Hearing Wan'er's words, Fan Xian's face immediately darkened, but remembering his wife's delicate health, he quickly plastered on a gentle smile again, saying with a smile, "What are you thinking about? Mr. Fei is my teacher, he's watched me grow up since I was a child. That medicine was a good one that our teacher painstakingly obtained from Dongyi City when we got married. How could he not understand the principle of balancing different elements? You've been taking that medicine for over a year, and your health has noticeably improved. You can't stop… you little scatterbrain."

Lin Wan'er smiled faintly, a hint of fatigue in her smile, and said softly, "Old Fei's medicine is naturally good, but… Master Ku He said…"

Before his wife could finish, Fan Xian interrupted decisively, "Master Ku He is, of course, a top-notch figure when it comes to fighting and discussing Dao, but when it comes to seeing a doctor and taking medicine, he can't even compare to one of my and my teacher's little fingers. Listen to him? You might as well listen to a sow."

Although he restrained himself, Wan'er still heard the anger deep in his words, and gently took his hand, comforting him, "Don't be angry. Although I've stopped taking the medicine, the imperial physician has seen me and said the old illness is gone. It's just that recently I might have some internal Qi imbalances, so I'm a little weaker."

Fan Xian shook his head, sat halfway on the bed, and put Wan'er in his arms, gently patting her arm, saying, "Your health is the most important thing. Don't listen to what others say."

Wan'er leaned in his arms, remained silent for a moment, and slowly said, "But… I really want a child."

Fan Xian was silent, not knowing what he was thinking, and after a long while said, "I don't want to be angry with you… but I really want you to know that there's nothing to discuss about this matter. As long as you're healthy, what does it matter if we have children or not?"

In today's world, having no offspring is considered a great sin, and Wan'er and Fan Xian have been married for a year and a half, but there's still no sign of movement in her belly. This girl usually keeps this matter in mind, and is very sad. But now, hearing Fan Xian's resounding words, she was stunned.

Wan'er's emotions were complex, seeming to be joy, but also with a faint sorrow, and mixed with a little guilt.

Fan Xian looked at the sad expression on his wife's face, couldn't help but sigh, and gently rubbed her brow with his finger, softly saying, "There are many fools in this world… who think that if you can't have children, it's the woman's problem. Actually, let me tell you, whether you can have children is a matter for both husband and wife… I think, it's highly likely that I have some kind of sperm deficiency or something, what does it have to do with you?"

This was a joke to comfort Wan'er, but Lin Wan'er was stunned, thinking that her husband was really shameless, even saying those two words out loud. But she didn't understand what kind of deficiency Fan Xian was talking about at all, only vaguely understanding that Fan Xian wanted to take the problem on himself, and couldn't help but roll her eyes and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? What does whether or not you can have children have to do with a big man?"

Fan Xian laughed loudly and said, "Who said it doesn't matter? Otherwise, you try to let Old Yao and Old Dai in the palace have two to see?"

Lin Wan'er was stunned again.

Fan Xian continued to laugh and said, "Even the infinitely profound Hong Gonggong, you let him have a child, he can't do it… so having children is naturally a matter for both men and women."

Lin Wan'er immediately understood, a blush appearing on her cheeks, and she spat, "The more you say, the more outrageous it becomes."

Fan Xian stopped laughing and said seriously, "Then let's talk about serious matters. You must insist on taking the medicine."

Lin Wan'er listened and nodded, but her eyes flickered. Fan Xian looked down and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, knowing that he couldn't persuade her. This girl Wan'er is usually simple and lovable, but inwardly intelligent, but when she encounters some major events involving herself and Fan Xian, she is particularly stubborn.

The scientific principles that Fan Xian was talking about, I'm afraid even the unconventional Haitang couldn't believe, and Wan'er was naturally the same.

……

……

"Why do you have to have a child?" Fan Xian embraced his wife tenderly and said softly, "Look at your life in the palace when you were young, think about how I was exiled to Danzhou since I was a child, and you'll know that if you have children, you still have to raise them. If you don't raise them well, it's better not to have them in the first place."

Lin Wan'er lowered her head, pursed her lips, and refuted very calmly and confidently, "We are not them, we can raise our children very well."

Fan Xian felt a little helpless, "But… if it's really because of me that we can't have them, then let's not have them. It's not as important as your health."

Although Lin Wan'er felt warm, she still stubbornly shook her head, "I want a child."

Fan Xian said with a headache, "You're always so stubborn."

Lin Wan'er looked up at him, her long eyelashes fluttering gently, "I want to have a child with you… In this past year, you've been either in Northern Qi or in Jiangnan, I'm very lonely…"

Although it was only part of the reason, Fan Xian still felt a strong sense of guilt, and didn't know what to say.

The two embraced quietly, perhaps stimulated by the body temperature, Wan'er coughed gently again. She didn't want Fan Xian to worry, so she tried hard to suppress it, her little face flushed red, looking very pitiful. Fan Xian felt a pang in his heart, gently rubbing her chest, comforting her, "Don't think so much, after we get to Hangzhou, I'll take good care of you… As for Mr. Fei's medicine, I'll analyze it carefully again, but in any case, you can't stop taking it."

Lin Wan'er raised her head, looking at him pitifully like a kitten.

Fan Xian darkened his face and pretended to be fierce, "There's no room for discussion on this matter."

Lin Wan'er pouted her full lips, unwillingly rubbing against him in his arms.

Fan Xian sighed, and began to massage her to relax her mind, his fingers wandering around, delivering strands of pure Heavenly Dao Qi. Wan'er only felt a warmth in her body, her mind gradually clearing, but the fatigue of the long journey became more intense, and she fell asleep against his body with incomparable peace of mind.

……

……

Fan Xian walked out of the bedroom, stretched lazily, and relaxed his stiff limbs.

Teng Da's wife greeted him and told him about the journey. Fan Xian nodded as he listened, realizing that ever since leaving Kyoto and no longer under his father's supervision, Wan'er had started stopping the medicine. This move could be said to be brave, but it could also be said to be reckless.

However, Fan Xian couldn't feel even a trace of anger. Although deep down he still thought that Wan'er should love herself the most, in the end it was for the sake of having children, how could he bear to make Wan'er sad again?

He instructed Teng Da's wife to prepare the usual medicine. Teng Da's wife said with difficulty, "The young mistress refuses to take it, what should we do?"

Fan Xian lowered his head and thought for a while, "Tell me after you've prepared it, I'll go feed it to her."

Joy appeared on Teng Da's wife's face, and she praised the heavens a few times, and went away happily.

Arriving at the front hall, Deng Ziyue, whom he had sent to Shazhou to pick up Wan'er, saluted and asked for his well-being, and also told him about the journey. Now that the Jiangnan Water Camp was behaving honestly, and the Jiangnan Navy was stationed in Shazhou, Wan'er's group traveled down the river without encountering any problems.

Fan Xian nodded, sat on the chair, and suddenly sighed, a faint look of worry on his face.

Deng Ziyue was slightly stunned, thinking that his superior, even when facing the Second Prince in Kyoto, or when killing people in Jiangnan at night, had never shown such a serious expression. What was going on? He guessed in his heart, could it be that the battle for the position of Fan Manor's primary wife had already begun? He couldn't help but lower his head and remain silent, not saying a word.

Fan Xian didn't know what he was thinking at all, he was just recalling what Wan'er had said earlier, did Mr. Fei's medicine… really have such serious side effects?

From Danzhou to Kyoto before the marriage, before meeting Wan'er at the Qing Temple, Fan Xian knew that his wife had been suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. This disease was basically a terminal illness in today's world, but young men and women always have boundless courage to face future illnesses when they meet, so at that time they just forcibly suppressed that hidden fear.

Fortunately, there was Mr. Fei. On the night of the wedding, Mr. Fei painstakingly rushed back from Dongyi City and brought back a miraculous medicine specifically for treating pulmonary tuberculosis. The name of the medicine was One Smoke Ice, and it took Mr. Fei four full years to obtain this medicine.

Because four years before the wedding, there were already rumors in the palace about the marriage between the Fan and Lin families.

The miraculous medicine, obtained with so much effort and so much time, was indeed effective. After the marriage, Wan'er had been insisting on taking it, each time only scraping off a little from the pill, taking it with a decoction, and her health gradually improved. She no longer coughed, and the imperial physicians in the palace also believed that the county princess's pulmonary tuberculosis had miraculously recovered.

But… side effects?

"Vinegar-treated turtle shell." Fan Xian recalled the ingredients in the pill, "Rehmannia, donkey-hide gelatin, beeswax… What does this have to do with having children?"

But he immediately thought of Mr. Fei's expression on the night of the wedding.

……

……

"After taking the medicine, you must abstain from sex for a month."

……

……

This was naturally a joke, but now that Fan Xian recalled it, he realized that his teacher seemed to have really hidden some important information. And later… Fan Xian had always felt strange, why Mr. Fei rarely met with him, it seemed that the other party was hiding something.

Could it be… that the real side effect of One Smoke Ice is that it would damage the patient's reproductive function?

Fan Xian couldn't help but shake his head while sitting on the chair… As long as Wan'er's illness can be cured, as long as the pulmonary tuberculosis doesn't relapse, as long as she's healthy, what does it matter if she can have children or not?

Speaking of his previous life, Fan Xian felt that the most inexplicable scene in that world was when he would occasionally see on TV or in novels, a doctor in the delivery room with a solemn face, coming out of the delivery room to tell the family of the pregnant woman that the pregnant woman had a difficult labor, and they could only save one, should they save the adult or save the child?

Save the adult or save the child? Does this need to be asked? Fan Xian had always thought that this was the most stupid question, absolutely stupid, stupid to the extreme.

Fan Xian wasn't stupid.

……

……

But.

"Old bald donkey!" Fan Xian stared coldly at the stone slab floor in front of him, his eyes filled with raging anger, and said grimly, "You big idiot!"

Deng Ziyue was stunned, not understanding the word "idiot," but he could clearly see that the Commissioner was already angry to the point of being on the verge of exploding, and quickly comforted him, "My lord, please calm your anger, my lord, please calm your anger."

Fan Xian cursed, "Calm my anger my ass!" He slapped down with his palm, directly smashing the table beside him into pieces, and cursed viciously, "What are that damned old bald donkey's intentions!"

Regardless of whether Mr. Fei's medicine had side effects or not, it was actually of great benefit to Wan'er's health. And after Wan'er stopped taking the medicine, her body had obviously weakened. Who knew what would happen in the future? Wan'er stopped taking the medicine because Ku He had revealed the matter… and why did Ku He do this?

Fan Xian didn't think that Ku He was a purely compassionate guy, whether his wife could have children or not, he didn't believe that it would make Ku He so concerned…

Thinking that Wan'er almost relapsed because of Ku He's words, Fan Xian's fingers began to tremble. He became angry, and had an uncontrollable impulse to kill.

He stood up, his eyes flashing with dark fire, and stared at Deng Ziyue, saying, "Pass the order to Su Wenmao and Xia Qifei, reduce the grade of goods going north this year by one level!"

Deng Ziyue exclaimed… thinking, what exactly happened? The trade between the two sides in Northern Qi had always been very pleasant. Suddenly making such a move seemed to harm the overall situation. He couldn't help but advise, "My lord, although Ziyue doesn't know what happened, reducing the grade by one level is equivalent to making Northern Qi lose hundreds of thousands of taels of silver… this matter is too big."

Fan Xian knew that Deng Ziyue was advising him not to harm public affairs because of private grievances. He sneered and said, "I am someone who repays grievances. If others want my family to be unhappy, I will make their country unhappy. Hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, in exchange for my wife's ten days of coughing, is cheap for them."

Deng Ziyue heard the icy chill in his lord's tone and dared not speak any further. He asked cautiously, "What exactly happened?"

Fan Xian didn't answer.

"My lord, the bald donkey you mentioned… what kind of donkey is it?"

Fan Xian sneered and said, "It's Ku He, the hairless old donkey from Northern Qi."

Deng Ziyue was silent, shocked but not daring to say anything, thinking that the Commissioner dared to curse Si Gu Jian in the street (maybe it wasn't Si Gu Jian?). It didn't seem like a big deal to curse Ku He as an old donkey in his own home at this time.

Fan Xian continued coldly, "Send a message to Wang Qinian and have him prepare to release the news."

"Yes." Deng Ziyue accepted the order and asked, "What specifications, and approximately when?"

"Specifications?" Fan Xian narrowed his eyes, "Within three days, let everyone in Northern Qi know a story, and make them believe it… As for when, listen to my instructions."

"Yes."

If Ruoruo wasn't currently studying under Ku He's tutelage, Fan Xian couldn't wait to release the news that Ku He was eating human flesh today - although he knew that such rumors wouldn't cause any damage to Ku He's lofty reputation, nor would they bring any real benefits. In other words, now wasn't the best time to release this news.

But Fan Xian couldn't help it. He couldn't kill Ku He now, so he must do something to retaliate - in many cases, Fan Xian looked like a calm and sinister guy, but when it came to those he cared about most, he would be angry like a lion, knowing that he wouldn't get much meat, and even lose a little, but he still had to roar to defend his territory.

No matter what Ku He thought, Wan'er had indeed stopped taking the medicine because of his words, so Fan Xian must make Northern Qi and Ku He himself suffer some losses.

Maybe it was a little childish.

But the reason why Fan Xian could still be called a human was probably because of these childish behaviors.