Tong Minzhi saw the look of shock on Mrs. Chen’s face and felt that his attitude just now had been a bit too harsh, so he leveled his tone and said, "Just focus on taking care of yourself and stop letting your thoughts run wild." Mrs. Chen looked at him, stammering, and Tong Minzhi walked over to sit beside her, then stretched out his arm to pull her into his embrace, speaking softly, "Let’s just live our life properly. Having you is enough for me; I don’t need, and don’t want, anyone else to serve me."

Such words and such a thing were something Mrs. Chen had never even thought about. She tried to ask, "But..." Tong Minzhi cut her off: "No buts. I said I don’t need it, so I don’t need it."

Her hand was held in his; his tone was so resolute that Mrs. Chen was sure she hadn’t misheard—Tong Minzhi truly didn’t want it!

The hidden sadness and grief in her hearts slowly dissipated bit by bit. Mrs. Chen’s eyes reddened; she leaned against Tong Minzhi’s chest and muffledly nodded. "It was my fault." Her heart was filled with tender feeling.

Tong Minzhi patted her head, his movements gentle and full of warmth, then laid his hand on her belly and said in a light, cheerful tone, "What we need to do now is quietly wait for him to be born. It’s enough if the three of us are together, peaceful and harmonious."

Mrs. Chen nodded, nodding again and again.

The next day, after Tong Minzhi had gone to the Imperial College, Mrs. Chen summoned Liufu in. Before Mrs. Chen could speak, Liufu knelt down in front of her. "This maidservant begs Madam to take into account that I have served in the household for so many years and please arrange a marriage for this maidservant!" After what had happened earlier, she could no longer stay in the residence.

Mrs. Chen’s hand holding the teacup paused. Her satisfaction with Liufu deepened. She nodded and said, "What do you have in mind?" She paused, afraid Liufu might not understand. "Just tell me whatever you’re thinking. I’ll decide for you."

Liufu lowered her head, thought for a moment, and said, "This maidservant knows the household has an estate in Shandong. This maidservant would like to go to Shandong!" Mrs. Chen knew Liufu’s hometown was in Shandong; back then it was also First Master who had brought her back from Shandong, so she said, "I understand."

A few months later, at Mrs. Chen’s estate in Shandong, she chose an honest and reliable man for Liufu and married her off to him. Though Tong Minzhi was reluctant, he didn’t say anything; he only prepared a great deal of dowry for Liufu in private.

After Xiqiu found out, she merely paused and said to Nanny Cen, "Have Su Dazhuang inquire where she is. If it’s convenient, see that she’s looked after more." She thought of how, back then, when Tong Minzhi had secretly drunk because of First Master, it had been Liufu who had quietly come to the inner court to tell her. Liufu might look dull, but she was in fact a clever and quick-witted maid. Xiqiu kept Liufu’s kindness in her heart but did not blame Mrs. Chen either. The positions they each occupied were different; there was no right or wrong in it.

Nanny Cen answered in the affirmative. Just then the door curtain lifted and Ruan Jingliu came in. Xiqiu was stunned. "What brings you here today? You didn’t have someone send word."

"There wasn’t anything important, so I just came straight over." She sat down opposite Xiqiu. Nanny Cen smiled, saluted her, and went to brew tea. Seeing that Ruan Jingliu looked low-spirited, Xiqiu asked, "What is it? Did something happen?"

Ruan Jingliu shook her head. "Nothing. I just felt miserable inside and came to sit with you." Xiqiu very rarely saw her like this, and couldn’t help straightening up and asking, "What’s wrong?"

Nanny Cen brought in the tea. Ruan Jingliu took it, drank a sip, and only then felt a bit more comfortable. She said, "I don’t know, my heart just feels stifled. I wanted to find someone to talk to." In all these years, she had never felt this way before.

"Is it because Second Master Qin isn’t home and you’re missing him?" Xiqiu couldn’t help laughing as she said it. "Your heart feels empty?" Qin Yuanfeng had gone out on business at the beginning of the month and had been gone for four days.

Ruan Jingliu was taken aback when she heard this and looked at Xiqiu in some confusion. "It’s because of him?" These past two days she’d only felt uneasy and uncomfortable, but had never once thought in that direction. She had lived alone all these years and had only been with Qin Yuanfeng for a few months. How could he overturn all the habits of her past life?

"Impossible!" She shook her head, sticking to her own view. "Maybe it’s because the weather’s getting hotter." When she finished, she noticed there were no ice blocks placed in the side room; she couldn’t help knitting her brows. "It’s so hot, why haven’t you had ice brought in to cool the room?"

Xiqiu pressed her lips into a light smile and didn’t expose her; she only said, "I don’t actually feel hot." With that, she called for Chunliu. "Take someone and bring in some ice blocks."

Chunliu agreed and went out; before long, ice blocks were placed in the room. Only then did Ruan Jingliu feel somewhat comfortable. Looking at Xiqiu’s rounded belly, she asked, "How do you feel? Any discomfort in your body?"

This pregnancy was going very smoothly. She could eat and sleep and had grown much plumper, with no morning sickness at all. "I feel very well." As she spoke, she stroked her belly. "It’s just that he moves about a lot inside."

Hearing that she was fine, Ruan Jingliu merely nodded absentmindedly. After sitting for another quarter of an hour, she stood up. "I’m going back." And just as when she had come, she walked out on her own.

She took a carriage directly back to the residence. The servants were all properly attending to their respective duties. She had never liked managing household affairs, so even now she didn’t know the names of the maids serving at her side, how many courtyards there were in total in the residence, or who oversaw which large or small matters. She knew nothing of it and never asked. Each day, after returning from the clinic, she would stay in her room reading. Even when she went out, she only wandered around the immediate vicinity.

Today, looking at the familiar and unfamiliar faces before her, then at the pavilions and towers around her, she suddenly felt it was all very strange.

Was this going to be her home from now on?

She entered her courtyard. It was cold and deserted. She had always liked quiet, so there was only a little maid dozing off by the gate. She went in without waking the girl and looked at the furnishings, the same as always, yet at this moment they seemed especially desolate.

When Qin Yuanfeng was around, she felt he was noisy, like a fly buzzing incessantly by her ear; she disliked how talkative he was.

Now that he was gone, without the sound of him chattering behind her as he usually did, she suddenly felt everything had lost its color, looking monotonous and dull.

Thinking this, Ruan Jingliu froze.

Could it be that, just as Xiqiu had said, the reason her heart felt stifled and everything she did seemed tedious and uninspiring was because Qin Yuanfeng wasn’t here?

She sat silently down in a chair and stared blankly at the closed door to the main room.

These past two days she had been sleeping in the secondary room, unwilling to even open that door, unwilling to see the extra pillow he had forced onto the bed, unwilling even to sleep under quilts that were full of his scent. Could that also be because she missed him?

How could this be? She slumped back in the chair in dejection.

Did Qin Yuanfeng mean that she could no longer be as free and unrestrained as she once was?

She shook her head, rejecting the thought. No. She could not depend on anyone. She was herself and would never change.

With that, she suddenly stood up, strode over to push open the door to the main room, picked up the medical text she often read that lay by the pillow, took two sets of clothes, wrapped them into a bundle, and lifted it in her hand...

Just then, heavy footsteps sounded in the courtyard, the stride and pace extremely familiar. She froze, dropped the bundle, and was about to go out to look, but then stopped in place, startled by her own reaction. What was she doing?