Lin’s Mother was stunned upon hearing Liang Xu claim that the child in Xi’er’s womb was his. “This… what exactly is going on?”
“I want to know as well.” But now was not the time to dwell on that. Liang Xu turned to the physician, “We must save this child.”
“I will apply acupuncture to stabilize the fetus and prepare another prescription. If she takes it for seven days, the child should be safe…”
After treating her with acupuncture, the physician took up his pen and wrote out the prescription.
Before heading out to fetch the medicine, Liang Xu handed the prescription over and cautioned Lin’s Father and Lin’s Mother, “I will personally fetch the medicine. Uncle and Aunt, please do not blame Xi Yue. I will take full responsibility for this matter.”
If they had not known his character, Lin’s Father and Mother would surely have argued with him.
But since Xi’er had received great kindness from him and had been under his care these days, they believed there must be more to the story.
While Liang Xu went to get the medicine, Lin’s Father invited the physician to the main hall for tea, while Lin’s Mother stayed behind to question Xi’er in her room about when she and Liang Xu had become intimate.
The night before, Lin Xi Yue had secretly taken abortifacient medicine, suffering pain throughout the night. After the physician’s acupuncture, she felt somewhat better.
Still pale, she lowered her eyes and explained everything to her mother: “Qin Bei invited Brother Liang and his colleagues to celebrate his move. He spiked Brother Liang’s wine and also the room with poison to force me into being with Brother Liang…”
“Brother Liang sent me to the inn, but then he fainted. Even the physician’s acupuncture couldn’t suppress the poison in his body, so he told me how to resolve it…”
“I couldn’t do it myself, and in my desperation…” Xi’er covered her face, tears flowing freely, “Brother Liang saved me. I can’t just stand by. I’m sorry, Mother. I have shamed you and Father…”
“You child…” Lin’s Mother was both heartbroken and angry. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? If you had, this could have been solved with one dose of abortifacient. Why let it drag on until now?”
“Mother, what should we do now?” Originally planning a quiet miscarriage, the child not only survived but Liang Xu now knew of it. Lin Xi Yue was at a loss.
“Brother Liang said he will take responsibility. When he returns, you should listen to what he has to say.”
“But I never wanted him to take responsibility…”
After Liang Xu returned with the medicine, he handed it over to Lin’s Mother to prepare. The physician withdrew the needles from Lin Xi Yue and advised her on prenatal care before leaving.
Only the two of them remained in the room. Xi’er leaned against the bedpost and repeated what she told her mother to Liang Xu.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to offend you. The physician said if it couldn’t be resolved within half an hour, your blood vessels would rupture and your life would be in danger…”
Liang Xu listened quietly, watching her pale lips open and close, tears on the edge of falling from her eyes. Suddenly, he interrupted, “Did you… cry just now?”
Lin Xi’er hesitated, her face flushed, “Yes, it hurt so much.”
It was her first time in such a situation, with no experience. The moment the medicine was administered, the pain was like being cut with a blade, making her vision darken and tears stream down.
She endured the pain to the end without letting a tear dry from her cheeks.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You saved me from danger; I should repay you,” she lightly stroked her belly, frowning, “If it weren’t for the child, this could all be treated as if it never happened…”
Treated as if it never happened?
Had it not been for the fortune teller’s timely warning yesterday, he might have wronged her.
“Since there’s a child, I will return home today and inform my parents. In time, I will have a matchmaker visit to propose marriage. We must marry soon.”
She quickly refused, “No, it can’t be!”
“Why not?”
“We’ve sworn to be brother and sister. How could I marry you?”
“Sworn siblings, not blood siblings…”
“That’s still not possible,” Lin Xi’er looked helpless. “I only wanted to save you back then, not marry you.”
“If you don’t marry me, what about the child?”
“If you want the child, after I give birth, I will send the child to the General’s Mansion and never interfere again…”
“To this point, you still call me ‘Brother’?”
She lowered her eyes, her voice low but clear, “Once brother, always brother.”
Liang Xu suddenly stood up with a sharp sound. Lin Xi’er thought he was going to push her away, but unexpectedly, a shadow fell over her. In an instant, a large hand gripped her face, forcing her to look up.
His fingers and palm bore calluses from years of archery, digging softly into the flesh of her cheek with a faint, grinding pain.
Forced to meet his gaze, she saw her own helpless expression reflected in his deep eyes, growing larger and larger…
Her lips warmed.
He kissed her.
He actually kissed her.
After the shock, he pressed his lips firmly against hers, his hand holding her jaw so tightly she could not pull away an inch.
It was a kiss without any finesse; Lin Xi’er was forced to meet his lips until he was willing to let go.
Liang Xu smirked at her lips, which had finally regained some color after being crushed, “Would a brother do this?”
“You…”
His large hand cupped the back of her neck. Instinctively, he invaded her mouth.
The sensation was strange.
What began as an attempt to break their sworn sibling bond through a kiss, unexpectedly stirred a feeling within Liang Xu unlike anything before. Driven by instinct, he deepened the kiss.
The pressure against his chest grew stronger, and he heard her faint hums of confusion.
He paused, pulling back slightly, and keenly caught the dazed, unguarded look in her half-closed eyes: “Now, do you still see me as your brother?”
Her misty eyes, like a lake veiled in thick fog, trembling with innocence and confusion, whispered, “Brother Liang…”
At last, she stopped calling him brother.
For a fleeting moment, Liang Xu wanted to continue, but his goal was achieved. He did not want to rush her, so he released his hold on her face and straightened.
“Rest well. I’ll return home for a moment.” Without delay, he would go back now to have his mother prepare for the marriage proposal.
As he turned, his robe was grabbed.
She looked up at him, her gaze soft but resolute: “Love must be mutual. I know you don’t like me. If you intend to marry me only for the child, there’s no need to sacrifice your own happiness. I don’t want to spend my life with someone who doesn’t love me…”
“Not liking me now doesn’t mean I won’t like you later,” Liang Xu said. “I’m slow with feelings. Once before, I was infatuated with a girl but never realized it, and I lost her. Though I don’t exactly love you now, my intuition tells me if I miss you, I will regret it as I did before…”
“As for the child,” Liang Xu was not one for sweet talk, but from the moment he awoke from his dream until he rushed to her side, he had been thinking about the child. “The match made by Yue Lao is special. Perhaps this child is the red thread binding us.”
“Don’t overthink. Wait for me to come and formally propose…”
After returning to the General’s Mansion, his father had already left for court. His ninth sister was just stepping out. Upon seeing him, she casually asked, “Sixth Brother, I heard you left early this morning? Was there something urgent?”
“Mm,” he replied, “You’ll have a Sixth Sister-in-law soon.”
“Eh?” Liang Qingluo pulled back her stepping leg and eagerly followed him, “Wow, the iron tree finally bloomed! Tell me, who’s the lucky girl?”
Liang Xu glanced at her. “Why are you following me? Aren’t you supposed to find your charming brother?”
“It’s fine if I don’t see him for a day. He doesn’t like me anyway…”
“Even if he did, Mother wouldn’t approve of you marrying a guard.”
“If he really liked me, I’d kneel before Mother until she agrees…”
Liang Xu’s steps faltered. Thinking he would scold her, she was surprised when he pondered for a moment and calmly said, “That’s a good idea.”
Liang Qingluo: Huh?
Liang Xu told his mother about Lin Xi’er’s situation and asked her to quickly engage a matchmaker to propose. As expected, his mother opposed: “Not to mention her background, she’s been married before—married to your colleague no less. If you marry her now, won’t it confirm that you stole your colleague’s wife?”
Previously, Lady Liang had heard rumors that her sixth son had a habit of coveting others’ wives. At first, she thought he only missed Shen Youran, who had married into another family, but when he attended a colleague’s housewarming banquet, rumors spread that he had taken another’s wife the next day.
At the time, Lady Liang was worried her son might truly steal a wife. Thankfully, he later explained Lin Xi’er’s plight and even asked her to acknowledge Xi’er as a sworn sister-in-law, which eased her mind.
Now, after two months, he was to marry that same Lin Xi’er.
“You can marry whoever you want, but not that Lin Xi’er!”
“But she already carries my child…”
Lady Liang felt as if struck by lightning, her mind buzzing, “When did this happen?”
“She’s three months pregnant…”
Three months?
By calculation, Lin Xi’er had only been divorced for three months.
“Could it be… you took advantage of her then?”
“Not taking advantage,” Liang Xu had not yet told his mother about Qin Bei’s poisoning the night before but now revealed the truth. “She did it to save me, Mother. I must take responsibility.”
Hearing this, Lady Liang understood the danger that night. Holding her head, she sighed, “What a tangled fate…”
Lin Xi’er had sacrificed herself to save him; the General’s Mansion could not fail such a good girl.
However, her son had seen half the eligible ladies in the capital and found none suitable. The General’s Mansion had earned a reputation for being picky. If he married a woman who had been married before, their family’s face would be lost.
But if they refused, what if, like Shen Youran before, he lost this chance and his future marriage prospects were ruined?
Besides, the child was already conceived. Which was more important—the mansion’s reputation or the child?
Moreover, Lin Xi’er, though from humble means, was a well-bred scholar’s daughter. When she acknowledged her kin, she personally copied sutras with handwriting as refined as her nature. Though previously married, her ex-husband was abusive, and she suffered greatly. She was a pitiable woman and should not be judged for that.
Lady Liang deliberated long and hard before finally giving in: “Fine, fate is fate.”
“Very well. I will have a matchmaker come immediately to propose…”
Liang Xu had prepared to kneel and plead but before he could, his mother agreed, surprising him greatly.
Still, he knelt, “Mother, I know you mind that she was married before, but everyone makes mistakes. Please be kind and understanding to her. After she comes home, do not look down on her for this…”
Lady Liang laughed, “She’s carrying my precious grandson. How could I treat her badly?”
“Also, she’s already three months pregnant; the betrothal rituals must be expedited…”
“Do you even need to say that?” An unmarried pregnancy was no good for a lady. She must be married before the child’s condition became obvious.
But even if she was married quickly, when the child was born, it would still be hard to hide.
Just as Lady Liang was about to discuss this further, he said, “Mother, I don’t want her to suffer gossip in the capital. After marriage, I will petition to be reassigned out of town and take her away for three years before returning…”
That way, no outsiders would know the child’s birthdate or her unmarried pregnancy.
“Very well, as you say…” Lady Liang had once thought her sixth son a blockhead, but now seeing how he cared for his future wife, she felt perhaps he was not so hopeless.
It must be because he had finally met the right woman.
Liang and Lin’s families completed the six betrothal rites in one month.
Due to the pregnancy, Lin Xi’er was four months along when they married. Her belly was beginning to show, but the heavy, elaborate wedding garments and winter season concealed it well from outsiders.
The second month after their marriage, Liang Xu received his reassignment orders. Lin Xi’er’s pregnancy was stable, so she accompanied him to his post.
Three years later, they returned to the capital, holding hands with their three-year-old son and carrying their six-month-old daughter.
Their son was named Liang Chen, and their daughter Liang Jing.
From then on, their days were filled with happiness and everything went smoothly.