Volume 1, Chapter 53: Why Take Contraceptive Medicine

Qi Haosong lay on the ground, his face flushed and his neck swollen with pain.

Qi Jingshan's face was dark and cold, his gaze sharp enough to kill.

"If you won't take a beating, go to Ganzhou."

He twirled the thumb ring on his hand, his aura frigid.

Qi Haosong let out ragged, heavy breaths, and pleaded with a cry, "Older brother, stop hitting me. I'll go to Ganzhou."

Now he finally understood how Qi Jingshan managed to interrogate those hardened criminals; just one strike of that rod made him wish he could spit out everything from both this life and the last.

Madam Jin sat by his side weeping bitterly. Second Master Qi Yongxiang watched his wife and son suffer such wretched treatment at Qi Jingshan's hands, feeling a mixture of secret resentment and utter helplessness.

A loving mother ruins her children; despite him repeatedly urging Madam Jin to keep Qi Haosong on a tight leash, it had still culminated in this massive disaster.

"Get lost by tomorrow."

Qi Jingshan averted his gaze ruthlessly and looked toward Madam Luo.

"Didn't Mother say Second Brother wants to take a concubine? Let's begin."

"Hold on," Marquis Shunqing finally cleared his throat and said awkwardly, "Wait until your mother arrives."

Yunshi?

Xie Mingyue furrowed her brows in secret.

Barely a few days had passed, and Yunshi was already let out again.

It seemed the reports from the courtyard spies were true; during the time Yunshi was placed under house arrest, Marquis Shunqing had gone to stay in her quarters every single night.

With a few whispered words beside the pillow, the Marquis's heart had softened.

Qi Jingshan's expression remained deep and inscrutable, thoughts unreadable, as he said nothing more.

As Qi Haosong was carried away by servants, Yunshi finally made a tardy entrance.

"You certainly have a high opinion of yourself, keeping so many people waiting for you alone," Madam Luo said coldly.

Yunshi said nothing, merely casting a glance at Marquis Shunqing, who raised a hand and said, "Never mind that, let's begin."

Having been publicly slighted, Madam Luo shot Yunshi a look of intense severity, but Yunshi calmly took her seat, ignoring her completely.

Xie Mingyue watched the scene unfold in silence.

It was evident that Yunshi's greatest backing was Marquis Shunqing. Even Qi Jingshan had to grant the Marquis a measure of respect and could not blindly defy him based solely on his own status, otherwise, he would be guilty of grave unfilial piety.

With everything in place, Hongxia stepped inside steadily, carrying a tea tray.

Knowing that no one welcomed her, she had changed into plain attire, her demeanor and movements stripped of much of their seductive allure.

To look at her now, she appeared honest and dutiful.

"Please have tea, Father."

The first cup was respectfully and steadily presented to Marquis Shunqing.

Yunshi was the first to smile. "She seems like a good girl. From now on, Feng'er will be well cared for, and the Second Master will have a kindred spirit in his chambers."

Hearing this, the displeasure in Marquis Shunqing's heart dissipated somewhat.

Indeed, as long as she could care for his offspring, taking her as a concubine was well worth it.

When the cup of tea was offered to Madam Luo, Madam Luo refused to drink it.

A trace of suppressed grievance flickered across Hongxia's face. Marquis Shunqing gave a light cough, yet Madam Luo still did not move.

The Marquis's brow furrowed.

"What a good child, serve me the tea instead," Yunshi hurriedly chimed in with a smile, coming to Hongxia's rescue.

Xie Mingyue couldn't help a silent sigh of regret.

Madam Luo came from a distinguished background, proud, haughty, and highly capable, yet desperately stubborn.

Today, Marquis Shunqing clearly favored Hongxia, Qi Xiuyu was also enamored with her, and Yunshi was putting on an act of maternal benevolence. By putting on such a frosty display now, wasn't she simply pushing her husband and son further away?

Madam Luo lacked the ruthless political acumen to contend with Yunshi, yet stubbornly refused to safeguard her own position. No wonder Yunshi had managed to rise to the status of co-wife!

Within this inner courtyard, there was simply no one left who could rein Yunshi in!

Xie Mingyue lowered her gaze and smiled faintly, her thoughts drifting back to the two cursing dolls Madam Luo had hurled out the other day.

Once the tea ceremony concluded, Qi Jingshan accompanied Xie Mingyue back to Qionghua Courtyard.

"Does the Eldest Master have nothing to occupy his afternoon?"

Xie Mingyue refused to look at him, because a single glance brought last night flooding back into her mind.

She was afraid she would blush.

"Let me look at your injury."

Qi Jingshan pressed her down onto the soft couch, looming over her.

"Where is the ointment?"

Xie Mingyue dropped her gaze. "I can apply it myself."

Staring at the mark behind her ear that he had left with his own lips, Qi Jingshan chuckled softly. "After everything that happened last night, you're still shy?"

Xie Mingyue pressed her lips together, turned her head away, and ignored him.

How utterly exasperating!

Qi Jingshan pulled away the hand she was using to clutch her hem and deliberately lifted the edge of her garment to take a look.

Across skin as smooth and white as snow lay a stark patch of purplish-blue bruising.

His expression darkened instantly. "Where is the ointment?"

Xie Mingyue shrank back slightly. Qi Jingshan let out a soft sigh and said in a low voice, "If you don't tell me, I'll kiss you."

"Don't!" She hurriedly tried to wriggle away, gasped in pain, and was forced to submit honestly. "In the second drawer of the chest."

Qi Jingshan released her, walked over, and pulled open the drawer. The ointment was contained in a short, white porcelain jar. He picked it up, but his gaze fell upon a container of pitch-black medicinal pills beside it.

Having worked in an apothecary during his youth, he could smell several of the herbs ingredients within.

Purple pearl grass...

A common ingredient in abortifacient decoctions.

Qi Jingshan gazed at the pills for a moment before picking up the ointment and turning back.

"Bear with the pain."

The cool ointment made contact with her warm skin. Xie Mingyue shivered, only to be held firmly in place by his other hand.

"Don't thrash about."

She was too embarrassed to voice her pain, so she forced her mind to wander to other matters to distract herself.

"Qi Jingshan."

"Hmm?"

The man's fingertips gently traced circles, working the transparent ointment into the bruised flesh.

Xie Mingyue asked rather uneasily, "You knew that the cursing sorcery wasn't the work of Xie Wanqing, didn't you?"

With his piercing discernment, he must have realized it long ago.

"Yes."

Qi Jingshan replied in a low rumble. Xie Mingyue could not see his expression and had no idea what he was thinking.

She hesitated for a long moment. "Then do you know whose work it actually was?"

After finishing the application, Qi Jingshan lowered her hem and helped her sit up.

He gazed at her for a fraction of a second, then reached out to pull her into his arms, his breathing steady. "I know."

Xie Mingyue's eyes widened in astonishment.

Reading her thoughts, a trace of a smile flickered across the corners of Qi Jingshan's eyes.

"It seems this matter has troubled my wife for quite some time."

The cursing sorcery had been tightly covered up, with barely a soul in the entire estate knowing of it. Once Xie Wanqing died, it was as if the incident had never happened at all.

Yet Xie Mingyue had been sitting on pins and needles, and seeing Qi Jingshan's utter nonchalance, she couldn't help frowning. "Your birth date and given name were written on those things! Of course it troubled me!"

That was sorcery, after all; the mere sight of it was spine-chilling.

The bright crimson blood smeared across the cloth dolls had branded itself into her heart.

Noticing her tightly pursed, crimson lips, Qi Jingshan's gaze darkened slightly, and he pulled her even closer.

"On that doll, one digit of my birth date was written incorrectly. In this household, apart from Mother, no one knows my exact Eight Characters."

During his years as a concubine-born son, no one cared about him. When he later rose to prominence and prestige, the Marquisate merely went through the motions. Yunshi despised lighting prayers lamps, and Madam Luo refused to do it for him, resulting in no one in the household knowing his exact birth date all these years.

Huh?

Xie Mingyue frowned, tilting her head back to look at him.

Amused by her lively expression, a deep, muffled chuckle escaped Qi Jingshan's throat.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!"

Xie Mingyue inwardly cursed him for being so unfathomably deep.

A new wave of confusion hit her. "Your mother... did she do it on purpose?"

Yunshi had never been well-read and was originally a country woman; sorcery was probably the most vicious scheme her mind could conjure.

However, targeting only Qi Xiuyu would easily arouse suspicion. If she added Qi Jingshan's name alongside an incorrect birth date, no one would ever suspect her.

"Who knows what was going through her mind."

Qi Jingshan pulled her against his chest, savoring the momentary warmth.

"You don't need to worry about it anymore."

Xie Mingyue sensed that he held no particular warmth or filial devotion toward Yunshi.

She glanced at him a few times, only to be caught in the act as he pressed a light kiss to her cheek.

"Stop thinking about it. Come on, tell me—why were you taking contraceptive medicine?"