Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

The early morning sunlight streamed into the main room through the window lattice. Two maids were helping Zhang Jingwei tidy up his official uniform.

Liang Dahai came in with hot water and asked cautiously, "Master, Mu Tou is leaving today. Shouldn't we go and see him off?"

"No!" Zhang Jingwei slammed the belt in his hand heavily on the table, making a "pa" sound.

Liang Dahai sighed: "Mu Tou has been with us for so many years, and now he is going to join the army, we should go and see him off."

Zhang Jingwei turned around abruptly, his face gloomy: "If anyone of you dares to go, I will deduct his wages!"

"Alas." Liang Dahai shook his head and said while wringing out the hot towel, "After all, the young master is just a child with a bad temper. He's also very stubborn."

At this time, Wang Ergou poked his head in and said, "Go to work, you haven't fixed the drainage in the toilet yet."

Zhang Shiyi responded from outside the door, "I still have to go clean the stables, and the horses in the yamen need their hooves trimmed."

Zhang Jingwei straightened his collar and instructed Qian Ming, "Qian Ming, go find Captain Pang and Captain Qi of the Water Defense Battalion today and have them verify and report all the military households again."

Qian Ming nodded and said, "Okay."

Zhang Jingwei suddenly remembered something and shouted outside, "Uncle Eleven, why has my donkey become so thin these days? Is it because of the climate?"

Zhang Shiyi's voice came from the yard: "She's probably pregnant. She's been much better behaved lately."

"Ah?" Zhang Jingwei rushed to the door in two steps. "Who slept with it? Didn't I tell him it needs a separate room?"

Zhang Shiyi spread his hands and said, "You can't blame me for this. We do have a compartment at home, but when the young master goes out to do things, how can we afford it?"

"Oh my..." Zhang Jingwei was about to lose his temper when Jiuer walked in carrying a medicine box.

Jiuer said with a smile: "Why does the donkey's pregnancy look like your wife's pregnancy?"

Zhang Jingwei's eyes widened: "Aren't you going to deliver the wood?"

"He's such a grown-up, I'm not afraid that he will get lost." Jiuer put the medicine box on the table with a "bang" sound.

Zhang Jingwei looked at her suspiciously and asked, "Why is our medical officer here at my house so early in the morning when he's not at the pharmacy?"

Jiuer blinked and teased, "See if your wife is pregnant?"

"Puchi..." Liang Dahai, Wang Ergou and others laughed at the same time when they heard this.

Zhang Jingwei blushed and asked, "What's going on? Tell me, what's the progress on those patients?"

"No progress," Jiuer said seriously, "I really came to see if your wife is pregnant."

"Go away, I don't want to bother with you." Zhang Jingwei shook his sleeves and walked quickly towards the government office. Behind him, he heard the suppressed laughter of the crowd.

……

Inside the residence, Huangfu Ling was sitting at the table with the back of his hand resting on the cotton pad, while Jiuer was taking his pulse carefully.

Seeing that she didn't speak for a long time, Huangfu Ling couldn't help but ask, "How is it?"

Jiuer then asked, "How often do you have sex with him?"

Huangfu Ling blinked: "What do you mean once?"

Jiuer's face flushed red, and she twisted the strap of the medicine box with her fingers: "You are already a grown woman, and you still ask me."

Huangfu Ling finally reacted, and her cheeks flushed. "How often..." She lowered her head and fiddled with the corner of her clothes. "About half an hour, sometimes two or three quarters of an hour."

"Oh!" Jiuer stamped her feet. "I didn't ask you that!" She covered her face in shame. "Tsk, why are you talking in such detail? Aren't you ashamed? I was asking how often you do it?"

Huangfu Ling tilted his head and thought for a moment, then asked, "How many times a day should you ask?"

"Hiss..." Jiuer took a breath, then frowned and said, "Strange, you said you didn't have your period, how come I can't feel your pulse?"

Huangfu Ling pinched his sleeve nervously and said, "Could it be delayed? I'm often not on time."

"How can it be postponed for a month?" Jiuer shook her head and said, "No, maybe I'm not good enough." She grabbed the medicine box and was about to leave, "I have to let my mother take a look." When she reached the door, she turned back and asked, "Don't you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

Huangfu Ling buried her head on the table and replied shyly, "Very comfortable..."

"You..." Jiu'er stamped her feet in anger and said coquettishly, "Oh, I... forget it, let's talk about it after my mother has seen it."

......

Not long after, Jiuer hurried over with Sun Yaolang.

As soon as Sun Yaolang entered the room, he looked at Huangfu Ling's expression and then asked, "You and Mr. Zhang..."

Jiuer quickly answered: "Very frequently!"

Sun Yaolang gestured for Huangfu Ling to stretch out her wrist. While feeling her pulse, he asked, "How long has your period stopped?"

Huangfu Ling answered obediently: "From last month until now."

After Sun Yaolang finished taking the pulse, his expression gradually became serious: "Come with me to the medicine room, my place is cleaner."

Jiuer saw that her mother looked unhappy, and her voice trembled: "Mom...is it serious?"

Sun Yaolang paused as he packed up his medicine box: "I need to check it further."

Huangfu Ling asked in confusion, "Auntie Sun, I don't feel unwell anywhere."

Sun Yaolang took a deep breath and looked directly into Huangfu Ling's eyes. "Let me put it this way," her voice suddenly became heavy. "If further examination proves correct, the Zhang family may be extinct." She paused. "And you, little girl of the Huangfu family, you won't live past thirty!"

With a "click," the silk in Huangfu Ling's hand fell to the ground. Her face turned pale. "How...how could this happen..." She swayed and almost slipped off the stool. No one spoke anymore. The room was so quiet that Huangfu Ling's rapid breathing could be heard.

……

In the public office.

A scholar wearing a square hat came to the county government office to apply for a travel document. Anyone traveling more than a hundred miles from home needed a document similar to a letter of introduction or a pass from the local government. If the document did not match the destination or the person did not have it, he would be punished according to the law.

Typically, a travel document specified where one was going, what one was doing, how many people were accompanying one, and how long one would be away. Failure to return home by the prescribed time would result in a penalty, usually a fine, or even imprisonment in serious cases. This was also a means of maintaining local labor and productivity.

With the official seal or red-ink approval document, the book carrier could stay in the post station along the way and recuperate at his own expense. When arriving in the capital, even some inns would check the documents.

Zhang Jingwei approved the document, handed it over, and instructed: "Mr. Yan, this is your travel book. Remember to come back on time. If you are delayed, I can give you one day. But if you still don't come back after one day, you will have to pay three times the fine." This was not a rule he set himself, but Hu Tu told him. This was what Xiao Kewei had done before.

Yan Xiucai first bowed and thanked him: "Thank you, Your Excellency. I will remember this." Then he respectfully took the document.

The scholar left not long ago.

Zhang Liu shouted anxiously outside the government office: "Master, Master..."

Zhang Jingwei heard the sound and hurried out of the office. He asked, "What's wrong, Sixth Uncle?"

Zhang Liu panted heavily and said intermittently: "Young Madam, Young Madam..."

Seeing this, Zhang Jingwei hurriedly comforted him, "Calm down first and speak slowly."

Zhang Liu calmed down a bit and continued, "Young Madam just went to the medicine house with Medicine Lang Sun. Before Xiao Douya left, she told me that she was seriously ill."

Zhang Jingwei felt it was absurd when he heard it. He said confidently, "Nonsense! She slept with me, how could I not know whether she was sick or not?"

However, Zhang Liu replied seriously, "It's true!"

Seeing Zhang Liu's certainty, Zhang Jingwei's heart tightened, and he began to think. Suddenly, a possibility occurred to him, and a smile appeared on his face. He said, "I see. You want to give me a surprise, right? Jiuer diagnosed a pregnancy pulse?"

After all, Zhang Jingwei naturally knew that Huangfu Ling's period had stopped for almost a month, so he made such a guess.

However, Zhang Liu shook his head and said, "Really? How could the young lady cry when she was diagnosed with pregnancy?"

Zhang Jingwei's smile disappeared instantly, replaced by a look of worry. He murmured to himself, "She's crying... Oh my... Hurry up, tell Uncle Eleven to prepare the carriage."