She said irritably, "Save your energy and say less. Are you afraid you won't make it to the King of Hell?"

"I...I still have something to say."

Wei Zhenghong's breath was barely a whisper.

"Jinniang, I'm sorry, I let you down. I regret it so much. I wanted to make it up to you, but alas..."

Ning was taken aback.

Jinniang was her nickname, and she hadn't heard him call her that in many years.

Indeed, a person's words are often kind when they are about to die.

On his deathbed, Wei Zhenghong finally uttered a sensible sentence.

He closed his eyes after he finished speaking.

Ning felt a pang of panic.

"Wei Zhenghong! You better hold on! Don't think that just because you took a bullet for me and said a few nice words, I'll forgive you. You owe my son and me a lot, and you have to pay it back while you're alive!"

After saying that, seeing Xiao Qingyin rushing over, he hurriedly said, "Qingyin, quickly take a look at him."

"Okay, don't panic."

Xiao Qingyin first fed Wei Zhenghong a ginseng pill to keep him alive, and then performed surgery to remove the bullet from his abdomen.

During this time, Ning waited outside, praying to all the gods and Buddhas in the sky.

"Although this man is blind and foolish, he has fought on the battlefield for many years and protected countless people. Please, Bodhisattva, in consideration of his military achievements, let him live a few more years..."

When Xiao Qingyin came out, she went to greet her immediately.

"How about it?"

"The surgery went smoothly, but we're still in the critical period. It depends on whether we can make it through tonight."

Ning's heart was in her throat.

At night, she stayed by Wei Zhenghong's bedside, keeping vigil for him.

Wei Yan is coming to replace her.

She rejected me.

"You've been tracking this non-stop for days, you must be exhausted. Go and rest, I'm not sleepy."

Wei Yan glanced at Wei Zhenghong, whose face was pale, and felt a little complicated.

When he longed for his father's love the most, this man didn't even look at him properly and instead used others to put him down.

But he still desperately wanted to gain his approval.

In his memory, he was so tall, so strong, invincible, and unbeatable.

However, at this moment, he lay weakly on the bed, his temples gray, his face weathered, showing no trace of his former stature.

This made him realize with a start that so much time had passed and their positions had been reversed.

The one chasing after him, the one who needs care, is no longer him, but this old man.

He pursed his lips.

Considering that this person did a great deal of effort to rescue his mother and saved her life, the past resentment will be temporarily set aside.

However, the parent-child relationship cannot be restored.

He turned his head and glanced at his worried mother, feeling a little anxious.

I hope my mother won't be so easily swayed by him.

His concerns were clearly unnecessary.

The next day, after Wei Zhenghong woke up, Ning was handed over to others to take care of.

Wei Zhenghong was quite disappointed by this.

But they dared not say anything.

It's his own fault for not treating them well back then, causing them so much injustice and harm.

He deserves all of this.

Once his injuries had healed, he had someone take him home so he could recuperate on his own.

The safe return of Lady Ning is good news for both the Jing'an Marquis's residence and the Zhongyong Marquis's residence.

Wei Yan specially prepared a banquet, and the two families celebrated together.

After that, the weather grew colder day by day.

On the first day of the tenth lunar month, the Cold Clothes Festival, a thin layer of frost can be seen when you wake up in the morning.

The Cold Clothes Festival, along with Qingming Festival and Zhongyuan Festival, are known as the three major ghost festivals of Da Xi.

On the Cold Clothes Festival, people in the capital city would go out of the city to pay respects at the graves and send winter clothes to their ancestors, which meant burning clothes, shoes, hats, quilts, houses, etc., made of five-colored paper.

After having breakfast, Xiao Qingyin and Han Shi and the others boarded a carriage and left the city.

Qin Wenjun, who now serves Xiao Qingyin, will naturally go along.

Needless to say, Tianci followed his mother wherever she went.

Upon arriving at the mountain range where the Yun family ancestral tombs are located, one sees all kinds of carriages, all of which are for commoners and officials who have come to pay their respects.

Because the mountain to climb was quite high, Xiao Qingyin was worried that Qin Wenjun's health wouldn't be able to handle it, so she asked her to wait in the car with Tianci and the driver.

Qin Wenjun agreed.

After waiting for a short while, Tianci couldn't stand it anymore and started asking to go out and play.

Qin Wenjun lifted the curtain of the carriage window and saw a short pine tree covered with pine cones on the mountain road not far away, so she agreed.

"Let's go pick pine cones, Mom."

Upon hearing this, Tianci cheered with joy.

"Great, I love pine nuts."

The mother and daughter walked to the pine tree. Qin Wenjun pressed down on the branches, and Tianci stood on tiptoe to pick pine cones.

Before long, a small mountain of debris had formed at their feet.

Even if it's a gift from heaven, you still have to pick it.

Qin Wenjun, however, worried that she wouldn't be able to take that much.

Just as they were about to persuade him to go back, several well-dressed rich young men came down the mountain path.

They all had dark circles under their eyes and unsteady steps, clearly indicating that they had been indulging in a life of pleasure and debauchery for many years.

Qin Wenjun squatted down, lowered her head and furrowed her brows as she sorted through the pine cones.

However, he still couldn't avoid trouble.

Upon realizing that the person picking pine cones was a beautiful young woman, the group of spoiled young men stopped.

He started flirting with her right away.

"What are you doing here, young lady? Have you recently lost your husband and come to the mountain to pay your respects?"

"I've brought some wine with me, young lady. Why don't you join us for a couple of drinks?"

"If you entertain them well, they might be able to help you get a job."

"..."

Tianci couldn't understand what these people were saying, but he had heard this kind of tone many times before and knew that those who said this were not good people.

Then he saw them staring intently at his mother, and threw her a pine cone in each hand.

They smashed all of these people.

The man at the head, wearing a white jade crown, flew into a rage and lashed out with his whip.

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