Yang Suxin got anxious all of a sudden. "Don't cry. Let's talk it out."
Mo Qinghuan was rendered speechless by the two of them. "Don't distract her, or she'll run out of strength later."
Yang Suxin scratched her face awkwardly. "I got it."
Mo Qinghuan assisted the woman in breathing. The woman grabbed tightly onto the cloth on the ground.
"Hold on a little longer. The baby's head is already visible."
Mo Qinghuan used the boosting method to help push the baby out of the woman's abdomen.
With a loud wail, the baby was born.
"Congratulations! It's a boy."
She immediately picked up the baby and cut the umbilical cord. Yang Suxin looked at the thing in her hand in wonder.
She had never seen what Mo Qinghuan was holding before.
This made her admire the woman in front of her even more.
"Find something to wrap the baby up. I'll take care of the mother."
She gave the order out of habit, and Yang Suxin didn't say anything.
But the newborn baby was so tiny. After taking it from Mo Qinghuan, she didn't know what to do at all.
She stood there, not knowing whether to move or stay still.
It was the landlady of the cloth shop who came over and wrapped the baby in a piece of cloth.
"Now you can tell us who your husband is, right?"
After Mo Qinghuan finished taking care of the mother, she looked at the woman.
The woman lowered her head and said nothing. Mo Qinghuan could tell that she must have some kind of secret.
"If you don't tell us who your husband is, we won't be able to inform your family to come and pick you up."
The woman let out a long sigh and looked up at Mo Qinghuan with tears in her eyes. "My husband is Liu Rudeng, the city gate guard."
Yang Suxin opened her mouth in surprise. "Your husband is Vice General Liu?"
Mo Qinghuan also had an impression of this Vice General Liu. "The Vice General Liu who guards the city?"
The woman nodded. "Yes, it's him."
Dan'er happened to come back after notifying Mu Yanming.
"Dan'er, go and invite Vice General Liu. He should be on duty now."
Dan'er nodded and turned around to go out again.
"Don't go looking for him. He hasn't been home for half a year."
Mo Qinghuan and Yang Suxin glanced at each other. "Why hasn't he been home?" Yang Suxin asked.
The woman was about to wipe away her tears again. Mo Qinghuan quickly persuaded her. "You've just given birth. It's not good for you to cry. Since he's a source of pain for you, don't mention it anymore. When he comes later, we'll go and talk to him."
Yang Suxin nodded. "Okay, we'll go. I'd like to see what excuse this man has for not going home to his pregnant wife for half a year."
The woman leaned back on the soft couch, looking dejected.
After about a quarter of an hour, Dan'er and Vice General Liu came back.
Yang Suxin and Mo Qinghuan deliberately didn't mention the woman's matter at first.
Yang Suxin smiled and asked, "How old are you this year, Vice General Liu?"
He couldn't figure out what they meant and replied with a smile, "I'm twenty - two years old, Your Highness."
"Are you married?" Mo Qinghuan looked at him with a complicated expression.
Liu Rudeng wiped the sweat off his forehead and seemed to think about his answer.
Finally, he said, "I haven't married yet, Your Highness. My family is poor."
Yang Suxin was so angry that she rolled up her sleeves and rushed forward, but was stopped by Mo Qinghuan. "You scoundrel! You got a woman pregnant when you claim you're not married?"
Only then did he catch on. He looked up at Yang Suxin. "What do you mean, Miss Yang?"
Yang Suxin sneered. "What do I mean? You said you're not married. Have you forgotten the woman who's pregnant with your child?"
Liu Rudeng's face instantly changed. "Where is she?"
"Now you remember to ask where she is? What were you doing earlier?"
Yang Suxin turned her head away.
Mo Qinghuan deliberately glanced at the inner room. Liu Rudeng immediately rushed in.
When the woman saw Liu Rudeng, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. They streamed down her face like broken beads.
"You..."
Before she could finish her sentence, she was pulled out by Liu Rudeng.
She was startled and shouted in panic, "Let go of me! What are you doing?"
Liu Rudeng's face was full of disgust. "You slut! You're using the daughter of the Grand Courtier of Imperial Sacrifices and the Princess Regent to back you up, right? I'm telling you, even so, I won't even look at you."
Hearing his insults and being weak after giving birth, the woman's legs gave way and she fell to the ground.
"Let go of me!"
She shouted with all her might. Mo Qinghuan and Yang Suxin heard something was wrong and rushed in.
"What are you doing? Let go of her!" Seeing Liu Rudeng grabbing the woman's wrist, Yang Suxin stepped forward and pushed him away.
"You two should mind your own business and stay out of my family affairs."
Yang Suxin helped the woman up and stood in front of her. "Family affairs? Now it's family affairs? When we asked you earlier, what did you say? Have you forgotten?"
"Vice General Liu, you'd better tell us what's going on. Of course, if you don't want to say it, I don't mind involving the Regent."
Mo Qinghuan threatened him bluntly. Liu Rudeng had no choice but to tell them about the entanglement between the two of them.
The woman always kept her head down and stood behind Yang Suxin, as if she didn't hear what Liu Rudeng was saying.
After Liu Rudeng finished speaking, he bowed to Mo Qinghuan. "Your Highness, I've said what I wanted to say. I'll take my leave."
He lifted the curtain and walked out without looking back.
"Is this true?" Yang Suxin turned around to look at the woman and found that she was already a tear - streaked mess.
"If what he said is true, then we really shouldn't interfere in your affairs. But if he really did something wrong to you, we won't just stand by and do nothing."
The woman knelt on the ground with a thud. She crawled towards Mo Qinghuan. "Some of it is true and some is false."
The woman then told the story of that year again.
It turned out that her name was Li Xinru, the daughter of the village head of Wanxing Village. The two families had been on good terms back then. Their mothers had made an agreement when they were still in the womb. If they were both boys, they would be brothers; if they were both girls, they would be sworn sisters; if it was a boy and a girl, they would naturally get married.
The two of them grew up together and knew that they would get married when they grew up.
But three years ago, Liu Rudeng joined the army and came to the capital. At first, he still corresponded with her, but gradually, she lost all news of him.
She waited and waited at home. Finally, she decided to go to the capital alone to look for her fiancé.
But unexpectedly, after arriving in the capital, she found that he was already with another woman.
Unwilling to accept this, she set up a trap.
She said that as long as he was willing to see her one last time, she would never pester him again.
It was also that time that the two of them got drunk and did something stupid. After waking up, Liu Rudeng was so angry that he slapped her and never showed up again.
She knew that he was guarding the city. At first, she went to deliver congee to him every day.
But he would always throw it away without mercy. One month later, she suddenly found out that she was pregnant. After that, she stopped going.
She found a civilian house to start her pregnancy. She even stubbornly thought that as long as she gave birth to a son for him, he would change his mind.
Today, she was just passing by the cloth shop, picking out cloth to make clothes for the baby, when unexpectedly, she gave birth.
"This Vice General Liu is really too much. I'll go and settle the score with him."