By the time Lian Zhou could get out of bed and walk, it was almost the New Year.

Everyone in the village knew that Shan Yu had picked up a shuanger who was even uglier than Wan Qiu. They guessed the two had been involved with each other for a long time ago and engaged in questionable activities, causing Wan Qiu to become a doormat to allow his husband being taken away by others. Despite this, Wan Qiu still served delicious food and drinks when Shan Yu returned home.

It was so pitiful and despising.

“I heard that shuanger is even uglier than Wan Qiu. How did Shan Yu even manage to be with him?”

“How attractive do you think Qiu Ge’er is? Maybe Shan Yu has a preference for this. The uglier they are, the more he likes them?”

In the twelfth lunar month, the women and shuangers were all wearing new clothes for the New Year. When they gathered to do needlework, they could not help but chat about the families of the east and west.

Wan Qiu didn’t have much friend, so he took some embroidery and ran to Grandma Wang.

Someone muttered, “By the way, have you noticed that Qiu Ge’er… seems to be better looking than before?”

Ever since Shan Yu changed his ways and studied medicine with Grandpa Yaba, Wan Qiu’s days was getting better day by day.

He was well-fed and well-clothed, and his health was slowly improving under Shan Yu’s careful care. Not only did he regain the normal color of his small face, but his entire body filled out, and his appearance…

Ming Yue looked at Wan Qiu’s back and noticed that he indeed had changed quite a bit.

He remembered Wan Qiu had lived a very miserable life. He was half-clothed and always had injuries on his body. He relied on the charity of kind-hearted people in the village like Grandma Wang to survive until now.

Now, Wan Qiu was wearing a cyan satin winter coat. The material was smooth and shiny, and the stitching was detailed. It looked like it was made by a tailor in the city.

Ming Yue looked at the rabbit fur wrapped around Wan Qiu’s collar and cuffs, then at the new but rough printed blue cloth in his hand, and couldn’t help but feel a little envy.

His heart was filled with unreasonable panic and he resented the god. How could they allow Wan Qiu to rise above him?

Ming Yue went out almost at the same time as Wan Qiu, and as Wan Qiu passed by, he smelled a hint of fragrance in the air. It smelled very good and was also very soothing.

He couldn’t help but glance at Wan Qiu’s smooth but yellowing hair and sneered, “It seems your life is indeed much easier. You even use the fragrances of the rich, but no matter how much you dress up, you are still the same—an ugly shuanger.”

The fragrance Ming Yue mentioned was actually the herbal medicine called eupatorium japonicum, which Shan Yu used as a substitute for soap. Not only did it remove stains, but it was also used for medicinal baths. It benefited the joints, nourished the blood, and was also a very good repair product for skin and hair.

Wan Qiu took a bath with eupatorium japonicum every day. His skin and hair quality improved, and the smell of eupatorium japonicum lingered on his body for a long time.

There was a very obvious aggression in Ming Yue’s words. Wan Qiu looked at him unconsciously when he heard this and then instinctively protected his belly, which was already showing signs of pregnancy, and took small steps to avoid Ming Yue.

“Hmph! Why are you pretending to be weak in front of me?” When Ming Yue saw Wan Qiu was not doing well, he found him unpleasant to look at. But seeing Wan Qiu doing better than himself, he felt even more resentful and displeased with him. He took a deliberate step closer and said, “Even if you become better, you are still ugly. Just wait, next year, not only will your family have a concubine, but the child in your belly will also have a companion.”

Ming Yue was alluding to Lian Zhou, which struck a painful spot within Wan Qiu.

.

The six-month-old baby had already started to move. Wan Qiu went home in a bad mood. His stomach already felt uncomfortable, and then he heard the laughter of Shan Yu and Lian Zhou coming from the neighboring room, which saddened him even more.

He squeezed the embroidery sample in his hand tightly and didn’t even dare to ask Shan Yu about Lian Zhou. He laid on the bed alone, trying to comfort the child in his belly. Eventually, when Shan Yu returned to the house to get a change of clothes, he realized something was wrong and hurriedly cooked a bowl of anti-fetal medicine.

Wan Qiu’s heart was filled with bitterness because of the blatant relationship between Shan Yu and Lian Zhou, and he hated himself for being hopeless and unable to even ask a question.

He looked at the clothes Shan Yu had packed up and said with a dull expression, “…Husband, what are you doing?”

“Oh!” Shan Yu fed Wan Qiu the anti-fetal medicine and made the charcoal fire in the basin even more intense. He said naturally, “Lian Zhou and I will sleep in that room from now on. Just go to bed early from now on. You don’t have to wait for me. Just call out if you need anything.”

Shan Yu never stayed in the main room again after he brought Lian Zhou back. He stayed overnight elsewhere, now he took the last bit of clothes with him, and said that Wan Qiu should never wait for him again. This! What did it mean?

Wan Qiu felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His eyes turned red uncontrollably as he asked, “Husband! Do you want to divorce me? Or do you want to take him as your concubine?”

Shan Yu’s face was filled with confusion. He just felt that sharing a bed with someone else’s wife was very stressful, so he wanted to stay with his good friend. He had considered giving Wan Qiu freedom by divorcing him and letting him find true love elsewhere, but what was the shuanger talking about, taking Lian Zhou as a concubine?

Not to mention whether Lian Zhou would beat him to death or not, Shan Yu himself felt a little weird about it.

He thought to himself that if he were to be provided with a beautiful woman, he might consider it, but with a man, he preferred not to think about it.

“Why do you think so?” Shan Yu was a little distressed. “He and I are just good friends, not the kind of relationship you think.”

“Husband, you don’t have to lie to me; I’m not a fool.” Wan Qiu lowered his head. “Zhou Ge’er is very beautiful, and I know you can’t control your urges. If I don’t say anything, it would seem like I’m ignoring it. I’m pregnant and can’t serve you as before. I understand your needs… but no matter what, you shouldn’t treat me so like this.”

Shan Yu was perplexed. “Wait, when did I ever mistreat you?”

Wan Qiu shed tears and bit his lips. “You take in someone with an unknown background and share a room with him. You eat and sleep together, while I carry your child on my own. Isn’t that a neglect of me? He is a shuanger with no status, now that you have a relationship with him, he must remain with you for the rest of his life. Everyone in the village laughs at me, and you still don’t care. You neglect me… and when the baby comes, where will I fit in?”

Pregnant people shouldn’t experience too much emotional turmoil. Wan Qiu was already damaging his body, and he depended on God’s blessing to keep this pregnancy. His stomach hurt when he cried, and Shan Yu panicked immediately.

He was a kind-hearted doctor and always considered Wan Qiu as his younger brother. Seeing him so upset due to his relationship with Lian Zhou, Shan Yu quickly touched Wan Qiu’s belly to comfort him.

Jealousy hurts the lungs and liver. Shan Yu was a single dog before traveling through time, so he never experienced the feeling of jealousy. However, if he put himself in Wan Qiu’s shoes, it was not difficult to understand Wan Qiu’s mood.

The couple finally shared a bed together after a long time apart. Shan Yu laid on his back, staring at the bedcurtain in a daze. Wan Qiu felt a mix of emotions and asked him, “Husband, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“…Husband, can you do something? I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable.”

“Huh?” Shan Yu sat up, slid his fingers along the quilt, and rubbed Wan Qiu’s large belly through the thin layer of clothing. “Huh? Everything seems normal. What’s wrong?”