At 5:45 a.m., morning light, fragmented like scattered gold, filtered through the carved lattice windows of the East Wing of the General's Mansion, casting tiny, dancing spots of light onto the pearl tassel at Jiang Wan’s temple. She pursed her lips slightly as she applied color in the bronze mirror, but her fingertips froze when they reached her waist—the sash of her moon-white silk dress was half an inch tighter than it had been the day before. Behind her, the soft clinking of armor announced Lu Jingyuan’s presence. The tip of his nose brushed against the jasmine scent in her hair, and his warm breath stirred the hair behind her ear. "The kitchen steamed some new osmanthus sugar cakes this morning. Would you like to try a couple?"
As she turned, the silver bracelet on her sleeve tapped against the bronze mirror with a crisp chime. "Jingyuan, yesterday, Imperial Physician Lin came to take my pulse..." Before she could finish, he seized her wrist. His fingertips pressed against her pulse point; his pupils constricted with a sudden flash of realization. His breastplate rose and fell with his rapid breathing. "Is it... could it be that you are with child?"
At 9:15 a.m., in the main hall of the Marquis's Mansion, where agarwood smoke drifted from a gilded censer, the Marquis’s fingers trembled as he held Imperial Physician Lin’s diagnostic report. The age spots on his hands flushed with excitement in the sunlight. "Is it truly a pregnancy? This is the third generation of the L…
Chapter 286