Chapter 347 "I'm Willing, It's Me"
Through the blurry vision, a small hand reached out.
It wasn't like he was catching tears, but rather like he was catching the most precious pearl in his heart.
Ji Qingwu's tears fell faster and faster, and it looked like she was about to fill Yuan Heng's palm with tears.
Yuan Heng changed to clapping his hands together to catch it, his small face revealing obvious panic and loss of composure.
Ji Qingwu tried her best to restrain herself, but she couldn't help feeling a lump in her throat and her eyes sting. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her thin shoulders trembled slightly.
Yuan Heng's small shoulders were so anxious that they floated above the water.
Yuan Heng, disregarding his own wet clothes, touched Ji Qingwu's face; his small hands were burning hot.
"Don't cry."
Ji Qingwu nodded silently, but tears continued to fall like beads from a broken string.
Yuan Heng felt the warmth flowing onto his hand, and he softened his voice.
"Making your loved one cry is a sign of weakness. I just said I'm no worse than anyone else. Do you want me to be seen as incompetent?"
Yuan Heng was a master of using emotional appeal and reasoning to persuade people.
Ji Qingwu sniffed, quickly picked up a long towel from the side and pressed it to her eyes. When she looked up again, her eyes were as red as a rabbit's.
At a time like this, she still needs the little one to comfort her; she's really useless.
Ji Qingwu despised himself, pinched his palm hard, looked into Yuan Heng's dark eyes, and spoke in a hoarse voice.
She opened her lips and said, "I am..."
Yuan Heng stood in the bathtub, looking back at her, and said before she could, "You are my mother."
The little one carefully confirmed, "I have the same blood as you, and so does Chiu Chiu. You are our mother."
Ji Qingwu nodded solemnly.
Yuan Heng seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and nodded: "That's good."
This was the best-case scenario he had envisioned; Chiu Chiu was not, as General Wei had claimed, his child.
Ji Qingwu was surprised by the little guy's keen senses, but felt more heartache than anything else.
She took his hand, opened her mouth as if to say something, but felt that his forearm was icy cold, and the water in the bathtub had already cooled down.
Ji Qingwu quickly said, "The water's cold, let's get out first."
Yuan Heng always took cold showers in the summer and didn't find the water cold. He wanted to spend more time alone with her and was about to refuse when he heard a soft, nasal female voice.
"After you dry off, let's talk in bed, okay?"
Ji Qingwu gently shook his arm, making him want to go to the bed that still carried her scent.
Yuan Heng pursed his lips and nodded shyly.
With his consent, Ji Qingwu dried the little guy with a dry cotton cloth. The small bundle that Yuan Heng brought was still in the outer room, so she simply took out one of her light pink inner garments, wrapped it around him, and carried him out of the clean room.
Yuan Heng rested his head obediently on her shoulder, and when she walked with a slight sway, he quietly pressed his little face against her neck.
Enveloped in his mother's scent, Yuan Heng's eyes were filled with excitement.
Ji Qingwu tucked him into the brocade quilt and then tucked the corner of the quilt under him. She wanted to go to the outer room to find clean undergarments for Yuan Heng to change into.
But he held her hand tightly and wouldn't let go.
Ji Qingwu suggested, "How about I go get you some clothes?"
Yuan Heng felt that there was nothing better than the clothes he was wearing; the material was soft and smooth, and it smelled wonderful.
He decisively refused: "No."
They even pulled her dress tighter.
Looking into his stubborn, unwavering dark eyes, Ji Qingwu smiled, took off her outer skirt, lifted the blanket, and lay down next to him.
When she actually lay down next to Yuan Heng, he became reserved. There was a little bulge in the blanket that dared not move, but his dark eyes twinkled like the brightest little star in the night sky.
Ji Qingwu slowly reached out, wanting to hug the little one.
Yuan Heng noticed her cautiousness and casually turned over. Ji Qingwu then hugged the little girl, who looked like a small stove, tightly in her arms.
This time, the curve of the mother and son's lips was exactly the same.
Yuan Heng didn't hold back any longer and said generously, "I've already let you see everything, so a hug is nothing. If you want to hug me, then go ahead."
Upon hearing this, Ji Qingwu's smile widened, and she gently stroked his back with her fingers, calling out to him.
"Yuan Heng".
Yuan Heng's heart, which had just calmed down, started beating faster again.
The little guy wasn't awkward at all.
He replied, "Mother."
Ji Qingwu took a deep breath, tightened his arms, and hugged Yuan Heng even more tightly, as if he wanted to melt the little guy back into his own bones and blood.
In a soft yet slightly hoarse voice, she said, "I'm sorry... and thank you even more."
Is it that I'm sorry for abandoning him? Yuan Heng blinked.
“I have never blamed my mother, because nothing is better than your being alive.”
Ever since he could remember, rumors had circulated both inside and outside the palace that his birth mother had died young.
When he was younger, he once ran into Emperor Wusu's palace on a thunderous night and asked him who his mother was and why he had never even seen a portrait of her.
Yuan Heng remembered clearly that it was late at night and Emperor Wusu was still awake. When he heard Yuan Heng ask about his mother, his expression instantly became even more somber than the sky outside.
At that time, he understood that regardless of whether his birth mother was still alive, she was definitely someone his father disliked.
The less he knows, the safer his birth mother may be.
When Ji Qingwu appeared in the palace, he stripped off Ji Qingwu's clothes by Taiye Lake, looking for something.
Everything was foreshadowed.
In the current situation, Yuan Heng could not understand the complex emotions between adults.
But he knew that loving someone meant not watching her marry someone else.
Yuan Heng, remembering his mother's words of thanks, nudged his head and asked curiously, "What are you thanking me for?"
Ji Qingwu patted his back gently, lowered her eyelashes, and said with a sour tone, "Thank you, my Heng'er. You've taken good care of yourself and grown up so well while your mother was away. You're already a remarkable man."
Yuan Heng puffed out his little chest: "We're family, no need for thanks."
The more sensible the little guy was, the more heartbroken Ji Qingwu felt.
"Your mother didn't mean to abandon you back then."
The mission of the childbirth system is to give birth to an heir for General Dingbei, ensuring his lineage continues. If she takes the baby boy away, the mission is considered incomplete.
Leaving one child behind and taking the other with her, who would have thought she would give birth to twins? This was the safest course of action for her.
Chiu Chiu had endured many hardships and been ridiculed for being a bastard without a father.
Yuan Heng grew up in the palace, seemingly of noble status, but he also had to face all sorts of hidden and overt attacks. Consort Wei raised him in order to make her position in the palace more secure.
Ji Qingwu's eyes welled up with tears again.
The little one tilted his head back in her arms.
He said seriously, "If it's between me and Qiuqiu, one of us must live in this palace."
"I am willing, it is me."
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