Binding Spring Love

Lin Jiayue felt troubled.

Previously, Jiang Xingjian always asked whether the child would be born smoothly and healthily, which she found extremely annoying. But today, she began to think about the question carefully.

Touching her suddenly protruding belly, Lin Jiayue closed her eyes.

Jiang Xingjian pursed his thin lips, his expression indifferent.

"I'm going to Shenshu Camp. Please take good care of our child."

Lin Jiayue trembled slightly and dared not speak.

She lay in bed all day, while Qianbi and Qinghong sat on a small stool by the door, whispering, "Did Auntie cause trouble again last night?"

Qianbi nodded: "It's quite a commotion. My aunt always says she can hear the drums, but I've never heard them."

Qinghong bit her lip: "I don't know if it's because my aunt has been nagging me too much, but I also feel that the nights are eerie, and that drum sound comes from time to time."

"Do you think it might be... that the eldest mistress doesn't want the concubine to..."

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

She covered Qinghong's mouth with her hand and frowned, saying, "If anyone hears you slandering the eldest mistress, see if Granny Li won't tear your mouth apart and take your life."

As the two were tearing at each other, Lin Jiayue appeared behind them like a ghost.

"Aunt Lin."

"I want to go to Lantingyuan."

Lin Jiayue strolled out, but was held back tightly by Qian Bi, Qing Hong, and two old women.

"I'm going to find Song Wan; I have something to ask her."

Pushing aside Granny Li, Lin Jiayue walked out on her own.

In the Lan Courtyard, Song Wan was preparing incense balls with Hengzhi and Hengwu. Hengzhi took the washed agarwood and slowly pounded it into granules with a silver mortar. Hengwu poured in angelica and incense powder. In front of Song Wan, there was honey, and she was carefully kneading the incense balls.

The three of them, master and servant, were chatting about the recipe for the incense pills when they saw Lin Jiayue walking over with a group of maids and servants behind her.

When Fang saw Lin Jiayue, she was quite surprised for a moment.

This person was so tortured that he was no longer human; his body was almost devoid of flesh, except for a protruding belly.

Upon seeing this, Song Wan frowned slightly and casually extinguished the lit incense ball with an incense shovel.

Lin Jiayue sat down casually and then began to drift off into thought.

The three servants of Lan Courtyard were completely bewildered, none of them understanding what she meant.

Although Lin Jiayue would go crazy every now and then, they had gotten used to it. But after Jiang Jing and Aunt Zhou passed away, she had quieted down. Today, they didn't know what new problem she had developed, but she had suddenly revived and started acting up again.

Song Wan looked at Lin Jiayue, her eyes full of confusion.

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

For a moment, Song Wan felt a pang of guilt, as if she had been seen through. She put down the incense pills in her hand and asked, "What do you want?"

Lin Jiayue lowered her head and remained silent.

After a long while, she murmured, "You're right. I shouldn't have sold off the servants, and I shouldn't have interfered in Jiang Jing's marriage. I've let them down."

After saying that, the man left, looking dejected.

Song Wan and her servants exchanged bewildered glances, unsure of what she was up to this time.

Lin Jiayue returned to her room, and the guards who were watching over her were relieved. Granny Liu and Granny Li took a nap in the side room, while Qinghong had gone off to do nothing. Only Qianbi stayed in the room with her.

"Aunt Lin, it's time for your meal."

Lin Jiayue asked blankly, "Qianbi, do you think my baby will be born healthy?"

Qianbi lowered her head: "Why do you ask that, Aunt?"

Lin Jiayue murmured to herself, "I'm afraid it's impossible."

"I'm not in good health, there are no doctors here, and I have no experience. What if he's born with disabilities, or missing limbs? Jiang Xingjian was very worried, and I think his concerns are not unfounded."

"Besides, even if he were physically healthy, he was born a son of a concubine!"

Do you know what a son born out of wedlock is?

Tears streamed down her face as Lin Jiayue sobbed, “A son born out of wedlock is just like Jiang Yan. He has to call his wife ‘Mother,’ his birth mother has to call him ‘Second Master,’ and Aunt Zheng has to bow to Jiang Ang when she sees him outside the courtyard.”

"She called him Fourth Master, and Jiang Ang called her Aunt Zheng."

"A concubine cannot decide on the marriage of a son born out of wedlock. When a son born out of wedlock gets married, he must serve tea to the mistress. If a son born out of wedlock has a grandson, the concubine must also call him mistress."

"It's still good to have a son born out of wedlock, but if you have a daughter born out of wedlock, then everything is over."

"Like me, the concubine's daughter can never leave this courtyard in her entire life. She can't even watch the Yingying Story."

Lin Jiayue, between tears and sobs, suddenly burst into laughter: "Are you out of your mind?"

"Qianbi... why did I give birth to him? Was I born to suffer?"

"Qianbi, please find the royal physician for me."

Lin Jiayue sought out the royal physician and asked him to prescribe abortifacients for her. Her mind was in turmoil, and she did not notice that the physician's expression was normal, as if he had known this day would come.

Before long, Qianbi came over carrying a bowl of scarlet medicinal soup.

Lin Jiayue didn't even look at it, and tilted her head back to drink it down.

Within half an hour, she felt unbearable abdominal pain and began to writhe in agony on the bed. The royal physician came forward, examined her, and placed a slice of fifty-year-old ginseng into her mouth before turning and leaving.

Hearing the screams from inside the house, Qianbi felt extremely panicked.

After thinking for a moment, she ran to her room, strung the scattered pearls back together in the box, and also processed a large bag of calming herbs.

The Embroidered Pavilion was small, and the woman's painful wails echoed in every corner. Huaisu listened from the next room, took out an old rattle drum from under the bed, put it in a copper basin, and lit it.

The Marquis of Chengyang's mansion must never produce an illegitimate eldest son first; otherwise, the Marquis's reputation will be completely ruined.

Thinking of the pleasure he had just received yesterday, Huaisu took out a packet of contraceptive soup from the cabinet and started to brew it himself.

When Jiang Xingjian returned to the Chengyang Marquis's residence, Xiuyan Pavilion had already quieted down. He went to Lin Jiayue's room and looked indifferently at the person sleeping soundly on the bed.

Such an outcome can be considered a win-win situation.

Song Wan was very surprised to hear that Lin Jiayue had miscarried. After she learned that Lin Jiayue had asked the physician for the abortion medicine herself, she suddenly understood.

"I see."

Song Wan murmured to herself, her face pale.

Jiang Xingjian's order to have Xiuyan Pavilion protected was not to protect Lin Jiayue, but simply to prevent the news of the Marquis's mansion having an illegitimate eldest son from spreading.

Before this child is born, the Song family will never make a sound or alert. And since this child has no chance of being born from the beginning, he has no fear of the Song family finding out.

Song Wan pursed her thin lips, too shocked to speak.

After a long pause, she murmured, "Not knowing when to advance or retreat will bring disaster..."

"So it turns out he did hate Lin Jiayue for ruining the Marquis's mansion like this."

"He just..."

He only knew that those who plot big are invisible, he only knew where a woman would feel the most pain when struck, and he only knew how to protect his reputation and make a clean getaway when everyone in the capital was waiting to find fault with the Marquis's mansion.

Song Wan slumped onto the embroidered couch, only now realizing that the heroic husband she had imagined in her childhood was actually a complete villain.