Chapter 9

The wind was calm, with birds and cicadas chirping in the background.  

After Ning Yuan left Xu Lianqiao, he entered Jiang Huai’s study and stayed there until noon. The only sign of life from within the house was the occasional sound of coughing, proving someone was there.  

Jiang Huai’s health no longer had major issues, but he lacked energy from time to time, resulting in occasional light coughing.  

As for the strength of his body, it was nothing exceptional. It was absurd to think that this was the same man who had been injured one day and went into battle the next. Perhaps Jiang Huai’s poor health was the result of years of indulgence and excess.  

At this thought, Ning Yuan couldn’t help but feel worried again. Now that his soul inhabited Jiang Huai’s body, he wondered what had happened to his own. Was it lying alone in the courtyard?  

Whichever it was, neither option was good.  

Suddenly, the bell tolled faintly in the distance.  

“One parting, two partings, each living happily…”

After completing the final stroke on the letter of separation, Ning Yuan raised his head and glanced out the window.  

The green leaves on the tree outside were starting to yellow. He remembered falling unconscious on the fourth day of this month—the day before yesterday.  

Not much time had passed, but he had to act quickly.  

With these thoughts, he tried to come up with a plan.  

Just then, a magpie flapped its wings and flew from the green branches into the study through the open window. It landed on the pen holder on Ning Yuan’s desk.  

The bird began preening its feathers, carefully smoothing them with its beak. Then it tilted its head and stared at Ning Yuan with dark, unblinking eyes.  

Before Ning Yuan could react, the magpie suddenly hopped into the inkstone, sending drops of ink flying everywhere.  

Fortunately, Ning Yuan was quick and immediately shielded the letter he had been writing, ensuring it remained unstained.  

After confirming the document was intact, Ning Yuan let out a sigh of relief. The letter had been painstakingly written in Jiang Huai’s handwriting, and it had taken him considerable effort to imitate it convincingly. The magpie had nearly ruined all his work.  

Annoyed, Ning Yuan brushed the bird off the desk. “Go away,” he muttered.  

The magpie, perhaps sensing his irritation, flapped its wings and flew away.  

Looking at the ink that had splattered onto his sleeves, Ning Yuan sighed in frustration. Why did such small, irritating things keep happening to him?  

He hadn’t died on the battlefield, but somehow, he ended up inhabiting someone else’s body because of a fire stick and now had to deal with trivial annoyances like this magpie.  

He gave a helpless laugh and picked up Jiang Huai’s seal from the desk box. He stamped it onto the letter of separation, which was dated exactly three months later—the sixth day of November.  

Ning Yuan was pleased with the result. He thought to himself, Ah Qiao will be very happy when she sees this.

“Who’s there?”  

Hearing footsteps outside the door, Ning Yuan instantly became alert and called out.  

The sound of footsteps stopped. Then, a sweet voice came from outside:  

“Your Majesty, Qing’er heard you haven’t eaten lunch yet, so I brought you some food.”  

The voice was soft, almost like a mosquito buzzing. It made Ning Yuan feel agitated and uncomfortable. It was Jiang Huai’s pregnant concubine, Lu Siqing.  

“No need. You can leave,” Ning Yuan replied curtly.  

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than the door creaked open. A woman dressed in apricot-colored clothes entered, carrying a food box.  

Ning Yuan frowned and quickly put away the letter of separation he had been working on.  

He recognized her as Lu Siqing, Jiang Huai’s concubine. She was also rumored to be involved in the poisoning case that had targeted Xu Lianqiao.  

“You…” Ning Yuan started to speak, but before he could continue, Lu Siqing set the food box down on the round table and ran toward him with her skirt in hand. She burst into tears as she approached him.  

“Your Majesty, have you abandoned Qing’er? Since you woke up, you haven’t come to see me,” she cried. “Qing’er and the baby miss you so much. Yesterday, the physician said I had fetal contractions…”  

She wiped her tears and stroked her swollen belly.  

If Jiang Huai were here, he might have felt distressed by this scene. But Ning Yuan was not Jiang Huai. He simply felt a little pity, nothing more.  

Calming himself, he said evenly, “So, running around in this heat is your way of taking care of your child?”  

Lu Siqing had intended to act pitiful in front of Jiang Huai, but she hadn’t expected such a rebuke.  

Ning Yuan remained seated and glanced briefly at her before continuing:  

“I heard from the servants that while I was in a coma, my family treated you well. Judging by your appearance, that seems true.”  

He was being polite. In reality, aside from a few tears on her face, she looked radiant, with glowing skin—a stark contrast to his own frail state.  

“I haven’t fully recovered in the past two days, so I don’t have the energy to deal with anything else,” Ning Yuan added before picking up a book and starting to read.  

In truth, he was silently praying for her to leave quickly. He was exhausted.  

However, Lu Siqing wasn’t ready to give up.  

“But Your Majesty, you went to see your wife, but you won’t come to see Qing’er… She almost killed you!”  

Hearing this, Ning Yuan’s face darkened slightly. Hiding his displeasure, he interrupted firmly:  

“She is the legal wife, and this matter is still under investigation. Don’t make baseless claims.”  

The words “legal wife” struck a nerve with Lu Siqing. She clenched her fists, her nails digging into her palms until they left red marks.  

She had loved Jiang Huai since childhood. As the daughter of his nanny, she knew she couldn’t compare to women of Jiang Huai’s status. She never expected to be his wife, but she had hoped to win his favor.  

However, Jiang Huai had married Xu Lianqiao. And it had been Xu Lianqiao of all people!  

Unable to hide her bitterness, she bowed her head. “Qing’er was mistaken. Please forgive me.”  

Ning Yuan had no evidence for the time being, so he decided not to alarm her. He nodded and gestured for her to leave.  

“Wait,” he called out as she was about to leave.  

“You’re a month into your pregnancy now. Stop running around like this. My meals will be handled by others. Don’t do such things in the future.”  

Since he was occupying Jiang Huai’s body, Ning Yuan didn’t ask her to take the food box away. However, he hoped there wouldn’t be a next time.  

“Yes, Qing’er understands,” she replied softly, bowing before finally leaving.  

_

Lu Siqing’s maid, who was waiting outside the door, saw her master coming out and quickly approached to greet him. However, she noticed that her lady’s expression was far from pleasant.

It was known that her lady and the prince often had disagreements. Yet, whenever the prince was given food prepared by her lady, he would always try to coax her.

“Young Lady…”

Lu Siqing ignored the maid.  

After holding her frustration in check, she returned to her apartment, shut the door, and smashed a vase beside her bed.  

“Young Lady, why are you so angry with yourself?”  

The vase, a prized piece from Ru kiln ^[1]a type of high-quality Chinese porcelain from the Song dynasty., shattered into pieces. Qiu Shuang, distressed, was heartbroken by the sight.  

Lu Siqing thought that once Jiang Huai regained consciousness, Xu Lianqiao would face her downfall. But now, the situation was entirely different from what she had expected.  

Jiang Huai had insisted that the matter needed further investigation.  

Recalling Jiang Huai’s demeanor toward her earlier, Lu Siqing broke into a cold sweat.  

She had not expected this turn of events.  

Xu Lianqiao’s life seemed remarkably fortunate. No matter how hard she tried to bring her down, nothing worked.  

_

Meanwhile, Xu Lianqiao, the one everyone labeled as “fortunate,” had just woken up from her sleep.  

She raised her head groggily, realizing she had just dreamed.  

She was stunned when she heard Jiang Huai call her “good-looking” earlier.  

No one had praised her like that before, except for one person.  

She remembered dreaming of him frequently during the two years following his sudden departure. In those dreams, he would explain why he left without a word.  

Sometimes, she worried that something had happened to him.  

But in reality, there was nothing.  

In the end, her dreams always returned to that empty, cold, and dark rainy night.  

She forced herself to forget—to forget everything about him.  

The sad thing was, she didn’t even know his name. Even if she wanted to find him, she had no way to start.  

But he knew her name.  

That he hadn’t visited her in eight years only meant he had long forgotten her.  

Indeed, some people leave forever.  

Thinking about this made Xu Lianqiao’s nose sting, and tears welled up uncontrollably.  

She raised her hand to wipe her tears and scolded herself.  

Why cry? There was no reason to cry.  

So many years had passed.  

If Jiang Huai hadn’t called her “good-looking,” she would never have dreamed of that person again.  

She had long since buried those memories.  

To think he once said she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen—it was all lies.  

Men are terrible.  

Her father, her second uncle, her husband, and even that man—they were all bastards.  

Her nose started to sting, and she couldn’t stop sneezing.

She probably caught a cold from lying on the table for too long.  

Coincidentally, Ning Yuan sneezed at the same time.