Chapter 110 - The Fox's Father-in-law Isn't Happy

What was Chu Yun going to say? The Queen Dowager had already found out, there was no point in denying it.

"Well, yes, it seems so," he said through gritted teeth. "Somehow, I, an alpha, ended up pregnant."

She shot him an amused smirk. "You aren't as naive as to think that was an accident, are you?"

Chu Yun wondered if she spoke this condescendingly to everyone, or if he was special. "Her royal highness will be relieved to know that I'm not. I suspect my father-in-law had a hand in it."

"That seems likely, although, I'll be the first to admit I don't know how he did it," she tilted the head to the side, inspecting Chu Yun. "Assuming that was the case. Maybe you are favoured by the gods, stranger things have happened."

Chu Yun didn't think that was very likely, but he kept his opinion to himself. 

The Queen Dowager got up to her feet, her heavily ringed fingers knocking against the top of the chair. "I won't lie and tell you that my son is going to give Xiao Zai a fair trial. In case you don't know already, the charges levelled against him are flimsy, and his motives for purposefully inducing his brother's concubine's miscarriage are murky," she sighed, "not even his brother thinks he's guilty."

"But of course that doesn't matter to his Majesty."

She smiled derisively, turning to face Chu Yun. "I'll tell you this because no one will believe you if you repeat these words: my husband was a cunt. And I knew the moment he was born, that Xiao An would be a cunt as well."

Her words rendered Chu Yun speechless. He had never heard a parent talk that way about their own child. And while the Queen Dowager was obviously an unusual woman, he still expected her to have at least some sort of parental affection for her own son, or at least pretend she did.

Just how much did she hate the late King? Under which circumstances did she marry him?

And of course, what was the deal with her damaged glands. Was the fact that she'd tried to hide her secondary gender for a long time, related to the late King?

Once again, it baffled Chu Yun just how dysfunctional the Zui royal family was.

Seeing the shock in Chu Yun's face made her smile widen. "Why are you so surprised? He's a despicable man, and he was a despicable child. Should I be blind to that just because I was unfortunate enough to generate him inside myself?" Her eyes moved towards Chu Yun's abdomen, hidden behind the covers, "you're about to find out for yourself how hard it is to create a new life, and in the end, how little it matters."

There was a profound sadness to her words, despite the cold calculating smirk on her red lips. In many ways, she was a broken woman, but Chu Yun got the impression that her sadness wasn't even for herself, for her own life and the hardships she had suffered. Her dark eyes hid a deep sorrow for something, or someone, long gone.

"Anyway, I'm going to let Bailiu in, before he gives himself wrinkles from worrying about you," she chuckled, "it wouldn't do to ruin his beautiful face."

Chu Yun got the impression that the Queen Dowager's relationship with Gu Wei was complicated, but then again, it was hard to imagine how to people like them would ever see eye to eye.

She left her own room, and no sooner had she left, than Hua Nanyi and Gu Wei rushed in.

Hua Nanyi immediately deflated in obvious relief to see Chu Yun alert, despite all the salve covering his knees, and the current immobilisation of his legs.

Gu Wei on the other hand looked livid. He crossed the room in fast steps, and stopped in front of Chu Yun. His chin trembled with barely suppressed emotion.

The next thing Chu Yun knew Gu Wei was raising his hand and slapping him across the cheek.

The shock stunned him more than the pain. He could only lift his palm to his smarting cheek and look up at Gu Wei in shock.

Hua Nanyi was locked between her instinct to defend Chu Yun, and the knowledge that she couldn't do anything against Gu Wei. Instead she stood in place, thrumming with restrained violence and glaring at the back of Gu Wei's head.

"What the fuck were you trying to accomplish?" Gu Wei asked, glaring down at Chu Yun with barely restrained anger.

His caustic tone of voice brought Chu Yun out of his stupor. "I was trying to get Xiao Zai out of jail, failing that, I hoped to at least earn more support for his bid to the throne, by showing everyone how much loyalty he commanded from his spouse, and how unreasonable the King was by refusing to see me!"

He and Gu Wei were locked in a mutual glaring competition, each of them refusing to back down and be the first to look away.

Finally, Gu Wei pulled away from Chu Yun's bedside with a disgusted grunt. "You idiot, your biggest asset is inside you! And you almost threw it all away."

Chu Yun rolled his eyes. "Everything is fine," he paused for a moment, feeling slight trepidation, "everything is fine, right?"

Gu Wei crossed his arms in front of his chest with a disdainful curl of the lips. "Oh, now you're worried," he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "yes everything is fine, thankfully, but now the Queen Dowager knows that you're pregnant, and she's going to do with that information whatever suits her agenda."

"And you're afraid it might run opposite to your own agenda," Chu Yun said with a smirk.

It was obvious that Gu Wei had something else to say, but decided that Chu Yun wasn't worth the effort at the last minute.. "Now that you're done playing the the self-flagellating hero in some romantic ballad, let's get my son out of prison."