Chapter 901 Childbirth (First Update)
The light reflected off the snow illuminated the harsh winter night, and behind him, the lights of countless homes brought a touch of warmth amidst the wind and snow, a feeling of reunion.
Princess Xinyang stared at him blankly, momentarily speechless.
He chuckled softly again and said, "What? So happy to see me that you can't even speak?"
Princess Xinyang suppressed her astonishment, frowned seriously, and retorted his previous statement: "I did not cry."
She cried in the morning, but it was for Qing'er; she thought Qing'er was going to die.
She didn't shed a single tear when she heard the news that he wouldn't be coming back!
Marquis Xuanping raised an eyebrow, pointed to her chest, and said, "I heard you crying in your heart."
Princess Xinyang: "..."
Princess Xinyang's face darkened. She was finally certain that the person in front of her was real, not a wandering ghost or a stand-in.
He is who he is, without a doubt.
Marquis Xuanping, Xiao Ji.
Princess Xinyang turned her face away and muttered under her breath, "She's still as annoying as ever..."
She shouldn't feel sorry for him; a child without a father is a child without a father.
Who would want such an irresponsible father?
The baby in my belly moved.
Princess Xinyang subtly adjusted her cloak.
“You weren’t…” Princess Xinyang wanted to say, “Weren’t you dead?” But then she realized that talking about death during the New Year seemed unlucky, so she changed her words, “Didn’t you fall into the icy lake…? How come you’re back so soon?”
"You even know this..." Marquis Xuanping gave her a meaningful look. "You specially sent someone to the border of Yan to inquire about my whereabouts?"
Princess Xinyang's fist suddenly felt a little itchy.
Marquis Xuanping was flirting with death, casually saying, "I've only been gone a short while, and you're already so impatient."
Princess Xinyang touched her belly, which was covered by the large cloak, and took a deep breath: Can I kill him?
To be honest, what happened that day was indeed dangerous.
Half of his body was trapped under the collapsed and fractured glacier. The ice beneath him could not withstand the pressure and cracked little by little. The small box fell into the ice hole and was carried away by the turbulent water.
He told Long Yi that the contents of the small box could save Qin Fengwan's son's life.
He didn't say which son it was, but Long Yi would most likely assume it was Xiao Heng.
He believed that Long Yi would choose Xiao Heng.
But it seems they've forgotten that only children make choices.
Ryuichi is an adult, and an adult whose strength surpasses everyone's imagination.
At his command, the direwolf beside him leaped into the ice hole. The direwolf chased after the little box, and Long Yi cleaved the glacier open.
It's not easy to do this. First, the dire wolf has to withstand Long Yi's sword energy, and second, the dire wolf has to deal with many dangers underwater.
That was an ice wolf even more powerful than the Spirit King of Dark Night Island.
I really don't know where Long Yi got it from.
He was already seriously injured at the time, and after falling into the water, he quickly lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was no longer on the ice field, but lying on a merchant ship bound for the Zhao Kingdom.
Long Yi is gone, and the little box is gone too.
However, he did not panic. He believed that Long Yi had successfully delivered the item to Gu Jiao.
He knew nothing about Long Yi's painting.
"You mean... Long Yi knew you were alright, but deliberately said you were dead?" Princess Xinyang expressed disbelief; Long Yi wouldn't be that cheeky!
Marquis Xuanping: "..."
Princess Xinyang then asked, "Since you woke up on the boat, how did you know Qing'er had returned?"
Marquis Xuanping said, "There are people from the Shadow Division on the ship. They just finished their mission and told us about Qing'er and Aheng going to Zhao Kingdom."
His situation along the way was not optimistic; his injuries had not healed, and he traveled frantically after disembarking.
He wasn't sure if the antidote would work on his son. He prepared for the worst: if it didn't work, he would have to rush back to see his son one last time.
"Qin Fengwan, is Qing'er alright?" he asked in a normal tone, trying his best to hide his weakness.
"The antidote seems to be working. The imperial physician said she's out of danger, but she hasn't woken up yet," Princess Xinyang said, pausing before adding calmly, "If you're worried, go in and see for yourself."
Marquis Xuanping smiled and said, "Alright, you go in first, I'll be there in a bit."
Princess Xinyang clutched her cloak tightly and turned around. She took two steps and then stopped again. She turned back to look at Marquis Xuanping: "You're not too tired to walk, are you?"
Marquis Xuanping laughed and said, "What? You want me to help you up?"
Princess Xinyang rolled her eyes: "Who wants to help you? I'll go get someone—"
As soon as she finished speaking, she remembered something—in order to protect the safety of the fetus in her womb, she had sent the Dragon Shadow Guards to their fiefdom, and Gao Qiang and the carpenter had already left, so there were no men in the house.
Ah Heng wasn't there either.
Princess Xinyang hesitated for a moment, then called out to the backyard, "Cui'er, Zhang Mama, come here for a moment!"
"Yes, Princess!"
The maid Cui'er and the cleaning lady Zhang Mama hurried over. Upon seeing the blood-covered Marquis Xuanping by the door, they both screamed in terror, "A ghost—!"
After that, the two of them, no longer caring about the princess's orders, fled in a panic!
The candles and paper money in their hands fell to the ground, along with a white lantern with the character "奠" (meaning "offering" or "memorial") written on it.
Marquis Xuanping's lips twitched: "Qin Fengwan, are you holding a funeral for me?"
Did he just get back and find himself at his own funeral?
If it had been a little later, his coffin would have been prepared, and he could have just lay down in it, saving the need for a cenotaph?
“Who knew you were still alive…” Princess Xinyang muttered softly.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and told herself that he was the father of three children, and she couldn't let him really die here.
She walked over, casually extended her hand, hesitated for a moment, her fingertips twitched, and she braced herself to take his arm.
This was the first time she had ever actively approached a man while fully conscious.
It still requires a lot of courage, and I'm still not quite used to it, but I'm not as trembling and afraid as before.
Marquis Xuanping watched as she pinched the fabric of her arm between two fingers, clearly nervous yet trying to bolster her courage. He couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Qin Fengwan..."
"Shut up!" Princess Xinyang said sternly, "If you say another word, I won't help you up!"
Marquis Xuanping: You didn't even help me up...
Those two fingers only gripped his clothes; they didn't even touch the flesh of his arm.
Princess Xinyang, who thought she had helped him up, gave him a cold, sharp look, as if to say: I've already helped you up, why aren't you leaving? Men are so pretentious!
Thinking of her illness, Marquis Xuanping knew that it was not easy for her to take this step, so he stopped being "pretentious," gritted his teeth and endured the pain to straighten his stiff body, and moved his almost numb feet, step by step towards the courtyard gate.
The moment he stepped across the threshold, a gust of cold wind blew in his face, blowing open the cloak on Princess Xinyang's body. Marquis Xuanping subconsciously glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
He then saw a very prominent belly.
He was startled, his gaze immediately falling on her stomach: "Qin Fengwan."
Princess Xinyang gasped when she saw her cloak.
Marquis Xuanping stopped. He squinted at her, his expression unreadable: "You're pregnant? About that time?"
It's no wonder he was unaware; ever since their one-night stand, Princess Xinyang had returned to this residence. At first, she would visit Xiao Heng and Gu Jiao in Bishui Hutong, but after they went to Yan, she stopped going to Bishui Hutong.
He also moved back to the Xuanping Marquis's residence.
She kept her pregnancy a complete secret. He visited her once before he went to war, but she refused to see him.
Yu Jin said that the princess was menstruating and was in a bad mood.
Oh!
Gui Water!
Princess Xinyang refused to admit it and stubbornly turned her face away.
She didn't understand her luck either, using him as an antidote twice, and then falling for it both times!
Marquis Xuanping glanced at her with a half-smile: "Heh, that's true, all night long."
Princess Xinyang's face flushed red: How could he say such shameless things?
She knew he would be so shameless, which is why she didn't want to tell him!
You really went to great lengths to get pregnant with my child... If he dared to say that, she would throw him out with a stick!
Fortunately, Marquis Xuanping did not draw such a bad lot this time.
He gave her a deep look, a dangerous glint in his eyes: "Qin Fengwan, if I hadn't returned in time, were you going to keep this child a secret from me?"
Princess Xinyang's eyes flashed, and she raised her chin in a serious manner: "I see you have plenty of strength now! You don't need my help!"
After saying that, she withdrew her hand, ignored Marquis Xuanping, and walked straight to her room.
But she had only taken one step when a sudden, intense contraction came from her stomach. She bent over, clutching her stomach and letting out a soft cry of pain.
Marquis Xuanping's expression changed: "Qin Fengwan, what's wrong with you?"
Could it be that he upset her and caused her to have a miscarriage?
Princess Xinyang had given birth, so she was no stranger to this feeling.
She raised her hand and tightly grasped the arm he offered her: "I... I think I'm going into labor..."
Marquis Xuanping: (⊙o⊙)!
(End of this chapter)
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