Xie Yun was a bit late getting off work today, and by the time he arrived at Tingyu Cottage, the sky had already darkened. Xing Zhizhi brought in dinner, and he simply ate his meal hastily in the study while going over some documents.

  Recently, the imperial court has not been very peaceful. Since Su Wang forced out the former crown prince and took the throne himself, he has gained the emperor's favor. In the imperial court and elsewhere, he has been skillfully manipulating events, replacing and inserting his own informants everywhere. At first, it was just the relatively insignificant Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Works, but now even the Ministry of Justice has replaced two vice ministers. The lucky ones were transferred to remote areas, while the unlucky ones were directly accused of crimes and thrown into prison. For now, only the Ministry of War and the military, where I am located, have not been heavily infiltrated, after all, these two areas are not easy to manipulate.

  With the arrival of autumn, it seems that rain has also increased. After a sweltering afternoon, the sky suddenly poured down a torrential rain.

  Xie Xuan dispersed all the people in the house, unfolded the map of the suburbs of Beijing, and carefully studied it. This morning, the crown prince proposed to supplement the defense of the suburbs of Beijing at court, nominally to enhance the defensive capabilities of the capital city, but actually wanting to have military power under his own command.

  "Master, there's something important to report." Baofeng spoke in a low voice outside the door and only entered after getting the consent of the person inside.

  "Master, a letter has arrived from the south." Baofeng handed the copper tube to Xie Yan. Xie Yan stood up and was about to return to his desk from the couch, but seeing Baofeng still standing on one side, he raised an eyebrow.

  "Anything else?"

  The news had actually been passed on to him yesterday, and he was told to reveal it to Xie Zhu as soon as possible. But he thought about it repeatedly, didn't sleep all night, and his mind was in a mess. It wasn't until today when he returned to the mansion and heard the servants mention it that he knew he couldn't keep it hidden here forever.

  "Today's news from the government office says that the lady in the Rain Fragrance Pavilion is pregnant."

  At this time, a dull thunder suddenly sounded in the sky, which was particularly abrupt in the fine rain of autumn night.

  "Has it been confirmed?" The hoarse and trembling voice seemed extremely thin after the thunderous roar.

  She didn't dare look at him with a broken heart, feeling that Xie Yun's whole body was emitting a cold air. "The doctor came this afternoon and said there is still one month left."

  Is there still January left? Was it that day?

  He weakly let himself slide down into the chair, staring blankly for a full minute. Po Feng looked at him like that and didn't dare to close the door and leave, so he could only hold his breath and wait beside him.

  "Does Choroin know? Did she... say anything?"

  "Even old ladies knew about it, and Madam must have been aware of it too. However, a day passed without anything happening at the Chao Lu Yuan, except that the two young ladies, Da Jie and Sun Shi Xiang, went to sit for a while."

  The copper pipe in his hand had been pinched by him until it was hot, but he didn't feel anything.

  "Go ahead..."

  Another thunderclap echoed from the horizon, as if it was going to shatter the sky and earth. Amidst the commotion, Xie Yun suddenly flashed by in an instant, running out like a madman.

  The rain grew heavier and heavier, beating down on his face with a dense and heavy rhythm. As he dashed into the Chao Lü courtyard in disarray, he saw a weak figure standing under the corridor, drinking against the wind and rain that filled the sky.

  Everyone let Qin Miao disperse, originally Li and Zi Xuan were not at ease with her, but looking at Qin Miao's desperate appearance of wanting to cry without tears, they couldn't bear not giving her wine to drink. In the end, Qin Miao almost knelt down to beg them, it was Yu Lu who brought out three jars of Nv Er Hong from the warehouse.

  "Girl, if you want to drink, then drink; if you want to cry, then cry. If you're still feeling stifled and want to find someone to beat up, then beat me up - I'm thick-skinned and won't mind." As he spoke, the little girl herself began to cry first.

  At this moment, the main hall was empty and deserted, with only Qin Miao holding a wine jar and drinking heavily. She wasn't not feeling wronged, she was extremely indignant. Thinking that she could let it go, but when it came to it, she realized that her past carefree self was because she hadn't encountered petty-minded people before.

  The rain grew heavier and heavier, like the fierce tigers in the mountains and the monstrous dragons in the sea, opening their bloody mouths to swallow her. Even the heavens were bullying her, with such a day accompanied by thunder and lightning, frightening her so much that her legs went soft and her body weakened, causing her to collapse onto the ground.

  She took a big gulp of wine, summoning up her courage, and shouted at the dark sky: "Why!"

  Why did you say it was good, but it changed in just one month? Why couldn't you do it and deceived her instead? If you couldn't do it, why didn't you say so earlier?!

  Qin Miao lay on the ground, wailing in pain. Her cries mingled with the sound of rain, thunder and wind, gradually losing strength. In a daze, it seemed as if a pair of large hands had picked her up, and after a while, she found herself back in the Qin family's grand mansion in Hangzhou. Her grandmother used a warm towel to clean her body from a water bucket, and the warm steam on her face made her snuggle up and fall asleep comfortably. In her dream, there seemed to be a hand that was affectionately stroking her face, causing her to unintentionally nuzzle it several times before realizing the warmth had disappeared, at which point she pouted and grabbed the quilt to sleep.

  Xie Xuan sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the small face scrunched up in her hands, wanting to get close but also seeming to resist. Just now, seeing her cry so heart-wrenchingly in the rain, his heart ached inexplicably.

  Never thought things would develop to this extent. Why does he always want to start anew with her, yet there are always so many obstacles that make them drift further and further apart?

  He didn't dare to imagine how she would treat him when she woke up. Would it be indifference, disdain, or even ridicule? Yes, he himself couldn't bear his own absurdity, let alone his wife.

  That night, Xie Lin silently guarded her bedside for a long time, but ultimately couldn't think of how to move forward with her. In the end, he dragged his tired body back to Tingyu Pavilion, and by then the sky was almost bright.

  The Yu Suo Pavilion spread the "good news" that everyone was waiting for, either in the Chao Lu Yuan or for the reaction of the Hou Ye Furen. But what made them disappointed was that there was no so-called lesson or warning, but instead the news came that the mistress of the house was seriously ill in bed.

  Old Lady Xie rushed over to the Chui Lu courtyard with someone as soon as she heard, and couldn't help but burst into tears at the sight of Qin Miao's pale and haggard face on the bed.

  "Poor child, how did you spend the night and end up like this?" The old lady pitied Qin Miao's face, which was originally quite plump but now seemed to have lost a circle of flesh. Her big eyes, which were already large to begin with, now looked even more prominent.

  Qin Miao rarely smiled at the old lady: "Ancestor, it's An Nuan being greedy for wine, drinking too much makes people feel hot. Ran to the corridor to blow wind and dissipate heat, as a result, it was useless."

  She puckered up her small mouth and squeezed out a bit of her usual nonchalance: "The doctor said so, just drink a few doses of medicine and it'll be fine. In a few days, Anu will be able to keep Grandpa company again."

  Old Lady Qin originally liked Miao, and it was hard for her to take care of this old man while she was ill. "Exactly, if you didn't come, I would have been suffocated by those few people."

  Everyone with eyes to see knew why Qin Miao suddenly fell ill, but the old lady ordered that no one was allowed to mention that matter in front of Qin Miao again. She also made small talk with Qin Miao for a while, then led the people away.

  Returning to the Yang Yi Institute, Old Lady Xie thought for a long time and originally wanted to directly send a bowl of Luòzi Tang to Yu Suo Ge. However, Nanny Xie persuaded her otherwise.

  "Madam, the young master has always been indifferent to women. It's likely that there won't be anyone else in this house from now on. As for children, it will still depend on you, madam. Now that there is another child to raise, it's not a bad thing either. Why don't you wait until the young master returns and discuss it with him before making a decision?"

  The old lady truly doted on Qin Miao, which is beyond doubt. However, from another perspective, she was still the old lady of Xie Fu, and what she considered was not her own personal preferences, but the overall situation and future of Hou Fu.

  At this moment, she can only wait for her grandson to return home, and in her heart, she hopes that he will have the same idea as herself.