Finally met

Seeing that her complexion was not quite right, Chu Wei asked, "Are you still feeling unwell? Let me help you back to your room to rest."

Yes, she can hide away if she's uncomfortable. As long as she doesn't meet Wei Qiao, Wei Qiao won't know she's still alive, or that Jiang Jiao is his daughter.

Xi Chun rubbed her temples, feigning weakness as she looked at everyone, "I'm really not feeling well, and I'd like to go to Xingchun Hall to see Sister Yue. I'll have to trouble Chu Wei to help entertain the guests tonight."

Xi Chun feigned illness and left home to find Yue Mei at Xingchun Hall. When Wei Qiao arrived, full of joy, he didn't see Xi Chun. He picked up the little girl who ran towards him and held her in his arms. Looking into the little girl's big eyes, Wei Qiao became even more certain that this was his daughter.

"Uncle, Tuantuan misses you so much," Jiang Jia whispered in Wei Qiao's ear as she hugged his neck.

Wei Qiao patted her head and pressed his face tightly against Jiang Jiao's little face. His daughter had grown up so much, and he hadn't known she existed for so many years. He hadn't given her any companionship. He, as her father, had let her down and her mother had also let her down.

"Uncle, why are you crying?" Jiang's little hand touched something wet, and when she looked up, she realized it was her uncle's tears.

Wei Qiao looked at the little girl and smiled, "Uncle is happy." Being able to see the mother and daughter again was the happiest thing for Wei Qiao in many years.

Chu Wei prepared a sumptuous meal, and after sitting for a while, Wei Qiao prepared to take his leave. He had learned from Jiang Jiao that Xi Chun had gone to Xingchun Hall for medical treatment, and he wanted to see her immediately.

Xi Chun was kept by Yue Mei for dinner, and stayed at Xingchun Hall until late in the evening before preparing to go home. She thought that Wei Qiao must have left by then.

“It’s too dark. It’s not safe for you to be alone. Let your brother Miao take you home,” Yue Mei said.

Xi Chun shook her head and took the lantern from Miao Wendao's hand. "No need, it's just two streets, I'll be there in a bit. You should get some rest."

Seeing her insistence, Yue Mei didn't say anything more. After she left, she and Miao Wendao closed the door of Xingchun Hall together.

It wasn't yet curfew, and small groups of people were walking around on the streets. Xichun, carrying a lantern, walked alone on her way home. She wanted to get home quickly to see her daughter, but she was also afraid that Wei Qiao hadn't left yet, and she felt very uneasy.

She had just stepped off the street where Xingchun Hall was located when suddenly a large hand pulled her into a dark alley, and she fell into a warm embrace. The lantern in her hand rolled onto the bluestone pavement, and the flickering candlelight illuminated Xichun's apricot-colored embroidered shoes.

"What do you want to do? Let me go!" In the darkness, Xichun couldn't see the other person's face clearly. Thinking she had encountered a villain, she tried to shout for help, but the more she struggled, the tighter the other person held her.

“Xichun, it’s me!” Wei Qiao said.

He waited for her across from Xingchun Hall after leaving Tangli Lane. When he saw her and Miao Wendao appearing together, chatting and laughing, he was so jealous that he was almost going crazy. Fortunately, he soon discovered that Miao Wendao's wife was someone else.

Hearing that familiar voice again, Xichun felt goosebumps rise all over her body.

Her attempts to avoid him were futile; he still found her.

"What do you want to do? Let me go!" Xichun tried with all her might to push him away.

Xi Chun's voice drew the attention of passersby. Wei Qiao pinned her against the wall and kissed those long-missed red lips. He swallowed all of Xi Chun's protests and complaints. He missed her taste and lingered on her lips for a long time before finally letting go.

Their breathing was uneven. Wei Qiao leaned on her shoulder, tears falling drop by drop from his eyes. "Xi Chun, I miss you so much."

"I don't know you, let me go," Xichun said coldly.

Hearing his sobs touched Xichun deeply, but she knew that once Wei Qiao discovered it was her, he would take her away, even if she didn't want to. His tears, it seemed, came at a great cost to sympathize with him.

Wei Qiao understood that he had hurt Xi Chun's heart back then, and her decision to leave him by suicide was proof that she had given up on him. But hearing her cold words now still felt like an ice dagger piercing his heart inch by inch.

Seeing that Xichun was about to leave, Wei Qiao hugged her from behind and pleaded, "Xichun, please give me another chance. I will make it up to you."

She now lives a peaceful and happy life with her daughter, and she doesn't need his compensation. She just wants him to leave their lives alone. Xi Chun pried Wei Qiao's fingers apart one by one, "I really don't know you, please let me go."

Wei Qiao stood there, stunned, watching Xi Chun walk out of the dark alley, pick up the lantern, and walk away without looking back. It seemed that his Xi Chun really didn't love him anymore.

When Xichun returned home, Jiang Jiao was already asleep. She went to her daughter's room to cover her with a blanket. Looking at her daughter's peaceful sleeping face, Xichun's determination to protect her grew stronger. No matter who it was, no one could take her daughter away from her.

Now that Wei Qiao knew of her existence, Xi Chun no longer deliberately avoided him. Xi Chun understood that he was a proud man who had looked down on her, a common woman from the streets, back then. Now that he saw her showing her face in public selling steamed buns, he would definitely despise her even more.

Xi Chun diligently made and sold steamed buns at the shop, but Wei Qiao didn't appear all morning. Xi Chun felt a little relieved. After lunch, Xi Chun and Chu Wei were wrapping sixty steamed buns ordered by a customer from the north. Just as they were concentrating on wrapping them, they heard Jiang Jiao's excited voice.

"Uncle Wei, you're here!" While the adults were making steamed buns, Jiang Jiao was lying on the long bench playing with a few wild grasses. When she looked up and saw Wei Qiao coming, she happily went up to him, took his hand, and invited him into the shop.

After greeting everyone in the shop, Wei Qiao kept his eyes fixed on Xi Chun. Xi Chun only glanced at him when he came in before lowering her head to wrap steamed buns and ignoring him. Wei Qiao brought Jiang Jiao a clay figurine he had bought at the market. Jiang Jiao really liked the long-bearded clay figurine and abandoned the weeds she had been playing with earlier.

Sixty steamed buns were quickly wrapped. Chu Wei was going to the City God Temple to buy something. Zhao Xiaopeng heard that Chu Wei was going out and wanted to go with her. Jiang Jiao hesitated whether to stay in the shop with her mother and Uncle Wei or go out to play. In the end, she thought of the candied hawthorns at the City God Temple and waved goodbye to Wei Qiao.

Xi Chun was sitting by the stove adding firewood to the firebox when Wei Qiao walked up to her, wanting to help her. Xi Chun noticed his approach and nimbly dodged him.

"Xichun, I will divorce Chuqing. You and the child will come back to the capital with me," Wei Qiao said gently, watching her retreating figure.

Xi Chun turned around and showed him her hands, which were blackened from handling firewood. Looking into Wei Qiao's affectionate gaze, Xi Chun said coldly, "The difference between Prince Zhao and me is like heaven and earth. Prince Zhao is of noble status, and I am not worthy to be associated with him. From now on, I hope that Prince Zhao will no longer disturb the lives of my daughter and me."

“This is impossible, Xichun, you know this is impossible. Do you know how I’ve gotten through these years? I’ve thought about you every single day. Now that I know you’re here, you’re telling me not to come looking for you? I can’t do it.”

As Wei Qiao was about to take Xi Chun's hand, a customer who had ordered steamed buns arrived just then. Xi Chun quickly dodged him, washed her hands, and started packing the buns for the customer.

Xi Chun didn't want to argue with Wei Qiao anymore, so she started cleaning the steamer basket, wanting to close the door and go home as soon as possible. Wei Qiao saw several small white scratches on the back of her slender white hands and felt very sad. He stepped forward and silently imitated Xi Chun as he helped her pack her things.

"I don't need your help, you can go now," Xichun said, turning her head to him.

Wei Qiao didn't say anything more and just silently did the work with him. Although it was Wei Qiao's first time doing things like washing and sweeping, he learned quickly thanks to Xi Chun's example. Cleaning the small shop with her, Wei Qiao felt that being an ordinary couple with Xi Chun was also wonderful.

After closing the shop door, Wei Qiao didn't bother her any further and returned to his inn. He carefully analyzed the key points of his relationship with Xi Chun. He felt that Xi Chun and he loved each other, but it was because he looked down on her background and insisted on marrying Ming Chuqing that Xi Chun was heartbroken and left him. Xi Chun wanted a lifelong, monogamous relationship, and so did he. This time, upon returning to the capital, he was determined to divorce Ming Chuqing.

After shopping at the City God Temple, Chu Wei and her two companions watched acrobatics and storytelling performances until dusk before returning home. After dinner, Xi Chun bathed her daughter, and after the bath, Xi Chun dried Jiang Jiao's hair while listening to her recount her discoveries of the day.

“Mother, I saw my aunt holding hands with a young man today, right when we were listening to storytelling in the teahouse. The young man even gave my aunt a gold hairpin, the one she was wearing in her hair before.”

Xi Chun recalled that Chu Wei had been going to the City God Temple quite often lately, so it seemed that the girl had someone she liked. She wondered which young master had caught Chu Wei's eye; she should ask him about it another day.

Jiang Jiao then told Xi Chun about her other experiences at the City God Temple that day, finally bringing up Wei Qiao. "Mother, I think Uncle Wei is so kind and handsome. Although Uncle Miao is also good-looking, Uncle Wei's skin is even whiter and more handsome. I like him so much. I wish Uncle Wei were my father. Mother, you told me before that my father is also very handsome. Is he as handsome as Uncle Wei?"

Xi Chun paused in combing her daughter's hair, recalling the drunken Wei Qiao under the moonlight in her memory. She nodded affirmatively to Jiang Jiao, "Your father is much better looking than Uncle Wei."

Wei Qiao, now over thirty and having endured years of wind and snow on the border, was indeed not as handsome as before. Hearing her daughter's words about liking Wei Qiao still made her a little jealous; they had only met a few times, yet he had already won her daughter's heart. Xi Chun, thinking of Wei Qiao in Yanzhou City, worried that he would take her daughter away, couldn't sleep. After falling asleep at four in the morning, she had a nightmare in which he led men into her courtyard and forcibly took Jiang Jiao away. Xi Chun woke up with a start and ran to her daughter's room, only to find her sleeping peacefully, finally relieved.

But when Xichun went to open the steamed bun shop, she ran into Wei Qiao again. He was wearing a bamboo-green robe and standing in the dawn light, gazing at Xichun with tender and affectionate eyes.

Xi Chun lowered her head and refused to look at him. Chu Wei invited him in for tea, and while making steamed buns, she nudged Xi Chun with her elbow and said with a smile, "Xi Chun, this Young Master Wei seems to like you."

Previously, Chu Wei wouldn't have been able to perceive the subtle, ambiguous emotions between men and women. But recently, she has experienced this herself, and has gradually come to understand it.

Xi Chun wrapped the tofu buns in her hands, and in just a few moments, one bun took shape. She resisted the urge to look at Wei Qiao, trying her best to ignore his presence. She remembered what her daughter had said last night and asked Chu Wei who had given her the gold hairpin.

Chu Wei rarely showed a shy expression. Thinking of her sweetheart, she said coyly, "You know him. It's Xing Kuan, the young master of Qiwei Restaurant. A while ago, I helped him catch a thief who stole his purse on the street. He was grateful and treated me to a meal. After that, we often ate together, and then... we got together."

Zhao Xiaopeng, who was kneading dough nearby, added, "Yes, I'm here too. Xing Kuan is very tall and thin, just as thin as me. He's treating us to dinner."

"Boss, four meat buns, please."

When it was the busiest time of day for selling steamed buns in the morning, the three of them stopped chatting and focused solely on making and selling buns. Seeing that they were overwhelmed, Wei Qiao squeezed inside the counter to help Xi Chun sell them. Xi Chun didn't have time to pay attention to him; she was indeed too busy, so she tacitly allowed him to help.

Wei Qiao and his gang worked at the steamed bun shop for half a month. Xi Chun wanted to ignore him, but she couldn't. Wei Qiao showed his gentlest side, which made Chu Wei and Xiao Peng like him a lot, not to mention Jiang Jiao, who already liked him. Xi Chun felt that everything was a tangled mess.

"Why aren't you leaving yet?" Xi Chun asked Wei Qiao, pulling him aside.

Wei Qiao was overjoyed to see Xi Chun finally willing to be close to him. He took her hand and said softly, "I told you, I won't let go this time. Xi Chun, please trust me one more time, okay?"

Xi Chun coldly shook off his hand. Wasn't Ming Chuqing still his Princess Zhao? What exactly did Wei Qiao want her to believe?

Xi Chun turned to leave, but Wei Qiao grabbed her sleeve. "Xi Chun, I'm returning to the capital tomorrow. When I come back, I'll give you and the child an explanation."

Xi Chun looked up at him. He looked much the same as she remembered, except for a small scar that had appeared on his left eyebrow. His gaze was tender and unwavering, filled with fervent hope and longing. Xi Chun looked away, suppressing her rapidly beating heart.

She warned herself not to get entangled with Wei Qiao anymore, as it wouldn't end well.

Without receiving a response from her, Wei Qiao released her sleeve.

"Your Highness, the two guards protecting the concubine have arrived," A-Gui said to Wei Qiao.

Wei Qiao nodded and instructed them to protect the concubine.

Two days ago, he received a letter from Qiu Jiu. The Prince Zhao's mansion had been very lively during the years he was away. Presumably, the princess would have no reason to refuse to divorce him this time.