Chapter 1176: Waiting (1/2)
Han Yunxi had just returned to her quarters when she saw Baili Yuanlong and a crowd enter the meeting tent. She knew that Long Feiye wouldn’t be back until late tonight and immediately instructed Zhao mama to prepare him soup.
She didn’t know about Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao’s present circumstances and could only sigh to herself. If Gu Beiyue wasn’t so busy helping Little Qi find an antidote, he could be a big help to Long Feiye right now.
As everyone busied about, three months went by. Within that time, Medical City only sent good news to Han Yunxi. Even the bad news wasn’t too terrible, only reports of various prescriptions failing. Gu Beiyue had thought up the idea of mixing good news and bad to avoid raising Han Yunxi’s suspicions.
In truth, Gu Beiyue didn’t find any poisonous medicines made from plague patients. Gu Qishao had given up his scarlet robes and hid his body in loose black ones, leaving only his eyes showing. It was just like the outfit he used to wear when disguising himself as Pill Fiend.
He could pass entire days just sitting on the roof and even joke with Gu Beiyue about where to plant him if he really turned into a tre.
Gu Beiyue would only reply with a smile, “Little Qi, I can cure you. Believe me.”
“Of course I believe you!” Gu Qishao nodded every time.
Mu Linger remained waiting at the Tang Clan. She knew everything about Ning Jing and Tang Li as well as their whereabouts. She dearly wanted to leave the Tang Clan, but kept writing letters to tell Ning Jing not to fret about little Tang Tang and go traveling with Tang Li. They could always come back a few months later.
At night, Mu Linger would climb to the roof and lie down to see the stars, copying her Qi gege. She was constantly missing him even though she knew they had no future after he rejected her.
This was simply a form of missing someone you hadn’t seen in a while.
Occasionally, she’d think of Jin Zi, but that was less “missing” and more “remembering” that there was a person like him who loved her.
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Ning Jing’s fake teeth had already been molded, so she was waiting as well. Every night she’d stay by Tang Li’s side, hoping he could come to his senses and make her sweet red bean soup.
Han Yunxi was also waiting. Her little fellow was eight months along and Fourth Young Miss Ren was already on her way to join them. Everyone said a pregnancy took ten months, but the reality was closer to nine. Recently, Han Yunxi had been overtaken by frequent bouts of drowsiness. She couldn’t even help Long Feiye take care of his letters anymore. Sometimes she wanted to stay up until he came back to bed, but she’d always end up dozing until the late morning and even miss him leaving to work.
Long Feiye was also waiting. Many good news came from the western front in the past three months. Two huge battalions from Western Zhou had chosen to surrender, so he seized the chase to make Chu Tianyin as the Great General of the West and gave him a large contingent of soldiers. It not only won over Chu Tianyin’s heart, but also showed off his frame of mind to the various civic officials in Western Zhou. They too, all chose to surrender.
In three months, Long Feiye had taken over half of Western Zhou with minimal losses. Today, Chu Tianyin and the western army’s two camps were attacking the Western Zhou capital from the southeast. The ending was preordained, so it’d take less than 10 days before they finished them off. Although matters of war and politics were tiring, Long Feiye was at ease with his stratagems. He could declare himself emperor and establish his kingdom at any time.
Many people were already urging him to hold a ceremony to ascend the throne, but he was still waiting--for the birth of his child, for Gu Beiyue’s news. He wanted to spend plenty of time with Han Yunxi in the month before she gave birth. He also hoped that the winter would pass with Gu Beiyue’s good news so he could ascend the throne with no regrets.
Today, Long Feiye was basking in the sun with Han Yunxi in front of the house when Chu Xifeng personally led in Fourth Young Miss Ren. While Long Feiye remained languidly in his seat, Han Yunxi wanted to rise and greet the girl.
Fourth Young Miss Ren immediately dashed over. “Princess, please don’t, please don’t!”
“Didn’t you say I need to exercise during the later stages? Moving around more will make the birth easy,” Han Yunxi teased.
Like all women, Fourth Young Miss Ren only felt a little fearful when speaking in front of Long Feiye. She didn’t even look at him, but said seriously, “If His Highness has time, he can accompany princess on walks more often. There’s no need to confine yourself to your courtyard.”
“Mm,” Long Feiye acknowledged.
Zhao mama was secretly spying on His Highness from the sidelines. She knew that he would take the princess out from walks from today on. Meanwhile, Han Yunxi ordered a servant girl to bring over a seat while Long Feiye wanted Fourth Young Miss Ren to take Han Yunxi’s pulse for an immediate examination.
Although maternity inspections were a norm, there was no need for Han Yunxi to have her pulse taken by every single doctor she met. Her two nurses were enough for the task and had already done it earlier. Fourth Young Miss Ren felt the same way, especially since the nurses had updated her on the princess’s condition. But she respectfully acquiesced with a “Yes.”
Han Yunxi remained docile as well, but after Fourth Young Miss Ren declared that everything was normal, the princess chased off Long Feiye with a few words. With him gone, Fourth Young Miss Ren felt much more relaxed and even changed her sitting posture.
“Princess, aren’t you afraid of His Highness?” Fourth Young Miss Ren asked.
“What should I be afraid of?” Han Yunxi asked back, but quickly added, “Actually, I used to fear him a lot.”
As she disliked discussing Long Feiye with other women, even her closest friends or sisters, she quickly changed the subject. “How are Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao doing?”