Chapter 67
When leaving the palace, he took Xiao Xinghan's carriage.
Gu Yanling saw the table filled with toys, which were more exquisite and valuable than those sold in the market. There was also a very beautiful lantern. "Are these all for An An?"
Xiao Xinghan picked up the nine linked rings and untied them casually: "Didn't I tell you that I wanted to adopt An An as my adopted son?"
Gu Yanling: “…”
In addition to the Luban lock, tangram, and tiger dolls sewn with gold thread on the table, there are also some novelties that foreign ethnic groups pay tribute to them every year.
Xiao Xinghan handed the Nine Rings to Gu Yanling and asked him to play with it. However, Gu Yanling was in no mood to play with it. She couldn't really let Xiao Xinghan adopt An An as his adopted son.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing that Gu Yanling was not interested in the Nine Links, Xiao Xinghan hugged him and asked, "Why are you so sad?"
Gu Yanling leaned in his arms: "Today is like a dream."
Xiao Xinghan pinched his waist, causing Gu Yanling to scream in pain, "What are you doing?"
Xiao Xinghan smiled and said, "Let me show you if you are dreaming."
Gu Yanling pushed him away speechlessly: "Annoying."
Xiao Xinghan: "Isn't it time for you to like me? You even said that I'm handsome, talented in both literature and martial arts, and that I like you and I'm happy."
Gu Yanling was like a quail in front of the Emperor and Empress, but her true colors were exposed in front of Xiao Xinghan. She snorted, "Look at how beautiful you are. In front of the Empress, I must praise her son like a flower. Only then will she be happy."
Before Xiao Xinghan could speak, Gu Yanling added, "Of course, what I said in front of the Empress was also the truth."
Xiao Xinghan was indeed happy today. He bent down and kissed him on the mouth, and the two of them were very affectionate in the carriage.
This time when they came to the Gu residence, Xiao Xinghan and Gu Yanling went in together. Gu Yanling asked the servant at the door to inform his father that there were guests at home. He learned from the servant that the master had gone out early in the morning. Gu Yanling breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. He hadn't figured out how to tell his father about this yet, "Forget it, forget it. I'll entertain them myself. Don't tell my mother."
Xiao Xinghan couldn't help but wonder what Gu Yanling was thinking. "I'm relieved to hear that your father is gone."
Gu Yanling refused to admit it: "Your Highness, what are you talking about?"
Xiao Xinghan was not in a hurry at this moment. It had come to this point and there was no way he could escape.
Gu Yanling hadn't seen her son all morning, so she naturally missed him. As soon as she arrived in the yard, she called out, "An An, my dear, Daddy is back!"
As soon as he finished speaking, An An ran out of the house, "Daddy!!"
Gu Yanling picked him up and let him kiss her on the face several times, "Do you miss daddy?"
An An nodded heavily, and seeing Xiao Xinghan beside her, she shouted happily, "Your Highness!!"
After what happened yesterday, An An became much closer to Xiao Xinghan. She opened her arms and wanted him to hold her. Xiao Xinghan could see it and took the child from Gu Yanling's arms. An An kissed him on the face and said shyly, "An An misses His Highness too."
Xiao Xinghan pinched his cheek and said with a smile: "Don't call me Your Highness from now on, call me foster father."
An An opened her eyes wide and asked curiously, "What is a foster father? Why don't you call him Your Highness, but foster father?"
Xiao Xinghan: "Adopted father is similar to father. I plan to adopt you as my adopted son."
An An was still young after all, and when she heard that adoptive father was almost the same as dad, her eyes suddenly lit up: "An An understands, adoptive father means mother, then An An doesn't want to call adoptive father, An An wants to call His Highness mother."
Xiao Xinghan: "..."
Gu Yanling: “…”
Li Youfu was asking his servants to bring over the gifts that His Highness was giving to Young Master An An. There were not only those on the table, but also a large box at the back. He almost tripped when he heard An An's innocent words.
Xiao Xinghan was not angry, he just thought the child missed his mother, patted his head and said gently: "Adoptive father is different from mother, you will call me adoptive father from now on."
An An didn't understand: "Why is it different? But Daddy said that His Highness is Mother?"
Gu Yanling: “…”
Xiao Xinghan didn't think much about it. He looked at Gu Yanling and said with a smile, "When did you tell him that?"
Gu Yanling scratched her face, not knowing what to do for a moment.
Seeing that Daddy didn't say anything, An An thought he didn't remember. It didn't matter, An An had a good memory. She immediately said, "It was last time. When Daddy was holding An An and talking to Uncle Shen, An An heard them talking about His Royal Highness. An An asked Daddy what His Royal Highness was. Daddy secretly told An An that His Royal Highness was An An's mother."
"An An also likes mother. Can you please not let An An and father be separated?" When An An said this, her little hands pinched the jade pendant tied around her waist, and her big black eyes looked at Xiao Xinghan nervously and expectantly.
Xiao Xinghan and An An looked at each other, their dark eyes showing no emotion, and they remained silent.
Seeing him like this, An An thought that he disagreed, tears immediately fell, and she said sadly: "Wow, An An, I don't want to be separated from Daddy."
Xiao Xinghan remained expressionless, raised his hand to wipe his tears: "I didn't say to separate you."
An An stopped crying: "Really?"
Xiao Xinghan wiped his tears and looked at An An's eyebrows carefully. If it was true that An An was his senior brother's child as Gu Yanling said, how could he explain the similarities between An An and Gu Yanling's eyebrows and eyes? "It's true."
An An felt a little embarrassed when he stared at her, and buried her head shyly in his shoulder.
Gu Yanling never expected that An An would blurt out everything at once. Seeing Xiao Xinghan's reaction, she was obviously suspicious. She knew that he was not easy to fool, so she waited for him to ask her questions. Unexpectedly, he carried An An directly into the house.
Xiao Xinghan sat on the stool, his eyes falling on the jade pendant in An An's little hand. He was not so unrecognizable as the jade pendant he had worn since he was a child. After they met again, he asked Gu Yanling where the jade pendant was. At that time, Gu Yanling pretended to be stupid and said nothing about the jade pendant. He just thought that Gu Yanling had lost it, but he didn't expect it to be in An An's hands.
"This jade pendant is a gift from me to your father."
An An sat on his lap, holding the jade pendant: "An An knows, Daddy and An An have told each other that this jade pendant belongs to Mom."
Gu Yanling followed in, asked the servants to leave, and sat next to her. "I had kept it under my pillow before, but An An dug it out. He liked it so much that he kept playing with it."
Xiao Xinghan became suspicious and couldn't help but think deeply about it.
An An nodded: "An An likes this jade pendant the most! I wear it every day. Last time Dad came back, he locked it in the box. An An dug it out of the box yesterday."
Xiao Xinghan suddenly said, "An An's birthday is the sixth of May."
An An: "Yes."
When Gu Yanling heard him mention this, she knew he had already guessed it.
Xiao Xinghan repeated: "The sixth day of the fifth month."
An An didn't know why he asked again, so she nodded and said, "It's the sixth day of May."
Xiao Xinghan suddenly remembered something. That day, he was restless in the imperial study, more upset than ever before. His father noticed it and told him to go back and rest. He returned to the East Palace and sat in the bedroom prepared for Gu Yanling for a long time, listening to the little parrot chirping and saying many words that Gu Yanling had taught him before, and his mood gradually calmed down.
He could conclude that An An was his child. Gu Yanling would not tell him An An's birthday for no reason. It was the sixth day of May two years ago. The time just matched. It should be the day when Gu Yanling gave birth to An An.
An An met Xiao Xinghan's probing gaze and blinked. After all, he was still young and couldn't see the strong emotions hidden in his eyes. He just felt that Xiao Xinghan was looking at him for a long time. With a red face, he asked in a low voice: "Why are you staring at An An?"
If it weren't for what An An said today, Xiao Xinghan would never have thought that An An was his son, the child he and Gu Yanling had.
Xiao Xinghan couldn't describe what he felt at the moment. All kinds of emotions were intertwined together and it was really difficult to describe his mood at the moment.
An An scratched his chin: "Mom, what's wrong with you?"
Gu Yanling was thinking, it was all over, Xiao Xinghan wouldn't "teach him a lesson" again that night for not telling the truth, right?
But Gu Yanling didn't think he did anything wrong. He mentioned An An's birthday at the time, but he didn't think about it that way, so he changed his words temporarily.
Not to mention that An An was recognized, even the fact that a man was pregnant was not common. Few people would believe it. If it wasn't his own experience, they would just think it was nonsense.
Just as Gu Yanling was thinking about it, Xiao Xinghan spoke in a hoarse voice: "I am not your mother, I am your father."
Gu Yanling: “…”
An An: "Father?"
Xiao Xinghan's mind was extremely complicated at the moment. His biological child almost became his adopted son. Thinking about how he had disliked this little fat boy before, he couldn't help but feel regretful. He regretted his initial hostility towards An An, but was also glad that An An was easy to coax. "Well, father and daddy mean the same thing."
An An didn't understand the terms "father" and "father king," but he knew what "daddy" meant. "Then An An will have two fathers. Who will be An An's mother?"
Xiao Xinghan glanced at Gu Yanling, who lowered her head and started to act cowardly again. Since she didn't refute him, he knew his guess was correct. Although he was angry with her, he couldn't help but feel distressed when he thought about the time when she was pregnant and he was not by her side. He could guess why Gu Yanling didn't tell the truth.
"An An, go ask your father." Xiao Xinghan didn't say it directly, but pinched his face.
An An was obsessed with who would be her mother. She slid down from Xiao Xinghan's legs and was about to climb onto Gu Yanling's legs. "Daddy, who will be An An's mother?"
Gu Yanling: “…”
An An sat on Gu Yanling's lap and continued to ask: "Daddy, Mom has become the father, so An An doesn't have a mother anymore?"
Gu Yanling pinched his little mouth in annoyance: "Don't ask again."
An An blinked and whimpered twice.
Gu Yanling glanced at Xiao Xinghan out of the corner of her eye, but was caught red-handed, so she quickly looked away.
Xiao Xinghan pretended not to see it. Although he felt heartbroken, he thought that if An An hadn't said those words today, he didn't know when he would know that An An was his child. This made him feel uneasy for a while.
An An pulled Gu Yanling's hand away, covered her stomach and said, "An An is hungry."
Gu Yanling hurriedly said, "I'm hungry too."
Xiao Xinghan: "...Eat first."
I didn’t go out to eat, I just had my meal in Gu Yanling’s courtyard.
Although the Gu family is rich, they are not extravagant. There are guests today, so there are two more dishes on the table than usual. An An is the happiest because she has recognized her mother today. During the meal, she took the initiative to climb onto Xiao Xinghan's legs, wanting him to feed her.
Seeing An An like this, Li Youfu hurriedly said, "Young Master, let me feed you."
An An shook her head: "An An wants father to feed her."
When Li Youfu heard him call him father, he was stunned for a rare moment. When he saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pick up the chopsticks and feed the food to An An's mouth, he was even more shocked.
Gu Yanling didn't care about the two, the big and the small, he was really hungry.
Seeing that Gu Yanling was eating with such relish, Xiao Xinghan felt both angry and amused. She never stopped him from eating. Then he looked at his son on his lap, who was also eating the pigeon leg with his little hands and relishing it. "..."
"Father, you should eat too." An An said as she wanted to get one for him as well.
Xiao Xinghan's eyelids twitched, and he stopped her, saying, "Eat it yourself. I don't eat pigeons."
Gu Yanling looked up: "An'an, get off His Highness's lap and let Zhaocai feed you."
An An was about to obediently climb down from Xiao Xinghan's legs when she heard a voice above her head: "No need. An An hasn't been close to me for so many years. If he wants to sit like this, let him sit."
Gu Yanling: “…”
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