ATPnovel Chapter 337 Jiang Qingxue: Your Majesty, is Sister Xu really pregnant?
Chapter 337 Jiang Qingxue: Your Majesty, is Sister Xu really pregnant?
Chen Guang emerged from the side hall and walked along the long corridor toward Yuxiu Palace.
The morning light had already bathed the entire imperial city, the glazed tiles gleamed golden in the sunlight, and the withered vines on the palace walls were coated with a layer of warmth.
His steps were unhurried, his moon-white robe fluttering gently in the morning breeze, the hem brushing against the edge of the bluestone slabs, creating a soft rustling sound.
Yunluan followed three steps behind him. Her dark blue outfit looked particularly cold and aloof in the sunlight. Her hand was on the hilt of her sword, and her gaze swept over every possible corner of the eaves and every dark window.
The gate to Yuxiu Palace was half-open.
Most of the petals of the wintersweet trees in front of the door have fallen, and the remaining few blossoms tremble slightly in the morning breeze, like the last batch of butterflies reluctant to leave the branches.
Jiang Qingxue stood inside the hall, facing the hall door.
She had been standing there for a long time, ever since she heard the footsteps approaching from afar.
Her fingers tightened slightly inside her sleeve, then loosened, then tightened again, then loosened again.
Her heart was beating so fast that her breathing became rapid.
She is waiting for him.
Jiang Qingxue is sure Qin Mu will come today.
The footsteps stopped outside the palace gate.
The moon-white figure appeared on the threshold, the morning light shining in from behind him.
Jiang Qingxue knelt down.
His knee slammed into the gold brick with a dull thud.
The pain spread up her knee, like a needle piercing through her bones, but she didn't even flinch.
She knelt down, lowered her head, and her forehead almost touched the cold ground.
Her long hair cascaded down her shoulders, spreading across the gold bricks, revealing two ears peeking out from between her jet-black hair, which were as white as paper.
"Your Majesty, I pay my respects."
Her voice was soft and steady, devoid of any emotion.
Qin Mu stepped into the hall.
The moon-white hem of her dress brushed against her loose, long hair, creating a very gentle breeze.
He didn't wake her up.
He simply walked past her, past the long sandalwood table, past the carved screen, and to the soft couch by the window, where he sat down.
He leaned back on the soft couch.
The morning light streamed in through the window, illuminating his face and making his handsome features exceptionally clear.
"Did you see him yesterday?"
He spoke softly, as if asking something trivial.
Jiang Qingxue knelt on the ground, facing his direction.
She didn't look up; her gaze fell on the hem of his moon-white robe, on his boots damp with morning dew, and on the golden bricks illuminated by the sunlight.
"Yes," she said. "I saw him."
Qin Mu nodded.
He tapped his fingers lightly twice on his knee, a casual gesture, as if he were playing a tune only he could hear.
"I did not go yesterday."
He said his voice was still very soft, with a hint of nonchalant amusement.
"Tell me, what did you all say?"
Jiang Qingxue knelt there, and upon hearing these words, a warm feeling suddenly welled up in her heart.
The warmth rose from the deepest part of my heart, like a hand that had been frozen for too long in the northern winter suddenly being held by a pair of warm hands.
He didn't go.
Of course she knew he hadn't gone.
What does this mean? It means Qin Mu trusts her.
He didn't need to send anyone to listen, didn't need to find out from others, and didn't need to use any means to verify whether every word she said was true or false.
He came directly to her and asked her to tell him herself.
This trust is too heavy.
So heavy that she didn't know what to say for a moment, so heavy that her eyes suddenly stung, so heavy that she had to bite her lower lip to force back the tears.
She took a deep breath and began to speak.
She knelt on the ground, facing his direction, and recounted her conversation with Xu Longxiang in the alley the previous night, sentence by sentence.
"He asked me if I knew he was coming. I said yes. I told him that after seeing Sister Liu being brought into the palace, I guessed he might come. I told him that I had come up with a plan to come out early and wait for him there."
Qin Mu paused for a moment on his knee, then continued tapping.
"He asked me about Sister Xu's pregnancy. I told him it was the royal physician who said so, there couldn't be any mistake. He asked me if that tyrannical emperor knew, and I said I didn't. He said—"
She paused, her voice softening, "He said that's good, as long as you get rid of the baby, everything will be fine."
The smile on Qin Mu's lips deepened even further.
He didn't speak, he just looked at her.
"He asked me—" Jiang Qingxue's voice became even softer, as soft as a petal falling on the water's surface, gently swirling in the wind, "whether I'm pregnant."
Qin Mu's fingers stopped.
The hall fell silent for a moment.
That silence was brief, as brief as a drop of ink falling into a deep pool, creating only a tiny ripple.
Then his fingers started moving again.
"I asked him if he wanted me to have his child. He said of course he didn't, that he wanted to marry me, and that we would have our own child."
When Jiang Qingxue said these words, her voice did not tremble at all, and her face was expressionless.
It was like reading a book, like reciting a memorial that she already knew by heart, like talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
Only she knew that with each word she spoke, the thorn in her heart sank deeper.
It's not pain, it's cold.
A chill seeping from the very bones, a coolness that can never be warmed up no matter what.
"I told him I wasn't pregnant. He said that was good. I told him that Sister Xu should have an abortion, that the child absolutely couldn't be kept. He agreed. He said—"
She paused for a moment, then said, "He said that it's not appropriate for me to say such things in person, so he wrote a letter."
Jiang Qingxue took the letter out of her sleeve.
She had folded the white cloth neatly into a small square, with the edges pressed flat and without a single wrinkle.
The bloodstains had dried completely, turning from dark red to brown, like withered flowers blooming in the snow.
She held the letter in both hands, raised it above her head, lowered her head, and touched the ground with her forehead.
Qin Mu stood up, walked up to her, and took the letter from her hand.
Qin Mu unfolded the letter.
The writing on the white cloth was dense and dark red, and in some places, the blood had seeped through and blurred into a mess.
He looked at it again, and the smile on his lips deepened.
He folded the letter again and put it in his sleeve.
"Your Majesty," Jiang Qingxue knelt on the ground, head bowed, "Should this letter be given to Xu Fenghua?"
Qin Mu shook his head.
"Not for now."
His voice was soft, with a hint of nonchalance, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.
"This letter was the straw that broke the camel's back. At a crucial moment, it could have broken the camel's back. But now—"
He paused, then said, "It's not the right time yet."
Jiang Qingxue knelt there, the words he had said echoing repeatedly in her mind—straw.
camel.
It's not the right time.
She suddenly understood.
She understood what he was talking about.
This is not the most desperate time for Xu Fenghua yet.
She still had hope, still had aspirations, and still had that last breath that kept her alive in the deep palace.
Jiang Qingxue didn't know what that tone was like.
Perhaps it was Xu Longxiang, perhaps it was the Northern Border, perhaps it was the unborn child in her womb.
But whatever that breath was, it's still there.
As long as it exists, Xu Fenghua will not fall.
But what if one day, that spirit is broken?
If one day she discovers that the person she has been waiting for, believing in, and enduring humiliation for all this time wants her to kill the unborn child in her womb with her own hands.
That letter was the last straw that broke her back.
By then, she will no longer help the North.
She can't even help herself anymore.
A chill suddenly ran down Jiang Qingxue's spine.
The chill started from her tailbone, spread along her spine, down to the back of her head, and to her temples, making her feel as if she had been thrown into an ice cellar.
She knelt there, head bowed, watching the golden bricks illuminated by the sunlight, watching the light move inch by inch.
She suddenly felt very lucky.
She dared not think any further.
"Get up." Qin Mu's voice came from above, very soft, with a hint of a smile.
"You did a great job."
Jiang Qingxue's body trembled slightly.
She slowly stood up, a sharp, piercing pain shooting through her knees, causing her to stumble.
She steadied herself by holding onto the edge of the table beside her, stood with her hands at her sides, and lowered her gaze to the hem of his moon-white robe.
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Morning light streamed in through the window, casting the shadows of the two people on the ground. One stood, the other sat, a few steps apart, and neither spoke.
Jiang Qingxue pursed her lips.
She looked up at Qin Mu.
There was a light in those clear, cold eyes that she herself couldn't quite describe.
It wasn't awe or fear, but a cautious, tentative, somewhat apprehensive, yet impossible-to-suppress desire.
"Your Majesty," she said softly, her voice tinged with hesitation and doubt.
Her lips parted slightly, then closed, then parted again, then closed again.
The words rolled around in her throat countless times before finally being squeezed out, as light as a leaf about to fall.
"Sister Xu—are you really pregnant?"