Gan Lin had been following the main force to rescue the disaster victims. He was covered in snow, and his shoes and socks were filled with snow, but he didn't even think about changing them.

If he hadn't heard about Gan Qiongying from Physician Xiao, he wouldn't have rushed over in such a hurry.

He wanted to get into the carriage, but then he remembered that he was covered in cold air and snow, so he stopped. His eyes, however, were incredibly bright and radiant, like the midday sun.

Staring intently at Gan Qiongying, he said, "Doctor Xiao said, he, he said..."

Gan Lin didn't feel particularly cold. He was busy every day, living a very fulfilling life. Although he often felt sad and heartbroken because of the plight of the disaster victims, for the first time in all his years of life, Gan Lin felt that he was useful.

But at this moment, he was so excited that he wanted to ask Gan Qiongying for confirmation, but suddenly he found that his lips and tongue were so frozen that they could no longer function.

Gan Lin stammered, "He said you... you're pregnant!"

Gan Qiongying propped herself up on her arms and sat up. Seeing Gan Lin's radiant appearance, her smile grew wider and wider. For a moment, she was so excited that she seemed speechless.

She nodded vigorously.

Gan Lin, leaning on the edge of the carriage, had never shown his emotions so openly before. He jumped up and let out a joyful shout.

Then he started taking off his clothes on the spot.

"What are you doing? Come in here right now!"

"I'm covered in snow, so I'm taking off my outer robe!"

"I think you're crazy! How can you just take off your clothes in this cold weather? You're all sweaty. Come on in, I'm not that delicate!"

Gan Lin had just loosened two of his belts when Gan Qiongying scolded him. He then vigorously shook the snow off his body, climbed into the carriage, and closed the curtain tightly.

Kneeling before Gan Qiongying, he looked at her with immense excitement and said, "Really pregnant?"

Gan Qiongying nodded, both amused and exasperated: "Doctor Xiao is right."

"Yes! Two?" Gan Lin was a little incoherent.

Gan Lin wanted to reach out and touch Gan Qiongying's belly, but both of them were dressed too thickly, and when Gan Lin reached out, he could only touch the thick cotton-padded coat.

Gan Qiongying slapped his hand away: "Be more composed. They are indeed twins, but they are still very young. You can't feel them, and I have trouble feeling them myself."

There's only one hard spot on my lower abdomen; the rest is just fat from eating too much.

Gan Lin was like a fledgling bird that had seen its parent bird return to its nest. He was restless while kneeling there, constantly fidgeting and staring at Gan Qiongying.

I reached for the tea to take a sip, since there was always hot tea on the bus. But when I touched the teapot and picked up the teacup, I realized my hands were shaking uncontrollably.

When Gan Qiongying heard the clanging sound and saw Gan Lin's hands trembling so much, she clearly wanted to laugh, but as soon as she opened her mouth, tears came out first.

"Hey, be a little more composed!" she complained, her voice nasal as she took the teapot, intending to pour Gan Lin a cup of hot tea to calm him down.

When she took the teacup, it rattled and clattered, and she trembled violently.

If there were no one to share this immense joy with, Gan Qiongying could remain calm. But now that Gan Lin is behaving like a Parkinson's patient, it's hard for Gan Qiongying to stay composed.

In the end, the siblings looked at each other and laughed, both of them leaning on the small table and laughing non-stop.

Gan Lin grasped Gan Qiongying's hand tightly, her eyes also blurred with tears, her expression a mixture of crying and laughing.

“These days I’ve been looking at dead people, all kinds of dead people. I thought I had become numb to life and death.”

With tears in her eyes, Gan Lin said, "But I'm so happy today! Sister, we have two more family members now."

"Two! That's wonderful! This! This is really... wonderful!"

Once Gan Lin started crying, he couldn't stop. These past few days had felt like he had been reborn, and everything he had experienced was something he had never even dared to imagine before.

As a child, he was confined to a corner of the palace. As an adult, he was confined to an airtight palace as a puppet. For the first time in his life, he was a "human" and endured life-or-death situations every day.

If it weren't for Gan Qiongying staying by his side, constantly comforting and guiding him, Gan Lin couldn't imagine how he would have faced all of this.

Now, his heart, which had been suppressed to the extreme, has been revitalized once again because Gan Qiongying is pregnant.

He saw off too many people and witnessed too much death, and finally, after the continuous heavy snow stopped, he ushered in a new life.

The siblings were completely absorbed in the carriage, laughing and crying for a long time, finally releasing all the pain and sorrow they had been suppressing these past few days.

Gan Qiongying held Gan Lin and kept comforting her: "It's okay, it's okay, everything will be alright. We'll be going up the mountain soon. Once we're up there, it will be absolutely safe. We can just wait for these two little ones to be born."

Gan Qiongying repeated those words over and over again, words that were meant to comfort Gan Lin, and also to comfort herself.

She also needed to vent, and she needed to fully release her joy and sorrow. When she was with Gan Lin, she always put herself in the position of protector.

She is the one who makes the decisions, and also the one who bears the heaviest burden and the most weight.

The arrival of these two little lives inside her was like two of the sweetest candies that fate had given her.

Once they had calmed down and finished crying, Gan Lin, who was even more refreshed, got off the carriage and stood guard at the door, while Gan Qiongying tidied herself up and changed her trousers.

She left the changed clothes there for the time being, planning to wash them after her stomach pain subsided and she finished taking the medication to prevent miscarriage. She told Gan Lin, "I'm all ready, you can go ahead and do your work."

But Gan Lin quickly crawled in, took those things away, and said, "I'll go melt the snow to wash them!"

Then she ran off and disappeared in a flash. Gan Qiongying sat there, stunned for a moment, then blushed with shame. Without her maid, many things were indeed inconvenient.

However, Gan Qiongying was originally from another time. Although it was difficult to go from luxury to frugality, she had always taken care of herself before, so it was nothing.

This time, she had a miscarriage, so she couldn't clean up right away. But she was so ashamed that she wanted to chase after Gan Lin and take back the blood-stained clothes she had asked him to wash.

However, just as Gan Qiongying reached the door and lifted the carriage curtain, intending to call Gan Lin back, Physician Xiao came over with a bowl of steaming hot medicine and said to Gan Qiongying, "I'm going to chase after him and check on the bleeding. Miss, please drink your medicine first."

There is no gender distinction in front of a doctor. Doctor Xiao even asked Gan Qiongying again without changing his expression whether she had continued bleeding or severe pain in her lower abdomen.

Then he took Gan Qiongying's pulse again, watched her drink the medicine, told her to lie down and rest, covered her with a blanket, and then left the carriage to find Gan Lin.

Gan Qiongying lay there, looking utterly hopeless.

After a while, she sighed, pulled the blanket over herself, and wrapped herself up completely.

Whatever. She had washed Gan Lin's wet pants countless times.

Gan Qiongying only experienced a slight miscarriage, and after resting for a day, she was full of energy again, eating two pancakes in one sitting.

The group continued up the mountain and had already spotted the Jishi Temple. They would be able to enter the mountain tonight.

The shadow guards who were sent out to provide relief to the surrounding disaster victims have not yet returned. They have slowed down slightly in order to wait for these people to return.

Gan Qiongying was bored sitting in the carriage, so Gan Lin and Physician Xiao took turns watching her and absolutely forbade her to get out of the carriage to help with chores.

Gan Qiongying simply found paper and pen and wrote a letter to Li Hua.

As she put pen to paper, Gan Qiongying thought of today... the day she and Li Hua had agreed to meet for the last time in two months.

She slowly pulled her arms together, leaned on the small table, buried her face between her arms, and took two deep breaths.

I miss him so much.

But she couldn't afford to be irrational, she couldn't afford to disregard everything.