And at the Prince Qing's mansion.
Last night, Leng Ruoshuang fell ill right after giving birth. Fortunately, Liu Ruyi rescued her from the woodshed in time and invited a doctor to treat her. Liu Ruyi only left Prince Qing's side after Leng Ruoshuang had taken her medicine and her fever had subsided.
She had to return to her own residence immediately to write a letter to the Master of the Dark Night and ask him to find the Valley Master of Ghost Valley to help Prince Qing dissolve the sterility medicine in his body.
This morning, Leng Ruoshuang was awakened from her sleep. After giving birth last night, she had been exhausted and fainted from the pain. Up to this point, she still did not know that she had given birth to a monstrous creature that was neither male nor female.
"Someone, someone!..."
Leng Ruoshuang called out weakly a few times with a dizzy head, and only then did a maid enter the room.
"Is there something you need?" the young maid asked with an unfriendly tone as she walked in.
Although Leng Ruoshuang was angry upon hearing the maid's words, she held back and chose not to respond. She asked directly, "Where is my son?"
"Heh! Your son? Where did you get a son from?" the maid mocked disdainfully.
Leng Ruoshuang was instantly furious.
"Where did you take the child I gave birth to?"
"Haha, you're killing me! Don't you even know what kind of thing you gave birth to?" the maid sneered with a hateful expression.
"Didn't I give birth to a child? If not a son, then a daughter. How can you speak like that? Aren't you afraid that I will report you to the Prince and say you disrespected the Prince's offspring?"
Leng Ruoshuang's face darkened, her gaze like two sharp knives directed at the maid.
The maid was not afraid of her.
"Let me tell you, Concubine Leng, that monster you gave birth to, which is neither male nor female, has already been drowned in the mansion's lake by the Prince."
The maid opened her eyes wide and said dismissively, leaning close to Leng Ruoshuang.
"What do you mean? What do you mean by a monster that is neither male nor female? Didn't I give birth to a child?" Leng Ruoshuang looked utterly bewildered upon hearing the maid's words.
"Heh! That's right, it is indeed a child, but it's a child whose gender cannot be distinguished. When the Prince discovered this problem last night, he immediately ordered it to be thrown into the lake and drowned," the maid explained with a cold laugh.
Leng Ruoshuang understood what the maid meant, and her face instantly turned as pale as paper.
"How could... how could this happen? How could I possibly give birth to a child whose gender is indistinguishable? Impossible, absolutely impossible... How could the child I carried for ten months be a monster? They must be saying this because they want to snatch my child, it must be..."
Unable to accept that she had given birth to a monstrous creature that was neither male nor female, Leng Ruoshuang became completely delirious.
"Heh heh! I wouldn't even want such a monster that's neither male nor female if it were given to me. Why would I snatch it? Unless that person is out of their mind."
The maid hooked a wicked corner of her mouth and turned to walk out of Leng Ruoshuang's room.
Leaving Leng Ruoshuang still murmuring to herself.
---
Phoenix Perch Palace.
When the Empress learned that Leng Ruoshuang had given birth to a monstrous creature that was neither male nor female, she fainted. She only slowly woke up after two hours of unconsciousness.
Xiao Anzi, leading a maid, immediately went to the Empress's bedside and helped her up.
"Your Majesty, you're awake! You almost scared this servant to death just now," Xiao An said in a shrill voice.
After being helped up by Xiao Anzi and the young palace maid, the Empress raised her hand and rubbed her temples.
"Xiao Anzi, find someone reliable and send this letter and this ring-chain that I've placed in the dressing table drawer to Southern Xinjiang. Also, instruct that person to personally deliver the letter and the ring-chain to General Lin Zhenfan," the Empress said weakly.
"Yes, this servant obeys!" Xiao Anzi flicked his horsetail whisk and replied respectfully.
Then, he immediately left the Phoenix Perch Palace.
---
Outside the city, the thatched hut where Hei Pao had hidden is now Liu Ruyi's sanctuary.
"Master, Aman has already sent out your letter," Aman said, bowing slightly and cupping his hands to report to Liu Ruyi.
"Good, I know." Liu Ruyi nodded.
"Then, shall we go to Prince Qing's mansion to see the second young lady today?" Aman suddenly asked, his eyes lighting up.
"Let's go take a look! The people in Prince Qing's mansion are not to be trifled with. Now that Shuang'er has given birth to an unwelcome child, if I don't keep an eye on those people, Shuang'er won't know how much she'll be bullied," Liu Ruyi sighed.
Shuang'er had been protected extremely well since childhood and had never suffered any grievances. Now, to be treated like that in Prince Qing's mansion, she would surely go mad.
Alas, it was all her fault for spoiling her too much in the past, which led to her inability to endure any hardship now.
Half an hour later, Liu Ruyi, along with Aman, headed towards Prince Qing's mansion.
At this moment, Leng Ruoshuang was still in a daze, lamenting that she had given birth to a monster.
"Fang'er, could Concubine Leng have really lost her mind?" Xi'er asked cautiously.
"Don't worry, this woman won't go mad that easily. If she were that easily driven to madness, she wouldn't have gone from being the second young lady of a dignified General's mansion to becoming a lowly concubine in Prince Qing's mansion."
Fang'er smiled coldly, glanced askance at Leng Ruoshuang, who was staring blankly on the bed, with a trace of disdain and deep disgust in her eyes.
This woman deserved it!
Originally, with her status as the Second Young Lady Leng, she would have found a good husband. But she had courted disaster, having an illicit affair with Prince Qing before her engagement, and by scheming against her legitimate sister, she had brought about this consequence. Such a woman was not worth her pity.
"But... but... the Prince instructed us to take good care of her for a month... We should still change her into a clean set of clothes first. The clothes she's wearing are the ones she wore when giving birth last night, and the bloodstains have dried. Otherwise, it wouldn't look good if the Prince saw them." Xi'er said, somewhat fearfully.
"Then you change them for her. I won't," Fang'er said, crossing her arms, and turned to leave.
She, Fang'er, was the spy arranged by Prince Leng in Prince Qing's mansion. There was no way she would serve someone who had once harmed her own Princess. Her Princess, Leng Ruoli, was the person she admired most. Not only was she skilled in martial arts and exceptionally intelligent, but she also possessed superb medical skills. Most importantly, she was able to win over her Prince, who was as cold as ten thousand years of ice.
Although Fang'er had only met her Princess twice, she had long since become a devoted fan of Leng Ruoli.
Just as Fang'er was walking towards Leng Ruoshuang's room, one of the concubines who often argued with Leng Ruoshuang entered with half a bucket of ice water in her hand. Fang'er immediately stopped in her tracks, ready to watch the show, and did not stop the concubine from entering the room.
As a result, the concubine did something astonishing, directly splashing the half bucket of ice water in her hand onto Leng Ruoshuang.
However, it was also the concubine's misfortune, as this scene of her splashing ice water on Leng Ruoshuang was just seen by Liu Ruyi as she stepped into the room.