The Life-Saving Medicine!

At those words, the relaxed atmosphere instantly grew somewhat tense.

Lin Qingxue's hand shook violently as she drank her tea, and the tea nearly splashed out.

She lowered her head, her pearly teeth biting tightly into her lips. The rosy color in her face instantly faded, leaving her several shades paler.

A child.

It was a topic she wanted to touch, yet did not dare touch.

If they were a normal married couple, she would probably have agreed shyly by now.

But she... with this broken body of hers, her own life already counting down to its end, what right did she have to bring a new life into the world?

Even if she really became pregnant, the Cold Poison would travel through her bloodline and pass on to the child. The child would probably be doomed to die young from the moment it was born.

At that thought, Lin Qingxue's fingers twisted tightly into the hem of her clothes, and a trace of pain and gloom flashed through her eyes.

Zhang Chen keenly noticed the change in his wife's mood.

He set down the spirit fruit in his hand, reached over to hold Lin Qingxue's cold hand, and said to his mother with a smile, "Mother, there's no rush. You know that the Cold Poison in Qingxue's body hasn't been cured yet. Having a child now would place too great a burden on her body, and it wouldn't be good for the child either."

"Our top priority right now is to nurse her body back to health. As for a grandson... don't worry. I'll definitely let you hold one until your arms ache."

Liu Yueru was stunned for a moment before realizing that she had been too hasty.

Seeing the gloomy look on her daughter-in-law's face, her heart ached as well, and she hurriedly smoothed things over. "That's right, that's right. Chen'er is right. Mother was muddleheaded. Her health comes first, her health comes first! We can talk about this later."

Zhang Yunshan also quickly changed the subject and began chatting about a high-level Sea Beast recently spotted in the Outer Sea.

But by the end of the meal, Lin Qingxue's mood remained somewhat low.

After leaving the main courtyard, on the way back to the Side Courtyard, Lin Qingxue kept her head lowered, silent the entire time.

Zhang Chen did not speak either. He merely held her hand in silence and slowed his steps to accompany her.

When they returned to the room, they dismissed the servants.

Lin Qingxue suddenly turned around and grabbed Zhang Chen's sleeve with her other hand.

She raised her head. Her beautiful eyes were brimming with tears, exuding a heart-wrenching, desolate beauty.

"Husband..."

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Chen gently wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.

"Let's have a child."

Lin Qingxue's voice trembled, yet carried a hint of resolve. "I know my body... may not hold out for more than a few years. You're the Zhang Family's only heir. You can't be left without descendants."

"I want to take advantage of the fact that I can still move and leave you a bloodline. Even if... even if I have to stake my life on it, I still want to try."

She was truly afraid.

Afraid that one day, she would die soundlessly in the cold night.

In this warm household, she was a burden, a useless person who could only consume resources without giving anything back.

The only way she could think of to repay him was to bear Zhang Chen a child and continue his bloodline.

Looking at this foolish woman before him, foolish enough to break his heart, Zhang Chen felt the softest place in his heart struck hard.

He swept Lin Qingxue into his arms and held her tightly.

"Fool."

Zhang Chen sighed softly by her ear. "I won't allow you to speak of yourself that way. Your life is mine. Without my permission, even King Yan can't take you away."

"As for children, we'll have them—many of them. But not now, and not by trading your life for them."

He released her from his embrace and cupped Lin Qingxue's cheeks in both hands, his gaze utterly solemn. "Do you believe me?"

Lin Qingxue stared at him blankly and nodded instinctively.

"Then give me half a month."

Zhang Chen raised one finger. "In half a month, I'll give you an answer. By then, you won't even be able to go back on your word."

Of course, he did not truly need half a month to search for a cure.

That "Physique Enhancement Pill," which could perfectly resolve Lin Qingxue's physique problem, was quietly lying in his System Space at that very moment.

The problem was that the pill had come by questionable means.

If he simply took it out now and claimed that he had found it on the road—or that it had come from some mysterious "bloodline inheritance"—it would be far too astonishing and far too likely to arouse suspicion.

The more precious something was, the more it needed a reasonable, arduous acquisition process to seem real and conceal the System's existence.

Thus, these fifteen days were the "performance period" he had arranged for himself.

Over the next half month, Zhang Chen became exceptionally busy.

Every day, before dawn, he would rush to Dao Seeking Peak and stay there for the entire day, claiming to outsiders that he was pestering the ancestor and asking him to use his personal connections to search for a cure.

Whenever he returned to his room late at night, he would put on an exhausted appearance while forcing himself to comfort Lin Qingxue.

"The ancestor contacted a Pill Dao master from the Central Continent today. Apparently, there's hope..."

"The ancestor nearly got into a fight with someone today just to exchange for one of the main ingredients..."

Watching her Husband toil and rush about for her sake, growing thinner by the day (in truth, Zhang Chen had deliberately controlled his diet to create the appearance), Lin Qingxue was both moved and heartbroken.

Countless times, she wanted to persuade Zhang Chen to give up and say that she had accepted her fate, but every time the words reached her lips, Zhang Chen's resolute gaze forced them back down.