Shen Qing learned about this from Qi Zhenheng—
"His accomplices, such as Cai Chongsheng and Li Chong, have all been arrested and killed, but he is still at large. However, it is said that another of his accomplices has been captured, and this person has given away his whereabouts. The government troops are currently pursuing him."
Shen Qing listened with a pale face and asked, "Where is he now?"
Qi Zhenheng quickly grabbed her hand: "What are you going to do?"
"We have to save him!" she cried, hugging Qi Zhenheng tightly. "Husband, I beg you, please save him! I can't bear to watch him die! He's Cheng An and Cheng Xi's biological father!"
Qi Zhenheng swallowed hard, his face showing surprise: "Qing'er, this is no small matter. If this is discovered, dozens of heads will roll in the Qi family! And our children, Cheng An and Cheng Xi, will also be implicated!"
"What can we do... Are we just going to watch him die?" Shen Qing broke down in tears. "He did nothing wrong. He wasn't doing it for himself; he was doing it for everyone in this country! He even abandoned his own child... He shouldn't die..."
She crouched down, covering her face and sobbing.
Qi Zhenheng also squatted down and hugged her: "I don't want to watch him die either, but we are powerless to do anything about it."
Shen Qing cried for a while, then suddenly stopped crying, grabbed Qi Zhenheng's arms, and said urgently, "Husband, tell me the place, I'll go see him one last time, and then I'll come back!"
Qi Zhenheng shook his head, his eyes bloodshot.
Shen Qing cried, "I beg you! I beg you! I just want to see him once!"
She almost kowtowed to Qi Zhenheng.
Qi Zhenheng couldn't bear it, so he picked her up and lowered his voice, "I'll go with you, we'll just meet and then leave!"
Shen Qing nodded frantically: "Okay!"
...
As night deepened, a horse-drawn carriage sped towards the outskirts of the capital and arrived at a dilapidated thatched hut.
Qi Zhenheng got out of the car first, then took Shen Qing's hand and carried her out of the car.
“Behind that thatched hut,” he whispered.
Shen Qing nodded, and he pulled her into his arms, bracing himself as they walked forward.
The two of them made their way to the back of the thatched hut in the dark. Qi Zhenheng looked around but found nothing unusual. He walked to a dilapidated door and knocked a few times.
The door opened, and Cheng Zhiwen, dressed in a tattered suit, appeared behind it.
He had injuries on his face, a stubble beard, and looked much thinner; it seemed he had been hiding here for some time.
The moment Shen Qing saw him, tears streamed down her face.
It's been six years; they've been separated for six years.
Six years had worn away most of her feelings for him, but seeing him like this still caused Shen Qing immense pain.
She rushed forward, pushed him into the thatched hut, and closed the door.
His frail body was pinned against the wall by her.
"The twins are your children! They're your children!" she cried, pounding his body. "Cheng An, Cheng Xi. I want you to be safe! But why can't you even do this much!"
He took the opportunity to pull her into his arms and kiss away the tears welling up in her eyes.
“I know Cheng An and Cheng Xi are my children, but I can’t acknowledge them, and I’m not qualified to be their father.”
Shen Qing cried, "Please, don't be a revolutionary anymore! You'll lose your life! Waaah..."
He simply held her, repeatedly saying, "Qing'er, I'm so grateful to you for giving me a son and a daughter. Precisely because I'm their father, I should persevere for their future... I don't want our children to continue living in a world like ours..."
"I understand, I understand everything... but I just want you to live... sob sob sob..."
Outside, Qi Zhenheng gently knocked on the door.
Shen Qing snapped out of her daze, hastily wiped away her tears, and lowered her voice even further: "In an hour, He Fei and Lao Xu's carriage will come to pick you up and take you to Shanghai. You'll board a ship in Shanghai and go wherever you can! As long as you can get out of this place! Do you understand?!"
Cheng Zhiwen swallowed hard, said nothing, and suddenly hugged her tightly.
A dampness that didn't belong to her touched her face.
She knew Cheng Zhiwen was crying.
She also burst into tears.
Behind them, the wooden door was kicked open.
Qi Zhenheng walked in with a cold face, separated them, and without saying a word, put his arm around Shen Qing and walked out.
They boarded the carriage and left.
Shen Qing felt as if all her energy had been drained away, and she sat blankly in the carriage.
Qi Zhenheng stared at her coldly and asked, "What did you say to him in the end?"
Shen Qing snapped out of his reverie and said in a low voice, "I told him to go to Tianjin to take a ship and escape abroad."
Qi Zhenheng was horrified: "If the imperial court finds out, our Qi family will be executed along with nine generations of our relatives!"
Shen Qing lowered her eyes and stared at her hands.
She had just been holding Cheng Zhiwen with these hands.
"The imperial court knows that he escaped by boat from Tianjin. What does this have to do with the Qi family? It's not like the Qi family's boat helped him escape."
Qi Zhenheng took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, saying, "Even if you don't think about me and yourself, you should at least think about Cheng An and Cheng Xi!"
Shen Qing turned her face away: "This has nothing to do with us, you shouldn't bring it up again."
Qi Zhenheng immediately fell silent.
Five days later, Shen Qing arrived in Shanghai alone.
She met Lao Xu and He Fei and learned that Cheng Zhiwen had safely boarded the ship.
The ship's destination is New York Harbor, USA.
Relieved, Shen Qing returned to the capital.
Despite her inner hatred for the Empress Dowager's persecution of revolutionaries, she did not show it on her face. She only said that she was getting old and wanted to have another child for Qi Zhenheng, so she could no longer accompany the Empress Dowager.
It was perfectly reasonable, and even concerned the important matter of the Qi family continuing their lineage. Out of consideration for Qi's father, the Empress Dowager had no choice but to let Shen Qing leave the palace.
Instead of immediately going to her residence to reunite with her husband and children, she first went to Jiangzhou and Shanghai, where she sold off all her properties, leaving only the Gao family's ancestral home.
She then went to Guangzhou, found Sun Wen, and gave him the huge fortune she had obtained from selling her properties, to support the revolution and the continued operation of the girls' school.
After doing all this, she returned to her residence and calmly told Qi Zhenheng about her decision to send her two children to study in the United States.
Qi Zhenheng was already the governor-general at that time. Although the Qing court was declining, Qi Zhenheng's official position, coupled with the power of the Qi family, allowed them to live well in the country.
He couldn't understand why Shen Qing would travel across the ocean with her two six-year-old children to live a hard life in a foreign land.
Shen Qing also didn't tell him that a year later, the Eight-Nation Alliance would launch a war of aggression, and that for more than forty years to come, this place would be filled with turmoil.
She simply told Qi Zhenheng calmly, "Business is getting harder and harder here, and I want to do business in the United States."
She was going to the United States to continue her business and earn money to support Sun Wen and the revolution.
She came from the future, and she knew that this was the only path she could take.
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