the sweat from his forehead and offering congratulations. This made Concubine Mei breathe a huge sigh of relief, and then she became proud.

She became the most prominent person in the rear courtyard.

The Old Madam and the master both sent her piles of valuable things. Concubine Mei collected them all. She had a daughter who needed a dowry prepared, and another in her belly—she would never dislike having too many material possessions.

The heart that had been suspended now returned to its place. Concubine Mei could no longer hold back. She deliberately stuck out her belly and came to Yun Shuyao’s place with hands on her hips.

When she stated her destination, the maidservants attending her felt their hearts rise in anxiety.

They had watched Concubine Mei become spirited. Since the symptoms started, every time she ate, she would pick and choose extensively, making things difficult for the kitchen staff. If any of them attending her did something not to her liking, they’d get scolded. This was one thing, but why bother acting superior at Concubine Yun’s place?

Concubine Yun’s son was already so grown. Even if Concubine Mei gave birth to a son, he couldn’t catch up in the short term. He would still need a long time to grow.

If she offended Concubine Yun severely now and she did something… they cried out bitterly in their hearts.

At this time, Concubine Mei should be properly staying in her courtyard to nurture the pregnancy.

Yun Shuyao saw this colleague approaching from afar and felt like she was seeing the past.

As Chen Yu grew older and Concubine Mei continued to fail to conceive, she rarely encountered her anymore. For a period, she had even forbidden Ying Yu from playing with Luo Yu, though this wasn’t allowed by Lin Ruhai and others. After being admonished, she stopped interfering.

But this time… As Concubine Mei approached, Yun Shuyao’s gaze immediately looked over.

She had something on her that the Spirit Mirror needed. It quickly circled around her. Yun Shuyao’s gaze paused for a second on her wrist, then slid to Concubine Mei’s face. Her complexion didn’t look good. Although the corners of her eyes were raised high, her face full of pride, her eyes brimming with joy, the overall feeling she gave… made Yun Shuyao feel obscure.

As if there were something dirty.

Moreover, this time the Spirit Mirror’s reaction was more urgent than before, yet faintly seemed somewhat disdainful.

Different from the feeling when encountering those heavenly treasures and earthly resources in the past.

Seeing the string of prayer beads on Concubine Mei’s wrist, she was certain—it was this.

That string of prayer beads didn’t give her the feeling of naturally formed heavenly materials and earthly treasures. It was more like a magical artifact, and moreover one that had adverse effects on the human body.

Concubine Mei didn’t know what Yun Shuyao was thinking. She sat down steadily, then looked at the flower tea before her and her mouth twitched.

Although she wouldn’t drink a single sip of water or eat a single piece of pastry from here, but look at this—what was this?

Flower tea again—how improper! Yet the master still favored her!

When the master came and was served flower tea, he never said anything. Concubine Mei’s heart turned sour. She knew the master loved drinking tea. She had prepared many fine tea leaves specially sought out for the master.

But Concubine Yun’s place wasn’t like that. All her fine tea leaves were gifts from the master. She herself prepared lots of flower tea and had sent quite a bit to the two children.

Just relying on her ability to grow flowers!

Nothing but craftsman’s skills!

Yun Shuyao naturally knew her colleague didn’t like flower tea, but her colleague had never touched anything from her place anyway. Why bother specially brewing tea for her? Even if she had many good things, she couldn’t waste them like this.

“Sister Yun, your place is truly unchanged over the years. Speaking of which, I have good news to share with you. You’ve probably already heard about this matter.” She raised her chin and touched her abdomen. “This pregnancy is really such a well-behaved good child, not tormenting their mother. In the future, they’ll surely be a filial good child too. Sister Yun, oh my, what’s happening with us? After so long, I’ve finally heard good news, but you, oh my, look at what I’m saying—children are all about fate…”

Yun Shuyao remained noncommittal about her veiled and overt boasting about her pregnancy. After she finished showing off, she guided the conversation toward what she wanted to know. “Sister Mei, the hairpin in your hair looks so beautiful.” She smiled in praise.

Concubine Mei’s tail immediately rose even higher. “This was bestowed by the Old Madam.”

While speaking, she unobtrusively stroked her waist, obviously because this had been bestowed due to her pregnancy.

Yun Shuyao suddenly understood: “I see. Is the one on your hand also bestowed by the Old Madam?”

“This one.” Concubine Mei’s hand reached up, her face somewhat proud. “This one isn’t. I had great difficulty finding this outside.” This was her great treasure. Speaking of it, she even looked at Yun Shuyao with vigilance.

Her hand was completely exposed. Yun Shuyao became even more certain these prayer beads had problems. That murky energy—she could already vaguely see it. With Concubine Mei wearing this close to her body, it would be strange if her complexion could be good.

From her appearance, she didn’t know this thing was suspicious. Yun Shuyao pondered how to get these prayer beads.

Directly telling her—given Concubine Mei’s temperament, she wouldn’t believe it.

As she spoke, a thought moved in her heart. She also had prayer beads. She’d look later to see if there were any similar ones.

After sending off Concubine Mei, Yun Shuyao really did find two strings with somewhat similar shapes. The lengths were a bit different, so she modified them herself. However, looking closely, one could still discover differences in the beads themselves—the beads on Concubine Mei’s string were darker in color.

This was also easy. She had someone take this sample out as reference and buy back one string each of all those darker in color than it. Her string’s style wasn’t unique.

After buying them back, she corrected them based on her memory and pieced together a string with very high similarity.

Then she began to act.

However, she was also somewhat worried. That bracelet appeared undamaged—it was a complete magical artifact. Could her Spirit Mirror handle it?

The Spirit Mirror indicated: Yes, want it.

Since that’s the case, you’d better not be talking big. If the bracelet is really obtained and you can’t absorb it or something goes wrong, that would be ridiculous.

Yun Shuyao chose a time when Concubine Mei went to the garden for a walk and also went out.

She didn’t even need to say anything. Seeing her, Concubine Mei automatically started showing off to her.

While Yun Shuyao talked with her to attract her attention, when walking by the flower pond, she became unsteady, staggered, and nearly fell into the pond. She steadied herself in time but used too much force. When lunging forward, she bumped into her hand and took advantage of the chaos to switch the bracelets.

Concubine Mei was startled.

Fortunately, this Yun Shi didn’t lunge in her direction but to the side. Otherwise, if she had been knocked down, what would have happened?

She now had no mood to show off either and hurried back.

Yun Shuyao also returned. Dismissing the servants, she placed the bracelet and the Spirit Mirror together. The small copper coin eagerly stuck itself to that string of prayer beads. The prayer beads tried to escape but were stuck tightly. They trembled in place, then couldn’t move anymore. Yun Shuyao watched as the energy on the bracelet was absorbed by the Spirit Mirror. The prayer beads became dull and lusterless, then turned to powder, revealing the deep black cord in the middle.

This was integrated with the prayer beads, but the Spirit Mirror was very disdainful and didn’t even touch it.

Its aura matched the aura Yun Shuyao had sensed earlier. It seemed this was that dirty thing.

Yun Shuyao stared at it for a while and burned it. It took a long time before this cord turned to powder.

And the Spirit Mirror, having had a hearty meal this time, absorbing an undamaged magical artifact—without even needing to sense it, just looking at its “brand new” exterior, Yun Shuyao knew it had gained considerable benefits.

Previously it looked like an ancient copper coin. Now it looked not so ancient anymore.

She didn’t know where Concubine Mei’s bracelet came from. Even if it contained dirty things, she welcomed more of them.

Meanwhile, Jing Huan: ?

Something seemed to have gone wrong in the mystical workings.

She hadn’t claimed that string of magical artifacts as her own. If she had, that would have been directly taking action herself.

She had merely released it and provided guidance, allowing it to be discovered by Concubine Mei’s people who actively bought it back.

She thought through her recent arrangements, checking each one. Nothing had gone wrong. Suddenly having a flash of inspiration, she thought of the Lin family.

Concubine Mei’s figure appeared in the mirror. She was protecting her lower abdomen with both hands while Ying Yu read to her for prenatal education.

This scene made Jing Huan smile. When Concubine Mei raised her hand to reveal that string of prayer beads, the smile on Jing Huan’s face froze: What was this? Where were her prayer beads?!