Volume 1, Chapter 59: Where is the child? Was the child saved?

Leaving Lady Li so furious she was practically half-dead, Xie Shu finally walked back to Ruyi Courtyard with light, brisk steps.

However, the moment she stepped through the doorway, she immediately sensed that something was amiss.

Just as she was about to call someone to inquire, Aunt Li came running over with hurried footsteps. "Heiress, this is terrible! Concubine Lin... she's spotting!"

"What is going on?!" Xie Shu hastily lifted her skirt and strode quickly toward the side courtyard. When she pushed open the bedroom door, Lin Wan'er had already passed out on the bed, clutching her stomach with a pale face, a large patch of blood staining her clothes below.

"Has a doctor been summoned?" Xie Shu raised her hand and pressed it against Lin Wan'er's pulse. The pulse was floating and weak, and her breath was unstable—classic signs of an impending miscarriage.

Nodding repeatedly, Aunt Li said anxiously, "Little An already went to find a doctor, but he hasn't returned even after half an hour. I don't know what could have happened!"

"Didn't you have Guard Jiang and the others go with him?" Xie Shu's expression turned grave; they could not wait any longer.

"No... no, I didn't have them go." Aunt Li could not help shedding a couple of tears, wishing she could slap herself twice. How could she have forgotten to tell Guard Jiang to tag along for the run!

Over these past few days, Aunt Li had spent every day with Lin Wan'er. Although she had once looked down upon women hailing from brothels and pleasure houses, Lin Wan'er had always treated her with utmost respect and politeness, often offering comforting words. After spending so much time together, genuine fondness had naturally developed.

Seeing Aunt Li consumed by self-reproach, Xie Shu sighed. Now was not the time to assign blame; the first priority was to stabilize the fetus. "Go fetch the silver needles from my room!"

When it came to diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medicine, Xie Shu was exceptionally skilled. The retired veterans of the Xie family had all used her to practice on, and treating ordinary minor injuries and ailments for soldiers was a breeze for her.

However, treating pregnant women... Xie Shu rarely dealt with such cases, and most of her knowledge came strictly from book learning.

Green Willow roasted the silver needles over a flame before handing them over to Xie Shu. The woman on the bed was already covered in cold sweat from the pain, unable to move.

"Heiress, the silver needles." The needles in Green Willow's thin, long fingers caught the light with a frighteningly cold gleam.

"Concubine Lin, Concubine Lin," Xie Shu gently patted Lin Wan'er's cheeks, trying to help her regain some clarity.

Hearing the woman's voice filled with concern, Lin Wan'er found her vision blurred by sweat that drenched her hair and glued her eyelashes together. Relying purely on sheer tenacity, she abruptly forced her eyes open and grabbed Xie Shu's arm. "Hei... Heiress? Save me... save my child."

"Don't worry, I will definitely save you." Xie Shu turned her hand over to grip the concubine's fingers tightly. "I am going to perform acupuncture on you in a moment. You must endure it and try not to move around."

Xie Shu instructed gravely. Her technique with the needles was not entirely practiced, and she feared that Lin Wan'er might thrash about from the pain and cause her to miss the proper acupuncture points, which would ruin all their efforts!

"Okay, I... I can bear it." Tears spilled from the corners of Lin Wan'er's eyes. It hurt, but she was even more terrified of losing her child like this... Even though she had never anticipated this child's arrival, it was still her flesh and blood!

"Green Willow, Aunt Li, hold her down."

Several people firmly pinned Lin Wan'er's hands and legs. Xie Shu then unbuttoned Lin Wan'er's garments to reveal her slightly protruding abdomen. Taking up the silver needles and taking a deep breath to steady her mind, she began applying the needles to the specific points designated for preserving the pregnancy.

As three consecutive needles were driven in, Lin Wan'er bit down so hard on her lips that beads of blood seeped through.

"Heiress, the bleeding has stopped!" Aunt Li glanced down at Lin Wan'er's lower body, where the trickling red flow was gradually coming to a halt.

"The doctor! The doctor is here!"

Just as everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief, Little An rushed in, leading a physician behind him.

Xie Shu turned her head to look, and to her surprise, it was Madame Wu!

"Madame Wu, quickly, take a look at her!" Xie Shu scrambled to her feet and pulled Madame Wu toward the bedside. "Can this child be saved?"

Half of Madame Wu's face was covered by a wooden mask, and she looked travel-worn from riding hard all the way here. First, she checked the exact placement of the needles Xie Shu had just administered, then carefully felt Lin Wan'er's abdomen, before hastily retrieving a medicinal pill from her portable medicine chest. "Bring a cup of warm water."

"The water is here," Green Willow answered promptly.

Madame Wu took the teacup, poured out most of the water, and then crumbled the pill, dissolving it into the remaining water. Only then did she gently raise Lin Wan'er's head, slightly pinching her jaw to feed her the bowl of medicine.

After the medicine entered her stomach, the expression of agonizing pain on Lin Wan'er's face finally subsided a little after a moment, and her features relaxed into a much more stable composure.

"Go fetch a basin of hot water to wipe her down." After taking her pulse for a moment, Madame Wu instructed the attendants.

Aunt Li repeatedly acknowledged the order, brought the water, and meticulously and gently wiped Lin Wan'er clean—especially the bloodstains on her lower body. She changed the water three times before she finished cleaning her.

"She has suffered so much." Aunt Li wiped away her tears. As a mother herself, she naturally understood the hardships Lin Wan'er had endured. After all, wouldn't any parent feel for their child?

"And the child? Was it saved?" Xie Shu kept Lin Wan'er's plea firmly etched in her heart. As soon as she stepped out of Lin Wan'er's room, she hurried over to grab Madame Wu's hand and asked.

"For now, it should be saved." Standing beneath the tree in the courtyard, Madame Wu pulled out a blood-stained strip of cloth from behind her back, the bright red blood tinged with a faint blackish-purple hue. "However, the toxicity is somewhat severe. I fear that even if the child survives, it will be born with heavy prenatal poison, leaving it weak and difficult to raise."

Xie Shu froze. "Poison?"

"It's a poison exclusive to the Northern Frontier, extracted from the Youlan orchid. This poison emits a faint, exotic fragrance—I caught the scent the moment I entered the room. Had I not encountered it before, I wouldn't have been able to save that child today." Madame Wu nodded. "It seems certain someone within this estate is in collusion with the Northern Frontier."

Xie Shu pondered for a brief moment, several suspicions taking shape in her mind. Lacking concrete evidence, however, she dared not speak bluntly, so she shifted the topic and asked, "Madame Wu, when did you return to the capital?"

Madame Wu glanced left and right. Seeing no outsiders around, she leaned in close to Xie Shu's ear and whispered, "I originally intended to visit Broken Bridge Remnant Snow, but as it happened, I ran into your second older brother returning to the capital, so I traveled back with him."

"Second Brother is back!" Joy instantly blossomed in Xie Shu's heart. "Ah, since you've just returned, why don't you stay in the estate for now and help me look after Concubine Lin?"

Madame Wu considered it, but ultimately shook her head in refusal. "If I stay in the estate as well, it might make things inconvenient to move about."

"Then..." Xie Shu wanted to urge her to stay a bit longer.

"I will come every three days," Madame Wu said, noticing Xie Shu's worried expression, and added reassuringly, "Rest assured, I will stay until the child is born before leaving the capital."

With Madame Wu giving her word, Xie Shu was unwilling to force the matter. After all, she herself found living in this Marquis's Manor stifling, let alone outsiders.

"Heiress, if that person who administered the poison isn't rooted out, it will only bring greater trouble in the future," Madame Wu reminded her before leaving. "With the war in the Northern Frontier still unresolved, perhaps this incident can be used as a turning point."

"Thank you for the reminder." Xie Shu suddenly realized that after her travels through the jianghu, Madame Wu had changed a great deal; she was no longer the cautious, dependent, timid weakling she used to be.

If the opportunity presented itself, she too wished to see what the martial world her second brother spoke of so often was truly like.

As the sky grew deeply dark, Madame Wu went back indoors to check on Lin Wan'er's condition, wrote out a medical prescription, personally brewed the medicine, and only left the Marquis's Manor late into the night.

"Is it done?" Lady Li paced back and forth restlessly inside her room. Seeing Nanny Liu return, she hurried over to ask, "Is that little wretch gone?"

Nanny Liu hesitated for a beat before stammering, "It... it didn't succeed..."

"What! How could it not have succeeded?" Today had been a rare and precious opportunity. Lady Li had originally intended to strike first before Xie Shu could prepare, and abort that little bastard! That poison was something she had spent a long time trying to acquire!

"It was almost done, but a female doctor arrived at the last minute and managed to save them," Nanny Liu explained in a low voice. "However, Qiuyue said that even if that little bastard is born, he'll just be a sickly weakling incapable of holding the position of Heir."

*Crack—*

Lady Li slapped Nanny Liu across the face. "Shut your mouth! What I want is for that little bastard to die!"

Even if he was a sickly weakling, as long as he could father children, the Marquis of Cheng'en would strip her Sheng'er of his title!

Nanny Liu silently endured the blow and immediately dropped to her knees, not daring to make another sound. She could only feel that Lady Li's temperament had grown increasingly erratic and deranged.

"Yes, yes, yes! This old servant will think of another way!"