Chapter 489 - Shining Hope (1/2)
Yu Xiaocao thought that she was likely unable to help with their infertility issues. However, it wouldn’t be an issue for her to help them heal and strengthen their only descendant in the residence…
Wait, earlier the wife of the heir had mentioned that the heir’s only concubine-born daughter had been weak and sickly since she was born...an idea flashed through her head. She had probably found out the reason why the two of them were unable to have children!
“Forgive me for my presumptuous question, but what does your lord husband normally like to eat and drink?” Yu Xiaocao thought for a bit and then cautiously inquired.
He Wanning knew that Yu Xiaocao wouldn’t ask this question without a reason and asked with slight curiosity, “Younger Sister Xiaocao, why are you asking this question? Are you possibly suspicious of someone in the residence tampering with my older brother’s food and drink? That can’t be true, right? The staff here all have simple backgrounds and I can guarantee there isn’t someone who is trying to harm my eldest brother due to his position as the heir...could it be Father’s political enemies?”
The young maiden’s thoughts flew a bit too far! Yu Xiaocao shot a look at the other girl and didn’t heed her. Instead, she continued to solemnly look at the wife to the heir in antic.i.p.ation of her answer.
When the wife of the heir saw that she was quite serious, she couldn't help but think carefully before she replied, “My husband usually likes to drink mung bean milk the most so he has a cup almost every morning. He also loves any dish that contains tofu, so the residence’s chefs and kitchen maids will always make different types of tofu dishes every day. As for other foods that he likes...ah, I remember! I like to eat celery and my husband will usually eat some with me…”
“My older brother also especially likes to eat barbecued and deep fried foods, especially once winter starts. He often hangs out with his friends to roast venison and mutton and he does that quite frequently.” He Wanning chirped in to help explain and revealed several other foods that her older brother liked to eat.
Yu Xiaocao let out a sigh of relief in her heart. Sure enough, everything that they told her had met her expectations. She finally found out the reason as to why the heir and his wife had problems with infertility!
Although He Wanning usually looked cheerful and carefree, she had a conscientious heart that caught onto details. When she saw that the expression on Xiaocao’s face had changed subtly, she hurriedly asked, “Younger Sister Xiaocao, are you implying the reason why my older brother and older sister-in-law haven’t been able to have children are related to the foods my older brother likes to eat?”
The wife of the heir’s previously dead heart once again was ignited with a flame of hope, “Miss Yu, is it really as Wanning says…”
Yu Xiaocao looked at the older woman and forcefully nodded her head, “I was able to come across a book of recipes once by chance. Inside, it not only described many ways to cook delicious foods but it also talked about the effects of eating certain types of food. Among them, it recorded that if a man constantly ate bean products, celery, and foods that were barbecued and deep fried, he would have problems siring heirs...”
“Is that true? Miss Yu, are you stating the truth? Then, the reason why my husband and I have been unable to have children is due to the foods he likes to eat and not because of an issue with my body?” The older woman’s lips trembled and the mist of tears gradually appeared in her eyes. Apparently, the truth was just that simple. They had spent so many years striving in a different direction and had bypa.s.sed the actual reason.
The heavens knew how she had lived these past nine years. Their inability to have children had become a giant mountain pressing down on her heart so hard that she couldn’t move. Its weight was so heavy that she felt like she couldn’t breathe at times. Many a night, her tears wet her pillow completely; many a night, she spent sleepless until dawn. She didn’t know how many times she loathed herself and she also didn’t know how many times the thought of suicide rose up in her mind…
Now, she was finally able to break free of the fetters on her heart and her spirit could soar free again without the weight of that suffocating pressure. She finally could raise her head and look her husband in the eye without the shadow of guilt and let him know, ‘The problem is not with me!’
“Lord...Lord Husband?!” Through the veil of her tears, the wife of the heir saw that tall and imposing figure that was engraved in her soul slowly walking towards her, getting closer and closer...
A large, warm palm wrapped around her two hands and a familiar voice sounded in her ears, “Zhen’er, you’ve had a hard time these past years…”
The wife of the heir no longer cared that there were other people around and buried her head into that familiar and warm chest. She sobbed as if she was a heartbroken child who had just been wronged.
The heir, He Junpeng, embraced his wife tightly within his arms and gently patted her back as he comforted her silently. In all these years, he had seen the efforts his wife had gone through to get pregnant and engraved it deeply within his heart. Although all the doctors told her that her body was very healthy, she still downed those bowls of extremely bitter nouris.h.i.+ng tonics and tried every folk remedy that was available. She even tried the local treatments that people in rural areas had and pinched her nose to swallow a concoction made of plant ash and water.
Although she loved him with all her heart, she was the one who personally broke his promise of ‘only having her in his lifetime’ and allowed concubine after concubine to come in. On the day that his concubine-born daughter was born, she cried for an entire night but still sincerely felt gratified that he had a daughter now…
He wanted to tell her, “Being able to have such a wife like you is the result of three lifetimes of fortune. Even if the heavens have decided that we would never have children, I have no regrets marrying you!” The wife of the heir very quickly calmed herself back down and looked at Yu Xiaocao with red eyes and nose. She stated somewhat bashfully, “Miss Yu, I let you see a farce!”