The Marquis's line has ended? The pregnant maid is pregnant again!

In the small courtyard.

Lu Jihan stood upright, his voice broad and loud. He tucked his hands into his sleeves and put them behind his back, his gaze fixed on the door, but he hesitated to go in.

When Qing'er came out of the room and saw Lu Jihan, she reported, "My lord, the young lady is not feeling well and is already asleep."

Lu Jihan simply nodded with a cold face, and only after hearing that Shen Qinghe had fallen asleep did he step into the room.

On the bed, a slender and charming woman lay, her sleeping face serene and beautiful.

Her usually cunning and lively eyes were now tightly closed, and her alluring, full red lips were pale.

Lu Jihan sat down beside Shen Qinghe's bed, looked at her for a moment, and then took out a liniment from his sleeve.

This was something Lu Jihan had instructed Lin Feng to buy from outside the manor. Several doctors had also examined it to ensure it wouldn't harm a pregnant woman before giving it to her.

The little girl is very delicate; she doesn't like products that smell like herbs or aren't fragrant.

Lu Jihan specially asked Lin Feng to buy this ointment, which has a mild medicinal effect and a faint floral fragrance.

The little girl twisted her wrist when Wu Xiaoniang pushed her down earlier. Lu Jihan had seen it early on, but he couldn't speak up because his grandmother and the others were still there.

Lu Jihan took out the ointment, and with one large hand holding Lu Jihan's wrist in his palm, he carefully applied it to Shen Qinghe's wrist little by little.

Her wrists were slender and snow-white, with thin, delicate skin covering protruding wrist bones, as thin as bamboo twigs, which he could easily break with a slight effort.

Lu Jihan applied the medicine to Shen Qinghe's wrist, then put Shen Qinghe's hand under the blanket and tucked the blanket around her.

After completing this series of tasks, Lu Jihan's gaze fell on Shen Qinghe's face.

Lu Jihan couldn't help but reach out and gently stroke Shen Qinghe's face.

His fingertips slid down Shen Qinghe's smooth forehead, past her eyebrows and eyes, to her high nose bridge and full lips.

Lu Jihan was quite fond of it.

This slender and charming young girl is pregnant with a baby.

She is his mother, his child.

This feeling was unfamiliar, an unfamiliarity that Lu Jihan couldn't quite put his finger on; joy and anger were intertwined within him.

After a long while, Lu Jihan finally stood up, instructed Qing'er to take good care of her, and then returned to his study.

Lu Jihan had only been sitting at his desk for a moment when Lin Feng, who had been missing for a long time, returned with news.

Lin Feng looked at the information he had found and was in a dilemma. He was even a little uneasy when he stood in front of Lu Jihan to report back.

"Speak! Have you become mute?"

Lu Jihan's voice was cold and hard. Although his gaze was fixed on the official documents, his attention had actually been drawn away as soon as Lin Feng came in to report the news.

The brush he stopped holding is the best evidence.

"Yes, sir, I did find the item you asked me to investigate. It was obtained from Miss Qinghe's house."

Lin Feng had no choice but to hand over what he had brought back, placing the yellowed parchment in front of him, and forcing a smile, he said, "I have already taken several hundred brothers to investigate the village where Miss Qinghe was born. We have asked almost every household, and it is certain that Lord Chu's family lived in that village for many years. And it is indeed true that he and Miss Qinghe..."

Lin Feng didn't dare to say what came next, but Lu Jihan, looking at the badly damaged and stained parchment in his hand, knew everything.

The parchment was dyed bright red, but the color had darkened over time, and it was covered with many stains, making it look dirty.

In the very center of the red parchment were several lines of small gold writing, the contents of which clearly stated that Shen Qinghe and Chu Xingge should be engaged.

They even agreed that they would get married when Shen Qinghe came of age.

In the lower right corner of the parchment, the names written were not those of anyone else, but those of Shen Qinghe and Chu Xingge.

Two fingerprints of different sizes were pressed on the golden name.

"Master... I don't think you need to care too much. After all, no matter what happened in the past, it's impossible for Lord Chu and Miss Qinghe to be together now."

Looking at his master's icy face, Lin Feng couldn't help but comfort him, "Whether it was a childhood betrothal or some kind of arranged marriage, that was all in the past. Besides, the young lady is already pregnant, so you don't need to worry too much, sir."

As soon as Lin Feng finished speaking, a loud thud was heard as Lu Jihan slammed the parchment onto the table.

Lin Feng immediately lowered his head in fright: "Master..."

Lu Jihan remained silent for a long time, and the entire room fell into silence, so quiet that Lin Feng wondered if his master had fallen asleep or if he was dreaming.

Lin Feng peeked up, trying to see what was going on, but before he could even lift his head, he heard Lu Jihan's low, husky voice, which was relatively calm: "Get out."

"yes!"

Lin Feng felt as if he had been granted a pardon and immediately withdrew.

Yun Chen, who was at the door, had obviously heard the noise as well. He had gone to investigate with Lin Feng today and knew the general situation.

He just couldn't understand: "Doesn't Master believe that Miss Qinghe and Lord Chu didn't have a secret rendezvous? Why is he so angry? I haven't seen Master so agitated over anyone in years. The last time was with Miss Biao..."

"Pah, pah, pah, why bring up Miss Cousin? Miss Cousin looks down on me because I'm a military man. Even if I like her, so what? I think Qinghe is much better to me."

As Lin Feng spoke, he also sighed: "It's one thing for you to believe that Miss Qinghe didn't have a secret rendezvous, but Miss Qinghe and Chu Xingge were indeed engaged. In fact, if nothing unexpected had happened, Miss Qinghe would be the wife of the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review now. In my opinion, you clearly like Miss Qinghe, which is why you care so much and are jealous."

"So what do we do now?" Yun Chen wasn't very knowledgeable about matters of love and romance, and basically believed whatever Lin Feng said: "We can't just keep watching Master stay angry like this, can we?"

"There's nothing we two can do about this. The one who tied the knot must untie it," Lin Feng said.

Upon hearing this, Yun Chen immediately had an idea: "Then let's go find Miss Qinghe."

"Wait a minute, I was talking about Lord Chu." Lin Feng thought to himself, squatted down, plucked a foxtail grass, and stuffed the other end of the stem into his mouth. "Right now, he probably doesn't even know why he's so angry and upset. Even if Miss Qinghe comes, it won't make a difference."

Lin Feng chewed on his food and said, "Alright, I'll escort you to court tomorrow and speak with Lord Chu while I'm at it."

-

When Shen Qinghe opened her eyes, it was already the next day.

My body felt a little better, not as heavy as before.

Qing'er brought in the medicine and saw that Shen Qinghe was awake: "Sister, this is a medicine to help with pregnancy that Madam sent over."

Qing'er put down the medicine, helped Shen Qinghe up, and sat her down at the table.

The bowl of medicine that Shen Qinghe was looking at was dark and bitter. She couldn't help but frown. She had to put two candies in her mouth first before she could convince herself to start drinking the medicine.

Qing'er, standing beside her, asked in confusion, "Sister, why don't you try using the poison-repelling chopsticks? And why do you entrust yourself and your child to Madam's care? Madam clearly can't stand you or the child in your belly. Isn't that giving her an opportunity to take advantage of you?"

"If she dared to poison this bowl of pregnancy-preserving medicine, she'd be courting death." Shen Qinghe's lips curled into a smile, her complexion slightly better than before.

"In front of the Marquis and the Old Madam, with so many maids and servants watching, I entrusted the safety of myself and the child in my womb entirely to Lemon. If anything were to happen to me or the child during the time I give birth, Lemon would be the first to be suspected. Not to mention that Lemon would never dare to do anything to me at this time, even if others did, she would still be on guard in every possible way, even more so than I am."

As Shen Qinghe drank her medicine, she looked around her room and noticed that many things had been added. Everything that was hard, whether it was tables, chairs, or anything else with edges or corners, had been covered with soft cotton.

The chair cushions were thicker than usual, and an additional backrest was added to the chair back.

Shen Qinghe looked at Qing'er and asked, "Who gave the order to put these things here?"

When Qing'er was asked this, she looked around and realized something was wrong. She scratched her head and said, "Strange, these weren't here yesterday. Sister, it's all my fault for not looking carefully."

"It's not your fault. Who else came yesterday?"

"Besides the old lady and Lemon, the last one to come in was the Marquis!" Qing'er recalled carefully. "The Marquis stayed in the room for a long time, so long that I fell asleep before he came out."

Did the Marquis make it? Did he make it himself?

Shen Qinghe couldn't help but be moved, a warm feeling washing over her. When she thought of the Marquis, she was unsure of what he was thinking.

Shen Qinghe thought that she would explain things to the Marquis properly when he arrived in the evening.

Unexpectedly, when Shen Qinghe waited until nightfall, Lin Feng said that the Marquis would not be coming tonight and told Shen Qinghe to go to sleep early.

Shen Qinghe waited a while longer, but when she realized that the Marquis still hadn't come, her heart sank. She knew about her past with Chu Xingge and was afraid that she had still angered the Marquis.

But since the Marquis didn't come, Shen Qinghe had no way to explain, so she could only go to sleep first.

The very next day, Shen Qinghe discovered that someone had applied ointment to her wrist, and when she woke up, the scent of the ointment lingered.

Shen Qinghe went to ask Qing'er, who said she hadn't seen the Marquis come.

Shen Qinghe had her doubts.

It was like this for a day or two, but it lasted for a full ten days. It wasn't a coincidence.

Shen Qinghe was almost certain that Lu Jihan would come every night after she fell asleep.

But he refused to admit it, and even Lin Feng and Yun Chen, who were beside him, refused to admit it.

Shen Qinghe gritted her teeth and decided to catch him red-handed!

That day, Shen Qinghe went to bed as usual and pretended to close her eyes.

In the courtyard, following Shen Qinghe's instructions, Qing'er deliberately spoke loudly, "Sister, you should rest well. I'm going to sleep too!"

Shen Qinghe lay on the bed, just waiting.

After what seemed like an eternity, a sound finally came from the door!

A steady, light footstep sounded, approaching from afar. Shen Qinghe immediately closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.