A sudden gale arose, and the blizzard raged fiercely.
With a creak, the window in the room was blown open by the sudden, violent snowstorm.
A maidservant braved the wind and snow to shut the window. “The storm is so bad. Let this servant deliver the chicken soup instead!”
The six-months-pregnant Xia Jianxi watched the increasingly rampant blizzard outside, fell silent for a moment, then finally said, “My husband is studying hard. I should go myself.”
Although the maidservant was a little worried, she still draped a heavy fox fur coat over Xia Jianxi, carried the food box, held an umbrella, and accompanied her to deliver the chicken soup to He Lanci, who was studying in the study.
After a difficult walk through the snowstorm to the study, just as she was about to raise her hand to knock, she heard a burst of mocking laughter from inside.
“The Little Marquis is truly resourceful. The Prince’s Mansion would never have accepted a woman with a ruined reputation. Only by destroying Xia Jianxi’s name and innocence could Sister Yu Ruo marry into the Prince’s Mansion smoothly! The Little Marquis’s scheme was simply flawless!”
“Isn’t that the truth? Sister Yu Ruo has already married into the Prince’s Mansion as planned. Why must the Little Marquis sicken himself by condescending to marry a woman with a ruined name!”
He Lanci’s cold and heartless voice suddenly rang out. “She is the legitimate daughter of the General’s Mansion, and more importantly, her maternal family is as wealthy as a nation. By marrying her, the dowry she brings is enough to cover the Marquis’ Mansion’s deficit. Even so, her entire family must be grateful. After all, if it weren’t for me, where could Xia Jianxi possibly find a way to live with such a tarnished reputation!”
“Then, what about that bastard in her belly? Little Marquis, you can’t possibly be planning to let a bastard be born with the title of the eldest legitimate son, can you?”
“What a joke. How could the prestige of my He family tolerate such filthy, disgusting blood!” He Lanci sneered. “It’s just a bastard. We can bury it anywhere. In the future, when she can no longer bear children, won’t she still have to exhaust herself for the sake of my He family’s bloodline!”
In that instant, Xia Jianxi felt her hands and feet turn ice-cold, and the blood in her body rushed to her head.
All the care and affection from the past were clearly just sugar-coating He Lanci used to wrap his poison.
She remembered when the Prince’s Mansion had sent a matchmaker, stating they would soon come to propose marriage. She was supposed to wait in her chambers for the Prince of Yong’an to personally propose.
But then came the Flower Festival. The Heir of the Prince’s Mansion sent her an invitation to go to the lantern festival with him. Her younger sisters happened to find out and insisted on going with her. Unable to refuse them, she accompanied them.
But on that very day, despite the large number of guards they had with them, she was drugged and abducted by a group of men. By the time her father found her abandoned in a ruined temple, the news of her abduction had already spread everywhere.
How could a woman with a ruined reputation possibly marry into the Prince’s Mansion and become the wife of the Heir?
No matter how close they were as childhood sweethearts, it could not withstand the rejection of society.
She watched with her own eyes as the Heir of the Prince’s Mansion took back the jade pendant from their childhood betrothal from her father and gave it to Xia Yuruo.
At that moment, she was plunged into despair. She couldn’t even hear her mother’s tearful pleas, like a walking corpse with only the thought of ending it all on her mind.
But it was then that He Lanci walked up to her. He declared to the world that the one he had always admired was her, Xia Jianxi, and that he had only refrained from proposing because she had been betrothed since childhood.
It was also he who had told her, in no uncertain terms, that he did not care about her chastity; he only cared about her, Xia Jianxi.
But now, she finally understood. It had all been their scheme from the very beginning. From her abduction, to the Heir of the Prince’s Mansion asking to marry Xia Yuruo, to her entering the Marquis’ Mansion with a massive dowry to cover his deficit—it turned out that every single thing had been his calculation.
She subconsciously clutched her belly and instinctively backed away, her eyes filled with terror.
“Escape!”
“Run!”
Only those two words remained in her mind.
She instinctively retreated, only to find the maidservant who had been carrying the food box walking toward her with a sinister smile.
That’s right. Her trusted attendants had long been sent to the outer courtyard by He Lanci under the pretext that he disliked being served by strangers. The ones who remained by her side now were all He Lanci’s people.
“Is the madam not going in?” the maidservant’s voice, at this moment, sounded exceptionally cold and terrifying.
The conversation inside the room came to an abrupt halt.
The door before her suddenly opened, and He Lanci stood there.
In that instant, she found his face sinister and horrifying, completely devoid of its usual tenderness.
She turned to run, but a shout came from behind her. “Seize her!”
She was immediately grabbed. She struggled like a madwoman, but in her struggle, she saw the hands that held her. She froze on the spot.
It was her cousin! The very brother of the “Sister Yu Ruo” they had been talking about!
She was bound and thrown into a dark, sunless cellar. The moment she fell, her belly slammed hard against the ground, and blood instantly gushed out from beneath her.
And above, the wooden plank, reeking of rot and decay, closed bit by bit amidst her screams, until the only sliver of light completely vanished.
The prematurely born child, just like Xia Jianxi, fought desperately to survive.
Like a wild beast, she spread her body open, clawed at the dirt beneath her, gritted her teeth, and used every last ounce of strength to give birth to the child who had shared her heartbeat for seven months.
She bit through the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck with her own teeth. She held on desperately, wanting to hear her baby’s first cry, but there was nothing. There was only endless despair.
At this moment, she lay on the filthy dirt floor, surrounded by piles of decayed clutter. Her fair, slender fingers were dug deep into the cold earth, her painted nails torn back, a bloody mess.
And beneath her was an indistinguishable, murky pool of blood.
“Get up! Stop playing dead!” a cursing voice grated harshly.
She had fainted in despair, only to be jolted awake by that sharp, unpleasant sound.
Barely breathing, Xia Jianxi slowly opened her eyes. Standing before her was the very husband for whom she had been willing to give her life—He Lanci.
Xia Jianxi looked up at the two people before her, the sharp, mocking laughter echoing in her mind.
He Lanci glanced down, looking at her lying there without a shred of dignity, like a dying bitch.
He raised a hand to cover his nose, his eyes filled with disgust. “I have already sent someone to the General’s Mansion to say that you unfortunately suffered a difficult birth, resulting in one corpse and two lives. Your father and mother are on their way. I must send you on your final journey before they arrive!”
“My child?” Xia Jianxi slowly opened her mouth, her lips, chapped from dryness, cracking into bloody lines.
He Lanci raised an eyebrow, a hint of confusion in his tone. “It’s a bastard. I’m surprised you still care so much!”
Xia Jianxi struggled to sit up, her cold eyes fixed on He Lanci. “Give me back my child!”
He Lanci scoffed, then glanced to the side.
Soon, an old woman walked over, holding a swaddled infant.
He Lanci tilted his head for a look, then grabbed the infant by the neck and lifted him up. The child, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly burst into tears.
“He Lanci, let him go! Let him go…” Xia Jianxi struggled to get up but was strangled by the old woman with a white silk cord.
“Oh, right. I think I forgot to tell you something!” He Lanci dangled the child, and in that instant, his smile was like that of a demon from hell. He raised the child high in his hand, then violently smashed him onto the ground. The baby, who had been crying just a moment ago, was instantly lifeless. “That night, in the ruined temple… it was me!”
“You demon! Demon!” Xia Jianxi’s eyes flew wide open. She struggled to lunge forward but was held back tightly by the old woman strangling her.
The feeling of suffocation slowly stole her consciousness. Intense pain, mixed with a hatred that pierced her very soul, grew wantonly.
In the darkness, her silent heart suddenly beat once. Subconsciously, her eyes, reddened and steeped in hatred, snapped open.
Jolted awake, Xia Jianxi had yet to recover from the despair of having her neck broken when, in the next instant, someone from behind covered her mouth and dragged her forcefully away.