Chapter 912 Reunion (Second Update)
Madam Yao looked down at her son in her arms and prompted him to speak: "Xiao Bao isn't lazy, so what is Xiao Bao?"
Gu Xiaobao spread his five fingers and patted his little chest lightly: "Xiaobao is smart."
He made everyone in the room laugh.
Gu Jiao looked at Gu Xiaobao curiously: "You're already so good at talking. When I left, Xiaobao could only cry."
Mrs. Yao smiled and said, "She is one year and eight months old."
He started walking late, only standing at one year and two months old, and only started walking on his own last month.
But he did speak early; he called her "Mother" for the first time at eleven months old. She remembered that Yan'er and Jinyu didn't speak until after their first birthday.
I wonder about Jiaojiao...
Thinking that her daughter grew up in the countryside and that she knew nothing about her upbringing, Yao felt guilty and distressed.
Little Jingkong drooped his head listlessly: "Master, put me down, you've made me dizzy."
"When did I shake you?" He was holding him up, but he didn't move at all.
Xiao Jingkong shrugged and sighed, "Alas, Master, you are too handsome. Of course, I was dazzled by your beauty!"
Liao Chen: "..."
Everyone: "..."
Knowing that Xuanyuan Qi and his son were about to reunite with Jingkong, Madam Yao stood up while holding Gu Xiaobao and said to the two of them, "I'll go check on the kitchen."
After saying that, she gave Gu Xiaoshun and Gu Yan a wink.
“Let’s go too.” Gu Yan understood immediately and pulled Gu Xiaoshun, who was still worshipping the Grand Marshal, to the backyard.
"Yuanyang, come here too," Yao called to Yuanyang.
"Yes, madam."
Yuanyang put down the cut fruit and followed Yao out of the main room.
The once noisy room instantly fell silent.
Before coming, Xuanyuan Qi had discussed with Gu Jiao and Liao Chen the matter of recognizing Xiao Jingkong.
Between keeping it from him and telling him, all three of them chose the latter.
Jingkong is not an ordinary child. He is precocious, intelligent, and has exceptional intelligence, but at the same time, he also has a very sensitive heart.
He was abandoned more than once from birth to age three.
Gu Jiao remembered their first conversation. He had packed his little bundle and was preparing to go down the mountain to be adopted, but the family changed their mind and didn't want him anymore.
Even now, when Gu Jiao recalls that lonely little figure sitting on the stone bench, she can still feel Xiao Jingkong's loneliness.
He even thought that his parents didn't like him, which was why they didn't want him.
After being adopted by Gu Jiao, he inadvertently revealed his timidity, worrying that he would become a burden to Gu Jiao and that he would be sent back...
At his age, he has endured things he shouldn't have to bear.
He needs to understand that he has parents who love him very much, and that he was born under their expectations.
He was not abandoned.
Liao Chen put his disciple down.
Gu Jiao took his hand and made him look at Xuan Yuanqi opposite him, and whispered, "Jingkong, that is your great-uncle."
"Grand Uncle?" Xiao Jingkong opened his eyes wide in surprise, clearly not quite understanding the meaning of this title.
Gu Jiao paused for a moment, then said, "He is your father's biological uncle."
Little Jingkong stared wide-eyed: "I have a father?"
Gu Jiao patted his little head: "Yes, you have a father and mother who love you very much."
Xiao Jingkong looked up into Gu Jiao's eyes and asked, "Then why don't they want me?"
Gu Jiao looked at him sincerely, removed a small flower petal from his head, and said softly, "They want you, but they went to a very, very far place and can't take you with them."
Xiao Jingkong tilted his head and thought for a moment: "Just like when Jiaojiao goes to war, she can't take me with her, right?"
Xuanyuan Qi looked at Gu Jiao nervously.
The original plan was to get to the bottom of things with just a few simple steps, but now everyone feels it's cruel.
He is only six years old.
He shouldn't have grown up amidst the pain of his parents' death.
Gu Jiao paused for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Yes, that's about right."
"Oh." Xiao Jingkong nodded thoughtfully.
Xuanyuan Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
Why won't you lie to him?
"What's the point of lying to him? If you fail, you fail. A white lie is the most boring thing in the world."
She has really changed a lot.
Having compassion allows one to understand the emotions of others and to change one's own principles accordingly.
Xiao Jingkong is a very smart child with amazing learning talent. However, there are some things that are beyond his understanding, and he is unable to question them.
"Will they still come to see me?" he asked Gu Jiao.
Gu Jiao said softly, "They can't come. They asked their great-uncle to come and visit you. Will you... be disappointed?"
"A little bit," Xiao Jingkong scratched his head and said honestly, "but since they didn't abandon me, I'll reluctantly forgive them!"
Gu Jiao smiled slightly.
Xuanyuan Qi and Liao Chen both relaxed.
Let him live on with hope.
Little Jingkong came up to Xuanyuan Qi, blinked his big eyes at him, and said expectantly, "Grand Uncle, when I grow up, will you take me to see my parents?"
Xuanyuan Qi raised his calloused hand and carefully placed it on his head. His throat was sore and his arm was trembling slightly.
He smiled and said, "Okay."
"Grand Uncle, my name is Jingkong." Little Jingkong introduced himself earnestly.
Xuanyuan Qi looked at him, as if he were seeing Xiao Liu as a child, and his eyes involuntarily reddened: "How old are you?"
Little Jingkong puffed out his little chest: "I'm nine years old!"
Liao Chen looked at him speechlessly.
Xiao Jingkong: "Well, I'm three years younger now."
When Xiao Liu was little, he was small and weak, and he always liked to be older than his birth year... Xuan Yuanqi looked at Jing Kong, suppressed the pain in his throat, and said with a smile, "Jing Kong is your Dharma name. You have a name."
"Hmm?" Xiao Jingkong tilted his head and looked at him.
Xuanyuan Qi finally lowered the hand that was on his head, gently stroking his hair, and pulled him into his broad arms: "...Your name is Xuanyuan Xi."
At this moment, Xuanyuan Qi had no idea that this seemingly quiet and sensible name would, many years later... make the seven kingdoms tremble!
...
Meanwhile, Yao went to the kitchen and instructed the cook to prepare several of her signature dishes to entertain the guests.
Gu Xiaobao was taken away by Gu Yan.
She went back to her room.
As I was packing my things, there was a knock on the door.
“The door is open, come in,” she said.
Gu Jiao came in.
Madam Yao looked at her, slightly taken aback: "Jiaojiao?"
Gu Jiao put her hands behind her back, hesitated for a moment, and walked to her side: "Um..."
She hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.
Madam Yao glanced at her, lowered her eyes, smiled, and said, "Are you leaving after you've finished eating?"
She continued folding clothes; the dim light made it difficult to tell whose clothes she was folding.
She composed herself, suppressing the bitterness in her heart, and said, "It's alright, Mother knows."
"I think you probably don't know this."
"What?"
“I didn’t go to the palace because I was taking them to see Jingkong.” Gu Jiao pursed her lips. “I wanted to see you.”
Madam Yao was shocked and looked at her daughter in disbelief.
Gu Jiao raised a hand and pointed to her heart: "Here, I want to."
Yao's eyes reddened.
She always felt that her daughter was distant from her, not because her daughter wasn't good to her, but because there seemed to be an invisible barrier between them.
She tried to get closer to her daughter.
She could feel her daughter's kindness towards her.
But she could never truly connect with her daughter.
To this day, her daughter has never called her "mother."
Just now, when introducing herself to Grand Marshal Xuanyuan, her daughter hesitated. She knew that her daughter couldn't call her "Mother," but she didn't want to embarrass her by calling her "Madam" in front of outsiders.
Ms. Yao once comforted herself, saying that her daughter did not depend on her because she had never raised her daughter for a single day, and she could silently bear this loneliness.
It doesn't matter if she never calls her mother.
But just now my daughter said that she misses her.
She could no longer suppress her feelings.
Tears welled up in her eyes: "Jiaojiao... I don't know what to do... I don't know how to make you call me 'Mother'..."
"mother."
Gu Jiao called her.
Yao looked at Gu Jiao in disbelief, her entire expression frozen in shock.
"It's not that I don't like you," Gu Jiao said. "I've had some bad experiences, and I can't bring myself to call you that."
"What bad experiences?" Yao's heart clenched as she thought of Gu Jinyu's biological parents.
"It wasn't Gu San and his wife." Gu Jiao didn't want to say any more.
"Alright, Mother won't ask anymore," Yao said, her voice choked with tears. "Then why is it okay now?"
Gu Jiao said, "I don't know, but it's fine."
Those unbearable past experiences from my previous life seem to be being healed by something.
Is it Jing Yinyin, Gu Jiaoniang, or the version of herself that was abandoned as a monster by no one who cared about her after she lost control and became bloodthirsty?
She couldn't answer.
Human emotions are too complex for her to comprehend.
She simply did what her intuition told her.
I don't even know if what I did was right.
"So, do you like me calling you that?" Gu Jiao sat on the stool, motionless, except for her eyes moving around.
The fearsome young killing machine on the battlefield now resembles a child waiting for the right answer.
Madam Yao chuckled, her tears turning into laughter. She went over and hugged her daughter tightly, saying, "I love her, Mother loves her very much. Can you call me Mother again?"
Gu Jiao was hugged tightly by her, and one of her cheeks was pressed down, making her look chubby.
She pouted her lips, which had been pressed out, and said, "Mom."
This is truly the most beautiful sound in the world.
Yao's heart melted, and all her pain was healed.
She smiled through her tears and hugged her daughter even tighter: "Hey! Call me again!"
Gu Jiao, whose little mouth was completely deformed by the pressure, said: "...Sheep."
Yao: "..."
(End of this chapter)
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