173 Chapter 173

"I took a drug that will kill me."

Xie Qi just hugged her but said nothing.

Noticing his low mood, Xu Qinghe didn't care about his misbehavior in the past few days and his absence from home last night.

She put her arms around his waist, silently expressing her concern.

After a moment, Xie Qi finally raised his head from her neck, his eyes slightly red.

Xu Qinghe stroked his wet eyelashes.

"What happened? What happened in the army?" she asked softly.

Xie Qi held her hand, held his face in his hands, and looked at her intently.

"No. Don't worry."

The two of them slept together at night. Xie Qi did nothing but hugged her tightly from behind.

The big hand with thin calluses was pressed against her lower abdomen.

He clearly had something to say, but Xu Qinghe didn't ask. She just wanted to see if this man would take the initiative to talk to her after the promise he made in Caoqu Township.

Just as she was about to doze off, a cool sensation on the back of her neck successfully woke her up.

The big palm on the lower abdomen was slightly heavy, and his hoarse voice came from his ear.

"Does it hurt?"

Xu Qinghe was stunned for only a moment before she knew what he was asking.

She pursed her lips, and a sour feeling suddenly spread to the tip of her nose.

"Last night, Ruan Ling gave birth to a daughter. I waited outside the courtyard with that kid Fu Zongying. From dusk until dawn, Ruan Ling cried for as many hours as the sun set. Basins of blood were brought out of the house, almost as much as the blood shed by the wounded soldiers in our army."

"Qinghe, was it this painful when you gave birth to Ping'an?"

Xu Qinghe thought, more than that?

She had a miscarriage caused by his news, and she was restless during delivery, causing the fetus to be in an abnormal position, which ultimately led to a difficult delivery. It took a lot of trouble to give birth safely.

The pain was so severe that I even regretted keeping the child.

Experiencing this kind of pain once is already the limit.

Feeling the slight trembling of the person in his arms, Xie Qi felt even more pain in his heart.

He solemnly promised: "From now on, Ping An will be the only child between you and me."

He had never seen a woman give birth before and didn't know the pain involved. Now that he knew, he would never let her go through it again.

Even though...even though she was willing to endure all this for another man.

**

A few days later, Xu Qinghe took some time off and went to the Bamboo Forest Villa with Xie Qi and their daughter.

When getting off the carriage and about to walk, Ping An was so overwhelmed by the heat that he didn't want to walk anymore and opened his arms to ask someone to hold him.

Before Xu Qinghe could reach out her hand, Xie Qi had already picked up the child with a big wave of his hand.

"Your mother is not very strong, so let Uncle Xie hold you, okay? Uncle Xie will hold you more steadily and guarantee your safety, which is better than riding in a carriage."

Ping An nodded repeatedly, buried her head in his arms and giggled.

Xie Qi held the little girl steadily in one hand and reached out to hold Xu Qinghe's hand with the other.

Xu Qinghe broke free from him.

“It’s too hot.”

When the weather gets hot, the two of them hold hands and their hands become sticky with sweat.

Knowing that she loved cleanliness, Xie Qi didn't force her.

When they arrived at the courtyard, Xu Qinghe and Ping'an went into the house to see Ruan Ling and the baby in the cradle, while Xie Qi went to the side room to talk with Fu Zongying.

Fu Zongying poured out a black pill from the porcelain bottle.

"Brother, you have to think carefully. If you take this pill, your Xie family will be extinct."

Before he could finish his words of advice, Xie Qi had already thrown the pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

"Who said the Xie family will have no descendants? From the moment our marriage was decided, the Xu and Xie families became one family. Her daughter, Xu Qinghe, is my daughter, Xie Qi."

“…”

Fu Zongying was surprised at his brother's cheerfulness.

After all, he remembered that his brother had always been a stingy and vengeful person, especially in matters of the heart.

He still didn't know that Ping'an was his biological daughter. Fu Zongying's eyes turned, and he said, watching the fun without thinking, "Brother, you have to understand that the blood of that little girl is from my sister-in-law and another man. Can you really raise her as if she were your own?"

These words touched Xie Qi's sore spot, but he could do nothing about it.

"What else can I do? I can't let her suffer any more pain. As long as the child is willing to call me daddy in the future, no, even if she doesn't want to, I will treat her as my own daughter."

Fu Zongying just smiled, remembered Ruan Ling's instructions, and didn't say much.

**

They returned home at dusk.

Ping An seemed to have fallen in love with Xie Qi's steady and broad embrace, and even in the carriage he held his neck tightly.

Fortunately, there was ice in the car, and it was dusk, so it wasn't very hot.

The little girl sniffed him with her nose wrinkled, then frowned and asked, "Is Uncle Xie sick?"

Xie Qi laughed: "Why do you ask like that?"

Ping An: "Uncle Xie smells like medicine."

Xu Qinghe raised his eyes and glanced towards the father and daughter.

He actually only took one pill, but the little girl was close and had a keen sense of smell, so she smelled it.

Xie Qi also glanced at Xu Qinghe and explained, "Uncle Xie is not sick, he just took medicine."

Ping An was puzzled: "Why should I take medicine if I'm not sick?"

Xie Qi scratched the little girl's nose and said with a smile: "So that you can like Ping An better in the future."

Ping'an was a little shy and buried herself in her father's arms, giggling.

His words were ambiguous, as if he was pointing to something, but he didn't specify it, which made Xu Qinghe guess a lot.

Is it because the injury on your wrist hasn't healed yet?

Is it a relapse of old poison?

Or did he catch a cold in the yard on the day Ruan Ling gave birth?

After a night of passionate lovemaking, he still held her from behind.

Just one release obviously did not satisfy him. Xu Qinghe was thinking about how much to add to the contraceptive soup tomorrow when this man came over and nibbled her ear bone.

"The contraceptive soup is harmful to your health. Don't drink it anymore."

Xu Qinghe trembled at his action, and it took her a long time to realize what this person was saying.

"Are you thinking of leaving an heir to the Xie family again? I'm telling you, Xie Qi, I don't want to."

The person behind her chuckled softly, blew a breath into her ear, and boasted, "I took the medicine to make me infertile. I won't have any children anymore. Don't worry."

"Are you crazy?!"

Xu Qinghe's heart trembled, and he immediately turned around to look at him.

Just at this moment, the bed frame shook heavily, and the curtains swayed, revealing the girl's angry face.

"Why are you eating that for no reason?"

Xie Qi bent down to kiss her: "I'm too greedy to let go of the benefits I got inside."

More importantly, to give her peace of mind.

This would save her from having to drink a bowl of harmful and bitter contraceptive soup just in case even though she knew she was not involved.

"I don't care who Ping'an's biological father is, or whether he's still alive. Now that you and I are together, I'm her only father."

Before going to bed, as if to convince himself, Xie Qi hugged her and solemnly repeated: "Qinghe, from now on Ping'an will be our only daughter."

After he fell asleep, Xu Qinghe raised her eyes.

She looked at the man's calm face and knew in her heart how much effort he had put into making this decision.

The arrogant General Xie back then was actually willing to raise a child for another man. If this were to be made public, no one would believe it.

The next morning, just as they opened their eyes, the nurse came in to report, "It's been hot lately, and the young lady always likes to kick off the quilt at night. I was careless and didn't watch her last night, and the young lady has a high fever this morning."

Xu Qinghe's heart was immediately gripped with worry. Without even having time to wash up, he just put on his clothes and went to his daughter's yard.

Xie Qi naturally followed closely behind.

The little girl who used to be so lively and energetic was lying on the bed with red cheeks. She was so small that she was not even as big as the quilt.

The doctor prescribed some medicine and asked someone to boil it. Xu Qinghe sat by her daughter's bed and personally put a washcloth on her to cool her down.

After a whole morning of hard work, she didn't even have breakfast.

Xie Qi felt sorry for the sick little girl, but he felt even more sorry for her.

He stepped forward, took the towel from the girl's hand, and gently coaxed her, "Leave this to me. You go wash up and have breakfast first, okay?"

Her daughter had been ill before, but Xu Qinghe was not panic-stricken. She wanted him to spend more time with her daughter, so she left with peace of mind.

The lifeless little girl lying on the bed would call for her mother every once in a while. When Xu Qinghe was still here, she would respond every time she called out.

Now that she has left, Xie Qi naturally won't respond rashly.

After a while, the temperature of the child's forehead dropped, and Xie Qi breathed a sigh of relief. Then he heard her softly call "Daddy".

Xie Qi's fingers trembled slightly, and he moved his lips but didn't respond.

The little girl was unhappy, pouted her lips, and cried out again in a crying voice.

Xie Qi's throat tightened slightly, as if something was breaking through his chest, inducing him to respond.

"Hey, Daddy's here. Safe, Daddy's here."

The little girl was happy and called a few more times, and there was a response every time.

By the time the little girl recovered from her illness and regained her former lively and energetic self, it was already June 16th.

The weather was getting hotter, but the little girl was bored at home and insisted on going out to play.

Xu Qinghe is now busy again. He feels sorry for his daughter who was sick a few days ago and couldn't eat or drink and was not happy, but he really has no time to take care of her.

At night, Xie Qi was wiping the girl's hair with a towel. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "Isn't this easy? I'll just take the little girl out to play."

Xu Qinghe raised her head slightly and looked at the man's handsome face.

"Aren't you busy these days?"

During the days when the two of them took care of Ping An together, she didn't notice that Ping An was much better these days and could sleep alone, so the two of them returned to their own bedrooms.

Although he was by her side when she went to sleep and woke up, Xu Qinghe still knew that he had clearly gone out at night.

Xie Qi picked up the girl and carried her horizontally to the bed. He held her in his arms and said with a smile, "I am very busy, but not as busy as Boss Xu. Therefore, I still have time to accompany my daughter to play."

He called Ping An his daughter.

Xu Qinghe lowered his head and pursed his lips, thinking back to how Ping'an had always called him Uncle Xie and never Daddy because of his instructions.

Except for the few days when she was sick, she called him a few times and Xie Qi responded a few times.

It would be better to let the father and daughter stay together for a while longer.

She agreed to it, but couldn't sleep well in the middle of the night because of the heat. She opened her eyes and felt around, but there was no one there.

Although he closed his eyes again later, his mind was clear.

It was not until an unknown amount of time later that someone came in through the window, stopped in front of the screen, took off his coat, and finally lifted the curtain and came in.

She didn't open her eyes, but she knew he was back, so she hugged the person who had just crawled into the quilt.

Xie Qi was stunned for a moment, then quickly hugged her back and kissed the top of her head.

"Did it wake you?"

Xu Qinghe shook his head: "It's too hot, I can't sleep. Is the problem solved?"

Xie Qi had promised her that he would never hide anything from her in the future, not to mention that she had taken the initiative to ask today.

He closed his eyes and said truthfully, "After Nan Si's death, Nan Mingzhao became the only one in power and raised an army to attack."

Xu Qinghe shuddered suddenly, completely losing her sleepiness. She looked up and asked, "When will the battle begin?"

Xie Qi lowered his head and licked her lips, then soothed her, "Don't worry, he's just provoking me now. I have my own way of making some noise in Nanyi Country to delay him. I estimate that by the end of this year, I can capture Nanyi and give it to you as a betrothal gift, okay?"

This was said arrogantly, but Xu Qinghe did not disbelieve it. She just snorted, "I'll be thankful if you don't push me away again with the intention of making me find another good partner."

Xie Qi lowered his head and bit her, complaining about why she was so vindictive.

"Even if I'm willing to give you up this time, I can't bear to give up my daughter, who I got for nothing. I've already made an agreement with my daughter: tomorrow, it's supposed to be cloudy and not hot, so I'll take her out of town to go horseback riding."

"Well, horse racing is dangerous, remember to be careful."

Xu Qinghe warned.

Xie Qi pinched the soft flesh on her waist and said dissatisfiedly, "Why, are you still worried that I'll drop my daughter? Don't worry, I will bring her back to you tomorrow night without missing a single hair."

Xu Qinghe snorted softly, urging him to go to sleep quickly so as not to be too sleepy and embarrass himself in front of his daughter tomorrow.

【Author’s words】

We should be able to recognize each other in the next chapter or the next one [starry eyes]