Chapter 1

On the day Pei Ye was to leave, a great many people came to the village.

Every one of them wore armor. They did not look friendly.

I stood blankly in the doorway, staring at the man who had traded his plain clothes for splendid robes.

“Ah Ye, what is this? Has something happened?”

Pei Ye looked back at me, his gaze distant.

“I made breakfast, swept the courtyard, washed the clothes, and hung them out to dry. Miss Xu, my wounds have healed. These men have come to take me home.”

I froze, then rushed forward and threw my arms around him.

“You are leaving? But—but I have not…”

The words *gotten pregnant* almost slipped out before I swallowed them just in time.

I could not let him discover that I had used him to conceive a child.

“But I do not want you to go yet.”

I squeezed out a few tears and looked at him pitifully.

“Why must you leave? Have we not been happy together all this time?”

Pei Ye stared at me, and for a moment he seemed moved.

Then someone behind him called, “Your Highness.”

Pei Ye came back to himself. At a wave of his hand, his men carried forward a hoard of gold.

“This is compensation for you. Do not pester me again.”

The gold had been stacked into a small hill. I was so stunned I forgot to breathe.

He was this rich?

Had Su Yanbai not said he had found the man in a filthy ditch?

Pei Ye had been grievously wounded and penniless. We had assumed he was some fugitive living by the sword.

That was the only reason we had dared use him to father our child.

Once I became pregnant, we would send him away.

Yet now Pei Ye looked less like a desperate outlaw than a powerful nobleman who had fallen on hard times.

Terrified that I had brought disaster upon us, I did not dare accept the money.

“Ah Ye, this is not what I want. All I want from you is a…”

A child.

Su Yanbai and I wanted a child.

Even if another man had to father it.

Pei Ye did not let me explain. He cut me off coldly.

“I can never give you the status you want. You are a mere village woman, Madam Xu, and no match for me. Do not cling to me.”

Stunned, I slowly stepped back.

So a handsome man could be heartless after all.

Only last night he had made love to me as if he would die of passion. The bed had creaked so loudly that an infuriated Su Yanbai had stormed out in the middle of the night. Yet today, in front of everyone, Pei Ye called me a mere village woman.

At that moment, I finally appreciated just how wonderful my husband was.

He was even more beautiful than Pei Ye, and he was faithful, gentle, and capable besides.

“Who do you think you are, speaking to her that way?”

Su Yanbai returned just then, a little rabbit dangling from one hand.

Trembling with rage, he thrust the rabbit at me and charged at Pei Ye.

“She is the finest woman in the world. She has never wronged you. What gives a faithless bastard like you the right to cast her aside?”

Pei Ye’s men reached for their swords.

“Who dares behave so insolently?”

I hurriedly grabbed Su Yanbai.

“Brother, let it go.” I stole an anxious glance at Pei Ye. “Brother, do not hurt him.”

In truth, the person I was protecting was Su Yanbai.

He had only just returned and did not yet understand the situation.

Fortunately, Pei Ye remained calm enough to stop his guards.

“This is Miss Xu’s elder brother. He is also the man who saved my life.”

Su Yanbai sneered.

“I truly regret saving you.”

I had no choice but to drag him into a corner and whisper to him.

“Husband, let it go. Let him leave. We can think of another way if this attempt fails. Besides, a gigolo who works for free and pays us on top of it is hard to find these days. Just play along.”

Su Yanbai still refused to let the matter drop.

“But he mistreated you. Why should he refuse to give you a proper status?”

I stared at him in shock.

“What would I want with status from him? You are the only one in my heart. I would never leave with him!”

Su Yanbai went still, disbelief in his eyes.

“Ah Qing, he is obviously a powerful man. Do you truly still want to live this poor, difficult life with me?”

So that was it. He thought I had fallen for Pei Ye.

And yet he had still rushed to defend me.

I was not a fool. I knew perfectly well which man truly cared for me.

“What nonsense are you thinking? Not only am I staying with you, I intend to spend my whole life with you. And now that we have his money, what poor, difficult life?”

I tugged at his sleeve.

“My only regret is that I made you suffer through all this and still failed to conceive.”

Su Yanbai had been raised as the disciple of a poison physician. As a child, he had been forced to serve as a human test subject and had endured unspeakable torment.

It had not left him impotent, but it had left him infertile.

Both of us were rootless orphans, which only deepened our longing for a child.

“It is all right.”

Su Yanbai took my hand and was about to comfort me when he suddenly faltered.

“Ah Qing, do not be sad just yet. I think… I can feel a pregnancy pulse.”

Clutching the rabbit, I burst into tears of joy.

“Husband, we have a child!”

Su Yanbai was overcome as well.

“Saving him was worth it after all. He gave us a child *and* money…”