She showed a completely indifferent attitude.
He didn't like her, so why would he care about her child?
Maybe he even felt relieved that the child didn't come into the world.
After all, having an illegitimate child before marrying his main wife would damage his reputation and hurt Yu Huiyan.
Song Wanchu's heart felt as if it had been thrown into a frying pan, being fried over and over again.
She had to take several deep breaths to relieve the tightness in her chest.
"Grandma, I'd like to leave."
The angry old lady's eyebrows twitched violently.
"Wanchu..."
"Grandma, let's go back."
She forced a smile. The tears that were about to fall were finally held back.
The old lady glared angrily at Liang Yuzhou. "Wanchu got injured for you. Her body hasn't fully recovered yet, and you still have the heart to drink?"
Liang Yuzhou tightened his thin lips, his face as dark as ink.
Obviously, he didn't want to leave.
Yu Huiyan's eyes turned red, but she still bit her lips, looking patient and sensible.
"Cousin, you'd better go quickly. Aunt Song's health is more important. We can make another appointment some other day."
The old lady's eyes turned cold, like a sharp sword stabbing at Yu Huiyan. "Miss Yu, as an unmarried young lady, are you so familiar with meeting another man's husband?"
Yu Huiyan seemed to have suffered great humiliation. With teary eyes, she looked at Liang Yuzhou. "Cousin, I..."
Liang Yuzhou glanced at Song Wanchu and his face darkened, as if it was Song Wanchu who had caused Yu Huiyan to be humiliated.
"Aren't you leaving?" The old lady seemed to be giving Liang Yuzhou an ultimatum.
Under the pressure of the virtue of filial piety, Liang Yuzhou had no choice but to comply.
As he passed by her, there was a glint of sternness in his deep black eyes.
Every time the old lady forced him, he would automatically assume that it was Song Wanchu who had snitched behind his back.
After all, in his mind, she was the scheming woman who had calculated her way into the Duke's Mansion.
In the end, all his resentment would be vented on Song Wanchu.
This time was no exception.
But this would be the last time.
The old lady arranged for the two of them to ride in the same carriage.
Yu Huiyan chased after them. Seeing their backs getting into the carriage, she clenched her fists tightly.
Inside the carriage, Liang Yuzhou always turned his back to her, only showing her a resentful back.
Well, being interrupted while chatting with his sweetheart, who would be happy about that?
The atmosphere in the carriage was suffocating, and her chest felt a dull pain.
Suddenly, Liang Yuzhou spoke. "Didn't you want to talk to me?"
Song Wanchu subconsciously placed her hand on her chest.
Three years ago at the palace banquet, Liang Yuzhou was poisoned, and his life could only be saved with a medicine made from someone's heart - blood.
Without hesitation, she took the dagger from the Princess and pierced her own chest.
Not long after Liang Yuzhou was cured, the Emperor issued an imperial edict conferring her as a concubine in the Duke's Mansion.
But soon, rumors spread that Song Wanchu had entered the palace with her father's memorial tablet that day, begging the Emperor to grant her a marriage with Liang Yuzhou.
However, no one ever mentioned the fact that she had taken out her heart - blood for Liang Yuzhou.
Even Liang Yuzhou himself had never asked about it.
But in fact, she hadn't seen the Emperor at all that day when she entered the palace.
It was the little eunuch beside the Princess who came to her house to deliver the imperial edict.
The Princess Jiahe was on good terms with the Princess, and Yu Huiyan had grown up beside the Princess Jiahe since childhood, so the Princess naturally liked Yu Huiyan very much.
When the Princess heard that the old lady wanted Song Wanchu to marry Liang Yuzhou, she summoned Song Wanchu to the palace and made her kneel under the scorching sun with her father's memorial tablet in her arms.
"So what if your father sacrificed himself for the old Duke? It's only natural for a watchdog to protect its master. You low - born thing, how dare you even dream of marrying into the Duke's Mansion?"
She knelt for a whole day, while the Princess Jiahe and Yu Huiyan just watched coldly.
She had liked Liang Yuzhou ever since she was twelve years old. That day, she saw Liang Yuzhou in riding clothes at the military training ground, hitting the target accurately from a hundred steps away. She had fallen in love with that high - spirited young man uncontrollably.
She also knew very well that her family background was not worthy of Liang Yuzhou's noble status.
She had never expressed this love of hers, nor had she ever dreamed of marrying him.
And she would never have begged the Emperor.
Since Liang Yuzhou had asked, Song Wanchu thought for a moment and then said, "Three years ago, you were poisoned at the palace banquet. It was me who took out my heart - blood to make the medicine for you. The old lady was so touched that she begged the Emperor, and that's how the imperial edict conferring me as a concubine came about. It wasn't something I got by using my father's sacrifice."
Finally saying what had been pent up in her heart for three years in front of him, she suddenly felt a lot lighter.
Liang Yuzhou turned his head and stared at her intently, with something like inky darkness swirling in his eyes, his expression unclear.
Song Wanchu felt a bit nervous under his gaze.
Suddenly, he sneered, looking more cold - hearted than ever.
"Song Wanchu, your ability to lie has become even more skilled!"
Leaving this sentence behind, he got out of the carriage and strode away.
Song Wanchu was stunned. She stood there for a long time, unable to come back to her senses.
She had almost lost her life for Liang Yuzhou, but he didn't believe her!
After three years of sharing the same bed and being intimate with each other, she didn't even deserve this bit of trust from him!
The flame of love that had been burning in her chest finally went out.
...
Liang Yuzhou was in a bad mood. Before he knew it, he had walked to the Qingya Zhai.
Unlike the bustling Fanxing Tower, this place was frequented by literati and refined scholars, and the environment was very quiet.
He asked for a private room. After just two cups of wine, he saw a young man in luxurious clothes push the door open and enter with a smile. "It's really strange. Everyone in the capital knows that Lord Liang is hosting a welcome banquet for his childhood sweetheart today. How come the host of the banquet is hiding here drinking alone?"
This person was Liang Yuzhou's friend, Wen Congbai, the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis of Pingwei.
Liang Yuzhou didn't respond to his words. Instead, he glanced at the door. "Isn't Yingnan with you?"
Guo Yingnan was the fourth son of the Marquis of Dingyuan.
Both of them were childhood friends of Liang Yuzhou, and their friendship was extraordinary.
Both of them had been invited to Yu Huiyan's welcome banquet, but they had both made excuses not to go.
Wen Congbai sat down opposite Liang Yuzhou and took a sip of tea. "Don't you know? Yingnan's wife had a miscarriage last month and has been feeling depressed. Yingnan has been trying every means to make his wife happy, so he doesn't have time to go out for social events."
Hearing the word "miscarriage", Liang Yuzhou suddenly lost his interest in drinking and slowly put down his wine cup.
Wen Congbai sighed. "I heard from Yingnan that his wife was in poor health to begin with and it was difficult for her to have children. She finally got pregnant, but his mother actually asked her to organize a birthday banquet. His wife had a miscarriage because of overwork.
That old lady is really something. Although Yingnan's wife's family background is a bit lower, she is as virtuous and kind as any noble lady from a prominent family. Why does she have to make things difficult for a pregnant woman?
Yingnan has been blaming himself for not protecting his wife well. He has lost a lot of weight in the past month."
Liang Yuzhou listened quietly to Wen Congbai's rambling, his eyebrows furrowing more and more tightly.
He remembered two years ago when he returned to the capital from Hengzhou. As soon as he entered the Shuiyun Residence, he saw Song Wanchu looking sickly.
The once bright and beautiful eyes were now filled with sorrow. It was as if she had lost all her vitality after losing the child.
She endured her grief and kept blaming herself. "I'm sorry, Lord Liang. I'm useless. I couldn't protect our child."
Suddenly, he truly felt the coldness of that winter.
"You drink slowly. I'll leave first."