Doomed to be Cannon Fodder

A maidservant then served a cup of tea to Bai Xiangxiu. She seemed to be feeling better after a mouthful of tea. Long Heng knew his mother well. Ever since his father had passed away, the mother and son only had each other to rely on. Because of that, she rarely ever used harsh words when speaking to her son. And yet she had taken Bai Xiangxiu’s side to reprimand him just now.

He believed that there must be a reason behind it. Suddenly, he recalled about the time when Bai Xiangxiu was poisoned and had symptoms of dizziness and vomiting. A mama had mistakenly thought that it was a sign of pregnancy. However, nothing had happened between them yet, so it was obviously just a misunderstanding. Yet, she was showing the same symptoms again and they’d had tangible relations this time. Could it be that she really is expecting? The thought of this fired him up to no end. He immediately asked for a doctor and even complained that the doctor was taking too long. “We’ve been waiting for almost half a day. Why isn’t he here yet?”

The way Long Heng was acting confirmed the old madame’s suspicions that there was a possibility of a child. She was so eager while waiting for the doctor that she had even stopped coughing. Bai Xiangxiu was rendered speechless. She had misled the old madame on purpose because the old madame didn’t know when Long Heng had tumbled in the sheets with her.

But Mr. Male Lead. why are you getting all excited about? Don’t you know that it has only been a little more than ten days since that day? It would take two months for a real reaction at the very least!

Unfortunately, she had overestimated the male lead’s knowledge of biology. He had been born in a military household, and had left the house when he was around ten years old. The old madame had shielded him from all the fighting within the residence and hadn’t allowed anything untowards to enter his ears. These factors had contributed as to why he wasn’t too knowledgeable about females, and was also why he had very little knowledge about the female body. Or at least he wasn’t knowledgeable enough to know that ten days wasn’t enough time to know if a woman was expecting. He was very agitated. Even though the news had come a little unexpectedly, the thought of having a child of his own flesh and blood excited him to no end.

Despite his young age, he was actually looking forward to having his own children because of the old madame’s influence. If he had a child, his mother and Bai Xiangxiu would have some emotional support when he went to war in the future

The doctor arrived moments later out of breath. He was someone whom Bai Xiangxiu and Long Shuting had arranged for early on. The doctor was willing to help them because their goal was to save the old madame instead of trying to execute a sinister plan. The results from a willing participant were much better than if forced. The doctor’s acting was much better than usual. He was squeezing and pressing on Bai Xiangxiu’s hand. When he was done with the right hand, he moved on to the left hand. His forehead was creased the entire time.

The old madame was getting anxious. She had even set her grief aside for the moment and was only focused on urging the doctor onwards. When he decided that enough time has passed, he finally revealed the diagnosis. “In response to the old madame, the signs of expectancy are definitely there, but because it is still too early, I am unable to confirm.”

The doctor had managed to find some leeway for both him and Bai Xiangxiu with just one sentence. When the time came, they could just find an excuse to say that Bai Xiangxiu had only vomited because she was simply too anxious or that she had eaten something bad, and that he had also considered these possibilities, but hadn’t been able to confirm his suspicions at that time.

The old madame was delighted when she heard the diagnosis. A possible sign of expectancy was a good thing! After all, it was normal to have to wait for two to three months to confirm a pregnancy. Some women would even take as long as four months! Bai Xiangxiu pretended to look surprised. She then took careful a peek at the old madame and lowered her head. She seemed shy. The doctor was very impressed by Bai Xiangxiu’s acting prowess. He didn’t expect that her acting would so realistic!

The old madame took her shyness at face value and e grabbed the hand of a mama who was beside her. “The day I’ve been waiting for has finally arrived!” She wasn’t too bothered by the fact that it might not be good if a concubine were to have a child before the official wife was wedded into the family. If this had happened in the past, she might’ve shown a little respect to the Lin family’s daughter. But after seeing all the misdeeds that Miss Lin had gotten herself into, she no longer expected a child from her, even if she did manage to wed into the family. All hopes for a child had been placed on nèe Bai, the only one who had entered her son’s line of sight. She didn’t expect that good news would arrive so soon. Even though Bai Xiangxiu was timid and fearful, she made up for it with her beautiful appearance and her kindness and generosity. She had a very good personality so her children probably wouldn’t stray too far from the tree.

Bai Xiangxiu took another glance at her “boss”, also her husband. She noticed that his chiseled face was actually suppressing an emotion that looked like he might explode any time soon. Did he notice that something was off? Does he plan to punish us? Right when she was just about to take off running, Long Heng squeezed out a sentence to say, “Is there anything we need to take note of?”

The doctor had nearly wet his pants as well. He immediately moved his mouth to list out the cautionary advice he would normally give out to expecting women. “Third Madame should consume less food that are yin in nature, rest in bed as much as possible, and should not participate in bedroom activities for at least three months...”

Do you have to be so direct? Bai Xiangxiu’s face immediately turned as red as a ripe tomato. Even Long Heng, who was usually very thick-skinned, coughed out of embarrassment.

But how would the old madame take the couple’s bashfulness to heart? She had something else to inquire instead. “She’d will require some miscarriage preventing medicine right? Get someone to prepare some for her now.”

”

“Old Madame. All medicines are actually one-third poison. I do not recommend giving any medicine to Third Madame before her pregnancy is confirmed.” A person should never casually take any medicine if they were perfectly healthy. It was the basic code of ethics that he followed. Thus, he spared Bai Xiangxiu from the pain of having to take any unneeded medicine.

The old madame was still agitated and couldn’t help but want to do something for Bai Xiangxiu. So she asked, “Are you still feeling unwell? Do you want to take your leave so that you can rest?”

Bai Xiangxiu gently placed her hand on her abdomen and creased her forehead slightly. The old madame and Long Heng reacted strongly to her gesture. Long Heng even rose to his feet. If people weren’t around, he probably would’ve ran to her side to check on her already. A tinge of happiness settled in Bai Xiangxiu’s heart. She replied, “I don’t feel nauseated anymore. Instead, my stomach feels really empty. It seems... I’m a little hungry.”

The fact that she was hungry came as no surprise. After all, dinner time had long passed. However, the main issue now was that the old madame had yet to have her dinner! While people weren’t looking, she turned to Long Heng and gave him a look. Long Heng immediately caught her drift. It was just an act to make the old madame eat some food.

In order to not let her act of filial piety go to waste, he immediately said, “Serve dinner now. Quickly.” After that, he turned to the old madame and asked, “Mother. Why don’t you join us for dinner as well? Food will taste better when there are more people around the table.”

“Fine, fine. I will join for dinner since all of you have come to keep me company. Mama, assist me to wash my face. I’m going to have dinner.”

After all that weeping, it was no surprise that her face had become a little swollen. Better stop thinking about sorrowful things since today is such an auspicious day. It’s better to have dinner with the family for now and take care of my health so that I will be healthy enough to smother my grandchild.

Long Heng breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed how the old madame’s mood had taken a turn for the better. He was very glad that Bai Xiangxiu’s good news had come at such an opportune timing. But then he thought about his thoughts over the past couple of days. He’d wanted to spend some intimate time with her after leaving the palace. It seemed quite impossible now due to what the doctor had said. Upon further thought, he concluded that the night ahead was going to be long and full of agony.