Accidentally Having a Baby with the Future Emperor - Chapter 70

Xiao Rong fell silent.

He remembered the old army doctor once saying that whether the pulse flowed smoothly was a key factor in distinguishing between a normal pulse and a diseased one. His pulse was smooth, which ought to be a good sign. But what left Xiao Rong unsettled was that his pulse seemed almost too smooth.

He withdrew his hand, waited a moment, and then pressed his fingers down again.

Perhaps because he already had a suspicion in mind, the sensation was even clearer this time.

The pulse seemed to flow almost directly from the chi point to the cun point, like strings of rolling beads slipping past beneath his fingertips. If one did not deliberately press down to feel, there was scarcely any sense of rise or fall at all.

No diseased pulse could possibly feel like this.

On the contrary…

A thought flashed across Xiao Rong’s mind, and his fingertips recoiled as though scalded by burning coals. His heart nearly stopped beating.

Impossible.

Absolutely impossible.

And yet, there was indeed such a special pulse recorded…

‘A slippery pulse, bead-like, gliding smoothly back and forth.’

But that—that was clearly…! How could it possibly—

Another thought struck him, leaving his mind blank, his entire body seized by a cold chill.

Impossible. It had to be an illusion.

Coming back to himself, Xiao Rong firmly told himself again that such an absurd, preposterous thing could never happen to him. And certainly not in some reproducible fashion, like a ewe giving birth to lambs.

Xiao Rong forced himself to forget the tactile impressions that had just pulsed beneath his fingertips. Yet his heart thudded violently in his chest, and the more he tried to erase it from his mind, the more all the recent strange changes in his body surged up unbidden.

The restlessness. The drowsiness. The disordered appetite…

Even bouts of irritability.

Well, that last one could perhaps be dismissed. After all, his temper was never particularly good to begin with.

Xiao Rong shut his eyes and drew a long, steadying breath.

The old army doctor had said that a person’s pulse was influenced by many factors, including environment, climate, geography, even emotions, and that a reading taken hastily might not be accurate.

What’s more, he himself was hardly more than a half-trained amateur.

Today, although he had not done any physical labor, he had expended no small amount of energy keeping up appearances in social company. By the time he took his pulse, he had already been irritated and on top of that, he had slept poorly the night before…

All in all, the chances of a misdiagnosis were very great.

Emotional agitation could lead to over-excitation, and over-excitation could make the pulse run unnaturally smooth…

Xiao Rong quickly convinced himself. When his heartbeat finally steadied, he regained composure and decided to check the other hand.

Before, he had used his right hand to feel the pulse of his left wrist. This time, he resolved to use his left hand to test the pulse of his right wrist. If he recalled correctly, the spleen and stomach corresponded to the guan point of the right hand. Testing only his left hand might have been misleading.

Closing his eyes, he felt carefully for a while, and then slowly withdrew his fingers again.

The pulse in his right hand was even smoother than in his left!

How could this be?!

When Mo Dong came in again, he found the Young Prince seated behind the desk, one hand propped against his brow, lips pressed tightly together, his face looking even worse than when he had stepped out earlier.

“Chief Steward Xiao sent me to check on you, Young Prince, and asked whether the kitchens should prepare a late-night meal for you?” Mo Dong asked cautiously.

Xiao Rong shot him a blank look. “No need.”

“Then… should I summon the court physician?”

Within Xiao Royal Residence, there were always court physicians on duty each day.

“No need.” Xiao Rong’s tone grew even colder.

After a night of restless, irritable sleep, the next morning, once he had finished breakfast, Xiao Rong headed straight for the library.

The library atop the Jade Dragon Terrace held the most extensive collection of books belonging to the Xiao clan. Its towering seven stories brimmed with texts of every kind, including classics, histories, scriptures, and, of course, a great many medical treatises.

Since the hour was still early and, unlike Xiao Rong, most of the younger clan members did not reside on Jade Dragon Terrace to enjoy its convenience, there were hardly any people inside the library.

Xiao Rong knew the layout of every bookshelf by heart, as though they were treasures he had memorized. He waved off the steward, walked directly to the fifth floor where the medical texts were stored, and in one sweep selected a stack of classics analyzing pulse diagnosis, carrying them all back to his chambers.

The entire morning, Xiao Rong buried himself in reading. The result of his study allowed him to breathe easier, for the treatises recorded numerous cases in which incompetent physicians, through lack of skill or carelessness, had misdiagnosed pulses and thus delayed treatment. Among them were several instances of mistaking certain female pulse conditions for a slippery pulse.

Even more heartening was that one text noted men of robust blood and vigorous Yang energy could also exhibit a slippery pulse; its presence did not necessarily indicate pregnancy.

Closing the book, Xiao Rong confidently took his own pulse again.

The result… was still distinctly slippery.

But no matter, he was no doctor. He was only fumbling blindly. Of the pulse records given to him by the old army doctor, he had read less than a third. Back in the infirmary camp, he had once even misdiagnosed a soldier with impotence, plunging the poor man into such despair that he nearly lost the will to live; when in truth the fellow merely suffered from mild kidney deficiency.

Besides, his own constitution had always been excellent: vigorous blood with strong Yang energy. Having also drunk wine the night before, it was only natural for his pulse to run hot and slippery. Nothing strange at all.

Although he had fully reasoned himself into calm and even had the authority of the classics to support him, after careful thought, Xiao Rong still decided to visit a medical clinic.

After all, in matters such as these… one could not afford to take chances.

Xiao Rong left with only Mo Dong in attendance. After a casual stroll around Vermilion Bird Avenue, he quickly settled on a clinic tucked discreetly at a street corner, its business bustling nonetheless.

Calmly, he sent Mo Dong off to buy wine at the Apricot Blossom Pavilion, while he turned back alone.

Beside the clinic was a clothing shop. Xiao Rong entered first, purchased a veiled headdress and a set of women’s garments, changed, then slipped out the shop’s back door and circled around to the clinic’s rear entrance.

Hand pressed against his mouth, he stepped inside the clinic with the guilty air of a thief.

The clinic was well-known in the capital. Just past the midday meal, the main hall was already crowded with patients waiting.

At the front desk, an apprentice physician recorded information for each patient and handed out wooden tokens bearing numbers. Patients would then be called in order to the inner hall for consultation.

Tall and slender, with a long, graceful neck, Xiao Rong was veiled to the knees and clad in a blue woman’s gown. The apprentice naturally took him for a young lady rather than a young gentleman, albeit a rather tall one.

“Miss, please register your information first.” The apprentice held a brush in one hand, a register in the other. Since not every patient could read, the apprentices usually wrote down the details on their behalf.

Xiao Rong pointed to his throat and shook his head.

The apprentice understood at once. Ah, so she was a mute young lady.

He asked, “Then, does Miss know how to write?”

Xiao Rong nodded.

The apprentice handed him the brush and register to fill in himself.

Once finished, the apprentice fetched a wooden token, wrote down the number, and passed it to Xiao Rong. “If Miss would be so kind as to wait over there for a while.”

At the medical hall, more than one physician was seeing patients, so the line moved quickly. After waiting for roughly a quarter of an hour, Xiao Rong was led by a young apprentice into a screened-off cubicle in the back hall.

The cubicle was well concealed on all sides by folding screens. Behind the desk sat a kindly looking middle-aged doctor with a goatee.

After first glancing at the register, he gestured for Xiao Rong to extend a wrist.

Xiao Rong obeyed and the doctor placed his fingers lightly on the pulse.

It took only a moment before the man withdrew his hand and smiled. “Congratulations, young madam. You are already with child, just about a month along.”

“……”

“…………”

When Xiao Rong neither spoke nor moved, not even withdrawing the wrist, the doctor continued calmly, as though perfectly assured, “Be at ease, young madam. For an ordinary woman, pregnancy indeed cannot be detected until two months in, but your pulse is full and vigorous, unlike the average woman’s. Although only one month along, it is as distinct as pearls rolling on a jade plate, truly rare. The child in your womb will surely be a very robust one. If this old man is not mistaken, young madam is trained in martial arts, yes?” The doctor glanced at the long, slender fingers and joints, noticeably different from those of an ordinary woman.

Had he not feared exposing his identity, Xiao Rong would have erupted in violent coughing on the spot.

Snapping back from his daze, he steadied his heart. On the desk were a brush and ink, and he picked up the brush. With an effort to compose himself, he wrote on a blank sheet. ‘Could this be a misdiagnosis?’

The doctor shook his head, his expression one of wounded pride. “Absolutely impossible! If it were some other ailment, I might admit my skills fell short. But my ancestors were famed physicians, masters of pulse-reading worth a thousand in gold. I could never mistake this slippery pulse. With a pulse this clear and flourishing, I need not even go through the full steps of ‘observing, listening, and questioning.’ If you do not believe me, young madam, you may wait two months to see it proven.”

Xiao Rong: “…………”

His hand trembled as he tried to write steadily. Forcing calm, he continued. ‘I must trouble you for an abortion prescription.’

The doctor started and then frowned. “Does young madam have some hardship?”

Xiao Rong, face impassive, wrote, ‘I am not yet married.’

The doctor’s eyes lit with sudden comprehension. So it was a young lady who fell pregnant out of wedlock. No wonder she covered herself so carefully. It was hardly the first time he had encountered such a case.

Moved by his compassionate heart, the doctor immediately began to lecture earnestly, “This is against Heaven’s order and gravely harmful to the body. In this old man’s opinion, since such a thing has happened, you should hurry and seek out that heartless man and make him take responsibility!”

Why call him heartless?

For the young lady to come there alone, without so much as a companion at her side, what else could the man be?!

***

Xiao Rong left the back hall with a heart like dead ash.

In the front hall, a man was carefully supporting his wife, who had just been told she was with child, his face alight with joy.

He was saying, “When we get home, I’ll tell Mother not to let you do any household chores from now on. And don’t worry about matters at home or in the shop, just focus on nourishing the baby. Whatever you want to eat, tell me, I’ll buy it for you.”

The woman’s brows curved with a gentle smile. “It’s only pregnancy, why do you make me sound so delicate?”

The man replied at once, “No, no, we mustn’t take it lightly. I’ve heard the first three months are the most precarious, when the fetus is unstable and most prone to mishap. You need proper rest, a careful diet, or else the risk of miscarriage is high. We’ve been married for years and only now are we blessed with such a child. We can’t afford any carelessness.”

The woman asked, “Do you wish for a son or a daughter?”

The man placed a hand tenderly on her belly. “Either is fine. If a son, he can share our burdens in the future. If a daughter, beautiful and clever like you, that’s just as good.”

The woman said, “What’s the use of staying tied to those two little shops all our lives? I’ve decided; boy or girl, I’ll send them to school and let them grow into someone learned.”

“Good. All as you say.”

“I want cherry cakes. Let’s buy some on our way.”

“All right.”

Supporting his wife carefully, the man helped her step over the threshold and together, they went out onto the street.

Xiao Rong stared after their departing figures for a long time before finally leaving the medical hall.