Jade of Another World

After hearing Lin Ning's heartfelt words, Peng Yingchun finally reacted. Tears streamed down her face like a burst dam. Slowly and tremblingly, she reached out her hand and offered it to Lin Ning. Lin Ning quickly and gently took her hand, placing his fingers on her pulse, holding his breath and carefully feeling the beating of her pulse.

In a short while, Lin Ning understood the root of Peng Yingchun's pain. Her face was full of pity and heartache, and her eyes reddened. Looking at Peng Yingchun, she said in a gentle and concerned voice, "Yingchun, I understand. The child is gone, so be it. Please don't dwell on it. Your priority now is to take good care of yourself. As long as you're healthy, you can have another one. It hurts us so much to see you tormenting yourself like this."

Upon hearing this, Peng Yingchun could no longer suppress her grief and burst into tears. She gripped Lin Ning's hand tightly, as if grasping at a last straw, and sobbed, "Lin Ning, I... I'm so heartbroken. That was my child with the Crown Prince. My little life is gone. If I had stayed in the secret chamber of the Crown Prince's residence, would he have avoided all this suffering? Would he still be alive...?"

Lin Ning quickly pulled Peng Yingchun into her arms, gently patting her back and comforting her like a child, "I understand, I understand your sadness. Anyone would feel terrible in this situation. But things have come to this, we have to look forward. If you ruin your health, that would truly break the hearts of those who care about you. This is not your fault, the fault lies with the Crown Prince. Don't blame yourself anymore. He is the one who started this whole mess and he doesn't feel any remorse. He is the one who harmed his own child."

Peng Yingchun cried uncontrollably in Lin Ning's arms, her body trembling. It took her a while to calm down. She sobbed and nodded weakly, saying softly, "Lin Ning, thank you. I... I will pull myself together, but my heart is still aching so much."

Lin Ning tenderly wiped away Peng Yingchun's tears and said, "I know this pain won't just disappear, but as long as you're willing to cheer up, you'll get better slowly. I'll always be with you, and we'll get through this together."

Lin Ning gently patted Peng Yingchun's back, patiently comforting her and constantly saying comforting words, trying to ease Peng Yingchun's heartbroken grief. After Peng Yingchun's emotions calmed down a bit, Lin Ning got up, sat at her desk, carefully considered her prescriptions, and wrote many medicines to replenish her qi and blood.

Lin Ning knew very well that Peng Yingchun had suffered a miscarriage in such harsh conditions, which had undoubtedly caused enormous damage to her body. The cold, damp cave and the days of fearful escape had already left her extremely exhausted and weak, and the miscarriage had further devastated her.

As Lin Ning wrote the prescription, she would occasionally glance up at Peng Yingchun on the bed, her eyes filled with pity. She knew that Peng Yingchun genuinely loved children, and now this sudden tragedy... Lin Ning thought that no matter what, she couldn't let Yingchun become so despondent. As long as she took good care of her body, there would definitely be a chance to have children again in the future. Therefore, she carefully selected various nourishing and blood-tonifying herbs for the prescription, each one carefully chosen, hoping only to help Peng Yingchun recover as soon as possible.

After writing the prescription, Lin Ning called a servant and instructed him, "Take this prescription and go to the pharmacy to get the medicine. Remember, you must choose the best herbs; there can be no carelessness." The servant acknowledged and hurriedly left with the prescription.

Lin Ning walked back to the bedside, sat down next to Peng Yingchun, and took her hand, saying, "Yingchun, don't worry, the medicine I prescribed for you is specially for conditioning your body. As long as you take it on time and take good care of yourself, your body will definitely get better gradually. There are still many days ahead of you."

Peng Yingchun nodded slightly, her eyes filled with gratitude, and said in a weak but firm voice, "Lin Ning, thank you. If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't know what to do. I... I will take my medicine properly and try my best to get better."

Lin Ning looked at her and smiled with relief, saying, "That's right." After saying that, she quietly stayed by the bedside, keeping Peng Yingchun company, silently praying that she would recover her health soon.

Liu Si, who had been investigating all day, hurriedly returned from outside. As soon as he entered the house, he didn't even bother to brush off the dust from his journey and went straight to the room where Peng Yingchun was. His steps were urgent, and his eyes were full of concern, clearly indicating that he had been thinking about Peng Yingchun's condition.

Upon entering the room, Liu Si saw Peng Yingchun leaning against the bed, her face still somewhat pale. Her brows furrowed instantly, and she hurried to the bedside, asking softly, "Miss Yingchun, how are you feeling? Are you feeling any better?"

Seeing Liu Si's nervous expression and then noticing the complex and emotional look in Peng Yingchun's eyes as she gazed at him, Lin Ning sensed a past between them. She immediately stood up tactfully and said, "Young Master Liu, it's good you're here. I'll go out for a moment; you two can talk." With that, she tiptoed out of the room, thoughtfully closing the door behind her.

Liu Si sat down on the edge of the bed, her gaze fixed on Peng Yingchun, and said with concern, "Yingchun, I've been worried about your health all the way here. I was so anxious. What did Lin Ning say?"

Upon hearing this, Peng Yingchun's eyes reddened, and tears welled up in them again. After a moment of silence, she bit her lip, mustered her courage, and said to Liu Si with a choked voice, "Young Master Liu, I... my child... is gone."

Upon hearing this, Liu Si was struck dumb, his body stiffening abruptly. He then slowly clenched his fist, veins bulging on the back of his hand, his face filled with anger and heartache. Gritting his teeth, he said bitterly, "It's all that foolish Crown Prince's fault! If it weren't for him, how could you have suffered such torment and pain!" His eyes burned with rage. Thinking of Peng Yingchun's imprisonment in the Crown Prince's residence, the many grievances and torments she had endured, and now the loss of her child, he was heartbroken. He wished he could confront the Crown Prince right now and demand an explanation. However, although the Crown Prince had lost power, the damage he had caused could never be undone.

Seeing Liu Si's anger towards her, Peng Yingchun felt both moved and saddened. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She reached out and gently grasped Liu Si's clenched fist, wanting to say something, but her voice choked with grief. She could only keep crying. The atmosphere in the room was filled with a mixture of sadness and resentment, making everyone feel heavy-hearted.

Peng Yingchun gently wiped away the tears that kept rolling down her face, suppressing the grief in her heart, and looked at Liu Si slowly, saying, "Young Master Liu, the Crown Prince will naturally receive his retribution for the evil deeds he has committed. Cause and effect are cyclical, and he will not be able to escape it in the end. Now that I have fallen to such a state, I still have troubled you to help me so wholeheartedly. I... I am truly grateful."

She paused, her eyes filled with sorrow and self-doubt, her voice growing lower as she continued, "But I'm not the same person I used to be. I feel like I have nothing left, and... I don't deserve your kindness. I can't give you anything, so why are you wasting your time on me?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Si felt a pang of pain in his heart. He quickly grasped Peng Yingchun's hand, his gaze sincere and affectionate, and said urgently, "Miss Yingchun, please don't say that. I've never expected anything in return for my kindness. I only hope that you can get better soon and be happy. I don't care about anything else."

At this point, a look of self-reproach and regret appeared on Liu Si's face. He frowned slightly and said with a tone full of annoyance, "If I had known that the Crown Prince would treat you like this, I should have stopped your marriage at all costs. It's all my fault for being too cowardly back then and not having the courage to stand up for you, which is why you have suffered so much. Every time I think about this, my heart feels like it's being stabbed with a knife."

Looking at Liu Si's self-reproachful expression, Peng Yingchun felt both touched and saddened. She shook her head and said, "Young Master Liu, how can you blame yourself? The situation was so complicated back then, who could have predicted what would happen later? Don't blame yourself too much, it's all my fate."

Liu Si held Peng Yingchun's hand tightly, as if trying to transfer his strength to her, and said firmly, "No, Miss Yingchun, this is not fate. I will never let you suffer any more grievances in the future. Just focus on recovering and leave everything else to me, okay?"

Peng Yingchun looked at Liu Si quietly. From his sincere eyes, his caring words, and the way he held her hands tightly, she could clearly see Liu Si's true feelings for her. In truth, deep down, she had always liked Liu Si.

Looking back, in the days leading up to her engagement to the Crown Prince, Peng Yingchun's heart was filled with a jumble of emotions. She was utterly unwilling and had no desire to marry the Crown Prince; her heart was only for Liu Si. So, she mustered her courage and, that night, by the dim candlelight, carefully wrote a letter to Liu Si.

The letter was filled with her earnestness and expectations. She poured out her love for Liu Si and expressed her determination to elope with him. She so desperately hoped that Liu Si could take her away from this complicated and helpless situation and find a peaceful place that belonged only to the two of them.

After writing the letter, Peng Yingchun carefully handed it to a reliable servant, repeatedly instructing him to deliver it to Liu Si as soon as possible. Every minute and every second after that, she anxiously awaited Liu Si's reply, her heart filled with beautiful dreams and imagining the scene of the two of them embarking on a life of freedom together.

However, as the days passed, she received no reply from Liu Si until the day of their engagement. At that moment, Peng Yingchun felt as if her heart had fallen into an ice cellar, cold and desperate. She thought to herself, perhaps he didn't like her at all, or perhaps his feelings for her weren't strong enough to make him willing to leave with her regardless of everything.

With these thoughts in mind, and filled with disappointment and helplessness, Peng Yingchun still resolutely married the Crown Prince. After all, in her view, since Liu Si had not responded, she seemed to have no other choice but to follow the arrangement of fate, enter the Crown Prince's residence, and begin her numb life from then on.

At this moment, Peng Yingchun looked at Liu Si in front of her, her eyes filled with complicated emotions. The regrets and grievances of the past surged into her heart again. She opened her mouth, wanting to say these things, but when the words reached her lips, she didn't know where to start. Tears welled up in her eyes involuntarily.

Peng Yingchun's lips trembled slightly, and she hesitated several times before finally deciding not to bring up the past that had been hidden in her heart for so long. She silently thought that many things from the past were no longer important. After all, time cannot be turned back, and those regrets and missed opportunities could only be sealed away deep in her memory.

Now, she was in such a miserable state, her body severely injured, and entangled in a complicated relationship with the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince wouldn't let her off easily, and perhaps the royal family wouldn't either. How could she bear to implicate Liu Si? Peng Yingchun knew clearly that the matters between her and the Crown Prince were still unresolved, already a tangled mess. Now, having suffered a miscarriage and lost her child, she felt as if she had fallen into endless darkness. How could she possibly have the face to think about a future with Liu Si?

She looked up at Liu Si, her eyes filled with reluctance yet also a resolute determination. She thought to herself, Liu Si is an excellent person; he deserves a better, more innocent girl by his side to spend his life with. As for herself, she was content to quietly watch from afar, observing him find his own happiness in the future. Even if the person who brings him happiness isn't her, as long as he's happy, that's enough.