Having a Baby Before Marrying a Wicked Husband - Chapter 90

The matter of poisoning at the banquet was investigated again and again, but ended up being a dead end.

The palace attendant responsible for preparing the wine was found dead from poisoning that same night, and no suspicious items were found in his room.

However, the main suspect remained the fourth prince, who directly served the poisoned wine. Subsequent investigations were kept secret from outsiders.

However, the Emperor’s attitude towards the princes became extremely obvious. Anyone can see that he was wary of each of them, even the youngest fifth prince.

As one ages, the fear of death naturally increases, and the Emperor’s current mood reflected this. He suspected that these princes were all hoping for his early death.

As you get older, the body will naturally deteriorate. This is something that cannot be reversed no matter what. Recently, he had begun to feel his limitations. Aging is an inevitable part of life. As long as people are alive, they will experience aging.

No matter how many people refuse to face it, or even choose to seek immortality; no one can escape the cycle of life and death.

Through this ordeal, Emperor Taifeng realized that he was far more afraid of death than he had imagined. He was definitely not someone who could face death calmly.

Even as he aged rapidly, an Emperor could not tolerate anyone challenging his authority. Like an aging lion, he would still show his fangs when his territory was threatened by younger lions.

Even if the fangs begin to decay, they can still tear wounds on the enemy’s body.

At this point, Xia Jue finally realized that he might have made a bad move. Although he had initially achieved his goal, the once-favored Fourth Prince had now fallen into trouble. However, at the same time, everyone, including him, had been put on guard.

Now, they were all standing at the same starting point.

The only miscalculation was Jiang Manyue’s attitude. He originally thought that Jiang Manyue and Yan Cai posed no threat; on the contrary, Yan Cai might even earn great merit, so Jiang Manyue should be fine.

Unexpectedly, since then, Jiang Manyue had become distant from him. The only somewhat good news was that while being distant from him, Jiang Manyue didn’t switch sides to anyone, truly becoming a neutral party.

Thus, he had to reluctantly give up such a support.

Unlike the sudden misfortune that came upon Xia Jing, Yan Cai was considered the one who stole the show at the banquet.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, Yan Cai, who had accomplished great deeds, did not receive any reward. People waited for a month, two months… but didn’t hear a word from the Emperor.

Logically speaking, there should have been some reward, even if it was just a few pieces of silver as a token.

While others were discussing it, Yan Cai remained unperturbed. When others were indignant on his behalf, he wasn’t bothered at all, living his life so carefree.

These two months happened to be in the midst of summer, with the sun scorching and the house feeling like a big furnace . No matter how many basins of ice you put in, it won’t have the slightest effect.

Yan Cai took his son to live in a house at the foot of a mountain near a temple outside the city. The temperature in the mountains was much lower than in the city. You have to cover yourself with a quilt when sleeping at night. The mountain breeze was refreshing. In such a cool environment, his son’s heat rash from the hot weather was finally gone.

Yan Cai checked his son’s back and confirmed that it was almost healed. After applying talcum powder mixed with mint, it felt smooth and cool. The talcum powder had a refreshing fragrance, somewhat similar to the baby powder sold in the pre-apocalyptic world.

Qingke particularly liked applying this powder. If Yan Cai didn’t apply it, his son would grab a handful and smear it all over his legs, arms, and neck, making them all snowy white. It was at this moment that Yan Cai suddenly realized that his son seemed quite vain.

He retrieved a watermelon soaked in the well for a day. They could slice it when Jiang Manyue returned home. Unable to resist, Qingke grabbed a watermelon almost as big as himself and started gnawing on it.

“You greedy little thing,” Yan Cai grabbed his clothes and lifted him up, weighing him a bit suspiciously. “Keke, are you overweight?”

Hong Yu couldn’t help but chuckle. The young master really liked teasing the little master. The little master wasn’t that fat, just a normal weight for a chubby kid.

Qingke wriggled in his arms. Yan Cai wasn’t worried; he wasn’t afraid that if he loosened his grip, his son would fall face down.

The little one is quite resilient; he didn’t fall. But now he doesn’t want to acknowledge this unreliable father anymore.

“Is everything packed? We’ll head back home tomorrow,” Yan Cai instructed Hong Yu after setting down his son.

“Everything’s packed,” Hong Yu replied. They didn’t bring much stuff here, so it would be easy to pack up and leave. “We can arrange for an extra carriage tomorrow to transport the remaining items.”

“That’s good.” Yan Cai looked around the courtyard, still not seeing any sign of Jiang Manyue, feeling a bit concerned. “Working for the Emperor is really tough; he’s out from dawn till dusk.”

It might be better to resign and stay at home to take care of the child; the money he earns is enough to support the family.

He felt sorry for Jiang Manyue, a former scholar in the Hanlin Academy who was now practically an expert in agriculture. After dealing with potatoes before, now he had taken over the cotton fields that has been passed around by several people.

It was now the harvest season, and today happened to be the first day of cotton picking. If they didn’t pick it now, they wouldn’t be able to do when the rainy season comes next month.

Cotton that has been rained on turns black, significantly reducing its quality. This blackened cotton is the worst quality and not useful at all. The best cotton is snowy white and full, so they need to pick it quickly while the weather is clear.

In order to finish the picking as soon as possible, they hired many peasant women who worked tirelessly from morning till night. Because the pay was good, everyone’s spirits were high.

It was quite ironic. In the end, it was Jiang Manyue who had to deal with the cotton fields. He really wanted to tell the Emperor that Jiang Manyue couldn’t farm; he had picked the wrong person.

Choosing Jiang Manyue was equivalent to choosing him, wasn’t it? The Emperor’s plan was too obvious. Since Jiang Manyue took over, Yan Cai’s opportunities to enter the cotton fields had also increased significantly. The quality of this batch of cotton had skyrocketed.

After all, Yan Cai couldn’t resist using his abilities to nurture the cotton a bit. As he nurtured it, it grew exceptionally well.

Yan Cai didn’t nurture every acre of land, which resulted in a few acres of cotton growing exceptionally well. When the farmers recorded it, they expressed their surprise. Was this piece of land particularly auspicious? Or was there some miraculous effect in planting in this direction?

The simple and honest farmers raised such sincere questions. Yan Cai covered his face. He had no more ideas and just hoped he hadn’t caused any trouble or misled them.

When Jiang Manyue returned, he still had a sack in his hand, bulging but not too heavy-looking. Yan Cai had a thought—could it be that?

He took a look and indeed, it was a bag of cotton. Why would Jiang Manyue bring back a bag of cotton? Their family had already been using cotton fabric and stuffed cotton quilts; this wasn’t considered particularly rare anymore.

“The farmers gave it to us, saying they wanted to thank us, especially emphasizing to thank you. This is their gift, the first bag of cotton they picked,” Jiang Manyue explained.

“The first bag?” Yan Cai was quite surprised.

He knew that ancient people had their own customs regarding the first harvest from the fields. For example, they might keep the first batch of grains harvested for ancestral worship or offerings to the gods. Some might even offer the best to the Emperor…

But there was no tradition of offering it to an outsider. So, when Yan Cai received this bag of cotton from the farmers, he was very surprised. Even the Emperor hadn’t received this first bag… Would the Emperor be upset if he knew about this?

Thinking of this, Yan Cai felt a little guilty.

“This is their sincerity. Don’t worry. They all know now how much credit you deserve for the cotton fields. This is rightfully yours,” Jiang Manyue comforted him, patting Yan Cai’s hand.

Yan Cai nodded, feeling as warm and soft inside as a pile of cotton, suddenly feeling quite cozy.

“Let’s use this cotton to make a big padded jacket for Keke. The jackets made by Hong Yu are particularly warm.” Even if they looked a bit ugly, with festive flower patterns in red and green. But how old was his son? He didn’t have the right to choose the color.

The next day, the carriages set off. One carried the belongings, and the other carried people. Hong Yu and Chì were on the luggage carriage, while Zhu drove Yan Cai’s family of three.

After living in this summer cabin for two months, they were somewhat reluctant to leave. It was close to the temple, and Yan Cai has many more opportunities to go to the temple to burn incense and listen to scriptures.

The abbot of the temple was very knowledgeable, with a profound understanding of Buddhism. Even someone like Yan Cai, who was rough and violent at every turn, can still listen to it with relish.

And the constant stream of pilgrims coming along the way was also indicative of something.

The mountain road became narrower and narrower, until at the narrowest point, only one carriage could pass through. When they encountered another sedan chair coming from the opposite direction, they both came to a standstill, unable to proceed.

To cross this road, there are only two choices, either the other party retreats, or Yan Cai’s carriage would retreat to the wider area they had just passed, allowing the other party’s sedan chair to pass first.

They were already planning to make way when suddenly they heard a familiar female voice from the other side. Opening the curtain to look, they realized it was indeed a case of meeting one’s enemies on a narrow road.

This world is really small, how come every time he goes back home he runs into Madam Fu. That woman is here to burn incense again. Yan Cai has encountered them twice on this road to burn incense.

Madam Fu didn’t look too good, with a haggard appearance and a shadow of worry in her eyes. However, when she locked eyes with Yan Cai, her previously listless state immediately brightened up.

It can be said that enemies are extremely zealous when they meet.

Madam Fu stared straight at Yan Cai, encountering him here once again. The last time she came to seek divine guidance for her son, Jiang Manyue became the top scholar in the imperial examination, while her son was only granted the title of a regular Jinshi…

This time, meeting again on this road, her son had been in his new post outside the capital for over a month. According to his letters, that remote place was desolate with nothing, the people were uncivilized, and troublemakers abounded. Her son had already lost a lot of weight there.

In contrast, Yan Cai had saved the Emperor’s life last time and the news spread throughout the city. Who didn’t know about it? Now, he was the Emperor’s benefactor. While her son was becoming thin and dark outside, Yan Cai seemed to be getting fatter and fairer.

His rosy cheeks were even more watery than those of a pampered young girl. That was simply impossible.

Madam Fu touched her gradually aging face, filled with resentment.

She couldn’t help but feel that Yan Cai must be up to something. Otherwise, how could it be so coincidental that he was able to detoxify the Emperor? Maybe— he was the one who poisoned him and then pretended to save him.

The more Madam Fu thought about it, the more suspicious she became. With so many famous imperial physicians in the Taiyuan Hospital, none of them could cure the Emperor’s poisoning, but this nobody could? It seemed too fake.

But if the poison was administered by him, it would make sense. If he could poison, he could naturally also cure. Yan Cai, who could cure the poison, was definitely the one who poisoned the Emperor.

So, they conspired to deliberately frame the Fourth Prince. With the Fourth Prince being treated coldly, even the Noble Consort herself was not doing well, how could she have the mood to help her son?

Therefore, her son being sent to a remote place for duty was all Yan Cai’s doing.

“It’s you! It’s you who poisoned and then pretended to save him, right!? Yes, it must be like this. Otherwise, why would the Emperor not give you any reward at all? Surely the Emperor already knows about your sinister plot…”

Yan Cai: “…”

I feel insulted.