The Grand Secretary has no heir? His concubine gives birth to triplets.

When Pei Yan came out of Songhe Garden, his back was in excruciating pain.

The old lady's cane was inlaid with several gemstones and was extremely hard.

Several blows hit his spine directly, causing his lips to turn white from the pain.

Granny Qin chased after him to the door and cautiously asked if he wanted to summon the royal physician, only to be met with a glare from him.

"I will come to hear my grandmother's reply in three days."

He threw down those words, turned and strode out of the courtyard gate.

The servants along the way saw blood seeping from his back and his menacing aura, and they were so frightened that they all lowered their heads and held their breath.

Qingyi Garden was right in front of him, but Pei Yan abruptly stopped in his tracks.

He can't go back like this.

If Shunshun saw him like this, she would definitely ask questions and worry.

Pei Yan took a deep breath, turned around, and walked towards the study.

He sent Xiao San to fetch the physician, then closed his eyes tightly, his fingers gripping the edge of the table as he desperately tried to regulate his breathing.

Soon, the imperial physician rushed over, cut open his shirt, and gasped when he saw the wound on his back.

"Your Excellency, this...who was so ruthless?"

Pei Yan remained silent, and the physician dared not ask any more questions, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and clean the wound and apply the medicine.

The powder was sprinkled into the cracked flesh, and Pei Yan's temples bulged with veins, cold sweat instantly soaking his temples.

But he clenched his teeth the whole time and didn't utter a single groan of pain.

After the physician finished bandaging the wound and left, he also dismissed Lian Xiaosan.

The huge study was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Pei Yan sat there for a long time, his mind a jumbled mess, his ears filled with his grandmother's hurtful words.

"How can you face the ancestors of the Pei family?"

"If your brother were still alive..."

"He was mature and sensible from a young age, always putting his family first!"

Pei Yan tilted his head back and gave a self-deprecating smile.

Yes, the older brother is the perfect successor.

He was merely his brother's shadow, living only to die in his brother's place at crucial moments, ensuring that the Pei family's foundation would not be plunged into a quagmire due to the death of an eldest son.

Ironically, the first to die was the older brother.

He stood up, propped himself up on the edge of the table, walked to the tall blue-and-white porcelain vase in the corner, reached in, and pulled out a wooden box sealed with sealing wax.

Take out a neatly folded letter from inside.

That was his last letter, hastily written before the late emperor awoke and entered the palace to meet him.

He had made thorough preparations and also planned for the worst.

If things go wrong, Xiao San will give this will to Shun Shun.

Pei Yan unfolded the letter, the candlelight illuminating his strong handwriting, each stroke revealing his instructions for what would happen after his death.

He stared at it in silence for a while, then picked up his pen again and added a few paragraphs at the end.

"If two of the children are boys, do not leave them with the Pei family. The Imperial Guards will escort you out of the capital..."

"I have a manor in Jiangnan, which I acquired privately. Even the old matriarch doesn't know about it. You take them with you..."

"If Shunshun wants to find someone to rely on in the future..."

As he wrote this, his hand trembled uncontrollably, and the pen hovered over the paper for a long time before he gritted his teeth and continued writing.

"...Don't worry about those old-fashioned rules, but you must choose a good man; never compromise yourself!"

"If you find men troublesome, then it's fine not to marry. There are over two thousand taels of silver in the bank, which is my salary over the years. It's not a lot... but it should be enough for you to raise three children..."

After writing the last character, Pei Yan suddenly coughed.

"Cough cough cough—!"

He covered his mouth and coughed violently. When he removed his palm, a trace of bright red blood was clearly visible in it.

Pei Yan's pupils shrank sharply, and his face turned as white as paper in an instant.

With trembling fingertips, she took out the pills given to her by Daoist Longchuan, and without even looking at them, swallowed two directly.

The sweet and fishy taste subsided slightly after the pill went down my throat.

But he couldn't suppress the fear that was growing wildly in his heart like weeds.

He used to live like a walking corpse, only to fulfill his promise to his brother. If he died, he would die without any regrets.

But things are different now.

He fears.

I was afraid that he might die before I could arrange everything.

No.

He cannot die.

He refuses to accept his fate!

Pei Yan clenched his fists, stood up, put on his outer robe, and went to Master Longchuan's courtyard again.

Master Longchuan was meditating when he heard footsteps and came out.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Pei Yan kneeling unsteadily in front of the prayer mat.

"Master, please save me."

Pei Yan's voice was hoarse, carrying an unprecedented sense of humility.

"I don't ask to live to be a hundred... I just ask to live a little longer, at least... at least until the day my child is born."

Master Longchuan stared at him for a long time before letting out a long sigh.

He returned to the room, took a yellowed ancient book from the bookshelf, opened it to a page, and handed it to Pei Yan.

"You can decide for yourself. If you can accept it, I'll help you. But you need to understand that there are also huge risks involved."

Pei Yan took the book and looked at it closely.

The pages were covered with strange runes, along with annotations.

Pei Yan's pupils contracted sharply.

He read it three times, then looked at the smaller print below:

"This method is dangerous and goes against the laws of Heaven. If there is the slightest mistake, the soul will be completely destroyed... and one will be condemned to eternal damnation, unable to be reincarnated."

Pei Yan blinked with difficulty, a bitter smile appearing on his lips.

"Do I... have any other options?"

"If we cannot be together in this life, how dare we hope for the next?"

He raised his head and looked solemnly at Daoist Longchuan.

"Please, Taoist priest, help me! Even if it's just for one more day, this broken body, along with its three souls and seven spirits, are all things that Heaven can take if it so desires!"

Master Longchuan gave him a deep look and finally nodded.

"Alright, I will perform a spell for you before you die."

Pei Yan's tense shoulders instantly relaxed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

He thanked the Taoist priest and returned to Qingyi Garden at the end of Hai hour.

The oil lamp in Qingyi Courtyard was still lit.

Pei Yan's heart tightened, thinking something had happened. He quickly walked to the door, but was stopped by Xiao San.

"Prime Minister, Madam is still awake, and you look like this..."

Pei Yan looked at himself. Although the wound on his back had been bandaged, there were still some bloodstains on his outer robe.

He took a deep breath, changed into clean clothes, washed his face with cold water, then sent Luyi away and quietly pushed open the door to the inner room.

In the silhouette of the red candle, Jiang Guo'er sat beside a small rosewood table, holding a needle and thread, mending a paper kite with a fathead fish.

Pei Yan stopped in his tracks.

Isn't this the kite they flew behind Qizhen Temple?

Later, because a corner of it was torn by the wind, he originally wanted to remake it, but unexpectedly she stayed.

"The Prime Minister is such a worry."

As Jiang Guo'er sewed, she muttered to herself.

"After returning from the palace, my appetite decreased, and I lost a lot of weight..."

"When I asked the physician, he hesitated and wouldn't say anything. He's definitely hiding something from me."

"Ugh, this is so frustrating!"

Pei Yan stood in the shadows, a bittersweet warmth rising in his heart, even the pain in his back lessening.

The next moment, he saw Jiang Guo'er turn the kite over and stroke it with her fingers.

The candlelight illuminated the back of the kite, and a line of delicate calligraphy, adorned with floral patterns, clearly caught his eye.

"My first wish is for my beloved to live a thousand years; my second wish is for myself to remain healthy and strong; my third wish is to be like the swallows on the beam, meeting each other year after year."

Pei Yan froze.

In that instant, my long-depleted heart felt as if it had been filled with nectar, a mixture of sourness, swelling, numbness, and pain.

His vision gradually blurred, and his eyes became uncontrollably hot.

She instinctively clenched her fists and bit her lower lip hard to keep from sobbing.

We'll meet again every year...

She wanted him to live!

But he himself didn't know how much longer he had to live.

Pei Yan resisted the urge to rush over and hug her, and turned to leave the inner room.

He tilted his head back under the eaves, letting the cold liquid silently slide down his cheeks.

He waited until the tears in his eyes had completely dried before going back inside.

At this moment, Jiang Guo'er could no longer resist the drowsiness. Clutching a kite in her hand, she fell asleep on the soft couch.

Pei Yan tiptoed over, carefully took the kite from her hand, and placed it aside.

Then he picked her up, blanket and all, and placed her on the bed very gently and slowly.

He lay down beside her, ignoring the pain in his back, and stretched out his long arm to gently pull her soft body into his embrace.

He hunched over, pressing his cheek against her back, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and gradually tightened his grip.

"Shunshun, don't be afraid."

He used a breathy voice, so low that only he could hear it.

"Once I've cleaned up the filth in this court and paved the way for your future... I'll definitely spend more time with you."

The following afternoon.

A warm breeze swept across the long street, and a blue cloth sedan chair was silently carried into the Pei residence through the side gate.

The sedan curtain was lifted, and a Taoist nun dressed in a gray-blue robe flicked her whisk, her face stern, and slowly stepped down from the sedan.