Chapter 106 The Dejected Husband

After leaving Qingning Palace, Qiu Shuzhi walked along the palace wall to the Imperial Garden. Qin Zhengya was sitting on a stone bench among withered flowers. On the table lay a folded package tied with thin string, adorned with pearl plum blossoms like delicate snowflakes.

Behind him stood high, deep red walls, building lofty ramparts that split the sky.

“Lady Qiu.” Seeing Qiu Shuzhi approaching, Qin Zhengya’s eyes curved into gentle crescents, overflowing with tenderness.

“Greetings, Empress.” Qiu Shuzhi curtsied slightly.

Qin Zhengya’s jade fingers lightly pointed to the spot beside him: “Please, sit.”

Qiu Shuzhi sat down next to him. Only up close did she realize that the decorations on the package weren’t real pearl plum blossoms, but silk flowers made from pristine white silk. From afar, they looked exactly like the real thing, and even carried the faint fragrance of pearl plum blossoms.

“Lady Qiu, you’ve achieved great merit by defeating the King of Dian in one stroke. It’s a pity that this servant, being merely a man, couldn’t witness your heroic stance on the battlefield. But this servant heard that my elder brother miscarried due to excessive worry over state affairs?” Qin Zhengya’s voice was soft and gentle.

Qiu Shuzhi hesitated for a moment before nodding.

At first, she too thought Yue Guanyi’s miscarriage was due to excessive grief. Who knew that when they were intimate at night, Yue Guanyi adamantly refused to let her undress him.

Under her persistent questioning, Yue Guanyi finally dared to reveal the true reason for the miscarriage.

Learning how Yue Guanyi had risked his life, Qiu Shuzhi felt both moved and guilty, but more than anything, she worried about his health.

A man’s body is naturally not as robust as a woman’s. Yue Guanyi’s wound had affected vital areas, and it was uncertain whether it would impact his future ability to bear children.

The young emperor had indirectly lost the ability to have children because of her, and if Yue Guanyi also became infertile, she would truly become a sinner to the Yue clan.

Therefore, after returning to the capital, she constantly sought famous doctors to treat Yue Guanyi. She had also requested many imperial physicians. There were no secrets in the palace, so it wasn’t surprising that the young empress knew about this.

A faint smile flickered across Qin Zhengya’s lips, quickly fading.

He sighed: “A man’s body is most vulnerable to hardship. I fear my elder brother’s condition might make it difficult for him to bear children in the future. What are your plans, Lady Qiu?”

Hearing this, Qiu Shuzhi seemed to catch on to something.

The young empress’s words seemed somewhat off.

If Yue Guanyi couldn’t bear children, as a woman, she certainly couldn’t remain childless. She would definitely have to take in male concubines to continue the family line.

But Qiu Shuzhi didn’t want to do that.

Yue Guanyi had once lingered on the brink of death for her sake, nearly not making it through several times. How could she betray such deep love? Besides, she had never felt that being childless was a big deal.

However, the young emperor was already unable to bear children, and if Yue Guanyi also became infertile in the future, wouldn’t the Yue clan truly end at her hands?

“This official will certainly accompany His Highness to recover his health.”

“You-” Qin Zhengya hadn’t expected Qiu Shuzhi to say this.

It was well known that even ordinary women placed great importance on offspring, preferring to have as many children as possible. Men also needed to continuously bear daughters to secure their position in the family.

If a wife took a husband who couldn’t bear children, he would be like a rooster that couldn’t lay eggs, entirely worthless. The wife’s family would have a legitimate reason to divorce him.

“Aren’t you worried that if my elder brother can’t recover his health, he won’t be able to bear children for you? Won’t you resent him?” Qin Zhengya asked.

All the happiness Yue Guanyi now possessed had been snatched from his hands. Why should he monopolize the wife-master who should have belonged to him, stealing the life that should have been his?

So when he learned that Yue Guanyi might be infertile, he couldn’t wait to sow discord in their marriage, hoping to make Qiu Shuzhi despise that useless man.

But Qiu Shuzhi’s reaction was completely unexpected.

Qiu Shuzhi smiled: “Why should I resent him? When I fell off the cliff and everyone thought I was dead, His Highness starved himself and self-harmed, wanting to follow me to the underworld. That’s how he became ill. Besides, the imperial physicians haven’t conclusively determined whether His Highness’s body can truly recover or not. Even if he really can’t have children in the future, so what? It’s my husband who suffers the pain of childbirth, and it’s my husband who crawled back from the gates of hell. I can’t love him enough, how could I possibly resent him?”

Qin Zhengya stared at her, speechless for a long time.

Qiu Shuzhi’s words deeply shocked Qin Zhengya. He knew Qiu Shuzhi was good, but he didn’t know she was this good.

But the better she was, the more it pained his heart for the fate they could have had but missed.

“It’s getting late, this official will take her leave now.” Qiu Shuzhi looked at the darkening sky and bid him farewell.

“Don’t go.”

She had only taken two steps when Qin Zhengya grasped her sleeve from behind, his moist, bright eyes shining with tears and a madness that broke through all barriers.

“Lady Qiu, do you remember? When you first passed the imperial examination, there was a young man from the Qin family who sought to marry you?”

Qiu Shuzhi thought for a moment: “…I seem to recall something like that, but those young gentlemen were illegitimate sons of the Qin family. However, I had no intention of taking a husband at the time, so I declined them all.”

Qin Zhengya stepped forward urgently: “What if they weren’t illegitimate? What if they were legitimate sons?”

If they were, would the outcome have been different?

Qiu Shuzhi looked at the young empress’s slightly reddened, pleading eyes, and finally understood something.

She replied without hesitation: “Even if they were legitimate, this official would still have refused.”

With that, Qiu Shuzhi gently pulled her sleeve free, stepped back, and bowed deeply: “This official takes her leave.”

Qin Zhengya clutched the package beside him tightly, nodding with difficulty.

Shortly after Qiu Shuzhi left, Cai Er emerged from nearby. Seeing the package still in his hand, he curiously asked: “Since the Empress has already met Lady Qiu, why didn’t you give her these things?”

These items, if given to Qiu Shuzhi and administered to Yue Guanyi, could make his health deteriorate…

Qin Zhengya lowered his head, his lips trembling: “What’s the use of giving them now? She and I have missed our chance forever.”

If Qiu Shuzhi wouldn’t choose him no matter what, whether in the past or present, what was the point of his persistence and revenge? From beginning to end, he had never entered her heart.

After leaving the palace, Qiu Shuzhi dismissed the servants following her, intending to walk back to the manor alone.

Passing by small stalls selling goods, Qiu Shuzhi instinctively took out her purse, planning to buy some snacks to bring back for Yue Guanyi.

Since returning to the capital, he had been constantly taking medicine to improve his health. The bitter smell of herbs permeated the entire room, unpleasant just to smell, let alone drink.

But after she paid and received the candied fruits from the shopkeeper, she suddenly remembered that the manor lacked nothing. All kinds of preserved fruits and sweets, sickeningly sweet things were available, but Yue Guanyi didn’t touch them at all. He didn’t seem to like very sweet things.

Qiu Shuzhi held the sweet fruits in her hand, unsure whether to throw them away or eat them, and ended up carrying them back to the manor.

Passing through layers of pavilions and corridors, she saw Qiu Qiushuang in light blue attire, his delicate figure half-hidden in the green shade, his hands busy with needlework, seemingly embroidering something.

Qiu Shuzhi’s eyes flickered, and she held out the fruits to him.

Startled by the sudden hand in front of him, Qiu Qiushuang looked up and his eyes filled with delight when he recognized Qiu Shuzhi.

He pointed at the sweet fruits in her palm, his eyes twinkling like stars, and gestured: “Are these for me?”

Qiu Shuzhi nodded: “Of course.”

Qiu Qiushuang’s fine eyebrows curved in a smile as he took a fruit and put it in his mouth, the sweet taste instantly blossoming.

He smiled with his eyes and gestured: “It’s rare for you to remember that I like sweet fruits.”

Qiu Shuzhi was taken aback.

She did remember that Qiu Qiushuang liked sweets. When they first came to the capital, she often took him to night markets to eat various sweet snacks. But as her official rank rose and her duties increased, and after marriage, when she spent most of her private time with Yue Guanyi, the time she truly spent with Qiu Qiushuang had decreased.

Even these sweet fruits weren’t originally bought with him in mind.

Qiu Shuzhi thought that she had indeed neglected her cousin for too long, failing to take care of him.

Realizing this, Qiu Shuzhi sat down beside him. They spread out the oiled paper wrapping the sweet fruits and began eating them one by one, chatting about childhood memories.

“Cousin, what are you embroidering?” Qiu Shuzhi popped a candied fruit into her mouth, the intense sweetness mixing with a slightly sour fruit flavor filling her mouth.

Qiu Qiushuang smiled gently and spread out the fabric in his hands. On the ginger-red cloth, tiny plum blossoms like fine snow were embroidered, winding from the chest to the back, with tight, fine stitches.

“Winter is coming, and the weather in the capital is cold. I thought of making you a few winter clothes in advance. Just a few more plum blossoms and it will be finished,” Qiu Qiushuang gestured, saying: “Try it on first to see if it fits.”

In the past, when their family was poor, Qiu Qiushuang would make winter clothes for her early in summer when cotton was cheap, to get through the harsh winter. So Qiu Shuzhi, without any suspicion, naturally took off her outer garment and put on the early winter red outfit.

“Cousin, your needlework has improved even more. Not only are the flowers beautifully embroidered, but the fit is just right, neither too big nor too small.” Qiu Shuzhi praised, unaware that a figure was gradually approaching her from behind.

After returning to the capital, Yue Guanyi had been recuperating in the manor.

He had never been a man with grand ambitions, only wanting to stay in his wife-master’s back courtyard. He had long since handed over the authority of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to Qiu Shuzhi, saying it was temporary management, but in reality, he had no intention of taking it back.

With nothing to do in the back courtyard, Yue Guanyi’s life consisted of taking medicine and eagerly waiting by the door for Qiu Shuzhi to return from court.

Today, he waited and waited but couldn’t see Qiu Shuzhi, so he left the courtyard, only to witness this warm scene between her and Qiu Qiushuang.

The bond between her and Qiu Qiushuang, nurtured since childhood, was deeper than blood relations. Seeing them together like this, Yue Guanyi felt a sharp pain, as if he were an outsider at this moment.

Yue Guanyi dejectedly touched his abdomen. Now, it would be extremely difficult for him to bear children.

A man who couldn’t bear children was indeed a dispensable outsider.