Forcing me to become a concubine? Remarrying the Ninth Prince, she'll be pregnant all over the

"Shouldn't it be...me?"

Consort Xiaoyu clutched her handkerchief tightly, biting her lips, her face revealing utter disappointment.

Only after entering the palace did she realize that this was an absurd and foolish choice. As a concubine, it was extremely difficult for her to get close to the Crown Prince. In name, she was his stepmother and stepmother. With this ethical barrier, the two of them were destined to have no future together.

But she was truly unwilling to give up; this was the person she had fallen for at first sight, the one she wanted to spend her life with no matter what.

Therefore, they could not meet in the palace, nor could they enjoy each other's company in private. Hearing that the Crown Prince was going to meet his sweetheart at the Vermilion Bird Bridge tonight, even if the news was false, even if she might fall into someone else's trap, she was determined to go all out this time.

"Seeking the Abyss..."

She smiled bitterly and murmured the pseudonym she had made up for herself when Shen Huai'an disappeared: "I should have thought of it that day. Shen goes to water to find, and Yuan is a character from your courtesy name."

Moreover, Shen was the imperial surname, and since the founding emperor, the common people with the same surname had changed their surname to Xun.

Shen Huai'an's face was gloomy. He flicked his sleeve and took a step back, deliberately avoiding the distance between himself and Consort Xiaoyu. His breathing was also somewhat heavy. He was about to speak, but then he froze.

In front of him, Consort Yu disregarded the winter chill, her fingers tugging at the sash of her cloak. As the robes fell away, her already protruding belly was fully revealed to Shen Huai'an.

"I'm pregnant, not four months as recorded in the Imperial Medical Academy's medical records, but six months..."

Shen Huai'an's pupils suddenly constricted, and he blurted out instinctively, "Six months? You...you're really crazy!"

Six months ago, much time had passed since the three months he had disappeared, and he had long since returned to the capital. But the experience in the small village below Jingmen City was something he could never forget.

Shen Huai'an was not the kind of person who would let himself have regrets, so no matter what he really thought, when he left Jingmen City, he coaxed Jiang Nianqi to come back to the capital to do business again, and also settled her down in the suburbs.

Jiang Nianqi was originally from Jingmen City, but unfortunately, her parents died early and she had little family ties. During that time, she was working as a servant in a wealthy family's mansion in the capital. Unable to bear being humiliated, and with her younger sister also passing away, she returned to her hometown in despair. However, she never expected to find a seriously injured and unconscious man on the road.

She was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to leave someone to die, so she painstakingly took the person to a clinic in the city. But the next day, the person, dragging his badly injured body, actually found her village house again.

It seemed like he had become attached to her, but Shen Huai'an wasn't sure at the time whether the group that attacked them were really bandits. What if they were his enemies or people planted by Wei Wujiu? He needed to save his life and collect more evidence.

Therefore, Shen Huai'an didn't trust anyone at that time, except for the naive Jiang Nianqi. He could only pester her and take advantage of her kind heart to gradually settle down in her house.

But after Shen Huai'an returned to the capital, he never saw Jiang Nianqi again.

He had plenty of ways to ensure that Jiang Nianqi's embroidery business would continue to thrive, without her having to show her face in public or worry about making a living. This was his way of repaying her kindness.

Until that night six months ago...

That was before Shen Huai'an's rebirth. He still doesn't understand what he was thinking back then, that he actually transformed into "Xun Yuan" again, went to see Jiang Nianqi late at night, and even had an affair with her...

For the next few days, he stayed overnight, but he vaguely remembered that Jiang Nianqi's reaction to him was completely different. She even asked him to leave several times. Later, he got angry and forced her. But afterwards, Shen Huai'an also felt that Jiang Nianqi was being unreasonable, and he gave up his idea of ​​taking her into the palace as a concubine.

And none of this has anything to do with Consort Yu, unless...

Shen Huai'an, filled with suspicion and fear, narrowed his eyes and glared at Consort Xiao Yu: "What did you do that night six months ago? Don't tell me that the person that night wasn't Miss Jiang at all!"

"Miss Jiang?" Consort Xiao Yu laughed angrily. "You still respect her so much! But what does it matter? She doesn't like you, she even hates and resents you! Just because you bullied her, humiliated her, and lied to her!"

Shen Huai'an astutely grasped the key point: "What did you do, Tu Yu?"

Consort Xiaoyu was startled by his gloomy and suddenly dark expression. Despite her fear, she realized in her heart that all her deep affection and willingness to rush to him without regard for anything else had ultimately been... misplaced.

"Haha..." She laughed coldly, her voice trembling with extreme pain, "What did I do? Of course I told her everything! Otherwise, how would I have had the chance to get rid of her and all of this related to you six months ago that night?"

She held her belly, making it clear that the child in her womb was Shen Huai'an's own flesh and blood: "I thought... you would find out, after all, you said it yourself, I look a lot like her... but I'm better than her."

Consort Xiaoyu touched her face again, thinking back to that day at the lantern festival in Jingmen City. In the midst of the thronging crowd, she had accidentally gotten separated from her maid, and in her panic, she had bumped into him.

Both of them hurriedly apologized, one feeling abrupt and the other deeply ashamed. But in an instant when they were accidentally bumped into by the crowd and their eyes met, Xiao Yu Pin realized that the husband she had always longed for had someone in mind.

Shen Huai'an, however, felt that the person in front of him looked too much like Jiang Nianqi.

His eyebrows, lips... his whole face, even his figure and temperament, were too much like Jiang Nianqi, but his back view was too much like... the person he cherished most.

"What you said can't be taken back! What am I supposed to do now? What about the baby in my belly?"

Consort Xiaoyu was angry and resentful, but in the end, she couldn't overcome the panic in her heart. She had bribed two imperial physicians, but how long could she keep them in check? She didn't know. There were so many people in the Imperial Hospital; she was truly afraid that one day her scheme would be exposed...

"You still have the nerve to ask me? I should be asking you, how could it have been you that night!"

Shen Huai'an was furious and clenched his fists in anger, wishing he could just strangle this stupid woman to death!

He heard that Jiang Nianqi was pregnant. Based on the date and month, he knew that it was his own child. The best way to protect Jiang Nianqi and her child was to avoid seeing or contacting them again.

Consort Xiaoyu had no time to deal with these things; she came tonight only to force him to make a promise.

"You are the Crown Prince, and the Emperor is already seriously ill. You must ascend the throne quickly, or what will become of my daughter and me!" Consort Xiaoyu became more and more anxious as she spoke, and without caring about anything else, she stepped forward and grabbed Shen Huai'an's hand.

"Please, I'm begging you..."

Little did she know that in that instant, before Consort Yu could finish speaking, she was stunned by the towering flames, and when she turned her head, she saw a large group of people approaching from afar.

The sight of the procession and guards leading the way sent chills down their spines; it was the emperor's entourage!