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The midwife had warned her repeatedly that once the water broke, she must absolutely not walk anymore. She wasn’t sure if this rule applied to all women or if the midwife was just being extra cautious because she was an imperial princess.

She still didn’t have enough experience to question it, so she could only follow the midwife’s instructions.

“I can’t walk anymore. Go to the back courtyard and get someone——”

Before she could finish speaking, a pair of strong arms slid around her back and under her knees, lifting her up horizontally.

Caught off guard, her head bumped straight into his firm chest.

She was momentarily stunned.

They were amidst the sweeping wind and endless snow, in the darkness of the long night. Was this what it felt like to be protected?

“Qin Fengwen.”

“You’ve gained weight.”

Princess Xinyang’s expression darkened in an instant.

…No, this wasn’t just anger, this was the kind of fury that made her want to kill him!

Another contraction came, stronger than before, and Princess Xinyang clutched a handful of his chest in pain.

Marquis Xuanping sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth.

Now she knew exactly where to grab to hurt him.

But Qin Fengwen, where exactly are you grabbing?

Sure, this Marquis isn’t the one who has to nurse the baby, but isn’t pinching there a little too much——

“Hiss——”

She pinched him again, and Marquis Xuanping nearly collapsed from the pain!

Princess Xinyang had no idea she was gripping the wrong place; she was in agony; her belly hurt, her spine ached, even her waist was killing her.

Clearly, she wasn’t young anymore, and this wasn’t as easy as it used to be.

Marquis Xuanping, unaware that childbirth was supposed to happen in a designated birthing room, carried her straight back into her usual chamber. Princess Xinyang gritted her teeth and said, “…Not this room; the north wing of the rear pavilion!”

Marquis Xuanping chuckled and said, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? You just wanted this Marquis to…”

Princess Xinyang’s hair practically bristled as she growled, “Shut your mouth!”

Marquis Xuanping glanced at her swollen belly and obediently fell silent.

Once inside the birthing room, Marquis Xuanping gently laid her down on the bedding. “I’ll go fetch the physician and midwife.”

Princess Xinyang gripped the mattress tightly and said, “The midwife and wet nurse live just down this street… go out and head east, the house with the ginkgo tree at the gate, that’s the one.”

She had arranged this as early as her eighth month; Yu Jin had already found a trusted midwife and wet nurse, both local and well-known.

“Got it!” Marquis Xuanping responded at once.

“You…” Princess Xinyang looked at him, covered in blood, and hesitated. She considered sending someone else instead, but all her trusted servants had been sent to prepare for his funeral, and the only two who remained had been scared off by him.

Marquis Xuanping stared steadily at her.

She turned her face aside and changed her tone. “Just don’t mess things up with your clumsy hands.”

“This Marquis has been a father before, you think I’m nervous? ‘Clumsy hands,’ really, ha!”

With that, he let out a cold, mocking laugh, then marched out, arms and legs moving stiffly in sync. Just as he stepped over the threshold, he tripped and took a full-body dive straight into the snow!

Princess Xinyang: “…”

Still, Marquis Xuanping managed to bring the midwife and wet nurse back.

Granny Zhang and Cui’er also came slinking back in after snapping out of their fright.

Some of them boiled water, some brewed ginseng soup, and others assisted with the birth.

Marquis Xuanping had already expended almost all his strength on the way there, and whatever was left had been used up during that one dramatic moment posing in the snow.

What Princess Xinyang heard, the loud thud, was the sound of him crashing into the gateframe from sheer exhaustion.

But somehow, he managed to push himself up and leaned against the wall, acting like nothing had happened.

He thought to himself: once he saw Qin Fengwen and the baby, then he could allow himself to collapse.

But now, a new life was arriving.

He stood there in the cold, silent snow, thick flurries landing quietly on his shoulders like feathers.

From inside the birthing room, he heard Qin Fengwen’s cries of pain.

She was a strong and proud woman; for her to be screaming like that, the pain must be unimaginable.

Princess Xinyang labored through the entire night inside the birthing room.

Marquis Xuanping stood guard out in the snow through the entire night.

At the third quarter of the hour of yinshi (3-5 am), a baby's first wail rang out from within the room, piercing the long silence and stirring the still-falling snow.

Marquis Xuanping, nearly frozen stiff, suddenly sprang into motion and strode up the steps.

The baby had just been born. Someone still needed to cut the umbilical cord, weigh the newborn, and wrap them up in swaddling cloth before they could be carried out.

Marquis Xuanping didn’t wait for all that. He burst straight through the door, startling the midwife who was weighing the baby!

“Aiyo! What’s Lord Marquis doing in here?!”

The birthing room was considered a place of uncleanliness, definitely not somewhere a man ought to step into!

Fortunately, the midwife moved quickly; after weighing the baby, she wrapped the child up neatly and carried her out from behind the screen.

She had not yet heard of Marquis Xuanping’s death, and only found his blood-soaked return rather alarming; but then again, he was a battle-hardened general, and perhaps this was nothing out of the ordinary.

“Is the Princess well?” Marquis Xuanping asked.

The midwife was taken aback. She clearly hadn’t expected his first concern to be for the mother. Smiling, she replied, “Lord Marquis, you may rest easy. The labor went very smoothly. Her Highness is only a little exhausted; everything else is perfectly fine.”

As she spoke, she beamed as she presented the baby to Marquis Xuanping. “Congratulations, Lord Marquis, it’s a girl.”

A… daughter?

Marquis Xuanping froze in place!

He had so many sons that he had simply assumed this one would also be a boy.

All of a sudden, Marquis Xuanping found himself completely flustered, even more nervous than the first time he met Shangguan Qing. “S-She’s crying so loudly… it’s really a girl?”

The midwife laughed with delight.

Yes indeed, the young miss had quite the set of lungs.

She had delivered countless babies in her lifetime, but not even most boys could cry as powerfully as this one.

Marquis Xuanping gingerly accepted the baby swaddled in her soft cloth bundle.

The little one, who had been wailing her heart out, stopped crying the moment she was in his arms. She opened her eyes wide, quietly and steadily gazing up at him.

Newborns weren’t really capable of focusing their sight yet, but the midwife couldn’t shake the feeling that this little girl was truly and seriously looking at her father.

She had delivered so many babies over the years, but this was without a doubt the most beautiful one she had ever seen.

As Marquis Xuanping looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms, an overwhelming wave of emotion surged through him.

After years on the battlefield, even when not at war, he had always carried the aura of bloodshed and steel.

He reached out with a finger and tapped the baby’s little fist; in a flash, the baby clutched it tightly.

All that iron and blood in his heart seemed to melt into something impossibly tender, soft enough to wrap around a fingertip.

It was a completely different feeling than holding a son…

Holding the little one, he stepped around the screen and came to the bedside, where he looked at Princess Xinyang, her face pale and drenched in sweat.

Princess Xinyang looked back at him.

She felt so utterly exhausted that she began to hallucinate. What she saw wasn’t the Marquis Xuanping of recent years, the flirtatious, smiling tiger who killed without blinking, but rather that clean, gentle young man who had lifted her bridal veil on their wedding night.

Cradling the tiny life in his arms, he leaned down and whispered softly into her ear, “Qin Fengwen, you’ve worked hard.”

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Description:

In the suspenseful supernatural novel “Records of Mortals,” Jiang Baiyan, once a solitary and impoverished youth, finds refuge in the Shi family of Chang’an due to his extraordinary bloodline. With his clear and captivating peach blossom eyes, this seemingly innocent young man conceals a fanatical and malevolent lunatic within. Destined to succumb to darkness amidst hardship and degradation, he becomes a harbinger of chaos.

When Shi Dai suddenly transmigrates, she takes on the role of the Shi family’s young lady, the one who subjects him to countless trials, eventually leading to her demise.

The twist? She never got to finish reading the novel.

From what she knew of the plot, Jiang Baiyan was just a silent, timid, and often bullied pitiable character.

***

Jiang Baiyan had never encountered someone like Shi Dai.

After he had slaughtered all the evil creatures in the garden, the blood-stained young man, exuding a murderous aura, approached her step by step, his lips curling into a malicious smile, "Scared?"

Shi Dai responded, “You’re really amazing! I applaud you until I spin like a spiral and fly around the moon three hundred times! And also——you have dimples when you smile!"

Jiang Baiyan: ...?

—

After seeing her at a lantern festival with another man, Jiang Baiyan lowered his eyes, his fingers twirling her hair. He said in a mocking and sinister tone, "The mansion in the western suburbs...if I hide you there, no one will find you, right?"

Shi Dai replied, "Does it come with meals and lodging? Can I sleep in everyday? Oh, and your cooking is the best!"

Jiang Baiyan: ...?

—

Jiang Baiyan was supposed to dislike her, even hate her, but as their separation drew near, his eyes turned red and he grabbed her sleeve, pleading, "Don't abandon me, alri—”

Shi Dai responded, "Alright, alright, I’ll only have you. Mwah."

Jiang Baiyan: ...?

He hasn't finished his lines yet though…