Yellowed leaves carpeted the garden. It was only then that Lin Haihai realized it was mid-autumn. She had been too busy for the past month to think about anything else, devoting herself to work to prevent herself from drowning in her painful yearning. Her belly remained flat, but she could feel the life growing in her. Next year, her child would come to her on a warm spring day. She wondered if it would be a boy or a girl. Would the child be more like her, or him? Lin Haihai smiled, her face glowing with an almost holy brilliance.

“Bai Muyang wanted to see you!” Zheng Feng said once he returned in a hurry. The servant told him that Consort Lin was feeling unwell after eating something she shouldn’t, and that she had been resting at home. He had come back as quickly as he could. “The servants said that you were ill. Are you alright?”

Lin Haihai turned around to face him with a calm expression. “I’m fine! Do you know why he asked for me?”

“He wouldn’t tell anyone but you!” Zheng Feng had learned about Lin Haihai’s pregnancy...