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Since Chu Yun was up, it was only right they returned to their estate and stopped imposing on Tan Ruo and Minister Song\'s hospitality. 

Tan Ruo was of course curious about the physician\'s diagnosis, even more so when Chu Yun paled at the mere mention of it.

"Ah, nothing to worry about, just a stomach bug," Xiao Zai said, which earned him a glare from Chu Yun.

A \'stomach bug\' really?

They were almost at the estate\'s gates when Chu Hean rushed outside. He came to a sudden stop as soon as his eyes met Chu Yun\'s.

"You\'re alright?" he asked, glancing up and down Chu Yun\'s form, searching for any obvious signs of illness.

Chu Yun only nodded stiffly and climbed into the carriage. He didn\'t have anything else to say to Chu Hean, not after their last disastrous conversation. He couldn\'t understand why Chu Hean would want to humiliate himself by becoming a concubine.

Part of him wanted to entertain the idea that he was doing it for him, because he wanted to free Chu Yun of an undesirable marriage -- but he never managed to fully convince himself.

He was already sat in the carriage when he heard Xiao Zai advise Chu Hean to find alternative lodgings and stop imposing on the hospitality of people he barely knew.

Chu Yun considered stepping out and saying something. Chu Hean was his brother after all, he should welcome him in his home.

But before he could make a decision, Chu Hean\'s melodious voice rang out, "I\'ll find other accommodations, and wait further instructions from my royal uncle regarding the matter of joining his Highness\' household. As brother-in-law knows, the decision isn\'t up to me."

Moments later Xiao Zai climbed up into the carriage as well, his face thunderous. Chu Yun looked down at his lap and said nothing.

---

They arrived at the estate late, and despite the several hours he spent unconscious, Chu Yun was tired. 

"You need to eat something," Xiao Zai told him, after unsuccessfully trying to help Chu Yun down the carriage, thwarted by Chu Yun pulling away from his touch with a glare.

He wasn\'t a fucking invalid. If Xiao Zai thought he was going to treat him as one just because he let some random charlatan convince him Chu Yun was pregnant he had another thing coming.

"Tell the kitchens to have some food delivered to my quarters," Chu Yun said, his only concession to Xiao Zai\'s demands.

Xiao Zai still wasn\'t satisfied. He frowned while keeping pace with Chu Yun. "I should stay with you. Maybe it would be for the best if we went back to sharing a bed..."

Chu Yun cut him off with a snort. "Why? Say I was pregnant, how would your presence improve anything?"

Concern knit Xiao Zai\'s dark eyebrows. "I\'m just worried about you."

"Well, stop, it\'s condescending," Chu Yun said, hurrying his pace so that he could reach his quarters sooner.

He hated the idea of Xiao Zai looking at him differently, seeing him as anything less, or more, than he was. It clawed at something vicious and primal, threatening his very sense of self.

A hand closed around his wrist, pulling him back. "Why are you so angry with me? I\'m not your enemy, I\'m your husband, let me help you."

The soft, wounded tone of his voice made guilt bubble up in Chu Yun\'s throat. He didn\'t have the words to explain how much the very idea of being pregnant was upsetting to him, even if he didn\'t fully believe it yet. He could tell that to Xiao Zai it was nothing short of miraculous, as if the heavens had decided to bless him personally -- an answer to all their problems.

It was exactly that which frightened Chu Yun. To him it felt like a curse.

Gently, he pried Xiao Zai\'s fingers from around his wrist. "We\'ll talk tomorrow. I\'ll eat, and tomorrow well call over another doctor and swear him to secrecy."

Xiao Zai said nothing but Chu Yun could feel the weight of his gaze as he made his way out of the courtyard.

---

He had just switched into a fresh change of inner robes when Hua Nanyi knocked on his room\'s door, bringing with her steaming food, and some foul smelling decoction that Chu Yun guessed must be medicine.

She set everything down on the low table, arranging the bowls and plates neatly as if she was bidding her time. Finally she took the medicine bowl out of the tray and handed it over to Chu Yun, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

"When your husband told me to file the physician\'s prescription for you I didn\'t even think about it and just went running to the nearest apothecary," she said, sitting down besides Chu Yun at the table. "But the pharmacist must have thought I looked too worried, because he said \'why the long face miss? certainly your master or mistress being with child is cause for celebration.\'"

Chu Yun\'s hand shook on the teapot, missing his cup and splashing a few drops on the table. He ignored it and continued filling up his cup as normal.

She gazed up into Chu Yun\'s eyes and asked, "Why would he say that?", looking as perturbed as Chu Yun felt.

He let out a shuddering sigh, relieved that at least another person seemed to realise the oddity of the situation. "The physician seems to be convinced, and have convinced Xiao Zai along with himself, that I am," he gestured vaguely in the air, "pregnant."

Hua Nanyi\'s eyes widened comically, her lips pressed into a thin line as some sort of sustained hum tried to escape from behind them.

"Sure, that\'s...normal," she said after some time, looking on the verge of screaming. "We can run back to Xin if you want. Forget divorce, I think this is grounds for an annulment."

Chu Yun laughed, feeling himself relax for perhaps the first time in days. He could always count on Hua Nanyi to make things feel more normal even in the middle of a storm.

"I don\'t want to leave, but...what if I am pregnant? That would be something, uh?" He kept his tone light but allowed some of the panic he was feeling to colour his words.

Hua Nanyi eyed the bowl of medicine on his lap, sucking on a sharp breath. "Well, I guess, I guess you can drink the medicine, either way, it\'s not going to harm you. Stuff for pregnant people is always very mild, right?" She scratched her head, her nose wrinkling in confusion. "I have no idea actually."

Chu Yun looked down at the bowl as well. He lifted it up to his lips and drank the full contents in one go, determined to get it over with.

It settled heavily on his empty stomach, but it didn\'t make him nauseous. He should take advantage of the moment and eat while his...stomach bug...allowed him.

"Suppose...suppose you are pregnant," Hua Nanyi started, falteringly, her eyes fixed on the empty bowl. "How would something like that happen?"

Chu Yun shrugged. "I don\'t know, I\'ve never heard of something like it," he paused and turned to Hua Nanyi, "have you?"

She bit her lower lip, looking momentarily troubled, but then shook her head. "No, never."

There was something odd about her look, but Chu Yun was in no mood to press her for answers. "Well, I\'m seeing another physician tomorrow, so I guess I\'ll know for sure what\'s going on, and hopefully this will have been nothing more than an old man\'s wrong diagnosis."

Hua Nanyi nodded again, drumming her fingers on the table. "If it isn\'t...if it isn\'t, you need to be careful."

Chu Yun shot her an unimpressed look. "That goes without saying, no one can know-"

She shook her head. "I don\'t mean just in that way, if you really are...that...it means someone did something."

"Something?"

Hua Nanyi sighed in exasperation, turning to face him fully. "How else would something like that be possible, short of the heaven\'s own blessing?" 

Could someone have done something to make it possible for Chu Yun to get pregnant? Surely not. Because he wasn\'t.

But thinking back on it. The timing of his rut was very unusual, it happened completely outside of the time Chu Yun expected it to. The onset, too, was very aggressive, without any of the usual symptoms leading up to it that usually made Chu Yun aware it was coming.

The only thing out of the ordinary about the day before was that he and Xiao Zai drank and ate together. Some of the wine was a gift from Chu Hean, some was a gift from Gu Wei.

Chu Yun had no idea which he had drunk more of. Dread settled on the pit of his stomach. What if...what if something in the wine made it possible for him to get pregnant and triggered his rut?

He couldn\'t see how his brother would benefit from that, especially considering his latest actions. Gu Wei on the other hand...

"What is it?" Hua Nanyi asked. "You went pale all of a sudden."

"It\'s nothing, I\'m just tired."

He didn\'t want to spend any more time thinking about this.. He especially didn\'t want to consider the possibility of Xiao Zai having anything to do with it.